My 1g DSM story: 1990 Tsi awd clean street machine

[T bags]

Quick little update as I did some more work while putting off starting the power steering.

First off I finally fixed (somewhat) all the oil leaks!! It took a couple of trips to ace hardware and re-tapping the threads (albeit without an actual tapper ) but the last oil leak is finally much more manageable. This pic is after driving around 100 miles round trip to the car meet up in Ferndale:View attachment 665229
As you can see there isn't any oil coming out of the threads anymore, however now the gasket is pretty wet and the oil pan was a little damp with oil so now I think it's coming from the mating surfaces. At this point I'll take what I can get as this is probably the best it can be without dropping the pan and figuring out a permanent solution. It only leaks while the car is on and oil is actively flowing through the pipe so I'll take it.

Besides that I put on a quick release as the airbag was already deleted anyway. I loved that I was able to maintain the MOMO wheel as it's very period correct IMO and I think it looks awesomeView attachment 665230View attachment 665231View attachment 665233
Here's a photo someone took at the meetView attachment 665234
The car drove amazing there and back, AFR's stayed around 13/14/15 and there was no major fluctuations in the oil pressure. I can't wait to get it tuned so I can really romp on it. Besides that I got some more goodies in the post in the form of a Forge Motorsport non-recirculating BOV and my braided brake lines for the upcoming brake refreshView attachment 665235
I know the stock BOV is perfectly fine I just wanted one that didn't sound like a sneeze

Other than that I also plan to ditch the electronic boost controller and go to a manual one as the electronic one is disconnected right now anyway. If anyone has any info on how that works with a DSMLink V3 ECU it would be greatly appreciated.

I have the same harbor freight aluminum jack. That momo steering wheel looks great

 

[Vegas Smith]

The oil return is designed to use the special washer-gaskets. You may never completely fix the leak until you use these:

EXTREME PSI : Your #1 Source for In Stock Performance Parts

 

[TCB91GSX]

Quick little update as I did some more work while putting off starting the power steering.

First off I finally fixed (somewhat) all the oil leaks!! It took a couple of trips to ace hardware and re-tapping the threads (albeit without an actual tapper ) but the last oil leak is finally much more manageable. This pic is after driving around 100 miles round trip to the car meet up in Ferndale:View attachment 665229
As you can see there isn't any oil coming out of the threads anymore, however now the gasket is pretty wet and the oil pan was a little damp with oil so now I think it's coming from the mating surfaces. At this point I'll take what I can get as this is probably the best it can be without dropping the pan and figuring out a permanent solution. It only leaks while the car is on and oil is actively flowing through the pipe so I'll take it.

Besides that I put on a quick release as the airbag was already deleted anyway. I loved that I was able to maintain the MOMO wheel as it's very period correct IMO and I think it looks awesomeView attachment 665230View attachment 665231View attachment 665233
Here's a photo someone took at the meetView attachment 665234
The car drove amazing there and back, AFR's stayed around 13/14/15 and there was no major fluctuations in the oil pressure. I can't wait to get it tuned so I can really romp on it. Besides that I got some more goodies in the post in the form of a Forge Motorsport non-recirculating BOV and my braided brake lines for the upcoming brake refreshView attachment 665235
I know the stock BOV is perfectly fine I just wanted one that didn't sound like a sneeze

Other than that I also plan to ditch the electronic boost controller and go to a manual one as the electronic one is disconnected right now anyway. If anyone has any info on how that works with a DSMLink V3 ECU it would be greatly appreciated.

Is that the NRG short hub + quick release ?
Are you happy with the length that it protrudes from the column?
Would you mind posting an overview picture showing that ?
Thanks! Looks like you got that fog light bracket to work !

 

[Xineth]

Is that the NRG short hub + quick release ?
Are you happy with the length that it protrudes from the column?
Would you mind posting an overview picture showing that ?
Thanks! Looks like you got that fog light bracket to work !

Yes it is the NRG short hub + quick release (specifically the 2.5 model). It still boggles my mind people make off the shelf parts that bolt right up to a 32 year old car. The hardest part about putting this new hub on was getting the old one off I have no idea what hub was on it before. It sticks out a little longer than the old one but it isn't noticeable at all for me IMO. Here's me trying my best to get a good comparison pic

 

[T bags]

Yes it is the NRG short hub + quick release (specifically the 2.5 model). It still boggles my mind people make off the shelf parts that bolt right up to a 32 year old car. The hardest part about putting this new hub on was getting the old one off I have no idea what hub was on it before. It sticks out a little longer than the old one but it isn't noticeable at all for me IMO. Here's me trying my best to get a good comparison pic View attachment 665255View attachment 665256

Was their an increase in leg room?

