I'm off work for the rest of year starting from...now!

So I'll definitely get a crack on with tidying up the garage. There are bits for cars that are LONG gone!

As you’re off https://www.tufferman.co.uk/collections/garage-shelving-v1 ahem

Already have shelving in the back of the garage!

I suppose the question is whether I start adding extras to the side!

Although this thread will take an unexpected turn if you just start getting trolled with DIY suggestions 🤣

On 10/12/2025 at 17:33, commievid said:

whether I start adding extras to the side

more shelving = more options for junk gathering!

don't do it, don't do it! 😁

On 10/12/2025 at 15:33, commievid said:

Already have shelving in the back of the garage!

I suppose the question is whether I start adding extras to the side!

Doesn't the car fit?

Hi all! Been a while!

So the car failed its MoT:

Driver's side tie rod end, no idea what's happened, but looks like rusty remains of whatever was trying to keep the rubber boot in place has long gone, leaving the boot unable to do its job.

So off to scour the interwebs for replacements. Got a pair of Meyle HD's from eBay for £33.81. Parts 116 020 0025/HD and 116 020 0026/HD.

As is typical, this was all on the Thursday on the run up to the Bank Holiday weekend, so essentially had to wait until yesterday before they arrived.

Decided to sneak out of work for a bit to try and tackle this. Original intent was to at least get the wheel off to see if the locknut would come free.

Kinda lucked out:

Gave it a quick wirebrush and PlusGas, then got a 24mm spanner and gave it a grunt. Magically, it came loose!

Only a tiny amount, sure, but that's all that's needed. Buzzed off the nut on the other end, gave the hub a few whacks with the lump hammer which resulted in the old tie rod end popping out, and then just replaced with the new one. Was 22 turns off, and 22 turns back on, so probably straight enough!

Be ready for a retest tomorrow.

Annoyingly, I was intending to replace bits of the front suspension over the next few months, as I've been stockpiling some random bits as and when I saw a good deal on them, in addition to a few upgrades I might do if I can feel I can them done quicker.

Not much drama otherwise, other than perhaps some rear wheel arch rust starting to come through. That might put a scupper on long term plans unless I say start to learn welding or something.

Regardless, very happy the tie rod end swap took about 45 minutes, rather than the potential drama when that locknut doesn't want to budge.

Maintenance: £3120.24 (+£33.81)

Upgrades: £4617.27

Miscellaneous: £827.47

MoT all passed, so all good on that front!

Gonna post some stuff I've collected randomly as part of long term planning and hoarding. That way, I can add them to the cost tally before I totally forget!

So I've had this tucked away for a while now:

An aluminium subframe. Got it for £100 from eBay more than a year ago!

The ad said its from an Audi RS3, but to be honest, but be from anything from Golf R to anything related.

Because it's aluminium, I've pretty much left it out in the garden come rain or shine, but I've given it a quick rinse and wipe over, as I'm planning for this probably end of summer or early autumn.

I should probably price up the other related bits, but I'll leave that for when I start tackling this in earnest, as essentially every bolt is replaced, let alone other bits like wishbones and ball joints, etc.

I also found this on eBay that I couldn't resist:

Virtually an entire rear axle. This was £165.75, and as you can see, even has the rear pad carriers and discs attached.

The ad said it was from a Golf R, and given the colour of the rear pad carriers, didn't have much reason to argue against this.

It's not immaculate, but only has a few bits of rust around the subframe and arms, nothing that a slathering of hammerite or somesuch would help with.

Took three of us to hoist this into the rear boot, and with just myself at home once back, didn't have much choice but to start disassembling it to make it less bulky:


Was a case of slowly attacking the bolts with impacts and whatnot until arms, hubs and other bits were all separated out. It's a lot easier with a free floating subframe and parts that haven't rusted to buggery!

Once it was virtually the subframe after a hour or so, plonked it into the house:


Wife isn't particularly chuffed with this arrangement, so I'll probably have to consider giving it a quick clean and then probably buy some shrink wrap or something and wrap it up so it can be left outside or something.

Complete madness on my part, but given replacement arms are a few hundred pounds, let alone a subframe in good condition, I couldn't resist.

Whether I genuinely brave disassembling the rear of the car, and the all the inevitable chassis/body clean up as a result of that, I don't know, but having this around hopefully simplifies the reassembly stage, and if not, I can probably sell it on.

Got some other bits I could probably start doing this evening, mainly as this looks like the last nice sunny day before the weather turns for the weekend.

Maintenance: £3285.99 (+£165.75)

Upgrades: £4717.27 (+£100)

Miscellaneous: £827.47

Nice - alu subframe and lower control arms are on my distant radar.

Is there a risk that its crash damaged and not straight/true?

3 hours ago, travs said:

Nice - alu subframe and lower control arms are on my distant radar.

