Howie-WP's TReg thread.

[Karoo Klong]

Added something to the Vans parking space, snug as a bug ..... need to spring clean as well ooops:


Attachment 541650

I am so jealous!!!

Have been wanting to get one for my garage as well.

Will you share the process you followed in getting it and having it installed please?

Looks GREAT!!!

[Howie-WP]

I am so jealous!!!

Have been wanting to get one for my garage as well.

Will you share the process you followed in getting it and having it installed please?

Looks GREAT!!!

M & G Automotive did the install. Really super impressed, very very professional. Arrived on time and did everything needed. Speak to Willy is need be.

When doing the garage reno, I threw a thicker slab 2m wide in the middle, lift will be moved to ideal position withing this area, 250mm deep and 25mpa (my builders slipped up a bit here and I will add a bit of bracing to the column tops) And this just as a precaution as I will be lifting the Treg (would have been OK for my Mk5 R32, Mk3 GTi, Citi Race car or my brothers Xpolo)

My ceiling is max 3m (hence the base plate version and not the base plateless that needs a clearance of 3.7m) , so can only lift to that height, but suits my needs as not a commercial shop, just a convenience.

[Howie-WP]

On corrigated roads, anything under 90 will rattle your teeth.

So, on Saturday had a chance to test the revised approach to dealing with gravel corrugated roads, and what a difference! It was as if the corrugations where not there! Colour me impressed, van handled so much better and felt totally stable. Lesson learnt ...... 8)

[Howie-WP]

Last week, sent the van to Panic Mechanic (Stephan) for some TLC. Used PBM Transport and must give them props for decent service. Collected Tuesday 13:30 and delivered to Panic 10:30am Thursday morning (they also offer limited intransit cover in the price)


Loaded on the transporter.

[TwinDisco]

Last week, sent the van to Panic Mechanic (Stephan) for some TLC.

U broke something ??

[Unobeat]

Last week, sent the van to Panic Mechanic (Stephan) for some TLC. Used PBM Transport and must give them props for decent service. Collected Tuesday 13:30 and delivered to Panic 10:30am Thursday morning (they also offer limited intransit cover in the price)


Loaded on the transporter.

Maintenance time.
What work is Panic doing?

[Howie-WP]

U broke something ??

Maintenance time.
What work is Panic doing?

Service, Front diff recon and gearbox seal leak fix . Rather prefer that it is properly fixed, hence off to Panic for the spannering .....

[AWJS]

Service, Front diff recon and gearbox seal leak fix . Rather prefer that it is properly fixed, hence off to Panic for the spannering .....

Front diff recon - Symptoms?

Reason for asking my front diff bearing had a slight whine above 40km/h. Very soft sound. After I replaced the diff oil with top spec racing gear oil from Ravenol the whining got softer but is still present. I will also have to do the recon in the future...

[Howie-WP]

Front diff recon - Symptoms?

Whine / slight rumble from the front. Stephan has confirmed "stripped the diff and it is the usual diff carrier bearings that has the wear."
Nothing too bad, I drove it for more than a year like that. It also did not get progressively worse in that time.

[Howie-WP]

Treg Repair:
I sent my van from Cpt to Stephan (Panic Mechanic) for some TLC. Initial issues were 1. diff bearing change, 2. G/box oil leak and service.

I used PBM Transport, whom I can highly recommend. Awesome service and totally professional.

This is the repair thread.

1.Panic Summary of work,"Monday it was me and the V8 touareg from the cape. Complaints are gearbox oil leak from the torque converter seal and a noisy front diff. Also general service.
Scan before taking the engine out shows both the front lambda sensors dead and a brake vacuum issue.
No complications to removal and by the end of the day it was lying on the table."

V8 Touareg motor coming out (Panic looking suitably non plussed, having removed yet another TReg engine/gearbox).




