Carlos182's Astor Grey GTi-6

[Ed Doe]

Vaughan called it pretty well there, didn't get it done in the end as I had loads of other shit to do including finding the wrong loom in the garage for Ed's/my car, but still making Ed come all the way up to collect it, preparing for the new job today and then the weather went a bit shit. However I'm getting some more bits to make my list even longer and make this car even more win for the summer.

EFA





I'm not bitter..... promise!







And I know what win parts you've bought. LEGEND!

[Scott]

I recently bought Sam's D2 coilovers for this, and have had some Meyle HD wishbones sat in the garage for months (since November!!), and finally put some time in last weekend to getting it done.

What a mission though, the standard GTi strut didn't want to come out of the passenger side, and in attempting to remove it I lost at least a litre of gearbox oil in the process. Finally got it out, and as always the coilover went in nice and easily. Wish I could say the same for the other side, where it really didn't want to go into the hub at first. The wishbones were a bit of a bitch though, mostly due to the order in which I did up the bolts, and not undoing the lower droplink ball joint (in order to allow the ARB clamp to come down to the top of the p-bush easier). Ah well, lesson learned for next time when I give Fooby a hand with his wishbones in the next couple of weeks.

I haven't had a chance to properly drive it yet, as we finished late on Sunday evening and I was shattered and didn't want to drive it and have something break, especially given what happened last time with the balljoint falling out. I double checked everything, and also got Vaughan to check over everything as well and it was fine, but I've not had time to take it out for a short journey until this evening. I'm very pleased with the results! Turn in is much better, and there's a fair amount more grip which is excellent. They're not too harsh at all for general driving, but given that I'm running 21mm torsion bars and the coilovers now the car feels much much stiffer on the whole, and it's fairly noticeable on bumpy roads. It didn't feel out of control, just the movement of the chassis was more pronounced.

I can't wait to get my solid beam mounts and the rear shocks on now! I might look into getting some new TREs as well now given that most of the front suspension has been replaced, just to finish things off.

Here's a photo showing the new ride height (about 15mm lower than the GTi shocks and Eibach springs), and also how filthy she is at the moment! The car will be getting cleaned at the weekend and taken for a drive, and possibly some new photos

   

[vlj]

I lost at least a litre of gearbox oil in the process.

Mostly onto me & my coat!

Looks awesome though, worth all the pain and loss of knuckles!

[Scott]

I'm sorry about that once again! Did it all come out okay?

Thanks again for your help man! <3

[vlj]

Nah, I don't know how well you can wash those coats to be honest so I'll leave it in the expert hands of mother Jones.

No worries!

[puglove]

Sounds like you made a bit of a meal out that job buddy. Obviously wasnt using a big enough hammer !

But in future when putting colies in . Put the pug jack under the hub. Take a little of the cars weight then grab the top oand bottom of the disc and give it a good wiggle back and forth the bang all of a sudden the shock will drop all of the way in in one hit. Watch the fingers though lol

---

My mrs can fit a coilie in 30mins btw

[Scott]

It was fine going in passenger side, but not on the drivers side. I'd tried wiggling it about for a while with no luck, then left it for a bit and did some other bits, came back to it and it just worked! Typical.

One thing I did notice earlier is that when coming out of a corner, the steering seems less willing to return to straight/neutral on its own, and seems to need more effort to straighten up. I'm not sure if it was just the worn components that were making it snap back to normal beforehand, or is something not quite right about the setup now? I'm not sure if that's the best way of describing it, but it makes sense in my head.

[puglove]

Sounds more like a tracking issue to me buddy. When i changed my TRE's on my DT and guessed them back in it was so bad that it just wouldnt straighten its self and just gi around in circles if you let it.

[Scott]

That would make sense. I guess I should just order the new TREs then and get them fitted so I only have to get it tracked the once!

I've never changed them before, are they a relatively easy job?

[Ed Doe]

Jamie he's not changed tee's.

Scott mine is like that. You're running spherical bearings on the top mounts, and probably more caster than stock (?) so it will be harder to centre. I wouldn't worry about it man

[puglove]

Yes mate, very easy job. Just crack the lock nut off a tiny bit so that you can kind of eye up where the new ones need to be so its some where kinda handy to get it to the garage. Unlike i did with the DT lol. But yeah makes sence save gettin it done twice.

[Scott]

I've been told they've been set to stock caster and camber settings. I should probably have a proper check of that though.

[puglove]

I no he hasnt . But buy tightening everythinghas els up massivly wich has high lighted the issue

[Jonny81191]

I think it's your toe angle to blame here. Toe neutral (i.e parralel) will give you a very responsive turn in, and decrease understeer. However, it'll mean that you have to physically straighten the wheel as you exit corners. If you give it just a tiny bit of toe IN, you'll get most of the benefits but it'll still want to straighten itself up. Toe OUT would be bloody lethal on a road car but if you set it up and got used to driving it on track, it'd be very fast.

