Mal's Mk3 Build.

[schoona]

Now that my photos have been uploaded:

Before-

After-


Before-

After-


The difference does not look too great in the photos, though the real world difference is much more noticeable. Recommmended.

[Water Boy]

Level up your front number plate dude!

[The_Hawk]

I elected to go with Phillips Crystal Vision which cost me $100 just for Low beam. Something I am marginally annoyed about is that the parkers are a different fitting to the ones I have at present. Will sort that out soon enough though.

They look pretty but IMO they put out less light, still, they look pretty

As for the parkers, I ghetto modded the push type bulbs that come with the kit into some bayonet caps I had from dead bulbs (see, this is why you don't throw anything out... ever ).

[schoona]

They look pretty but IMO they put out less light, still, they look pretty

As for the parkers, I ghetto modded the push type bulbs that come with the kit into some bayonet caps I had from dead bulbs (see, this is why you don't throw anything out... ever ).

Haha cheeky boy, I can see the car in the opposite driveway now though??

Yes I know I keep missing the plate. It's bent from some twat with a tow ball aswell

[Mrk_Mickey]

Duuuuuuude, I'd have sold you my near new Crystalvisions for much less if you'd have asked!! I had 'em up for sale for a while too argh lol...

Oh well. Looks good!

[schoona]

Duuuuuuude, I'd have sold you my near new Crystalvisions for much less if you'd have asked!! I had 'em up for sale for a while too argh lol...

Oh well. Looks good!

Booger....If only my comp wasn't out of action!

[schoona]

Photos of the exhaust as requested:





The carbon build-up is my wash indicator

[schoona]

Evening lads,

Been a while since this thread has been updated.

I went for a drive up Monkerai (out past Dungog ) and on return the car felt off/lack of control/security gone etc...

Insepected and could not find anything catastrophically wrong, though something was.

I went to Pedders at Gateshead for a 28 point suspension check for $14 which revealed my shocks were well and truly shanked. My odo reads 193k km's.

I was quoted $900 for replacement Bilsteins, which I would have loved, but I certainly didn't have nor want to spend that much money.

With thanks to Branko, I got this link:
http://www.veedubmachine.co.uk/

JOM coils were ordered, and arrived in 6 days from payment.

I got quotes for fitting from a few places locally, ranging from around 280-350with a wheel alignment needed on top of that. My estimate was 3 hours work...

Well I started the job at about 8.40 this morning and the job still isn't done. A mate that is an apprentice aircraft technician at BAE systems offered to give me a hand, certainly easier on the pocket and a chance to learn a deal more about my car also.

We had a quick scour through the manual, had a look at the surroundings and thought, let's do it.

First problem: One of the sleeves between the aluminium hat on the rears was not supplied. We cut up a different sleeve off the old struts and tried to get them to work, but to no avail. Instead we mokced up a backyard mod after looking through nolathne bushes/washers etc trying to find a solution. I will be turning up a sleeve to size this week and notifying JOM of the shipping error.

Second problem: At the top of the strut at the front, the top of the piston (of the shock) protrudes through the body and is bolted down. It has an allen key head. Beneath this is a 21mm nut that needs to come off. This proved wonderfully difficult, without having VW special tool 3186 (i think), resulting in a cracked stud (of the old shock thank god). We dropped the shock out the bottom of the body, cut the top part off, and wuill grind flats on the piston, lock it in a vice and get the nut off that way. The rubber bush at the top is required to be reused.

Third problem: The new coils have allen key studs at the top also (fronts), but a different size to OEM. It is neither a 6/7/8 mm or 1/4" or 5/16"....I need to go to toolies in Sandgate tomorrow and find an allen key that suits. If not ill buy a cheap one, measure the required fit with verniers and grind one down to suit.

Fourth problem: Supplied C-spanner is pretty disgraceful.

Fifth problem: Instructions not supplied/ Warranty card in German.

Sounds like a big whinge, its been a long day, and will tackle the resot of this in the morning.

Pics will certainly follow.

Apologies for the many, many words.

[rayray086]

Second problem: At the top of the strut at the front, the top of the piston (of the shock) protrudes through the body and is bolted down. It has an allen key head. Beneath this is a 21mm nut that needs to come off. This proved wonderfully difficult, without having VW special tool 3186 (i think), resulting in a cracked stud (of the old shock thank god). We dropped the shock out the bottom of the body, cut the top part off, and wuill grind flats on the piston, lock it in a vice and get the nut off that way. The rubber bush at the top is required to be reused.

Find a 13/16" spark plug socket - they should fit over the 21mm nut and sit on it snugly. Spark plug sockets usually have a hex cut-out on the head of the socket so you can tighten it with a spammer while you hold onto the allen key.



Be gentle and make sure the allen key is held down - too much twisting and you can break that part.

Also, deep O-ring spanners do the job pretty well too, if you can find one in the 21mm size. My new mounts (HD ones from GAP) came with smaller-sized nuts so my smaller cheapo L-bent spanners from SuperCheap could be used. They come in handy that's for sure.



On a side note, GAP sells a tool for that if you want to actually torque it down properly - http://www.germanautoparts.com/Tools...spension+tools

My first time was full of strife and headaches. I've since done it many times and believe me, it's actually not too hard!

[jayjay]

do you have any friends with a rattle gun/air compressor? wd-40 them and then zip them off if you can get access to one.