2."Complete V8 petrol Touareg from Series 1 touareg removed to fix noisy diff and torque converter seal oil leak"



3. Panic Summary of work,"Tuesday I started with taking the gearbox off the motor on the touareg - much fun to be had - you have to remove the right hand engine mount and support the engine to get the starter out to get the torque converter bolts out.
Several hours later the box was out. I pulled the TC and changed the leaky seal. Yup there was a pretty decent leak there. I also stripped the diff and it is the usual diff carrier bearings that has the wear. Popped into timkin in benoni and they had one. I need two. They will have the other one at lunchtime tomorrow. "


- Engine minus gearbox sitting on the cradle - still have to get the motor off the cradle to swop the front diff out



- R70 leaky seal that you have to take the engine out for to change



- Touareg box with new seal - ready to stick the tc back in



- Panic Summary of work, "The bearings for the Touareg diff arrived so I put that together, Whipped the engine off, swapped the diffs over and put the engine back in place."

- "V8 Touareg engine hanging on the crane so I can swop the diffs in the cradle"



- "Old diff in it's cradle under the engine. Just swopping this one for the other I reconditioned already"



- "old diff with the engine removed"



- "carrier bearing - this is their most common issue"



- "bearing seat damage"



- "bearing seat damage"



- "diff cover all cleaned and ready to go back on"



- "diff sitting on the pinion casing fresh bearings in place"



- "swap diff wirh it's new bearings and seals ready to go in"





- "Thursday morning I stick a gearbox on the Touareg engine. I reconnect everything and by lunchtime the engine is hanging back in the car.
I start putting everything back on and connecting and by 15:00 ish we have a running once more V8 Touareg. Then it is wheel well covers, windshield wipers , wheels - brake bleeding and all the little things to finish off. I am done with that car just as the day runs out. Gas aircon and wheel alignment to do then she is ready to go back to the cape next week. We are leaving sunday week and I'll just drive it down for the owner."

Other items replaced:
- Front Disks and Pads, PO had them skimmed well below min safe spec!
Pic of skimmed disk

- x2 ignition coils (intermitent missfire)


Stephan was coming down to Cpt for a 2 week break, so he offered to drive it down if I cover the fuel (rather than use PBM again, whom I highly recommend) They left early Sunday morning and overnighted in Leeuw Gamka. Monday afternoon they were in Muizenberg and I collected the car at 15:00
Just about 1560km......I await the final fuel bill to check consumption. The final 420km from Leeuw Gamka reflected 13l/km on the OBC when I got the van in the afternoon.


My van now drives perfectly, no more diff drone, no more intermitant miss (which I hardly noticed, but I have noticed now that it runs on 8cylinders !) Brakes are awesome.

Stephan comes highly recommended as an overall good guy and Touareg whisperer.....so much so, I shipped my van from Cpt to GP for him to do his magic.

[zx14]

Howie, he did the same for Debby's V8.

The man is a legend!

[Howie-WP]

Pre-lockdown drive to the beach to catch some sea breeze......van will be cooped up in the garage for the 21days

[EtienneB]

Pre-lockdown drive to the beach to catch some sea breeze......van will be cooped up in the garage for the 21days

Here's hoping you have stocked up on suitable detailing equipment and consumables. That was 80% of my lockdown shopping. Just to find out that I'm supporting essential services. No lockdown for me.

[Howie-WP]

Here's hoping you have stocked up on suitable detailing equipment and consumables. That was 80% of my lockdown shopping.

Yes, that and plenty other TReg jobs to be done. With them and other around the house projects, I have more than enough to do.

Just to find out that I'm supporting essential services. No lockdown for me.

Be safe ....

[Howie-WP]

Lockdown van project1:


Ever since I got the van, this bugged my OCD. Interior switches condition (surface soft touch worn off), so even before I had it, I ordered a decal kit! This is what happened...


a. Fix button wear:
- Dunno why VW used that stupid "soft touch" finish on T1's console buttons.....it wears something horrible. As I am cheap and the van is currently a 3rd car, wanted to
fix on the cheap. Bought a decal kit for the T1 from: World-Graphix on eBay for $35. Complete button decal kit for the T1, Radio, window/aircon/mirror/steering wheel control decals.