 

[Xineth]

Was their an increase in leg room?

Like I said honestly I don't see a difference at all between the new and old hub. It feels the same to me which is fine because I had plenty of room to begin with.

 

[Wizeman76]

I've just binged read this thread and it's great to see all owners continue to update it with their experiences. The pictures of the car traveling the USA is a bonus. Those door ground effects missing really hurt the look, can't believe no one has thought of sourcing any. Are they really that hard to find? Anyway keep up the great work.

 

[Xineth]

I've just binged read this thread and it's great to see all owners continue to update it with their experiences. The pictures of the car traveling the USA is a bonus. Those door ground effects missing really hurt the look, can't believe no one has thought of sourcing any. Are they really that hard to find? Anyway keep up the great work.

Door ground effects? Like sideskirts?

 

[Xineth]

Last update for at least a little bit. Gonna be visiting family and my life is unfortunately getting busier. Besides that, here's what I managed to get done.

All of the parts to refresh the rear brakes came in so that was the main priority of the day. Here's what it looked like:

Old:

New:

Also got new braided brake lines:

Also put on some more goodies since we had extra time.
New BOV from previous post (sounds amazing, I love everything about it. Flutters at low boost!!)

Also went to a manual boost controller. This is just a temporary mounting as I want to eventually route it into the cab.

That's all for now. I dropped the car off at a local shop to get the power steering re-implemented as I don't have the time, space or tools to do it myself. I'm also going to be visiting family during this 4th of July weekend so hopefully it'll be done by the time I get back into town. I can't wait to drive the car with power steering.
As for what's next it will probably be starting on the dual catch-can setup. I need to do a lot more research into the PCV system on the car and figure out if mine has been touched at all. After that's all dialed in it should be just about time to get her retuned, which will be very exciting.

 

[Wizeman76]

Yes the side skirts that are attached to the door.

 

[Xineth]

Hey everybody, I know it's been a hot minute but life likes to get in the way of things. Haven't had a ton of time to work on her but here's a little summary of what I've managed to get done these past couple months.

First off I found some replacement headlights that fit H4 LED bulbs. HID's have been a hassle in my experience so I think LED's work just fine. Unfortunately I had to mess with the wiring so now I don't have hi-beams but all the "hi-beam" setting was was shifting the beam higher up on the road.

I think with all the plastic being clear up front it looks fantastic. The next step would be to change the corner lights to white instead of orange.

After that I started working on the catch can setup. After reading through the forums I came up with a temporary solution that will work fine for now. Eventually I will go to a dual inlet catch can and completely delete the other one. For now this is what I got. The first step was welding a bung onto my intake pipe:

I had somebody local weld it for me for very cheap so big ups to him! It decided to go with -6AN lines and fittings as I'm not needing to move crazy amounts of air it'll do just fine. After that I started modifying the bracket that was previously holding up the Soda Bottle catch can and even before that the meth system:

After making sure the mount is sturdy I started putting it back in the car:

As you can see the only issue is the petcock is right up against the motor mount. It doesn't cause it to vibrate or anything bad, I just can't drain it without taking it completely out of the car now. Honestly it's not that big of a deal as I shouldn't have to drain it often, just an inconvenience.
After that I started messing with the valve cover. I replaced the NPT fitting with a -6AN fitting. This was a lot more annoying than I thought it would be but I got it done eventually:

I used some high quality sealant I got from a buddy to make sure it won't leak/go anywhere, which it won't I'm confident
Since the valve cover was off I decided to buy some valve cover studs from DSM3DCreations just for some quality of life in the future. Everything those guys make are amazing and high quality, they're honestly a blessing to the community!

After that I measured the lines out and put them on:

That's it for now. The line coming off the side of the valve cover is going to the original catch can that was installed way back when Jay had the car; It's just a breather now.
Unfortunately it is leaking a severe amount of oil from the valve cover now. I think the gasket may have gotten snagged on one of the studs or maybe I didn't put enough RTV, who knows. Next step is to fix the oil leak which shouldn't be too hard, I'm just going to order a new gasket.
The next update will probably be around the new year as I plan to trailer it back home and have a friend of mine get a proper tune on it. I recently purchased a toy hauler to facilitate that!!

Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll have some good news and a good idea of how much power it's putting down after the tune!

 

[Xineth]

Managed to do some more work on the car even with my ridiculous schedule recently (13 hour days) and moving houses. It isn't much but it's more off the laundry list of things I want to do to get the car how I want it, so lets begin.

The goal of today was to make a "switch panel" where the OEM stereo unit would normally sit and then route the manual boost controller into the cab. Now, I'm a very novice metal worker and don't have the best tools in the slightest, but I did the best I could with what I had. I also forgot to take a lot of pictures because it was freezing outside even in the garage.

