Oli's '97 5 Door VR6 Journal

[Therusterman 59]

Been a member on here a few months now, and thought it was time to get a journal started. My first car was a humble mk3 1.4 Ryder, totally poverty spec, but i loved that car, moved on from this to a 1.8 Driver which I had for a couple of years and went down the euro route with that...something i'm glad i got out of my system now. Then moved into the BMW fold and had an E46, then a E36, the later which i cherished and caught the oem/detailing bug on.

Which brings me to where I am now. I picked up my VR at the end of last summer. I'd wanted one ever since i had my first golf, but insurance was always too unreasonable to justify getting one, plus there were a few other worries I had on owning one, like the poor fuel consumption, rust, could i still service it myself? Then I went to look at one..............and the noise! That just made all my worry's suddenly go away.

Driving the VR back from when I picked it up was definitely one i remember, the effortless cruise down the M1, and having the power on tap like i'd never had before.

This is pretty much how it looked when I picked it up bar the exhaust;

I apologise now, there isn't a great deal of pictures of the work that's been done up until now, i've been more focused on the job in hand!

Within the first few weeks of ownership I got used to the car, replacing missing trim clips and fixings here and there, and binned off the crappy tax disc holder in favor for one from my local VW dealer.

Now, i'm not one to stray too far in terms of modifying my cars, I prefer to leave them as the manufacturers made them. My concept is what ever enhancements I make, at a glance or an untrained eye you wouldn't set it apart from any other mk3 golf-almost as if it was meant to look that way. An acid test I use is if the guys at work don't notice any changes, its within my tolerances!

So first thing was to address the ride height. I'm not talking about dragging the belly of the car across the asphalt or catching it on the camber of the road. i still want a practical car. What i mean is a subtle reduction in the arch gap. Cue some 'Rokkor' 20mm lowering springs, these reduced the gap, but highlighted a number of deficiency's in the suspension components.

In for a penny in for a pound right?! So, a set of Bilstein B4 dampers were ordered, top mounts, wishbones, arb drop links, track rods and bump stops. That was a fun few days, especially the bit when I had to remove the sump to get to the drivers wishbone and rounded a sump bolt! 8o|

After a 4WA the car felt much more stable on the road, even though the ride was a little harsh.

Then I spent a while trying to cure a misfire at low revs under load. So, new coilpack, misfire still there, decide to order new plugs and leads. Guess what, go to fit them and find a HT lead loose on cylinder 5.....yup i know should of checked! At least that was something else checked off the list of things prone to going wrong.

Ever since I got the car the boot still stunk of wet dog, despite been wet vac'd, so I replaced the wheel well carpets, boot mat and parcel shelf, this has got rid of the worst of it finally.

While I had my attention on the interior I found myself yearning for a Recaro interior. One was duely found and supplied by Caddyslammed on here after his car met an untimely end.

By now spring was around the corner. I'd decided rather than swapping winter and summer tyre's twice a year, i'd get a set of summer wheels. I found a set of Solitudes locally as a summer wheel which needed refurbishing. Unfortunately on the way over to collect them this happened;

Courtesy of this

Ended up driving home with one of the scabby solitudes, not a fun thing to change on a wet cold friday night!

The solitudes were refurbished at a local place called BJV Engineering, did a decent enough job on the refurb, but the attitude of some of their staff left a lot to be desired.

The next job caused a few months of issues. This was the exhaust. The original one was rotten;

Essentially, i bought a 2nd hand one of unknown make, which after much messing around never fit right on the car and around the cat. In the end I took the plunge and just ordered a new Milltek system after trying to get a used one off eBay, of which one popped up a few days after i received the new exhaust.

The Milltek fitted sooooo much better and i'm much more happy with the sound. Toying with the idea of getting a 6 branch and decat, but still undecided if this is the direction I want to take the car in.

The next major job to tackle was the timing chains and a cooling system overhaul. I could go on and on and on about this, but in summary the job cost be around £650 in parts, all genuine VW and a LUK clutch and took 7 days solid work. I booked a tour of duty off work and working on the car felt like a full time job in its place! Glad I did it myself as the labour quotes i was getting were upwards of £800.

And relax...

Whilst I had the car apart i also fitted some Eibach Pro springs, these have complimented the Bilstein shocks perfectly giving a much more compliant ride compared to the Rokkor offerings.

