PowerDemon’s '15 MK7

[PowerDemon]

So thanks to COVID we are stillllll waiting on the LPFP. I called Arnold at Pagparts earlier this week to upgrade to the 525LPH pump because they had them in stock but no 450s and no sign of a shipment of 450s anytime soon (as of last week). However when I called him he said that they were getting a shipment of the 450s that day or the next so I decided to stick with the 450 because I really don't want to have to pay for or fool with a controller at the moment. Especially since it would totally be overkill since I’m still on the DI system only at the moment. I’m hoping it gets shipped out next week.

I got the car up on jack stands for the routine 5,000 mile oil change but had some other scheduled maintenance to do while I had it tied up in the garage. I installed a new Bosch rear wiper because the OEM one was kissed, filled the washer fluid, changed the cabin filter, inspected the spark plugs, changed the transmission fluid, and did my oil change.

As usual I used Liquimoly 5W-40 oil, an OEM filter, and replaced the drain plug. I got an oil sample for Blackstone and will drop it in the mail tomorrow. Of course me being the hairless ape I am I knocked the funnel over while I was pouring in the new oil and got oil all down the backside of my engine and on the downpipe . It's what I get for saying the VW service techs were incompetent I guess.

The big thing this service though was changing the transmission oil. I’ve never done this before but it seemed straightforward. I decided to switch to Motul Gear 300 oil. I also grabbed a new drain plug to replace the old one when I ordered the oil. I found out as well that I do not have the fill on the front side of the transmission and instead have it on the top driver side of the transmission as you can see in the photo. Apparently for the upper fill plug you are not supposed to fill it to it's overflowing like you are if you have the forward facing plug. So instead I put in 2.3 liters of the fluid in as speced by VW. It was easy enough though. Just make sure you have some sort of tube to extend from the funnel down to the fill. Man that gear lube stinks!

I took a drive around the block after the change and it felt a bit smoother. I’ll be interested if it gets any smoother/quieter once the fluid is good and warmed up though.

I also pulled my spark plugs which only had a few thousand miles but I am hoping they last at least 15,000 miles so I wanted to make sure they were doing well. I checked the gap and regapped them accordingly with my snazzy new BMS gapping tool. All four plugs had opened up from .024” originally to .026”. So I gapped them back down to .024” and tossed them back in. All looked good upon visual inspection.

I was really hoping I could get the LPFP by the time I needed to do this service so I could do it all at once but alas. Hopefully it will be here soon and I can see how the car is running with the Dragy. Thanks for reading!

 

[jimlloyd40]

Gotta appreciate the honesty.

 

[JerseyDrew77]

PD, you don't have an oil funnel that locks into place?

 

[PowerDemon]

PD, you don't have an oil funnel that locks into place?

Nope. I just stick a normal funnel in the oil fill and lean it on the hood lift and the weather strip and pour away. Janky I know but it works. Most of the time...

I just can’t bring myself to buy a special funnel when I have at least 5 other perfectly good ones laying around that can do the job. Last thing I need is another speciality tool for this car lol

 

[JerseyDrew77]

Nope. I just stick a normal funnel in the oil fill and lean it on the hood lift and the weather strip and pour away. Janky I know but it works. Most of the time...

I just can’t bring myself to buy a special funnel when I have at least 5 other perfectly good ones laying around that can do the job. Last thing I need is another speciality tool for this car lol

Lol... It's a German car so you need all kinds of specialty tools for it.

 

[PowerDemon]

With the fall season rapidly approaching I had to get my off season wheel setup sorted out. So I finally got rid of my OEM Austins and exchanged them for a set of 8P Audi A3 S-Line wheels (18x7.5) specs. They were clean in terms of curb rash but they had been painted and it was starting to peel. But I was ready to get rid of my Austins and I planned on having them re finished anyways as I can’t justify the cost of new OEM wheels but I can’t STAND curb rash or imperfections. So after I picked them up I immediately took them to my powder coat shop (Nolan at Advanced Coating Solutions). We decided to go with a lighter shade of silver/grey than my Pretorias but darker than the OEM silver, so we will see what he comes up with. I'm partial to OEM wheels with a lot of spokes so these fit the bill nicely. Overall I’m pleased and I am excited to see how they turn out.

Somebody needs to stop letting me pick up wheels with crap offset lol. I think I’m gonna need 15mm spacers up front to clear dem brakes. Damn!

Here are the wheels on his Mk6. I haven't seen any Mk7s rolling on these wheels but I think it's going to look pretty sweet.

A close up of the crappy peeling paint.

 

[Diggs24]

Need a centercap I think. Not bad

 

[PowerDemon]

Hello all,

Today I attempted the install of my new Pagparts 450 LPFP. It was going well at first and everything went according to both the PR instructions and the ones that Diggs posted in 2018. I was redrilling one of the holes in the basket to make sure it was drilled out sufficiently and the top part of one of the recessed holes/plastic welds broke off not allowing the new screw to get any traction. This also means that the basket would leak while in the fuel tank. Neither of these are ideal so now I need a new LPFP basket I just spoke with Arnold from PPT and he is going to hook me up with a new basket pre drilled so I don't have the option to f**k it up again.

To be honest I don't even know what I did wrong. I was going slowly and not applying excess pressure, I had applied more pressure and drill speed previously with no adverse effects. It must have been my angle or something like that. DON'T LET THIS BE YOU!! I haven’t seen very many broken baskets here of late and I just wanted everyone to know that it is possible and it does happen. Be careful and go slowly.

Pre destruction

Post destruction

 

[Diggs24]

There's 2 sizes of bits in the kit, right?

 

[daconchslop]

There's 2 sizes of bits in the kit, right?

No bits provided with a PPT pump.

 

[PowerDemon]

There's 2 sizes of bits in the kit, right?

Nope. Pagparts kit doesn’t come with any bits. But I followed the PR instructions which said a 7.5mm bit to drill out the plastic welds. I don’t have any metric bits so I used a 19/64ths bit which is supposed to be 7.5mm.

 

[daconchslop]

It’s easy enough to happen. Sucks that it did. Once that bit bites it’s going to crack the plastic. Mine made the most awful noises but managed not to break. I used a corded power drill with really high drill speeds and went very cautiously.

 

[Diggs24]

Nope. Pagparts kit doesn’t come with any bits. But I followed the PR instructions which said a 7.5mm bit to drill out the plastic welds. I don’t have any metric bits so I used a 19/64ths bit which is supposed to be 7.5mm.

PR kit comes with 2 bits. Instructions should say use smaller bit then enlarge with larger one. Hope they didn't change that as it's obviously important.

 

[daconchslop]

PR kit comes with 2 bits. Instructions should say use smaller bit then enlarge with larger one. Hope they didn't change that as it's obviously important.

Not anymore, they only mention the 7.5mm. Not sure the kit even comes with two anymore either. I used a smaller one first.

 

[PowerDemon]

It’s easy enough to happen. Sucks that it did. Once that bit bites it’s going to crack the plastic. Mine made the most awful noises but managed not to break. I used a corded power drill with really high drill speeds and went very cautiously.

I went the slow route, and in hindsight I should have done what you did with higher speed. I was just too worried that it would catch, I wouldn’t be able to stop it in time, and snap the housing. I also should have used a smaller drill bit to start but I didn’t think of it at the time and as you mentioned the PR instructions did not mention it.