We were staying at the Driftwood Inn just outside of the park and our room balcony overlooked the canyon walls so that seemed like a good place to plan the activities for the day. We got all of the gear together and headed out to the shuttle stop for the ride into the park. It wasn't very crowded yet as we went through the visitor center.
We had noticed a very short trail from the visitor center up to an archaeology site and decided to check that out first. It turns out that there used to be a few buildings at the site but those have been buried or torn down. Since that wasn't very interesting we hopped on the park shuttle and headed to the Emerald Pools trailhead at the lodge. As we were crossing the river we saw the corral and booked a trail ride for the afternoon, that would give us enough time to hike the Pools and grab a snack for lunch.
The Emerald Pool trail is usually pretty crowded since it's a relatively short hike but as we got to the second and on to the upper pools the crowds thinned out. There was still a good amount of water in the pools so we got some good pictures of the water cascading down to the lower pool.
Back at the lodge we grabbed a light snack and then went back to the corral for our ride. There was one other couple with us and we got our trusty steeds assigned. Danielle was on a horse named Nava-joe and I got a tall mule named Leggs, I was assured that I would have a great view. It was nice to sit after the morning hike and Leggs seemed to know the way so I could relax and enjoy the scenery. This was a fun outing though and provided a different perspective of the park.
We still had most of the afternoon left so took the shuttle to Weeping Rock, one of the other short trails in the park. I tried to convince Danielle to continue on to the Hidden Canyon trail but she said no :) Weeping Rock is at the end of the canyon so you get fantastic views of the cliff faces on both sides.
With just a bit more time before we needed to go back to town for dinner we decided to make a final stop at the lodge and grabbed ice cream cones to eat on the lawn under the shade of the big tree.
The group dinner was back at the Majestic View hotel and we had a pretty good buffet dinner before retiring to the hospitality suite to cap off the day.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Playing catch up
We were up early for the driver meeting ahead of the group drive from Page to the Grand Canyon but since we had missed Antelope Canyon the day before we decided to start there and meet up with the group later.
We were able to head out on the first tour of the morning and the ride in the back of the pickup truck down the wash was as terrifying as I remembered :) Our tour guide showed us where all of the beautiful pictures were and told us many tales of snakes, spiders and floods. It was already quite windy too so there were several sand showers as we hiked through the canyon.
Back at the parking lot we were leaving Page about 2hours after the main group. Luckily we had very little traffic in transit to the Grand Canyon and we were able to run at our own pace through the twisty highways from Kanab to the park. We did stop off for lunch in Jakob's Lake for lunch and fuel too. When we arrived at the park the rest of the group was just about to head on to Springdale so we were able to make up about an hour.
This was my first visit to the north rim and it is so very different from the south rim. The initial drive in feels much more like driving into Yellowstone, except for the lack of buffalo. There are much fewer viewpoints at the north rim too but we did hike out to the Bright Angel Trail which gives you views down the length of the canyon. It was very, very windy along the exposed trail which made things more interesting but we still got a lot of great shots before heading back to the car. We were still about an hour behind the main group so we were thinking we could possibly catch them at their planned fuel stop in Kanab.
We had another fun drive back out of the park with very little traffic but we couldn't quite catch the group. We did have a very nice drive through the east section of Zion on the way to Springdale, Danielle's first time into the park too. We got into a bit too much traffic to play too much in the Mt Carmel tunnel but I'm sure the cars around us have a new found appreciation for five cylinder engines :)
As it turns out we only missed the main group by a couple of minutes after all, but we did have fun trying. We crashed pretty early after dinner with plans to get an early start in the morning.
We were able to head out on the first tour of the morning and the ride in the back of the pickup truck down the wash was as terrifying as I remembered :) Our tour guide showed us where all of the beautiful pictures were and told us many tales of snakes, spiders and floods. It was already quite windy too so there were several sand showers as we hiked through the canyon.
Back at the parking lot we were leaving Page about 2hours after the main group. Luckily we had very little traffic in transit to the Grand Canyon and we were able to run at our own pace through the twisty highways from Kanab to the park. We did stop off for lunch in Jakob's Lake for lunch and fuel too. When we arrived at the park the rest of the group was just about to head on to Springdale so we were able to make up about an hour.
This was my first visit to the north rim and it is so very different from the south rim. The initial drive in feels much more like driving into Yellowstone, except for the lack of buffalo. There are much fewer viewpoints at the north rim too but we did hike out to the Bright Angel Trail which gives you views down the length of the canyon. It was very, very windy along the exposed trail which made things more interesting but we still got a lot of great shots before heading back to the car. We were still about an hour behind the main group so we were thinking we could possibly catch them at their planned fuel stop in Kanab.
