Sunset Red 1.4 TSI(TFSI) GT Sport - daily drive & track car

[wipperman]

And a few updates, ladies and gentlemen...

I've decided the next mod  : rear view camera... so next up, I'll buy a RCD 510 with video input, Rear Badge and Camera and the necessary cables. After that, all what remains with the interior is to have the black GTI head lining.

And one slightly bigger update, I've bought a Porsche Cayman - Black Edition

It's a one of the latest naturally aspirated Cayman, manufactured in June 2016. Even if the discount was not quite massive compared to a similarly equipped brand new Cayman, I really wanted the NA as opposed to the Turbo engine. The car has 11k miles which is not much but still it doesn't make it a new car . The sound is truly awesome and, just like with the Golf, there is no plan of ever selling the car and I think I will enjoy the NA engine feeling much more than the actual power increase of the new 718 Cayman.

I will track the Porsche as well but I want to take it gradually and learn the car and not rush anything.
I already have the first mods in mind and I have to temper myself for the next few months, at least  .

The Cayman is pretty much the ideal configuration for me (I've been waiting a long time to find these specs):
- Adaptive Dampers (Porsche Active Suspension Management)
- Sport Chrono Package - includes the adaptive engine mounts, the analog watch (useless if you as me) and rev matching
- Sport Exhaust
- Limited Slip Diff (Porsche Torque Vectoring)
- Automatic climate control & seated seats (you will not believe how many Caymans have the regular air conditioning and normal seats)
All the rest are nice to haves:
- Bi-Xenon
- Partial Leather Package
- 20 inch rims
- Sat Nav
etc

Thanks for watching!
 

Hi Rex,

Long time no see (4 years today if not mistaken, time really flies) but I’m delighted to see the old beauty getting better and better each year , you definitely gave a soul to that car   

Extremely jealous to the new addition also, especially finding that specific (mechanical) configuration always seemed virtually impossible to me and I’m bluffed  , it really is the perfect match for you and definitely a keeper.  I hope we’ll have the chance to see it (here or elsewhere?) becoming  without a doubt  the 2.8 NA GT4 that Porsche never dared imagine could be done 

Don’t hesitate to give me a word when  you find yourself on that 20,832 km stretch of asphalt you know, I’m still over there as soon as I get a chance so would be a pleasure to have a (non alcoholic hopefully  ) drink sometime.

Best regards

[dannievo]

Such a fun built to watch, i started on page 1 but most of the older images dosen't work, Anywhere i can see all the pictures? :)

Keep up the amazing work!

[rex]

OFFTOPIC: Am I the only one having huge problems trying to access the site?
I get a lot of request timeouts recently and I can rarely access the site....

It's very good to have a RVC! Good mod! I'd still reinforce the red and yellow cables that come out of the camera because they tend to break with wear. Try to make sure they don't bend when the RVC leaves its resting position.

Great garage indeed!

Thanks for the tip and for the comment!

That Porsche tough....can't wait to see it. 

Hi Rex,

Long time no see (4 years today if not mistaken, time really flies) but I’m delighted to see the old beauty getting better and better each year , you definitely gave a soul to that car   

Extremely jealous to the new addition also, especially finding that specific (mechanical) configuration always seemed virtually impossible to me and I’m bluffed  , it really is the perfect match for you and definitely a keeper.  I hope we’ll have the chance to see it (here or elsewhere?) becoming  without a doubt  the 2.8 NA GT4 that Porsche never dared imagine could be done 

Don’t hesitate to give me a word when  you find yourself on that 20,832 km stretch of asphalt you know, I’m still over there as soon as I get a chance so would be a pleasure to have a (non alcoholic hopefully  ) drink sometime.

Best regards

OMG, long time indeed!
Have you seen the last years' best lap? What do you think / where could I improve the most?
I will be an Nurburgring with the Porsche  (and my wife) on July 21, 22 and maybe 23. If you can make it I would love to have a beer / drive, etc

Such a fun built to watch, i started on page 1 but most of the older images dosen't work, Anywhere i can see all the pictures? :)

Keep up the amazing work!

Thank you for your kind words! I am really happy to see other appreciate the car and the work that's put into it (except me, of course)
Yes, the old links don't work because of photobucket's stupid move. I have since then transferred all the photos on flickr but I did not manage to modify all the post to make the links work. I started with the latest pictures but a few weeks ago I changed the approach and I started modifying the first post as well. I stopped because the site was not working for me at all - I can rarely modify my posts because I get a lot of request timed out errors.
If the site is working I should be modifying all the post in about one month. So please stay tuned!

[wipperman]

OMG, long time indeed!
Have you seen the last years' best lap? What do you think / where could I improve the most?
I will be an Nurburgring with the Porsche  (and my wife) on July 21, 22 and maybe 23. If you can make it I would love to have a beer / drive, etc

Frankly, I mostly regard your Ring videos to keep learning myself, your consistency and “healthy” progression is equally entertaining and educative.  The last video is no exception and the place where I think you could improve in my humble opinion is the entry to the little Karussel where you seem to turn in a little early. Even if for a softer car this might be an alternative approach, in my eyes your suspension setup allows a more classical (=late, almost at the end of kerb) and aggressive (bump-wise) entry with less steering correction at the apex and especially better exit speed very useful for the given power level.  Anyway, as almost every other Ring geek I’m unquestionably better at analyzing others and I’m just an amateur driver so as always you should just trust your excellent instincts, have fun and keep it safe 

I’ll look out for July, unfortunately the chances aren’t that good for that specific WE but it certainly would be a pleasure to meet.


P.S. Just before the 981’s  EOP that I’ve anticipated and dismayed (regarding the transition to 4 pots turbo) I seriously considered and even had an offer with the exact mechanical configuration of your P-car    Finally I chose something more adapted to my needs but I was really delighted to see that specific virtual configuration becoming reality to someone as passionate as you 

[rex]

Thanks for the feedback!
For the little Karussel, for me, it makes no sense to have late entry because it is a longer distance. Because I have to stay on the inside a bit longer the speed is lower than a normal corner. I'll try that approach and see how it works. Thanks, again for the feedback!

Regarding the Porsche, I've been looking for 981 for a while now, but I always had other priorities. I've configured the 981 with almost identical features many times. In 2016 when Porsche decided to go for the 4Pot I was really disappointing that I could not buy the Cayman I liked. It turns out I could buy it, just not new. If the car you were considering was having the exact features as mine, I think there are quite big chances that it's the same one... There are very few base Caymans in Manual, with Sport Chrono and Mechanical Rear Diff, plus the aluminum window trim.

[rex]

Just got the car back from the dealer where it received a full respray (everything was repainted except the boot lid because I wanted to make sure I get the same color :) ). I also changed the windscreen, on headlight and a fog light. The reason I did all this was because the car was affected by a lot of stone chips and other small scratches.
Not it is scratch free and it looks like brand new 

First, some pictures taken by a friend of mine that works at the VW Dealer:




And some of mine, from home:

[rex]

Still waiting to buy the RNS 510 or RCD 510 (with videoin) and install the rear view camera.

Till that happens, I changed the dash cam. I previously had a Mio dash cam but it was very big and I could not use it and the interior mirror.
So I bought a Garmin Dash Cam 65W and below is the installation. I wanted to hide all wires and I routed the wires to the A pillar, behind the glove compartment and below the ashtray where I've added another 12V socket.







Here is the finished result:







I have to say that I LOVE working in my garage! I have plenty of space to open the doors to the maximum and the view is not that bad, either:



Cheers!

[Shoduchi]

Looks like new again! 

Great work on the dash cam. It's pretty stealth now.

[rex]

Thanks! 

[rex]

Ever since I bought the Porsche Cayman, the Golf has been a little bit neglected, but not forgotten  .
Today, I managed to get the car one step closer to my liking, I installed the Rear View Camera and the RNS 510  .

A few thoughts about this:
- I was really happy with the RCD 510 I previously had, but since I needed the video output, I decided to go for the RNS 510 (managed to find a late 2016 unit) and I have to say I am quite impressed... I love the way the navigation looks with the "Premium" skin and how fast it is.
- The drain tube provided in the kit was 3 cm too short, so I used another tube.
- In the install, you pretty much have to disassemble the whole car, but I was helped by a friend who's done tens of camera installs, so we were all done in about 4 hours).



















A big THANK YOU to @SteveP for this DIY
I am very, very happy with the results!
There are very few items still on the mod list:
- air quality sensor install
- GTI black headliner
- maybe a 2.0 TFSI engine (this will require more mods, like brakes, LSD, etc).

[Shoduchi]

Great mod! I love the aid my RVC gives. 

