Scirocco Register

Picked up the car for the first time on Friday and its been a proper blast.

I thnk I've said it before but the Bandit really is a different beast to everything else I get to drive. The high lift cam make for a really lumpy tick over that takes a while to get used to but having put a good 100 miles on it I'm fairly settled. The new/old interior had slotted in perfectly (although I'm playing with the idea of rado seats or reupholstery but we'll cross that bridge later).

The big thing is the engine and the impending 20vt. The more I think about it the more excited I am although the main thing will be the exhaust, I've decided to go for something a little quieter. As a consequence ill be flogging the entire lot: the engine (head work and high lift cam), the shiny new bits, the Samcos and the exhaust. The big, one part, custom four branch I had made a few years ago. If anyone is interested, best make yourself heard fairly soon as I'll be wanting reasonable money for some seriously great pieces of kit.

Hopefully the stereo issue will get sorted this week and I got round to redoing the boot. I'm really happy with it but made a small error, see if you can spot it:

Nice strut brace dude!!!!

i've got one of those tool boxes!!!

They're bloody great, there's a lot to be said for Mr Halfords Big Store of Thievery.

Big update today, stay tuned.....

So here we are at a bit of a checkpoint.

As you're all probably aware I've had the 20vt sat in a garage somewhere while I decide what I wanted to do with it. I've done my research and figured out what I'd need to buy to get it running and spoken to various installers about costs, possible pitfalls and ideas about what I do next.
The plan was to fit everything and fit Qpeng. This would have given a theoretical 260bhp, monstrous Torque and a 0-60 of about 6.5 seconds, all in all very exciting and converting the Bandit into a complete weapon. The insurance as also reasonable, rising from about £300 for agreed value to £400 all mods declared and you may also have seen the unintentionally long conversation on the Facingbook. Virtually everything is already there so the job wouldn't have been all that difficult (apparently) and even the hydro clutch kit would have gone straight in.

But then I realised that I drive like an old lady and that amount of power would have either killed me or just sat there wasted. What's the point in fitting everything if it's going to sit in a barn for six months of the year and never getting used to it's full potential?
So it may shock you (not all of you, I'm fairly sure those that know me well could have run a book on me not fitting it) but the chances are I'll sell it all. The money from the sale could go towards any number of new bits or even a new project (buggy/t5/whatever) and if I'm that desperate for power I could go out and buy a Leon Cupra, something I still lust over. The spec of the engine and parts is simply phenomenal and I'm guessing it won't hang around for long.

Anyway, back to the rest of the parts.....

So the interior is ow 99% sorted. Yes, that even means the stereo is fitted!

It's a cracking piece of kit, an Alpine 136 bt. Bluetooth everything. It'll play the stereo and take calls (the noise cancellation is simply staggering, been showing it off to a couple of members and you'd never believe the engine was running) and the advent of a DAB splitter gives me access to all the internet channels, handy for when I pop over to Holland for Roadstar and want my R4 hit.

If you;ve been following the tale of the stereo company you'll know what a trousers joke it's been and I really don;t want to go over old ground. I think they're as genuinely gutted about how it turned out as I am as they know fully well that I can;t recommend them and won;t use them again. Still, everything was good natured when I was down there helping put the panels back on and the build quality of the new pods is brilliant. They've also installed the bee sting (the DAB amp arrives 25th and takes ten minutes to fit)

On days like this I could happily throw in the towel.

I've had a shat week. Normally tiny things have All decended at once and made for a absolute cock and ball kinda week so I decided to take a late run out to the barn and grab the car before I grabbed the Waffle off the train.
The next hour and a half were simply feckin' terrible. The car hasn't warmed up and so I was driving rather sedately through the sticks near the barn when a trousers in a transit decided to sit so close to my rear his lights prevented me from seeing anything ahead. I gave him every available oppurtunity to go round me but he didnt get the hint and sat there trying to goud me on. I found a nice quiet spot, tapped the anchors, pulled into the middle of the road and went to stop. Normally super calm my blood was boiling after the build up of my week so I was quite prepared for an argument. What happened though was that the bellend in the van just went round me after mounting the dirt kerb on the opposite side leaving me screaming at the rain. This was most unlike me.

Did I mention that I had no dash lights? Yeah, none. Full beam light still works (most of the time) and the lights would be pointless as the speedo seems to keep screwing the square spinny things.
Fun eh?

Mart reminded me that I still have the standard cam somewhere which I'm looking forward to. The car int the stripped out tool mobile anymore and I'd like to drive somewhere with the Waffle without her thinking its going to stall. That'll also mean a quieter exhaust, I'm happy with that.
Ad there's the smell of burning water from somewhere, I'm just hoping its rain water on the manifold.

But in the meantime I'm going to keep my eye out for a mk1 golf

waffle.

Bought the car home Tuesday ready for the spring break.... But the shit weather has knocked that into the long grass. Did mange to fit the DAB amplifier and refit the centre console though.

And then, while they were doing the MOT it started smoking behind the dashboard....

Mr Funk wrote:And then, while they were doing the MOT it started smoking behind the dashboard....

Headlight switch?

Persevere! You'll get there in the end!

Think you're 6.5 second estimate for 0-60 with 260bhp is hugely pessimistic. My Elise can get under 6 seconds quite easily with 120bhp. Assuming 950kg kerb weight, that's a power to weight ratio of virtually 275bhp per ton. Shit loads in other words.

I was thinking that. The 170 bhp vr6 corrado is 6.5 to 60. The scirocco is lighter and you have more horses than that.You will deffo be sub 6 secs I thinks.

Completely forgot to update

So after the initial worry the problem turned out to be something rather inane and dull, which is a good thing.

When all the wiring went in last year I was trying to get hold of some blanking grommets but completely forgot. I should have been reminded everytime I got the over powering smell of engine in the cabin but driving the car so little and just assuming that it was an "old car smell" I forgot despite writing myself a few notes. One of the missing grommets was in the bulkhead behind the exhaust, this is what has been letting the fumes in ad during the MOT they'd discovered that one of the CV boots was cracked and was letting grease out. Seeing where this is going?
The grease was trousers out and hitting the exhaust causing the smoke which led to the panic. The delays that followed due to ill staff and schedules led to the problem not getting sorted until Thursday.

Other than that the failures were what I'd expect for a car that spends 6 months a year locked away, gammy windscreen wiper, cracked CV boots and a couple of bulbs. All in all a pretty good result.

Oh, I'd forgotten to mention the exhaust.

So a week or two before the MOT the Stainless exhaust became detached! The noise was pretty awful so it went straight back to Powerspeed to get sorted (lifetime warranty). While it was there I got them to fit a quieter exhaust i line with the plan to calm everything down a little. That fitted everything was lovely but on tickover it goes all mental as the cam is lumpy as speedboat. GReat for a sporty engine but I need something a little calmer and when it's idling it sounds like two chavs playing with a tin can full of ball bearings. Plan is to replace the cam then get the exhaust fitted to suit.
Engine wise the 20vt is off the table. A few factors I had to consider her which included me driving like an old lady, the time/cost and the fact that I knew it would pretty much fly out the door if we put it up for grabs.
Which is exactly what happened. Lad came all the way from Derby and got himself a bargain and me ad Mart had a pocket full of cash.

Interior is fully in and gorgeous. Sub clips a bit when it's up loud but hardly noticeable and the DAB is great.

Got an advisory that the front tyres would need looking at within a few thousand miles (so a good year based on my yearly mileage). While they were getting changed I thought I'd get everything redone as the lips are chipped and they could do with the spruce. But suddenly the amount I'm spending is considerable and fitting new shoes isn't such a mental idea. I've always loved Borbet A's and a mate kindly offered tea and his fitting services. Unfortunately he runs 9" all round ad I'd definitely go staggered and I'd need the front to have an et15 which apparently is uber rare with the A's. The pics speak for themselves though:





Pretty sexy eh? Unfortunately though the two people whose opinions I really value (Mrs F and Mr Dogg) both hate them. Odd.

In other news the Sparcos have sold. They were o Ebay for about 5 hours when someone contacted me and paid a deposit. He's coming from Leicester, wants a cash sale off ebay and will pick up! A couple of texts managed to arrange us meeting at Bluewater (his GF wants to go and given how far he's travelling I'm happy to meet him) and a fiver in petrol and a brew.

Roadstar in june. Cannot wait!

Borbet A + mk2 = win