Grooming Session

Due to acidic liquids coming from un-sacred trees and birds, it seems that I've to send the Pocong for detailing at least 4 times a year ... sigh

90k kms service

With the car’s mileage approaching 90k kms, another major service is imminent. This time around, the refreshment job was ‘contracted out’ to two of my regular workshops 1) Auto World Service & Repair; and 2) Ever Auto. Both are good in their own way and among the very few that I can leave Pocong without worries. Here’re the breakdowns of my bitter pills:

Engine Oil: Liqui Moly Top Tech 5w40 RM275.00
Oil Filter: VW 1.8T (06A 115 561 B) RM35.00
Labour: Engine Oil, Oil Filter & Spark Plugs RM80.00
Bushing: ECS Rear Axle Bushing Kit RM252.64
Brake Pads: ECS Red Stuff (Front) RM0.00
Brake Pads: ECS Red Stuff (Rear) RM205.91
Spark Plug: NGK Platinum V-Power BKR7E RM50.00
Coolant: Redline Water Wetter RM55.00
Brake Fluid: Motul Dot 4 RM44.00
Thermostat: Wahle 82 Deg Thermostat RM61.59
Labour: Axle Bushing Pump RM25.00
Labour: Installing Radiator Thermostat RM45.00
Labour: Skimming Brake Rotors RM50.00
Labour: Installing Rear Axle Bushings RM280.00
Labour: Installing Brake Pads & Brake Bleeding RM80.00

Total RM1,585.06

And that’s going to be the end because I’ve found out that the SuperSport dampers are getting weaker by the day. So coilovers are inevitable and now I’m at cross road between BC V1 or H&R Monotube Coilovers. Come to think of it, I should have went for it in the first place back then….sigh…oh well

Yup, the Pocong dah merajuk!

Just two days after having test driven the Megane RenaultSport 250 Cup, the Pocong has started to merajuk! It was last Monday morning when the weather was raining, this car decided to throw overheating tantrum by twisting its radiator fan to pieces. I was left without a choice but to wait for some hours for the car to cool down before cruising at crawling pace towards Alex’s Ever Auto. Luckily, upon checking, the cylinder head and gasket are all ok hence I ‘only’ need to fork out almost RM1k just for that. And while at it, all major service essentials like timing belt, tensioner, water pump, fluids which resulted in RM2630 bill. Yeah that’s the price I had to pay this morning and following are the detailed breakdowns:-

Engine Oil: Q8 Formula Excel 5W-40 RM195.00
Oil Filter: VW 1.8T (06A 115 561 B) RM35.00
Spark Plug: NGK Platinum V-Power BKR7E (Own - RM50.00)
Fuel Filter: VW 1.8T (6Q0201051J) (Own RM48.00)
Air Cond Filter: VW 1.8T (1J0819644A) (Own RM70.00)
Timing Belt: VW BJX 1.8T (06B198480) RM195.00
Timing Tensioner: VW BJX 1.8T (06B198480) RM325.00
Water Pump: VW BJX 1.8T (06A121012G) RM550.00
Auxiliary Fan Assembly: VW BJX 1.8T (6X0959455F) RM850.00
Coolant: G12+ (2 bottles) RM90.00
Labour: Rectify front left door rattling RM75.00
Labour: Timing belt change RM230.00
Labour: Auxiliary Fan Assembly change RM75.00
Service Tax RM20.00

Total RM2640
And upon collecting it, I handed it over to Ah Heng for some essential upgrades which will help it the car to be more ‘cool’ and breathier than now. God willing, it’ll be ready in 3 more days provided he can work his magic party peace asap :)

The radiator fan somehow seized to perform harakiri on me

Ah Heng's boys started to do their job

I guess you know what will be sitting in between the crossbar and radiator/condenser :p

Too big!!

67.5k kms service

I just sent Pocong for a schedule 67.5k kms oil change at my regular place today. So happen that they run out of stock of Castrol Edge 10w40, I decided to have a go on Liqui Moly Synthetic High Tech 5w40 which is about the same price RM218. Everything went normal except the mechanic pointed me that FL top mount’s nuts (yeah all three of them) are loose …. really loose… like I can unscrew using my bare hand with zero effort! Luckily there’s no damage spotted. Can’t believe I went for 4-5 sunday drives with loose nuts … I was nuts to do that!