Making the hole for the boost controller:

About to start painting it. We also put rubber car door trim around the edges to kind of clean up the look of the whole thing. The little hole is for the radiator fan switch:

Finished product with rattle can:

In the car:

I used the mounting points for what I'm assuming would have been for the stereo. I also realized after I probably should have sprayed the bolts black too but it's whatever. We used a rubber grommet to keep the boost controller in place. I left a lot of open space in case I ever wanted to add a gauge in the middle.T he only gauge I would want more than the 3 I have right now would be a water temp gauge as I'm perfectly fine with just the 3.

I routed the hoses from the waste gate and charge pipe through the hole where the clutch cable comes out from the cab. We tried out best to make it look as neat as possible and I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out.

That's it! Hopefully next update will be after I get a tune on it which should be shortly after the new year. Can't wait to drive it after that, it should drive way better.

One more picture I thought looked good from that night:

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I LIKE it. But, I Iike controls at my fingertips. I have a MBC in my Red Talon and it worked just fine. My Blue Talon I run on WG pressure and if I need more I have an override for FULL boost. Just kinda depends on what you as the owner wants. I think you will enjoy the ability to add boost on the fly if needed. Just stuff I like.
Good job!

 

[T bags]

Nice truck
We have a similar setup in the 2g and it works fine

 

[Xineth]

Finally got around to tackling the power steering system, and boy did I underestimate how difficult it would be. It took 2 weekends to fully install everything back to as OEM as possible but it's done.
The amount of hiccups/road blocks encountered were astronomical and because of how irritated I was getting I forgot to take a lot of pictures, but I'll explain the process the best I can
Big thanks to VelocityLabs on YouTube for his excellent step by step guide on how to remove the steering rack, which also means I'm thanking "laserspeeddemon" as the video follows his forum post on here.

Firstly, I laid everything out to make sure I had everything I needed (turns out I didn't but more on that later).

After that it was time to start removing the old rack and putting the new one in.

Got the outer tie-rods out, then it was time to drop the transfer case. I've heard/read stories of people being able to wiggle the rack out without dropping the T-case but it would have been next to impossible to install the new rack without it dropped.
Downpipe coming off, and yes I know it's filthy but it works.

Cross-member out next:

Then you'll be able to drop the t-case. It's honestly way lighter than I expected so if you have two people you don't even have to use a jack, just have the other person support it while you take the bolts out:

My splines don't look the healthiest so I'm probably due for a rebuild or a new one unfortunately .
After all that it's just 4 bolts that holds the rack in. Super easy to get out at this point:

After that we got the new rack in (forgot to take pictures) and put everything underneath the car back in. This is where it starts to get messy. Since I have aftermarket motor mounts, I had nowhere to mount the OEM power steering pump bracket, which means we were going to have to make our own. Before we started that, we ran to the hardware store to pick up all the hardware we would need for it, thanks to a 1G fastener guide I found on one of the Facebook groups.
Now, before anyone says anything, we are by no means professional metal workers and had very limited tools at our disposal for this kind of work. At the end of the day, the bracket works and actually holds the pump quite well. With that out of the way, here's what the process looked like.
First part of the bracket:

Making the arms/plate to mount the OEM pump bracket:

A lot of heating, hammering, grinding, bending, twisting and anger later this is what the pump looks like mounted in the car:

And that's it. As I said before I forgot to take a lot of pictures but the system works perfectly fine. It probably took a total of around a day to do from start to finish, but man it was beyond worth it. The car drives so much better now, and by the grace of god I haven't found any leaks in the system so far.
As I stated earlier I was missing a ton of parts which I am going to list in case anyone else looks at this before doing their own system. I managed to get everything else besides to parts listed below from either RockAuto or your choice of auto parts stores:
-If you're going to trash your old rack, obviously need to source a new one. PLEASE make sure to keep the rubber bushings that wrap around the rack where it mounts to the car, these are very hard to find.
-I managed to source a remanufactured power steering pump which is great, however, it did not come with the plug/oil pressure adjustment nor the return line flange you can see clearly in the last two pictures by where the banjo fitting goes. These are a must otherwise the pump won't work.
-There is a hard line that comes off the powered rack to the high pressure supply line to the pump, this is also a must.
-Power steering reservoir and bracket for it
I managed to purchase a whole power steering line assembly from Performancepartout which had everything I needed, which was extremely lucky.

Other than that, this car now has power steering again and I can't wait to drive it more!

 

[ogAviJohnson]

Dude great perseverance on this project - enjoy the upgrade!

 

[Ludachris]

Good info in that post. And nice dedication to the project.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Glad you got a good dsm