Is there a risk that its crash damaged and not straight/true?

A valid question, and unfortunately, could be the case!

I'll be doing an oil change on the thing in the near future, and I think whilst I'm down there, I'll try and see if it looks like it'll fit.

It had the original lower control arms on there, and they didn't look wonky. Aluminium ones as well, but they're a bit shorter than the ones for the Superb, so will have to use steel ones.

Worse case scenario would be the current subframe goes back on I guess...

So, after work, took the opportunity to do something that's been on the back burner for ages:

I think it's the first engine performance mod! A RacingLine R600 air intake!

Alongside other bits such as:

Turbo inlet pipe, and additional bits like a replacement pipe to go underneath the new air box bit.

These bits were bought absolutely ages ago, circa March 2024, and have been lying around since. The R600 main bits were £502.93.

The turbo inlet pipe was £74.99 and the coolant pipe was £42.94.

So the first step is to start removing the original air filter box and inlet. Two screws, and the front should wiggle away:

Then used a flat head screwdriver to loosen and pop out the vacuum line from the air box:

Then my Knipex pliers to get the clamp off of the air intake pipe:

Once the pipe is loosed from the air intake box, the air filter box itself can be removed, as its some rubber grommets over plastic bits:

Popped out with effort, and unfortunately:

Looks like I got too hamfisted and ripped out one of the plastic bits with the rubber! Guess a new battery tray required...

So those bits out so far:

Next is to replace the coolant hose with the replacement designed to go under the R600 box. Lots of Youtube videos show coolant going everywhere, and to be honest, I did the same.

Got towels and whatnot underneath and just removed and replaced as quick as possible:

Got messy so no pics for the other side. Wiped excess and some parts cleaner before the next bit.

So dry fitted the bottom part of the R600 box:

Just some wiggling really, but noticed the instructions mention attaching rubber grommets to the box before installing them:

Sadly, the packaging didn't have any! Plus with the broken plastic bit in the battery tray, kinda stuck for now. I expect rattling until this is sorted I guess.

So carrying on, time to remove the air intake from the filter to the turbo inlet pipe:


Standard hose clamp, so a 7mm to loosen, and then wiggling to free that pipe:


So next is the turbo inlet pipe. There's a hose that needs to be removed, via squeezing and popping it off. Then also a T30 torx bit keeping the pipe in place.

Once removed (carefully lest that torx bolt drops into the abyss!), initial attempts to pull the pipe off wasn't fruitful. Turns out it needs some rotating before it pops out:


The new one is the reverse. I put a light smear of engine oil on the o-rings that the new RacingLine pipe had, then pushed in and rotated into place:

Then carefully put that torx bolt back into place. I tightened it to 12Nm as its an M6 bolt, not sure what the actual figure needed is.

On the home straight now. The R600 kit came with a new pipe, so slotted that in alongside the filter itself:

Just some wiggling but it eventually all aligns up. Orientation of the pipes and stuff was probably made simple by just looking for the RacingLine logo and making sure that points upwards!

Not forgetting the vacuum line:

That's pretty much it, on with the top cover:


Tighten up all the hoses and bits and that's that:


Noticed also that the R600 box didn't have any screws, so decided for now to just take a few from the OEM air filter box and attached them to the R600 box.

Will need to source rubber grommets for the R600 box and screws if available.

The spoils:


So will need to find somewhere for these OEM bits to go, but that's that!

Haven't really driven it in anger yet, I'd imagine there probably won't be any major difference really. Am hoping this becomes useful once a remap is involved!

Bit annoying that some of the bits were missing, but some Googling has shown replacements are available, so I'll order those, and probably a battery tray as well, so technically some of this will need disassembling once those have arrived.

Maintenance: £3285.99

Upgrades: £5338.13 (+£620.86)

Miscellaneous: £827.47

Lovely job. Open window, foot down at lower revs is when I really noticed the engine sucking on the air. As the revs rise you lose most of the sound I feel. But I'm fine with that. Subtle rules over everything.

2 things - keep an eye on the coolant hose at the engine block end for weeping. Mine did and a mech noticed it and tightened it. Also, keep an eye on whether the bottom corner of the engine cover rubs on the hose. it might not given yours is a Gen3 and mine is Gen4 but just to put it on the radar.

18 hours ago, commievid said:

A valid question, and unfortunately, could be the case!

I'll be doing an oil change on the thing in the near future, and I think whilst I'm down there, I'll try and see if it looks like it'll fit.

It had the original lower control arms on there, and they didn't look wonky. Aluminium ones as well, but they're a bit shorter than the ones for the Superb, so will have to use steel ones.

Worse case scenario would be the current subframe goes back on I guess...

