Well,  I've been here a little while now and managed toget a few bits and pieces sort on my car so thought it's about time I put it up for comment please go easy it on there are still a fair few things to be sorted out   and sorry about the number of pics!

So it's a 2003 (03) GT TDI 130   4 door,  I bought it in september of 2006. 

so here it was at at the dealers (yes I know I shouldn't have bought it from them but I did get a good deal )

The first mod was a set of 18" borbet LS,

swiftly followed but the carbonio I had on my old gt tdi 110, Love the noise of thins thing, plus I think it's responsible for the extra 16bhp I seem to have gained according to awesome's rolling road 

Decided to get rid of the flag pole stuck to the roof,

then follows a slight brake upgrade 312mm front disc's TT style,

with a splash of paint,

then splashed out to sort out the chelsea tractor look 

before 

After

then followed a forge short shifter, still need to get the side shift,

decided that enough was enough of the oil leaking out of the egr valve so a oil catch tank had to go on.  so got hold of a Provent 200 and a few bits of pipe.  It seems to have worked just got to clean out the EGR pipe and intercooler at some point [:( ]

Had a few rolling shots taken a while back by a member on here (cheers chick)

Then a bit of spot the difference

and

Picked a new set of lights up off a forum member

Fitted with a HID kit from HIDS4U which came with 6000K bulbs but I'm going to be changing them to 4700K as they are a little too blue for my liking.

then sorted out the covers in the engine bay  main engine cover and battery cover.

have nearly finished my ipod install. just got to cover the holder in the sticky back velvet

The cable plugs into the back of my stereo and has been hiden out of the way.

 Then this weekend the lower front strut brace and rear ARB have gone on with a little help from Mr Duvet

I set the ARB to the meidum setting as didn't really want to have it on the edge then suddenly let go on me.  So far I've really noticed a difference it does seem to grip a LOT more in the corners I have a feeling that I'll be need another set of new tyres after nurburg  :(

So then

a)  sorry about the length of the post and the number of pic's.

b) any and all comments very welcome

Cheers
Greg

Great write-up and loving the breakdown and pics on what you've accomplished

austin21:

Then a bit of spot the difference

and

'Bout time you got one of these on here - even Hayley beat you to it! It's looking good though.

'Fraid you're not going to get away without me posting at least one picture of you from yesterday on here.

For a caption I was thinking of something like 'Greg re-checks the number of wheels on his car for peace of mind before starting work' 

Jon.

 Cheers guys

and jon at least it's not the other pic you've got!!!

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!

Looking really nice mate, engine/battery cover set the bay off nicely along with the strut brace and look good with the carbonio

I've got the same rear arb, also set to medium and have to agree the difference was amazing!

I need to sort out one of those provents for mine

austin21:

 Cheers guys

and jon at least it's not the other pic you've got!!!

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!

Anyway, they say a picture is worth a thousand words and all that, so here's a visual demonstration of the impact that the rear ARB has on the car's handling

Jon.

 thats brilliant !!!!   particually as she was on the passenger side before the corner

And still don't you dare!!

borachris:

Looking really nice mate, engine/battery cover set the bay off nicely along with the strut brace and look good with the carbonio

I've got the same rear arb, also set to medium and have to agree the difference was amazing!

I need to sort out one of those provents for mine

Cheers for the comments

They're not cheap, but I can highly recomend them! since it's been on I've not had a drop out of the egr valve (after a running in period)

Greg

 About time you started a build up thread.I have 3 Patch's new car threads on here lol.

How easy was it to fit the arb?

 Looking good mate, the engine bay looks real tidy, very nice

Patch:

 About time you started a build up thread.I have 3 Patch's new car threads on here lol.

How easy was it to fit the arb?

It was fiarly easy but deffinately a two man job and you deffinately need the right tools for the job (a pointed pry bar is the one you'll need)

again Cheers for the comments guys

Greg

harveysduvet:

Anyway, they say a picture is worth a thousand words and all that, so here's a visual demonstration of the impact that the rear ARB has on the car's handling

quality post that

Car's looking great Greg, those rolling shots are super-cool!

