RetroPug's Ph.1 Diablo Gti-6

[RetroPug]

I managed to snap a couple of studs on Zakks '6 over the weekend, most annoying thing ever but they always do it.

The diablo is looking very very nice now though especially witht he 'goose poking out the back

They are really irritating, still not quite as bad as gti-6 airbox studs though!

Thanks mate!

Exhaust looks great along with the rest of the car

You running the exhaust as just cat back or do run a decat?

Any boom at 3k ?

Thanks!

I'm saving the whales & the polar bears and running it with a cat.
No idea, only had it idling so far, but got a journey down the M40 today so we'll see!

[RetroPug]

Well, it sounds absolutely fantastic when you're booting it, and is actually fairly civilised generally but it is fairly loud.

[RetroPug]

I spent 10 minutes or so doing things I didn't need any tools for before I head to the pub this afternoon. Removed the manky underbonnet sound-deadening. Then fit a new LHS indicator to match the new RHS one.
Before:


Comparison:


Done:


Made a great difference, now just need to re-chrome the insides of the headlamps and clean the insides out more thoroughly than last time and the headlamps will be looking lovely. Also fit an adjuster to the headlamp that was missing it:


This now means I can use dipped beams without everyone flashing at me because they think I'm using mains. :lol

Does anyone have a link to any long, rubber exhaust hangars? The longest I've found was a 75mm distance between the holes. I need about 110mm or anywhere thereabouts. I'm currently using a strap but it is very stiff and transmitting a lot of vibrations to the cabin.

More updates to come.

[RetroPug]

Spent quite a bit of time sound-deadening the whole rear of the car and the roof today. I also added two more layers to the boot floor.

Stripping:


Weighted the large flat areas of sheet metal in the rear quarters:


Added lots of underlay as a sound barrier and to stop this area from being hollow. Hollow areas are not good. The OEM matting went back on top of this behind the trim so this area is absolutely packed.


Weighted the flat areas of the roof:


Covered the flat areas with underlay, being careful to keep it below the profile of the struts so the sunroof couldn't catch on them:


Added some between the gaps on the rear arches:


Work in progress:



This has made a huge difference. I haven't driven it far home at all, and road noise is particularly bad on the motorway, however the three layers in the boot have damped exhaust noise a lot, and the rear quarters now sound absolutely solid when you tap them, and overall the car doesn't produce as much noise. I think the roof being damped has also helped as it does vibrate a lot over rough roads. Next time you go to your car, tap the rear quarter below the window and listen to how hollow that area is!

I'm going to do the doors and front footwells soon too as this is where A LOT of the road noise seems to come from, especially on the motorway.

[devils_fuel]

Time well spent by the sound of it..pardon the pun

[Tom]

Hahaha sound of it

Cracking work, its jobs like this that make the biggest of differences!

[RetroPug]

Yeah can't wait to have the doors and front footwells done and see how much nicer it is on the motorway.

[RetroPug]

I got hold of a standard airbox for cheap on ebay that was in fairly good condition with only small patches of surface rust a few days ago:



However, me being my OCD self this couldn't go on the car in this state so it got wire-wheeled all over to strip the paint and rust and then primered:



Then painted bright red (phone camera in the sun made it look pink somehow):





This will get a bit of lacquer on it in the morning.

I freshened up my standard exhaust with some VHT paint which was a nightmare, can was faulty and spluttered everywhere and kept blocking, hence the relatively poor coverage, however it is still better than before and looks acceptable for now:




I then removed the mongoose and refitted my standard exhaust:



The mongoose is the best-sounding exhaust I have heard for the 306 and when you boot it it is fantastic! It isn't silly loud, however I will be using this car to go to work and have decided to go quieter. I went for a little drive this evening and I miss it already. I can't decide whether to keep it, sell it or swap it for a scorpion/other shinies or what really...

[ozonehostile]

Hmmm genuine dilemma, mint and standard ph1 or choice upgrades haha.

Love the airbox idea, should stop it rotting again for another few years :-)

What vht paint did you use btw? Been looking for some silver to do my heatshields etc, but I've only come up with black so far for painting wood burners and such

[RetroPug]

Going for keeping it relatively OEM as I'll be driving it to work and up and down the motorway to see my folks etc. and then spend my money and time and efforts making it more minty than on proper mods. Plus I love the standard exhaust tbh.