The other things to consider are the way it affects stability and also under/oversteer.

Toe IN will give a more stable drive at high speed but will also increase the tendency to understeer, it's for this reason that most road cars are set up with a fairly heavy toe in, to make them safe and easy to drive. (average joe overcooks it into a corner, understeers, brakes, nice and easy round the bend)
Toe OUT will destabilize the car at higher speeds but will reduce understeer.

If any of that's wrong, please someone correct me!

[Scott]

Thanks for the informative post mate

[samass]

Change of castor will affect the self centering of the steering

[Poodle]

With replacing TRE's, you don't have to do it by eye, just count the turns as you unscrew the old one. Besides, they'll sort that out when they do the tracking.

[cwspellowe]

End of the day, you've changed a fair few components, so will definitely need at least tracked if not full on alignment

[Jonny81191]

Thanks for the informative post mate

Nae problem

[puglove]

With replacing TRE's, you don't have to do it by eye, just count the turns as you unscrew the old one. Besides, they'll sort that out when they do the tracking.

Meh to much effort . I cant count past 5 so im screwed on that one

End of the day, you've changed a fair few components, so will definitely need at least tracked if not full on alignment

^ this , good practice to but you will het away with just tracking

[ben87]

not liking the new look mr scott!

[Scott]

How come Ben? Do you just mean the wheels or the fact that it's not been cleaned in months? I'll give it a clean tomorrow if the weather holds out.

[ben87]

the wheels,i cant say anything bout dirty cars,i got a dirty vag lol

[ginge191]

I lost at least a litre of gearbox oil in the process.

Mostly onto me & my coat!

Looks awesome though, worth all the pain and loss of knuckles!

Try getting it in your face/mouth; literally vomit when I smell gearbox oil now; ask max

Feel your pain!

[Niall]

I lost at least a litre of gearbox oil in the process.

Mostly onto me & my coat!

Looks awesome though, worth all the pain and loss of knuckles!

Try getting it in your face/mouth; literally vomit when I smell gearbox oil now; ask max

Feel your pain!

This. I got it in my hair when the box exploded on grants car and we changed it. My god I have never felt so ill and I must of washed my hair at least 10 times before it stopped being greasy and smelling.

[Scott]

Well after driving around for another few days with the coilovers on, I've gotta say I'm very impressed at the change it's made. As always, I fail at taking or providing any photos, so there's only the one earlier on the page to go by. I'm still not 100% convinced about the tracking, so that's on my list of things to do when I've got the van done etc.

Tracking issues aside, there's a lot more grip now and the car feels so much more planted through the corners. The downside to this is now I want to do some track days so I can really enjoy the car, and actually be able to push it to its limits.

[sam]

How you finding my old D2's dude?

[vlj]

How you finding my old D2's dude?

Your answer is in the post above

Well after driving around for another few days with the coilovers on, I've gotta say I'm very impressed at the change it's made. As always, I fail at taking or providing any photos, so there's only the one earlier on the page to go by. I'm still not 100% convinced about the tracking, so that's on my list of things to do when I've got the van done etc.

Tracking issues aside, there's a lot more grip now and the car feels so much more planted through the corners. The downside to this is now I want to do some track days so I can really enjoy the car, and actually be able to push it to its limits.

[Scott]

Verrry good. They aren't quite so good on the roads around my way for general driving, as there are lots of potholes and I must look pissed driving down the road avoiding them, but they handle very well and are a definite improvement. Going over bumps they do crash considerably more but still, it's manageable. I just can't wait to get my solid beam mounts on and the rear shocks too!

[sam]

How you finding my old D2's dude?

Your answer is in the post above

Well after driving around for another few days with the coilovers on, I've gotta say I'm very impressed at the change it's made. As always, I fail at taking or providing any photos, so there's only the one earlier on the page to go by. I'm still not 100% convinced about the tracking, so that's on my list of things to do when I've got the van done etc.

Tracking issues aside, there's a lot more grip now and the car feels so much more planted through the corners. The downside to this is now I want to do some track days so I can really enjoy the car, and actually be able to push it to its limits.

Oh yeah

Verrry good. They aren't quite so good on the roads around my way for general driving, as there are lots of potholes and I must look pissed driving down the road avoiding them, but they handle very well and are a definite improvement. Going over bumps they do crash considerably more but still, it's manageable. I just can't wait to get my solid beam mounts on and the rear shocks too!

Good glad you do, I remember doing that alot haha especially on the druve to work