Just another day of TLC-ing the Pocong

I was told it's a good oil, let's see how it performs at upcoming GTJ

Grooming session part 3

Happy Chinese New Year everyone :)

It has been exactly a year since Pocong received last grooming session and tendency of getting bird droppings almost on alternate days basis, the paintwork has been unrelentingly oxidized and dull. Realising this, I just bought myself a Black & Decker WP900 polisher, extra pad sets and other grooming goodies for today’s slaving activity together with my brother for his new Fiesta. And after five hours of slaving and 3 sets of torn pads, wet shinning glossy surface is back with the Pocong! And yeah I’m tired as hell!

Not as powerful as I'd have imagine

Can't deny the convenience though

Just applied tar remover on the lower half of the car

Damn, this was my last pad!

RM300 expenditure plus 5 hours of slaving is more expensive than sending it to detailing shop

My brother was on Kit Wax, as expected the shines is good but won't last long. And he still hasn't pass me the keys for testing...double bummer!

Almost but didn't materialized

I’ve to confess, I’m a sucker for SSR Type C rims and getting up 1” bigger could and should give a wee bit better feel to the car. A week back with salary routinely transferred in, my fingers got unusually itch. Dropped in Hup Soon Sunway quite early on Saturday morning, I’ve decided to go for cheapskate way by getting myself a replica with norm 205/40/17 Bridgestone RE001 Adrenalin. But unfortunately, one rim of that replica is having unusually wide width and because they only carry one set, I had to postpone this silly upgrade. In the meantime, I need to study if 215/40/17 can fit without scrapping the fenders.

New shoes for Pocong ... almost anyway!

205/40/17 is too narrow for my eyes

This one (above) is the culprit!

Almost being a Bridgestone convert .... hahaha

Myth BUSTED!

It’s very much unfortunate that due to work commitments, I had to neglect this blog for quite some time now. But this Pocong is darn good at cunningly and intentionally all in the same body language grabs me back in with its new set of TLC requests!

It was last Monday after my wife taking a pot shot at this fella that it idles like a mesin tebu due to the ECS Stg1 clutch kit fitted, and to my surprise this Pocong taking it very personal. Few minutes after, it went on to becoming notoriously extra vocal in whistling upon spooling at WOT and idles coarsely loud and rough like a mad truck.

On a perpetual disturbed mind, I went to start thinking whether the turbo bolts gotten themselves loose or boost leaks or downpipe/exhaust leaks or is it the first sign the K03S is doing a harakiri etc. The next morning after tiring thinking about it even during my wet dream, I went to drop the car at Alex’s Ever Auto to check it up. That’s where I was basically carless for 3 solid days as they’ve got ½ of dozen of backlog Audis to clear first.

Two days went by and upon calling Alex, the problem myth is BUSTED. It turns out that turbo metal gasket was torn to pieces, specifically the one from the K03S turbo outflow to intercooler needs replacing. This made absolute sense because upon diagnostic checks during 60k kms service we encountered "17705 - Pressure Drop between Turbo and Throttle Valve (check D.V.!)". The original gasket itself is not expensive which is about RM50 but the labour charge is 3 times more as Alex’s right hand man needs about 3 solid hours in getting the job done courtesy of very space constraint engine bay.

But at the end of the day, you know what, to me it’s worth every penny. It now spools stealthier with very very timid whistling with very smooth delivery throughout the rev range. And I’m very certain the car feels punchier now as I can have much more mental torque steer at 3rd gear. The idiocy is BACK!

And while waiting for SuperSport dampers to reach Frank’s place sometime now, I just have a pretty good idea of how my ideal cheap & cheerful FMIC would works great in giving cooling consistency and reasonable response. All I need is a good condition used aluminium intercooler like Evo3, new piping route from turbo-intercooler-manifold with ~2” diameter and Ah Heng’s magic hands. Clues are available below :)

Oh yes, I suppose to rant my thoughts of the new Fiesta 1.6S and how well it cope with the uphill & downhill curves at Ulu Yam but unfortunately my brother who just gotten the delivery of it keeping his keys miles away for me to grabs it. Nevertheless, I’m still going to try HARD to give it a go hehehe

The troublemaker ...

Original VW 1.8T intercooler flow...

This is what I have in mind...unfortunately Ah Heng is pretty tight up :(

SuperSport Dampers

There’s nothing much to write about on the Pocong nowadays as I’m pretty much ‘content’ with the current setup. It now has adequate juice to keep up with most cars and has reasonable feel for handling and grip on the twisties.

