Navi
Autocross Champion
- Location
- BK/NYC/Hamptons
Decided to start a build thread. Should have done this a long time ago because it was a bitch finding all the photos and organizing them in chronological order. Even then I couldn't find all the photos I had of the modifications I have done, so this is what I have. I’m coming from Japanese cars, and loved them all. Especially the ones that had vtec. But my 350z blew up on the highway and decided it was time for a change. Ended up getting a new GTI SE. The build has been ongoing for a while but is finally winding down and I’m starting to feel that the car is complete. Mostly this is to keep track of what I have done to the car and as a quick resource to find photos lol.
My attempt at a list of modifications (I am definitely forgetting half of the stuff):
Engine
Stratified tune (they tuned both my is20 and is38)
IS38F turbo
AWE intake
AWE downpipe
AWE track exhaust
Forge motorsports turbo muffler delete
Unitronic turbo intake pipe
Integrated Engineering Intercooler
RS7 Spark plugs gapped at .023
RS3 Coilpacks
Transmission
SRE Performance Clutch
034 shifter cable bushings
034 shifter bracket bushings
OEM S3 metal shifter bracket
KMD stainless steel clutch line
Delay valve delete
Swirl valve delete
Suspension/Chassis/Brakes/Wheels
Bilstein PSS10 B16 coilovers
HR Performance Plus coilovers
EMD Rear sway bar (why the fuck did I buy a sway bar from them?)
Super pro front end links
Super pro rear end links
Tyrolsport Deadbolt Set Front AND Rear
034 Motor mount kit
034 Dog bone mount insert
AP Racing Radical I Brakes with j hook rotors
Ferodo DS2500 pads
Enkei NT03RR 18x8.5 +45 Matte Gunmetal w/ Michelin Pilot Super Sport 235/40/18
Neuspeed RSe10 18x8.5 +45 Hyperblack w/ Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 235/40/18
Clubsport S center caps
42 Draft Design Spacers
Exterior
Avery Matte Khaki Green wrap
OEM VW Golf R front bumper
Rieger front lip
OEM Clubsport S rear diffuser
Oettinger roof spoiler
OEM Euro GTI LED Tail lights with BEC wire harness
OEM power folding mirrors
VW671 license plate bracket
Inno Roof Rack
Inno Wedge Box 665
Interior
Recaro Sportster CS seats with OEM heating installed
UroTuning matte carbon fiber steering wheel
Sportshifter shiftknob and boot
OEM 8” Glass MIB2 Screen
WCT pedal spacer
Rennline throttle pedal
Rennline throttle pedal extension
OEM frameless auto dimming mirror with homelink
Warning almost 300 photos. If you get seizures easily, don't view.
Before I even had the car, I ordered the stuff to wrap it. I used to be a professional detailer before finishing graduate school and with my new career, I knew I would not have time to wash/polish/wax as much as I would want to so I chose a different route for protection: car wrap. I did not really like any of the color offerings of the GTI either so this was a perfect idea.
First thing I did to the car was the euro GTI MK7 led taillights with BEC harness. No pics of that install but everyone knows what it looks like. Made the car look so much nicer that the mod bug bit and I wanted to do other things to the ride. Next up was the first round of mods. Intake, exhaust, coilovers, forge turbo muffler delete, shifter cable bushings, shifter bracket bushings and aluminum shifter bracket. Also put in a GFB DV+ but that did not last long. It sounded cool almost like a blow off valve but car never felt right. Felt like the car was holding boost when it wanted to let go of it. Like trying to hold in a fart. Took it out after a couple months. I’ll chalk that one up as a ricer mistake. Did use some honda urea grease on it to prevent it from getting stuck. Some people use oil, but this worked well for me. Anyone who knows cars knows that honda urea grease, honda Shin-etsu Silicone Grease, and honda bond are the shit! I could probably build a whole car with that stuff and 10mm bolts. Probably not.
Anyways once I got everything for the wrap… that process started. What a pain in the ass. Huge learning process BUT I did save a ton of money. Material is only 450-500 bucks. The rest is all labor and I can see why some shops charge 3200. Tedious work and your body is sore as shit afterwards. If I had to do it again, I could do it perfectly in 1/3 the time. Might switch up the color this summer, as the wrap is going to be 2 years old soon and you can tell. It is quite weathered and stained.
Finally finished the wrap. Loved how it came out.
The car was coming together really nicely but needed some rimmies. I wanted something unique and a little different. Had my eyes on some new at the time, Enkei’s. Finally found a guy that could get me a really good deal on them. Waited 4 months for them and was the first to have them in the states in VW/Audi fitment. Flow formed, 19lbs. I really wanted Volk’s but could not justify the cost at the time. I had two sets of Volks on my old car and really am a fan of their wheels. This summer I may do either Volk ZE40 or Advan RZDF because my current summer wheels do not clear my brakes that well.
Also, WTF is up with that POS mirror they sell this car with? Had to change that ASAP rocky
Random photo that I thought looked nice before the stock wheels were shunned for storage. Haven’t used them since. Wanted to use the for winter this year, but they will not fit over my brakes Nothing clears the AP Racing brakes. Do not buy them.
Enkei NT03RR 18x8.5 wheels mounted. Somewhere along the way, I did OEM VW window visors. I always like having windows open, even in the rain to let the fresh polluted NYC air circulate. I have run window visors in my last couple cars so why not. Honestly I don’t really like the fitment of the VW OEM visors and thought they would fit better but oh well…
Time for a drink. Thought car was almost done. Little did I know.
