VW Golf R

[RS Grant]

Bit of an update to this (quite picture heavy too!), I decided to try and get a little more real noise from the R as well as hopefully letting it breath a bit better... so I bought a VWRacing Cup Intake, Forge Intake Pipe and a Forge Recirc DV kit.

VWR Cup Intake:

CD0E0742-BF54-4D80-9080-84CA7F979344 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Forge Intake Pipe:

B23FC813-8E4C-480A-9242-EB5163819255 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Forge Recirculating DV Kit:

2B05F3C8-0F05-4C86-8283-E40134F06A03 by RS Grant, on Flickr
82236CEC-8128-4CC6-B2F1-1135B8280030 by RS Grant, on Flickr

After:

8CB07100-5A17-429A-BDA5-FB99424FE42B by RS Grant, on Flickr

Then, while it was all apart, I decided that I would carry out the CDV (Clutch Delay Valve) modification which I'd read about on the VWROC... which has definitely made a difference and improved the pick up during fast gear changes.

2D142984-0645-420E-A2CA-E288215259F9 by RS Grant, on Flickr
FB55B8B6-7D90-48CB-98D1-0308C3A3DA05 by RS Grant, on Flickr

This small yellow part is the restriction...

1CE5F6CB-AEED-47D9-B0B3-7276956D8D21 by RS Grant, on Flickr

The difference in diameter:

4615BFC2-7B9C-469B-B598-BA96A5C8C185 by RS Grant, on Flickr
0D856595-D19D-4E16-8602-11DE6A354D8A by RS Grant, on Flickr

After all that and the car looking a bit sorry for itself on the outside covered in salt and general crap from the roads, so I gave it a wash and three layers of protection too... which has made it look fantastic again!!

Before:

99ABB928-9501-4B0D-8468-7982CDDAD5A3 by RS Grant, on Flickr

After:

6F50E0C6-FE12-40B1-9D00-6C9F6CFCEAC3 by RS Grant, on Flickr

If you made it this far... well done!!


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 13:17

[Max M4X WW]

So how does it sound?

[RS Grant]

Sounds great!! Far more audible turbo spool and a wee flutter/chirp on gearchanges... performance may have been improved, however, being an open filter in an engine bay, I'm sceptical of any gains quoted for it.

I'll try to make and upload a video clip of it.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

Part of the reason for the triple layer of wax was the fact I had booked myself onto the R's first track event and it'd be easier to clean the crap off the bodywork afterwards... so the day arrived and after packing my van full of replacement wheels/tyres, trolley jack, tools, etc... it was time to brim the tank:

8B46EB0C-1075-4382-8060-66A3E3F93CA9 by RS Grant, on Flickr

After arriving and parking in the paddock, we had plenty of time to watch car after car arriving on the back of trailers with their aero bodywork, slick/semi-slick tyres, Gucci modifications, etc... which was a little concerning since I'd essentially pulled up in a standard Golf road car.

36F29E0E-D19B-402A-A052-7217A2A79930 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Anyway, I completed the drivers briefing and got myself ready to head out for the first time in the Golf... more than confident in the cars ability to deal with everything that a British B-road can throw at it, but not really sure how well it was going to cope with track driving.

Here are a few photos which I've found/been tagged in afterwards, as you can see, the weather was fantastic with blue skies and staying dry all day:

8DF553D9-36C4-49D5-889F-7EACED7A9962 by RS Grant, on Flickr
8B61139E-A546-4788-A4DC-476535389C7B by RS Grant, on Flickr
F52B4D40-A3D0-44F6-8110-C5B24C41C698 by RS Grant, on Flickr
E3F9ED81-135A-44C1-9469-78B1F9A90039 by RS Grant, on Flickr
57348210-FFAC-4295-90DD-6046D365D9AE by RS Grant, on Flickr

...after the first couple of hours of the four hour session, I noticed that I was on reserve fuel and needed to pop out and get some more jungle juice!! But, the first picture would probably explain why... the worst I've seen on track before was c9mpg in an Impreza, so this was almost frugal in comparison.

I had an absolute blast!!

Discovered that the standard brake fluid wasn't up to the job, which I'd already suspected but the replacement fluid hadn't arrived in time to change it... and the suspension had a bit of bodyroll which could probably be solved/improved by fitting lowering springs. But apart from that, it went well on the straights and the level of grip (even on Kumho road tyres!) was extremely good.

I was extremely impressed with the car on the whole.


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 13:31

[rm89]

Where did you order your number plates from, Grant? Looking at a similar solution for the front plate on my new car as it has quite a small plinth behind and I've only a 6 character reg, same layout as you.

[Pacman1978]

Love the colour choice, wears it really well!

[ChrisRS6]

Big back plastic front plate plinth needs to go!!!

Just the cut down plate required....looks daft.

[INWB]

Love the colour - especially after you waxed it. Superb car. Nice read.

[MrVert]

Lovely car OP. The wheels are a great addition

Thinking about ordering one of these, out of interest...what sort of mpg would you be getting on a 'commute' type run?

My daily drive is 50 miles motorway then 15 miles A road cruise.

Honest John website suggests 34mpg? About right do you reckon?

Thinking about manual box also, do you have any regrets ordering yours without slushbox?

Cheers.

Edited by MrVert on Monday 25th April 22:13

[Bungleaio]

rm89 said:

Where did you order your number plates from, Grant? Looking at a similar solution for the front plate on my new car as it has quite a small plinth behind and I've only a 6 character reg, same layout as you.

I've got a set of plates from Four Dot, they aren't cheap but they are fantastic quality. They do some custom shapes as well as normal style. They do a zero plate which is the absolute minimum size based upon the characters in your reg https://www.fourdotdesignerplates.co.uk/cars/produ...

On my golf I've got a zero plate on the rear and a graphical one on the front but I selected straight black for the graphical section so that the plinth isn't visible.

[RS Grant]

rm89 said:

Where did you order your number plates from, Grant? Looking at a similar solution for the front plate on my new car as it has quite a small plinth behind and I've only a 6 character reg, same layout as you.

I got them from http://www.fancyplates.com/ and in the special requirements box, I wrote down how much of a border between characters and edge of plate I wanted.. IIRC, 14mm sticks in my head.

Edit: just noticed you said new car, what have you gone for mate??


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Tuesday 26th April 10:51

[RS Grant]

Pacman1978 said:

Love the colour choice, wears it really well!

INWB said:

Love the colour - especially after you waxed it. Superb car. Nice read.

Thanks for the comments, I'm enjoying the car/writing updates and it's nice to hear that it's well received.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

ChrisRS6 said:

Big back plastic front plate plinth needs to go!!!

Just the cut down plate required....looks daft.

Recently have thought exactly the same, not feeling the big black plastic plinth. But the problem being that once the plinth is removed it leaves 5 noticeable holes in the bumper and I'm not into getting the holes plastic welded and the bumper painted... so think I'm going to re-fit a longer plate and see how I get on with that instead.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

MrVert said:

Lovely car OP. The wheels are a great addition

Thinking about ordering one of these, out of interest...what sort of mpg would you be getting on a 'commute' type run?

My daily drive is 50 miles motorway then 15 miles A road cruise.

Honest John website suggests 34mpg? About right do you reckon?

Thinking about manual box also, do you have any regrets ordering yours without slushbox?

Cheers.

Thanks, I'm still very happy with the wheels.. although I've bought some others which I'm also really into as well, but more on that later!!

I find the economy in this car pretty decent, for the commute-type run you suggest (providing you stick around UK motorway speeds) then you'll get c30mpg give or take a couple. If you sit at ~60mph then you'll get ~35mpg without any real hassle at all.

My long-term average MPG is c27mpg, which includes track work and weekend hoons in the countryside.

Edit: I have no regrets whatsoever going for the manual rather than the DSG. If you get off on figures or use your car in heavy traffic regularly, then it's perhaps the way to go, but neither of those apply to me and having driven my sisters DSG R a few times... I'm far happier with the manual, the DSG isn't my cup of tea at all.


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Tuesday 26th April 11:13

[RS Grant]

Wee update on this...

I decided to get myself some other 18" wheels which I could fit some sticky tyres to, so managed to get hold of some Speedline Turini in bright silver, they're used but in very good condition with no chunks out of them.. previous owner was obviously as careful as I am with kerbs!!

5EDDBADD-EACE-40D8-96A0-5C2802B3A74D by RS Grant, on Flickr
810BB8C2-6ABE-48D5-B3E1-006772690354 by RS Grant, on Flickr

You'll probably notice that the car sits a bit lower than it did before, I have fitted some KW Coilovers but having a couple of problems with them so not sure they'll be staying on the car. Anyway, after reading a lot of reviews and threads on track day tyres and what offers best grip:money ratio, the tyres I've gone for are Nankang NS2R semi-slicks in 225/40/18.

12670875_1593726230949522_1662402440700385485_n by RS Grant, on Flickr

...after reading the reviews on them, I am really looking forward to seeing what difference they make.

Here are a few pictures of the new wheels fitted with the tyres they came with because I couldn't wait to have the new tyres fitted before seeing what they looked like on the car, haha.

714BE621-14DC-4D1E-8CFE-E3CF377BAC9F by RS Grant, on Flickr
F1EF8E03-DD00-407C-B883-102A029AEDDC by RS Grant, on Flickr
CAD3E103-4D32-4915-B556-380DBA7CF16A by RS Grant, on Flickr
C67F106A-0D64-4B52-8B33-16F2A36EAED1 by RS Grant, on Flickr

...and a final 'arty' one, well, it's as arty as you can get using an old iPhone!!

0EC23ED2-84D6-4AE4-9AEE-1A58B5F07431 by RS Grant, on Flickr




Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 4th April 13:55

[rm89]

RS Grant said:

I got them from http://www.fancyplates.com/ and in the special requirements box, I wrote down how much of a border between characters and edge of plate I wanted.. IIRC, 14mm sticks in my head.

Edit: just noticed you said new car, what have you gone for mate??


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Tuesday 26th April 10:51

Ta muchly, will have a look at plates with them! Got myself a 6 month old Suzuki Swift Sport, needed something fun again but still fairly cheap to run, so far it feels like a good solution!

[iphonedyou]

Looks really well, OP. Can imagine there aren't many of these modded at all given quite a few are leased.

Makes it stand out all the more. Enjoy!

[MrVert]

RS Grant said:

Thanks, I'm still very happy with the wheels.. although I've bought some others which I'm also really into as well, but more on that later!!

I find the economy in this car pretty decent, for the commute-type run you suggest (providing you stick around UK motorway speeds) then you'll get c30mpg give or take a couple. If you sit at ~60mph then you'll get ~35mpg without any real hassle at all.

My long-term average MPG is c27mpg, which includes track work and weekend hoons in the countryside.

Edit: I have no regrets whatsoever going for the manual rather than the DSG. If you get off on figures or use your car in heavy traffic regularly, then it's perhaps the way to go, but neither of those apply to me and having driven my sisters DSG R a few times... I'm far happier with the manual, the DSG isn't my cup of tea at all.


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Tuesday 26th April 11:13

Cheers for the reply, mpg seems livable with, good to hear you're enjoying the manual gearbox.

[mgst170]

Grant,

How do you find your Golf compared to your M3?

Whilst obviously in different price brackets, as an m3 owner, I could see the golf being more fun, more of the time - based on effectively chuck-ability and traction up here in sunny Scotland.

Would appreciate your views!

Cheers,

Andy

[Aphex]

Those wheels look great both sets that is

Edited by Aphex on Tuesday 26th April 20:32