Atlanta Ga to Panama City Central America

richard---do not know if you ever got the opportunity to see it but from 10-11 Central time zone, Anthony Bourdain on CNN will be in Colombia.

Richard55 said:

sootchucker, the tank will be mounted right behind the back seat in the "trunk" and I am thinking about mounting the manifold right above it, as it needs to be higher than the tank. I will be mounting the lines inside the car until they get to the fender wells, then grommets thru the fender wells to the steel braided lines. that way no chance of them being caught on something in the road.
I am the official installer of the "air lift performance" systems for "Bora Parts" in the south east so if you are looking at getting a system I would be happy help you thru the purchase and then install them for you.

Click to expand...

i was just curious... i have air lift in my car as well!

lol when they say a kit is built for several different cars, even if they all are MKIV VWs, plan on doing a lot of things that are not as directed in the install manual. lol
With NB the rear bags mount differently than the other mkIVs and the same with the front struts. NOT even close, but I am informing the tech department on the needed changes in the manual. The are very receptive to getting the information. I will have a full install series with pics as soon as I can get the pics uploaded to my satisfaction.
If you do not have tools and a good working knowledge of cars I would not advise you to take on this mod.

Waiting for bulkhead fittings to arrive from the dealer. Air lift suspension will work great once I get all the bugs worked out. lol

Waiting for a couple parts to come in today for my NB. 2 bulkhead air fittings for the air ride and a front crank seal, this time I am installing a spring seal and not the PTFE seal. Hope this stops the front seal from leaking. It will be running again with air lift performance suspension installed and, lol, hope no front seal leak.

Richard---do not think I have posted this one yet, although I did send it to Fabed early when I was surprised to hear that some parts of Mexico were into cumbia as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQp7gWDu8i4

headed to memphis in a week or so and will give you a call.

Thanks Richard

I have a 2005 Golf TDI that was getting terrible fuel mileage . It had a timing belt install not long ago where they done a mark a pray type thing and it was a tooth off.
Richard put in a new timing belt , water pump , stretch bolts and pulleys . He also looked further and found my cam and lifters were badly worn . He in stall those. And thanks to him everything is well with my car. It went from 29 mpg to 38 to 40.


I appreciate that Richard


Thanks Tim

I think all the bugs have been exercised,lol, out of the air lift system and it appears to be doing a great job. Again this system can not be installed on a NB using the install manual that is provided with the kit, so if you do get one of these systems feel free to call or PM me and I will let you in on all the secrects for this installation.
Aligned the front end yesterday and the shop had the brand new Hunter alignment system and I was the very first customer. I got to watch as they aligned the NB and wow it is right on now, both front and back. It drives great now. Sweet.

wow car was running like crap. QA way off the charts each morning and it would not run until I went into vagcom and reset the QA. What a hassle.
Got 2 500cc cans of liquimoly diesel clean and went to town. It alive again, what a great product this is. Starts right up in the morning, idles great and goes like heck again. Must have had a sticky QA adjuster and it is now spick and span clean.
Sweet

I did have one challenge with the air lift performance bag system and it was not their problem but mine. I did not know where to start with the dampner part of the system. It was just hit and miss for me. The car rode like a train on tracks. If was so rough. I discovered that a simple adjustment meant the difference between loving the ride and hating the ride. I wanted a system that could ride like a Cadillac and raise up to get over any objects in the road. These systems are made for the "slamers" not for the driver that wants to jet over things. lol, but after doing several adaptations it is now exactly what I am looking for and now other can do the same thing, if they want to. lol.

Ok, so I have a tiny oil leak, lol, front crank seal will not stop leaking. I have installed 5 different seal, both PTFE and spring seals and still no joy. I even sent off and bought the seal install tool, thinking it might be me, but still no joy.
So I called a couple of auto machine shops and they said this happens all the time. Thanks but how do I fix it short of installing a new crank. It seems there is a Timken seal repair sleave that goes over the front crank. I sent off for it and now am about to install it. Will post the results as soon as I get it installed. I'll take pics and if I can get them up you will all see the process..

We lost a great tdi friend last night. Papadoc lost his fight with cancer and passed. I will miss Wesley and know he is now driving his tdi in Heaven. What a great guy is was. Fun to be around and make you laugh at the drop of a hat. See you later Papadoc.

Wow! I never met him, but I talked to him on the phone a few years ago when I was in Dallas, Georgia.

Yes he was a great guy and loved these TDIs

The date is firm for the 14th of March. Sweet, hope to see all of you there.

Address: 25-A Sunbelt Parkway, Covington, Ga 30014

We will start at 9 AM and go until they kick us out.

PM me if you want a dyno run and I will make the list up. Price is $100.00 for 3 runs.
Food, fun and friends, we all can stand around and tell our tales. lol


I am looking at doing a GTG in the next couple of months. I was at a dyno shop yesterday and they are open to a GTG on a saturday. They will open up their shop and their dynojet 225 for us. They will give great discounts for the club. Of course you don't have to get a dyno run to come.

I will have a BBQ and lots of room to park and enjoy our cars.
The location would be in Covington Ga. east of ATL about 40 miles. This is where they filmed the TV series "Dukes of Hazzard".

