[adam-]

Hello UK-MKIV's,

I feel that after browsing since I've bought my MK4 nearly 2 years ago that I should get a thread started. Some of you might recongnise my username, it's common between ClubPolo, Edition38, Nefmoto and various other places. I'm pretty active on Nefmoto (a tuning site, for those that don't know), and tend to be more focused on tuning rather than documenting what I've done.

That said, I had a 6n2 Polo before the Golf that served me pretty damn well for my first 4 years of driving. My thread is still on ClubPolo AFAIK. Spec was pretty basic:

Throttle pedal mod'ed to allow for throttle cable.
Custom electric window loom to allow for OEM electric windows.
Electric central logging.
Hybrid AFH 1.6 16v with CBR600 bike carbs.
Homemade bike carb manifold.

Was driven daily (between all the mishaps, if anyone remembers), until it finally pinked (and I didn't know), smashed a ring land off and died. I couldn't be bothered fixing it, so I came home in a teary mess and started browsing for something a little bit better.

At the time, I worked in McDonald's while I was studying at university and my manager had an anthracite MK4 three door 1.8t. I've always craved a MK4, and as ironic as it is - with 3SDMs. I remember that my manager linked me to one on ScottishVag months previously. On the night that my Polo gave up, I started to trawl through the various sites looking for a new car. I stumbled upon the one that my manager linked to me months previously, and that it still hadn't sold.

It was a 5 door, anthracite grey MK4 with a 1.8t. Something I've always wanted. Not only that, it wasn't even 15 minutes from my house, and advertised at £1400.

I went down to have a look and ended up purchasing it that night for a mere £1250. I later discovered that it was the later 1.8t engine with ME7.5.

Now, there's a lot to talk about in my two years of owner ship, from various body panels, suspension, bushes, brakes, air, audio, custom clocks, etc. But I'll get on with the pictures.

I'll list the main mods here:

Interior
Full Interior LED set
MK7 GTi Tartan roof lining w/ Custom MK5 Sunglasses holder w/ illumination
Recaro leather seats
Bora Sport Clocks w/ R needles & white backlight, MTE, lit needles & cluster de-activate with rear fogs for logging
Auto headlight buzzer disable
MK7 GTi Golfball Gearknob
R32 Trim
W8 Light
TT foot covers
Bora Vents
Newsouth Oil and Boost Gauge
2 "Bentley" Style Keys
US Spec Center Console
6R Polo Heater Controls
Chrome-tipped window switches w/ one-touch rear windows
Custom USB Charger in cigarette socket.
Illuminated Audi door handles
New gearshift bushes

Engine:
Powdercoated bits
N249 Delete
N112 Delete
SAI Delete
Purge Delete
New coolant bottle
TFSi coils
New coil pack loom
Polybushed dogbone
44DD solid shifter bushes
VR6 Flywheel
K04-064 Turbo
New Big End Bearings
Bores Honed
New Piston Rings
New Main Bearings
New Main Bolts
New Rear Crank Seal
Gates Racing Timing Belt
New Tensioner
New water pump
R8 Oil Cap
Porsche Coolant Cap
Custom Intercooler pipework
630cc Bosch Injectors
Southbend 4 Paddle
3" Turbo Back Stainless Exhaust

Suspension/Brakes:
Polybushed front
Polybushed Rear
AirLift V2 Performance Struts

New rear calipers w/ stainless hardware
18Z calipers w/376mm Jaguar XKR discs
312mm rear brakes (stock MK4 front disc). Homemade adapters

Exterior:
Anni rear
Anni skirts
Colour coded badge
De-wiper
R32 Headlights w/ Joey Mod & bi-xenon
Morimoto D2S 6k bulbs
Morimoto 55w ballasts
Genuine R32 Front Bumper
Genuine R32 Front Grills
Genuine R32 Plate recess

 

[adam-]

Basically, after seeing Nick Prawn's 064 build and liking the numbers, I decided to follow suit. I bought a spare block, ECU, loom, all the ancilleries, mounts etc for £100. Was pretty cheap, I know. Nothing wrong with the block.

