2017 1.4 TSI "build thread"

[1.4_tsi]

A bit late, but I thought I'd share some of the jobs done since buying my 1.4 TSI base spec Scirocco six months ago. I bought it as a car to enjoy driving, but before too long, it turned into a bit of a project!

But first, a pleasing result in the water-cooled VW coupe Concours class at Sunday's Stanford Hall VW Show. Just my Scirocco and 3 Corrados (plus last year's winning Corrado in the "Super Class"):

Concours lineup.jpg

YF66 RHA Front.jpg

YF66 RHA Corner.jpg

Concours Trophy.jpg

I'll post some pictures over the next few days showing some of the work done over the first 6 months and 2,500 miles

[1.4_tsi]

First job was to tighten the battery terminal screws - left undone by the second hand car dealer:

Loose battery terminals.jpg

and to source missing rubber covers for the back of the headlight unit:

Missing headlamp seals.jpg

Next job was to peel off the headlamp eyelids. Note how far they obstructed the reflectors - not great for light output, especially on dip:

With eyebrow spoiler.jpg

Without eyebrow spolier.jpg

and to peel off the driver's side sill protectors, possibly a left-over from the first owner's Motability adaptations:

Sill protectors.jpg

[1.4_tsi]

As already mentioned, the car had received Motability adaptations to the interior. The conversion back to standard spec had left some minor issues in the rear, including loose C-pillar trims, cracked rear left side panel trim and many damaged clips. The rear backrest centre mount had come loose due to non-standard bolts and the hinge covers were missing. In addition the left side backrest wouldn't fold due to rust in the hinge mechanism:

Missing trim.jpg

So I decided to strip out everything from the B-pillar back, other than the headlining:

Interior rear removed.jpg

Being a base spec car, 2nd hand interior trim and seats are rare, but I managed to source a replacement backrest as part of a full set of seats in the correct check fabric 50 miles away, and rear side trim panels from Germany. As seems common, the copper plated steel hooks on the rear of the seat base were rusty, so I rubbed down and protected them with a couple of coats of Hammerite Direct to Rust Satin Black, job in progress here:

Rusty seat hooks.jpg

After getting used to the raw sound of the tyres, brakes and exhaust with everything stripped out, it was nice after a few weeks to get the interior perfectly reassembled with the correct VW bolts, clips and covers:

Interior rear restored.jpg

[1.4_tsi]

Next I turned my attention to the exterior. The front bumper had received a poor quality SMART repair to the lower left and various scrapes to the underside. However, the biggest issue was that the rear bumper had been resprayed using the wrong colour - the original VW Flash Red on the left blending into VW Tornado Red on the right, creating an obvious colour mismatch at the wheel arch:

Original rear.jpg

After looking into a couple of options, I soon realised the chances of finding second hand bumper covers that didn't require work were slim. So I decided to strip the front and rear ends, with a view to getting the bumper covers repainted. Removing the bumper covers was straightforward, unclipping the black trims from them less so, especially the main front grille assembly.

Front bumper off.jpg

Rear bumper off.jpg

Knowing that the rest of the bodywork was near enough perfect, after discussion with the bodyshop, I decided to go all out with brand new bumper covers. The additional cost of going for new was a lot less than I expected, given the cost saving of not having to prep the old ones. Why didn't I take the opportunity to upgrade to R-line or even R trim? Quite apart from the additional cost, this was never an option for me, as I prefer the basic trim - closer to the spirit of the original Scirocco, and less of a magnet for crime.

