Hey guys,

I've been on here since 2008 (i think), got my polo in december 09 and after owning it for 5 years, i thought it was time to let it go and start a fresh. So in October I bought a Passat and sold the polo. It was a sad day to see her go, but the love had gone so chuff it. it had 205k on the clock and was starting to have some teenager tantrums so it was a case of getting rid before it cost me a fortune. Evidently, the headgasket went an hour after selling the car and it lost a full expansion bottle of coolant in 17 miles... but thats another story.

anyways, the passat. I bought it like this with the A5 wheels and a halfords special headunit which i blooming hate.

I was determined to leave it alone until the winter passed incase we got some bad snow. That mentality lasted a month before I bought some coilovers...

had to change the tyres on the front because they caught like fuck and were scrubbing constantly. so the same day as fitting them, I bought a pair of 205/45s for the front and left the rears with the balloons. was a cool hot rod kinda look!

then payday came around again and i'd got sick of the rears scrubbing slightly going over bumps, so i got another pair.

A few weeks after that I had the car mapped, purely because i couldnt really say no to a custom remap for £200. I went for a blend of power and economy, so its about 155/160bhp, but still got up into the mid to high 50s on mpg on a run and mid 40s round the doors.

Before I even bought the passat, I had the wheels sorted. Freshly refurbed Porsche Cayenne wheels. 19x9 ET60, and completely immaculate.

They sat in my room for like 6 months before I actually got round to fitting them. but it gave the shitty weather a chance to go and me a chance to save up for tyres and adaptors. I managed to land on my feet for both, bagging the tyres nearly new for £160 and a pair of brand new adaptors for £50, and the other for £70.

and on the car... I also upgraded the front brakes to 312mm from a V6 TDI Passat.

A few weeks after, i was offered a set of Sport Design centre caps. I didnt even know they existed, but i like them.

Finally, i've got this to work on... Genuine US tailgate that was damaged in transit from the states. Most of the dents came out from behind with a block of wood and a hammer, but it still needs a bit of attention from a panel beater. Still, for £50 i cant complain.

Thats all for now... i'll try and keep it updated as the progress goes on, but i cant promise anything

Thanks for looking guys,

Andy.

oh wait, i forgot something! a good friend of mine tagged me in a photo on facebook of a passat being broken, and I went and got all the good bits... W8 headlights, front mount intercooler with the pipework and a 3 spoke sport steering wheel.

The headlights are usually like £350-£400 a set. I managed to get them for £60 because the lad didnt know what he had. Winner! The intercooler cost me £80 and the steering wheel £20. haven't got round to fitting the wheel yet, purely because i cant be bothered right now haha.

Cheers.

Looking good Andy!

Nice motor. It makes a change from all the neglected passats up here with misty headlights!

thanks guys

the standard headlights were starting to go misty and i was used to having xeonons in the polo... so standard headlights just seemed shit at like a 5th of the price of what they were meant to be, I cant complain!

Hey all,

Small upgrade to the car was fitted the other day. Its a little touch that doesnt get noticed unless you're up close, but i love it! its hydrodipped carbon with gloss black around the badge.




After that was fitted, a photoshoot happened...











Thats all folks!

Thanks.

Love a good Passat. I've been admiring a mate of mine's for a while. I got told off while consider Passat's because they look too much like a 'family car' but I should have shown her ones like this.

love big cars. looks awesome. any more plans ?

whats it like to drive ?

Love a good Passat. I've been admiring a mate of mine's for a while. I got told off while consider Passat's because they look too much like a 'family car' but I should have shown her ones like this.

haha yeah i get the "grandad car" crack all the time but i'm determined to make it look less like a grandad car!

love big cars. looks awesome. any more plans ? whats it like to drive ?

thanks man, its lovely to drive! much nicer than my polo. other plans include dropping the front a little bit more to take that bit of arch gap up, then get the US bootlid all sorted and get a passat sport ARB because they're solid rather than hollow. I might end up investing in some good quality coilies as well but thats further down the line.

haven't updated this in a month and not a great deal has happened tbh.. haha.

Fitted a new headunit as i was sick of the other cheap shit one with sticking buttons and stuff. Found this one for £60 and its pretty much new so I'm happy! and it sounds so much clearer with a good quality headunit!

After that, it needed the tracking doing as its already scrubbed the inner edges off the tyres and they've only been on since the end of march... WHOOPS! haha long story short, 3 different places trying to get it tracked, track rods seized solid, heat wouldnt move them so it looked likle they'd need drilling out at a later date when i had replacement track rod ends. Got replacements and the 3rd place i took it to for fitting and tracking managed to get them out without drilling... anyways. its tracked.

everyone loves a good subframe mount scraping...

while it was in getting tracked, i borrowed my mates car as he was on holiday.

One of the days in the heatwave, it was glorious and a day that consisted of washing the barge. The wheels went purple for a few minutes...

and it started snowing

My brother bought some wheels that came with Volkswagen scripted wheel bolt covers, so they got pinched and colour coded to the car... or the closest colour we could find in a rattle can.

yes, i know the centre badges are a bit milky but they'll be getting replaced soon.