We had another fun drive back out of the park with very little traffic but we couldn't quite catch the group. We did have a very nice drive through the east section of Zion on the way to Springdale, Danielle's first time into the park too. We got into a bit too much traffic to play too much in the Mt Carmel tunnel but I'm sure the cars around us have a new found appreciation for five cylinder engines :)
As it turns out we only missed the main group by a couple of minutes after all, but we did have fun trying. We crashed pretty early after dinner with plans to get an early start in the morning.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Our second day would take us from Provo to Page where we would sync up with the TT-West group coming in from Cortez. This was a relatively short drive day split between interstates and more scenic highways. We did get our first taste of high speed cruising on I-15 where there are a couple of autobahn-like 80mph zones. We spent most of the remaining miles on Hwy89 which we would retrace a couple more times over the coming days.
We arrived in Page early so headed straight down to the Horseshoe Bend overlook just south of town. I remembered there being an uphill hike through sand but I had forgotten that the first hill wasn't the actual viewpoint but instead you needed to hike out pretty far across a sandy slope to the edge of the cliff. This was also our first exposure to wind blown sand that would be a recurring theme for the trip. Eventually we did make it to the overlook and it was as good as I had remembered. We got lucky and made it to the viewpoint between large groups so we could enjoy the view and had our pick of photo spots.
We headed to the hotel where we planned to check in and unload the car so that we could do a late afternoon tour of Antelope Canyon. Unfortunately there was a delay getting in to our room so our schedule got a bit messed up. By the time we made it out to the canyon the tours had ended for the day. We made our way back to the hotel for dinner and an evening on the patio with the TT-West group.
We arrived in Page early so headed straight down to the Horseshoe Bend overlook just south of town. I remembered there being an uphill hike through sand but I had forgotten that the first hill wasn't the actual viewpoint but instead you needed to hike out pretty far across a sandy slope to the edge of the cliff. This was also our first exposure to wind blown sand that would be a recurring theme for the trip. Eventually we did make it to the overlook and it was as good as I had remembered. We got lucky and made it to the viewpoint between large groups so we could enjoy the view and had our pick of photo spots.
We headed to the hotel where we planned to check in and unload the car so that we could do a late afternoon tour of Antelope Canyon. Unfortunately there was a delay getting in to our room so our schedule got a bit messed up. By the time we made it out to the canyon the tours had ended for the day. We made our way back to the hotel for dinner and an evening on the patio with the TT-West group.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
sabbatical redux
6 years ago I took an extended road trip that went from Portland, OR to Portland, ME and eventually made my way to the national parks of the southwest. This week Danielle and I set off to revisit some of these same locations, well revisit for me but all new to her. We started with a long first day from Portland to Provo, about 12 hours and 800+ miles. This is the first long trip in the RS too and I have to say it's a fantastic cruiser, even better than the mk1. I wouldn't say I felt ready to keep driving when we reached Provo but I felt much less fatigued than on other trips.
Getting to the hotel in Provo was rather interesting too. I had checked the location on Google prior to leaving and noted that it was at exit 265. Well after getting off the freeway at that exit there were no hotels to be found. Checking Google again, yay iPhones,we realized it was on highway 265 which was really exit 269. Really just dumb luck that we landed that close to it at all! Then, once we found the hotel there was the matter of actually getting in the parking lot. We eventually checked in and crashed around midnight local time.
The other thing we had issues with was the gopro. I had planned to have it setup on the windshield taking pictures every 30 seconds so that I could make time lapse videos of the entire drive. Unfortunately, it kept overheating and discharging the battey so that didn't work out so well. We did manage to get most of the first day though.
Provo is really our only long haul travel day so it should be more interesting from here.
Getting to the hotel in Provo was rather interesting too. I had checked the location on Google prior to leaving and noted that it was at exit 265. Well after getting off the freeway at that exit there were no hotels to be found. Checking Google again, yay iPhones,we realized it was on highway 265 which was really exit 269. Really just dumb luck that we landed that close to it at all! Then, once we found the hotel there was the matter of actually getting in the parking lot. We eventually checked in and crashed around midnight local time.
The other thing we had issues with was the gopro. I had planned to have it setup on the windshield taking pictures every 30 seconds so that I could make time lapse videos of the entire drive. Unfortunately, it kept overheating and discharging the battey so that didn't work out so well. We did manage to get most of the first day though.
Provo is really our only long haul travel day so it should be more interesting from here.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Fuel door replacement + protective rubber bib
A few months back I managed to narf the aluminum trim on the fuel door while getting gas. I figured that rather than risking this happening again (since it is an expensive part) that I'd better add some protection. I've seen rubber bibs like this before, I think Griots used to sell one, and my local modding expert has thrown a few of these on his cars as well. So after getting the replacement door from Genuinue Audi Parts and a section of rubber from Ace Hardware (4" x 8" x 1/16") it was time to perform surgery.
Here was the original damage... This is available for sale if someone wants a spare door to paint, powdercoat, or wrap.
