Indi
Member
It's about time I started a project thread for my FSI, I've been meaning to for some time but never got around to it!
None of my collection seem to have acquired nicknames, instead just being referred to as 'The 1.4' for the 1.4 Petrol, 'The TDI' for the TDI, and (notice a pattern?) 'The FSI' for the FSI, hence the name of this thread. If something sticks in the future then I'll probably rename the thread, but for now that's all I could think of
It was sold to me last August by @Ami, who had been dry storing it for several years, (I think originally with the intension of converting it to a pickup!?)
It had been off the road and not MOT'd in over 3 years, long overdue a cambelt change, an ABS light showing, alternator charging issues, and the typical FSI manifold flap setpoint error.
Loaded up for the journey to it's new home, and then upon arrival (below)
By random coincidence, it was initially registered on the same day that one of my younger brothers was born (Jan 14 2003), though he is in better condition, and I suspect lower mileage.
I believe I am the 12th owner
The car is in reasonable condition, and looks good from a distance, however there is lacquer peel/chips on the bonnet, the front bumper has been resprayed, the undertray has been violently ripped off, rear bumper has some dents and scratches, and the wheels are in a condition typical of the age and mileage. (they are also not one set, I assume there are two versions of the 6 spoke wheels, as the two pairs of wheels have different 'nub' arrangements behind the center caps)
Interior is cleaning up ok, the soft touch is badly worn, and badly 'repaired' with wonky stickers and spray paint, but I have a hard touch fuel button and climate unit which make a big difference.
First of the major jobs was the cambelt and water pump which went smoothly, with oil, and filter changes, plus new drop links at the same time.
The coolant was brown, presumably had mixed g12 and g13 at some point which should not cause problems but is now pink again after a water flush and refill with g12evo.
I also managed to pull the threads of the aluminium engine mount brackets, despite using a calibrated torque wrench and the torque specs in the manual, possibly because I was using anti-seize (Side note: its best to use aluminium grease rather than copper grease on aluminium parts as copper can cause galvanic corrosion in contact with aluminium)
With the car in the air, I noticed the drivers side wishbone was rusting through
Weirdly, in this photo, (and the others I took but haven't posted here) the ARB bush looks blue, even though when I later removed the ARB when remedying the wishbones it was most certainly black.
Next was the intake manifold, which I removed and cleaned up, replacing the gaskets and injector O-rings, and taking the opportunity to clean the carbon off the valves at the same time, turning the engine until the valves for a given port are closed and cleaning it out with carb cleaner, compressed air and a wire brush (DO NOT USE A WIRE BRUSH, I ended up with bristles in the cylinders and had to try and remove them with a borescope and a straw taped to a vacuum cleaner. Very fiddly, would not recommend.)
I also removed the blanking plate someone had put on the EGR valve, and repaired the arm for the manifold flap vacuum actuator (with epoxy and carbon rods - though as I later found, this did not work), as I noticed it had snapped due to someone's bodged repair in the past causing it to grind itself against the manifold.
I then replaced the pressed wishbones with cast, stripping the threads in the two cast aluminium suspension consoles, but was able to source some more from @Ami, along with various other bits. I've kept the originals, to look at drilling and helicoiling them in the future should I need to for one of the other cars. Apparently I didn't get any photos of the new wishbones as was too busy taking artistic photos of the car on the lift...
More to follow later
None of my collection seem to have acquired nicknames, instead just being referred to as 'The 1.4' for the 1.4 Petrol, 'The TDI' for the TDI, and (notice a pattern?) 'The FSI' for the FSI, hence the name of this thread. If something sticks in the future then I'll probably rename the thread, but for now that's all I could think of
It was sold to me last August by @Ami, who had been dry storing it for several years, (I think originally with the intension of converting it to a pickup!?)
It had been off the road and not MOT'd in over 3 years, long overdue a cambelt change, an ABS light showing, alternator charging issues, and the typical FSI manifold flap setpoint error.
Loaded up for the journey to it's new home, and then upon arrival (below)
By random coincidence, it was initially registered on the same day that one of my younger brothers was born (Jan 14 2003), though he is in better condition, and I suspect lower mileage.
I believe I am the 12th owner
The car is in reasonable condition, and looks good from a distance, however there is lacquer peel/chips on the bonnet, the front bumper has been resprayed, the undertray has been violently ripped off, rear bumper has some dents and scratches, and the wheels are in a condition typical of the age and mileage. (they are also not one set, I assume there are two versions of the 6 spoke wheels, as the two pairs of wheels have different 'nub' arrangements behind the center caps)
Interior is cleaning up ok, the soft touch is badly worn, and badly 'repaired' with wonky stickers and spray paint, but I have a hard touch fuel button and climate unit which make a big difference.
First of the major jobs was the cambelt and water pump which went smoothly, with oil, and filter changes, plus new drop links at the same time.
The coolant was brown, presumably had mixed g12 and g13 at some point which should not cause problems but is now pink again after a water flush and refill with g12evo.
I also managed to pull the threads of the aluminium engine mount brackets, despite using a calibrated torque wrench and the torque specs in the manual, possibly because I was using anti-seize (Side note: its best to use aluminium grease rather than copper grease on aluminium parts as copper can cause galvanic corrosion in contact with aluminium)
With the car in the air, I noticed the drivers side wishbone was rusting through
Weirdly, in this photo, (and the others I took but haven't posted here) the ARB bush looks blue, even though when I later removed the ARB when remedying the wishbones it was most certainly black.
Next was the intake manifold, which I removed and cleaned up, replacing the gaskets and injector O-rings, and taking the opportunity to clean the carbon off the valves at the same time, turning the engine until the valves for a given port are closed and cleaning it out with carb cleaner, compressed air and a wire brush (DO NOT USE A WIRE BRUSH, I ended up with bristles in the cylinders and had to try and remove them with a borescope and a straw taped to a vacuum cleaner. Very fiddly, would not recommend.)
I also removed the blanking plate someone had put on the EGR valve, and repaired the arm for the manifold flap vacuum actuator (with epoxy and carbon rods - though as I later found, this did not work), as I noticed it had snapped due to someone's bodged repair in the past causing it to grind itself against the manifold.
I then replaced the pressed wishbones with cast, stripping the threads in the two cast aluminium suspension consoles, but was able to source some more from @Ami, along with various other bits. I've kept the originals, to look at drilling and helicoiling them in the future should I need to for one of the other cars. Apparently I didn't get any photos of the new wishbones as was too busy taking artistic photos of the car on the lift...
More to follow later
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