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What did you do to your Passat today?

1M views 12K replies 1K participants last post by  Hirnbeiss 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've seen this on many forums and it's always been a winner. Post up what you did to your car today. Add a picture or two that show what your did.


With that, I give you my addition, I polished my headlights.

Automotive parking light Car Vehicle Vehicle registration plate Grille
 
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#7,500 ·
yesterday had to take the wagon to the shop ... cyl4 and cyl 2 misfires, system leans, stuttering and shuddering under power, and it really didn't want to downshift, ever. was ok driving it in manual-ish fakeshift mode, as long as i downshifted early and pseudo-revmatched it.

ended up getting new coil packs, new plugs, new fuel filter and rails flushed, and while they were in there, had them replace the hood strut.
honestly, could have done most of that myself if i just had a place to work on it, and wasn't working 55 hour weeks currently ...
 
#7,505 ·
Scanned the car and reset intermittent codes as the first step in my ABS-light troubleshooting odyssey. Stared at the brake vac pump and wondered about the intermittent code that was throwing. Cleaned the inside glass because I love clean windows, gave it a badly needed wash (since driver son has too many excuses), and waxed the hood to get it ready for the Florida sun again.
 
#7,506 ·
A bit slow at work today, so I did tinker-y things to the Brick.
Front speakers, upgrade time! Yay!

So, I've had this speaker set that came out of the wife's old car sitting around for, oh, a while. Been meaning to install them since I bought the car (only 1.5 years....)

Alpine SPS-610C (6 3/4" component speaker set), probably as close to a direct bolt-in as you could get. The bass speakers (with Alpine's included universal brackets) bolt directly to a Scoshe SAVW-6 mounting bracket.
In the interest of audio quality (and water sealing), I sealed the brackets to the window regulators (and the Alpine brackets to the Scosche brackets) with a thin bead of butyl.

Modifications needed:
You won't use the Alpine high-pass filters for the tweeters (because that function is in the Monsoon amp.) Likewise, you'll need to de-solder and remove the low-pass filters from the woofers.
The tweeters, once removed from their casings (they just twist apart), require only minor Dremel work to the VW factory speaker mounts (once the original tweeters are popped out) to fit; I then glued them in with a bead of urethane.

Audio quality difference: Very significant. I give it :thumbup::thumbup:
 
#7,508 ·
As I'm still on a k03 setup and only have two major things to do before I have a nearley maxed out K03. I ordered a CXRacing front mount intercooler to install while I wait for a day with nice weather and when I can get a second set of hands to help to install my high flow cat. The FMIC in my case will be good to do because I tend to drive hard, and during the summer in my area my car tends heat soak like a mother real quick.

What do you guys think when I install the FMIC, should I remove the lower grille cover to show off the intercooler and make people think "Holy shit that station wagon is turbocharged" or would look a little ricey? Or should I go for a stealth setup and keep the lower grille cover? Or as a 3rd option remove every other strip or fin in the lower grille so the grille is still there but makes the intercooler more visible? Let me know what you guys think.

Also one last thing, When I install my high flow cat, I have some DEI titanium exhaust wrap, Should I wrap the downpipe while I'm at it? It won't be much more work to remove the downpipe when the cat is out so it won't be like I'm going out of my way to do it. I also have the piping on the cat wrapped that is after the catalyst just to help reduce the heat in the engine bay as exhaust gases become hotter after they leave the cat.
 
#7,510 ·
This may be a bit off topic, but for the spirit of this thread I thought this might fit in. Bought a BHW engine with automatic (tiptronic) transmssion from our local pull-a-part, a rare find in our locale, from a 2004 Passat wagon. The vehicle was recently placed in the yard so much of it was still intact when I first laid eyes on it, e.g. no visible damage to the body, fairly clean interior (cloth) and no odors to speak of. I suspected it might be engine/mechanical problems that spelled the end of this wagon; hence, its final resting place in this bone yard. I looked over the engine which had not been touched at first. There is quite a lot of oil build-up and grime on the block, most heavily on the passenger side. I looked at the oil dip stick and the coolant tank; all seemed pretty normal with no burnt oil smell or evidence of oil leak in the cooling system. I pulled the valve cover; no sludge build-up and the cam looked clean, shiny, with no pitting or uneven wear on the cam lobes, to my inexperienced eye. With a socket wrench I was able to turn the crank, thus it did not appear seized. So I was convinced this was an engine worth salvaging and got it home. In a future project, I hope to mate the engine to a manual trans and swap it into my B5 wagon.
 
#7,516 · (Edited)
Work was super slow today so the boss let me use a lift and work on my car. Replaced the pre cat o2 sensor and wait for it... After a year I finally got to install my 034 motorsport Highflow cat!!! The exhaust with no mistake is defenitly louder,deeper, and has some rasp but nothing crazy or ricey, just racey. Peak boost is a little higher but should not be a problem as I'm soon gonna install a fmic. Didn't really watch the boost gauge much so can't confirm wether the spool up is noticibley faster. Also didn't drive it enough to confirm the power gains but I did defenitly notice more power in first gear in the higher rpm's as it takes less effort to break the wheels loose. All in all very happy with the end result.
EDIT: The exhaust is now also audilbe in the high roms where as before it would quiet down
 
#7,519 ·
Phase Two of audio system upgrade completed yesterday:
Installed the rear-view camera. Photos of installed camera to follow. I do have to say: Running the cables out of the gate and into the cabin... A bit of a PITA. Very little extra room in the harness tube.
For now, the wiring is bundled up in the left D-pillar. Will pull them to the front later. Weather-permitting, I'll do that (and the head unit replacement) this weekend.

Also, arrived yesterday (still to install):
New rear speakers (same model as I used up front)
New set of rear parking sensors (to replace the ones damaged during the first installation.)
 
#7,520 ·
Because they were requested at the Vortex.... pictures!




eBay camera. Replaced the license plate lamp. This version came without a light :facepalm:, so I glued a 'little dot' LED from SuperBrightLEDs to it.


Lights on (also note that I installed an LED in the right plate lamp. For balance, yo!)

 
#7,521 ·
Because they were requested at the Vortex.... pictures!




eBay camera. Replaced the license plate lamp. This version came without a light :facepalm:, so I glued a 'little dot' LED from SuperBrightLEDs to it.


Lights on (also note that I installed an LED in the right plate lamp. For balance, yo!)

Very nice!
 
#7,527 ·
Well, now you have to post pics of the head lights and details on the bulbs.

:poke:
 
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#7,529 ·
New rear door speakers. Same Alpine parts that I installed in the front doors:





The rear door tweeters were even easier to fit than the fronts were - they just dropped into place. A bead of urethane, and they're there to stay. :thumbup:


New head unit over the weekend, too. Kenwood DDX-574BH:



It'll probably take me a month to get it fully dialed in. But, I like it. :)
 
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