The problem with the Polo was that I was still full time in McDonalds, attempting to complete a degree and fixing the car in between. As a result of the first engine dying because of a massive oil leak and a dead oil pressure sensor, I never knew until it threw a rod. I then picked up another block down south and the guy hadn't assembled it right and missed a crucial part from the pump, resulting in no oil pressure once again.

Still with my dead sensor, the light never came on and I killed another block. After 5 I realised what was wrong, and got it right. It lasted for about a year and all was well. My process of Italian tuning it eventually killed it with pinking, and I moved on.

 

[adam-]

We'll start with the engine spec:
N249 Delete
N112 Delete
SAI Delete
Purge Delete
New coolant bottle
New G12 Coolant
New plugs
TFSi coils
New coil pack loom
Rebuilt starter
Polybushed dogbone
44DD solid shifter bushes
VR6 Flywheel Sachs Clutch
K04-064 Turbo
New Big End Bearings
Bores Honed
New Stem Seals
Lapped valves
Shallow Sump
New Piston Rings
New Main Bearings
New Main Bolts
New Rear Crank Seal
Gates Racing Timing Belt
New Tensioner
New water pump
R8 Oil Cap
Porsche Coolant Cap
Braided Fuel Lines
Custom Intercooler pipework
BAM Inlet
630cc Bosch Injectors
Bosch S4 Battery
New MAP sensor
Coolant Temperature Sensor
Southbend 4 Paddle
3" Turbo Back Stainless Exhaust
Pipercross Filter

That briefly summarises what I've done. Basically, after seeing Nick Prawn's 064 build and liking the numbers, I decided to follow suit. I bought a spare block, ECU, loom, all the ancilleries, mounts etc for £100. Cheap, I know.

Nothing wrong with the block. I got it honed by a shop and rebuild it up with fresh bearings, rings, bolts, timing belt etc. Slapped a BAM inlet on it for neatness and painted some bits. I wanted it to be clean, and unlike the Polo - work as soon as it went in, and stay working.

I went onto to buy a turbo from eBay. Specifically, a K04-064 unit from the S3. Won it for £250 quid and it came in pretty good condition. The N75 valve snapped during transport at the turbo was missing the CHRA clamp, but that's it.

Next up, I made a manifold to hold the turbo. The K04 ports match up to the 1.8t head pretty well, but the bolt pattern doesn't. So, a little plate with some holes in the right place, some threaded, some not, make the turbo bolt up pretty well. Combine that with OE coolant feed, return and a Passat oil feed means that the only custom line on this turbo job is the oil return. Hack up some K03 items and squeeze some coolant hose between them will be reet.

Ripped the engine out in a few hours and got the new one in. I got a downpipe tacked together and got an exhaust place (C&C in Glasgow) to finish the welds, total cost £30.

Once the engine was in, I uploaded my homemade map to get the engine going. Started on the button, yay.

Got it run in, have been giving it death (read: 26psi to the line), for over 1 year now, with 12k miles done. Turbo is still solid, and sees NLS and launch control every few days. Cannot kill it.

 

[danpalmer1993]

Wow impressive spec! Got any pics of the mk4?

 

[adam-]

I'll get some pictures when I get up the road, I'm in work just now man. There's loads of pictures of the engine build on my photobucket, I just need to upload them. I've just fitted the AirLift V2 Performance kit because I was sick of driving about on a wound down set of AP's with no adjusters, etc. The comfort was pretty poor and after smashing 8 sumps I gave up.

I bought the air at Edition and fitted it in a few days. Boot build first, then air lines, then the struts. Installation was pretty easy, but one of the leader lines from the bag leaked as soon as it was fitted. The rear beam was way too oversized to hold the bag, so the bag needed slightly trimmed. Pretty annoying.

I'll get some pictures up as soon as, because a thread without pictures is a dead thread. I've been reading the Shopping Cart's thread over on VWVortex and I'm feeling all of the little OEM+ things the guy has.

I really fancy the sunglasses holder from the MK6! <3

 

[Simon_anni]

Sounds good mate.

Like you say we need pics

Si

 

[adam-]

Since I got myself a sticker I thought it was time to get a thread going!