If there is an interest for a GTG in February or March. Let me know.

This will be a great time to really find out what the tune is doing for your car. Compare different makes and different stages of the tunes.

I am building a hybred 02J trans right now for my NB. Custom gear ratios, it should be a great trans for a high performance tdi car. Not for a stock engine as 1st, 2nd and 3rd will be a little too high for the stock motor. I'm thinking about taking it to the GTG March 14th and show how they are rebuilt. If anyone is interested in this let me know. If I don't get any response I will go ahead and rebuild it and install it in my NB before the GTG and drive it over there.

I'm bringing a ton of swap stuff to the GTG. Didn't realize how much I had until I started putting it into totes. lol

Poor ole NB of mine. Still had the bad oil leak at the front of the engine. wow. Yesterday I tore every thing off the front of the motor to see where it is leaking. Could not find a leak anywhere, very puzzling. Not the cam seal and not the crank seal. I pulled the front crank housing again, cleaned everything, resealed it, reinstalled it with another new spring crank seal and I am hoping. I also had a hybred oil pan on the car and took it off and reinstalled the stock pan. Trying everything that could even maybe leak. Wish me luck!!!!!!
See you all at the GTG March 14th. Hope I can get the NB there for a good dyno run and of course the food and friends.

NO JOY still leaking. wow wow wow

I drove a van that had a horrid oil leak. It had a fresh rebuilt engine. I gather that Ford could put the dipstick here, or there. The engine had both dipstick holes but no cork in the spare dipstick hole. Not helpful as the TDI motor only has one. Are there any oil galley plugs you did not seal? My TDI only has 417,000 miles on it so I have not had to tear it down, meaning I have no idea if there are oil gallery plugs up front.

Is the oil pressure correct? Still not an excuse for oil leaks.

I did have good luck with a harmonic balancer sleeve kit on my Toyota pickup.

roadhard1960, thanks for the input. I have finally discovered the source of the leak yes yes yes. What I thought was a water soft plug has turned out to be an oil passage. Looking at the end timing belt end of the motor there is a dime size soft plug just below and rearward of the water pump bolt. In my wildest dreams I would never have thought this would be a soft plug for an oil passage. I have never seen a soft plug in an oil passage before, but it sure is one. I contact Dan144 and he suggested the same thoughts, oil pressure too high. This is not the case as I have a very reliable oil gauge and oil pressure is never over 60 lbs as the bypass feature kicks in and release excess pressure when it gets over 60 lbs, as it should. The leak was not at the crank seal and never was.
The way I finally discovered the location was to take everything off the front of the motor and remove the plastic end cover. Yes this deleted the hole for the tensioner to hook into, but after again taking to Dan144 and Jim Bote I chanced starting it with the tensioner tightened down. The tensioner tang was positioned in it normal locked position prior to starting. I held my breath, started the motor and the tensioner did not move. I let it idle and then could see the stream of oil coming from the plug. I pulled it out and could see where it was not sealed correctly and was slightly cocked. I am going to get a new plug today and then drive the crap out of the great little NB. Thanks again for all the help from Dan144 and Jim Bote.

I installed the new oil soft plug with some head gasket sealer on it. LOL always read the instructions prior to installing any sealer. I didn't lol. It says to let it dry prior to installing, I didn't lol. Guess what yes it leaked again. So today I thought I would take care of it once and for all. I went to Advance Auto and picked up some JB Weld with an expoxy base. I installed it today (properly) and am letting it set up for 15 hours per the instructions on the box. lol Will know tomorrow if it leaks. Dang hope not. If it still leaks it will be time for a new block.

I'm also planning an extended trip including Central Am

Wow, awesome! And since I'll be doing something similar later this year I'd very much welcome the opportunity to hear about your experience, get your advice, tips, etc.

I live in Raleigh, NC and I'm headed out on a 6 month+ road trip around the US (mostly out west) and then headed to Panama. I'm intending to pull a small, lightweight trailer as well.

If you're up for sharing your experience I'l send you my phone #'s.

Either way, I hope the trip was everything you were hoping for and more.

Yes please PM me your #'s. We can talk trip.

Richard---que hubo mi hermano? espero que todo esta bien. When it warms up here, a few months, I will be bringing a car ('88 ranger) out of a six year sleep. I need to give you a call about this (also we have not talked for six months) to see what is missing from my plan? Battery, tires, brake lines/fluid, oil change: anything else to drive it home safely from 50 miles away? Vehicle needs a clutch according to my uncle, which is why it got parked. I have never done a clutch so I am guessing trans. fluid and a few other extras. This truck went to my uncle in 2002 when I was in Guatemala so I have no info. since then other than it has been sitting for approx. six yrs. talk to you soon.

remember my experience with cars is limited

somehow I have forgot how to edit my posts

I will just drop this link here as a preemptive thank you for your thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDd1ZDWb5KU

edit: I am guessing that this was popular while you were in Colombia

She was hired for her looks not her voice. lol

For everyone coming to the GTG here in Ga. the 14th of March, Jeff Roberts of RC Tunes will be there. Get on the list asap for a tune.