MK4 R32

[clrrk]

If you've been looking at the "It's Snowing" thread you'll have noticed that I had a bit of a mishap when I went snow drifting and managed to lose part of my exhaust. Bit of a nightmare, but I wasn't too mad as an exhaust upgrade was always on the cards.

Left the car with Armo at Street Racer yesterday for a custom stainless Longlife system to be made. Went with a new backbox with 3" exits and a centre box delete. It's also been made in I way that I can easily add a bolt in de-cat pipe in the future if I decide thats the way I want to go.

Quick video thrown together with some revs and a bit of driving.



In the videos the standard exhaust actually sounds louder but thats not the case. Nice increase in noise without being too droney, a lot more rasp and theres some pops and bangs thrown in for good measure.

 

[stuartyvilla]

Those wheels are awesome! always loved the MK4 R32, looking forward to seeing it when show season comes around!

 

[clrrk]

No major updates as of late. R32 was due for MOT so threw in some new top mount bearings and sent it through only for it to fail on the handbrake effectiveness. I'd felt like my rear callipers had been a bit sticky for the previous fortnight, so stripped them back, greased the sliders and pads and wound back the pistons to make sure nothing was sticking.... the drivers side was.

If anyone has ever tried to buy an R32 calliper before you'll know that they arent cheap. I wasn't prepared to pay £150 for an aftermarket one so decided to buy new seals and pistons and give a DIY refurb a go. The rebuild kit was only £20 and was actually a great job. I was skeptical about the quality for the price but it all seems to be equal or better quality than the OEM parts.

With the calliper stripped back I found the culprit - a split dust boot had allowed the elements to get at the piston and it was showing signs of corrosion.

Was so impressed with the kit and how easy it was to fit that I'm going to order another kit and do the passengers rear as well just as a preventative measure.

 

[clrrk]

For a long time I've wanted to replace a head unit in a car with an iPad and with my girlfriend buying me a new iPad Mini 4 at Christmas there was no better time than the present.

I've seen a lot of guys fibreglass these style of dashes but I've never been that impressed with the finish and shaping, especially around the corners so I ordered an RTA fabrication iPad panel and a spare MK4 radio cage (not cutting into those R32 brushed alu trims).

Chopped both the iPad panel and the radio cage to size and then tacked them together with some contact adhesive...

and then used epoxy to bond the panel into the cage. Once it was all together I noticed that the magnets to hold the iPad in place were fouling on the heater controls so I had to shave them slightly.

Panel now needs some filler and a lot of sanding before paint and then installing it in the car. I plan to move my Alpine head unit to the glove box and use bluetooth to pair this to it.

 

[Lyons]

Impressive. Do you use TuneIn for radio or what? What about volume?

 

[clrrk]

The plan is to set a max volume on the headunit and then use the built in iPad controls for the volume. When the iPad locks theres a big chunky slider for adjusting the volume so it couldn't be a major issue.

Tbh I barely listen to the radio, but if I do the headunit will still be there or I could use TuneIn to stream it. One of the major benefits is that I'll be able to run any apps I want through it so I'll have Waze for satnav and I'll be able to use Dash Command along with my ODB reader to get real time stats and monitoring.

 

[ilovequo]

Your springs look broken!

 

[clrrk]

 

[Father Stack]

So broken they've actually started to resemble bags.

 

[Chris Mac]

Dash Command seems great, a lot of the Mini Cooper s guys seem to run it off a smart phone

 

[clrrk]

@Chris Mac yeh I used to use it on my Mini too. It's handy just throw the ODB reader in the glovebox and then its always there for a quick scan if you have an issue.

It's also good for tracking whats going on - you can set up custom dashboards so you can monitor whatever you want. If it sends data to the ECU then you can add controller to view it. Also does 0-60 times and horsepower readings etc

 

[clrrk]

Not a major amount has happened to this lately but a lot of stuff in the pipeline. Gave it a clean over the weekend so decided to get a picture which makes it look a lot better than it actually is

Once Dubshed is over and done with my friends bodyshop will be freed up to start working on the respray. I've sourced a bootlid with the MK5 handle conversion already done so it will be going on. I've also sourced black sun visors, rear view mirror, interior lights etc so the car is almost ready for a black headliner. I've also made good progress on my iPad panel which just needs a final skim of filler and then painted.

