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Author Topic: Pommes R32 BLOG  (Read 33665 times)

Offline pomme

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Pommes R32 BLOG
« on: April 14, 2009, 07:21:16 pm »
Hiya guys i know you wont like it with my car being a mk4 and not a gti but hey i hear your all nice guys and car enthusiasts, and you never know you may even take me to the dark side  :jumping:

When the R32 first came out I really really really wanted on, but as i was at uni it was never going to happen. But it put a seed in my head that meant when i had my summer and Easter holidays (you know how long these are for uni students, ahhh the days) i work as a scuba diving instructor at a local scuba diving school doing 70 hour weeks.

So with alot of hard work i was able to afford one. But i couldn’t just go out a buy one like that as it needed to be the right one for me. As i had previously owned a blue and a black car these were off the list. I also personally thought/think that silver cars arnt for me as they lack the depth and reflection in the paint. So that meant that i could only get a tornado red one. I found out that of the 2391 made for the uk these are the amount of each colour made:

Diamond Black Pearl Effect = 755
Reflex Silver Metallic = 615
Deep Blue Pearl Effect = 813
Moonlight Blue Pearl Effect = 57
Tornado Red = 44
Indigo Blue Pearl Effect = 76
Grey Anthracite Pearl Effect = 31

So i had to find one of 44 cars for sale in the uk just a year after it was bought (because the extra four colours moonlight blue pearl effect, tornado red, indigo blue pearl effect and grey anthracite pearl effect) were only allowed to be ordered in the last six months of production.

Now as i had previously had a 3 door and 5 door car, i couldn’t live with going back to a three door as a daily driver where i have loads of people in the car. So it had to be a 5 door for me. I also learnt that 1 in 5 cars coming into the uk was a 5 door. So this meant that there were around 8 perfect R32s for me.

So the search was on after working out exactly what i wanted to buy (obviously having had a look at the other contenders for me such as mk1 tt, M3, mkv gti). Luckily i came across what i wanted at Listers Volkswagen in Coventry. So i went up to test out the car, only to find out that the car had already had some nice mods done. They were some Millie Miglia 19” alloys, AMD stage 2 remap, Milltek exhaust, rear drop down screen and 6 disc dvd changer. So as you can probably guess i shook the dealers hands pretty quickly and drove away with my new car.




And pretty much things stayed the same for a year, well except i changed the front grill to a mesh styled one:


But as you can see from the pic the fitment wasn’t exactly up to OEM spec so it was removed pretty sharpish. I then added the carcatere rear boot blend:



Along with me starting my wheel obsession. I ordered up some Ronal wheels:



The exhaust on the car was the Milltek straight through which i absolutely loved when i got the car, nice and loud   . But as i lived in small Cornish village i did get conscious of people hearing the car from a couple of miles away. I also started to get some hesitation between 2-3k so i book myself into AMD and went for a day trip to get the exhaust changed back to a silenced version as well as the new stage 2 map which incorporated the VW 6463 update. Whilst there i was also talked into upgrading the front and rear anti roll bars some H&R ones which were 25mm front and 21mm rear. So i left with a quieter, better handling and smoother ride.

It was around this time i started to visit a few forums in the UK such as Tyresmoke and UKMKIVS. On the latter i managed to find my third set of wheels, a lovely set of BBS LM 147 19x8.5 et25:








As you also may notice i had the Red BBS caps imported from America as they were not available in this country. I also had the grill and side mirrors changed to matt black, along with the Seat Cupra R lower lip.

The next mod was to add a little bass to the lacklustre stock setup. Luckily i found a top installed in the Truro area called Anthony Ewart who had a ST200 mondeo built to a very high spec and used to frequent lots on car audio shows in the uk and Europe.

We decided to install some JL Audio ZR650s in the front and rear run off a JL Audio 300/4 along with a 10w3 run off a JL Audio 250/1, along with a phatnoise to store my tunes to go with the MFD unit i had already in the car.






Now it was time for GTI International 2006, where i had the following run:

 

A fun run against another TR  :laugh:




Along with a great drive home...................to all those that were there  :smiley:  :smiley: :happy2:



After Inters i came across a great deal on a set of KW V2s which i couldn’t pass up so snapped them up and got them installed at the same time as a EIP cold air intake, a EIP short shifter, and the Tyrol brake stiffening kit.
The rest of the year was pretty bland and nothing really happened except i managed to clip a boulder lying in the road and dent one of the lips on my LMs..............doh cry time.