Yeah, I can wish a lot more but a lot more means more money which I can’t afford to unnecessary spend and make time out of my even busier schedule than before. Besides, the tuning effort might not be worthwhile because probably at the end of the day, if I want to get a focus driving horse, I’d be better off with RWD NA S2000 or yeah in my wildest dream … ahem pristine Duke 916!

That can only realize in some years to come and for Pocong now till then, what I can do is giving it good refreshment maintenance but not necessarily TLC kind. And that brings me to suspension dampers. As it clocks slightly shy of 61k kms now, the dampers are starting to show signs of softness. I remember vaguely that my old Waja stock dampers ran out of steams after 10k kms of usage, so at 60k kms is quite alright in my book of thoughts.

My original plans of getting a coilovers was almost dead set until I realised it’s going to set me back into broke warning signs in my head and nowadays I’m driving it in a very civilized aunty-like way as rempiting workout of the past has now transferred to gokart. Hence, coilovers is pretty much overkill really.

So finding the right dampers replacement is the way to go. I just found out that there’s a brand called SuperSport which is a sister company to Spax is offering sport dampers for Pocong. When they meant sport dampers, it’s the usual stuff - shortened and slightly larger piston rods, partially foreshortened housing for more suspension travel, 30% uprated damping than stock, gas assisted, heavy duty and 12 months warranty etc. And having read reviews coming from VW junkies in the states and UK, it’s the best bang for buck and rides well too. But what’s not usual is the price. Having looked at orangetuning.de, it retails at €128 for a set of four (inclusive 19% VAT)!

Having done the math, it should cost me €110 at most plus shipping another ~€50-60 which is still way cheaper than source original dampers locally and almost Proton like costing which is great. On another note, I seriously doubt it gives the same feel as the Bielstein B8 or H&R cup dampers but I’d be very satisfied if it can gives 70%-80% the same feel. That said, I buying one otherwise it’s going to be H&R cup dampers which is additional €100 up. Hmmm….

€110 is darn good value for money!

SuperSport PU Top Mount for paltry sum of €55

Plan B Option - H&R cup dampers. Going this route means no budget for Alpinestars Tech 1-K :(

60k kms Service Done!

The Pocong just had her 60k kms major service done yesterday at Ever Auto which so happens accompanied by 2 Mk1 TT 225 and 2 Mk1 TT. Everything went very well except upon changing the ripped rr brake lights, it worked as dimmed as rear tail lamp something isn't right there. Oh well, got to do it next week then! Oh yes, if nobody was around, I could have sawed MTM muffler of one modded TT 225 and get it weld to Pocong but my luck wasn’t that bright haha…

Once done with that, sent the car for alignment & balancing at Mun Jee (MPS) Sunway. Tyres were flipped and rotated, toe calibrated to 0 and some other magic mojo and I'm happy to report the steering feels much more pointy than before!

Here’s the breakdown of the cost this time around:

Engine Oil: Castrol Edge 5W-40 4L RM205.00
Engine Oil: Castrol Edge 5W-40 1L RM51.25
Oil Filter: VW 1.8T (06A 115 561 B) RM35.00
Spark Plug: NGK Platinum V-Power BKR7E RM50.00
Coolant: G12+ RM40.00
Rear Bulb RM3.00
Labour RM80.00
Service Tax RM4.00
Alignment & Balancing RM84.0o0
Total RM468.25

Cun looking MTM muffler there!

Mun Jee's mojo rocks!

Rear brake pads

I met Mike yesterday and got this original rear brake pad set from him. This pads (6Q0 698 451 B) are specifically for 9N2 Mk4 Polo, 6Y Skoda Fabia, 6L Seat Ibiza and 8Z Audi A2. Hmmm, time to get the rear rotors skimmed, fit this in and re-bleed the fluid at 45k kms service perhaps.

Small only

As usual, the pads comes with sensor and new clippings and bolts

New battery for Pocong

The Pocong's battery gave up yesterday morning after only about 18 months of usage. Oh well, but the car could have been sitting here since February 2008 so that makes it 2 years.

Anyways, I managed to get time off from work and began hunting for VW junkies workshops and the only one opened was 7th Gear. Azman got me GP maintenance free DIN66 battery for RM350 and installed it right away. Surely the price could be cheaper if I source it from PH Auto but I couldn't figure out how to remove the fuse box on top of it, so taking it to Azman's is like getting me a headache-free insurance at a price of course.

Speaking about this, I kinda fancy to relocate the battery at the back to make way for carbon airbox but first need to sort out the fuse box location. Until then, dream on....

I apologise for the image quality... DIN66

Neat looking battery housing don't you think?