Removal of the door is trickier than I thought it would be. I had done the same replacement on my mk1 and that was a bit easier to deal with.
I prepped the area first to protect the paint and the fuel door, using 3M painters tape and a couple of Griots fender cover blankets.
There are three 3mm allen bolts holding the door to the body, three tabs that hold it down flush with the body and some of the famous black German body glue. The glue doesn't really do too much but one of the tabs needs to be retracted to release the cap.
Start with the three 3mm allen bolts first. These come out relatively easily, you may need to remove the gas cap to get the right angle on the top bolt. These were a bit rusty from exposure to fuel, even with just 18k miles on the car.
I was able to get a small pry tool in to start to lift the door but it was obviously held in place on both ends and wouldn't just lift out. To the front of the car is the tab that needs to be retracted and at the back is the release cable assembly. Here are the small rear tabs, if you open the door they are basically in line with the plastic inner trim, at about the 8 and 11 o'clock positions.
These along with the catch mechanism mean that the front edge has to come out first. To do that the retractable tab needs to be retracted :) If you look at the base of the hinge you can see the end of the tab that you pull on. It's designed to have a small hook tool inserted to pull it outwards which pulls the tab in away from the body. Here's a view looking down at the top, the tab does not stick out very far but there's really no way to force this out around the body.
I tried to pull the catch mechanism with a hook and that seemed to work ok but I ended up cutting a small allen key down to make something that was closer to the tool shown in the manual. On my first attempt I thought I had it pulled all the way out but the cap still wasn't free. I pushed it all the way back in and then pulled it back out and it released on the second try. Here you can see the catch from below.
Some gentle prying should lift the cap out now and you'll get a trail of the glue, it's pretty easy to clean up though.
The next challenge is the cable release mechanism. On the mk1 the cable pulled out far enough to allow you to undo the screws holding it to the fuel door, on the mk2 not so much. You have two choices here... Open the trunk liner and undo the cable or take the screws out. We opted to take the screws out and after trying a couple of 90^ screwdrivers ended up just working them out with some vise grips... brute force but it worked :)
That should allow you to completely remove the fuel door. If you're just replacing it just follow the reverse steps to re-install. We were installing the protective bib though so on to the second part. As I mentioned above, we sourced some rubber sheet from Ace Hardware, about 4" x 8" x 1/16". The fuel filler neck is about 2" in diameter so you'll have to cut a hole in the rubber to fit it snugly around the neck. The top will need to be trimmed to clear the inside of the fuel neck too as it's a bit tight at the top. Take your time and trim the rubber so that you get sufficient protection but also so that it can still fold up and tuck under the door. Also, we needed to trim the tabs on the gascap that are used to hang the cap on the door. I don't really like hanging the cap on the door anyway since there's a chance it can scratch the door or slide off and hit the paint. Not a big loss to dremel those down.
Finally, here's a test fit with the bib in place snug around the fuel filler neck, it still needed to be trimmed a bit for length and width in order to tuck under the door at this point.
And with it folded up with room for the door to close.
Here was the original damage... This is available for sale if someone wants a spare door to paint, powdercoat, or wrap.
Removal of the door is trickier than I thought it would be. I had done the same replacement on my mk1 and that was a bit easier to deal with.
I prepped the area first to protect the paint and the fuel door, using 3M painters tape and a couple of Griots fender cover blankets.
There are three 3mm allen bolts holding the door to the body, three tabs that hold it down flush with the body and some of the famous black German body glue. The glue doesn't really do too much but one of the tabs needs to be retracted to release the cap.
Start with the three 3mm allen bolts first. These come out relatively easily, you may need to remove the gas cap to get the right angle on the top bolt. These were a bit rusty from exposure to fuel, even with just 18k miles on the car.
I was able to get a small pry tool in to start to lift the door but it was obviously held in place on both ends and wouldn't just lift out. To the front of the car is the tab that needs to be retracted and at the back is the release cable assembly. Here are the small rear tabs, if you open the door they are basically in line with the plastic inner trim, at about the 8 and 11 o'clock positions.
These along with the catch mechanism mean that the front edge has to come out first. To do that the retractable tab needs to be retracted :) If you look at the base of the hinge you can see the end of the tab that you pull on. It's designed to have a small hook tool inserted to pull it outwards which pulls the tab in away from the body. Here's a view looking down at the top, the tab does not stick out very far but there's really no way to force this out around the body.
I tried to pull the catch mechanism with a hook and that seemed to work ok but I ended up cutting a small allen key down to make something that was closer to the tool shown in the manual. On my first attempt I thought I had it pulled all the way out but the cap still wasn't free. I pushed it all the way back in and then pulled it back out and it released on the second try. Here you can see the catch from below.
Some gentle prying should lift the cap out now and you'll get a trail of the glue, it's pretty easy to clean up though.
