Jan 2012 - Wash, paint clean & wax

Time for a new year update..

I had the car turbocharged a couple of months ago now and recently it's taken a beating by the weather. A couple of recent long trips up and down the country with rain, sleet and snow has made the bodywork look pretty grim so I decided it was time to think about protecting the paintwork. First up was a good rinse, then another for good measure.

The plan was to remove as much of the grit and grime as possible before even getting near it with a sponge. Once the car was throughly rinsed it was obvious that the paint would need a clean as well but first up was a good shampoo. As I was stealing (borrowing) my mates products it wasnt a decision process its was more of a what have you got... fortunately my friends have good taste so when the autoglym car shampoo came out i was more than happy. 

Once the car was washed and rinsed it was clear that this (Autoglym shampoo) was a step above halfords own brand shampoo (my usual).

I took my time with the washing and used the two buckets technique to try and get rid of the grit before asking for the paint restored/cleaner.

Again, I was pleased to find that my mate had some Faracela Paint renovator, it was easy to apply and very easy to remove.

The results were impressive and it got rid of all the tar spots that had built up on the doors, wings and skirts. The most impressive results were the ease that it removed all the carbon off the rear bumper. Previously, I had been collecting some of my exhaust gasses on my rear bumper and it had started to look pretty brown! Now its brand spanking again thanks to faracela and a bit of elbow greese.

Now that the paint was clean and spot free it was time to seal the paint with a wax. The wax on offer was autoglyms hd wax, this would be the first time i'd used a hard wax on the car and it worked a treat!

Not sure if i'm a complete convert as I do love my NxtTech2 in a bottle but I will certainly be investing in some autoglym hd wax too.

Stage 1 - Autoglym Shampoo

Stage 2 - Faracela Paint Renovator

Stage 3 - Autoglym HD Wax


The results...

Exterior:

Wheels:

Engine bay:

More to follow, overall I'm really impressed with the products easy to use, quick to apply and remove and the results seem to last. This was a couple of weeks ago and the car is still gleeming - underneath the grime ;)

Dec 2011 - Boost is coming

Well after trying all the "cheap" mods the various bolt ons its time to go a bit crazy. Inspired by Ben's Turbo EG

I decided to take the plunge and let Tdi North go mad with the car. 

The car is booked in on the 7th December and updates will follow in due course.

Target power for first round of install is 350bhp.

Update on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 7:48PM by Dave

Here are some pictures from TDi North during the Turbo conversion...

Day 1,

Strip all the un-nessecery bits off.

DC Sports Exhaust Manifold, RBC Inlet manifold, Apexi Induction Kit, stock injectors, sump, clean and paint prc inlet manifold,

Day 2, 

Clean, drill and weld stock sump for turbo oil return feed, fit prc inlet manifold, exhaust turbo manifold, fit 1000cc injectors then refit fuel rail, heat wrap everything near the turbo

Begin fabrication of the charge cooler, downpipe and boost pipes

Day 3,

Continue fabrication, chargecooler, downpipe and boost pipes

fit chargecooler radiator and pump

Day 4,

Weld, clean and polish/paint all the newly fabricated parts,

begin screamer, wastegate, blow off valve, plumb in water lines for cooler 

Day 5, 

Final fit and check everything over, wire in boost controller and get ready to map

Day 6,

Mapping followed by test drive!

Some pictures from the mapping session:

Video to follow soon...

Update on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 8:48PM by Dave

And the results...

Oct 2011 - Apexi Induction kit (Installed)

Following on from the sound deadening I decided to fit my Apexi induction kit this weekend. I bought it at the last Mimms off another itr-dc5 forum member for £60.

There has been a lot of debate about heatsoak from the open cone filters but since I had a custom air feed into the bay and the ambiant temperature is dropping (winter coming) I decided that I'd go for it.

First impressions are good, a nice deep growl in vtec - almost a bark! Pretty similar to my modified stock airbox before 5k rpm.

This is the before and after shots,

Engine bay:

Close up on the kits:

During the install:

In summary the kit was really east to fit and needed no additional parts, (I had to borrow 2 x bolt and 2 x rubber spacers from the standard intake box but the kit fits like factory and was on in about 30mins, would have been even quicker if i wasn't taking photos).

Here is a shot of the bay now with the Apexi induction kit installed

I have a before and after sound clip that I will post here later this week

Oct 2011 - DIY (Sound deadening - removed)

So since the outside was looking good afer the TGM refresh last month I thought it was time to do some of the little bits I'd been meaning to do for ages. 

First on the list was to remove the sound deadening from under the bonnet then give it a clean.

Before:

During:

After:

And the engine bay, will be adding an open cone filter - short ram instead of the modified stock airbox as the air temp will be much cooler this time of year. Hopfully I'll be doing that later this month so watch out for the results.

The finished result...

SEPT 2011 - TGM Refresh

Well it's been long overdue but the time came to eventually tidy the car up and TGM were the people to do it. Having had a previous nightmare with a bad fitting replica kit i wanted to take it somewhere where i knew the people and knew they would do a good job.

I wasnt dissapointed the work carried out by Tom & Willy @ TGM was top notch.

Some pics...

The end result, front

The end result, rear

In progress...

And a mini photoshoot...

New wheels from Rarerims

Rota Fighter 17x9

ET50

That's all for now