Things you wish you knew then...

Hi all,

I'm fairly new around here, but I've had my Speed3 for a while.
As she's about to roll over 300k, I wanted to rebuild the car and bring it back to its prime - but I also want to improve things along the way. The car has been OEM, bone-stock, all of its life, so this will be a fresh start.

Those of you have been tinkering with these cars over the years, what are some things you wish you knew about this car, the ownership and maintenance, that may lead to helping others along the way?

I don't necessarily mean things like "install HPFP internals before mods", as this has been very well documented and is fairly well known. I'm more referring to smaller, incremental changes that you've made over the years, perhaps trying out different intakes and noticing distinct differences between them (what made you stick with one vs the other?), seeing the direct effects of having an OCC and how it relates to the carbon build-up in these cars, etc.

I know one could search for things and find them, but if you're new to the platform - or even if you're not - you might not always know what information you're missing out on. Perhaps this thread can act as a wishing well, where one man's penny is another man's treasure. You never know; you might just learn something new.

Cheers everyone, and thank you for your wisdom!

Things I wish I knew....

- Take better care of your motor, and that K04 will appreciate it. First unit went out under 80k miles. I'm around 228k now and I'm still running the replacement unit without issue. I clean the valves couple of times a year and (with age) have been doing my oil changes a bit more frequently (between 3,000 - 4,000 miles). Haven't had any smoke out the pipe for nearly 200k miles!

- Don't ignore your tranny fluid! I prefer TriboDyn 75W-90, but there are other good options also. I've driven MS3's with similar miles as mine and (perhaps with some degree of bias) I think my tranny shifts a lot nicer, despite the OEM mounts still (somehow) holding the ship intact underneath. So if you've never explored this area of maintenance, I highly recommend it.​

 

Wait you clean the valves a couple of times a year and weren't running premium previously?

 

Sorry, that may have been a bit misleading. I've always used premium fuel. I took that part out.

Yes, due to the age of my motor I clean the valves out 1-2 a year. Your mileage may vary, but I noticed that as the car got higher in miles, the gunk built up faster (possibly due to blow by, I don't know). Seems to have helped me with my motor, so I wanted to share.

 

What are some of your goals with your car? Are you looking for a fast and fun daily driver, or are you wanting to put some serious power down? I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm in the process of building mine out to be a fun daily driver right now so depending on your goals, my build list might be helpful.

 

how long does it usually take to clean the valvues?

is this your daily driver or do you have a plan b car if something happens?

also, do you run a catch can or it is not really worth it?

 

I wish I knew after 15 1/2 years of signing papers I would own the only functioning forum dedicated to the car, a bumper fitment fix for floppy front bumpers, and have met hundreds 0f awesome people.

Oh and my car slowly trying to kill me.