RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Gotta love a democracy, where we all get to vote for our country to be run how we want it to be.... oh wait, no one asked for this? ahhh.. that's right, we get a choice of 2 or arguably 3 parties, that then make all the decisions for us, regardless of whether we agree with their choice or not, and we get to pick these idiots once every 4 years, oh and just to add to this all the people making the decisions are from a very similar background in a small, close-knit and quite specific section of society, who never experience 99% of the problems they're attempting to govern. What a complete and utter joke pile of manure. I, and most people I know, have sod all interest in fitting in with the EU, especially when they're going to tell us what to do, over-ruling what is already a laughable excuse for a democratic system. It really does curse word me off and make me want to move abroad. I like making my own decisions, and I like being left to live MY life, not forced to live a life in keeping with what a bunch of middle-aged joy-less suited pricks feel I should be doing.
Sorry for the rant, it's just something that get's under my skin. As long as the option to test cars after modifications remains sensible, and you just loose the privilege of exemptions then that's ok by me to be honest, but it does just seem like the another step over the edge of a slippery slide to one big boring mega-nation governed by the same rules, none of which were asked for by the majority. Societies vary, and so do their needs and wants, you can't govern everyone with the same rules, when will they learn that? Standardisation's great for thread sizes, it doesn't work for ways of life.
And yes, hybrids, modern eco cars and the like are 99.9% of the time, completely curse word at actually being the environmentally friendly option. They're effects would all be far exceeded by just ditching all the pointless weight in modern cars. Since the 1980s the only real advancement with main-stream cars has been with engine efficiency and safety, everything else has been stagnant or pointless thanks to an economic environment and social outlook that values accountants higher than (proper) engineers. Besides crash safety, my Passat does everything I need it to do as well as, if not better than any modern equivalent, and it's a model that came out in 1988, how is that right?
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Last Edit: Aug 2, 2012 20:39:07 GMT by RobinJI
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Ignoring the empty curb weights, according to auto-trader the 807 has a gross weight of 2505kg, while the Expert is 2780kg, so although the Expert may be lighter empty, it's designed to take more weight. I'd guess it's also designed to be driven with more weight in it more often, and the emphasis would be on practicality over comfort, and the opposite with the 807, so you may well find that the 807 springs do help.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 31, 2012 23:25:59 GMT
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I like this thinking which has just led me to a moment of insperation! Yes you could fit throttle bodies and operate the plate via a vacuum plunger or alternatively use a map sensor and servo with a pic micro controller which would also give you the possibility of forced induction and program the pic to react appropriately with boost. Just have the timing to sort out then. This answers my lpg problems by doing away with the plate I can do away with the possibility of blow back and get a good idle. Cool idea but it needs a little more working through. The trouble is the metering head in the k-jet system measures air-flow rather than engine load (which is what vacuum is used as a measurement of.) You could do it with the MAP sensor idea, but you'd have to take into account engine speed and use a load vs. RPM map to determine how much fuel is needed, at which point you're pic-axe controller is basically becoming an ECU. carat 3.6 amg - You may well find that you have the same problem with the EFI system you have if it's a standard production car one. Most use a MAF sensor to measure the volume of air entering the engine in order to calculate the correct fueling, this is just the electronic equivalent of the metering head in a k-jet system, and will come with all the same issues. To run ITB's you'll need a system that runs off MAP or throttle position based rather than air-flow, and it'll need to be able to be re-mapped (or piggy-backed) to correct the fueling enough. If you're right about the throttle body being a significant restriction at the moment then you should get some decent gains by just up-sizing it still as a single throttle, and with a lot less work. If you do decide you want ITB's, then I fear the easiest option would probably be to use most of the EFI bits you have, but with a standalone aftermarket ECU. (Switching the MAF for a MAP/TPS.)
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Last Edit: Jul 31, 2012 23:31:42 GMT by RobinJI
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Jul 26, 2012 19:01:56 GMT
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I'm sorry but he was wrong. It's been clarified time and again that if a monocoque chassis is modified then it looses its identity. That's what the legislation says, and that's what lots of people have experienced. This country's complete inability to manage its own ridiculous bureaucracy is the reason why so many people are confused or misinformed over this topic, that VOSA employee was just one of these many people. It's a DVLA issue, not a VOSA one, as it's the cars registration being questioned not it's safety or roadworthiness.
Love the car, and I hope you don't meet any of the more informed staff, which it appears is a rare occurrence from most peoples experiences. Good luck with it anyway, I'll be watching the build for sure, it looks like it'll be a dam fun car when it's done!
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 25, 2012 21:49:17 GMT
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It certainly has earned its keep munkeh, a few times over I'd say. A few shots of it at work earlier, as it's clean and the sun was out, (one of my bikes snuck in there too, but it kind of goes with the estate.) As usual though, it's needed nothing, so there's nothing exciting to post. I'd love to space the rears a bit and lower it a little more, but I need it to stay useable, I'm hoping to roll the arches at the weekend so if I can gain enough clearance I may be able to get away with a touch more drop and width. Oh, and I'm still on the same tank of diesel that I put in before leaving for London to pick up that Mini.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 25, 2012 18:52:34 GMT
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You'll likely be fine, but I'd bet there's a load more light available by relaying the lights. My Sciroccos main beams with 130W bulbs were no brighter than the relayed driving lamps with 55W ones in them, old wiring/switches really do kill the output.
Love the 7 by the way.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 24, 2012 19:37:27 GMT
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The TA Technix on the 'rocco are definitely removable inserts, I've removed them before and everything Thinking about it I think you might be right about the diameter, the struts could well be 50mm, as I think I remember the inserts not being a tight fit. Still, as long as the inserts are narrow enough, there's nothing to stop you lopping the bottom off some golf struts and the top off your ones and sleeving the two halves together. In fact it may even be easier than swapping just the mounts.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 19, 2012 19:39:51 GMT
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Assuming this is for what I think it is, then the MR2 struts won't actually give you any more travel unless you can move them further through the hub like you did with the rascal, (your current ones are 14.3", mr2 are 14.5" iirc).
Golf ones are already 2" shorter than yours, and you may even be able to get shortened versions from a golf lowering kit. I can measure the TA technix coilovers (originally bought new from Philj) on my Scirocco to see if they're any shorter next time I'm at my dads if you want? A set of them with the mounts swapped to fit your hubs might be a nice solution, it's a similar weight car too, and they're a great set-up for a daily on the 'rocco.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 17, 2012 22:10:34 GMT
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www.monroe.com/assets/downloads/english/08_MountingLengthSheet.pdfPage 21/22 suggests that T1 and T2 strut inserts are 38.1mm diameter, which I'd guess is about right for a 44mm OD strut. (3mm wall thickness sounds about right?). You can pick which lengths would be best then cross-reference the part numbers in the search box on the left of their home page (www.monroe.com) to see what cars they came from. Damn handy site for cross-referencing suspension! Edit, assuming you're after the shortest possible, (I'd say that's quite fair with this being you ) then it looks like the 72826, which is from a mk1 Golf, so should be way easier to get hold of (There is one from an '80s Corrola that's 2.5mm shorter compressed length, but it's actually a longer strut body.) Mk1 MR2 are 72880 front, 73238 rear, the fronts are the same 38.1mm diameter as the golf/corrola struts, but they're 2" longer compressed (full dimensions in ^ that link).
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Last Edit: Jul 17, 2012 22:43:01 GMT by RobinJI
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 17, 2012 21:42:57 GMT
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I'll jump on the "I've got a 1.6td B3 Estate and it's bloody good" Band wagon. It really is a bloody good car, mine's on 165k now and it uses virtually no oil (doesn't need a drop between services), pulls well for what it is (will sit at 100 all day, and will tow ~900kg fairly happily), and managed 57mpg from my last tank (about 2/3rds 70 on the motorway, the other 3rd country a-roads driving normally). I'm yet to manage worse than 45mpg even thrashing the living daylights out of it. Only complaint is that it could be a touch pokier, but then I've not found the 1.9's to be any quicker unless they're the tdi. (Backed up by the power figures - 1.6td is 80bhp, the 1.9td is 75bhp.) It's not noticeably under-powered as such, 95% of the time you wouldn't even notice it, and considering it's an old 1.6td in a big car it's much better than you'd expect. It keeps up with traffic fine without having to be worked hard at all, it's just the odd moment when you try to go quicker and realise there's not that much more to give. My one: They're only boarderline retro in my opinion, and obviously not everyone needs a big estate, but having had this engine in the Passat I certainly wouldn't hesitate to get a mk2 GTD if you find a good one. I swapped one into my Scirocco which was great, but it was an unknown engine and died soon after. I bought the Passat thinking it would tide me by for a while then be a good replacement engine for the 'rocco, but I soon remembered how much I love owning an estate, and the Passat turned out to be a very clean example so I didn't want to break it. Like's been mentioned, the Pug XUD is a good lump too, my dad had a 405 1.9td estate which was a damn good car.
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Last Edit: Jul 17, 2012 21:49:29 GMT by RobinJI
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 15, 2012 17:23:01 GMT
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If you look at the box in the picture posted higher in this page I'm pretty sure it does have a reduction ratio in 1st/2nd/3rd/5th, as the drive is traveling to the counter shaft through the gears labeled A and B, which don't appear to be the same size, but when 4th is selected this is taken out of the picture, as the counter shaft isn't being used.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 15, 2012 15:58:23 GMT
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since 4th is 1 to 1 and looks like it just locks the shaft straight through i'd say there isn't a reduction ratio. check rev counter then check axle ratio. There wont be a reduction ration in 4th, but there will be in 5th where the counter-shaft comes into play. I'd be guessing that's where the problem's come from. Can you do a top speed run in 4th? It'd allow you to check the final drive without the gearbox screwing with your sums.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 14, 2012 21:42:56 GMT
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I'm not sure I'd call them inherently super dangerous or anything, but they're definitely not something I'd ever consider buying or fitting to a car either, they are a bodge, but if done properly, they could be 'safe' although far from ideal. If done wrong though, they can be dangerous, but then so can eating a yogurt....
The idea is definitely not to use them to to adjust height to exactly where you want it, but is to clamp one coil tightly shut, so it cannot open at all. Obviously if this isn't done then they will be loose and will move the instant the spring compresses. As jack has mentioned, the other coils of the spring will hit them too if it compresses too much, so the springs compressed length will be longer than it was before, if this happens, then this is NOT safe, as it will point load the spring, and may well snap it. So what I'm saying, is if used to fully compress a full coil, on a car that will hit the bump stops/bottom out the damper before they hit the other coils, then there is no real theoretical issue with them.
A Volvo 240 I bought had some on the back, and to be fair to it, it drove fine, they didn't move at all, and worked perfectly, but I did still remove them fairly quickly. I'm not defending them, they are a bodge, and like I said, I'd never buy them or fit them my self, I'm just stating the facts.
Oh, and yes, I believe they are 'illegal' in that I think they're either an MOT failure, or against constructions and use regulations.
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Last Edit: Jul 14, 2012 21:46:23 GMT by RobinJI
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 14, 2012 20:58:45 GMT
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The welding has to be spot on, I have seen one let go Surely the welds take very little load on a flipped axle? All the force is carried in the U-bolts, which sandwich the spring pads between the spring and the axle, so the only loading on the welds is compression from the tension in the u-bolts, which will be reduced the more weight you put on it! Plus some side loading obviously, but unless you hit a curb sideways, then it's really not that much force. PS, just to clarify, I'm not saying you can hold it on with pidgeon curse word, obviously all work on suspension should be done properly, and with care, I'm just kind of curious as to how you saw one let go!
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Last Edit: Jul 14, 2012 21:00:34 GMT by RobinJI
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Yep, I had to 'tweak' My Sciroccos exhaust to get it to clear both the tank and beam properly. I did it off the car using a bit of bar slotted down the exhaust to bend it gently. It would clear fine if I let the centre section hang low, but with it tucked up tightly to get decent clearance it would either hit the tank or beam. As said, the best bet's to get the car in the air and level, and just take a look and see where it needs moving to in order to get some clearance.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 12, 2012 18:44:54 GMT
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I managed to beat my best MPG so far the other day. I'd done 600 miles since Friday morning, and topped up to find I'd only used 48 liters of fuel, that works out at 57mpg! That was about 80% motorway/dual carriageway, but did include 2.5 hours driving around London and some local driving. All the motorway driving was at 70, not sitting with the trucks too! Today I drove back up to London to pick up and tow back the car I was looking at on Friday. Unfortunately it's a customers car, not a new purchase, but I was impressed with the Passat towing it back. It managed to sit at 65 the whole way back, even with the car on the back, although I did have to bury my foot a bit on the hills. The only issue's that the box is a bit wide ratios for towing, you're on the threshold of being on boost at 60, so if you drop below 60 for any reason then you struggle on the hills, but drop down to 4th and you've got very few revs left, I found I basically had to do 50 or 60, and couldn't sit at any speed between. Ah well, I really can't complain for an 80bhp car on 165k towing a car and trailer 170 miles without even a tiny bit of drama. (Besides the usual morons on the road causing me to do not one but 2 very hard stops from speed!) I may see if I can tweak the fueling a touch to get it on boost a touch sooner, even just coming on at 55mph would make it much nicer.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 11, 2012 23:43:41 GMT
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Cheers guys, I'm enjoying it a lot in terms of it just being a dependable, practical car.
zircon, cheers, I am a bit of a fan of the colour too, it seems to suit the look of the car well.
tali, I'd have said there's probably something up with your friends. Mine's never going to set the world on fire, but it's more than happy at motorway speeds. I recon I've done at least 7k worth of motorway/dual carriageway driving at 70+ and it's never complained in the slightest, in fact while I was at uni I pretty much only did motorway miles, as I didn't use the car in Oxford, just to drive between uni and home. I've even done a few runs in 3 figures when running very late and besides getting a touch noisy it was perfectly happy to rack the miles up, and would manage to hold those speeds up hill. A lot of my trips to and from uni were done at entirely at 85-90 (I tend to drive late at night if I can) and it'd still return 47mpg. It's definitely not a fast car, but I wouldn't call it under-powered either, it'll sit at a tonne, It made it up telegraph hill at 70 with 4 people and 4 bikes in it, and it's at 70 by the end of all but the steepest of slip-roads, what more do you need for day to day running around? The last thing I'd describe it as on the motorway is tiring, I did over 500 miles this last weekend and couldn't fault the car at all. Not meaning to get defensive or anything, I know it's far from a fast car, but I really think there must have been something broken on your friends one!
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
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Jul 11, 2012 18:51:11 GMT
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This is Wiscombe Park Hillclimb, it's pretty local to me, I'm a big fan because of how accessible it is, and the stunning location. Hillclimbs often seem to be more relaxed, I guess it's partly because of the level of racing there, and partly because of the lower speeds, but whatever the reasons, it makes for great fun as a spectator. I've always thought that tracks in the UK are pretty sensible in terms of where they place spectators, most are ex-airfields, which tends to mean there's plenty of space for the organizers to get things set up both safely and with decent spectating.
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Jul 10, 2012 23:06:03 GMT
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Sorry, flat faced wasn't the best description, I mean more slab fronted, rather than without dish. As in a simpler, flatter face design, but still with a little dish ideally. I just thought I'd add a few shots of it dutifully performing it's tasks as a good daily should: Kayaking/Camping: Mountain-Biking: And Lugging me to meets/shows as long as my project car is still very much a project: The boot is huge considering it's really not that big car on the outside, smaller than modern Passats or similar, but you can get ridiculous amounts of stuff in it. I successfully moved home from uni in a single trip, and we've done 3 mountain-bikes and 3 people in the car very easily loads of times with only front wheels removed from the bikes. 4 bikes 4 people needed 2 of the bikes on a rack, but 2 bikes and the wheels from the 2 on the rack went in fine, still leaving 4 seats. I've slept in it many times at Area 52 as well, the flat ~6' load area providing a comfy, quiet, warm and dry bed for me.
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Last Edit: Jul 10, 2012 23:10:23 GMT by RobinJI
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RobinJI
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"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Jul 10, 2012 21:11:02 GMT
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I thought I'd start up a thread about my daily wagon as there seems to be some love for B3 Passats on here, and mine's slowly creeping away from being standard now. I bought this last October as a response to my Scirocco's engine seizing solid on the motorway, the idea being that it'd give me transport while I was at uni and didn't have time or money to sort the 'rocco. I've always had a thing for Passat estates, my parents had a B2 when I was a kid, and a good friend had his mums old B5 estate as his first car that we did a load of mountain-biking road-trips in, so they've earned my appreciation, it helps that they're bloody good cars too! My Scirocco seized its engine on a trip back home from uni for the weekend (Oxford - Chard), and having spent about 6 hours on the side of the road waiting for recovery I managed to get the car dragged back home where I was able to diagnose the engine as "Well and truly F***ed". Being at uni in my final year I contemplated doing without a car until I finished, but decided to have a browse around and see what was about. One of the first cars I spotted was this Passat, being sold on here by 'tsp'. He was only wanting £400 with just off 5 months tax and 6 months test. It had a few little faults, but nothing expencive/hard to fix, and for that money even if it only lasted until the test then donated its engine to the Scirocco (which is already 1.6td converted), then it would still be worth while for a few months motoring. I called in a favor with a friend who's local to tsp and he went and looked at the car for me on the Saturday to save me the trip to Portsmouth (~80 miles), he reported back that it was a very clean car, the only faults being those listed in the advert, so I booked a train to Portsmouth for Monday morning, collected the car and drove the rest of the way to Oxford in the Passat. The car was exactly as described, and actually in great condition bodywork wise. There's no rust on it anywhere that I've found, and very few marks on the bodywork. It also came with a tow bar fitted with twin electrics and a roof rack. (Both a bonus for me.) As I collected it: Standard and with a couple of little faults: The clutch bites a little high, but works fine. The drivers side rear door wouldn't unlock. The drivers window needs a bit of persuading to get back to the top after it's been rolled down. The engine mounts are really quite soggy. The horn didn't work. It didn't have a stereo. I chucked in the stereo from my Scirocco and this was basically how it stayed until MOT time, besides needing a new battery it was faultless and returned a minimum of 47mpg. I sent it in for its test and it returned needing new track rod ends, a brake pipe, rear wheel bearing and needing the rear door and horn fixing. I didn't think that was too bad for a £400 car on 155k, so got it sorted and smoked around in it for a little while longer. I say smoked, but it's actually one of the cleanest running diesels I've experienced, you only ever see a tiny hint of smoke if you really boot it at night when other cars headlights show up the smoke. The back of the car never gets sooty, and the oil level's never needed touching between services. After a while a guy in my Materials lectures mentioned he had a set of coilovers he'd bought new for his B4 but never fitted, so I snapped them up and threw them on, as I was board of the boat like ride, it was nice in bumpy back roads, but on smoother roads it wallowed enough to actually be less comfortable than a firmer set-up in my opinion. It was also soft enough that any real load in the boot would give it comedy rake, making it horrid to drive. The coilovers went on and this is how it stayed until tonight, ever reliable, always returning 47-56mpg, comfy, quiet and dependable: Then earlier today when striping the front brakes down to stop an annoying squealing (all sorted), I noticed that the front tyres were getting a little boarder-line, and I need to tow a Mini back from London on Thursday, so decided to get it sorted ASAP. I drove over to my dads house and grabbed the Scirocco's wheels, some 15x7 BBS originally off an E30. So this is how it sits now: I'm not sold on the style of wheels, but they're better than the steels, and its nice to be back on decent quality tyres again, I'm not much of a budget tyre fan. I'll be keeping an eye out for some more flat faced 16" wheels I think. So the plans for the future. Not a huge amount really: - I want to get vented discs on the front as the brakes are good, but they do fade quite badly on some of the hilly roads around here. - I'd like to change the seats sometime, as the basic ones in it now are somewhat shapeless. Ideally I'll grab some mk3 Golf GTI seats for the front, and a B4 interior for the rear seats and door cards. (16cm speakers and tweeters in all 4 doors.) - Fit remote central locking. - Replace the engine mounts. - Replace the tatty front plate. - Paint the faded plastics black. - Touch up the 2 small scratches. - Paint the VW badges (satin black or colour coded), as they've gone white and lost their chrome effect. - Tint the rear lights all red. - I'd like to drop it a little more, but I'll need to roll the arches, and much more drop will need the front legs notching to keep any real suspension travel. These things are great for ground clearance, so that's not really a concern. - If I find my self towing with it much then it'll probably get the boost and fuel turned up a touch, and if that's not enough, then depending on how I get on with it in the future it may receive a 1.9tdi of some sort, preferably one of the PD lumps from a mk4 Golf/A3. Otherwise it'll just be maintenance. I'm really enjoying it as a daily, it's cheap, comfy, practical and old enough to have a little character and stand out from the average cars on the road. (PS. Apologies for the crappy phone camera pictures, I'll get some proper ones sometime.)
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Last Edit: Jul 10, 2012 21:16:20 GMT by RobinJI
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