The next challenge is the cable release mechanism. On the mk1 the cable pulled out far enough to allow you to undo the screws holding it to the fuel door, on the mk2 not so much. You have two choices here... Open the trunk liner and undo the cable or take the screws out. We opted to take the screws out and after trying a couple of 90^ screwdrivers ended up just working them out with some vise grips... brute force but it worked :)
That should allow you to completely remove the fuel door. If you're just replacing it just follow the reverse steps to re-install. We were installing the protective bib though so on to the second part. As I mentioned above, we sourced some rubber sheet from Ace Hardware, about 4" x 8" x 1/16". The fuel filler neck is about 2" in diameter so you'll have to cut a hole in the rubber to fit it snugly around the neck. The top will need to be trimmed to clear the inside of the fuel neck too as it's a bit tight at the top. Take your time and trim the rubber so that you get sufficient protection but also so that it can still fold up and tuck under the door. Also, we needed to trim the tabs on the gascap that are used to hang the cap on the door. I don't really like hanging the cap on the door anyway since there's a chance it can scratch the door or slide off and hit the paint. Not a big loss to dremel those down.
Finally, here's a test fit with the bib in place snug around the fuel filler neck, it still needed to be trimmed a bit for length and width in order to tuck under the door at this point.
And with it folded up with room for the door to close.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Tyrolsport shifter bracket bushing install
These solid brass bushings replace the three factory rubber bushings that hold the cable linkage bracket to the top of the transmission housing. I had a set of these on my mk1 and they provided just a tick more precision when combined with the solid cable ends. At $50 for the set from Tyrolsport it was a quick and cheap mod, and 100% reversible too.
This took about an hour from start to finish including all of the pics and some searching through the factory manual. No need to put the car in the air which is always nice but you are messing with your transmission so if you're not comfortable with this take it to a shop, it should just be an hour for the install.
Not many tools required for this one sadly, always more fun to have the entire toolbox empty :)
- T20 torx screwdriver
- 10mm socket
- 13mm socket
- 13mm combination wrench
- magnet tool
- ratchet wrenches and extensions
- wobble adapter
- channel locks (for hose clamps)
To start you'll need to remove the airbox. First remove the two T20 torx screws that secure the air scoop at the grill.
Then you can release the hose clamps for the intake hose and the DV recirc line. I find it easier to remove the DV from the throttle body end.
Then all that's left holding the airbox in place are two 10mm bolts. These are a bit of a reach so you'll need an extension and make sure you have a magnet tool on hand to get them out so you don't drop them. The forward one can be located between the airbox and the relay box tucked amongst some wires. The rear one is between the airbox and the firewall, secured on a small metal tab.
Pop the airbox up and set it aside. You can see your victim below it. The cable bracket is held in place with three 13mm bolts that are all fairly easy to access.
In theory since the bracket just acts as a cable guide removing the bolts and bushings should not affect your shift linkage adjustment. To be on the safe side I only ever removed two bolts at a time. There's enough slack here that even with one bolt still tight you can get the other two out. I started with the front two bolts. The first you have direct access to, the other it can help to have a wobble adapter so that you can work around a coolant line. Don't loosen the rear bolt at all at this point.
The factory bushings are comprised of a rubber grommet that has a metal insert. The insert pushes out through the bottom pretty easily. Some spray lube may help here but on my car everything came out pretty easily.
The grommet has a groove that fits onto the bracket so that takes a bit more effort to remove. You should be able to get one finger underneath and squeeze it into the hole while pulling from the top. These came out pretty easily for me but again, some silicone spray may help a bit. You can ramp that up to grabbing onto the rubber with channel locks to get more leverage but that may tear the rubber. Worst case you can cut them out but that should NOT be necessary.
Here's a comparison shot. The Tyrolsport bushings are two piece and I couldn't find any thickness or orientation difference between them. In fact in this picture the left one has the "cap" on the bottom and the right one is reversed. I checked the thickness with calipers and they were identical. That said, when installing these they go in through the bottom with the "cap" on top. This ensures that the bushing slides into the bracket correctly and isn't wedged in place. Slide the first bushing in place in the hole nearest the engine. Hold off on installing the other bushing for now so that it doesn't accidentally drop out.
As I said earlier it's easier to work if you've got one bolt secured so go ahead and secure the bolt in the bushing closest to the engine. You'll want this to be just about tightened all the way, just a bit loose so that you can get the remaining bushing out. Note that it's safer to start these bolts by hand to avoid having them cross thread.
With that bushing secured you can now unbolt the rear bushing and remove it. The brake master cylinder is right above the bolt so you'll need to switch to a combination wrench here, at least they left enough space around the bolt head that a ratcheting wrench would fit :) Also note the length of the wrench I'm using, these bolts are not torqued very tight.
After removing the last bushing you can install the Tyrolsport bushings in the remaining two spots. Be sure to orient these the same way, with the "cap" on top. Thread the bolts back in by hand to get them started and then go ahead and tighten all three. I couldn't find torque specs for these in the manual but they weren't very tight; they're threaded into aluminum and are holding a plastic bracket so just use a short handled wrench and don't go nuts :)
Hop in the car and row through the gears to make sure everything is still smooth. If not check that the cables aren't hung up on anything and that the bracket is lined up correctly, shouldn't be a problem given the small tolerances on the Tyrolsport bushings.
Reinstall the airbox, carefully starting the 10mm bolts with a magnet tool, and refit the hoses and clamps and you're all done.
This took about an hour from start to finish including all of the pics and some searching through the factory manual. No need to put the car in the air which is always nice but you are messing with your transmission so if you're not comfortable with this take it to a shop, it should just be an hour for the install.
Not many tools required for this one sadly, always more fun to have the entire toolbox empty :)
- T20 torx screwdriver
- 10mm socket
- 13mm socket
- 13mm combination wrench
- magnet tool
- ratchet wrenches and extensions
- wobble adapter
- channel locks (for hose clamps)
To start you'll need to remove the airbox. First remove the two T20 torx screws that secure the air scoop at the grill.
Then you can release the hose clamps for the intake hose and the DV recirc line. I find it easier to remove the DV from the throttle body end.
Then all that's left holding the airbox in place are two 10mm bolts. These are a bit of a reach so you'll need an extension and make sure you have a magnet tool on hand to get them out so you don't drop them. The forward one can be located between the airbox and the relay box tucked amongst some wires. The rear one is between the airbox and the firewall, secured on a small metal tab.
Pop the airbox up and set it aside. You can see your victim below it. The cable bracket is held in place with three 13mm bolts that are all fairly easy to access.
In theory since the bracket just acts as a cable guide removing the bolts and bushings should not affect your shift linkage adjustment. To be on the safe side I only ever removed two bolts at a time. There's enough slack here that even with one bolt still tight you can get the other two out. I started with the front two bolts. The first you have direct access to, the other it can help to have a wobble adapter so that you can work around a coolant line. Don't loosen the rear bolt at all at this point.
The factory bushings are comprised of a rubber grommet that has a metal insert. The insert pushes out through the bottom pretty easily. Some spray lube may help here but on my car everything came out pretty easily.
The grommet has a groove that fits onto the bracket so that takes a bit more effort to remove. You should be able to get one finger underneath and squeeze it into the hole while pulling from the top. These came out pretty easily for me but again, some silicone spray may help a bit. You can ramp that up to grabbing onto the rubber with channel locks to get more leverage but that may tear the rubber. Worst case you can cut them out but that should NOT be necessary.
Here's a comparison shot. The Tyrolsport bushings are two piece and I couldn't find any thickness or orientation difference between them. In fact in this picture the left one has the "cap" on the bottom and the right one is reversed. I checked the thickness with calipers and they were identical. That said, when installing these they go in through the bottom with the "cap" on top. This ensures that the bushing slides into the bracket correctly and isn't wedged in place. Slide the first bushing in place in the hole nearest the engine. Hold off on installing the other bushing for now so that it doesn't accidentally drop out.
As I said earlier it's easier to work if you've got one bolt secured so go ahead and secure the bolt in the bushing closest to the engine. You'll want this to be just about tightened all the way, just a bit loose so that you can get the remaining bushing out. Note that it's safer to start these bolts by hand to avoid having them cross thread.
With that bushing secured you can now unbolt the rear bushing and remove it. The brake master cylinder is right above the bolt so you'll need to switch to a combination wrench here, at least they left enough space around the bolt head that a ratcheting wrench would fit :) Also note the length of the wrench I'm using, these bolts are not torqued very tight.
After removing the last bushing you can install the Tyrolsport bushings in the remaining two spots. Be sure to orient these the same way, with the "cap" on top. Thread the bolts back in by hand to get them started and then go ahead and tighten all three. I couldn't find torque specs for these in the manual but they weren't very tight; they're threaded into aluminum and are holding a plastic bracket so just use a short handled wrench and don't go nuts :)
Hop in the car and row through the gears to make sure everything is still smooth. If not check that the cables aren't hung up on anything and that the bracket is lined up correctly, shouldn't be a problem given the small tolerances on the Tyrolsport bushings.
Reinstall the airbox, carefully starting the 10mm bolts with a magnet tool, and refit the hoses and clamps and you're all done.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Unibrace UB-T install
I've seen a number of people on the mk1 TT forum install braces from Unibrace on mk4 R32s and mk5/mk6 GTIs and with the UB-T now available for the mk2 TT I needed to have one :)
The brace is really nicely made, high-quality powdercoat and the fitment with regards to aligning with the fasteners was spot on. If I had gotten the TTRS kit with the spacers that would have been perfect. I haven't had enough chance to really drive it to form any thoughts on handling improvements yet; the car maybe feels a bit stiffer through transitions but I need more time with it to really see as all I've done since install is some highway miles. Theoretically this will stiffen the unibody and help the car resist any sort of twisting, helping the suspension work better and maybe adding some responsiveness to the steering. This is really just the start of a series of mods I'll be doing to stiffen the car prior to installing the MSS kit later this summer.
