LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - Pilgrimage to Caffeine & Machine

[LC5F]

I understand they are the same organisation - but ECP tend to have a discount on their front page or you can try either or both the Pouch and Honey browser add ons - when activated they automatically try multiple discount codes searching for cheapest - for me I have a euro's 1.5 miles away I usually click and collect so I can check the parts...something you cant do with CP4L

[LC5F]

Long overdue update -
Added an amp to power the Pioneer components in the front doors - just an old one I had sitting in the garage.

had to replace the fuse block and get a splitter for the earths, need to get some decent 90 elbows to pull the cables out of the feet zone!  This is wired using the JL highpass filter so sub and components are not treading on each other - midrange is really impressive.

Other things going on -
The annoying zombie car effect returned, thought the new canbus fixed it - where the Golf plays dead and then comes back to life - I think I have narrowed it down to the terminal 15 relay going bad... well banging the bottom of the dash or opening the door or bonnet seems to get it going again - should get a new relay on Tuesday.
I kept getting an intermittent error 012599 - this seems to have been solved by replacing the MAP sensor, huge difference in boost and general smoothness.

I tried to replace my fuel filter 1.5 years ago -at the time I was stopped by a jammed clip - finally remembered to get a new line from the tank at TPS yesterday.
Taking the old filter out was the first task, the cage retaining screw was fubar by rust - no surprise on this Golf
A quick grind with a Dremmel revealed the cross head, but there wasn't enough to undo - ended up drilling the head off and gripping the stub with vice grips that was replaced by an Audi stainless T20:

with filter loose I jumped inside and undid the connection on the tank and pulled the old pipe and filter out:

Date on the old filter was 2013 so possibly I thought there was a lot more room on top of the tank - only after adding a long cable tie was I able to pull the pipe down to the filter.
New filter has made low speed throttle response better, further enhancing the smoothness of the new MAP. tipping out the inlet side there was a distinct brown colour - just a relief to finally get it swapped out

Finally got a sport cat downpipe from Pipeworx - looks really well made and is 2 piece - should make install easier.
Unfortunately it came with swage reduced pipe to connect onto a standard system - got to chop 75mm off
Worse still - measuring from the hanger to the installed Cobra cat back system, once it is chopped back it will be 150mm too short... oh well, more time more expense!

[LC5F]

Small update -
Occasionally I find my number plate lights flickering, I had fitted better quality LED bulbs... so not ideal
Hopefully an OEM solution in Mk7 LED number plate lights will work better:


I did get a quote from TPS for these, they were double the price excluding VAT of these on ebay.

Fitting turned into a saga - I had not noticed the light had a spring clip, ended up managing to push the back plate into the bumper and ended up loosing one of the lights inside the bumper!

Ended up bumper off - at least I got to mount the rear view parking camera and run the cables into the boot.
Kind of discrete and the top of the 6 hides it, or I could remount the plate lower:

[pandaman]

Small update -
Occasionally I find my number plate lights flickering, I had fitted better quality LED bulbs... so not ideal
Hopefully an OEM solution in Mk7 LED number plate lights will work better:


I did get a quote from TPS for these, they were double the price excluding VAT of these on ebay.

Fitting turned into a saga - I had not noticed the light had a spring clip, ended up managing to push the back plate into the bumper and ended up loosing one of the lights inside the bumper!

Ended up bumper off - at least I got to mount the rear view parking camera and run the cables into the boot.
Kind of discrete and the top of the 6 hides it, or I could remount the plate lower:

Got some of these (off ebay as well) last year, they work but still very occasionally through up the warning light on the dash. I had LED bulbs before that, one wasn't working for an MOT and the guy changed it for a normal bulb and still the warning light was on. So I'm wondering if there's something else wrong causing the warning light occasionally, hopefully something vcds can solve. Please let me know if this throughs up any warning lights at all, cheers.