That just about brings me up to date with the car. I've missed out some of the finer points of minor services. Future plans in the pipeline are to fit a highline gear knob that i'm in the middle of refinishing and puddle lights in the front doors. Also got a new (old) cd player on the way thats more in keeping with the dash and the era of the car, along with some sound deadening to go under the rear bench. Also trying to source a highline handbrake console for a reasonable price, and possibly retrofit some bonnet lifters to the bonnet.

If you got this far hope this was a mildly interesting read, and i promise more pictures in future updates!

[VR6Pete 1,455]

Welcome to the club mate, what a thoroughly enjoyable thread to read!

That noise is very hypnotising and something that never fails to cheer me up, it looks like you have tackled most of the big jobs, bet it runs real smooth now

The VR is a great engine to work on, I have to say.

Got a clean looking car there mate, I have to say, looking forward to seeing it around, are you planning coming to any of our events?

Keep up the good work, and please do keep those updates coming

[rosco 0]

Great post, very interesting read. Makes me wish I still had my mk3. Started off with the 1600 before getting the V6 shame the boys in blue like the look of it as much as I did....

Great looking car. Enjoy

[Therusterman 59]

Right, got a few things on the agenda. No photos in this update at the minute i'm afraid though!

Managed to locate the peice of under body trim by the rear bumper after a chance find on eBay. Still working on the highline wooden gearknob. I used some clear wood varnish but the finish was very soft and milky, looking for a better lacquer to protect it.

Also received another cd player in the post today. Went for an old skool Sony head unit which is much more in keeping with the era of the car. Ideally i'd like to retrofit the Nokia dsp audio system, but can't seem to find them over here, only in Germany. Someone please point me in the direction of the setup if you see it though

Plan on sound proofing under the rear bench still, waiting for some more dynamat after I stupidly threw the box away with it still in there. And i'm also still trying to secure a highline centre console, i've let 3 slip through my fingers now!

Will have my days off from work next week so stay tuned for some more updates then. I'll be at Gti International tomorrow so hope to see some of you guys there then, i'll be on the club stand

[richierich37 236]

Awesome wee read dude, thanks, keep it up :-)

[Therusterman 59]

Update time, this time with pictures!

Finally sourced a highline handbrake surround, and i also finished restoring the highline gear knob. Fitted them both yesterday, took all of 15 minutes. Handbrake feels much easier to operate, does the highline handbrake mechanism differ to a regular mk3 one?

Also received some more Dynamat a couple of weeks ago. This was fitted on a nice hot afternoon which made it much more easier to mould around the contours of the bodywork. Noticed some reduction in the resonance from the Milltek.

Regarding the CD player, the one I won on eBay didn't have a cage or fascia surround. No big deal I thought, i'll order some of those. Sourced a new cage, but can I get the surround anywhere? Answer: No. So I've now ordered another CD player, of the same model, just for the fascia! That said, the amount I won it for on eBay, is more than likely the amount a new fascia would of cost anyway. The way I see it I'll have a spare in case one of them breaks.

Today I took the car over to the local Kwik Fit centre to have the air conditioning re gassed, since when I did the timing chains the system was drained down. I booked this online to take advantage of a £20 saving, which I then spent on an additional cleansing service. As most people seem to be, I was a little dubious of handing my keys over for my pride and joy, but, to be fair to them everything went smoothly. The service took a little over an hour, which is about what they said, and they kept me informed with how the service was getting on. I'm pleased I had the system cleanse done, as a fair amount of moisture and dead bugs :S were extracted.

Now I've got nice cold air conditioning, better than it has been, and no more damp smelling air after I've used it. So Kwik Fit Amersham get the thumbs up from me for getting this item serviced. Total cost was £69.99, plus they gave me a load of vouchers on other services they offer.

On a side note, with all this hot weather we're having, its nice to see all stages of the cooling fans working properly and hearing the aux water pump do its thing.

Some other new additions I've ordered over the past couple of days include a highline badge set which I got for a very good deal on eBay. (All 3, for less than the price of a rear badge from most sellers.) Reason I've opted for this as the rear VW badge looks a lot cleaner and my rear vr6 badge has gone AWOL. And I just think the highline badges look cleaner. However, on car insurance sites, the car does come up as a highline when I put the registration number in?!

Whilst on the bay of E, saw a Fischer CD holder going for a very keen price, so that was duely snapped up as well.