- watched this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hkmIXWbvbM


Needed:
- Decal kit
- trim tool removal kit.
- Internet to youtube removal
- Spray paint primer and matt black paint
- lots of time and patience.....


Process:
- Remove switches (where possible)
- Clean area, removing of the "soft touch" covering, I used lacquer thinners
- Once done, use Spirit acolhol to remove any residue in prep for spray paint or decal afixing.
- for window switches, window switch surrounds and headlight switch prepare for aerosol paint (using masking tape to cover what you don't want painted) by coating with primer and then apply coat of matt black paint.
- This was done to give switches with high usage a more resiliant finish (I carefully removed paint in area where night illumination would be needed on the switch).
- in some of the pics the decal seems different colour to paint, in real life it is less noticable.
- carefully add decal to appropriate area.
- for aircon/radio/center console controls, I used a paint marker koki to "colour in" white edges of the buttons so as not to have it showing when applying sticker (window/light switches were spraypained so no issue there)


Samples:
- Drivers side door window switches and plastic surround [Check youtube on how to remove these trim pieces]:
- Before


- During

- After







- Other window switches and plastic surround [Check youtube on how to remove these trim pieces]:
- Before

- During

- After



- Mirror control:
- Before

- During

- After



- Aircon switches:
- Before

- During

- After



- Headlight switch [Check youtube on how to remove these trim pieces]: (note stating "Spots off" is a reminder to me as I use them as "driving lights" and sometimes forget them on ;( )
- Before

- During

- After



Still have some of the radio buttons and steering wheel to do, but you get the idea.


So the verdict is that for $35 and some time on my part, the interior of the van looks like OEM again. Makes an amazing difference and I am glad I did it.

[JanB]

Great job!
I assume getting the trim pieces in and out is 90% of the work?

[Kortgat]

Looking like new, great job.

[Howie-WP]

Great job!
I assume getting the trim pieces in and out is 90% of the work?

Closer to 50% on the main door switches (front door card has to come off to remove plastic trim including switches), 50% clean / prep. The rest closer to 80% removal of trim and then clean and apply decals.

[Howie-WP]

Lockdown van project1 (continued):
Button fix continued, to do Radio, seat warmer switches,hazard,airbag and Aircon unit.
Before:



Radio:
- During:





seat warmer switchesx2,hazard,airbag:
- During / removal / clean




** I decided not to apply a decal to the hazard switch and left it red, just to be different!





Aircon unit:
- During / removal / clean



After:



One slight oopsie, only noticed after I stripped the radio buttons that the decal kit was for a non RDS radio (we got the RDS unit ) I had to apply the decals as I had. ops: So I need to do a slight mental conversion when wanting to use the CD shuttle and so on. No biggy as I only use FM radio (with preset 6 set to my .mp3 bluetooth player)


I removed as much of the "luxurious soft touch" coating as I could from all the buttons. It is time consuming work and is best if you wanna respray any of the surfaces (I say is required for any of the high wear areas. I used primer and matt black spray. Some of the plastics, from different suppliers, finish differently with the same spray but not uncomfortable so.


The center console now looks like new and has made a massive difference to the cabin. I am happy with my lockdown project!


ps: Thanks Stephen-WP for the decal application. I don't have the patience and focus for that :roll:

[Howie-WP]

Just about 1560km......I await the final fuel bill to check consumption. The final 420km from Leeuw Gamka reflected 13l/100km on the OBC when I got the van in the afternoon.

Final verdict is in, van averaged 7.79km/l or 12.83l/100km, using just over 200l for the trip :driving: Not too bad pretty much the same as Wookie (my Mk5 .:R32) on the open road.

edit: my memory was wrong, last Wookie long distance trip was:
Trip stats: 1795km (round trip) average consumption 9.3l / 100kms, not bad for da Wookie.