The brace bridges the transmission tunnel and ties in at 10 places using existing mounting holes for the heatshield in the transmission tunnel. It covers basically the entire tunnel except for maybe the final 6-8 inches before the resonators.
The TTRS specific kit includes additional spacers to help the brace clear the downpipe/cats that isn't required on the TT/TTS. I did not order these spacers since I run the Milltek cat-delete pipes but the brace made contact with the flange on the passenger side pipe. I used some grade 8 washers to space the brace down 1/4" and that worked fine, no rubbing or rattling. If you have the factory mid-cats, or you're running an aftermarket downpipe you'll definitely want to check with Bruce (who has been great to work with through the entire process) prior to ordering to make sure the UB-T will clear.
The part itself is very high quality 6061 aluminum. You can get them powdercoated either red or black and I chose red, because racecar. You can see it's a pretty large too, about 3ft long and 18" at the widest point.
The mod is pretty straightforward but it does require drilling holes in the floor and you'll need to have the car quite high off the ground in order to maneuver everything in place. The brace uses two factory bolt locations and then eight screws are replaced with Rivnuts and bolts. This does require some special tools to install the Rivnuts. We used a 1/2" drill bit to drill the holes and it wasn't quite enough so a 13mm or 17/32 would probably work better. Be careful though because some drill chucks won't accept a bit larger than 1/2". If you're using a 1/2" bit you can simply use a file or dremel to open the holes just a tick. It's also worth buying or renting a high quality Rivnut tool (M8 sized) for the install. You really want those torqued down correctly so that they don't spin which would require drilling the fasteners out.
On to the install, many thanks to Gokart3 for the assistance! Get the car up in the air high enough so that you can work underneath and have enough clearance to operate the drill and Rivnut tool. BE VERY CAREFUL DOING THIS. The mk2 TT is not easy to get up on four jack stands so if you're not comfortable with this take it to a shop, it should only be about an hour to install on a lift. Also, while you can probably do this alone there are a couple of places where it's really very helpful to have a second set of hands (as Gokart3 helped out when I didn't have the nerve to drill into my car ;)
Once the car is safely in the air you can remove the front two bolts that hold the exhaust hanger tabs in place. These are 13mm bolts and should remove easily.
With both of those removed you can get the UB-T in place with the front two bolts (at the front of the car) to see how everything lines up. Here you can see the black powdercoated spacer that comes with the brace along with a few washers to space it low enough to clear the downpipe flange. You can tighten these two bolts until they are snug, careful not to cross-thread, and the brace is stiff enough to hang in place to check the rest of the fitment prior to drilling.
On my car the heat shield was interfering with the fit and I'm sure had I just drilled the holes the shield would have bent into shape but we chose to bend it first. We traced around the places where the shield was in the way and
used a plastic dead-blow hammer and a brass drift to bend the shield back.
Now the brace should fit flush up against the body and you can check the other 8 holes all line up correctly. For me they were all dead on, but the holes in the brace are slightly oversized to give some range of adjustment as needed. Drop the brace out of the way and remove the eight T30 torx screws. These were very tight on my car, I think they're probably self tapping, so make sure you use a good quality bit to avoid stripping any of the heads. Once they're out you can drill out each hole. You want these to be as close as possible to the size of the Rivnuts so that the Rivnut can get as much bite as possible on the body. We used a stepped bit marked at 1/2" but as I mentioned above a 17/32 would be a better fit and a 13mm might be as well. Since 1/2" wasn't quite enough we used a file to slowly open up each hole, test fitting often, to make sure that we didn't get the holes too oversized. Drilling into your car can be a bit nerve-wracking so consult an expert if you're not comfortable with this.
Next it's time to install the Rivnuts. I had never worked with these before but I knew there were some potential issues with not getting them seated correctly or in tight enough where they could spin in place and leave you unable to get the bolt in or out. There are several ways to install these from using the supplied bolts to crush the Rivnut to several other hand tools. I searched around and found several positive reviews for the Astro-Pneumatic 1427 which was available on Amazon Prime (2 day shipping FTW! :) I liked this style tool because it does not put excess stress on the threads and the way the handle is setup allows you to get quite a lot of leverage. We did a test fit of one of the spare Rivnuts (the kit comes with 10 but you only use eight) to see how the tool worked, and also to see what would happen if it was overtightened.
Here's the placement of the Rivnut on the tool with the threads just level with the tool insert. Here I used a washer to simulate the body, the thickness is close to the aluminum unibody.
With the threads at that depth the handles start out angled down a bit which allows you to get a good start with decent leverage.
