Life of the McDub by photo

[McDub]

Thought i'd give the dub it's own pictorial photo diary sorta thing...

Will try keep my chat to min and keep with the theme of pics.


Picked her up from the Kangaroo valley almost two years ago, stock 2003 gti with 86k on it, greeting me with open arms (door):




First wash, all clean and stuff...

[McDub]

probably the only thing i did in the first 9 months to it was give it some yellow foggies...




Didn't think i would end up 'wasting' any money on her with mods, but that all suddenly changed as soon as I caved in and got it flashed. I chose (unfortunately), to go with Unitronic

Knew something was up, so had to get it looked at on the dyno




Oh noes, it's making the same peak power as a stock gti!
Money pit, here we come

[McDub]

think i'm gonna get a boost guage to help diagnose what's going wrong, also maybe a new diverter valve, actually while i'm buying all this stuff from ECS, why not just get the 14lbs clutch kit that's on special. It doesn't need a new clutch, but what the hell...




Last oil change i got done by a mechanic... i'm a mechanical engineer, surely i can handle this on my own?
It's just unsrew, screw and pour, correct?
First ever attempt to do an oil change, i picked a great day for it...

[McDub]

Hmmm Unitronic think the problem is with the intake.
Ok i'll try install a silicon TIP just incase the stock rubber one is collapsing...

Out comes the stock one, this is the easy bit




old vs new




the inlet to the turbo... that black coolant piping just below the inlet makes it almost impossible to get the new one on. unbolting it from the engine and bending it away slightly finally let enough room for the new TIP (after some some cursing and grazed knuckes)



Problem with car fixed? not at all, still a slow peice of crap!

[McDub]

mcdub down at the farm... but it's missing something...




Look, it's just gone and rolled down the driveway on it's own accord. what's it trying to tell me? (thank god for the otto bins it ran into...)




It needs shiny new wheels!




some black car in the way...

[McDub]

so i wonder whats wrong with the car that it's so slow... vortex tells me the intercooler clogs up with oil and needs to be cleaned out after a while. well vortex is always right so that's what i'll do.



Not a single drop of oil came out of the intercooler, clean as a whistle.
least i had fun learning how to dismantle the front bumper...

may aswell insect hoses and bushings...

fair bit of oil that seems to be dripping down from that turbo




hmmm control arm bushes looking a little worn, maybe time for ecs suspension refresh kit




been meaning to try and fix the circuit for my boost guage that needs a capictor to illuminate properly (stupid new south sepctrum boost guage, do not buy one)... look how i found the earth cable was earthed... interesting...




TO BE CONTINUED

[undisclos3d]

diggin it and lovin the wheels, pity about it being slow. Screw unitronic and get a giac? haha

[Speed]

Loving the wheels!
I should have mine going soon. Maybe you can compare yours to my GIAC and see what you think?

[McDub]

don't worry, unitronic has both left my car, and the country all together... will get there in a couple posts...


was going to get some pss9's in the group buy, but if fell through and i opted for the cheaper option of shock and springs instead (KYB AGX shocks with H&R sport springs)

shocks arrived courtesy of classy ebay...




had to wait almost a month for my ecs order...




the H&R springs, stage 2 front suspension refresh kit, 2.5" TB Billy Boat exhaust, strut bar, 10mm spacers for the rear...

[McDub]

after 8 months of trying to solve the low power issues (changing just about everything, i.e temp sensors, MAF, O2 sensor, TIP, D.V, N75, Throttle body, just about everything short of a new engine, new ecu or a new car all together), was finally decided it must be the unitronic software. Had it removed and refunded, not going into that any more, lots of headache...


So got it put on the dyno to make sure it was healthy in stock form... seems about right




Then got the exhaust put on at the same time because i was curious to see the difference on paper...




8 extra kw's, not too bad