Thats pretty much it... My mate fitted the 3 spoke for me in all of 5 minutes but I'm yet to get a photo of that.

Thanks for looking.

Andy.

looks absolutely mint. making all the choices I would if it was mine :P

Around a week after I bought the 6r polo to replace the mk2f as a daily i started following a bunch of passat owners on instagram...instantly regretted buying the 6r.

These look so much more executive, have better spec, look awesome modded and when I saw what i could have got for much less money I almost cried

if you on instagram you should follow burna85 if your not already, his pd130 is something special too.

looks absolutely mint. making all the choices I would if it was mine :P

Around a week after I bought the 6r polo to replace the mk2f as a daily i started following a bunch of passat owners on instagram...instantly regretted buying the 6r.

These look so much more executive, have better spec, look awesome modded and when I saw what i could have got for much less money I almost cried

if you on instagram you should follow burna85 if your not already, his pd130 is something special too.

thanks man! hahaha burner is one of my best mates, i know all about that car

edit: he says "nice one bruvva" for the InstaLove

Edited 2 September, 201511 yr by andypandy

not a huge update, just a few photos leading up to and from VW Festival!







After the hour and a bit drive to get home from VW festival, I was over my mates house and we decided to snowfoam the barges. But after a wash, polish and wax on the saturday, the snowfoam didnt really do much... haha


as a birthday present to myself, i bought a couple of subs. I'm a bass addict at heart!



I was then offered a retro fit auto headlight kit from my brother. I was a bit sceptical at first with it being a cheap chinese jobby, but its working great so far!



The other day I went 3 ways on a machine polisher with Burner (Rowans old 5.5) and Carl (not sure if carl is on here actually, its the guy with the black 5.5 next to me at VW festival). Since i picked it up, i claimed the first use! i still need to get some proper pads and polish for it, but I'm happy with the results from the medium pad and Dodo Juice Lime stuff I used!





Thats all for now, i'll get some proper photos when I get round to polishing it again properly!

Thanks for looking,
Andy.

Haha what are the chances of that, looks cool anyway and cleans up good! Just a tad jealous I haven't got one...maybe after the mk2 is finished

i know man! haha feel free to follow me on instagram dude, @andyleadbitter.

Just realised I already am haha, I'm john_m_yo

hey guys,

no massive updates from me at the moment. I'm in the process of saving up to get the front end painted and the US bootlid sorted!

The other month, I went to a rolling road day to see what sort of power i was putting out.




Made 172bhp which they say is at the wheels, but i've heard mixed reviews about the rollers... quite a few say they read high so I'm a bit sceptical on whether the figures are actually correct.

Other than that, i bought a private plate for a grand total of £30 plus the fees, so £110 all in. I'm over the moon because it'll fit lovely in the US tailgate when i get it on! Pic after a quick wash!




I'll keep this updated when anything changes!

Cheers,
Andy.

Looks lovely mate, I would hold on to the claimed 172bhp until another rolling road tells you otherwise and shout it out with pride haha. If it's anything close to the truth this should pull really well!

Looking forward for the us style plate and boot to be fitted!

hey peeps,

 

its been a while since I updated this and since i've got nothing to do at work, i thought i would! haha

A little while back, my front drivers window decided it didnt like going up and down straight anymore and the cable had snapped on the mechanism. The master bodger came into play until I could get hold of a new mech! it didnt budge at all, fantastic!

 

 

I braved the cold a few times during the winter and gave her a wash and polish...

 

 

I was fancying some new wheels and Rowan wanted the Cayennes for his A4, so i did an ebay buy and did a 10 hour round trip to pick these up.

 

 

19x9 Audi Speedlines from an A5 (i think?) with a little dish, rather than the usual flat lip style ones. I set about refurbing them as i wanted them to stand out from the rest. First wheel that myself and my dad split turned out to be a bit of a pain...

 

 

They'd been refurbed before and clearly cheap bolts were used as 4 stripped the heads in the first wheel, followed by another 2 in the final wheel. They wouldnt even drill out!! Thankfully the others came out alright and I sent the centres away to get powder coated. I asked for a colour that was as close as possible to the colour of the car and this is what came back. I was happy!

 

 

While they were away, I started polishing the lips which also turned out to be a bit of a pain, but we got there in the end. This was part way through, there was another couple grades of sandpaper and coats of polish after this.

 

 

I ordered bolts from Germany and tyres from Tyre Leader, got them all built up and put on. Needless to say, I'm over the moon with how they came out in the end. All of the hard work was worth it!

 

 

Massive thanks to Burner for the photos! His drive is all over the place by the way, the front doesnt usually look so high!

I'm waiting on a few bits and pieces coming from overseas, then i'll be getting it booked in for paint and it'll come out looking completely different 

Thanks for looking,
Andy.