I used hycote but the can was faulty and it spluttered all over the place, it was also just a pain in general as powder went everywhere. I wouldn't recommend it but then again I probably just got a bad can. There are lots of VHT paints on ebay etc but they are all fairly pricey.
I've heard of others using silver hammerite and having no problem with it adhering, I've also found halfords own brand paints to be fairly decent as well so maybe their VHT is. For my heatshield I'm just going to give silver hammerite a go, that's all been stripped ready for painting!

Thanks, airbox is looking good on the car.

[mr_fish]

Looking a tidy job there, Glad to see its getting looked after. I'm yet to fit my sound proofing I bought a while ago

Just a butt in on you paint discussion...

I used this stuff (well the black colour, but same brand etc) Still holding up well on my exhaust on the XUD.

Silver Paint

[RetroPug]

I've heard good things about rustoleum!

The sound-deadening has made a fantastic difference. All of the rattles from the rear end have gone and there is significantly less road noise. Knocking the panels from the outside makes a solid thud. The only road noise now comes from the front wheel arches and through the doors so once they're done it'll be lovely!

[Matt-Rallye]

If the goose comes up for sale, bear me in mind please dude

[RetroPug]

Today I finally replaced my clock (Thank you Danny2009) and made my electric wing mirror adjustment work:



I then sound-deadened my driver's side door and decided I'd rather go and have a subway than do the passenger's side, it also looked like it might rain so that'll be done another day.

Stripped the door down:



Weighted the outer skin with Silent-coat:





Then I put underlay on the rear of the door card:



I also went over all of the foam seals and sealed them up properly with silver vapour tape, which looked cool and should provide additional protection from water, however I forgot to take a picture.

This little guy also wandered up and seemed very interested in what was going on:

[ozonehostile]

Will you be able to hear anything other than your own breathing by the time it's done? Haha

[RetroPug]

It's mostly for the motorway, it hasn't dampened engine noise as I've nothing on the firewall but my ph.1 really is a LOT noisier than my ph.2 was on the motorway just in terms of general road and tyre noise. Plus rainsport 3s are pretty loud in general.

[RetroPug]

Extracted a radiator from my ph.2 in the rain yesterday, this evening I painted the bits that I didn't have the chance to yesterday because of said rain:

[RetroPug]

Masking tape off, curing indoors:

[Piggy]

Nice colour...what paint is that?

[RetroPug]

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the colour came out, was a halfords paint...not their VHT but still temp. resistant paint that said it cures over 16 hours at room temperature, colour was aluminium.
Can't remember exactly what it was called but will look on the can at some point.

[Piggy]

Be good to know how well it endures.

A lot of my high temp paint has peeled and come off a bit too easy under the bonnet

[RetroPug]

Hopefully this stays on...will be very frustrated if it flakes!

[Curt]

Looking good like the attention to detail. I've had a purple velvet throttle body for years, still looks good. Never bothered with high temp paint

[RetroPug]

Thanks!
I didn't go for VHT paint as it is difficult to paint parts off the car and then fit them without damaging the finish as it won't have cured, hence this temperature-resistant stuff that cures at room temp. given long enough.

Thinking silver hammerite for my exhaust heatshield...need to stop it touching the back box first though as it is rattling.

[Curt]

Well I'm sure it'll be fine, mine is just normal Halford's stuff and it's been fine for ages. Painting the heat shield... That's going all out!

[procta]

looking good there fella!

[ozonehostile]

That's going to look great all fitted, making moves towards getting some of my engine parts powder coated silver although I'm unsure how if paint would look better

[Tom]

Put the exhaust back on you vagina

[RetroPug]

Thanks, should be fitting it tomorrow, along with a nissens rad.
I did think of powder coating but that's too much money.
Want to do rocker covers at some point as well.

Put the exhaust back on you vagina

It's sold.
A full, genuine system with no holes is actually an excellent exhaust on a gti-6!
I do miss the mongoose when giving it a bootfull though.

[RetroPug]

Little update showing the recent fun and games that has been had:
















To summarise:
The car has had: a VGC PAS pump and new aux belt to replace the whining old one, whilst we did this we found that the aux tensioner had loads of play in it so this was replaced with a brand new one as well.
The car was also fitted with a nearly new Nissens rad and bottom hose, the TB and inlet were built up with new, genuine gaskets and known working sensors some of which are nearly new which eliminates the niggling sensor issue experienced previously (I hope).
Unfortunately, an injector o-ring split, which pissed fuel all over the fuel rail and ruined the finish (should have used petrol-resistant laquer), and I'm waiting for another set in the post.

I also fitted my flocked dash bits that I got from piggy but didn't have time to get a photo.