Boring update, but got the cooling pack installed properly and it's taken an age:

Bottom of the intercooler is bolted directly to the box section radiator bar. The top of it is secured with rubber bobbins:

It's good and solid, but it needs to be - boost pipe clearances are tight:

Mounted a beefy Spal fan. Got a fan mount kit which came with some nice plastic legs, but there were only two of them long enough - so used them on opposite corners and then made up my own brackets for the bottom left and top right mounts. Bottom left is angled aluminium, because I had space to use it and it's pretty rigid yet still light.

Top right doesn't have much clearance at all, so that just got ally strip.

Note how little clearance there is to the turbo water pipe and oil drain...

Turbo water pipe got bent into a more appropriate shape. There's now 20mm of clearance between that and the radiator, which is still tight between a dynamic (turbo pipe) and static (radiator) part, but should be enough as the engine winding up on the mounts will increase the clearance.

Going to get a different oil drain sorted. This one will work, but the clearance I've currently got doesn't fill me with confidence - even though it was far worse with the old setup.

22 or 46mm seems to stick in my head for Dynamic & static components

Depends on the components in question - our EDS boys work to 50mm on dynamic bits of harness for example. But this isn't a production car that's going to be driven by a retard and never serviced. It's a modified car that's going to be driven by a retard and taken apart regularly, so I can get away with things being a bit tighter - especially as I'm not planning on doing any pave durability with it!

Yeah man, fuck knows haha. Looking good though. Nice to see it being done properly, I'll have to swing by and have a look, suppose I'll see it when you buy my golf?

Progress has been a bit slow over the last month or so as this turned up:

Moved the water pipes around on the turbo:

Inlet pipework fitted, along with new turbo oil drain visible in the background.

Massaged one of the radiator support brackets some more to clear the compressor outlet hose properly:

Ended up buying a shiny pipe for the airfilter...

...it needed cutting down to size, which meant I needed to re-swage the end of the pipe. You can make a pikey swage tool out of exhaust U-clamps, but as this pipe was 80mm OD I didn't have anything to hand - so did it using a screwdriver; block of wood and a hammer. Results are just about acceptable!

Final result - Audi diesel inlet pipe mated up to the shiny 90° bend, and airfilter stashed in the inner wing.

Turbo oil line spec'd and fitted. P-clipped to the rocker cover bolt to stop it flapping about.

Better shot of the bay and turbo pipes etc.

Turbo water feed is taken from an unused port on the ally rad:

New coolant expansion tank and cleaned up washer bottle fitted:

Sticker updates courtesy of Dan Knight. These are a bit gay, but the tyre pressure and fuel grade ones were just because I could, and the headlamp beam alignment covered a mark in the new paint where the original sticker had been!

Before:

After:

Beam alignment:

New bits of trim for the bonnet:

Fresh lamps fitted:

Nearly looking like a car again!

stunning work mate! looking superb. I've got an alloy radiator with that outlet on the top- didnt think about using it for a turbo feed- yoooink stealing that idea, was gunna plug the fan thermo switch into it.

where does the baby fit? you gunna get a special craddle to fit it inside the cabin

Looking good Andy!

Good stuff mate, looking well.

I shall continue to harass you via email til it's done

Coming together nicely and congrats on the little one... who seems to be giving you the finger in that pic

Fresh to death! This is looking sweet now!

Did possibly the world's slowest oil cooler installation.

Started by making a bracket to mount the cooler matrix:

Hung some angled aluminium off the bobbins I used to secure the intercoooler at the top.

Scalloped out the angled ally so the airflow over the matrix isn't obscured:

Tapped the ally and stuck bolts in from underneath. Made it easy to stick the matrix on top with washers and nuts without having to get a spanner on the bolt head.

Pipework routed from take-off plate to matrix. Took me ages to find a route I'm happy with. There's velcro on the edges of the intercooler just in case the hoses rub, and then a couple of P-clips to the bumper iron to stop the pipe flapping.

The finished product:

Crankcase breather hose routed along the inner wing next to the boost hose.

The hose then pops through the inner wing into the cavity behind the front bumper, where yet more angled aluminium came into play to mount the catch tank. Need to get the catchtank modified to fit a drain plug, but should work well as I've got the fog lamps cut-out, so will be easy enough to drain.

PPP exhaust system fitted to my turbo downpipe. Put an extra clamp on the downpipe so I could still use the original downpipe bracket hanging off the back of the block.