Suppose I'm only missing the black headlining, leather and a,b,c pillars and it's a higline right?! Unless the Recaro option was ticked

Talking of car insurance sites, had my renewal come through a few weeks ago. Gave Aviva a call to double check the alarm was shown on the policy (which it wasn't) and they kindly offered to reduce the premium if I chose to stay with them. Thought it'd be rude not to have a scout around a couple of price comparison sites...needless to say I was back on the phone to them to renew the policy. Only company to come close was Zurich, who wanted a huge excess. Aviva, you know how to look after your existing customers.

Also appears I've neglected to mention one other addition since I got the car, that's the Recaro interior! This was sourced from Caddyslammed after his car met an untimely end, what a shame it was to see his car after it had been in a ditch. I got the rear seats with head rests included, and all the bolsters are in perfect condition.

Future plans are to get the puddle lights retrofitted into the front door cards, and thinking about getting some paint done at some point. The corners of the front bumper has some battle scars, as does the rear bumper, plus a couple of small areas of rust bubbling starting to come through.

I'll leave it at that for tonight, here's how the car currently sits with its summer shoes on;

[Therusterman 59]

MOT Time!

Took the VR for an MOT last week, failed on a leaky cv gaitor :-( I knew the off side outer was leaking a little bit as there was bits of cv grease spattered about. Got a new boot that same morning, and spent most of the day fitting it. Struggled mainly getting the hub off the driveshaft, it just didn't want to come off! In the end I sprayed on some WD40 onto the splined part of the driveshaft and left it to soak for a couple of hours or so, then put the hub nut back on and managed to hammer the driveshaft free. Getting the CV joint off the driveshaft took a little head scratching, in the end I used a slide hammer clamped onto the hub nut and it popped off without much trouble.

Having had the suspension components apart so many times, putting everything back together only took about 20 minutes, just wish it all came apart as easily!

I noticed whilst I was down there the rubber boot on the anti roll bar droplink had split (probably from when I replaced it.) So popped a new Lemforder replacement on there yesterday. To stop the rubber boot splitting this time I lubricated it a little so when the threaded part was wound into the anti-roll bar, the rubber boot didn't spin and split again.

One thing I did notice when removing the hub was a small amount of play in the wheel bearing. Unsure if there should be any slack in it, will keep an ear out for any noise from it.

Other maintenance items have included replacing the N80, or evaporator purge valve from the carbon canister. My code reader flagged this up a couple of times. Ordered a Bosch replacement from China (I know its probably a replica) but the code hasn't reappeared since. Was a simple fix and only involved removing the air box and disconnecting some vacuum pipes.

Another code that also kept appearing was P0527. When I checked my fault code book this was coming up with intake air temperature sensor, replaced it and guess what, still getting the same code. Looked further into it, and the code also appears to relate to the fan speed sensor. Managed to win an new genuine unit on the eBay, so this should resolve the code. I'm sure there is a way to test if this is working properly so i'll try that and hopefully this part is the culprit, then no more error codes!

[yakuza racer 16]

carbon canister -  i wouldn't worry about that mate... i removed mine completely...

 

looking forward to some more updates!

[Therusterman 59]

Thanks Yakuza.

 

Today I got round to fitting the black a/b/c pillars i've had in the garage for a couple of months. Took about 2 1/2 hours with lunch, and i've got sore hands now, but very pleased with the result.

 

Ready to go in:

 

 

And all done:

 

 

I've been toying with having a black headliner, sunvisors and grab handles, bit think i'll leave these alone for the time been. Got another little project i'm working on for the interior too.

 

Also fixed a coolant leak i'd had since I did the timing chains. It was only after a long motorway trip I noticed how much the coolant level had dropped (about half way down the reservoir) that I thought I should really sort it out.

 

This involved getting the thermostat housing off, as I knew the leak was coming from underneath it somewhere. Got the housing off and took it apart. Guess who put the sealing ring the wrong side of the thermostat This also showed traces of coolant leaking which also tallied up with where the leak was originating from. Put the seal in the correct side of the housing with plenty of sealent and no more leaks

 

Also noticed some weaping from the 3 sensors in the front of the thermostat housing so replaced the seals with new ones which seemed much plumper and seal nicely now.

 

Got the car booked in tomorrow for a Terraclean service. Been reading lots into this so i've taken the plunge. I'll report back tomorrow and let you all know what I think.

[djiceman 131]

Stunning mate, I'm after black a/b/c pillars and roof lining, looks a lot fresher.

[Lukey. 381]

You won't find a black roof lining they never made them, you have to DIY it.

[djiceman 131]

Thanks for that bro.

[Therusterman 59]

You won't find a black roof lining they never made them, you have to DIY it.

 

Was starting to think that, had an incling the colour concept's or the anniversary model had them. Happy enough with the black plastics now anyway.

 

Had the car Terracleaned on friday. To cut a long story short I would say its worth doing. Brings emmissions back down, biggest difference i've noticed is the engine feels much more eager and quieter when driving and feels like it wants to go more. £100 Well spent in my opinion.

 

If you are looking to get this done, you will have to contact Terraclean UK yourselves for them to provide you with the details of your local franchise. Apparently they do it this way so that work is fairly distributed between the franshises.

 

Noticed when I was doing my weekly checks on the car one of the fog light lamps had stopped working, popped it out to find the element blown. Headed to the local Halfords armed with the trade card and picked a new one up for just over £1, fitted and working again now

 

[Lukey. 381]

You can either retrim with something fancy like suede effect etc using high strength glue with a bit of work or dye the original material very easily on the liner with great result

 

[djiceman 131]

I like that a lot lukey, is there a HOW TO for it anywhere or any advice on how you did it?

[Lukey. 381]

If you want to see how I did it look on page 6 of my thread

[Therusterman 59]

Small update. When I replaced the fog light bulb, I looked at the other fog lamp lens and noticed the absence of the Hella mark on the glass. Whipped it out to find it wasn't original;

 

 

Not a big deal I know, but prefer fitting genuine parts where possible. Found a used Hella part for £10 off the 'bay.

 

 

Got my sights set on some other bits to do with lighting so watch this space.

[Therusterman 59]

New purchase;

 

Won a set of Hella quad headlights this evening. With the nights drawing in I'd been thinking about improving the head lights. The best way to do this I think is to go down the HID route, but this can't be done properly or safely with the regular light units. The projector lens in the Quads will stop the light refracting around the headlight and blind other road users, and be more effective concentrating the light beam.

 

 

I received the HID's earlier in the week, went for the 4300k rated lamps, as this isn't too bright and is in line with O.E outputs of this type. Having really blue and massively bright dipped lights isn't my thing, remember I aim to keep things within the O.E stable where possible.

 

On a side note, the error code for the air inlet temperature (0527) was down to a bent pin on the engine harness where it joins near the secondary water pump. Turned out the ground pin was bent and not seating properly, straightened it out and solved the problem, also refitted the original sensor for good measure.

[djiceman 131]

Good purchase, I did exactly the same thing last week except I got the 6k HIDs, I wasn't impressed with the original headlight output at all, reminded me of the headlight bulb on my old 125cc motorbike lol.

[Therusterman 59]

Picked up the Hella Twins (this is apparently their correct name, not quads!) And guess what, loads of the white plastic adjuster fittings are fubar. Spent this evening stripping down one of the lamp units to also discover one of the plastic tabs is broken on the light cover and also has a small split coming from it.

 

I kind of expected to run into these problems so I've got another set of Hella Twins on the way which are missing the dipped beam lenses, but the covers are meant to be without cracks, and are already black, might need a little spruce up with some paint though.

 

 

 

Also read somewhere about fitting the aim adjustment motors, hopefully they fit ok. Also going to get the wiring as neat as possible and make it look close to a factory finish. 

[VR6Pete 1,455]

I loved my old hella twins, also came wit the adjuster motors, that was until I had a small bump into a back of a car while looking at a lass lol then they were beyond any type of repair so ended up with FK angel eyes.

The Hellas give a great aggressive look.

Club Chairman

[Therusterman 59]

Thanks for the comments Pete, still a work in progress getting something figured out incorporating the HID's neatly.

 

Winter wheel prep

 

With the nights drawing in faster now, and the temperature dropping further, I'm getting the winter wheels out of hibernation. They were the original wheels that came with the car. They've been refurbished at some point, but the quality of the finish is poor, and the finish is starting to break through with corrosion-especially in the hard to reach places between the spokes.