Fairly sure it is a straight swap - but if its twisted slightly, what's the effect, just mounting points slightly out of place? Or does it affect steering geometry/tracking?

Someone else on here fitted alu LCAs and thought they were better for some reason...but it might depend on what vehicle it came from. I think his were from Audi TTS but there might be tolerance differences with Golf 7 R, 8P S3 etc. etc.

Here it is - Lower Control Arms

Reason I've been reluctant with aluminium lower arms:


Above is a pic of the aluminium arms that came with the subframe, and some Meyle replacement arms:

They essentially look about a centimetre short? Hence not wanting to bother, as almost all aluminium arms of some sort are for the S3 or Golf and such, so probably a narrower track? Happy to be corrected if Passat/Arteon/Superb variants exist.

Regardless, the Meyle arms were from eBay, bought about a year ago for £69.54.

Now for something different. From the R600 install, went online to look for replacement missing bits, and found them:

The part number turns out to be VWR120004, and was from Progressive Parts for £20.35 with delivery. If I knew the part number, could have probably shopped around I guess. However, this was ordered on Thursday evening, so for it to arrive Saturday morning isn't too bad to be honest!

What was a real surprise was:


The battery tray! This was ordered from eBay in the same Thursday evening, with some shopping around and a discount coupon getting it to £16.96. Arrived around mid afternoon, very impressed all round!

Technically not the cheapest on eBay, but honestly, it looks brand new, or is certainly VERY clean!

Wife actually has the car for the weekend, so can't do anything until she's back. I suspect a fiddly job of disconnecting and wiggling wiring harnesses and whatnot to replace this tray and the subsequent fettling of the R600 bits to get the rubber grommets on and all sorted.

Maintenance: £3372.49 (+£86.50)

Upgrades: £5358.48 (+£20.35)

Miscellaneous: £827.47

Woke up early (mainly because I'm getting old) and given the weather wasn't too bad, got cracking on:

So removed the R600 pretty much, in order to get the rubber grommets installed:


Didn't know the orientation but some thinking and a double check on a Youtube video confirmed it. The video also mentioned that hole in the middle might be related to the OEM's drain tube bit, so decided to also transfer that over.

Then it was the battery tray. None of it turned out to be as much of a faff as I thought it would be. So negative then positive terminals off, then wiggled the cover off, and then the 13mm bolt for the strap keeping the battery down.

Then pull the battery to the front and hoist it off:


Then got a metal trim clip tool to pry the harness off of the tray, two bits along the front:


Then it's a 10mm nut at the rear:


Then three 10mm bolts, two in the tray, and one off to the front right, which needs a tiny bit more dexterity or longer extensions due to the wiring in the way:


Once all out, the old tray can be wiggled and eventually come free:


The nut on the rear has a weird rubber bit that sticks out, I guess some random additional vibration dampening, nothing more wiggling wouldn't sort out.

Took the opportunity to give the area a wipe and spray of XCP, whilst the area was easy to get to.

Then it's the reverse to wiggle the new tray in:


Had to use some force and wiggling to get the bolt holes to align up, but got there eventually. The three bolts and nuts were tightened to 9Nm as per the workshop manual.

Hoisted the battery in, pushed it back so it slides under a lip on the rear of the battery tray, before putting the bracket and bolt in, to 15Nm:


Slide the battery cover over and on, then greased the battery terminals, and tightened to 6Nm:


That's that, the whirring and buzzing of the car coming back to life should be audible. So now its the R600 intake again:


Like last time, some wiggling to get it into place, but this time, pushing it into the plastic bits on the replacement battery tray. Should go in without much bother and won't be going anywhere.

The filter is then on, clamp tightened up, and the new screws that came with the replacement grommets are used to tighten the top cover down:

Gave it a spritz of rubber and vinyl care and wiped down.

I'll probably do an oil change in the next couple of weeks, but that's not really post worthy. Fingers crossed, the front subframe is the next big job and that'll be nearer the end of summer.

Maintenance: £3372.49

Upgrades: £5358.48

Miscellaneous: £827.47

Great job!

Watching with interest ... not I have budget available now for such an expense!

Let us know if something interesting comes out of the engine before remap.

I assume the ECU might reclibrate some parameters if sensing more air coming in?

On 10/05/2026 at 00:28, commievid said:

They essentially look about a centimetre short? Hence not wanting to bother, as almost all aluminium arms of some sort are for the S3 or Golf and such, so probably a narrower track? Happy to be corrected if Passat/Arteon/Superb variants exist.

LCA for Golf, A3,S3 etc etc r the wrong size for the Superb.

As u saw, it's short.

Unlike other suspension components - LCAs r not compatible with the mk3 Superb.

In the diagrams below, u can see L2 is considerably shorter for the Golf, compared to Superb.

The rest of the measurements r similar or the same.