Foodie's 2nd 9n Project **NEW PICS ADDED**

[foodie9n]

@CharlesK

I think I'll take a look at it when back from uni. Any idea how much a garage would charge roughly? And what sort of bushes would you recommend replacing, just the front ones?

[CharlesK]

It's usually the rear wishbone bushes that I hear going wrong, but would be worthwhile replacing the lot.
Not sure on cost, Im going to go to a garage and find out what the guy thnks, hes an independant VW specialist so should know what hes on about

[foodie9n]

Probably give my local Indy a call and see what can be done - best to safe

Mike

[MODDED9N]

Coilovers or lowering springs are a must! As one the guys previously said, it looks comical at the standard ride height and I must agree! I'm running on 17" machine faced gti replicas and I picked up a complete set of coilovers for free off another member on this site and before I put the new alloys on I put the coilys on and at that point I was on the standard 14s and I gotta say, my car was very low but as soon as I put the 17s on it looked perfect! Not ridiculously low and just sitting nicely below the wheel arch. If you want pics I will put some up! Cheers

[foodie9n]

If you could put pics up please, that would be awesome!!

[MODDED9N]

Here is my car as requested... It's a 2004 1.4 TDI! Currently I am upgrading the front to the 9n3 facelifted verson... So far I have changed the rear lights, Blackened all the badges, Dewipered it, put a set of coilovers on it, Changed the alloys to a set of 17" gti machine faced, Upgraded speakers to Sony Xplodes, Upgraded Head Unit to a touch screen LCD display and also changed the arial for a sharks fin arial... Can't wait for the facelift to be finished! If pics don't come up, there are the links!

http://www.ukimagehost.com/view/d4db0b92ba4dd151.jpg

http://www.ukimagehost.com/view/d4db0b92bc842ca2.jpg

In the background you can see my brothers 3.2 Petrol Audi A3, Lowered, 19" A5 replicas, Full leather interior, BOSE sound package, Beast of a car....

[foodie9n]

Thats looks pretty sweet dude, how far are you down on coilies?

Slightly tempted to paint my badges black, but on a silver car? Not sure about colour coding either. ARGH!!

I'll keep you guys posted!
Cheers, Mike

[MODDED9N]

Cheers mate haha! Not very good photos but kinda show you what I mean! I can't remember how low it is, but a benefit of coilovers is that you can have the ride height how ever heigh you want it to be! haha Pretty chuffed with myself as I'm only 18

[foodie9n]

Did you fit the coillies yourself? How hard was it to do?

Also, have you got any tips/hints and things to look out for?

Cheers, Mike

[CharlesK]

Coilies arent hard to do, the rear's are easy, jack both sides up, unbolt the shocks and the whole suspension arm drops down.
Front's are a little more tricky, especially as you need an adapter to remove the shock from the hub carrier. Depends how siezed everyhting is.
Oh, you'll need a 7mm allen key, and spring compressors ideally.

And take care when removing the top mounts, mine decided to split open and spill the bearings everywhere.

[foodie9n]

Is it true you need a M14 spline key on the front suspension? Or something along those lines?

Cheers, Mike

[CharlesK]

That'll be the tool I was on about, I cant rmember the size though, borrowed it from a mate

[foodie9n]

Also, what sort of tools would you advise. Want to try and build up a tool kit too

So far got:
- Jack
- Axle Stands

Just need to confirm sockets sizes and type of spline tool needed - also need to buy coilies
May go for these -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Raceland-Coilover ... 974wt_1139

Any advice would be amazing!!
Cheers, Mike

[CharlesK]

Foodie: Torque wrenches are useful for getting siezed bolts off, as they have a longer handle.
Good set of spanners/sockets, you definatly will need some deep ring spanner to remove the top mounts, I can't rmember the size off hand but have a feeling it would be 19? 13's the the top mount bolts.
16 or 17mm for the rear shocks.
Some lithium grease to coat the coilies in before you put them one helps to stop the adjusters siezing up. An extension bar for the sockets helps in some places, and of course that spline tool, belive you can get them in a set from halfrauds

Eddie: Someone on Club Polo did a 9n3 front end conversion, it's under the mk6 section. Was fairly straight forward but I belive he had to cut a couple of parts, mostly just unbolting of wings, bonnets, slam panel etc I think

[MODDED9N]

When I did mine, the whole front end had completely seized up and so it took a little assistance! And yeah be really careful when compressing the springs because the force of them is ridiculous!