While the bumpers were off, I took the opportunity to give everything a good clean, and to clear out the nine years' accumulation of mud and leaf mulch hidden under the water box covers and behind the wheel arch liners. When putting everything back together, I took the opportunity to renew dozens of screws and speed nuts, which had suffered various degrees of surface corrosion, most shown below, alongside some of the interior fixings replaced earlier, and anti-theft wheel bolt covers also replaced due to staining:

Replaced fixings.jpg

The finishing touch, after refitting the water box cover, was to fit a new pair of wiper arms, sourced at a good price from Deutscheparts, to replace the old ones which had been looking tired with surface corrosion:

Wiper arm corrosion.jpg

This involved first using VCDS to temporarily disable the alternating park position feature, to ensure correct alignment, as once torqued up, fine adjustments to wiper position are no longer possible.

[1.4_tsi]

After I collected the car 6 months ago, I inherited a few electrical gremlins to resolve. My first VCDS scan revealed some stored fault codes. First to resolve was a fault in the passenger door module, luckily just a failed W6W filament bulb. The mirror assembly had to be stripped down to reach it, but it was nice to get it back working:

Puddle light.jpg

I deleted some historical fault codes in the engine control module.Two of these related to misfires and three related to the ABS system, and thankfully, they haven't returned.

Then I found my biggest headache. There were a dozen fault codes in the information electronics plus related faults in the instrument module and CAN gateway. A previous owner had ditched the original Composition Media unit and fitted a second hand Discover Media unit, "hacked" to remove Component Protection and to enable App Connect (CarPlay & Android Auto). Unfortunately, Bluetooth didn't work, nor did Wi-Fi, the navigation system, or telephone connectivity. Android Auto sometimes refused to load, and the phone app on Android Auto couldn't use the car's microphone.

After researching options, I decided to invest in a brand new Composition Media unit, to bring the car back to stock. Only then could I be sure everything would work as it should. It was a lot of money, but I got nearly 25% off the VW list price from LLL Parts. The unit took about a month to arrive, and came without its original packaging, but the saving was worthwhile. As expected, Component Protection was active, so initially nothing worked:

Component protection.jpg

I had also bought discounted upgrade licenses for App Connect (from Deutscheparts) and voice control (from Parts Depot):

Software upgrades.jpg

So now I needed someone to properly commission everything. My VW dealer refused to help - "in case it goes wrong". After making a few enquiries, not finding much enthusiasm, I found Professional Retrofits in Nuneaton, an independent VW specialist with access to VW factory systems. They were more than happy to book the car in and did a great job registering the unit and activating all the functions using their dealer-level software:

Android auto.jpg

The only feature I really missed in the spec of the car was cruise control. Although it was available on all Sciroccos as a factory-fitted option, VW never offered a retrofit kit for model years later than 2015. My suspicion is that this cut-off coincides with introduction of the MIB II infotainment system for the 2016 model year, potentially requiring a minor change to the steering wheel control module.

Identifying the column switch assembly for cruise was straightforward, part number 5K0 953 502 M. The steering wheel control module needed a bit more research, as the parts diagram doesn't list part numbers for the module. However, I was able to use the parts diagram for the 2017 VW Caddy, which shares the same PQ35 platform, steering column switch assemblies, infotainment units, multifunction display type, and steering wheel button configurations. The part number for the Caddy without cruise control was 5K0 953 569 BC, the same as fitted to my Scirocco. So I figured it was safe to use the part number listed for the Caddy with cruise control, 5K0 953 569 BD.

I sourced the new steering column switch assembly at a good price from Germany, and found a used steering wheel control module with a recent date code on ebay. The only other part needed was a new steering wheel fixing bolt. After adapting the codings for the engine and steering wheel control modules using VCDS, it was a relief to find the system working perfectly:

Cruise control.jpg

[1.4_tsi]

To replace an expired VW safety kit I already had, I decided to invest in the first aid kit and warning triangle fitted as standard in some other countries. Both were special order from Germany and pretty expensive, but help to keep the boot tidy:

Safety kit.jpg

The tiny first aid kit (part number 1K8 860 282) is unique to the Scirocco and Mk2 VW Sharan/Seat Alhambra. The warning triangle (part number 2E0 860 250) is exclusive to the Scirocco and Mk1 VW Crafter (rebadged Mercedes Sprinter) and is actually a discontinued Mercedes product (part number A 638 590 01 12).