 

 

The wheels are wrapped in Nankang Snow SV-2's in a 195/50 size. There was a significant jump in price going to a 205 profile tyre, and i'm led to believe the slightly narrower tyre is better in the snow. I ran them last winter and didn't have any problems getting about, also had a lot more grip in the wet. 

 

I'm taking my time getting the wheels ready, aim to get one done a day (or when I can be bothered!) Products used were G101 APC, Bilberry wheel cleaner, Auto Finesse Iron remover, Autosmart Tardis, Autoglym Super Resin Polish and finished with a layer of Poorboys wheel wax-of which i'll be putting on a total of 3 coats.

 

Results;

 

 

 

The pictures make them look much better than they really are. All I wanted to do was to stop the condition of them getting any worse, and getting a few layers of wax on makes them much easier to clean and stop the road salt destroying the finish on them.

[Therusterman 59]

Winter Mode

 

Got the car into winter mode today. Finished cleaning and waxing the BBS's ready to fit

 

 

Fitted some plastic wheel nut covers to tidy up the look of the wheel nuts. Seen this on some of the newer Golfs and liked the look of them;

 

 

Winter mode!

 

 

Gave the car a good wash down after fitting the wheels, I promise! Haven't driven out on them yet. Expecting to have more traction now with the softer rubber. The lower temps we are getting during the day made acceleration tricky especially when pulling away.

 

I have also noticed a tiny leak from the upper radiator hose where the plastic y piece is, nothing bad enough to lose a significant amount of coolant. I sourced a replacement hose which is all one piece;

 

 

But I frankly couldn't be arsed to change it right now, the hose clamps weren't playing ball.

 

Off work for the next couple of weeks and plan on getting the Morettes all fitted.

[Therusterman 59]

Gearbox Oil (again) and wheel bearings

 

Received a few bits and pieces through the post over the last few days, including some Red Line MTL gearbox oil, and a big hand suction gun. Ordered this to make life a lot easier filling the gearbox as the fill hole is difficult to get to. Also had some Febi front wheel bearings arrive as well, more on those chaps later.

 

 

Action shot!

 

 

Note the horrific amount of oil on the block, think I need to re-seal the upper timing chain cover  The oil change was knocked out in around 30 minutes, was a lot easier to do with the suction gun.

 

When I replaced the offside out CV gator, I found some play in the wheel bearing, and could hear a kind of drone coming from the front wheels, especially when turning. Now, I have seen some people replace the wheel bearing's with the hub still attached to the strut, thus not messing up the alignment too much.

 

Went to a local BMW specialist up the road who I've used before to see if they could do the same. Unfortunately not, they have to remove the hub and press the bearing out on a hydraulic press. I was then tempted to let them do the whole lot, but this would be around 2 hours labor, which at £80/hour was getting expensive. So I reluctantly booked the car in, came home home and thought bugger it and this happened;

 

 

Whipped off the hubs myself in a couple of hours.

 

I dropped the hubs and new bearings back at the garage and they said they can just change the bearings over for me, which should be cheaper. Hoping to get them back tomorrow afternoon.

 

Dropped by Citygate on the way home to order a new hub > strut bolt as the threads on one is ruined, and to order some new splash shields to go on the back of the hub to cover the disc, one of mine was like a rotten bit of tin foil hanging on for life and the other one was on its way to been the same. Grand total for a few bolts and bits of formed metal, £45 please, nice to see things haven't changed since I last went there!

 

Edited November 26, 2013 by Therusterman

[Therusterman 59]

Wheel bearings continued

 

Had a nice haul of parts today, picked up my order from VW, went to Euro and got some oil, filter and sump plug washer, plus picked up the hubs from the garage with the newly installed wheel bearings;

 

 

Went into Halfords and had my 1/2 drive extension bar replaced under warranty and picked up a 36 mm socket for removing the oil filter housing more easily. 

 

This shows how shagged my old cover plates were;

 

 

New bearings make me smile;

 

 

New cover plates make the hubs look nasty now, wish I had the time to completely strip and powder coat them;

 

 

Here is the shock bolt with the stripped thread, glad this one isn't going back on;

 

 

Only had time to change the oil and filter which went without any drama, apart from making a huge mess with the old oil and normal. And refitted and torqued up the nearside hub and associated components. 

 

Plan is to finish the other side tomorrow, then have the car booked in for a full alignment in the afternoon, and hopefully the VR is good to go back on the road.