TDI survivor on the road...

I rescued a B4 Variant from the crusher, installed a whole bunch of stuff and now its back on the road.
Of course it needs a WHOLE leap of other things but for now, it is "road worthy/*HU? !

Before I left home where I live @ 7,200 elevation, it was really nice @ 65-67 F.
Now I hear it is getting to the low teens(12 F. last night), and still no GP's working(better get on that!)

R & R the outer rear right bearing and guess what?, a little too tight because it began talking to me a while back...(750 miles out of 1,050).
Turbo is still a thing to deal with and I do not know if it is the TPS sensor or the adjusting rod, intake/turbo pipes or a gremlin that lives there...
LCA bushings were not at their best, specially the left one. Enough pull to make circles inside a football field.
Two different sized tires on two different sized wheels but same brand tires though(195/65/15 on F, 195/70/14's on B.), do I get points for that?

NO heater core, got chilly to low 30's in Texas Panhandle/287E, brrr!

ALL in ALL, it was another good trip! No overly analizing the travel, just doing it..., and trusting the good 'ol TDI to come thru, which it did with its chin up!

Did get new POLY bushings in today, whew, they are difficult to install and busted a sway bar link on one side.
Alignment also today,
rear bearings/innies and outers tomorrow,
sway bar link @ junke tomorrow,
maybe new tire in front since 1,000 miles of crabbing sideways wears things out!
Turbo is working, so it is OK for now-
TPS(throttle positioning sensor), to be replaced soon 'cause reads high idle @ 1,200(default), and this gives faulty readings to the ECU.

The Variant should get me where I am going again this coming week, hopefully with better MPG's than when I came down(43's).

This will be the second leg of a triangle that I do normally:
1,050
1,161
560 giving total of 2,671 plus city driving ~total of 3,100.

*New engine and all the "breaking in's" associated with that that need attention, so far so good that nothing major has occured, got my fingers crossed. Wonder if I am still young enough/sane to do this stuff...?

bikeprof said:

Two different sized tires on two different sized wheels but same brand tires though(195/65/15 on F, 195/70/14's on B.), do I get points for that?

Click to expand...

Had I thought of that it would have saved me about $80!
The Jetta that donated it's driveline for my Cabrio came with two 14's and two 15's. The wheels were the same model, just 14's and 15's.
What I was considering was to put the 14's on the right (curb) side and the 15's on the left side. The taller sidewall of the smaller wheel would cope with more curb scuffing and road edge drop-off and the bigger hoopties would look better from the street side. Besides, you can't see the left side and the right side at the same time so who'd know?
The 195/65-15 and 195/70-14 would solve the last bits of the puzzle: similar tread width (viewed from the front or from behind) and rolling diameter similarities needed for ABS.
Instead I found two more matching 15 inch rims: $40 each

Lug_Nut said:

Had I thought of that it would have saved me about $80!
The Jetta that donated it's driveline for my Cabrio came with two 14's and two 15's. The wheels were the same model, just 14's and 15's.
What I was considering was to put the 14's on the right (curb) side and the 15's on the left side. The taller sidewall of the smaller wheel would cope with more curb scuffing and road edge drop-off and the bigger hoopties would look better from the street side. Besides, you can't see the left side and the right side at the same time so who'd know?
The 195/65-15 and 195/70-14 would solve the last bits of the puzzle: similar tread width (viewed from the front or from behind) and rolling diameter similarities needed for ABS.
Instead I found two more matching 15 inch rims: $40 each

Click to expand...

Yeah, LOLOL...
I did think about this for a while and my common sense fianlly won on this.

From the Discount tire site, the 195/65/15 compared to the 195/70/14's are .61 miles faster @ 65 MPH than the smaller ones, therefore making the car turn circles, the different tires would have to be installed on separate axles like I did.
The spare is a 195/70/14 'cause the 15 size will NOT fit in the spare tire well AND it has to be DEFLATED to fit in, then re-inflated to working PSI/I keep mine @ low 20's PSI so to be able to get where I am going, in case....
(FYI, it is a hard pull but doable removing the larger tire out of the well)

Getting ready for the second leg of the trip, this time there is the Thanksgiving meal to deal with!

Did install new rear bearings AND regreased guide pins !,
did LCA's and the alignment will be checked Monday, hit bump and the front end went "clunk" real hard, it's pulling now,
did get new front tire(LOOVE Discount Tire!),
may have enough time to add F. window tint(sun will be on the left arm most of the way there), another 1.150 miles...

The heater core, glow plug relay is in a box awaiting there in PHX.

Getting ready for the return home leg, waiting for the GP's and installation of the heater core before I go into mountains where it DOES get cold, brrrr.
Have decided to add aerodynamic mods.:
front grill block,
lower rear balance(spare tire well), cover,
rear of tires teardrops,
maybe rear fender well covers?

So far the B4 is running but with its issues, one step at a time..., to fix it.

I'd like to see your grill block. I made one last year but haven't figured out a good way to install and remove easily. I just bought tires today from Discount Tire. Not quite satisfied since my car came with 15" aftermarket wheels with 4 different tires sized 205/55/15. That's a hard size to find so I ended up going with 195/60/15. Should've gotten the 205/60/15. Oh well.

195/65/15 is about the tallest tire to get under the front fender or pushing out the metal with a fender rolling tool.

205/55's should ben OK but there is more tire on the road, less MPG if you are concerned.

I'll post when getting these MODS. done...
(HDPE plastic(s), are a great usable plastic and moldeable, careful with the heat gun ~ 175 F!)

MPG was a concern, so maybe I made the right choice afterall.

Riley said:

MPG was a concern, so maybe I made the right choice afterall.

Click to expand...

Good, now get a lower gear for the tranny..., you will like that!
(.681 should drop the revs ~ another 75 ?)

bikeprof,

Why are you suggesting .681 fifth rather than .658 or .622 for MPG??

Sprocket is using a .622 and reporting good results.

Because I chipped my B4V at TDIFest, I need to replace my clutch. So I got a spare CTN transmission, had Matt Whitbread tear it down for inspection. Looked good, so he put it back together with a .622 fifth gear I got from Scott Dewitt.

Looks like the new clutch will be done in January and the new trans will go in at the same time.

Shesh, STUPID me, I just figured out why you suggested the .681 5th gear. You are in Colorado!! So you are climbing the Rockies from Phoenix to Denver and above. Sprocket is in the MidWest.

I am on the coast and only once every couple of years go over the Tioga Pass (10,200 feet). It has been 10 years I was over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park (12,183 ft). Towed a 22 foot travel trailer over it. As I recall, Trail Ridge Road is the highest paved road in the U.S. and maybe North America?

Actually the road to Pikes Peak is the official highest road in the US, 14.113-ish feet. That one will take you to the top of the pike but not completely paved though...
You may be right about Trail Ridge road being high, paved and all...

Yes, the terrain does make the reason why I cannot go too low on the gearing effort, the .658 would actually be a better gear but then a more HP/TQ will be needed to counter the engine effort, and then them EGT's would be skyrocketing!

Another reason is that the "jump" from fourth to fifth would be tremendous.