This meant i had another set of wheels on:



And this is how they came back  :grin:




When the wheels were off i also decided that the stock breaks were getting low so i decided to get the ECS 2 piece fronts and stage 1 rear from the TT Shop.
At the beginning of 2007 i was in the need of alot more power. I thought long and hard about which way to go, NA or FI. For me i always wanted more then 300-320 break which is the most i had heard was to be got from NA. So it was forced induction but then it was the choice between Turbo and Supercharger. As im not someone to drive my car hard all the time i wanted something to be able to cruise around with but then also be able to open the taps when i wanted. So i looked a few kits and the reliability factor. Here is the companies i looked at and my thought s about them:

HGP/HPA – very good kits, very reliable with great feedback but out of my price range.
VF – very good kits if you don’t want too much power as the stage 3 and 4 really suffered from bad reliability like belt slip. So these were out after having a long chat with tom about his stage 4.
Storm – storm had just done one of the rotrex charges and the though of it did sound very nice but then as it was an unproven kit i steered clear.
EIP – at the time when i was looking there was a lot of positive things coming out of various places about the eip kits. Was supposedly reliable, well built (i already had the cai and ss and was very happy with these) and a reasonable price.
So i had chosen which kit i wanted and was in the process of doing more research into the kit. I found out that Steven (R32 turbo no more) was selling his stage 2 turbo kit. So after speaking to him further and him convincing me into buying the kit, we agreed on a price and a time frame for them to get me the kit. A cheque was sent off and Steven took his car to EIP to have the kit removed. Basically there was a time frame to do it because i wanted RK Engineering RK Engineering - Cornwall's Premier V.A.G. Specialists to have enough time to adapt the LHD kit for my RHD car. But unfortunately EIP being who they were they took ages to do this, along with various stupid things happening. These were that i and both Steven were told that the kit was all finally off the car so shipping was paid. But when i received the kit it was missing the ECU chip. So a phone call to EIP only to find out it was all the kit except the chip being redone for the UK market. I had the kit but was useless without the chip so i had to pay for more shipping  :scared:.

Well as soon as the kit had been shipping out Steven wrote a big thread on his experiences with EIP, which can be found here: EIPSUCKS.com - European Import Performance - Performance Tuning, Inc. - EIP Tuning, Inc, 1203 Baltimore Blvd. Westminster MD. 21157 - Advisory - Now Called: IAG, IAG Performance, Integrity Auto Group
And i was very annoyed to hear all of this as Steven did know a lot of the facts before he sold and sent me the kit so was blatantly lying to me to get the sale. For this i do still feel a little aggrieved that he did this to me as he was just passing his loss onto me. I spoke to Steven about this but he said there could be no refund and as the kit was fine on his car it would be on mine. Stupidly i did believe him and the kit was installed onto my car by RK Engineering with the boys working their magic and converting the kit to work on my car. The downpipe had to be completely remade and they did amazingly as at the time there was no other RHD R32 with a EIP turbo which kept the air con. The clutch was also changed over to a EIP stage 3+ with lwfw.

Offline pomme

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2009, 07:22:32 pm »
After the kit was installed along with the EIP cat back system, the car was turned and that first drive was amazing. Such a rush driving a small hatchback with that many BHP, but problems with the map started to be noticed. These were that the idle jumping all over the place from 800 up to 1200 along with the accelerator not being progressive, when you pressed it 1/3 the car would build boost brilliantly and fly, press it a bit more and it would bog down, so press it a bit more and it would fly again, and then pressing it to the floor it would bog again ??????? crazy. Let alone that i was constantly getting the same two codes over and over again:

1 – MAF sensor reading too high.
2 –

So i knew that the problem didn’t really lie with the EIP kit but the mapping itself so this needed to be changed asap.
Whilst trying to find someone in the uk to remap the car i went to a local car show – VW Jamboree in Stithiens Cornwall and had these pics taken of the car.









Car was washed, a layer of megs no 7 covered with Jetseal, and followed by a layer of orange crush Dodo wax, then a layer of Concours the next day.

After the show a group of us decided to drive over to Newquay as it was a lush day and check out the talent. On the way back i had a little fun with a M3 but this did cause a rather negative effect on my engine. Basically because of either the rubbish iridium spark plugs i was using or the EIP mapping, the tip of the spark plug came off and went down the bore of cylinder 3 scratching it all up.

