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Thumper's 2012 Stg 3 Golf R - The Defiant

uglybastard

Autocross Champion
Wow that track does look amazing, nice video
 

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Exhaust FINALLY made it a couple weeks ago and had to wait till this weekend to get it in for install as I wanted it welded together. I don't need clamps shifting or loosening on track.

Initial impressions of the 42DD system are good, the tone is very deep and full. I was worried what it would look like with the black tips as the valance is black but I went with the black tips because, well, the chrome ones on the previous system were constantly black anyway. This is what they look like after only a 20 mile test drive LOL, you can see where I wiped off a section to show the amount of soot already.






I think it still looks good even though it doesn't stand out. My exhaust guy said that was as far as they would go for sticking out of the valance but I sort of like it, I always thought the APR ones stuck out too far. I can always have him try to weld in an extension if I want, I am trying to decide if I want to have him cut off the DP resonator and straight piping that section anyway.






Here's some sound clips.



 

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Sweeeeeeeeeeet. I also went with black tips on my AWE exhaust for the same reason. One less thing to have to meticulously keep clean.

I still want to keep them nice, I'm planning on putting some Nanolex SiShield I got in a MysteryBox last year on them to make it easy to just spray them off. But that will only be needed on occasion, with the chrome tips I needed to rig up a spray nozzle to constantly wash them as I drove LOL
 

snobrdrdan

former GTI owner
I wrenched on a local guy's MK6 R and he had the 42DD cat back too, and it sounded amazing. My only knock would be that if you don't get it in stainless and you live in a salt/winter climate....it'll look like shit in no time & it's not exactly cheap. (crazy expensive if you can get it in stainless too -- if they still offer that option)

Getting it welded was a good idea, IMO. I like the flush tip, with the valance, fitment too
 

Thumper

Autocross Champion
I wrenched on a local guy's MK6 R and he had the 42DD cat back too, and it sounded amazing. My only knock would be that if you don't get it in stainless and you live in a salt/winter climate....it'll look like shit in no time & it's not exactly cheap. (crazy expensive if you can get it in stainless too -- if they still offer that option)

Getting it welded was a good idea, IMO. I like the flush tip, with the valance, fitment too

Yup, the stainless was a free upgrade right now actually. Normally I would have painted it to further protect it like I did on the GTI but did not have the time. If/when I have the resonator on the DP replaced with straight pipe I'll have the shop fabricate a bolted flange like the modular system I designed on the GTI. Then next year I can remove it, clean it and paint it.
 

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Free, you say??? :eek:

How much was the cat-back then?

Sorry didn't see this, must have missed an alert and have been kind of busy with stupid new work schedule and studying to try to get OUT of stupid work schedule. Cat back was $700 from Urotuning, free shipping to boot. Don't remember what they were when they were offering both versions but compared to other stuff on the market the sound was perfect and the price was way lower than others.


So, I had a strong fuel smell a few weeks back after idling and randomly while driving. Checked all lines and connections, no leaks. Car ran properly, didn't seem like injectors then started to notice it was smoking a bit from exhaust. It was cold so there was steam but it was a lot of steam, and saw large amounts of water dripping out of the tips and condensation all around the inside of the tips even after running it to operating temp. On a hunch I then looked under the car........sure enough, water was dripping heavily, almost pouring, from the front exhaust clamp where the mid section joined the DP, massive exhaust leak. Took it back to my exhaust guy and had him toss the clamp and weld up the joint. So far so good, didn't have any fuel smells on the way home.




Good news!!!! My wife loves me a lot, not only did she offer to let me go to the season opener at NCM in Kentucky in 6 weeks after we had previously decided we should skip it............but she let me buy new lightweight wheels on top of it!!! I was supposed to re-use the old wheels off the A3 again this year since I have to get the timing service done and I upgraded the exhaust but then I realized we still have a month of cold weather and maybe snow left and the R lives outside. One car garage and the TTRS wins inside storage, the 944 gets covered storage with the trailer, so the R gets outside unfortunately. I couldn't mount the 888Rs and leave them outside and didn't want to be THAT guy putting the car on jack stands outside to keep the tires inside. So not my first choice for wheels but they do look good (will be plasti-dipping them blaze blue like the A3 wheels lol) and they are 6lbs each lighter than the A3 wheels. Huge rotational mass reduction, super sticky tires......it's going to feel like a totally different car this year. :D


 

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Well.............%#^$&*#^*&%

Took the car into my indy shop on Monday for the timing service and they found the oil filter housing leaking and the radiator has a leak as well. Freaking awesome. I don't have the time to replace them myself right now and can't afford to have them just do it after spending $6000 on a new roof for the house (they are quoting $2000 for both issues). Plus might as well upgrade the radiator so no point putting an OEM back in. So....1st world problems, I'm going to have to take the TTRS to at least the first 2 track events this year.
 

uglybastard

Autocross Champion
Well.............%#^$&*#^*&%

Took the car into my indy shop on Monday for the timing service and they found the oil filter housing leaking and the radiator has a leak as well. Freaking awesome. I don't have the time to replace them myself right now and can't afford to have them just do it after spending $6000 on a new roof for the house (they are quoting $2000 for both issues). Plus might as well upgrade the radiator so no point putting an OEM back in. So....1st world problems, I'm going to have to take the TTRS to at least the first 2 track events this year.
How bad was the oil filter housing leak?
 