The clocks are different too. Pretty overdone now. Looking at Skoda items next:

 

[adam-]

Decided air was a good idea:

Washed:

I mustache you a question:

 

[adam-]

The problem with logging with ME7Logger is that when the cluster is connected, the software can't get a reliable data rate between the ECU and the k-line. In order to kill the interference, the cluster fuse has to be pulled.

It's annoying when you're logging, you need to pull over, open the door, pull the fuse (with the car running), close the door, do a pull. Then reattach the fuse. It's time consuming and it's more the nuisance factor that's the worst.

Furthermore, I bought the Auto headlight box the other month and it works really well (for £30). The problem is, when the headlight switch is in the on position, it keeps the lights on when you open the door (coming/leaving home function), and the cluster beeps.

I have two ideas:

I'd like to mod the switch so that when I pull the front fogs to the on position that the supply to the cluster is killed (I've got R32 headlights so don't have front fogs). This mod has two purposes: The cluster is killed when I'm logging, but also, if I leave the fog light in the "on" position, the immo won't authenticate because it can't see the cluster. Anti-theft with the fog lights.

Also because it means the car has "broken down" if I ever get stopped for emissions. h34r: :cop:

Next, I'd like to cut the buzzer on the cluster so that when the headlight switch is in the Auto position the buzzer won't sound. No more stupid noise when I open the door!

I'll document my thoughts and pictures here when I get stuck in this week!

 

[Simon_anni]

Been looking at the Autolight options myself mate.

Which kit did you buy?

Si

 

[adam-]

http://uk-mkivs.net/topic/97467-vw-golf-5-auto-headlight-switch-into-golf-4-plug-and-play/

I read through that thread numerous times and discovered that the kits have evolved over time and are now working pretty well. I just went onto eBay and bought the cheapest one, since they're all the same.

Was about £27 IIRC. Really easy to program, just need to find a suitable home for the sensor. It's currently buried behind the dash so it always thinks its dark. Will be looking at getting it mounted where the OE sensor in the MK5 is.

 

[adam-]

So over the weekend I scavenged most of the bits for the headlight washer system - as I'm running an :R bumper and I'd like it to have the washers. Picked up the pipework, the pumps (well, some of it), and clips, relay, some loom and the bottle for free.

Started by running the pipework:

Because I've got a wellycooler and virtually no crash bar, the pipework slots in pretty easily. The pipe that passes through the slam panel needed shortening because the of the routing I'd chosen.

Next up, run the loom from the new pump. Only soldering will do:

Tidy with individual sections of heatshrink:

Finish with one large bit to clean it up:

For people that care, Halfords sell a box of heatshrink of various sizes cut to the same length. While I usually get mine from Maplin, the I like how the stuff from Frauds is the same length. The quality is notably worse though - it doesn't shrink nearly as much as the Maplin stuff.

Next up, de-pin the OE relay holder:

Becomes:

Solder up:
http://uk-mkivs.net/topic/10738-wiring-for-headlight-washers/

 

[adam-]

I've been mapping it myself too, recently wanted to get "boost by gear" working. ME7.5 by default (atleast on the 1.8t's, the Volvo's/Alfa's are different), have "load" by gear disabled. That means that for a given gear, load is always 100%.

So, when I floor it in first, it always spins up. Having 360bhp is no fun, I'll have you know. So, I'd like to enable the feature.so that it works on mine.

So, by changing the amount of load I can get based on what gear I'm in, I can control the power a little better.

Long story short, the car wouldn't recognise what gear I was in because it's not seeing vehicle speed. I flashed the original file that was on the ECU but it tripped the immo. Stupid Adam.

Cue bootmode. Found that the original file DOES have vehicle speed, so I'll need to look at the differences between the files. Not too sure.

 

[adam-]

Next up, the wiring under the drivers footwell was doing my absolute moobs in. It was messy, soldered badly and generally not ideal. To kill a few nights, I decided to clean it up.

Quite a lot of homemade loom passes from the fusebox to the stereo area. I've got a wideband and an oil pressure gauge that need power, along with amp switched lives, backlighting sources and audio going to the boot.