[LC5F]

@pandaman - Thanks, I will keep an eye out for this issue

[LC5F]

@pandaman - Thanks, I will keep an eye out for this issue

Yes - now experienced this twice - hopefully it's just the hot weather
Golf seems to do a few odd things in the heat, currently have no cooling AC has been low for a while waiting for condenser and intercooler to be replaced.
Could the LED numberplate lights be coded in or out in VCDS?

Update - Brown Santa came earlier this week with this from DPM... actually they were more traditional Red as they were parcelforce:


Got to play today, nice having good weather to work on the Golf.
I was dreading doing the downpipe, night before with the engine warm I whipped off the intake emptied half a can of penetration fluid onto the studs, thought it was going to ignite it was smoking so much.

All 4 nuts came off - I had new studs, but looking at the space available and the tools I have I couldn't find any decent way to remove them - so undecided not to push my luck and struck with the old studs.
Pipeworx sport cat downpipe being prepared:

And installed:

Ended up getting a slip extension pipe that I cut to size:


Strangely all the nuts on the 2 cross braces under the exhaust came off without any problems - unusual for this car!

Old clamps - think they are the ones supplied by Cobra - were a PITA to remove and look like something Victorian compared to the Miklor W4s:

got the rear ARB installed and also added the last bit of Aero - panel after the tank blocking off the sub frame:


Tomorrow is swapping out the intercooler, filled it with water 4 times and emptied it out - then filled it a 5th time to test for leaks and left it overnight - still full in the morning.

[pandaman]

@pandaman - Thanks, I will keep an eye out for this issue

Yes - now experienced this twice - hopefully it's just the hot weather
Golf seems to do a few odd things in the heat, currently have no cooling AC has been low for a while waiting for condenser and intercooler to be replaced.
Could the LED numberplate lights be coded in or out in VCDS?

Well that's a bummer but also rules out something else my end. Dunno if its got anything to do with heat, im pretty sure it was doing it though winter as well.
VCDS seems our best bet, I'll do some googling.

[LC5F]

Well I changed my mind about what to do next, rather than take on the relatively clean intercooler swap, I decided to get the messy front ARB out the way and then the intercooler.
Dropping the subframe, removing the old ARB, drilling out the captive nuts on the OEM bushes were straight forward -thought I would be done in 1.5 to 2 hours...but didn't budget for:

• Half an hour trying to fit the ARB the wrong way up.
• Finding out the new ARB blocks inserting the front bolts - undoing the drivers side provided enough room, but passenger side then needed the just re-installed drivers side removed.
• I forgot the grief my Chinese subframe aligners make for how to re-bolt the subframe in place - took 3 goes with different orders - Note to future self: couple of turns on rear 2 bolts, then passenger side console, Left front and then the drivers side.
• Unable to torque the front bolts - not enough room for a socket - so they are as FT as I could get them with a spanner
  

That little lot took me 5 hours! - but by then I was completely wrecked, decided to stop there and after a bath took the Golf for a drive.

My test route was 16 miles, with motorway/dual carriageway/B road, impressions of the Sportcat were much more eagerness to rev, with quicker throttle response.
ARB - they are behaving as I wished, the rubbing on hard sudden turn-ins has been removed and body roll minimised.
On the drive I found the rear end to be a lot livelier, suspect I need to take care with rear end stepping out in the wet.

VCDS seems our best bet, I'll do some googling.

Thanks fella - I am trying coding out cold diagnosis of the license plate lights discussed here: https://forums.ross-tech.com/index.php?threads/1073/
Unsure if that works with standard Mk5 Canbus, that thread is for a Mk6 chassis, but mine are newer canbus.

[colesey]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, however the original ARB brackets modified to fit my front H&R arb cracked and came loose after a couple of years so I recommend you keep an eye on them. You can’t buy them separately otherwise, only as a full ARB assembly. That aside, the stiffer ARBs make a nice improvement in handling.

