New wheels/tyres fitted, there was only going to be one choice for me:

need to get a full alignment done ASAP

16's? Seem to fill the arches much better. Looking good!

Cheers mate, yep 16's and freshly refurbed :)

Looks mint mate

Cheers mate :)

So I booked in to Kwikfit for full geo on a hawker machine. Have to say I was so impressed with the service, two of them spent a good 2 hours getting my alignment back to a normal level after the coilover install/lowering. They have also asked me to come back FOC next weekend for a checkup once its settled in

Aw man those wheels look awesome they are hard to get in 16" 4 stud

They sure are! I set up a wanted thread but some people want silly money for sets in a right state, got these at a fair price :)

looks very smart on the 16's mate

^^ Cheers pal

Well its been a while since I've done an update, not much to tell really. The car is where I want it and has travelled 5000 faithful miles with me in the last two months. It was due an oil service so I decided it would be a good opportunity to renew the gearbox oil at the same time - not fun trying to remove drain and fill plugs which are 12 years old!

Filthy:

Much better :)

Couple of miles on her now

What gearbox oil did you use mate? And any tips? Never changed gearbox oil before

I used Castrol 75w-90 I think, will have to check but it came up as compatible on Opie. I actually have a spare unopened litre if you want one cheap. Make sure you get the car level on stands, otherwise it wasn't too hard, the fill plug did not want to come off at all but plenty of lube & compressed air (upside down to cool things down) seemed to do the trick.

Edited 21 March, 201412 yr by shantybeater

No major updates to report. I started getting a rattling noise from the rear, after some investigation it became apparent the top hat on one of my rear coil overs had given way, phoned up the supplier who had never come across the issue before.

New strut ordered & fitted and we are back to a nice quiet ride again.

Whilst at it I also finally fitted the coolant temp sensor in hope this would solve the random high rev's on warm startup - glad to report the issue is now resolved.

No major updates to report. I started getting a rattling noise from the rear, after some investigation it became apparent the top hat on one of my rear coil overs had given way, phoned up the supplier who had never come across the issue before.

New strut ordered & fitted and we are back to a nice quiet ride again.

Whilst at it I also finally fitted the coolant temp sensor in hope this would solve the random high rev's on warm startup - glad to report the issue is now resolved.

I had the same problem with the revs and the temp sensor was at fault with mine. It was saying it was -40 when it was like 17 degrees outside

Yeah it fully solved the issue, must be a common problem. How did you determine the temp readings?

Yeah it fully solved the issue, must be a common problem. How did you determine the temp readings?

I plugged it into the code reader at work pal. Do you have the problem with the turbo cutting out?

Nope, no issues with the way it drove just occasional (embarrassing) rev's on a warm startup

Looking sweet. Really impressed with the fact that you've made a point to keep the TDI details as opposed to making it a GTI replica, kudos. Loving those 16's too!

Just out curiosity, did Kwik-Fit give you any grief when you had the Hawkeye alignment done? I've had problems in the past with my local Hawkeye dealer being a little reluctant to do full alignment on my cars with coilovers fitted.

Cheers :)

No, no issues at all, the guy was a bit of an vw enthusiast anyway so seemed quite keen to help. I think it's hit and miss, I've had all sorts of issues with places turning it away for being too low when it came to tyre changes

Well its been a busy year, a lot of mileage done since my last service 9 months ago:

The car has been faultless and deserves a service (and a clean!). Oil service carried out today: