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Modifications

This page will show all the modifications that have been carried out on the Bora; starting with the oldest at the bottom working towards the newest at the top.
By clicking the title for each modification you will be taken to the respective section on this page for that mod. Alternatively you can just browse through all the modifications.

All images are click-able for a larger version.





RS6 Alloys Spraying

14-May-10
After sadly loosing my RC's to corrosion, and not being able to afford the full strip down refurb that they need, I decided to just get my RS6's resprayed as I want something different from the normal silver.
After much deliberation, and mixing up different paints, I chose one of the first colours I thought of, Volkswagen's Silverstone Grey (US only colour). They are the exact colour I had in mind when I wanted them sprayed so am very happy!
Photos to follow after the All-Types VW show this weekend.





De-Locking

14-May-10
A quick simple mod to improve looks and security.





Rear Valance (+ Bumper) Spraying

14-May-10
I'd been wanting something done with the rear after fitting my smoothed front. So I decided to just have the rear valance painted. While that was being done I got the rear bumper resprayed too as that had a few scratches here and there.
Pictures will be added after the weekend (will be taking lots of photos at All-Types)





Egr Disabled

25-Apr-10





Rear Whiteline ARB

28-Mar-10
Finally got round to sorting out the rear ARB to match the front.
Went for the 24mm adjustable Whiteline bar from Balance Motorsport, fitted it on the medium setting but after a drive I feel the hard setting is needed. Cornering is certainly improved, a lot less understeer but it's still there, so hopefully the hard setting will be perfect. This makes the handling sorted for the forseeable future.
Note: I'm aware the bolts aren't tightened in the photos, the ones I took with it all tightened up were too dark because it was on the ground so less light.





Front Whiteline ARB (with LCR wishbone bushes)

23-Oct-09
Well I've endured a few months of driveshaft rubbing which has prevented me from making the most of my coilovers. My wishbone bushes also needed doing.
So, I gave Dan at TRD in Stroud (turner-race-developments.co.uk) a call to get booked in to have the adjustable Whiteline ARB fitted (bought from Balance Motorsport) along with some Leon Cupra R rear wishbone bushes and standard front wishbone bushes.
After having that done I was recommended by Dan to Chris Mullins Tyres (chrismullins.co.uk) to have my tracking sorted out (after having the front end apart it needs doing). Really happy with the service there too, and my steering is finally perfectly straight! (Protyre didn't manage it when I used them after fitting my coilovers, steering was off by a few degrees).
I don't have any pics of the bar fitted, but here are some of the bar itself:





Black Rear View Mirror

18-Oct-09
One thing that annoyed me about the front of my car was the light grey/cream rear view mirror. Because everything else from the front is dark, and the mirror sticks out because it's too light.
Perfect solution is to just swap it with a black one.





Smooth Front Bumper (and 4mo Valance)

18-Oct-09
Well this was a bit of an impulse buy, but it was something that I had been planning for the future anyway. So this has just happened sooner than I had planned.
It's a standard, genuine front bumper that's had the rub-strip smoothed out using plastic weld. This is something that I prefer to the R32 bumper that is common enough on Golfs, but they're starting to be seen a lot on Boras now too. So this is a bit different.
It also came with a 4mo/PD150 valance so that's staying on there. I did have the plan to paint that body colour too but after having it fitted as it is, and talking to other dub owners I've decided to leave it as it is.





Arch Rolling

05-Jun-09
After fitting the coilovers and having them set quite low, thanks to the spacers they're right out next to the arches and catching over most bumps in the road.
Well, after a little wait and putting up with quite a bit of scrubbing, I was booked in at JB-Autos in Bristol.
He's a great guy down there and definately recomended! Talked to me about exactly what he'd done and came for a test drive to make sure I was happy.
There's no difference from the outside, but there's more clearance inside the arch. Photos of inside the arch to follow when I get a chance.





