Who has been here a long time?

[bombsquad21]

I used to be very heavily involved in the forum back with my Mk3 Golf and later my TSI APR Amarok but moved away from VW. Technically i still own a V6 Amarok HighLine but haven't driven a VW regularly for a few years now.

I never really imagined I'd had the car journey I've had but never really enjoyed myself as much as when I had the 2.0 Slow and would go on watercooled events with the guys, including an unfortunate drive when a newly restored Mk2 ended up on it's roof out the back of Mt tamborine.

Anyways shoutout to any of the old crew and to anyone who is struggling with a ****ty VW trying to get money for mods/fuel and rego trust me it gets better. Life is short. Too short for boring and crappy cars.

Peace Luke

[sports racer]

Been here for ages. Great place to store any progress with my cars so I can easily find what I did and when.

[Hillbilly]

Been here since about 2011 when I bought my first VW a B7 Passat Highline wagon

[The_Hawk]

Amazing how many times I find links to old threads of me having done something to an old car while using google. Or even just links back to this place in general to find someone has posted a write up of something I want to do

[ope126]

Still a few of us around!
Lost count on how many VW Group vehicles I have owned. But my very first was a 2002 MK4 Golf GTI.

[DV52]

hmm......... "whose been here a long time" is entirely the wrong question (IMO, of course).

With absolutely no offense to forum members who registered with the forum in the 20th Century - being a long-time member and not doing anything is ........well, not noteworthy.

So, the more profound question is: Who has contributed the most to the forum community - meaning the highest post-count

Of course the answer is @Transporter with a massive and very impressive 9,700 posts - Respect!!!

Don

[Flipper Dog]

I joined back in 2007 when I got a Touareg 7L. Had joined a Touareg forum that was US based and was recommended by someone on this forum to join here.
Glad I did as I also had a Polo GTI in the garage, so it was great to communicate local issues.

I have since moved to another Touareg and now into a couple of Audis, but have had a Volkswagen sitting next to them the whole time.

Not really big into the post count as I'll post mostly stuff of value to our community instead of waffle.

[tom89]

I've been a member since 2012 with a shamefully low post count!

I've been coming here a bit lately though, trawling for hidden information. I recently bought a 2010 Passat R36 Wagon.

I've had a few VAG cars since my 2008 GTI, purchased in 2012, sold in 2016.
Then a 2008 Mk2 Octavia RS Wagon - Yellow Manual, the best. I didnt own this long enough.
Then bought the current family whip a 2011 Mk2.5 DSG Octavia RS Wagon.
2022 saw me buy a Blue 2008 Golf R32 in manual which I am very happy to have owned, then recently moved on to the R36 hen the opportunity came up, R32 is gone.

[MIG]

Also, from around 2012, but I have been posting more now that I know more

The whole family have VWs, so it was handy to keep up to date with all the info all these years.

[N V]

I joined up 12 years ago.
Am not much of a poster though.

I used to do the weekend trip through Reefton when the weather was acceptable. Still do it, but on my own or with a few mates only now.
Can't say I'm really into rocking up and drinking coffee to gawk at cars... Just not my thing I'm afraid. (I'm old! LOL) much prefer to do some spirited mileage and then chat about the cars. No insult intended to anyone, I just like to drive, feel what the car can do and then chat about it and what mods may help etc etc.

Anyway:
Test drove a DBP 2007 R32 2D Manual in 2010 and that was it, bought it on the spot. I was hooked forever. It had only done 13K!!

Then test drove Jigs AG SuperCharged 2006 4D DSG. again, the sound hooked me this time and bought it. That SC sound is pure sex!

Mrs and I would do track days together.
So much fun catching up to her in the twisties, then watch her blow me away down the straights given her R32 was SC'd.

Dropped a Garret Turbo into my DBP as CoViD hit. Mrs isn't keen now. HA! Fair call given it's now 350HP v 512HP in my favour.

Since then, we'd go down to Tassie and do our own mini Targas with a couple of FF RS5 mates for a week. So much fun cruis'n Tassie's roads. The scenery, the food, the breweries and distilleries... It's like Tassie was designed for cruises!

The icing on the cake was booking Symmons Plains each year for private practice.
First time we did it, it was only $40 / car!!! ← not joking!

Was $240 last time we went a few good years ago... Still scarily cheap compared to other tracks here in Melbourne.

One year, the turbo's manifold "banana'd" on me after !!!3!!! cool down laps and lunch!
Sounded like a tractor for the last day before driving back to the boat.

Then had the 2nd transfer case go on me. ggrrrr
Having a stronger clutch installed, if you tried to quickly take off when seeing a gap with oncoming traffic, the manual clutch could easily torque twist the drive shaft and pop the oil seal of the transfer case causing it to weep. oh, and my ****ty left foot I suppose.

Didn't muck around and bought another R32 that was written off from being T-boned in Sydney. ← had a DSG.
We converted the R32 Turbo over from manual to DSG while also rebuilding the engine.
We threw away the spacer plate (weaped oil too much anyway) and installed 84.5mm turbo pistons to drop the compression back down. ← best thing ever.
Flew two Germans out to tune the original ECU. We tried an after market ECU which I still have, but it continuously threw codes for the DSG, and yet the original ECU was fine and so was meant to be in the end. We stopped tuning at 15PSI given the 3" exhaust became the limiting factor. Using the EBC, we could push 26PSI and saw it jump to 680HP. Just totally nuts! Those two Germans were mental. I swear they were trying to blow the head off!

They told me to never launch it. Still haven't to this day!
I'd expect the DSG or the Haldex to give up pretty quickly.
Only time I've ran it at 28PSI since was when the blow off hose bloody failed on me! Luckily, the speed increase was so much that it lifted my foot off the accelerator pedal that day... ← Still reckon it was the only thing that stopped it from blowing that day. Scared the crap out of me.

Looking forward:
It really needs a longer 6th gear now though, as it screams past 250km/hr when on straights. Not necessary but if the DSG ever needs to rebuilt I'll do it.
As for other upgrades: Already has 8-pot O-brake callipers with serious rotors to pull her up corner after corner. ← been in the kitty litter too many times at Symmons so this was one of the first upgrades.
Heat is always an issue, so we've WM'd it which has helped. Put a 5Lt tank caressing the full sized spare in the rear.
I don't want to, but vents in the bonnet are likely necessary as the next mod. ← I'm old remember, I'm not keen for this to happen.
Installed an oil cooler given the DSG will overheat and not shift after 5 laps without it.
Only thing I'd do now is install an interchiller, which requires some hefty re-piping to go from air to water cooling, but having 2°c temps all year round would be bliss and also so much easier to tune given your goal-posts just got squeezed together–forever!

What's next?
Other than rebuilding each engine every 5 years or so, LOL.
I am keen on finding a written off Scirocco that's been rear ended, sell off the engine for cashflow, weld in a strong rear chassis, make it rear-wheel-drive manual and get a W8 happening where the rear seats once were. ← i.e. a mini Veyron.
Clearly not the fastest thing going around, by oh-my-god it would send people to their physio with whiplash after hearing it... hehe ← remember, I'm old!
Mrs and I test drove a W8 recently, just to get an idea and yep, starting to get hooked again.

Cheers.

Raoul.