Sorry this is a bit waffly, its how its going to be im afraid!

After having a long line of low, stiff sporty cars I recently owned a slightly modified Shogun.

 

 

Which was a revelation as it would go anywhere. No worries about kerbs, speed bumps, potholes, verges or banks. Plus it could tow.

 

The downside was the best I got out of it was 18mpg and generally 15-16mpg was more accurate. That means a full tank at £70+ was getting me 150 miles. (3.5V6 Petrol)

 

Enough was enough so I searched for the cheapest car that was still a little bit nippy but gave good mpg.

 

Enter the civic, 2.2 Diesel in my ownership averaged 57mpg measured properly tank to tank.

 

 

That was all well and good but I missed the go-anywhere ability of the Shogun and if i'm going to have a sensible diesel then it really needs to be a tow car.

 

Enter the yeti. 2.0d 170 4x4 

 

 

Its taken us paddling

 

 

And over 2,000 miles across Spain and France over the summer

 

 

 

Most people would probably be happy with that. However I had aspirations of something better. Partly inspired by a certain 700bhp converted car.

 

I dont want to make it low, stiff and have to start weaving around potholes and bumps. Likewise I dont want it to be lifted, wallowy and only suited to rock crawling.

 

What if there's a 3rd way?

 

 

Okay, stop laughing, squint a bit a bare with me.

Fabia Rally 2 Kerb Weight: 1,230kg

Yeti Kerb Weight 1,545kg

Difference: 315kg.

 

Rally 2 BHP/Torque: 290bhp / 425NM

Yeti: 170bhp / 350NM

Difference 120bhp / 75NM

 

Theres definitely some work to do.

 

Wheelbase is pretty similar, we've got a version of 4WD and the ride / suspension travel is close to what we want.

 

The aim is to make the ultimate b road car, something that is suited to our rough and broken roads while still returning something close to 45mpg on longer runs. I know its never going to be a proper rally car but something close to a tamed down gravel version is the hope.

 

 

When we bought it it was only running in 2wd with no record of the Haldex having been serviced. Fortunately VWAuditec near Stansted worked their magic and got it working again with a good service and clean out.

 

Next we had the judder from the dying flywheel so I ordered the upgraded kit from Darkside to give me headroom for future plans, its rated to 550NM. I wanted to go single mass but from what I could find it would be a lottery as to whether the gearbox would last or not.

 

https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/sachs-2-0-tdi-6-speed-02q-dual-mass-flywheel-with-sachs-sre-performance-clutch-kit-for-ppd170-cr170.html

 

Its the first time i've had a vag car, so i've been trying to take advantage of the wider catalogue to find oem upgrades where possible before messing with the after market.

 

So I bought some 2nd hand control arms from a mk1 tiguan

 

 

Cleaned them up

 

 

Pressed out the bushes

 

 

And got the garage to fit them while they did the clutch

 

 

The eagle eyed may notice that the front bush is a polybush, I only use superpro as I haven't had much success with the cheaper offerings.

The rear bush is the Febi Bilstein 33973 which is a solid rubber bush without any holes around it.

I also had new balljoints, track rods and drop links fitted.

Also had the audi subframe bolts fitted that locate the subframe a bit better without buying one of the expensive kits.

 

The plan was to fit B4 shocks with new oem springs at the same time but the garage couldn't get the hubs to open enough to accept them.

 

 

Which pretty much brings you up to date.

 

I've currently got a failed ABS sensor in the front left and a failed wheel bearing in the front right, as well as the unfinished business with the shock absorbers so I am pulling together plans to replace the front hubs.

 

I want to go Aluminium because i'm after larger brakes and big tyres so any bit of weight I can offset is a plus.

 

The passat B6 hubs are the easy option but it limits what you can do with brake calipers.

The TT hubs accept all the calipers but have different geometry and the steel bushings for the toe rod need to be pressed out and replaced with ones from the passat hubs or custom made.

 

I toyed with keeping the steel hubs and going for Boxster brakes but from what I can find these dont cope with the heat from hard driving in the lighter vag cars.

 

So I found that the mk7 golf GTI hubs are aluminium and there is a kit available to fit the common Brembo 4 pots from Freakyparts including 2 piece discs.

 

Nobody seems to have tried to fit MQB hubs onto PQ35 cars, well I found one person who said they dont fit but thats it.

Looking online the diameter and spline count is the same so I ordered the cheapest yeti CV I could find and the wheel bearings for a mk7 gti.

 

 

Perfect fit!

 

I'm pretty confident the balljoints and toe arms should bolt up, the only bit left to close out is whether the ABS sensors will work.

I've ordered some from the current Skoda Kodiaq which I think use the same hubs and have hill hold on all trims.

 

Once the front is all together i'll move on to pulling the back apart. Plans are for an aluminium subframe but i'm not sure what i'm going to do with the arms yet.

 

I've gone for the B4s to see what good condition dampers perform like before I try and engineer some proper long travel options.

Edited 13 November, 20241 yr by Lukeg28

I cant work out if you are modifying the Yeti or have bought a Fabia Rally 2?

 

The blue car in the photograph does not look like a Yeti.