JOM Coilovers

16-May-09
Although I was quite happy with the ride height of my car, the handling left a lot to be desired with just sitting on springs. So, coilovers it was.
I was originally going to be getting some Eibach coilies but I don't feel I can justify spending that sort of money when the JOM coilovers have had great reviews. I bit the bullet and thought I'd see what they're like; the only downside occasionally reported is a harsh/crashy ride but that wouldn't be too bad as I don't do many long journey's these days. At least they should be good on the track!
So, fitted them myself with some help from a friend. They're definately not too hard or crashy. Sadly though, with they height they are I'm getting a lot of rubbing at the front, so next up (soon!) is some arch rolling!
Photos taken at All Types '09 (can't take credit for the second two), a day after having them fitted. They sit slightly lower now after settling.





Wheels Spacers

01-Feb-09 & 13-Mar-09
The front spacers are required to allow the wheels to fit over the wider Brembo calipers; 8mm, 10mm or 15mm would be needed. So I bought some 15mm Eibach Pro Spacers with the intention of fitting them on the front temporarily to fit the brakes, then getting the smallest possible size for the front and moving the 15mm spacers to the rear.
Sadly it looks as though the 15mm spacers will be required on the front (which is a bit wide with the 8J RS6 winter wheels), so they'll be staying there and it'll have to be 20mm spacers for the rear using H&R's TRAK+ design where the spacer bolts to the hub then the wheels bolt to the spacer.
The fronts are fitted with the brakes (as of 01/02/09). Rears were added on the 13th March, and here's the photos: (Top row before, bottom row after)





Leon Cupra R 4-Pot Brembos (323mm fronts & 256mm rears)

01-Feb-09
After taking her around the track and boiling my brake fluid I decided getting some uprated brake fluid didn't quite cut it. I also decided that the normal 312mm (V5/V6) brake upgrade was too common, so that left the options of the 334mm R32 set up or the 323mm LCR set up.
Following research the R32 brakes are really quite heavy, and although they had a bigger disc (expensive for replacements too) the calipers are only a 2-pot. However, the LCR brakes have the more powerful Brembo 4-pots and a slightly smaller disc. Even disregarding the better performance, nice red Brembo brakes win in on looks!
Fitting took a little longer than expected due to little problems (like, for example the retaining screws holding the discs in place were stuck fast on the front; impact driver couldn't budge them either!) but wasn't a difficult job. Bleeding them was a piece of cake with the Gunson Ezebleed pressure bleeding system.
Currently running on standard brake lines (LCR fronts) and Halfords DOT4 fluid, but will be upgrading to braided lines and Motul RBF600 fluid before the next track day.





Anni BBS RCs

21-Jan-09
Whilst following the aim to make my Bora more 'track ready' and also to add a bit more of a 'racy' look to her I decided to go for some genuine Anniversary BBS RCs. They're much lighter than the RS6 wheels so will improve all aspects of performance, oh, and the looks!
They still have the original finish but it's starting to corrode on a couple of the wheels so a refurb in a dark shade of Black Chrome will be on the cards. The old RS6 wheels will be staying for winter wheels so they may still be seen in photos.





GTI Recaro's

17-Jan-09
This is probably one of the most noticeable mods done so far from a drivers point of view; you notice it from when you get it 'till when you get out. And even when you're not in them they just look more sporty. Yep, proper seats; GTI Recaros.
Door cards didn't come with the seats so a matching set will be bought when I feel like it; they don't clash that much.





Remap at ChippedUK

04-Dec-08
The day had finally come for me to get my car remapped! I decided to go with ChippedUK and their ST3 (Self Tuning) system, selecting the economy and 'fast road' maps while still being able to keep my original map. I can freely switch between each of these maps with just a couple of minutes wait.
The guys a ChippedUK were great but sadly there was a bit of a wait to get on the rollers due to a problem beyond their control (a previous customer). However, this gave me time to read an article in Volkswagen Driver magazine about the V6 4motion Bora which was nice... don't hear much about Boras.
Anyway, I got her on the rollers with the standard map and she made a healthy 135hp, not bad when it should just be 130hp and she's had 130,000 miles over 6 years.
Then I switched her over to the 'fast road' map and we went again, this time making 169.4hp and 288lbs-ft torque.