Yes im sure you can guess how i felt. I did really feel like giving up and selling up and just buying a practical stock RS4 or the like. But then i found i was just too enthusiastic about the R32 to be able to do this. So i continued to search out someone who could map the car properly and search for a new engine. Luckily the latter was the easy bit and i managed to find one out of a old EIP turbo car which had bent a rod lol. At this time i also started to speak to Ronald from the VR6 Specialist Autobedrijf VR6Specialist and instead of getting him just to do a custom map on the car i decided to go stage 3 at the same time lol. So rods and pistons were ordered up instead of the stupid head gasket, along with a few extras from Ronald in the stage 3 kit like fuel pump, injectors, large maf  and best of all a larger Turbo. The nice thing about the Garrett T60-1 is that it is water cooled as well as oil cooled.



The kit was all rebuilt by RK Engineering with them adding a few extras like a Blitz SBC Boost controller, the nice thing about this is it shows not just the boost but also the oil temp, fuel pressure and various others.

When i had the car up and running previously one of the problems i found with driving it was that it was that quick the car was faster then me and i would have to be changing the gears so often. I started to look at the HGP/HPA longer gears but found out that these are basically just the final drive ratios of a 6 speed TDI DRW gearbox. Having a search on ebay revealed the box i needed just up the road for £120. So the box was got and taken to RK Engineering to do this conversion as well. Along with the addition of a few different gauges with the help of SWG VW Accessories & Styling , Worldwide Mailorder pods and jimmy for the install.




I got the car back. First of the initial shock that the turbo actually fitted in their – amazing. Then after turning the key you notice straight away that the idle stays completely flat at 1k with no movement or rumbles from the car like its going stall, and the drive wow its amazing so quick at only 1.2 bar and the accelerator was so progressive. The gearing was also very pleasing in that i was worried about the loss of torque with the longer gears but i had nothing to be worried about, and then first time out on the track they have at RK i was amazed that i would of been able to break the national speed limit of 70 in second gear. The car was just set up so nicely and the longer gears were the perfect match for the car.

A few weeks later when i took a friend, John, I noticed that the break were just not up for the job and a new set was needed. Now alot of people choose the ECS stage 5 kit, but i wanted to be slightly different and also keep them vag. So i ended up ordering the RS4/RS6 front conversion kit from the TT Shop.
http://www.thettshop.com/images/products/600521.jpg
The kit consists of:

-2x RS4/6 '8 Pot' calipers
-2x RS4 365mm x 34mm discs
-Pack of Audi STD pads, 4 pads per caliper!
-2x black anodised caliper mounting brackets
-2x 5x100 anodised black disc mounting bells
-Braided brake lines with all fittings

The calipers are designed to stop cars twice the weight of the MK4 Golf so you can imagine how awesome they are on the R32!!!
But unfortunately this also meant that the BBS LMs had to find a new home as there was no way the calipers were going to fit behind the spokes. So to keep the RS4 look i picked up a set of RS4 19” reps.









I decided to take the car to Antony Ewert again. This time was to install a Alpine W505, a Alpine H701 processor, PG DD10, JL Audio 300/4 300/2 and 1000/1, 2 JL Audio 8W7s, and added to the ZR650s in the front some ZR525s to the kicks to make it three way.





Whilst there i also got Antony to build my micro go into the ash tray and a video selector into the armrest:


« Last Edit: April 14, 2009, 07:34:16 pm by pomme »

Offline pomme

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2009, 07:25:00 pm »
I then decided to add a water/methanol kit from Snow Performance. The stock windscreen wash bottle was used for this and a new one was added in the bumper on the passenger side with a nozzle going up beside the battery.





You may also noticed that i got the Jay Caps  :smiley:
I luckily managed to meet up with a lot of local R32 owners from R32OC on one of their monthly meets in Dartmoor:








As you can see not much room for a bigger turbo lol/
After not being completely happy with the RS4 wheels it was time for a change to some 19” OZ ultraleggeras rapped in Toyo R888s:




Now the change (loss) in rotational mass made a huge difference to the acceleration as they weighed less than 2/3 the weight of a stock alloy. The R888s are amazing tyres and give amazing grip in the dry and are up to the job in the wet as well when warmed up, but take a different car if there is standing water as these tyres do like to aquaplane.

The day before GTI International I left at 12.30 in the morning from Windsor to drive over to faulkstone to get the 3am train over to France. Arrived in France and started the drive through France, then Belgium and then Holland. Arrived at the VR6 Specialist after a hell of a drive, and left then with the car and went and got some breakfast and a large large coffee    . After a few phone calls from Ronald with a few things about the car, ie leaking turbo oil drain line which needed changing and a faulty o2 sensor. So i went and did a bit of shopping and then had some kroket (spelling?) and chips with frits sauce which is def the best mayo ive ever had and have always wanted to try some more after living in Holland for a few years when i was a kid. Went back to the VR6 Specialist and me and Ronald went for a drive.

Ronald - 'okay put it in fourth and cruise under 2k of revs, and when i say go floor it up to the redline'

Me - 'Okay, you know this has the longer gears'

Ronald - 'yeah it will be fine'

Me - 'Okay'

Ronald - 'Go'

Ronald - 'Oh sh*t i think we better slow down'

Basically the car will go up to 130+ in fourth and it was a bit fast down the Dutch country lanes, lol.

Ronald - 'Okay i think we better do it in second'

Me - 'Yeah i think that would be best' (thinking thank god).

So after a little play and trip into Germany, the mapping was done and i started the epic journey back, and finally arrived back in Windsor at around 3am after and epic drive through 5 countries in one day, doh!









VR6Specialist - Tuning

I was up the next morning early to head up to inters where unfortunately the car was not running properly down the strip, something seemed to be holding the car back.. But here are the aftermath pics:



Basically the O2 sensor disintegrated and flew into the turbo, blocked itself in their (that’s why she wasn’t running right a sensor in the turbo is never going to get you good times  :scared:) blowing the shaft up :( :( :(
So the turbo was rebuilt by RK Engineering and delivered back up to me in Windsor afterwards (cheers Jeremy) along with a few extra bits like lower strut braces and rear adjustable tie bars.
A few weeks later there was a meet arranged for the SW lot of R32OC but because of some unfortunate circumstances only two cars, mine and Vealige (Ian) could go:






Bam was coming down to the garage i use (RK Engineering in St. Agnes Cornwall Tel:01872553839) to pick up his gearbox. We finally met up after i gave a few wrong directions doh, and headed down tot he garage where Bam met Simon and sorted out a few things. Then we all chatted and had a good look around each others cars, and i got to say the HGP system does look very very nice! So Bams new gearbox has had the longer gears put in, so now he should be able to go:

1st - 42mph (around there)
2nd - 72mph (if you were being naughty you can break the motorway speed limit in 2nd gear!!!!!!)
3rd - 105mph
4th - 142mph
5th - 175mph
6th - 205mph

We then had a play in each others cars, mine was up first. I drove for a bit and showed Bam through the longer gears a bit and he seemed really really impressed and couldnt wait to get his new gearbox in this week. I then gave her some beans, which because of the cluth not being bled 100% it was very very soft and this did hamper the driving a bit. Bam then had a go and did seem very very impressed with the car and the punch in the back you get when you hit 3k (ill let Bam explain what he thought about it)

Next up was Bams car, he kindly let me drive it. And first off it seemed very very weird as all the sounds and things were different. We let the car warm up first and then Bam was begging me to give her the beans, as he had never been a passenger in his car with someone driving like i was  . I was very very impressed witht he smoothness of the car and just amazing there there is no lag and no hit in the back but just pulled from 2k all the way up to 7k  yes that was so so so fun, cheers Bam 

Because of truro saturday traffic we headed off downt he back roads to get Bam on his way back up to London. And becuase of Bam saying how beautiful Cornwall was i thought we would stop in and show Bam a view that would blow his mind, so we stopped and took some pics (sorry about the rubbish iphone pics  , its def time to invest in a decent camera) but here are the best:

Sorry about the cars being dirty but me and Bam were having alot of fun and the wheels did take a battering with the break dust 

As for with car/system is best its very very hard to compare the two as both of them are just brutal. The HGP system just feels like a NA car which is very very quick and the turbo sound is the only thing that gives it away, as mine is a little more like a car crashing into the back of you chucking you forward. Which would i buy now if i was to do it all again, it would be HGP but thats the only one on sale now :wink:






« Last Edit: April 14, 2009, 07:36:31 pm by pomme »

Offline pomme

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2009, 07:26:14 pm »
As you may notice i had changed the wheels again over to the stock ones with a twist of having back painted black and the faces diamond cut.