To provide more options for jacking the car in future, I have installed a set of the lifting pads fitted to the Mk2 Audi S3. The front pads are a neat fit, replacing the small cover that clips into the chassis just behind the front wheel arch:

Front lift point.jpg

The rear pads replace a plastic bung in the chassis just behind the trailing arm mount:

Rear lift point.jpg

The Audi parts needed for this modification were:
Rubber mount: 8N0 804 583, Quantity 4
Front pad, left: 8P0 802 845, Quantity 1
Front pad, right: 8P0 802 846, Quantity 1
Rear pad, left and right: 8P0 802 847, Quantity 2

While tidying up the engine bay, I found a pile of rubber shavings from the crankcase breather pipe insulation, possibly mouse damage, or just perishing. Old and new breather pipes for comparison here:

Crankcase vent pipe.jpg

After replacing around a dozen more rusty screws and bolts and wiping everything down, I am happy with how the engine bay now looks:

1.4 TSI engine bay.jpg

Whether I will be able to keep it that clean is another matter!

[767Hunter]

Great work, love seeing someone bring one of these back to proper original spec rather than just leaving all the previous owner nonsense in place.

[Nelub]

Hello,
Great job on your car and beautiful engine cleaning !
Do you think that your issues with the previous Discover Media unit (no bluetooth, no phone connectivity) were linked to the Component Protection removed "hacked" ?

Which kind of phone connection do you have for AppConnect ?

Thank you

[1.4_tsi]

Hi, I recently sold the old Discover Media unit to a car audio repair specialist and they fed back that they'd managed to get everything back working other than wifi, just with changes to coding. They said that loss of wifi was normal with the unlocked units, but I think the only purpose of wifi was for the VW "We Connect" online service which I think is pretty much defunct now as VW have evolved their online services.

It looked as though someone had updated the firmware but in the process disabled several functions. So the unit may well be back on the market by now with functionality restored

[Nelub]

Hello,
Thank you for the information, I will also check if wifi will acive on mine, but as you explain probably not...

Do you use the Media-In interface to connect your phone to the AppConnect of the radio ?

Thanks

[1.4_tsi]

Yes, I think there were two versions of the media-in unit and only the later version is compatible with App Connect. I'm guessing when upgrading to MIB II from the earlier system you may have to upgrade the media-in unit as well, but I am no expert on this.

EDIT: I think the earlier media-in unit was VW's in-house multi-device interface available with various adapter cables for audio input only, whereas the newer version provides full compatibility for App-Connect via a USB-A socket

[Nelub]

Hello,
According to my knowledge, there are 3 types of Media-In interface.

• Media-In with one specific plug MDI --> 5N0035341H

• Media-In with USB-A and jack connector not CarPlay --> 1Q0035348A

• Media-In with USB-A and jack connector compatible CarPlay --> 1Q0035348B

Based on your picture from your Composition Media unit, I guess you used Android phone, therefore the third Media-In interface is probably used (1Q0035348B).
Is it the interface from factory or did you replace it ?

Thank you

[1.4_tsi]

Useful to know. Yes, the Carplay compatible version would have been fitted from the factory, at least for model year 2016 on, when MIB II was introduced. Model year 2015, the first year of facelift, had the earlier Infotainment units, so may well have the media-in unit not compatible with Carplay

[Nelub]

Hello,
What is the differences between MIB and MIB II ?
The Discover Media/Composition Media units (one big radio) are MIB II ?
Thank you

[1.4_tsi]

The original MIB units never reached the Scirocco, which went straight from the older RCD/RNS units to MIB II a year after the facelift launched. MIB I launched I think a couple of years before MIB II, exclusive to the Mk7 Golf and some other MQB platform cars, with a smaller screen, and not compatible with App Connect