Original Map Dyno Graph

Fast Road Map Dyno Graph





Colgan Customs Bonnet Bra

09-May-08
Something that I had decided I wanted. So I got it. A lot harder to find one than the Golf's bonnet bra, a decent one at least. I had come across the AutoBra website but didn't like the look of their bra's; they didn't seem to come up the bonnet far enough and looked odd. So, after some more searching I came across Colgan Customs in the US. I started talking to them about what one I wanted and if they'd be ok with International delivery and things went from there. It's a lovely quality piece and only cost a bit more than the AutoBra one (the beauty of the exchange rate at the time). Anyway, here's some pics I took when I put it on for the first time.
The picture at the end is from UPS showing how quickly it was delivered all the way from South-West America.





Kamei Grille

Mar-08
Below are the three grille that have been on my car. On the left is the standard one, in the middle is the Bonrath one, and on the right is the current grille, and Kamei mesh grille.
I had bought a Bonrath one from Germany, but gave it to friend on a forum to paint it. He then had to go away for work and I haven't seen it for over a year, so that's gone. While I was waiting to get that back I decided to get another grille, the Kamei one. But seeing as the other one isn't coming back I'll be keeping this one, gives an nice aggressive look.





Anni Lights

Mar-08
This was something that I did pretty much on my own. There were guides on how to do it for the Golf (which included breaking the light units and using donor units to make a whole light again) which is more difficult. But couldn't find any information about doing it on a Bora which, in theory is much more simple.
Seeing as there wasn't a guide for this I decided to write my own to help others like me. The guide can be seen here, there are also more photos towards the end of the guide.





Stubby Aerial

Feb-08
Just a quick little mod; a nice neat Stubby aerial.





Bora Sport Rear Lights

27-Jan-08
This is a very subtle mod, swapping the standard SE spec rear lights with the items from the Bora Sport. The only difference being the standard lights have a white section of lens at the bottom for the reverse light and fogs; with the 'Sport' lights the whole unit is red.
Not photos for this as I didn't take any at the swap over, but the photos old and new show a difference.





Koni Lowering Springs

19-Jan-08
After months of torment by fellow dubbers I finally get her lowered! She'll sit quite nicely on these Koni 40mm lowering springs, they're also a nice colour... not that the colour had anything to do with the choice... ahem.
I decided that it wasn't going to be that hard to fit them so I wasn't going to pay a garage to do them, and it wasn't that bad. The backs were easy peasy and with the fronts you've just got to know how hard you can hit the hub (to get the strut out).
Anyway, here's some progress pics!





Aero Wipers

Dec-07
I needed new wiper blades so decided to go for the proper Aero wipers, including the new arms. Looks are the main upside of these, but performance is better at motorway speed.
No photos for this, but it's nothing new.





RS6 Alloys

30-Oct-07
Ok, these are only reps. But at £500 including delivery, tires and centre caps I wasn't really planning on doing much else!
These wheels definitely give the Bora the solid look that I wanted, and although I was tempted by the 19" version the extra cost to buy (another £300) along with the cost of replacement tires put me off. Luckily I feel I've make the right choice for both looks and handling.
Below are some pics during the fitting of them, showing some nice comparisons in diameter and width with the standard 16" alloys. Please excuse the height! A few months to wait for the springs.





Cruise Control

08-Aug-08
The first addition that I made to my Bora was cruise control. This cost around £70 from eBay, but it is also available on vagparts.com (Sadly, VAGparts went bust at the end of '08).
Me and some other guys that meet up from forums in the south west decided to do this together following Foxy's guide (which isn't being hosted any more, someone is working on re-hosting it though).
We had great problems getting the terminal out of the fuse box, so it had to be done over a weekend. But it's all done now and it's nice to have!





De-Badging

May-07
Well... it's got to be done really. The first thing that I did and it makes such a difference; a nice smooth bum!