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Josh B’s Silver GTi - MOT Passed!

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JoshB:
So I finally got my down pipe and exhaust fitted! After being sat in the lounge for 2months, I was getting earache off the Mrs so tried to find some time, but with work picking back up and 3 kids it’s nigh on impossible to take a day out...

So I booked in at the local garage (only charged me £80) and dropped it off in the morning. A few hours later I get a phonecall, “we’ve got it on but it looks sh*t”, at least they’re honest! So I bobbed down whilst it was still on the ramp and went and had a play. Loosened some clamps, adjusted some hangers and this is the best we could get.


Disappointed to say the least. It’s really well made, welds are neat and it barely sounds any different to standard. It’s slightly throatier, but then I have had the down pipe changed as well. The tailpipes aren’t great either, out the box they’re the same size as standard, but because they’re slash cut they look a bit big. I’d have preferred inrolled. It was only £300 at the end of the day to replace a blowing standard one, it only needs one hanger chopping and rewelding.

The downpipe looks superb, it’s made a decent improvement to performance. Turbo spools up faster and throttle response is greatly improved, but then at about 4K rpm it just hits a wall and doesn’t want to push any harder. Just have to wait for the remap to sort that out.

JoshB:
So first of all, let’s get the bad news out of the way.

Storm Arwen has been battering the country and some people have been massively affected, my news is insignificant but none the less frustrating on a personal level.
Howling winds on Saturday night followed by a rumble and a loud crashing sound, turns out my chimney shed a few pieces of concrete. Then on Sunday morning I found where they’d landed, right on my fecking bonnet!!



Absolutely gutted... I’m going to leave it for now and see how I feel next spring/summer, especially with the abuse a bonnet gets. It might end up getting sorted in a few years when the inevitable rust gets sorted.


But now for the good news..! I finally got to visit R-Tech!
Had a phonecall at lunch time, “your thermostats gone, your PCV needs changing, the DV is missing a bolt and your cam followers worn in the fuel pump. Do you want us change them?” Obviously I agreed.
I was there for the injector clean and intake removal/walnut cleaning, so because they had the engine in bits they didn’t charge me for any labour which was a bonus.
Anyway, car made some astounding results.


I asked for 250bhp and 250ftlb, so it’s running “map 3” at the minute, and is where it will stay tbh. But on map 5...! Very healthy numbers considering my only mods are a replacement K&N panel filter, 200cel sports cat/3” downpipe and a 2.5” eBay special exhaust. Nice that I do have switchable maps so I can put it back to stock when the Mrs borrows it!

Very happy with R-Tech, they really do live up to their reputation.

Acekid:
Thats some good power for relatively little hardware changes,  :jumpmove:

I would still be cursing if that was my bonnet......your better than me if you can live with it till spring/summer!

JoshB:
So I had a mini disaster the other day at work. The tyre pressure warning indicator came on on my morning commute, and not for the first time. I’ve had a slow puncture on the NS front pretty much since I got the car.
So anyway, metal valve caps on metal valves aren’t a good idea… long story short I sheered the valve clean in half and flattened my tyre… There was enough of a valve to get some air in and I filled an old rubber cap with some loctite and banged it on, which managed to get me home.

The car came with ContiSport5’s on and I’ve never got on with them, so a snapped valve gave me an opportunity to swap the rubber. After reading loads of reviews and using my own personal experience, I’ve ended up going for the Goodyear Asymettric 6. First impression was fantastic, but I have gone from a 91 load rating to a 94XL. So they’re not as comfy, quite brash to be honest, but turn in and overall grip is vastly improved. Really impressed with them.


So with new tyres I wanted to make sure the tracking was good. The car had had a front spring changed for the MOT when I bought it and pretty sure it had never been realigned. As you can see it wasn’t that bad, but the improvement is noticeable, a lot more stable and feels more planted (before on the left).


MOT time soon so it’s going to get spoilt with a major service and cambelt too.

JoshB:
Well, flew through the MOT today. Tester commented on how nice it was and how clean underneath, which is always nice.
Got a couple of minors for the front lower bushes, which are on my to do list anyway, and the tester picked up on a rear caliper binding, which I knew about but has got worse.
I also got a minor for the ABS light not coming on, which I was surprised at as I checked them all this morning, so had a chat with the tester and we checked again. Came on but did go off pretty fast so the tester just argued he’d probably just missed it and apologised. I’m not bothered as long as it’s working!

Was really happy that it got through the emission with no bother. I was worried with a remap and 200cel sports cat but you can see below it was fine.



I changed the oil, filter and fuel filter yesterday, running a lot smoother now. Cambelt on Thursday! Then it’s time to just enjoy it until autumn, when I’m going to look at stripping it down and replacing all the brakes/calipers/suspension components and look to under seal it.

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