 

[natogreen16v]

Love the ipad set up. I'd love something similar in the mk3 but wouldn't look right in that era of car

 

[clrrk]

@natongreen16v even the Mk4 is cutting it fine - it did have a factory tape deck after all

 

[natogreen16v]

At least it has the double din size as standard though. It looks at home in a mk4 to me

 

[clrrk]

Black headlining bits arrived today - these were a bit of a bargain as I only paid £80 for the lot which is less than the interior light alone usually goes for.

Going to sell the rear view mirror if anyone is interested as my car has the auto dimming mirror in it which I'm just going to paint.

 

[clrrk]

Update time. Finally ordered some adapters which meant I was finally able to do a proper test fit. Running 20mm adapters at the front, and at the rear I have 35mm (well 20mm adapter with a 15mm spacer for the test fit, gonna order some 35mm adapters now that I know the proper sizes).

The red anodised centre nuts that came with the wheels were faded and rough round the edges so decided to order a set of these instead...

They take a 56mm BBS badge so I also ordered these...

You can see the old faded ones in the bottom left of this pic.

Lots of updates coming in the next few weeks as its finally time for the car to goto the bodyshop. It's booked in with Paintworkz for a full respray in black at the start of June to be ready in time for shows in July!

 

[natogreen16v]

Good work on the stance Clark. Its a relief when done and no more ****ing about

 

[Gambit]

thats pretty class looking!

 

[redanni]

Was coming out of Work this morning and there was a DBP MK4 R32 sitting, haven't seen one in ages. Still looks awesome

 

[loud n low]

Awesome,one of the top cars on here by a country mile.

 

[clrrk]

Been a while since I updated this - almost a year infact - and a lot of work has been done.

In my last post I said that a respray was on its way and in June 2017 the car went to live with Paintworkz while it underwent a new coat of Black Magic Pearl.

I also took this opportunity to shave the aerial, roof spoiler and boot handle, while the badge was replaced for a MK6 one which would become the new handle.

The drivers seat had a large wear mark so it was taken to Baron @ Top Secret Evolution where a new panel was sewn in...

and then the car was ready to do some shows - Districts, Fitted UK, Built and Titanic Dubs.

 

[clrrk]

After Titanic Dubs the car came off the road as I purchased a workhorse from @Fatman in the form of a VW Bora with 285,000 miles on the clock for a few hundred quid. Over winter a few key purchases were made...

Firstly was a new rear bumper. I've had dibs on this since the day I bought my R32 so I was pleased to hear that a friend was breaking his MK4 and I could finally have it. Made from two genuine bumpers, it has been shortened to fit a 5 digit plate. The guy who made it has a touch of ocd when it comes to cars to its near impossible to tell it's been made... even from the rear.

Having removed my cupholders for my iPad install, the car had become a bit of a pain in the ass to drive with nowhere to put my coffee - thankfully a friend imported me a US centre console which contains 5 sizeable cupholders

If you've seen the car at a show, the not so eagle eyed of you may have noticed that the car hasn't had a head cloth. This was because I had bought a replacement only to find out that it didn't fit over the curtain airbags and of course I had already folded my feg burned one in half. Finally got a new one and sprayed it black to match the pillars, visors and grab handles.

Then comes something I've wanted to do for a while... Brembos! After doing some research I realised how simple an upgrade it was to go from the stand R32 4 pots to Porsche Cayenne 6 pots. The set up retains the original 334mm discs from the R32 and with some adapter brackets the calipers bolt on with no fuss other than a spacer.

Difficult to see but they clear my wheels and they look huge behind the splits

The discs had seen better days but had plenty of meat left on them. With OEM 2 piece floating discs going for £300 a disc I decided to drop them over to OD Cars where they were lathed and soda blasted before I brought them home and give them a lick of paint to tidy them up.

and that brings us up to date. Car is currently at the bodyshop getting the calipers and rear bumper painted. Will update once its back again...

 

[redanni]

Looks cracking

 

[DaddyCC]

Some lovely touches there! The new boot badge/handle is delightful! Was that a big job to do? Didn't realise you could bring discs back as well as that See you blipping about Belfast the off time and defo had a road presence before all this work

Side note, what did you do with the other black roof lining and spoiler