More aluminium bracket used to hold the airfilter in place. Drilled the end of the filter and stuck a bolt through the end so I could easily secure it to the bracket. My previous arrangement used cable ties, which took about 5% of the time to make fit - but used to pull the turbo inlet hoses around as the filter could still flap about - and had a few split because of it. Hopefully no such issue now.

Bolted the ECU back in, currently tidying up and re-wrapping the wiring looms.

All new washer hose etc. plumbed back in. Added an inline non-return valve which should hopefully help the washers work a little more quickly.

Whilst trimming the front bumper to fit around all the new front-end additions, I remembered that 2 out of the 3 upper bumper mounting features had snapped off. Whipped out the soldering iron and picked up some bumper trimmings from the floor to use as filler, and plastic welded them back together.

Re-fitted clutch and throttle cables, and various odds n sods including the wipers. It's been taking ages as I've taken to cleaning stuff up and painting things before re-fitting, which is uber boring. Filled the engine and gearbox up with oil earlier too, so really just wiring left to do...

Looking good mate - like the detail, glad you're not just boshing it back together

It's alive again! It's been over 18 months since it last ran, so really chuffed it's working again. MOT tomorrow...

Few more bits to do, got the roof gutter trims and door rub strips to re-apply, but they can be done after the MOT. Also got it booked in for a full geometry setup on Thursday - as long as it passes the MOT! Will be corner-weighted at the same time, so will faff with the ride height then. Have dropped it a touch at the back since taking these pics, but the front will stay around that height I think.

After that I need to re-fit and re-wire the gauges and then spend some time mapping it properly.

Looks very original mate!

Where you having it setup?

Where you having it setup?

Centre Gravity inbetween Nuneaton and Tamworth. Going to need to get the string and measuring tape out though, geo is miles out at the moment so won't be very driveable!

Tried to get up my drive with the dampers on their softest setting, which was comical when the car just started bouncing... Wound some damping on and it was okay.

Looks awesome Andy, I'm also loving the stock look.

Brilliant!! :)

it looks like a granny should owns it!

Never heard of them lol, but unless they're retards should be okay, you've got a stage 3 havnt you? They ginna measure caster? Personally I'd aim to get caster pretty balanced and aim for a wheelbase difference no greater than about 5mm, otherwise the car may become asemetric.

Dampers, adjustable ones are a bit shit, they're not really a linear change, usually a shit needle taper so you'll find a point where youre in a range of about 5 clicks where they make a big difference, fronts only rebound adjustable; I'd imagine with your spring rates you'd want them about half way, bit more control as you're stiff-ish spring wise in comparison to me.

Makes such a difference it being properly setup as I'm sure you'd know anyway, should be nice :)

Nick- check them out here: http://www.centregravity.co.uk/

CG have a very good reputation didn't realise they were that 'local' though! :)

will have to pop down to pick up my spare wheel.. and have a nosey!! :-D

My bosses Porsche was set up at centre gravity and he said he can't fault them. They went out

There way to finish his car and it transformed the way it drove

My bosses Porsche was set up at centre gravity and he said he can't fault them. They went out

There way to finish his car and it transformed the way it drove

Aye loads of the Porsche boys love them, also S2000/Lotus forums littered with good things to say.

Hopefully my car doesn't leak to much oil on his workshop floor

Need one of those intercoolers and rad for mine.. haha

Thanks for all the positive comments guys. Now taxed and MOT'd. :)

Spent an hour or so with some string, axle stands and measuring sticks to set the tracking roughly parallel this morning. Amazing how much easier something is to drive when the front wheels are pointing roughly in the same direction...!

@ Mark - if you need your spare wheel quickly give me a shout, it's just sitting in the garage at the moment. Thanks for the loan!

Thanks for all the positive comments guys. Now taxed and MOT'd. :)

Spent an hour or so with some string, axle stands and measuring sticks to set the tracking roughly parallel this morning. Amazing how much easier something is to drive when the front wheels are pointing roughly in the same direction...!

@ Mark - if you need your spare wheel quickly give me a shout, it's just sitting in the garage at the moment. Thanks for the loan!

No probs! :)

not quickly.. just an excuse to come down an see it!

Actually is this coming to Retro Rides?

I was planning on going, 'til I realised it clashed with something... :( But if you want to come over in the meantime feel free, just give me a shout. Planning on going to the Pod on 10th August with the CG40 lot and probably VW Action in Sept too.