Personally I wouldn't care about the air quality sensor. Your nose is faster reacting to foul exterior smells, at least, that's what my friends who fitted it told me. Whenever I see smoke I use the manual button to recirculate the cabin air.

[rex]

Yes, I think you are right... But it bugs me that I see the sensor from time to time and I know I have some unfinished business  .
Any tips / tutorials for the sensor installation?

[rex]

Quite some time since I last wrote here... 
Well, I think it's justified since I did not have any interesting stories to tell, and especially no trackdays last year - this will change soon, I hope.
The Porsche got all the attention during the last year but certainly not all the love. I still like the Golf better but I have to admit, the Cayman is in a different league. In fact, by driving the Porsche I got to really hate the Golf's engine. I hated it so much (especially the sound) that I even thought of selling the replacing my Golf with a mk5 GTI or R32 but I soon came to my senses. So, I took an even worse (financially) decision: I want to keep my Golf and install a GTI engine (preferably ED30 ending and DSG).
So I am on the lookout for damaged, low mileage ED30, but with the kid coming and other expenses (bought a VW T-Cross for the wife and some other Porsche mods - bbk especially), I am not quite in a hurry.

Until I do the engine swap, I will enjoy the car as-is.
And since spring is here, I am well prepared to do so  : cleaned the car of all the winter's salt and put on the summer tires.









Thanks for watching! 

[rex]

Hello everyone! Next up: another track day update!
This time I will be talking about the Transilvania Motor Ring track day, held on the 10th of May.

First of all, a few works about the track... It was "released" late last year and because of some business travels I wasn't able to go there last year. It is a pretty interesting track, in my opinion more challenging and nicer that the other Romanian Track (yes, we have only 2 tracks in Romania  ). If we add up the fact that it's only 90 miles away from home it's very convenient also.

So, after 2 years of not tracking the Golf (I visited Hungaroring and Nurburgring with the Porsche last year), I was really eager for this track day. I setup the suspension to 10/10 (Bilstein has a 0-10 setup for both front and rear), changed the road tires and wheels with the Pilot Sport Cup 2's more than a week in advance. Unfortunately, this move did not prove to be very well thought... I arrived a the track early morning and it was raining  . It rained the whole night and the forecast said it would rain the whole day also. These, as you know, are not quite ideal conditions for a very hard suspension and semislick tires, not to mention the fact that the track was completely new to me.
Well, none the less, I decided to have some fun, and I have to say I enjoyed the car (a lot) once again.

In the wet, I got to better feel the balance of the car and I have to say it is exactly to my taste. I really love the way it behaves.
Here is a video with a friend of mine, in the wet, with a few oversteer moments - in ares where normally should be understeer (I am not even a bit on the brakes during those times) - minute 5:12 and minute 6:45
The car was super controllable and enjoyable.

But, and there is a big BUT, the engine is not doing the rest of the car any justice.
I am running out of patience and I really curious to see how much time passes until I swap for a 2.0 TFSI engine.
I had numerous missfires (on all cylinders) and I know for sure it's not the spark plugs or coils or the gasoline. These were really a pain in the ass and the car would eventually enter Limp Mode - ruining a lot of sessions. Actually all my sessions ended because of this...
I also got 1 random error for oil pressure and some lambda (oxygen) sensor problems causing me even more problems.
In between all these problems, like I said, I got to enjoy myself and to have some of my friends as passengers (so I would expect they also had a good time). BTW, there are 2 things that my friends say when I take them for a ride around a track:
1. All (literally all) of them say: "OMG, what brakes do you have? They are AMAZING!!!" DaveB, if you are still around here, thanks again!
2. About half of them urge me to "push the pedal to the metal". But then I tell them I am indeed WOT and they laugh and apologize 

So, returning to the story, at the end of my stay, the track began to dry out and I managed to do 2 more laps (before the Limp Mode kicked just before passing the finish line on my second lap). During these laps I managed to set my best time and this will serve as a baseline for future visits

One photo with the dirty car  (it was clean before going for the track)



Thanks for watching!
Any comments or ideas are appreciated!

P.S. Next up: Brake Updates for the Cayman

[Shoduchi]

Great track to have fun driving! I know if you can swap your engine with a CDL and tune it to stage 2+, you'll have much more fun. The car needs more grunt for those straights.

Great footage! I need to get a good camera stand and record my track days too.