Hi all, i wanted to show you all my Edition 30 which has been a joy to own for the last 8 years. Here is my build thread.
Sit back and relax this will be a long one 😊, grab a snack and a coffee and enjoy.
BackgroundI bought it from a VW main dealer, and it had always been maintained at a very high standard. Never really had any issues with the car apart from general wear and tear. I had a few modifications on the car which made the car OEM+
R-Tech Stage 1 remap (301.5bhp & 310.93Ftlb)
5W 40 Oil
VW Racing panel filter
Bilstein B8 dampers
Eibach Sportline springs
Anthracite powder coated stock edition 30 wheels
Black VW badge
Red GTI front grill badge
Car felt strong and was always run on Shell V-power or Tesco 99. Last year 2019 I started to have some misfire type issues so done the normal thing and changed coil packs, spark plugs etc… which resolved it for a few months then in October 2019 after a spirited drive the car sounded absolutely awful. It was misfiring, spluttering and then on tick over a metallic knocking sound which if anyone has heard this before is terrifying when it’s your pride and joy.
Research / investigationCompleted a compression test on all four cylinders, not good news.
Not knowing at the time what had caused the issue I knew some sort of rebuild was needed and was not going to be cheap. I phoned around the local VW specialist garages and explained what had happened and shared the compression results. Some would not touch it and said a whole new engine would be needed at a cost of approx. £7K+ others recommended getting a used engine and fitting that which with labour would of cost approx. £4K - £5K. I certainly did not want a doner used engine as I knew the history of this BYD engine and knew how well it had been looked after.
I’m not going to lie it was a real low point for me with not knowing what to do or who to turn to for help. I firstly done some research myself on the rebuild process and then went on the search for a company which would rebuild my engine for me. I had a few pre-reqs on picking the right company and they were I wanted pictures done of the process, I wanted to be involved in the build process sourcing the right parts, being consulted with on each stage of the build and most importantly a company who would treat my car / engine like their own.
As you can imagine this ruled many companies out but I found this company called Diverse Rides.
https://www.diverserides.co.uk/ contact@diverserides.co.uk
07305710284
You know when you have found the right company when the person you are speaking too is a complete petrol head and knows all about the 2.0lTFSI engine 😊 I had a lengthy chat with Ian Tamkin the owner of Diverse Rides and explained to him what had happened etc… He recommended taking the head off and looking for signs of damage etc… so this was stage 1 of the rebuild.
Stage 1 – Find the damageThe spark plugs were removed to find this:
This meant there must have been some sort of damage to pistons / cylinder head as something had hit this plug, so the head was removed to find this:
Ian from Diverse Rides gave me some options using some of my pre-reqs I had already discussed. He gave me just a straightforward top end rebuild cost, new head, 1x piston etc… this would have been the cheaper / most cost-effective option. We discussed if I wanted to make the engine more efficient / reliable and what modifications were needed for this. I chose to make the engine more reliable and stronger, so this sort of thing does not happen again. I was happy to pay a little more knowing it would last and not have these issues again. Ian set out / recommended what parts were required to complete the job gave me a quote for labour then we set a date to move the Edition 30 to his premises to start work. I was so impressed with his knowledge & friendly approach I started to feel excited at the prospect of the ultimate GTI 😊
Stage 2 – RebuildThis is where it got very exciting, I got regular updates with pics on the progress and was informed of any parts which showed signs of wear to replace as part of the rebuild, as you can imagine with 93K miles a lot of the parts showed signs of wear so at each stage I was given the option to replace with OEM or upgrade to stronger Race spec performance parts. I liked having these options as it gave me a chance to think about what benefits this can have on the engine for the slight increase in cost. Happy to say that most of the choices I made was for the stronger performance parts, as I made the decision early on that this car was a keeper 😊
So below is the full spec of the uprated engine build:
New BYD Cylinder head
Cylinder bores increased by 0.5mm
Wossner 83mm forged Pistons & rings
Supertech Exhaust & Inlet valves
APR run flap delete kit
Uprated ARP Head & sump bolts
Autotech HPFP internals
R8 coilpacks
RS4 Pressure valve
Airtec Stage 2 Front mount intercooler
ACL bottom end shells
Helix Performance Clutch & Organic Plate
BCS 3" Downpipe
BCS 200 Cell Sports Cat
BCS Prestige Cat Back
PowerFlex lower engine mount
VW Racing Induction kit
These are all the shiny fun things, obviously as part of this build all the chains, belts & tensioners were replaced as well as any one time use clips, bolts etc….. This setup once run in and map tweaked by R-Tech should be good for 380+BHP.
Stage 3 – Running inCar was given a fresh MOT and an air con re-gas. Diverse Rides recommended running the engine in for 1000 miles with Millers running in oil. I was given a running in procedure to follow and was given strict instructions to keep the revs below 4K rpm 😊 Once the 1000 miles was complete Diverse Rides changed the oil, checked for any contaminants and completed an engine flush. Fresh 5W 40 Millers oil Fully synthetic oil replaced running in oil and I could now start to increase the rpm’s
Next steps is heading to Rtech for a map tweak to Stage 2 +, will update shortly