I decided to combine as much of it as I can, have lovely clean solder joins and generally clean it up:

Tapped into the W8 interior light:

The red wire is the illumination feed; it joins onto the rest of the illumination supplies for the Bora vents. The black wire is the pin for the interior light. It should be noted that this wire "follows" the output of the interior light, so if they're on, the black wire goes live too.

The wires follow down into the drivers footwell, where the red wire joins the Bora vent illumination feed. The black wire passes through a diode (so that current can flow THROUGH it, but not back up to the light), and then onto the footwell lights.

Also attached to the footwell lights is an OEM 53 relay so that when the headlights are turned on, the relay triggers. This, combined with an LED dimmer, puts the footwells on at half brightness. It means that the footwell lights are half brightness when the headlights are on, but when the interior light comes on, they go full brightness. Cute, huh?

 

[adam-]

Since I've got Auto headlights, I decided to put the sensor somewhere clever.

Who knows that this plug is?

Took the OEM sunlight sensor and hollowed it out, then drilled a hole for the new sensor to go in. A little glue later:

Just as OE. The plug goes into it, as it would at the factory, and the loom passes down to the Auto headlight box.

 

[adam-]

I made it my mission that my air install should be as neat and tidy as it could be. Therefore, I wanted everything put away as much as it could be:

You can see the sound deadening that I've applied to the boot floor. It's also in the boot lid too, just to keep it quiet. A final piece of MDF was created for the top to cover the compressor, and this had sound deadening applied to it too.

 

[adam-]

I feel like I should probably document the engine build slightly too.

Bought a spare engine for £100. Included all the ancilleries, loom, ECU, flywheel. Sold the fly for £50 and the ECU for £70. A profit engine, yay.

Assembled with new bearings and cap bolts:

Pro honed:

Gapped rings, because no-one likes a gappy ring.

Installed some pistons. OEM FTW:

Uno blocko:

Strapped on some bits:

And a head:

Dat filter doe:

Bought a K04-064 from eBay for the grand some of £250:

Used a gasket as a template:

Then checked for fitment:

Combined with a Passat oil feed line, OEM coolant feed and returns, the only thing it needed was an oil return. I made this from some coolant hose and two K03 oil returns. How pikey.

Mocked up a downpipe with some bends and some tacks:

Then took it to a custom exhaust place in Glasgow (C&C) and got them to weld it up for £20. Exhaust done. Matches up to my cheap eGay special for £200. Sounds meh.

Bought the worst daily clutch ever: a 4 paddle:

It's fine when you're moving, but juddery as feck when crawling/taking off.

 

[danpalmer1993]

Great read about the engine build! Proper building going on! ????

 

[adam-]

I bought a Bentley key from eBay and proceeded to swap the gubbins from my original key into it. This is the 4th Bentley key I've had (they get a tough life), and I've just burst my latest one.

I decided that because it was a three button key, it should HAVE three buttons. Most of you know that the MK4 keys only have 2 buttons as stock.

If you rip the key apart, you're left with the circuit board:

Then, butcher a spare key that you have lying around. I have 3 haha. Take a button from one of these (they are ALL the same), and solder it to your board. Gently does it, the pins are tiny. A very small tip'd iron is recommended.

Once you've got the buttons on, close up the key, add a battery and test your handy work. Mine worked out of the box, no coding changed at all, which I thought was weird. Maybe I've got a good CCM.

 

[adam-]

I fitted OEM footwell lights by cutting slots in the baseplate. Fitted with LED's and tied them into the interior light (as documented above). I wanted to have them at half-brightness when the headlights are on just like the newer Golf.

Problem is, attempting to get the resistance to get half the brightness is trial and error and I couldn't be bothered with it. That, and absorbing half the wattage by resistor is wasteful. I bought a little LED dimmer switch for £2:

Immediately tore it apart:

Who knows what this is?:

Compared the relay internals with the dimmer board:

Hacked up the relay board so I've just got the spade terminals and pulled the screw terminals off the dimmer:

Fits like an absolute glove.

Finished off the wiring, placed the board in and filled it with some padding to stop the board and closed it up:


Now have a dimmer switch mounted into a relay box, how cute. Will get it mounted up this weekend.