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Last couple oil changes I've noticed some oil coverage on the front of the oil pan, last time it was definitely getting worse but I was hoping it was the dipstick tube seal. It's the radiator that is the real kick in the crotch, can't risk that blowing on the track.
 

Thumper

Autocross Champion
Been a LONG time and this is a crappy little update but stuff has been kicking me hard.

The good, I found an indy shop a mere 30 minutes from my house that cut the price of replacing my rad and oil filter housing in half. He has a day job but wrenches on VWs nights and weekends, has a proper shop and a collection of air cooled classics. I have an appointment for June 10th, cutting it close as next event at Ozarks is June 24th.

The bad, I found a better job for same pay, was supposed to start May 16th and I knew once I gave my notice my employer would just fire me on the spot. I decided to take one week between jobs to get stuff done even though it would be unpaid and gave my notice on the 9th. As expected they fired me on the spot...............what was NOT expected was for my new employer to call me just 4 hours later and say they had to push my start date.....to June 6th!!!!! So 5 weeks with no paycheck.....during a stagflation economic catastrophe......awesome. Luckily I was able to instantly buy out the TTRS lease a month early and therefore skip a payment plus cut the payment a good chunk so the hit on savings will be temporary, hopefully.

I did a lot of house chores already so next week I may do some small updates with parts I have laying around (clutch pedal stop, new cam follower, etc).



So here's my small update, finally got the track decals for Ozarks and NCM added to the car. They are no longer carrying the light blue color, they had some laying around and agreed to do these two for my special to match........but I am planning on at least 2 new tracks next year so now I have to either find somewhere else with the same color (not easy)................or completely redo the whole thing in a new color. I really like the light blue scheme though so that sucks.



 

uglybastard

Autocross Champion
Been a LONG time and this is a crappy little update but stuff has been kicking me hard.

The good, I found an indy shop a mere 30 minutes from my house that cut the price of replacing my rad and oil filter housing in half. He has a day job but wrenches on VWs nights and weekends, has a proper shop and a collection of air cooled classics. I have an appointment for June 10th, cutting it close as next event at Ozarks is June 24th.

The bad, I found a better job for same pay, was supposed to start May 16th and I knew once I gave my notice my employer would just fire me on the spot. I decided to take one week between jobs to get stuff done even though it would be unpaid and gave my notice on the 9th. As expected they fired me on the spot...............what was NOT expected was for my new employer to call me just 4 hours later and say they had to push my start date.....to June 6th!!!!! So 5 weeks with no paycheck.....during a stagflation economic catastrophe......awesome. Luckily I was able to instantly buy out the TTRS lease a month early and therefore skip a payment plus cut the payment a good chunk so the hit on savings will be temporary, hopefully.

I did a lot of house chores already so next week I may do some small updates with parts I have laying around (clutch pedal stop, new cam follower, etc).



So here's my small update, finally got the track decals for Ozarks and NCM added to the car. They are no longer carrying the light blue color, they had some laying around and agreed to do these two for my special to match........but I am planning on at least 2 new tracks next year so now I have to either find somewhere else with the same color (not easy)................or completely redo the whole thing in a new color. I really like the light blue scheme though so that sucks.



Time to buy a cricut and do your own with your own supply of that color blue
 

KollinWithaK

Autocross Champion
Been a LONG time and this is a crappy little update but stuff has been kicking me hard.

The good, I found an indy shop a mere 30 minutes from my house that cut the price of replacing my rad and oil filter housing in half. He has a day job but wrenches on VWs nights and weekends, has a proper shop and a collection of air cooled classics. I have an appointment for June 10th, cutting it close as next event at Ozarks is June 24th.

The bad, I found a better job for same pay, was supposed to start May 16th and I knew once I gave my notice my employer would just fire me on the spot. I decided to take one week between jobs to get stuff done even though it would be unpaid and gave my notice on the 9th. As expected they fired me on the spot...............what was NOT expected was for my new employer to call me just 4 hours later and say they had to push my start date.....to June 6th!!!!! So 5 weeks with no paycheck.....during a stagflation economic catastrophe......awesome. Luckily I was able to instantly buy out the TTRS lease a month early and therefore skip a payment plus cut the payment a good chunk so the hit on savings will be temporary, hopefully.

I did a lot of house chores already so next week I may do some small updates with parts I have laying around (clutch pedal stop, new cam follower, etc).



So here's my small update, finally got the track decals for Ozarks and NCM added to the car. They are no longer carrying the light blue color, they had some laying around and agreed to do these two for my special to match........but I am planning on at least 2 new tracks next year so now I have to either find somewhere else with the same color (not easy)................or completely redo the whole thing in a new color. I really like the light blue scheme though so that sucks.



Not sure how invested you are but you could almost certainly grab a spare light blue one from one of these previous tracks, reach out to a company that does vinyl stuff regularly and see if they could cut you a blue in the track shape in a similar color.

Worst case they just say no.
 
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