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Karls Track day TT, Officially a 10 second car 10.8 @127 mph

163K views 717 replies 66 participants last post by  manley 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all, various searches concluded that this was the best TT forum to join for information advice etc.
Used my daily runner a few times on track but decided better to get a dedicated track car and it had to be something VAG.
The MK1 225 TT offers a lot of car for not so much money really. Problem is trying to find one thats not had a million owners and been to the moon and back.
After looking for a few weeks came across this Y plate example with 88K on the clock and 5 previous owners. Full service history and a recent cam belt/ water pump change.Its totally standard in pretty much every way, I cannot find any mods or tweaks, still has the original diverter valve and stock air box etc. Even has the original untouched first aid kit.

audi picture 2 from ebay ad.jpg


audi picture from ebay ad.jpg


Fixed some of the issues that the car had, micro switches in the door locks both sides, dismantled the G200 sensor and resoldered the chip, replaced the rear brake discs and pads and the one caliper as the piston was seized.

Plans are for a full strip, if it doesn't need to be there to make the car run/stop it will be going.
Brembo LCR calipers with 330mm discs, ds300 pads. Half cage , bucket seats , probably Gaz Gold suspension with the various suspension tweaks / bushes etc needed. Haldex insert.
Welly cooler and a tip with a divertor valve and a remap by Rick at Unicorn Motor developments.
plus loads of other stuff I am sure.
Want to get the car up and running and trackable with suspension , brake , interior mods and mild tweaks to the engine.
Longer term looking to replace the turbo and fit rods etc in the engine as well as oil cooler / exhaust etc for something a bit more serious.

Hopefully I can get it as quick as my daily driver diesel estate :).

Index to the thread, Links to various mods in the thread.

Air con delete https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8098729

Seat Leon Cupra R brakes https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p8098777

Cookbots https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p8104497

EGT Sensor fix https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8176722

Intercooler testing and install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 4#p8290274

Badger 5 TIP https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 6#p8290306

3 inch down pipe and cat delete https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 8#p8290378

Boost gauge https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 4#p8293154

Remap at Unicorn Motor developments https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 6#p8301546

oil cooler https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 0#p8352170

Gaz Gold suspension https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8370249

Seats https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 8#p8389258

Decat pipe https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 6#p8430786

Team Dynamics Jade alloys https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 8#p8438058

Rear weight removal https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8465522

Haldex powertrak insert https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 4#p8472034

Shift light https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8480762

Brake cooling ducts https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 8#p8495258

Gearbox oil change https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8512369

Rocker cover oil leak https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 6#p8515546

MK 2 Bottom balljoint upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p8520673

Low fuel pressure testing https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p8595625

Hunter car alignment https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 4#p8602514

Roll cage https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8628762

Forge baffled sump https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8631922

DAB radio Handsfree install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p8633145

Cage install and sound desdening removal https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8689762

AC evaporator and wiring removal https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 0#p8730490

Battery install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p8735273

Battery Install 2 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 8#p8757658

OMP steering wheel https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8748849

Short throw gear change https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p8795025

Alarm battery replacement https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8801402

DW65V fuel pump install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 6#p8818146

Catch can https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 4#p8845074

Ebay rear wing https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 4#p8854354

RS3/TTRS front brake upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 4#p8871074

Rear towing eye https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 0#p8978690

Rear brake upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2#p8983402

Vortex generators https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p8986271

Rear brake pipe repair https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8988349

Custom exhaust at Longlife https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p8990027

Curbrough June 2018 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8993349

Rockingham June 2018 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p8995051

V6 radiator upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p8999061

Autec Wizard allo wheels https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9005741

Car weigh in at Track toys https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p9015747

VAG Tuner live Donnington July 2018 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9015815

Corner weighting at Track Toys https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9040045

Curbrough August 2018 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9043641

G25-660 arrives https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p9052867

Intake manifold TB adaptor plate https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9073413

Donnington October 2018 with Dad https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9074951

Bi XENON headlight modification https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9075421

Nortech manifold and Downpipe https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9076291

Lightweight 70A alternator https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9079551

MAP sensor mounted on intake manifold https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9089051

PLX AFR gauge install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9090739

Ignitron ECU install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9092111

Engine out for first rebuild https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9101983

Engine going back in the car https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p9140177

8600 RPM https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9153041

Compression check https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9175895

CSF radiator upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p9182367

Badger 5 Dyno run https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... d#p9189617