God damn you Jonathan Casey!   I was strapped in the middle seat with both arms grabbing onto the Jesus handles and ended up on the passenger side doing the splits.....I now have biceps like Arny and my knuckles nearly reach the floor

Cheeky Chappers:

 I was strapped in the middle seat with both arms grabbing onto the Jesus handles and ended up on the passenger side doing the splits

But enough of your personal life H, what was the handling like

It's come a long way Greg but nice and subtle not OTT have you thought about coding the fuse box cover to match it in with the battery one.

The rear ARB is THE single handling mod that produces the most noticeable results, beggars belief why they weren't fitted as standard

I've not had a look at how the nuespeed rear fitted before and I'm quite surprised how it comes under the suspension arm reducing the ground clearance a fair bit but there again the WL one uses the drop links so it will also reduce the clearance it just uses the spacers instead of mounting under the arm

The drop links are miles better on the nuespeed by the looks.

Did you need to trim the engine cover when you fitted the S3 upper brace Greg?

Neil

old_n07:

Cheeky Chappers:

 I was strapped in the middle seat with both arms grabbing onto the Jesus handles and ended up on the passenger side doing the splits

But enough of your personal life H, what was the handling like

Jon.

Yes Greg did have to trim down one side of the engine cover to accommodate the S3 strut brace, was quite funny as he cut a few off that didn't need cutting off

old_n07:

Cheeky Chappers:

 I was strapped in the middle seat with both arms grabbing onto the Jesus handles and ended up on the passenger side doing the splits

But enough of your personal life H, what was the handling like

as a passenger it felt great and at one with the road but Greg being the driver should be able to notice the true benefits.

Only pic I took...

old_n07:

It's come a long way Greg but nice and subtle not OTT have you thought about coding the fuse box cover to match it in with the battery one.

The rear ARB is THE single handling mod that produces the most noticeable results, beggars belief why they weren't fitted as standard

I've not had a look at how the nuespeed rear fitted before and I'm quite surprised how it comes under the suspension arm reducing the ground clearance a fair bit but there again the WL one uses the drop links so it will also reduce the clearance it just uses the spacers instead of mounting under the arm

The drop links are miles better on the nuespeed by the looks.

Did you need to trim the engine cover when you fitted the S3 upper brace Greg?

Neil

Cheers Neil,

It is one hell of a difference and has most deffinately put a big smile on my face.

On the engine cover yeah I had to take the rear mount off completely to fit it under although I might have gotten away wtih just trimming it down a little but the cover is still the full length.  The only problem is that as I've no rear mount it vibrate against the brace hence I've cut up a squash ball and glued it to the cover to protect it a bit as it was chipping the paint off.

Also since those pics were taken I've painted the fuse box cover gloss black to match the centre section of the engine cover just got to find some thing subtle to stick on it now , was thinking about the custom code lettering but and now thinking about some really small tdi badges.

The pics of hayley in the back are absolutly brilliant but it was even better at the time!  keep em coming Jon

Plenty of top quality work there mate.  I have a question though, you know when you painted your Callipers? How did you do that, did you have to take them off completely? Or is there some trickery in doing and not having to remove the calliper and not getting paint on the disk? Although my car is only 9 months old, the callipers which were painted silver look to be losing the shine a bit now i was think of re painting them but i have no idea where to start.

 nice build up dude...

AidenUK:

Plenty of top quality work there mate.  I have a question though, you know when you painted your Callipers? How did you do that, did you have to take them off completely? Or is there some trickery in doing and not having to remove the calliper and not getting paint on the disk? Although my car is only 9 months old, the callipers which were painted silver look to be losing the shine a bit now i was think of re painting them but i have no idea where to start.

Quick and easy way to do it is leave them on and just cover everywhere else in masking tape - that's how I did mine and Harveysduvets.

