VA people----- anyone?

?

Ok, well lets shoot for FEB 27, in late afternoon????? I'm all for the go carts.

Out for Feb 27, I'll be at VIR.

Why not sometime before then?

?

no real reason, that was just a date. we can try for the weekend before, I'm easy

Williamsburg

Hey, I'm up for a GTG! I'm either up for generic one, or to do the intake manifold cleaning with some company. Either as part of the Richmond GTG you guys are talking about, or at my house, or someone else's. I'm also no TDI guru, I'm just pretty good at following the amazing How-Tos on this site. My house isn't great for wrenching as the garage only has space for 1 car (03 TDI Wagon, btw). But I do have a spacious driveway and a nice pad outside the garage for 2 more cars. Anyway, as you guys plan the Richmond GTG, I'll go with the flow. Maybe it's meet at Digital4n6's house, I can chat with you guys then start on the intake manifold cleaning while you guys go out and have fun at the go carts. Then when you get back you can answer all my newb questions!

Cheers,
STRiCK

Halfway between Farmville and Appomattox 1/4 mile off 460. Richmonds' not far. I don't work anywhere now. Kinda getting used to it.

Fredericksburg for me.

I propose a meet at G-Force on the 22nd (or at VMP on the 23rd during the autocross)?

Also sorry for the spam but if anybody needs a good set of OEM 17x7.5 wheels for a MkV/VI, I have some here in Richmond that I would much rather sell locally/regionally/face to face: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=304867 Thanks!

!

ok, 19/20 or 26/27 is the time that I can do this. I can't do the 22nd, that is the middle of the week.

Meetup

We're talking about this month, right? In that case the 22/23 is in just under 2 weeks, on the weekend...

Yea I was proposing Sat Jan 22 or Sun Jan 23.

Someone else feel free to take the lead on this and I'll follow.

Start a new thread for the G-Force GTG... it will generate more interest than being buried in this thread.

no, feb

sounds go to me , where is it going to be?

Short Pump, VA, down for a GTG anytime.

getfast said:

Out for Feb 27, I'll be at VIR.

Why not sometime before then?

Click to expand...

What's going on at VIR? I was road racing on two wheels for a few years, but currently on hiatus until the income gets back to where it needs to be.

It was really exciting when the Clean Diesel series came through there and was televised on Speed(the documentary not the race)

That day I'm heading to VIR to work a HPDE with TrackDaze on Feb 28-Mar 1.

The TDI Cup racecars are (were?) stored and maintained on premises at VIR. I drove one on track in fall '09 at another TrackDaze event, it was a blast.

Nice, I imagine these things would be a good time down there. I didn't know they were stored/HQ'd down there, that's pretty slick, can't ask for a better place though.

I am very much looking forward to getting back into road racing though, that's where it's at!

Gloucester here. This is a wonderful site. Anybody here have a guru they go to in the Gloucester area ?

Chip

Gloucester techs? Not that I know of but there are plenty across the bridge. What do you need done?

I'm Ben by the way! 98 GTi w/1Z swap and all sorts of fancy bits. I think this is my first post.

Chip,
What are you looking to get done? For the serious stuff, I go to ninedee_golf_tdi in Stafford. He's well worth the drive. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=204790

Ben,
How's it going? Glad to see you made your way over from SVR.

You drive to Stafford to get your car fixed?!

That's nuts. Give me a call or a PM there are plenty of good techs in HR. G60ing or myself can give you plenty of options without the commute. I can even do most repairs and modifications just short of rebuilding the short block.

Lots of people drive farther than me to go to ninedee_golf_tdi. He's one of the best there is. If I was in a bind I would use somebody local, but ninedee_golf_tdi is about half way to Pittsburgh (home) so it doesn't make sense to drive past a respected guru and not get some work done once in a while. Having your car looked at by a real guru occasionally is worth more than some might realize.

I have a hard time understanding this. A competent VW technician can do most maintenance and repair on a TDi. I'm not sure who you know or how long you have been in HR but there are exceptional technicians in this area. Suggesting a four hour round trip for any repair short of mind boggling perplexity doesn't make sense.

If there is an intermittent or odd drive-ability problem then I could see the point.

Because of the many incompetent mechanics mixed in with the good ones, there's a list of trusted TDI mechanics. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=130044

If you have a proposed addition to the list, follow these instructions: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=2804035&postcount=1054

Chip,
If you really want a "guru" then ninedee_golf_tdi is the closest. If you just want a "trusted mechanic" or even just a "mechanic" then there are more options in the area. I can't recommend anyone but ninedee_golf_tdi since I do almost everything myself and haven't used anyone else.

I don't want to throw gas on the fire here, but a golf was just delivered on a flatbed. A VW stealership down near norfolk somewhere did the timing belt 50,000 miles ago. The timing belt tensioner exploded, loosening the belt and destroying the guys engine. The tensioner was wound backwards.

I know of a girl who recently had a head rebuilt at a local shop in Powhatan, they charged her 2800 plus 800 in storage, the engine lasted 2,269 miles. The shop never had the car towed back after being notified of the problem, so months later a local ase lt1 tech pulled the valve cover, saw the damage and put it together again. The girl sent the shop a pic of the damage, the shop says... hey, you took the engine apart, warranty (12,000 miles, 12months) has been voided. Btw, they also put a prothe timing belt kit and probably other prothe parts in the engine, although their warranty states they use only oem parts. This guy says he is a AUDI Master Guild Member, whatever that is.

VW trained techs do not have a sterling reputation in how they repair tdi's.

There is a "Guru" in Yorktown. Shoot me a PM for contact info.

Checkeredflag VW is on the "Guru" list as well. Maybe that is the trusted list?

There are three Dealerships near norfolk:
-Greenbrier: I would never trust them and I've had a few experiances in attempting to trust them, I've also heard even more than my experiances. I drive 20minutes past them to buy cars, parts and occasionally maintenanse from Checkered Flag)
-Checkered Flag: I know several of the mechanics very well and thorughly trust those mechanics. Will Paton is a master tech there and also keeps an open mind to aftermarket mods. Bud is the parts manager ther and is well known for his support of the accessories and OEM+ crowds.
-Casey: They don't have a huge maintenance or parts department. Over the years they have had a good mechanic work there. Paul Smyers has since left there and gone to CFVW and then went to work in Yorktown at AutoHaus.

There are also some private shops. HB motorwerks in Greenbrier has Lester who has been working on VW diesel since they first landed in VW dealerships. He loves them. I've never had any work done by hime but I've heard good things.

I've been in Hampton Roads since 1998 and have gotten to know the community fairly well. There are a number of people who do side work. They might not be on the "trusted" vendors' list but lets face it alls it takes is one person's experiance to post on the TDIclub and they get added.

going by what is being suggested above nobody unless "trusted" vendors should be used?

G60ING said:

going by what is being suggested above nobody unless "trusted" vendors should be used?

Click to expand...

It goes without saying that there are excellent mechanics who are not on the list, but if you don't know who you can trust and you don't have recommendations like the ones above (thank you G60ING) then isn't the trusted mechanics list a reasonable place to start? I really think that we should maintain the list and keep a centralized source of recommended mechanics. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than posting recommendations into a subforum thread destined to be overlooked by the next person with the same question.

Anyway, when is this GTG again?

I don't really have time for GTGs unless somebody does one in the Richmond area within the next 2-3 weeks and on a weeknight...

Charlottesville, Harrisonburg here. Anyone in the state know of a mechanic that can do a 01m to 5 or 6 speed swap?