My other German fling: Mk6 GTI

[stephen8512]

Hi Lucas the GTI is coming together nicely.... one question though why is the DV needing to be relocated? is it not in the right position from factory?

It just makes it easier to access if/when changing.

[Lucas_R]

Hi Lucas the GTI is coming together nicely.... one question though why is the DV needing to be relocated? is it not in the right position from factory?

Yep - as Stephen mentioned, one benefit is that it makes the DV easier to access for checking etc. Another benefit is moving it away from the heat of the turbo. Im also looking into upgrading to the larger k04 turbo too, and when doing this, you must use a DV relocation kit like this one.

[Lucas_R]

Got home last night and was motivated to pull the starter motor off my car and give it a clean/service to see if it's the cause of the startup rattle i get about 80% of the time when the engine is cold.

Wasn't hard to get out or disassemble. 30 mins had it removed and in pieces on my garage floor. It was pretty filthy inside (clutch dust and other crud) so i gave everything a good clean/degrease, then put a good quality Lithium grease on all the gears/pinions and put it all back together. I used a full can of degreaser on it, and got alot of gunk off. Looks brand new inside now.

I've done 2x cold starts since and haven't had the rattle yet, but it's too early to tell whether this was the source of the noise. If i can get another week or so rattle free then i'll be happy that i have fixed the issue.

I also took the solenoid apart and theres a piston/shaft piece in there that sits inside another piece of metal with a spring on it, so i put some grease on that too. It was clean though, so didn't need to clean that.

Here it is (airbox removed for access):




Dirty sucker:




All in pieces (motor section is already clean in this pic which is why its so shiny compared to the other bits):




One part of the internal gears after removing them and cleaning/degreasing them:




All back together, greased up and ready to reinstall:

[kivenage]

yeah, love how the gti is coming along, you've had the unitronic cai for a while now... how is it treating you, any issues?

[Lucas_R]

yeah, love how the gti is coming along, you've had the unitronic cai for a while now... how is it treating you, any issues?

No issues mate - its good. Only thing i didnt like about it was thee exposed air filter, but i have cured that with a hybrid intake solution and the air filter is now enclosed in a carbon fibre airbox. But other than this, the intake is sturdy, well designed to retain the stock MAF housing, fits perfectly and has good quality silicone joiners etc.

[VW Golf R32]

Twin reverse light installed over the weekend. New tail light sourced from BKS Tuning which has a reverse light component instead of the fog light.

I can now see when im reversing. This is the same mod i did on my old Golf R and it worked really well. Using Bold Sport LED's for the reverse bulb which are super bright.

LED bulb: Bold-Sport.com :: NEW item - CREE LED Reverse Light

New light housing: OEM VW Golf MK6 LED reserve lamp

The car now looks balanced from the rear (i hate the single reverse light on euro cars), and the extra light output along with the reverse camera make for really good visibility at night.

First off Lucas thanks for the very informative build you have saved me a lot of time and money.

Was there any issues fitting the new reverse tail light ? or was it just unbolt old unit put in new unit with LED light bulb and away you go.What was the quality like of the new tail light.

[Lucas_R]

Glad it's been of some help.

The new light is a genuine VW item, so the quality is perfect. Takes no more than a few minutes to remove the stock light and install the new one. The 2nd reverse light needs to be wired in, in order for it to work. You just tap into the yellow and brown wires on the passenger side reverse light, feed the cable through the hatch over to the drivers side and connect up to the new light. After this, both reverse lights will illuminate when you engage reverse.

First off Lucas thanks for the very informative build you have saved me a lot of time and money.

Was there any issues fitting the new reverse tail light ? or was it just unbolt old unit put in new unit with LED light bulb and away you go.What was the quality like of the new tail light.

[MozzGTI]

With tapping into the yellow and brown wires, do you disconnect the wiring for the fog light on the right hand side before connecting it up? Does it throw up any error lights in doing this??

[Lucas_R]

A boring little update, but an update none the less.

The CTS catback was rubbing on the rear lower suspension arm when it got hot, so i took it into Brendan @ Premier Exhausts who showed me that CTS could have done a better job of the bends and brackets etc. Mind you, the mismatched dump pipe and catback (EuroJet dumpipe and CTS catback) may have contributed to the poor fitment.

So the exhaust was modified and tig welded to suit and im happy to report that there is no more rubbing. I also got the reducer section of pipe where the dump pipe and catback meet removed and a new length of 3" stainless pipe was tig welded into place. So now the car has a "true" 3" turboback exhaust with excellent fitment. Hats off to Brendan @ Premier Exhaust who once again again accommodated my fussy requests with excellent workmanship and a good price.

Car is also booked in next week to a new Euro workshop called Twilight Automotive to have the brake/clutch fluid flushed and gearbox oil replaced. These are items i would normally DIY myself, but the house renos are taking up every minute of my time at the moment, so i thought id try this new workshop.

[Lucas_R]

Little update - haven't done much at all with the GTI lately as spending every spare minute doing house renovations or spending time with my 1yr old girl.

I have the Unitronic DV relocation kit which moves the DV from the turbo housing up to near the inlet manifold, and the DV was rubbing on the wires for my air temp sensor. Over time it rubbed through the cables and so i had to re-pin the plug for the sensor and replace the wires - all parts sourced from Bold Sport.

After fixing the air temp sensor, i made a bracket to secure the DV so that it would no longer rub on the cables, but then decided that a shorter/smaller DV would be a better and neater solution.

So i purchased a Turbosmart plumb back DV and fitted that - no more worries about the DV rubbing on anything and it sounds great too (bit of flutter).

Also had to fit a new charcoal canister after getting random error codes over the past few months.