You want to tighten it all the way in the first shot, then back it off a bit and re-tighten to make sure it's clamped all the way. Don't go full gorilla spec on this though as you don't want to pull the threads out of the Rivnut or cause it to crack. You can tell pretty easily when it's tight enough.
And when you're done here's what you're left with, nicely crushed, tight against the washer and the threads unharmed.
Ok, so that's enough practice. On to the real thing! Get the Rivnut setup on the tool as before and insert into the body. Note that while we drilled through the heat shield for the actual Rivnut install we bent the shield back out of the way and installed straight to the body. This is important for the Rivnut to be fully compressed against the body.
Here's where it helps to have a second set of hands. Have one person press upwards to make sure the Rivnut is inserted all the way up flush with the body, not angled at all, while the second person compresses the handles.
When you're done you get a nicely installed fastener that really looks OEM.
With all eight Rivnuts in place the hard part is done. Simply roll the heatshield back into place and reassemble. Start with the front two again, with the correct spacers and washers correctly located, and get them tight enough to help hold the brace in place but not so tight that you can't maneuver it. Get the rest of the bolts started by hand with the spacers and washers in place. You want to do all of this by hand to make sure nothing cross threads. Also, you'll want to install the bolts with just a bit of medium-strength loctite blue to keep them from vibrating out. Once all 10 bolts are in place you can tighten everything up. I didn't have torque specs but used a fairly short wrench with a 6" long handle to tighten these. Remember you're using stainless steel bolts into the Rivnuts and you really don't want to tear any threads out so don't overdo it. These aren't load bearing, you just don't want them to back out.
I went with a little extra insurance and used Nordlock washers but that's probably overkill. These use a cam system (shown face up in the foreground) that makes it impossible for the bolt to come loose. You can google for the details, they're very cool but spendy.
I was a little concerned about clearance all around but you can see that its actually pretty good. The extra 1/4" shim gets just enough clearance at the flange without the secondary cats in place.
I've also got some pictures with the car on the ground. From straight level across the bottom of the car it hangs about 1.25" lower than the body. When viewed from the front it doesn't really seem too low. There are a couple of steep driveways that I need to see how close it gets but the stock ride height on the TTRS really gives a ton of clearance so I'm not too worried. If you've got H&R springs that might be a bit tight since they lower over an inch.
The brace is really nicely made, high-quality powdercoat and the fitment with regards to aligning with the fasteners was spot on. If I had gotten the TTRS kit with the spacers that would have been perfect. I haven't had enough chance to really drive it to form any thoughts on handling improvements yet; the car maybe feels a bit stiffer through transitions but I need more time with it to really see as all I've done since install is some highway miles. Theoretically this will stiffen the unibody and help the car resist any sort of twisting, helping the suspension work better and maybe adding some responsiveness to the steering. This is really just the start of a series of mods I'll be doing to stiffen the car prior to installing the MSS kit later this summer.
The brace bridges the transmission tunnel and ties in at 10 places using existing mounting holes for the heatshield in the transmission tunnel. It covers basically the entire tunnel except for maybe the final 6-8 inches before the resonators.
The TTRS specific kit includes additional spacers to help the brace clear the downpipe/cats that isn't required on the TT/TTS. I did not order these spacers since I run the Milltek cat-delete pipes but the brace made contact with the flange on the passenger side pipe. I used some grade 8 washers to space the brace down 1/4" and that worked fine, no rubbing or rattling. If you have the factory mid-cats, or you're running an aftermarket downpipe you'll definitely want to check with Bruce (who has been great to work with through the entire process) prior to ordering to make sure the UB-T will clear.
The part itself is very high quality 6061 aluminum. You can get them powdercoated either red or black and I chose red, because racecar. You can see it's a pretty large too, about 3ft long and 18" at the widest point.
The mod is pretty straightforward but it does require drilling holes in the floor and you'll need to have the car quite high off the ground in order to maneuver everything in place. The brace uses two factory bolt locations and then eight screws are replaced with Rivnuts and bolts. This does require some special tools to install the Rivnuts. We used a 1/2" drill bit to drill the holes and it wasn't quite enough so a 13mm or 17/32 would probably work better. Be careful though because some drill chucks won't accept a bit larger than 1/2". If you're using a 1/2" bit you can simply use a file or dremel to open the holes just a tick. It's also worth buying or renting a high quality Rivnut tool (M8 sized) for the install. You really want those torqued down correctly so that they don't spin which would require drilling the fasteners out.
On to the install, many thanks to Gokart3 for the assistance! Get the car up in the air high enough so that you can work underneath and have enough clearance to operate the drill and Rivnut tool. BE VERY CAREFUL DOING THIS. The mk2 TT is not easy to get up on four jack stands so if you're not comfortable with this take it to a shop, it should only be about an hour to install on a lift. Also, while you can probably do this alone there are a couple of places where it's really very helpful to have a second set of hands (as Gokart3 helped out when I didn't have the nerve to drill into my car ;)
Once the car is safely in the air you can remove the front two bolts that hold the exhaust hanger tabs in place. These are 13mm bolts and should remove easily.