Front splitter, brake disc temp monitor https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9198503

N/A inlet cams acquired with info https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9199031

Castle Combe Performance German day https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9203603

Water injection mapped with SSR on Ignitron https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9213353

Bosch 044 fuel pump upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9225569

Curbrough track day August 2019 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9225669

Donnington track day Sep 19 McCleans off https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p9231947

Intake cam change https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p9248827

Badger 5 dyno run with new intake cam https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9249451

Santa Pod October 2019 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9252419

Turbo outlet pipe and Pagid RS4-2 rear pads https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9269325

Silverstone Track day December 2019 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9273361

BYC rear wing install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9288325

Front wing mods and bonnet vent https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9298379

Radiator fan single fan mod https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9326129

SEM Motorsport intake manifold https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9338319

HPA haldes controller install https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9338779

Rear skirt trim and exhaust diffuser removal https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9339263

Audi R8 coil upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 7#p9355407

Heat insulation on tunnel https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9356563

BTCC brake upgrade https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9357061

Bedford Autodrome Track day https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9369255

Wossner piston failure engine blow up https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9384013

Engine rebuild Take 2 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9417305

Gearbox failure https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 5#p9425085

Bedford Autodrome track day 2 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9430661

DQ250 DSG gearbox install part 1 https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9444531

Badger 5 Rolling road on new engine rebuild https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 3#p9445673

DSG steering wheel and temp sensor https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9452571

Engine mount Poly fill https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 1#p9457771

DSG gearbox testing https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 9#p9458779
 
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2
#3 ·
Welcome :p
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
Done a few more jobs on the car, took the wheels off the car and rubbed down on all the kerb rash and marks on the wheels. Resprayed them and they look a lot better . They will probably only be on there for a few months until I track down something significantly lighter. I have two sets of Team Dynamics 1.2 for my A4 and a set of these will probably be finding there way onto the TT. Still undecided on 17 or 18 inch rims. Leaning towards a 8 x18
rim with 225/40/18 tyre as there is not much difference really in price between 17 and 18 inch track day tyres comparing 225/45/17 and 225/40/18.
Larger wheels leaves the option of possibly larger brakes on the front. Looking like a 330mm system ATM that will fit under 17 inch rims no problem.

Checked the compression on the engine as a basic health check, came out
Cylinder 1 160 PSI
Cylinder 2 175 PSI
Cylinder 3 180 PSI
Cylinder 4 180 PSI
Looking at various threads on the net these seem to be good readings .
Whilst the plugs were out I checked them and the car is currently running Bosch double platinum FR7KPP33 plugs . They don't look that old TBH but not sure they are the best especially when the car is mapped so after looking around will order some NGK iridium BKR7EIX plugs, which seem to get a pretty good write up.
Car is in need of some Top mounts I think, Just a bit of a gap. Will probably go for some Silver Project adjustable top mounts when the suspension goes on so that will get sorted then.

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Been doing some shopping on Ebay. Picked up a Badger 5 V2.2 TIP second hand. Never been fitted, looks like a good bit of kit.

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Also bought a Forge 008 dump valve to replace the OE Bosch 15Yr old item.
Ordered a Haldex filter tool off Ebay and oil and filter from CP4L as I am not sure when the last time the Haldex was serviced. I am not 100% sure it's working correctly as I tried running the output test on VCDS and I couldn't hear the pump running.
So will be looking at that tomorrow as well as changing the PAS fluid which I am sure is probably the original.
Ordered some Fuchs Titan Sintofluid to change the gearbox oil as I am fairly sure it's the original that's probably in there.
Also ordered some injector seals as I can see it's wet around the injectors on the manifold, cheap parts and doesn't take too long to change them hopefully.
Will also order an 82 degree thermostat to change that, car seems to have an issue warming up and I have yet to see the gauge hit 90. After about 3 miles it's around 75-80 degrees but doesn't get past there. VCDS measurements seem to show the same values.

I dismantled the faulty window switch that was causing issues. It was putting out 12V on both the up and down pins at the same time, so the poor window motor didn't know which way to go.

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#8 ·
Great start and I am looking forward to seeing this thread develop.
I have a couple of mk1 225s now and am working towards turning one of them into a monster.
Have you changed fuel filter (I know your not a rookie) I changed mine on its 1st service and I think it was still the original (100k....) made a huge difference.
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Updating the thread a litle, Checked out the coil packs to see what the car was running. Fortunately looks like one expense I won't need to be making.
06A905115D which appears to be the latest version of these. They don't look very old at all , looking at pictures of other coil packs and mine there appears to be a manufacturers date code on the in the bottom right hand corner on mine it has 19/14 which I think is the 19th week of 2014. So they are fairly new.

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#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
More jobs on the car, changed a brake pipe on the rear that I noticed when changing the caliper. checked over all the others that I can see and this is by far the worst. Will probably change the same pipe on the other side at some point as the paint is flaking but it's nowhere near as bad as this one.

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Changing fluids and filters around the car as some of them have never been changed.
Gearbox oil changed for some Titan Sintofluid which is a fairly common oil used by a lot of people. The stuff that came out was fairly black so I suspect was original. Gearchange a little smoother and less notchy than it was before.

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Drained the small amount out of the transfer box as well and cleaned the magnetic plug in there.

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When I changed the oil in my Passat I used Castrol Syntrans and found that the bottle connected to a normal garden hose quite well and this would fit in the fill hole. So just transferred the oil from the Titan bottle to the syntrans bottle and kept filling till it started dripping out the fill hole.
Then swap the hose into a Titan bottle to fill that and put the plug back in the gearbox.

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Changed the fuel filter using a new Mann filter. No longer made in Germany, China now , no wonder it's cheap.

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Easy enough job just remove a plastic panel on the underside of the fuel tank on the drivers side . The jubilee clip was rusted solid so had to cut that off.
Fuel filter on the car was the original item date code 17.10.00, It had a lot of very black stuff in it when I took it off and emptied the fuel.

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And the new one in place with the lightweight rust free fixation, A tie wrap. Hopefully not have any probs with fuel supply.

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Investigated the haldex as when I ran the output test on VCDS I couldn't hear the pre charge pump running.
Just touched the earth strap and it virtually fell off in my hands, great design there.

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Went to undo the earth point on the body, and the nut was so corroded the stud snapped off. do had to drill a hole and mount another earth stud.

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With a new earth cable attached I can now here the pump running on the output test so looks like the car is now 4WD again.
Just to make sure I jacked the car up off the ground all around and checked the rear wheels were rotating when in gear, and they were.
I have a new filter and oil to fit as I have no idea when these were last changed. Also checked out the Haldex control unit to see what kind of powertrack insert is required. Looks like the circlip type so looks like I will be having some fun removing the controller to fit that.
 

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#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
Removed the starter motor and added a bit of grease here and there and some WD40 as every now and then it make quite a wining sound when starting . Seems to be a common fault but it seems to have fixed it as I haven't heard it do it since I had the starter out.
Changed the coolant thermostat as the one in the car seemed to be faulty as the car was taking quite a while to warm up and didn't ever get over about 72 degrees.
I was planning to change it anyway as the 2003 on TT's had an 80 degree stat and it seems to be recommended for track and performance cars.
Fairly easy job and I changed the coolant whilst I was at it, I think it was just starting to turn as it looked pinky red in the bottle but when I drained it out it was more pinky brown.

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The stat has fixed the warm up issues and it's hitting 80 plus degrees within 3 miles.

I have bought some Elring Dirko sump sealer and some oil and a filter to change the oil to something a little better. Will remove the sump to check the state of the oil pick up and make sure there's not too much sludge in there. The car seems to have had fairly regular oil changes but I want to make sure it's looking fairly clean before doing anything with it.
Went for some Millers CFS 5w 40 Nanodrive fully synthetic competition oil. Seems to get a pretty good write up and the reviews look good.
Also it was only £45 delivered from JJC on Ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301704241286?

Also bought a shorter serpentine belt so I can delete the air con system, so that's a job for an afternoon. will then measure up for the FMIC as should have a bit more room without the aircon rad in there.

Last but not least I have found the NSF wheel bearing appears to be grumbling. As they are a pain to replace needing a press etc to get them in and out I have bought a complete hub second hand so hopefully that will just be straight swap.

Think I can get on with converting it into a track car then hopefully. Just bought a Seat Leon Cupra Brembo set up off fleabay so hopefully that will cover the braking requirements for a while with some DS3000 pads and brake cooling pipes should hopefully stop reasonably well.
There is also an upgrade path with these to some 330mm 2 part discs from Godspeed. Should they be needed.
 

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#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Bit of an update to this thread. Have been busy doing stuff to the car. Not all of it performance mods. Got the NSF wheel bearing changed and the car is so much quieter, when the hub was off the car you could feel and hear the noise with the bearing. Took advantage of the ECP upto 55% sale and picked up an SKF bearing for £37 and dropped off the hub to Midland VW for them to change the bearing. Big shout out to them for quick efficient and cheap service, just £10 to change the bearing.
The complete second hand hub I bought off Ebay was a complete waste of time, the bearing in that was a lot worse than the one on my car already. Returned to the seller for a full refund.
The aircon system developed a rapid and terminal pressure loss last weekend. As I was going to change the serpentine belt anyway as it looked a little second hand I counted this as a free mod.
Fairly straightforward to remove this the only tricky part is the pipes around the back of the engine. These will be stopping there until such time as I either remove the engine or have the turbo/ exhaust out. Also removed the charcoal canister and one of the horns.

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Reused one of the pipes from the charcoal evap system to loop the tank breather to the pipe that runs under the car.

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And blocked off a few more holes.

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I removed the alloy pipe across the back of the engine bay and removed the one surplus pipe and replaced the pipe so got rid of a small amount of extra piping. Toyed with the idea of replacing the pipe with some hose but decided it's probably made out alloy because of the heat from the turbo / exhaust so will leave it as it is.
 

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#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
Fitted the Seat Leon Cupra R brakes to the car.

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These were second hand off Ebay and have new pistons and seals 6 months ago,along with pins and springs. However the previous owner had tightened the one bleed nipple too much, unfortunately despite my best efforts I couldn't undo it and it snapped off, Fortunately it was the inboard one. So not a complete loss as you can still bleed the brakes just means you need to rotate the caliper to get the air through from the inside pot to the outside one.
I repainted them black for that more stealthy look. Have some Ebay Brembo decals to add when they are all sorted.
The Brake discs are MTEC and have virtually no wear, they look reasonable quality as they have the pillar vents as opposed to the more traditional vanes used on cheaper vented discs. Came with a virtually new set of Brembo pads and some HEL braided lines.
The HEL brake lines are way too long about 70 cm so need to source some shorter lines. Currently fitted them temporarily using tie wraps to keep the lines out of the way of the rim.
The difference in braking power between these calipers with standard Brembo pads and the 312mm standard brakes with Pagid pads is like night and day. And the brakes haven't even bedded in yet.
The overall weight of the larger 323 *28 disc system is actually a little less than the 312mm standard system due to the reduced weight of the caliper.
The 312mm system weighs in at 13.7 Kg Disc,caliper, pads,hose etc.

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And the LCR system 13.0 Kg.

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One of the reasons I went for this brake system is the pad prices are quite reasonable. You can get DS3000 pads for around £130 but when I had a look on Fleabay I came across these which worked out at £148 delivered. Ferodo DS1.11 , seem to get very good reviews and hopefully will last longer than DS3000 pads along with better disc life if all the gumph is correct.

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Will sort some hoses and back plates out for some proper cooling when I fit the FMIC.
 

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#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
Not been too impressed with the clutch action on the car.struggle to get decent gear changes 2-3 or 3-4 as the biting point of the clutch seems to be quite low. I tried bleeding the clutch that didn't make too much difference.
I noticed reading some threads that some people had removed the restrictor in the plastic clutch bleeder so I decided to remove this.

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Whist I was dismantling the system I had noticed the car has exactly the same pedal damper that my daily B8 A4 had . I removed this on my A4 and this improved the gearchanges no end making it much easier to get quick changes. So I did the same with the TT.
Two 10mm female joiners joined by a 10mm male joiner, welded together. It's much easier to get at on the TT than it is on the A4.

Before

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After

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And the result, the gearchanges are so much better, with reduced travel on the pedal and no issues changing up and down the box quickly.
 

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#15 · (Edited by Moderator)
Changed the oil and cleaned out the sump /strainer whilst the sump was empty. The car seems to have had reasonably frequent oil changes in it's life but for the sake of an hour and £10 for some sump gasket sealer and an O ring I thought it was worthwhile taking off the sump to have a look.
Fairly straightforward to get the sump off lots of 10mm Bolts and 3 larger bolts through from the gearbox into the sump. A ball end allen key is handy to get some of the 10mm nuts at the gearbox end of the sump.
Decided to go for some quality oil and the larger oil filter. Also bought a new O ring for the oil pick up strainer.

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The bigger oil filter is a good deal bigger than the standard item fitted to the car.

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The strainer , not overly blocked with stuff. There were some small pieces of red plastic, presume these may be off some chain guide or similar in the engine.

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Cleaned the strainer out in some white spirit and this is what came out. This car has only done 88K .

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Now nice and clean

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The sump before , don't think this is too bad.

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And after 10 minutes with some thinners and a few old rags.

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The oil change used all 5L of the oil. The larger oil filter must hold an extra 0.5L of oil.

Will be adding an oil pressure and temp gauge when I fit an oil cooler.
 

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#16 ·
Nice work.
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks.
One of the next jobs I have to do is installing some Cookbots and bought some Powerflex Black rear bushes.
Also invested in a Powerflex yellow Dog Bone as several threads seem to rate these. When I was under the car the other day there seemed to be quite a bit of flex with the existing dogbone bush.
The rear bushes on the wishbone are split so they would fail an MOT anyway. There doesn't seem to be much play in the front bushes on the wishbones, There will be a lot less with these Cookbots as they are pretty solid.
Question is does anybody have any pointers or ideas for me on fitting these. I have a pretty big bench vice so hopefully the bushes will press in with that. If not next door has a 6 ton small press in his garage.

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Cheers

Karl.
 

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#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
Got back to fitting some more bits to the car over the weekend.

Cookbots and some Powerflex black bushes for the rear of the lower arm.
I am glad my next door neighbour has a huge vice that could press the Cookbots in as I am sure my bench vice wouldn't have done it. The second one went in a lot easier than the first. The Powerflex black bushes were a bit of a game to press in as well. Managed with my more modest bench vice but you had to get them dead centre to have any hope of getting them in.

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And what a faff trying to refit the arms, everything fairly straightforward except trying to get the rear inboard bolt located.

The existing dogbone mount on the car was pretty soft and squidgy. Again never an easy job working on a 15 year old car , one of the smaller 13mm bolts that holds the mount to the subframe snapped. When I eventually got it out could see this was due to corrosion between the alloy base of the dogbone and the bolt. Fortunately the remains of the bolt just twisted out with my fingers.

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I like it when you change things on a car and you can feel the results straight away. The gear change is more positive, no issues with any vibration from the dogbone. There is substantially less movement with the uprated parts.
The steering feels a lot more direct and positive as I hoped it would . Definitely worth doing.
 

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#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
Been playing with Nefmotos logger to check the car out. I am pretty sure it's a bog standard 225 but if somebody in the know could have a quick look at the attached PDF and tell me if it looks standard.

Wasn't sure what to log as there is so much stuff. This is a 3rd gear pull.

The MAF seems to max out around 180 ish so by my maths 180/0.8 = 225bhp which looks promising.

The EGT sensor tats seems to be a bit iffy. When I first started logging it was stuck at 1110 degrees then after a few seconds went to what seemed a more normal reading. But occasionally it flickers around quite a bit, I have seen fault codes logged for it so seems to be another thing that needs attention.

View attachment 3rd gear pull logs.pdf
 

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#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
Had a bit of luck with the EGT sensor this afternoon. Decided to have a look at it and with the engine running moving the connector or pressing on the case would cause the EGT to go upto 1110 intermittently. I took the connector off and checked the pins all looked good. Sprayed some electrical switch cleaner on the connector and pins and it was still the same.
Undid the 2 hex bolts that hold the sensor in place and quite easily managed to lever the top off with some flat blade screwdrivers.
Fortunately my EGT has the jelly filling which is easily removed.
I have circled the 5 connections to the PCB, The 3 on the right looked fine, but you can see the 2 on the left which are for the thermocouple, the joints have cracks around them. You can see a very thin black line.
This happens due to vibration or repeated heat cycling causing the joints to fail. I touched up all 5 joints with the soldering iron and stuck the lid back on with some plastic glue.
This has 100% fixed the problem, after 3 or 4 minutes of moving the connector and flexing the box it never once showed 1110.

EGT PCB close up edited.JPG
 

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#21 · (Edited by Moderator)
Did some more logging today after I fixed the EGT and the car does feel like it's running a bit better . I suppose with the sensor flashing up high EGT's that would kick in some kind of protection . It does seem more consistent.
Heres a log 3rd gear acceleration run. I have logged the Lambda sensor specified and actual and it seems to correlate quite well around 0.95 when flat out above 3K RPM. The boost seems to be holding to the specified level , even a little above it.
Hopefully this all looks standard and normal for a 225.

View attachment 25-06-17 3rd gear accell run2.pdf
 

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#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
Not updated this for a while. Been busy collecting parts and the next few weeks will be busy fitting them all and hopefully getting the car mapped by Rick.
Started with an intercooler upgrade. Decided to go for a wellycooler, Didn't want 75mm pipes as the plan was to try and make it possible to refit the aliens when it came to MOT time. This did involve quite a bit of tweaking with the pipes but it is possible to fit the washers to the bumper and install the bumper on the car.
Started out deciding what intercooler to get, nearly everybody fit's bar and plate, I went tube and fin. The intercooler only weighs 6.2Kg 600 x 300 x65mm and presents much less resistance to flow through the cooler to the rad externally. Some bar and plate coolers can be very obstructive.
The seller of this cooler actually posts pictures of the intercooler core and they use an offset fin design. Not the lowest amount of pressure drop but some of the bar and plate coolers have straight fin designs that let the air straight through with minimal pressure loss. And consequently result in poor cooling of the air. It just runs straight through without touching the sides as such.
I wanted to measure a few things before I got going just to see what the standard I/C system did in terms of pressure drop.
This is all very rough science and the main thing you can deduce from the results is guesstimated pressure drops.
I have a Magnehelic gauage that I picked up off Ebay really cheap a few years ago. This measures differential pressures and is very accurate full scale is 1.5 Kpa which is around 0.22 PSI.
First I calibrated the vacuum cleaner :) . Disconnected the MAF from the car and connected the vacuum cleaner to it so it was sucking through the MAF. Started the engine to get the ECU reading the MAF and the vacuum was flowing 24 g/s . Which is around an eighth of the flow seen at max power.
Turn the engine off and reconnect the MAF. Clear the fault code that the ECU flagged due to the high flow at idle.
Connect vacuum to the pipe where the first intercooler connects and disconnect the pipe from the throttle body. Thus measuring the pressure drop across the existing intercooler set up.
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A reading of 0.8 Kpa or 0.116 PSI if you scale that up x8 = 0.93 PSI or around 1 PSI at similar flow to peak power.
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The intercooler is from Germany Boost Products. I bought it through Ebay £149 delivered. I am sure it's probably made in China, But it's good quality welding with cast end tanks and looks pretty solid.
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I bought a load of 2.5 inch pipes , couplers and bends from the Toyosport shop for £65. I still have a lot of this left. This pipe kit includes some 75 degree bends which prove useful.
Needed to buy another silicon 90 degree bend and I purchased 12 JCS Hi Grip clips as I know the ones supplied with these pipes are not that good.
If they are good enough for Bill they will do me fine. And I have to agree they are very good.
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Mocked up the pipe run and the intercooler to see what kind of pressure drop it showed. came out at 0.65 Kpa or about 20% less pressure drop than the OE setup.
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Made a bottom bracket from so thin galvanised angle brackets I had left over in the garage, sprayed Matt black. Forgive the gobby welding, the metal is very thin and galvanised which doesn't help. Sprayed most things Matt black going for the stealth option :) .
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The top bracket , is a much stronger affair and could support the intercooler on it's own . I made up some air guides to try and get air flowing through the core and hopefully guide some to the top of the core. The air guide plastic is from an old black square section downpipe off the house. I don't throw anything away :) . You never know when it may come in useful. The top and bottom pieces are secured to the intercooler with short self tapping screws as the top and bottom plates are approx 3mm alloy plates.
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Made up a tool to swage the ends of all the pipes. Actually not that difficult to do and hopefully means all the pipes will stop connected.
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The pipe runs, You can see I recycled one of the original hoses.
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Pipe run on the drivers side, You can see the way it runs allows for the bottom of the headlight washer to fit in. A straighter run without the 90 degree bends would have resulted in a smaller pressure drop across the entire system but it was of the order of less than 0.1 PSI at full flow .
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The passenger side

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Checked the pressure loss on the car when it was all plumbed up and came to 0.67 Kpa. pretty much what I had measured earlier. So this has about 15-20 % less pressure loss than the standard intercooler system.

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Repositioned the single horn on the bolt that secures the front bumper support.

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And checked the whole system for leaks by pumping it up to 25 PSI. Not even a hiss from any of the joints. Very impressed with these JCS clips.
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Will do some data logging to see if this has made any /much difference before I fit the Badger V2 Tip.

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#686 ·
You can see the way it runs allows for the bottom of the headlight washer to fit in.
Hey @desertstorm I can't see where the headlight washer piping is run - can you please point it out? Are you still using this exact FMIC setup in currently?
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
Finished the intercooler install off by removing the cross pipe off the car to trim it. I decided that as they fit these to the 180bhp with only 1 intercooler it obviously does more than linking the intercoolers and would serve to brace the front suspension legs. So just chopped off the excess redundant tube length off each end and refitted it. I was surprised how light it was.

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#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
Fitted the Badger 5 V2.2 TIP and a Ramair foam filter along with the Forge 008 I have had sitting around for a while.

The Badger TIP was bought second hand off Ebay, It was still in the bag and had never been fitted. Not my first choice being red but the saving over the new price was worth it and you can't see it anyway with the bonnet down.
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The TIP and alloy turbo adapter are a quality piece of work complete with all the bits and pieces you need to fit it.
I went for the Ramair filter as didn't want an oiled filter and this filter is about as big as you can fit easily in the space available.

Removal of the existing TIP is fairly straightforward apart from trying to remove the stupid OE clips .
You can see the difference between the Badger TIP and the original item.

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I used some of the Grey Elring Dirko sump sealer to fit the alloy intake on the turbo, It just smoothes the transition between the turbo and the adapter.

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Next comes the DIY bit where I try and save some money.
The Ramair filter was just over £40 off the Flebay shop that Ramair have. Should have been £45 but you can make offers so offered £40.60 and this was accepted. They do a kit that includes a nice metal shield to isolate the filter from the hot air off the engine.
Putting my Blue Peter badge on I got the scissors and some cardboard.

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using some of the barge board I had left over from doing the soffits and barge boards on the house I converted my cardboard model into a nice sturdy plastic version.

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And sprayed the completed item with some of the matt black I had from spraying the intercooler.

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Car now makes all the chirpy sucky whistle noises that any self respecting 18 year old would love his Corsa to make.
The pictures above were taken before I fitted the dump valve , just fitted the standard green spring for now. Will alter it for a yellow one when the car is mapped. You may have spotted the MAF is inplugged. I didn't and found out when the EML popped on.
Car is definately much better for the addition of this. Pulls much better from around 4500 I can see improvements in the MAF readings and the car definitely has more go at the top end.
 

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#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Whilst I had the headlights out fitting the intercooler I thought I would check the headlight bulbs as I wasn't too impressed with the performance.
The bulbs were both Osram Xenarc items and looking at the date codes I believe one was original and the other was from 2009.
The original one was definitely past it.

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Not wanting to buy some no name Chinese Ebay bulb that will probably have mediocre / poor performance but also not wanting to spend a fortune on genuine bulbs I hit the net.

Came across Yeaky bulbs . One of the better Chinese manufacturers, they aren't all bad. I believe the company that owns Yeaky also manufactures Hylux ballasts and some of the other better known names.
They get quite good reviews in tests comparing them to bulbs 5-6 times the price.
Bought them from Hids Direct for £22 for the pair. Very impressed with them compared to what was in. Went for the 5500K version and the light is very bright white.

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#26 · (Edited by Moderator)
I am happy with the results I have seen so far. Did some logging the other day after I fitted the Badger Tip and Ramair foam filter.
Must say the TIP and filter make the car so much better at the top end. Over 4500 RPM there are noticeable improvements in MAF readings and the engine pulls much better at higher RPM.
Theses are two 3rd gear acceleration runs one after another. I had already done two shortly before this so the engine was well warm . The ambient was 21 degrees and I think the intercooler did quite well. You can see how the intercooler temps start off around 34 degrees as I had been sitting in the car stationary for a while but as soon as I get some airflow moving through the intercooler temps quickly drop and at the end of the first run intake temps are down to 28 degrees. First run was between 77 and 87 seconds.
The intake temps rise again to around 35 degrees as speed is down to 20mph. By the start of the next run around 106 seconds temps are down to 31 degrees as this was starting from 3K rpm the extra road speed had cooled the intake temps.
As soon as the car starts gaining speed intake temps drop again to around 29 degrees at 113 seconds.

View attachment Intercooler logs Ramair-TIP 3rd 4th accel run 21C-2.pdf
 

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