Been a hot second since I posted on RMS so I thought I'd post a bit of a mega thread of the current daily/project.
Sold the Leon Cupra R in May 2019 for good money, but needed a car to drive, wife had parked her Lupo GTi at a friends farm since she got a spanky new Arona FR, perfect excuse to get the Lupo back on the road after a year, turns out, sitting on a farm for a year does things to a car, it was pretty obvious that this was going to take a lot of work, thankfully, being a VAG parts advisor has its perks
So I set to work ordering what I could and, but I didn't want to do a half job, so everything that came off got new bolts/nuts as well, car got a full service including a new timing belt and water pump, new coilovers, new discs, new pads, new backing plates
We discovered that the rear axle either needed a lot of welding to pass MOT or needed replaced, so I went and got one off of a SEAT Arosa, the only difference from that of a GTI is a built in torsion bar on the GTI version, so I got that blasted and powder coated and put some poly bushes in
While we were there we changed the brake flexis
and replaced the stub axle bolts for titanium replacements since I couldn't source the OE bolts
Car sails through MOT but there is still plenty to be done, so I go in for the deep clean
Stip what feels like 10 layers of paint off the calipers
gave them a lovely lick of HT Red for the factory look and the rest of the car got a deep clea
not exactly Leonardo DaVinci, but it's better than it was
The car though, ever since we've owned it from 2011 has left black spots of residue over the rear after any drive, we thought this might be exhaust related since it appears the middle silencer has collapsed in on itself so I ordered up a KAM Racing Cat back exhaust
However once fitted it's clear the issue goes deeper, so after some research it appears the valve stem oil seals like to go on GTi's and buy do they ever
I send the car to a good friend who strips the head, decarbons everything and replaces the VSOS
However after building the car back up the smoking issue hasn't gone away, and the only option is to strip the whole engine down, and find the issue, this turns out to be the piston rings are just shooting oil in to the combustion chambers
Went to pick the car up and it's running perfectly, no smoke, definitely gained some power and all is well (LOL) mechanic makes a remark about the rear camber and I brush it off as that's just how they sit.
Well it turns out that is how they sit, when the axle you recently put in to the car has completly rotted from the inside and snapped, right as you park up at work
Sold the Leon Cupra R in May 2019 for good money, but needed a car to drive, wife had parked her Lupo GTi at a friends farm since she got a spanky new Arona FR, perfect excuse to get the Lupo back on the road after a year, turns out, sitting on a farm for a year does things to a car, it was pretty obvious that this was going to take a lot of work, thankfully, being a VAG parts advisor has its perks
So I set to work ordering what I could and, but I didn't want to do a half job, so everything that came off got new bolts/nuts as well, car got a full service including a new timing belt and water pump, new coilovers, new discs, new pads, new backing plates
We discovered that the rear axle either needed a lot of welding to pass MOT or needed replaced, so I went and got one off of a SEAT Arosa, the only difference from that of a GTI is a built in torsion bar on the GTI version, so I got that blasted and powder coated and put some poly bushes in
While we were there we changed the brake flexis
and replaced the stub axle bolts for titanium replacements since I couldn't source the OE bolts
Car sails through MOT but there is still plenty to be done, so I go in for the deep clean
Stip what feels like 10 layers of paint off the calipers
gave them a lovely lick of HT Red for the factory look and the rest of the car got a deep clea
not exactly Leonardo DaVinci, but it's better than it was
The car though, ever since we've owned it from 2011 has left black spots of residue over the rear after any drive, we thought this might be exhaust related since it appears the middle silencer has collapsed in on itself so I ordered up a KAM Racing Cat back exhaust
However once fitted it's clear the issue goes deeper, so after some research it appears the valve stem oil seals like to go on GTi's and buy do they ever
I send the car to a good friend who strips the head, decarbons everything and replaces the VSOS
However after building the car back up the smoking issue hasn't gone away, and the only option is to strip the whole engine down, and find the issue, this turns out to be the piston rings are just shooting oil in to the combustion chambers
Went to pick the car up and it's running perfectly, no smoke, definitely gained some power and all is well (LOL) mechanic makes a remark about the rear camber and I brush it off as that's just how they sit.
Well it turns out that is how they sit, when the axle you recently put in to the car has completly rotted from the inside and snapped, right as you park up at work