With both of those removed you can get the UB-T in place with the front two bolts (at the front of the car) to see how everything lines up. Here you can see the black powdercoated spacer that comes with the brace along with a few washers to space it low enough to clear the downpipe flange. You can tighten these two bolts until they are snug, careful not to cross-thread, and the brace is stiff enough to hang in place to check the rest of the fitment prior to drilling.
On my car the heat shield was interfering with the fit and I'm sure had I just drilled the holes the shield would have bent into shape but we chose to bend it first. We traced around the places where the shield was in the way and
used a plastic dead-blow hammer and a brass drift to bend the shield back.
Now the brace should fit flush up against the body and you can check the other 8 holes all line up correctly. For me they were all dead on, but the holes in the brace are slightly oversized to give some range of adjustment as needed. Drop the brace out of the way and remove the eight T30 torx screws. These were very tight on my car, I think they're probably self tapping, so make sure you use a good quality bit to avoid stripping any of the heads. Once they're out you can drill out each hole. You want these to be as close as possible to the size of the Rivnuts so that the Rivnut can get as much bite as possible on the body. We used a stepped bit marked at 1/2" but as I mentioned above a 17/32 would be a better fit and a 13mm might be as well. Since 1/2" wasn't quite enough we used a file to slowly open up each hole, test fitting often, to make sure that we didn't get the holes too oversized. Drilling into your car can be a bit nerve-wracking so consult an expert if you're not comfortable with this.
Next it's time to install the Rivnuts. I had never worked with these before but I knew there were some potential issues with not getting them seated correctly or in tight enough where they could spin in place and leave you unable to get the bolt in or out. There are several ways to install these from using the supplied bolts to crush the Rivnut to several other hand tools. I searched around and found several positive reviews for the Astro-Pneumatic 1427 which was available on Amazon Prime (2 day shipping FTW! :) I liked this style tool because it does not put excess stress on the threads and the way the handle is setup allows you to get quite a lot of leverage. We did a test fit of one of the spare Rivnuts (the kit comes with 10 but you only use eight) to see how the tool worked, and also to see what would happen if it was overtightened.
Here's the placement of the Rivnut on the tool with the threads just level with the tool insert. Here I used a washer to simulate the body, the thickness is close to the aluminum unibody.
With the threads at that depth the handles start out angled down a bit which allows you to get a good start with decent leverage.
You want to tighten it all the way in the first shot, then back it off a bit and re-tighten to make sure it's clamped all the way. Don't go full gorilla spec on this though as you don't want to pull the threads out of the Rivnut or cause it to crack. You can tell pretty easily when it's tight enough.
And when you're done here's what you're left with, nicely crushed, tight against the washer and the threads unharmed.
Ok, so that's enough practice. On to the real thing! Get the Rivnut setup on the tool as before and insert into the body. Note that while we drilled through the heat shield for the actual Rivnut install we bent the shield back out of the way and installed straight to the body. This is important for the Rivnut to be fully compressed against the body.
Here's where it helps to have a second set of hands. Have one person press upwards to make sure the Rivnut is inserted all the way up flush with the body, not angled at all, while the second person compresses the handles.
When you're done you get a nicely installed fastener that really looks OEM.
With all eight Rivnuts in place the hard part is done. Simply roll the heatshield back into place and reassemble. Start with the front two again, with the correct spacers and washers correctly located, and get them tight enough to help hold the brace in place but not so tight that you can't maneuver it. Get the rest of the bolts started by hand with the spacers and washers in place. You want to do all of this by hand to make sure nothing cross threads. Also, you'll want to install the bolts with just a bit of medium-strength loctite blue to keep them from vibrating out. Once all 10 bolts are in place you can tighten everything up. I didn't have torque specs but used a fairly short wrench with a 6" long handle to tighten these. Remember you're using stainless steel bolts into the Rivnuts and you really don't want to tear any threads out so don't overdo it. These aren't load bearing, you just don't want them to back out.
I went with a little extra insurance and used Nordlock washers but that's probably overkill. These use a cam system (shown face up in the foreground) that makes it impossible for the bolt to come loose. You can google for the details, they're very cool but spendy.
I was a little concerned about clearance all around but you can see that its actually pretty good. The extra 1/4" shim gets just enough clearance at the flange without the secondary cats in place.
I've also got some pictures with the car on the ground. From straight level across the bottom of the car it hangs about 1.25" lower than the body. When viewed from the front it doesn't really seem too low. There are a couple of steep driveways that I need to see how close it gets but the stock ride height on the TTRS really gives a ton of clearance so I'm not too worried. If you've got H&R springs that might be a bit tight since they lower over an inch.
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