Thanks for the information, i was thinking about doing that but i wasn't sure if  i had to take them off or not.

austin21:

The pics of hayley in the back are absolutly brilliant but it was even better at the time!  keep em coming Jon

Besides, in the interests of fairness, I'd feel obliged to post more pics up of you from saturday as well - and we both know what that means

Jon.

lots of work you've done, wheels look really nice.  rumour had it you had a black grill on your car, but its not in the pic, did you? if you did do you have pics?

ta

Chris

chris_golfse:

lots of work you've done, wheels look really nice.  rumour had it you had a black grill on your car, but its not in the pic, did you? if you did do you have pics?

ta

Chris

Yep I do have a mat black grill just not taken any pic's of it as yet. 

Aidenuk,

As hayley said I simply masked up around the disc and anything else that I didn't want painted then went for it.  Although I'm now thinging about redoing them in some sort of red to match the rear ARB.

Cheers for all the other coments guys am very please with the way things are going so far but there are more plan's afoot just need the funds

Oh yeah Jon as I said before DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!

Greg

 Lookin good mate

How have i not seen you around with a nice lookin golf like that, it seems we'r both from the same neck of the woods

redflame:

 Lookin good mate

How have i not seen you around with a nice lookin golf like that, it seems we'r both from the same neck of the woods

Cheers mate,

I'm not in bolton too much as I live out in westhoughton. WIll keep my eye out for you mate, there seems to be a fair few in and around bolton these days.

Greg

My mum lives in Daisy Hill and i still havent seen you! 

austin21:

chris_golfse:

lots of work you've done, wheels look really nice.  rumour had it you had a black grill on your car, but its not in the pic, did you? if you did do you have pics?

ta

Chris

 

 

Yep I do have a mat black grill just not taken any pic's of it as yet. 

Aidenuk,

As hayley said I simply masked up around the disc and anything else that I didn't want painted then went for it.  Although I'm now thinging about redoing them in some sort of red to match the rear ARB.

Cheers for all the other coments guys am very please with the way things are going so far but there are more plan's afoot just need the funds

Oh yeah Jon as I said before DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!

Greg

 

Again silly question but what sort of paint are you using, i thought about doing mine red?

Japlac

AidenUK:

austin21:

chris_golfse:

lots of work you've done, wheels look really nice.  rumour had it you had a black grill on your car, but its not in the pic, did you? if you did do you have pics?

ta

Chris

 

 

Yep I do have a mat black grill just not taken any pic's of it as yet. 

Aidenuk,

As hayley said I simply masked up around the disc and anything else that I didn't want painted then went for it.  Although I'm now thinging about redoing them in some sort of red to match the rear ARB.

Cheers for all the other coments guys am very please with the way things are going so far but there are more plan's afoot just need the funds

Oh yeah Jon as I said before DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!

Greg

 

Again silly question but what sort of paint are you using, i thought about doing mine red?

no worries pretty much any sort of high temp metal paint really I got some stuff from ebay but hayleys was japlac from halfords (i think) and jon's some high temp stuff from B&Q

hope that helps

Greg

 And how long does the paint take to dry ( how long does the car need to be off the road for!? )

Cheers, Matt

austin21:

AidenUK:

austin21:

chris_golfse:

lots of work you've done, wheels look really nice.  rumour had it you had a black grill on your car, but its not in the pic, did you? if you did do you have pics?

ta

Chris

 

 

Yep I do have a mat black grill just not taken any pic's of it as yet. 

Aidenuk,

As hayley said I simply masked up around the disc and anything else that I didn't want painted then went for it.  Although I'm now thinging about redoing them in some sort of red to match the rear ARB.

Cheers for all the other coments guys am very please with the way things are going so far but there are more plan's afoot just need the funds

Oh yeah Jon as I said before DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!

Greg

 

Again silly question but what sort of paint are you using, i thought about doing mine red?

no worries pretty much any sort of high temp metal paint really I got some stuff from ebay but hayleys was japlac from halfords (i think) and jon's some high temp stuff from B&Q

hope that helps

Greg

Thanks for your help!