[LC5F]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, however the original ARB brackets modified to fit my front H&R arb cracked and came loose after a couple of years so I recommend you keep an eye on them. You can’t buy them separately otherwise, only as a full ARB assembly. That aside, the stiffer ARBs make a nice improvement in handling.

Thanks for the heads up - how much mileage/abuse did you put on them?
Have to say I chuckled at the H&R instructions saying "Avoid unusual or aggressive driving maneuvers that place excessive demands on the vehicle (racing events, etc.)"!
Maybe its lost in the translation, but what were the Germans thinking we were to to do with them?

[colesey]

Minimal use and abuse I’m afraid…

[LC5F]

Minimal use and abuse I’m afraid…

Oh! - that's not great to hear - will source some spares

[colesey]

Sorry to be alarmist - the issue in my car was on one side and there is always the possibility that the mechanic did something wrong. Not a bad idea to buy a used arb though to stash away for a rainy day.

[LC5F]

Got round to doing the Intercooler this weekend.

Seems Off side front corner has had a light bump, the fog light was different and held in by wood screws, and the headlight washer had been damaged - cable tie wizard had done their magic:

Just leaving that as-is, its still working so no need to mess with it.

Bumper off I could see the condenser was in quite a state:

As everything was being replaced, when screws rounded out I just cut off the connection to remove the condenser, it really was totally goosed:

VCDS had been saying for months there was low pressure in the system, pleased that no gas came out when I cut into the pipes - service and re-gas booked for Wednesday.

Wrestling with the new Rad/intercooler/condenser set up I managed to forget to check that the 2 pegs at the bottom of the Intercooler were located in the slam panel - didn't find this out until after the bumper was on and I was wondering why the fans wouldn't spin freely... another go with front panel loose and it was in:


Cut and fit the boost hoses, replace the rusted screws under the bumper with Audi stainless ones.
A bit of time bleeding the coolant - managed to save about 75% - then onto a test drive.
Much better throttle response than before, feels like there is a bit more power too.
Mid-range acceleration was always good, but now its much improved.

[LC5F]

Update - managed to slip the timing belt and bend all 16 valves - covered in this thread:https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,131869.0.html
Currently the Golf is sat stripped.

I have been gathering parts, so far I have got timing belt kit & cam chain kit both INA. Head gasket set & bolts both Victor Reinz. invested in a used Laser timing kit and new injector remover/install kit.
TPS has been taking a lot of money off me too, only things left to get are the ceramic rings that seal the VVT wheel on the exhaust cam.
The machine shop ~I will be using cant take the head till the 16th - so I just have to keep cleaning and reviewing the parts - plus bone up on cam chain and timing belt installs on you tube.

Its funny that looking at the parts taken off has uncovered a few porkies the PO told me, stuff he claimed he had renewed within the last year of his ownership - claims of timing belt and PCV were true, but the cam chain and diverter valve were definitely old - diverter is Rev C!

Today I was preparing the turbo - during my recent downpipe replacement I (wisely) body swerved replacing the studs. But as its now fully accessible I had no excuse, took blow torch and double nut to get all 4 out cleanly. Afterwards I chased out with a tap - a lot of crud came out of the threads and the new studs installed:

After that photo I degreased all the grime off and turbo placed in the clean pile.

After converting to intake, the one thing that had been bugging me was the silly extended oil fill neck left from the engine cover:

Just looks daft!
Always thought it could be improved on...one of the YT videos was some dutch dudes doing a timing belt on an NA Audi A4, cam cover looked exactly like the Golf one, but oil cap was flush and it looked like it was alloy - after some searches on ebay I found it wasnt alloy (boo) - just plastic alloy - and it seemed to have plastic blocking the base of the filler.
Some googling and I found an old thread on here: https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8036.0
Heat gun out, heating the base of the tube and then some taps with a hammer later:

Oil cap is now flush & I can return back to extended neck if I want to - very pleased with this change