But i really didn’t like this look so some Porsche ones were picked up:










They are Porsche 18x7.5 et52 up front and 18x9 et50 in the rear with a 30mm adapter and 215 tyres up front and 20mm adapter and 225 tyres in the rear (would probably be better with a 25mm adapter). They have a polished lip but unfortunately i hadn’t managed to give them a clean for the last week except for the lip which i had wiped over to protect it, but otherwise the bbk was doing its damage :(

Well as you all know im pretty mad in that i put on a set of alloys and then around the 3-6 months later i change them. The longest ones i have had on were the LMs which i had for around 18months. Well i had the Porsche ones on for a few weeks but becuase of the winter weather and the hassle of trying to keep them clean, i took them off after two weeks.



Then i found out Simon from RK Engineering was going to sell his BBS CHs so i tried them on and yes the 18s fitted over the brakes yey. So i went and picked them up yesturday, they are not in the best condition but i just want to make sure i properly like them before i get them refurbd. Well i was out on the moors today and took some shots:
















Next up was a trip to AP Motors for a Rolling Road Day. Here is the vid of the car on the rollers:




21032009059.flv video by vealige - Photobucket



The car was spinning on the rollers so i need better tyres on for next time and i need to sort out he water/methanol kit properly so i don’t quench it up to as boost power and torque was at 5k lol
I saw a few threads regarding using the bottom grill from the bumper and make a front grill from it. I read up a bit about his both on vwvortex and on r32oc and i decided to use ideas from a few different people.







I half made this grill myself and then took it to the painter for the primer and paint (i hat sanding lol) and i think it came out pretty well :)
Now im sure there is loads i have missed out which im sure people will let me know what. But ive still got loads planned for the car and ill keep this blog updated as i go :)

Ps sorry i hope it wasn’t too boring a read :)
« Last Edit: April 14, 2009, 07:39:16 pm by pomme »

Offline MAT ED30

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2009, 07:42:22 pm »
its about time you showed up  :signLOL:

Mods yes but way too many to stick in this little box

Offline QD MBE

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2009, 07:49:10 pm »
Fook Me old tall hat, that was a quality read!  Great car, and the vid of the RR!  Lot of work gone into that, as an aside, an old work colleague had a Grey Anth R32, long gone now though, sold it back to the dealer.

Great read!  and the whells look fantastic (CH's)

 :happy2: :happy2:

Offline VC

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2009, 07:52:14 pm »
dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood  :jumpmove:

excellent write up, bout time you cobbled something like this together  :drinking:

anthony's starting my audio this week too  :party:

Phil Mcavity

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2009, 08:19:41 pm »
Simply awesome,almost puts other project threads to shame. Great car and Welcome :happy2:

Offline luca

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2009, 08:24:27 pm »
Welcome pomme :happy2:
Awesome car and writeup. Must be an animal on the road :driver:

Tornado red ED30, Revo stage 2, ITG Panel filter, 3" Blueflame turbo back exhaust, leon cupra front brakes, ecs dogbone mount, WALK kit, Eibach sportlines, Satin black Monza II's, VWR/sachs paddle clutch

Offline keith

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2009, 09:26:40 pm »
Great read pomme, I nearly bought a T/R R32 before the edition30, Its on my list of cars I am gonna buy Its narrowly ahead of the grey.All the way thru I am saying plse put on BBS CH's  :happy2: very nice car mate.

Offline john_o

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2009, 09:52:48 pm »
absolutely awesome writeup pomme  :happy2:
500 bhp oh yeah  :driver:
thanks for writing it all up.

the question is would you go mk5 R32 turbo route if you could?
Red ED35 5dr DSG
DEFI boost guage / RTech Stg1 Engine/DSG / PPMk7 front brakes
BLOG | BUILD

Offline Moschops

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2009, 10:21:24 pm »
Hi and Welcome,  :driver:

Nice write up too... :happy2:

Cheers,

Wayne


Offline prepree

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2009, 10:25:18 pm »
wow what a read, impressive stuff
WHEEL PORN!!!

Offline VC

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2009, 10:37:52 pm »
i think there's a few sets of rims missing from the pix?

my fav of the bunch though:


Offline vwrascal

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Re: Pommes R32 BLOG
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2009, 10:55:46 pm »
great write up pomme, wot a BEAST  :happy2: , loved the bbs lm's    :drool:   tornado red = best colour too    :jumpmove: