Rotrex powered R32
Discussion
Been a reader on here for a while, finally joined up a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was about time I should post up some details on my car.
The car is a 2003 MKIV R32, I bought the car when it was just over a year old. Before this I had a PD130 Golf, however after a test drive in the R32 I had to have it just for the v6 sound track
.
I kept the car standard for about 2 years, after this the modifications started with a Milltek cat-back exhaust system.
I have always liked superchargers, so in 2008 I had a VF stage II supercharger fitted.
This bumped the power up from the std 241hp to 324hp 269lb/ft. Later on in the year I added Milltek tubular manifolds and high flow sports cats, this made the car sound so much better.
In January 2009 I had to get the supercharger rebuilt due to an oil leak, only for it to fail again after 6 months. At this point I had the supercharger removed, however I missed the extra power the supercharger gave.
Roll on to October 2009 when I had a Rotrex supercharger fitted, the installation required lower compression pistons, bigger injectors, larger fuel pump and water + methanol injection.
The Rotrex supercharger is mounted low down behind the bumper.
Form the top, the engine bay almost looks standard, the only hints to all the work are the cut outs in the front grill for the pipes to the intercooler.
The power delivery with the supercharger is almost like stock, but there’s allot more. It’s currently running about 14-15psi of boost, which has upped the power to a healthy 454hp & 373lb/ft. A smaller pulley can be fitted which would push the power to 500+
.
Having nearly doubled the power I thought it would be a good idea to increase the stopping power.
The callipers (yet to be fitted) are from a V8 Toureg, the disk is a standard R32 part (can of Pepsi added for scale) the callipers are made by Brembo and are the same as those fitted to the Porsche Cayane Turbo and some 911’s (I think). The only difference being they are not painted red and don’t have Porsche written on them so are about half the price.
I haven’t decided if I’m going to get the callipers painted/powder coated, or leave them as they are.
Future plans are:
Get the bumper and the bonnet re sprayed to get rid of all the stone chips.
Look into getting longer gearing fitted, to try and make it a bit more economical as it has quite a thirst for Vpower. I’m currently getting 19-21mpg, if I “play” this drops to single figures
Also I would like to enter the next Vmax, to see what it is capable of, as I have not been able to max it out yet!
The car is a 2003 MKIV R32, I bought the car when it was just over a year old. Before this I had a PD130 Golf, however after a test drive in the R32 I had to have it just for the v6 sound track
. I kept the car standard for about 2 years, after this the modifications started with a Milltek cat-back exhaust system.
I have always liked superchargers, so in 2008 I had a VF stage II supercharger fitted.
This bumped the power up from the std 241hp to 324hp 269lb/ft. Later on in the year I added Milltek tubular manifolds and high flow sports cats, this made the car sound so much better.
In January 2009 I had to get the supercharger rebuilt due to an oil leak, only for it to fail again after 6 months. At this point I had the supercharger removed, however I missed the extra power the supercharger gave.
Roll on to October 2009 when I had a Rotrex supercharger fitted, the installation required lower compression pistons, bigger injectors, larger fuel pump and water + methanol injection.
The Rotrex supercharger is mounted low down behind the bumper.
Form the top, the engine bay almost looks standard, the only hints to all the work are the cut outs in the front grill for the pipes to the intercooler.
The power delivery with the supercharger is almost like stock, but there’s allot more. It’s currently running about 14-15psi of boost, which has upped the power to a healthy 454hp & 373lb/ft. A smaller pulley can be fitted which would push the power to 500+
. Having nearly doubled the power I thought it would be a good idea to increase the stopping power.
The callipers (yet to be fitted) are from a V8 Toureg, the disk is a standard R32 part (can of Pepsi added for scale) the callipers are made by Brembo and are the same as those fitted to the Porsche Cayane Turbo and some 911’s (I think). The only difference being they are not painted red and don’t have Porsche written on them so are about half the price.
I haven’t decided if I’m going to get the callipers painted/powder coated, or leave them as they are.
Future plans are:
Get the bumper and the bonnet re sprayed to get rid of all the stone chips.
Look into getting longer gearing fitted, to try and make it a bit more economical as it has quite a thirst for Vpower. I’m currently getting 19-21mpg, if I “play” this drops to single figures
Also I would like to enter the next Vmax, to see what it is capable of, as I have not been able to max it out yet!
ct_ said:
Wow! Well done for not giving up on the superchargers!
Thanks, I could have gone turbo, but that would have made the manifolds useless, also superchargers are kinder on the running gear. It is still on the original clutch, gearbox etc…MattyB_ said:
Nice! Did you get any comeback from the VF supercharger for failing twice? Impressive power figure from the new SC though!
yep, it was repaired FOC under warranty, had to pay the shipping to send it back to the USA. Got a couple of vids, the first is from a home made camera mounted in the grill (was still running it in so not driven hard) it’s not very exciting, but gives an idea what it sounds like.
[URL=http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh28/kieranp_photos/?action=view¤t=Rotrexvideo.flv]
[/URL]The second is from a rolling road day, blew the boost pipe off the intercooler at the end of the first run (watch front left for grill being blown out)
[URL=http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh28/kieranp_photos/?action=view¤t=RotrexRRvid.flv]
[/URL] Had to be pushed off the rolling road as after the second run
, it blew the hose off completely and was over fuelling so wouldn’t stay running. Now fixed with modified pipes and stronger hose clips.MattyB_ said:
Feel free not to answer 
but what did it cost you to get it to this stage? As a GTA owner, I'd be looking at a 3.7 conversion with a SC on top to get to 440bhp, which would cost around £13k just for the engine work. Manifold and exhausts would set you back about £3k, suspension and brakes another £2k. How does that compare to the costs on the R32?
The install of the supercharger and engine work came in at about £7k, the exhaust was just on £1,800 the brakes were £700 (callipers, disks, brackets and hoses). Still running the stock suspension. but what did it cost you to get it to this stage? As a GTA owner, I'd be looking at a 3.7 conversion with a SC on top to get to 440bhp, which would cost around £13k just for the engine work. Manifold and exhausts would set you back about £3k, suspension and brakes another £2k. How does that compare to the costs on the R32?kiethton said:
Nice car...think i remeber staring at it quite a bit at the shell garage on the A20 last weekend
Thanks, were you in the black Astra? I did spot you having a look. I spend too much time in those garages on the A20
. ZeroSum said:
Very impressive, I love it. How did you deal with the tuning? - Is it running the standard ECU and was mapping difficult?
It’s running the standard ECU with new softwareLefty Two Drams said:
Do you find the additional power forces the haldex to send more power to the rear axle?
To be honest I’ve never really noticed it shifting the power around. It did try and swap ends once or twice in the snow and ice in December/January which was fun , traction was surprisingly good in the slippery conditions. 
Thought I’d bring this back form the dead and update it, as quite a lot has happened
May 2010
Toureg calipers were fitted
Standard callipers
New calliper fitted
Wheel back on
Had to fit 16mm spacers to allow the wheels to clear the callipers
Decided not to paint them, as I am trying to keep the car looking as close to stock as possible. The stopping power with the new callipers is a lot better than before with the standard brakes. The only down side is the pedal travel is a bit longer and has lost some feel.
When the kit was fitted, the water & methanol injection was fed from the windscreen wash tank. I have a bit of an OCD about having a clean windscreen, water and methanol isn’t very good as screen wash.
To resolve this I made a new tank from a aluminium drinks bottle. I went to a breakers yard and got hold of a water level pickup from a MKIV golf, I modified the lid from the drinks bottle to include the water level pickup.
When the level in the bottle drops to just under ¼ it triggers the low screen wash warning. As it is wired in parallel with the screen wash level sensor
Now I can have proper screen wash in the main screen wash tank
May/June 2010
I was never really happy with the software on the car as it had a few issues. So after approaching United Motorsports I got the car booked in to The Phirm (vw specialist in Hook) to get Larger injectors, new 4” MAF and United motorsports software installed. During the installation it was found that a check valve between the manifold and carbon canister was missing, so the boost pressure was getting back to the fuel tank (now fixed).
Once everything was fitted the car was taken out for a test, during the test drive the clutch started slipping, not surprising really, as it was still the stock clutch at the time.
After 72000 miles and coping with twice the power it was ever meant to, it was inevitable that it would fail at some point.
The power was backed off to protect the clutch, but it was sooooo much better
July 2010
Took the car back to The Phirm to get a SPEC stage 3+ clutch and solid flywheel fitted. When the original clutch was removed, it looked like there was still plenty of life in it, the slipping was probably due to a lack of clamping pressure. While the clutch was fitted, another minor problem was resolved.
When the new software was installed in June 2011, it was found that the original air filter was restricting the airflow to the MAF and causing some running issues.
One of these was fitted in its place (recent photo as I didn’t take one at the time)
I wasn’t convinced the filter would fit inside the bumper, but it did.
The software was also tweaked again, when the original clutch started slipping the power was backed off to protect it. Once the clutch was replaced the power was turned back up to it’s full potential.
September 2010
Once all the little issues were ironed out, I took the car to Surrey Rolling Road where it made 468hp @ flywheel.
or 362hp at the wheels
November 2010
I finally got to see what all the work on the car has achieved by attending VMax200. I completed 7/8 runs with my last run being the best where I saw 171 on the timing beam
When we arrived, it was nice and foggy
My favourite pictures from the day
(ok so the speedo is a bit optimistic)
I really enjoyed the day, although it was a bit disconcerting at first, as I have never driven into fog at 170mph.
Managed to get through over a litre of water and methanol and loads of Vpower, used ½ tank over 38 miles (5.6mpg average).
Video of my last and best run from the day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbswhpwrPOo
Sorry the speedo is not in sync
The new brakes worked really well (managed to turn them a nice shade of blue)
May 2011
Attended my second VMax (overboost), I enjoyed the first one so much I had to go back as it’s addictive.
I tried (and failed) taking on a Carrera GT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8oCSf1osg&lis...
Another video from the same event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5KR1pNKa5A&lis...
Excuse the huffing and puffing from the cameraman, he had just run across the airfield and was a bit out of breath (he is over 60
)
During the runs I did some data logging to see how the car was running under full load, got a peak airflow of 323.5g/s. I added 30% to account for the larger MAF (30% bigger than stock) which gave 420.55g/s (hope that's right).
To calculate the hp I divided 420.55 by 0.83, which gave 506.6hp
. Without adding the 30% it came out at 389.7hp. I have used the same calculation when running on a RR and compared the results. The calculated power was within 6hp of the RR reading.
Data from the run
August 2011
I drove 1,500 miles (round trip) through France to meet up with my parents for a few days. Manage to average 81mph (including crawling through Paris) had to refuel a total 7 times (4 times in one day!) and averaged 22-24mpg. Couldn’t wait for the credit card bill after that!!
We were staying in a small village called La Roque-Gageac in the Dordogne valley. The campsite had a nice view of the local Chateau Castelnaud.
While I was there one of the local towns held a classic car show
Unsurprisingly it was mostly French cars, however there was this MG
Some old Citroen’s
Renault 5 turbo
Bugatti type 35 (I think)
Amilcar
Obligatory 2CV
Also there was a stationary engine running on a mixture of alcohol and petrol. Only took this to get the French man with the big floppy beret
Nearly didn’t make it as 3 days before I was due to leave I found the belt which drives the AC, power steering etc…. was starting to disintegrate.
No problem I thought, ordered a new belt and went to get it replaced.
The supercharger belt had to be removed to allow access, when the sc belt was removed we noticed the bottom idler pulley was loose. On further inspection it was found that the pulley body was moving on the bearing and had worn a groove on the inside of the pulley.
A temporary fix was made, using some 1200 emery paper to pack out the inside of the pulley, as there wasn’t enough time to get a new pulley.
The fix lasted over 3000 miles!
The pulley has since been replaced.
September 2011
Whilst having the supercharger belt idler pulley replaced I noticed some cracks in the pipe’s on the Milltek sports cats and on the back box.
I took the car back to AMD who fitted it all a few years ago, they had a look and agreed that the cracks would be covered by the lifetime warranty
I was worried as the warranty only valid it up to a 20% power increase, I’m running a bit more than that. I am surprised they have lasted this long considering the abuse they get from dealing with the gasses from a near 500hp engine.
This happened at just the right time as when the old cats were removed it was found that one of the cats was starting to break up and clog with soot.
Nice new shiny exhaust
The build quality looks to have improved as well.
Shortly after the exhaust was replaced I had the twin fuel pump setup replaced with a single pump. As the twin pump setup was staring to annoy me due to the wining. The new pump is sooooo much quieter, all I can hear is a very faint hum.
New pump (top) OEM R32 pump (bottom)
Even though the new pump is smaller than the R32 pump, it flows more fuel and at a higher pressure than the std R32 pump.
I have did a before and after video clips to show the difference
Dual pumps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFAy20zW9aE
Single pump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orlB9NSC0BA&fea...
Far better
November 2011
I came very close to wrecking the engine. On my way home from work I got caught out in some very heavy rain, the roads were flooded from curb to curb. Just after I pulled away from some traffic lights the car was a bit hesitant, seconds later there were clouds of steam from the exhaust and it started misfiring so I stopped.
My dad towed me home, managed to get the car started, but it misfired every so often and was still steaming from the exhaust. I decided to take the boost pipe to the manifold off and disconnected the MAF and start it Glad I did, my dad got soaked so went and got the video camera for the second start this was the result:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgRnTJwjs9g
The rattling sound is the gearbox (no DM flywheel), I put my ear against the intake manifold to listen for any nasty sounding noises, there weren’t any so I ran it for a few minuets. I used a bit of flexi ducting to direct the pipe from the intercooler to the floor to stop any more water from getting into the engine and took it for a drive round the block.
[IMG] http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh28/kieranp_ph...
It ran ok, but was a bit unhappy due to the MAF being disconnected.
I was very lucky not to nuke the engine, however it has cost me a new throttle body £400+ MAF & air filter so lesson learnt. I have now added one of these: http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=... which will hopefully repel some of the water in the future.
At about the same time as the water incident the clutch started to slip under hard acceleration. I use the car every day to commute to and from work, I guess sports clutches aren’t meant for sitting in stop start traffic every day.
February 2012
The car is booked in to The Phirm on the 18th for a new clutch. Sticking with the Spec, just replacing the friction plate. Currently the car is resting at the top of the drive as the clutch slippage has got worse.
In the meantime I’m using this:
It’s a 1.2 12v 3cyl with a massive 63hp
Just for a laugh, I took this photo a couple of weeks ago. 3.2 v6 throttle body vs 1.2 3cyl throttle body
If anyone is interested I have thread on the Skoda running here:
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p... it was in a bit of a state when I got it
Future plans are to still to get a front end re spray. I also fancy going back to another VMax, even though it’s not going to go any quicker, its still good fun
That’s about it for now. Sorry the update is a bit long, I’ll try and keep it updated more often.
May 2010
Toureg calipers were fitted
Standard callipers
New calliper fitted
Wheel back on
Had to fit 16mm spacers to allow the wheels to clear the callipers
Decided not to paint them, as I am trying to keep the car looking as close to stock as possible. The stopping power with the new callipers is a lot better than before with the standard brakes. The only down side is the pedal travel is a bit longer and has lost some feel.
When the kit was fitted, the water & methanol injection was fed from the windscreen wash tank. I have a bit of an OCD about having a clean windscreen, water and methanol isn’t very good as screen wash.
To resolve this I made a new tank from a aluminium drinks bottle. I went to a breakers yard and got hold of a water level pickup from a MKIV golf, I modified the lid from the drinks bottle to include the water level pickup.
When the level in the bottle drops to just under ¼ it triggers the low screen wash warning. As it is wired in parallel with the screen wash level sensor
Now I can have proper screen wash in the main screen wash tank
May/June 2010
I was never really happy with the software on the car as it had a few issues. So after approaching United Motorsports I got the car booked in to The Phirm (vw specialist in Hook) to get Larger injectors, new 4” MAF and United motorsports software installed. During the installation it was found that a check valve between the manifold and carbon canister was missing, so the boost pressure was getting back to the fuel tank (now fixed).
Once everything was fitted the car was taken out for a test, during the test drive the clutch started slipping, not surprising really, as it was still the stock clutch at the time.
After 72000 miles and coping with twice the power it was ever meant to, it was inevitable that it would fail at some point.
The power was backed off to protect the clutch, but it was sooooo much better
July 2010
Took the car back to The Phirm to get a SPEC stage 3+ clutch and solid flywheel fitted. When the original clutch was removed, it looked like there was still plenty of life in it, the slipping was probably due to a lack of clamping pressure. While the clutch was fitted, another minor problem was resolved.
When the new software was installed in June 2011, it was found that the original air filter was restricting the airflow to the MAF and causing some running issues.
One of these was fitted in its place (recent photo as I didn’t take one at the time)
I wasn’t convinced the filter would fit inside the bumper, but it did.
The software was also tweaked again, when the original clutch started slipping the power was backed off to protect it. Once the clutch was replaced the power was turned back up to it’s full potential.
September 2010
Once all the little issues were ironed out, I took the car to Surrey Rolling Road where it made 468hp @ flywheel.
or 362hp at the wheels
November 2010
I finally got to see what all the work on the car has achieved by attending VMax200. I completed 7/8 runs with my last run being the best where I saw 171 on the timing beam
When we arrived, it was nice and foggy
My favourite pictures from the day
(ok so the speedo is a bit optimistic)
I really enjoyed the day, although it was a bit disconcerting at first, as I have never driven into fog at 170mph.
Managed to get through over a litre of water and methanol and loads of Vpower, used ½ tank over 38 miles (5.6mpg average).
Video of my last and best run from the day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbswhpwrPOo
Sorry the speedo is not in sync
The new brakes worked really well (managed to turn them a nice shade of blue)
May 2011
Attended my second VMax (overboost), I enjoyed the first one so much I had to go back as it’s addictive.
I tried (and failed) taking on a Carrera GT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8oCSf1osg&lis...
Another video from the same event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5KR1pNKa5A&lis...
Excuse the huffing and puffing from the cameraman, he had just run across the airfield and was a bit out of breath (he is over 60
)During the runs I did some data logging to see how the car was running under full load, got a peak airflow of 323.5g/s. I added 30% to account for the larger MAF (30% bigger than stock) which gave 420.55g/s (hope that's right).
To calculate the hp I divided 420.55 by 0.83, which gave 506.6hp
. Without adding the 30% it came out at 389.7hp. I have used the same calculation when running on a RR and compared the results. The calculated power was within 6hp of the RR reading.Data from the run
August 2011
I drove 1,500 miles (round trip) through France to meet up with my parents for a few days. Manage to average 81mph (including crawling through Paris) had to refuel a total 7 times (4 times in one day!) and averaged 22-24mpg. Couldn’t wait for the credit card bill after that!!
We were staying in a small village called La Roque-Gageac in the Dordogne valley. The campsite had a nice view of the local Chateau Castelnaud.
While I was there one of the local towns held a classic car show
Unsurprisingly it was mostly French cars, however there was this MG
Some old Citroen’s
Renault 5 turbo
Bugatti type 35 (I think)
Amilcar
Obligatory 2CV
Also there was a stationary engine running on a mixture of alcohol and petrol. Only took this to get the French man with the big floppy beret
Nearly didn’t make it as 3 days before I was due to leave I found the belt which drives the AC, power steering etc…. was starting to disintegrate.
No problem I thought, ordered a new belt and went to get it replaced.
The supercharger belt had to be removed to allow access, when the sc belt was removed we noticed the bottom idler pulley was loose. On further inspection it was found that the pulley body was moving on the bearing and had worn a groove on the inside of the pulley.
A temporary fix was made, using some 1200 emery paper to pack out the inside of the pulley, as there wasn’t enough time to get a new pulley.
The fix lasted over 3000 miles!
The pulley has since been replaced.
September 2011
Whilst having the supercharger belt idler pulley replaced I noticed some cracks in the pipe’s on the Milltek sports cats and on the back box.
I took the car back to AMD who fitted it all a few years ago, they had a look and agreed that the cracks would be covered by the lifetime warranty
I was worried as the warranty only valid it up to a 20% power increase, I’m running a bit more than that. I am surprised they have lasted this long considering the abuse they get from dealing with the gasses from a near 500hp engine.This happened at just the right time as when the old cats were removed it was found that one of the cats was starting to break up and clog with soot.
Nice new shiny exhaust
The build quality looks to have improved as well.
Shortly after the exhaust was replaced I had the twin fuel pump setup replaced with a single pump. As the twin pump setup was staring to annoy me due to the wining. The new pump is sooooo much quieter, all I can hear is a very faint hum.
New pump (top) OEM R32 pump (bottom)
Even though the new pump is smaller than the R32 pump, it flows more fuel and at a higher pressure than the std R32 pump.
I have did a before and after video clips to show the difference
Dual pumps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFAy20zW9aE
Single pump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orlB9NSC0BA&fea...
Far better
November 2011
I came very close to wrecking the engine. On my way home from work I got caught out in some very heavy rain, the roads were flooded from curb to curb. Just after I pulled away from some traffic lights the car was a bit hesitant, seconds later there were clouds of steam from the exhaust and it started misfiring so I stopped.
My dad towed me home, managed to get the car started, but it misfired every so often and was still steaming from the exhaust. I decided to take the boost pipe to the manifold off and disconnected the MAF and start it Glad I did, my dad got soaked so went and got the video camera for the second start this was the result:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgRnTJwjs9g
The rattling sound is the gearbox (no DM flywheel), I put my ear against the intake manifold to listen for any nasty sounding noises, there weren’t any so I ran it for a few minuets. I used a bit of flexi ducting to direct the pipe from the intercooler to the floor to stop any more water from getting into the engine and took it for a drive round the block.
[IMG] http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh28/kieranp_ph...
It ran ok, but was a bit unhappy due to the MAF being disconnected.
I was very lucky not to nuke the engine, however it has cost me a new throttle body £400+ MAF & air filter so lesson learnt. I have now added one of these: http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=... which will hopefully repel some of the water in the future.
At about the same time as the water incident the clutch started to slip under hard acceleration. I use the car every day to commute to and from work, I guess sports clutches aren’t meant for sitting in stop start traffic every day.
February 2012
The car is booked in to The Phirm on the 18th for a new clutch. Sticking with the Spec, just replacing the friction plate. Currently the car is resting at the top of the drive as the clutch slippage has got worse.
In the meantime I’m using this:
It’s a 1.2 12v 3cyl with a massive 63hp
Just for a laugh, I took this photo a couple of weeks ago. 3.2 v6 throttle body vs 1.2 3cyl throttle body
If anyone is interested I have thread on the Skoda running here:
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p... it was in a bit of a state when I got it
Future plans are to still to get a front end re spray. I also fancy going back to another VMax, even though it’s not going to go any quicker, its still good fun
That’s about it for now. Sorry the update is a bit long, I’ll try and keep it updated more often.
Edited by Blue32 on Saturday 11th February 21:28
Edited by Blue32 on Saturday 11th February 21:29
I got the car back today after having the clutch replaced. When it was stripped down, they found that the clutch wasn’t worn. After 16,000 miles the clutch had lost 0.2mm and was still within factory specification.
Clutch disk
Cover plate
After discussions with the manufacturer of the clutch (SPEC) it turns out there was variation in how the engine crankshaft is shimmed during manufacture which can alter the position of the clutch. This variation on mine resulted in the clutch not releasing fully which caused the slipping.
To get the clutch position correct a spacer for the clutch needed to be machined. This resulted in the gear box being removed and refitted 4 times so they could get a spacer machined to the correct size to set the clutch position to allow it to release fully.
On the plus side SPEC picked up the bill for the new clutch disk due to the issue with the shimming.
While the car was in the work hop, it was found that one of the rear springs had cracked (common MKIV fault), so they were replaced at the same time.
I have spoken to a body shop today, and was quoted £700 to remove all the stone chips and re spray the bonnet, wings and bumper
.
Hopefully should be able to show off some pics of a nicely re sprayed front end in a couple of weeks.
Clutch disk
Cover plate
After discussions with the manufacturer of the clutch (SPEC) it turns out there was variation in how the engine crankshaft is shimmed during manufacture which can alter the position of the clutch. This variation on mine resulted in the clutch not releasing fully which caused the slipping.
To get the clutch position correct a spacer for the clutch needed to be machined. This resulted in the gear box being removed and refitted 4 times
so they could get a spacer machined to the correct size to set the clutch position to allow it to release fully. On the plus side SPEC picked up the bill for the new clutch disk due to the issue with the shimming.
While the car was in the work hop, it was found that one of the rear springs had cracked (common MKIV fault), so they were replaced at the same time.
I have spoken to a body shop today, and was quoted £700 to remove all the stone chips and re spray the bonnet, wings and bumper
.Hopefully should be able to show off some pics of a nicely re sprayed front end in a couple of weeks.
pit5top said:
Great write up. Also really liking the stock look of the car, sounds fantastic and 500 bhp. Obviously not a garage queen either. Comforting to see such
a modified car being used souch and being pretty reliable. Well done!
Thanks, if I had the time space and money it would be a garage queen and detailed to within an inch of it’s lifea modified car being used souch and being pretty reliable. Well done!
. But that would be a bit of a waste.The plan has always been to try keep it looking as stock as possible and reliable enough to use every day. So far it has worked, apart from some minor hiccups
.Had an expensive couple of weeks,
It was MOT& service time just before the Easter weekend, just before the MOT the passenger door lock decided to give up (non working locks = fail). Fortunately I had a replacement as it had been playing up for a while. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to fit is so had to pay the VW dealer to fit it.
On to the MOT, it failed on emissions, which was odd as it had passed previously and had new cats fitted back in October.
Failed quite badly
Had to drive to the Phirm on Good Friday so the guy that mapped the car could update the software and adjust the fuelling to get the emissions down as it was running a bit rich.
Had the retest on Thursday and it passed
As part of the software update the car now has no lift shift, so when 100% throttle is used I can change gear with out lifting off. It works by detecting the clutch has been pressed and cuts the ignition for 0.6seconds while changing gear. It takes a bit of getting used to, as I have to remember not to lift off the throttle.
Also have launch control, http://unitedmotorsport.co.uk/downloads/launch.pdf which I haven’t used yet as I’m supposed to be running the new clutch in. I have set it up, it makes the car sound like a rally car when it’s holding the launch RPM.
I’m hoping to try both the launch and no lift shift at the next Vmax.
Got my PH smiley fitted
The Skoda got one too
It was MOT& service time just before the Easter weekend, just before the MOT the passenger door lock decided to give up (non working locks = fail). Fortunately I had a replacement as it had been playing up for a while. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to fit is so had to pay the VW dealer to fit it.
On to the MOT, it failed on emissions
, which was odd as it had passed previously and had new cats fitted back in October.Failed quite badly
Had to drive to the Phirm on Good Friday so the guy that mapped the car could update the software and adjust the fuelling to get the emissions down as it was running a bit rich.
Had the retest on Thursday and it passed
As part of the software update the car now has no lift shift, so when 100% throttle is used I can change gear with out lifting off. It works by detecting the clutch has been pressed and cuts the ignition for 0.6seconds while changing gear. It takes a bit of getting used to, as I have to remember not to lift off the throttle.
Also have launch control, http://unitedmotorsport.co.uk/downloads/launch.pdf which I haven’t used yet as I’m supposed to be running the new clutch in. I have set it up, it makes the car sound like a rally car when it’s holding the launch RPM.
I’m hoping to try both the launch and no lift shift at the next Vmax.
Got my PH smiley fitted
The Skoda got one too
mat777 said:
Great thread! 470bhp and 170mph in a Golf, you are a proper nutter!
I do love it when people manage to seriously increase the poke of a car but keep it looking stock on the outside.
As an aside.. thats a very odd looking engine layout. I'd thought it was a regular 2-banked V6. Is it a parallel 3-cylinder with 2 crankshafts a la Veyron?
ThanksI do love it when people manage to seriously increase the poke of a car but keep it looking stock on the outside.
As an aside.. thats a very odd looking engine layout. I'd thought it was a regular 2-banked V6. Is it a parallel 3-cylinder with 2 crankshafts a la Veyron?
I’d like to turn it up to 500hp, but it need forged rods for that. It’s still running the stock rods, it could probably run 500 on the stock rods, just not for very long.
It’s a single crank, narrow angle V6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR6_engine
Edited by Blue32 on Saturday 14th April 15:33
Brett748 said:
Epic car. Must go and sound amazing.
Yep it does, plans are afoot to make it sound better and release a few more horses, hoping to get a nice round 500!After_Shock said:
Mega build well done.
Lucky having a VW group car, so many parts can be sourced i.e the brakes that just fit!
Thanks, Its certainly handy having a large parts bin to rummage through (runs off to check ETKA for part no for Veyron 16.4 engine) Lucky having a VW group car, so many parts can be sourced i.e the brakes that just fit!
Done a bit more to the car, started off with sorting something that has bugged me since I got the car. The rear mats were missing the clips which attach them to the floor. I recently got hold of a copy of ETKA. VW’s parts catalogue (the wonders of ebay) this allowed me to search for the parts I needed and order them from the VW dealer.
Missing clips
New clips
New clips fitted
Only a minor thing but I like things to be complete.
Next job was to clean the exhausts as they were starting to look a bit grim.
Before cleaning
To make it a bit easier I decided to remove the exhaust tips from the car
After attacking with a dremel, wire wool & Autosol metal polish
Refitted to the car (sorry about the dirty bumper)
On Monday I dropped the car off to Phirm FX to get the bumper, bonnet & wings resprayed to get rid of all the stone chips and scratches it has picked up over the years.
Before
Poor colour match between bonnet/wing
Newly painted front end
It’s already picked up a stone chip on the 60 mile trip home
Oh well it looked good for all of 10 min
Tonsko said:
Lush mate. Would love to do something like this to mine, but I'm not sure I have the bottle! (Not the driving, more the bills if there were any problems ) Plus, mech knowledge is fairly basic, so would have to get someone else to do most of the work. Bought a westie to learn on. There's lots of work coming up on mine I think (nearly at 100k) but can't bear to part with it. Figure I will just keep it for a few years. Hopefully they will always sell...
Thanks, sometimes wish I’d kept it standard as where I could go and “play” on some the nice country lanes it’s now a bit too quick) Plus, mech knowledge is fairly basic, so would have to get someone else to do most of the work. Bought a westie to learn on. There's lots of work coming up on mine I think (nearly at 100k) but can't bear to part with it. Figure I will just keep it for a few years. Hopefully they will always sell...
.Or888t said:
Been following this thread from the beginning, Love mk4 r32's especially supercharged stock looking ones.
Great thread
P.s Has it got the more sedate seats or some rs4 style ones?
It has the standard the half leather half Alcantra Konig seats.Great thread
P.s Has it got the more sedate seats or some rs4 style ones?
The engine started making some “un-engine like noises” two weeks ago.
Video of sounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcrZLEWLtDk&fea...
The first is a metallic ticking (can be heard around 20 secs), the second (loud clicking) at 50 seconds I was able to narrow down to one of the belt idler pulleys for the super charger.
While trying to narrow down the source of the first sound I pulled the coil packs and found this
Coil packs 1-6
Cyl 1
Cyl 4
Cyl 6
Yes that’s water down there
Cyl 6 coil pack, water was dripping out when I pulled it
Apparently this isn’t uncommon, moisture gets trapped down by the plugs and never gets out. The fix is to replace the cam cover gasket as it has seals to prevent moisture getting down to the plugs. Another job for the to do list…. In the meantime I cleaned all the coil packs and replaced the spark plugs (due for replacement anyway)
I decided not to use the car until I could get the engine checked out. While the car was off the road I wanted to tackle another little job. When I almost drowned the car last year, I noticed the connector to the MAF was full of water and needed replacing.
This is what I found when I started stripping the wiring down to replace the connector
Replacement connector and repair wires
Nice shiny gold contacts
New connector built
The rubber grommets supplied with the connector didn’t seal very well, so I filled the back of the connector with hot glue.
It wasn’t until I had cut and stripped the wires that I discovered what a poor state they were in. When I tried to solder the new connector wires to the wiring, this happened
I have ordered some replacement wire so I can remove the corroded wiring, In the meantime it’s all back together so I can get the car running.
On Thursday the car was loaded onto a trailer and taken to The Phirm to get the idler pulley replaced and the engine noise checked out.
Managed to catch the newly painted bumper on the trailer while loading
On route we thought this was quite impressive
When we arrived at the destination the trip was showing just over 40mpg! not bad as it’s pulling nearly 2,000kg of Golf and trailer. The Golf just about manages 20mpg on it’s own
.The grumbling pulley was replaced, didn’t get any pictures as the camera was in the car while it was up on the car lift in the workshop.
The engine has been checked over, the feeling is that the noise coming from the top of the engine might be one of the hydraulic tappets sticking a bit as it comes and goes and is only really apparent at 1,100 –1,150 rpm only.
We decided it was safe to drive the car as no damage was being done. On the journey home it clocked up 90,000 miles!
Hopefully over this weekend (assuming it doesn’t rain) I can get the wiring to the MAF replaced.
Oh and I have booked a place on the VW Audi driver track day at Castle Combe
http://www.autometrix.co.uk/trackdays/index.html
Chunkychucky said:
Nice car, please beg/steal/borrow a GoPro or similar for the trackday, need to see some onboard of this girl in action!
Got one earlier this year as I planned to do a track day as some pointHBFS said:
Great car, must be properly quick!
Do you know the actual 0-60 and 0-100mph? I'd be very curious to know
No idea.. last time I tried a 0-60 I kept fluffing the gear change (probably not aggressive enoughDo you know the actual 0-60 and 0-100mph? I'd be very curious to know
) one day I’ll put it up the strip to see what I can do…Made a start on replacing the wiring today, thankfully the corrosion in the wires hasn’t made it back to the original wiring loom.
Nice clean copper to solder to
First new solder joint
After taking that photo I realised I had to break the joint again
to feed the wire through a rubber boot to cover the back of the connector.I gave up after that, hopefully if it stays dry tomorrow I’ll get it finished.
Got the wiring finished today, new wires connected to the car loom, all joints sealed with hot glue and heat shrink.
MAF connections, joints sealed as above.
The wiring has been sealed with heat shrink and hot glue; I used a 20mm gland boot to cover the back of the connector. The boot is attached to the connector with hot glue, and to ensure a good seal the whole lot was wrapped with self-amalgamating tape.
The completed loom was fed through some convoluted tubing to protect it.
Damage done while loading on to the trailer last week (under tray was removed for access to wiring)
Next job is changing the gear box oil, it’s getting a bit hard to get in to gear so hopefully fresh oil will help. Either way it can’t hurt as the gear oil is nearly 10 years old now!
MAF connections, joints sealed as above.
The wiring has been sealed with heat shrink and hot glue; I used a 20mm gland boot to cover the back of the connector. The boot is attached to the connector with hot glue, and to ensure a good seal the whole lot was wrapped with self-amalgamating tape.
The completed loom was fed through some convoluted tubing to protect it.
Damage done while loading on to the trailer last week
(under tray was removed for access to wiring) Next job is changing the gear box oil, it’s getting a bit hard to get in to gear so hopefully fresh oil will help. Either way it can’t hurt as the gear oil is nearly 10 years old now!
Gear box sorted, turns out it was just the linkage needing some grease.
Had a good day yesterday at the VW Audi track day at Castle Combe when it eventually dried up! I did 3 track sessions, one in the morning when it was raining heavily, two in the afternoon when it finally dried out.
Video of a few laps from the afternoon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOEvZOK-9jo&fea...
I was overtaken by nearly everyone and wasn’t particularly quick (lack of confidence). Maybe with a few more track sessions I can build some confidence and I can start doing some of the overtaking, still it was fun.
Had a good day yesterday at the VW Audi track day at Castle Combe when it eventually dried up! I did 3 track sessions, one in the morning when it was raining heavily, two in the afternoon when it finally dried out.
Video of a few laps from the afternoon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOEvZOK-9jo&fea...
I was overtaken by nearly everyone and wasn’t particularly quick (lack of confidence). Maybe with a few more track sessions I can build some confidence and I can start doing some of the overtaking, still it was fun.
I found a nice picture my car from the track day in the September issue of the VW driver magazine.
Shortly after the track day I took the car back to the Phirm to get some bits done, and we found this
Bank 1 cat
Bank 2 cat
The cats were only replaced a year ago under warranty after one of the welds’s in the pipe cracked.
Not sure what caused the damage as the last set of cat’s survived a trip to the Nurburg ring and 2 Vmax events.
The car has been of the road for nearly 3 months whilst I get it sorted. The good thing is that Milltek have agreed to replace the damaged cat, the damaged core is going to be cut out and replaced. These will probably become my MOT cat’s as it is likely the car will be running a de-cat.
In the meantime The Phrim have started building the 3” exhaust to remove the last few restrictions to help the engine breathe better which might also help it reach 500hp!
Milltek system removed
The OE manifolds are going to be put back on because they have square ports which are an exact match to the ports on the head. This will allow for a smoother gas flow when compared with the round ports on the Milltek manifolds.
The OE manifolds have been opened out to 2” and will attach to 2.5” down pipes which will merge into a single 3”pipe.
OE manifold before opening out (I pinched these pictures from the Phirm’s Facebook page from a similar build)
OE manifold after opening out
The new 2.5” down pipes have been welded up
Just as a comparison we put a set of OE down pipes next to the new down pipes, 1.5” vs 2.5”
Hopefully it shouldn’t be too much longer until it’s finished; I can’t wait to get it back as I haven’t driven it for nearly 3 months.
Shortly after the track day I took the car back to the Phirm to get some bits done, and we found this
Bank 1 cat
Bank 2 cat
The cats were only replaced a year ago under warranty after one of the welds’s in the pipe cracked.
Not sure what caused the damage as the last set of cat’s survived a trip to the Nurburg ring and 2 Vmax events.
The car has been of the road for nearly 3 months whilst I get it sorted. The good thing is that Milltek have agreed to replace the damaged cat, the damaged core is going to be cut out and replaced. These will probably become my MOT cat’s as it is likely the car will be running a de-cat.
In the meantime The Phrim have started building the 3” exhaust to remove the last few restrictions to help the engine breathe better which might also help it reach 500hp!
Milltek system removed
The OE manifolds are going to be put back on because they have square ports which are an exact match to the ports on the head. This will allow for a smoother gas flow when compared with the round ports on the Milltek manifolds.
The OE manifolds have been opened out to 2” and will attach to 2.5” down pipes which will merge into a single 3”pipe.
OE manifold before opening out (I pinched these pictures from the Phirm’s Facebook page from a similar build)
OE manifold after opening out
The new 2.5” down pipes have been welded up
Just as a comparison we put a set of OE down pipes next to the new down pipes, 1.5” vs 2.5”
Hopefully it shouldn’t be too much longer until it’s finished; I can’t wait to get it back as I haven’t driven it for nearly 3 months
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