Decided I wanted to upgrade the shift knob because the stock one is nice, and has some cool details in it, but light as fuck.. come on plastic? I think this photo I was trying to impress a girl with some expensive juice I was trying to be healthy with, but ignore that. Best photo I could find of the BFI shift knob in magna red.
Some more random pictures.
So car was loud but slow. What if we can do loud and kind of fast? Went with COBB. Was running the MAPerformane tune at first. It is an ok tune, but I still consider it an OTS flash and would not recommend it. I was getting a ton of knock on their 93 tune. I had to run their 91 tune with 93 gas before it felt “safe.” Ended up going protuned a couple months later when I got a downpipe.
Clutch never slipped on me but I didn’t want to wait for that to happen. Upgraded the clutch to a Sachs Performance Clutch and love it. 15k miles on it and it’s just as strong as new. I beat on it pretty hard as well, and it keeps coming back for more. I had it installed by excelerate. This is the only thing on my car that I did not install myself. I have done clutches on Honda’s and Nissan’s as well as Yamaha motorcycles but did not want to risk breaking something on this car since she’s my first German. If the clutch ever goes, I’ll do it myself next time with an RSR Plus clutch. After figuring out the build quality while doing all the other mods on this car, I feel confident on being able to drop the tranny. I should not have pussed out the first time, but excl8 did a nice job regardless. Then went protune with Stratified. They have some cool cars at excelerate:
I see a snail hiding
Side note… I really like the guys at excelerate. I have gone there three times for service work and each time they have been honest and all three times finished in under the time they quoted, actually saving me money from the quote. I know some shops will charge you full price even if they finish early and pretend they didn’t finish until the time they quoted is up. I would recommend these dudes in CT for service. Even when I had an issue with my axle, they showed me so that I would not have to just take their word for it, but actually see it. I thought that was nice and transparent. BUT for retail stuff, I would not buy most things from them. Everything I have wanted from them, they have always asked MSRP and I have always found for less than MSRP, even including directly from the manufacturer!! I understand that they are a brick and mortar store and have to cover the costs of a retail space so I’m not hating on them for that, but I’m just not the customer to pay retail for things when I can get them cheaper elsewhere. I’ll let their Porsche customers do that
Had a nice fried chicken sandwich in LES after driving home with the new clutch.
Ok, so I have a new clutch and a COBB AP.. why not go stage 2? Shall we? We shall. On the drive out, some nice sunlight…
Hugest bird shit ever on my car
Driving home, caught a cool pic on the Kosciuszko bridge
Did some spark plugs… Don’t remember why all 8 of them look used? I must have been checking something? Maybe comparing current plugs to old plugs while in the tuning process to see how the engine is looking? Oh well, here they are
I was getting heat soak like a mother fucker. Couldn’t decide between the Forge intercooler and IE intercooler. Both were being sold for 750 at the time brand new from their respective manufacturers directly due to some sale at the time. Everyone on the forums swore by the IE, so why not? I also could not find any info on the Forge intercooler.
Oh, it’s pretty
Next to my winter wheels that just came in. 17x7.5 sparcos with sottozero 3 performance WINTER tires. They are very good in the snow even though they are not a performance SNOW tire. Yes, I’m the only person that installs an intercooler in winter lol
Engine is shifting around too much in the engine bay with all the powaaaa. Time for some 034 motor mounts. Really recommend them. I had a failure on one but their customer service is top notch and in my opinion, these are the best for a decent idle that doesn’t break your teeth, and a direct/connected feeling with the motor/transmission and chassis. I have heard that BFI are good and probably will not ever fail compared to the design of the 034 but I just did not want much NVH increase. I had that in my old car and it sucked. I think the 034 are a perfect medium. I’ll take my chances with these motor mounts and warranty them if anything. They are that good in my opinion.
While in the engine bay, I wanted to fix the vague clutch feel. Ripped out this bullshit swirl valve and rubber line. I think I went with an ECS stainless steel line… or was it a KMD tuning line? Either way, it helped.
Also, for the rear fog lights, I ordered a euro switch and the one I got was red. From a Cupra R maybe??? I took it out and put in a Euro R switch from 245cars, but that one does not allow you to run the rear fog with the parking lights on so I went back to the skoda switch. I think I prefer the red.. reminds me of my dad’s BMWs and easier to see in the daytime. Nostalgic in a way.
First snow with this car… took her out when no one else would go out. Handled like a champ. Pun intended. Drove to depot of home, to get a shovel to shovel out my wife’s car.
All the snow is gone
New intake came in. I was running the Unitronic intake, unitronic air intake duct, AWE tuning downpipe and track exhaust. I wanted to go full AWE (for no real good reason) so got their new intake when the redesigned it. Quality piece. Honestly I like the unitronic a lot, and it flowed more air and made more turbo. Probably made a little more power too but oh well. Urotuning hooked it up with a killer deal on black Friday last year.
Time to install the new intake. Current state:
Did an oil change also.
Hulk jizz to lubricate the motor
I installed the full underbody skid plate. Supposed to help with aerodynamics, protection and cooling… Not sure if it does any of that. But it does not help with oil changes. I am sure of that.
Out with the old
In with the new. I do prefer the fitment of the awe more. The unitronic was just so huge and rubbed against everything. This has more of an OEM feel except in carbon fiber.
Also, I kept reading about the Subaru STI S208 and was falling in love with it. Can’t afford to import one, but damn those seats.. more on that later…
I never liked the front end because it always looked like it was smiling, kind of like the s2000’s. Switched to a Golf R bumper, so now she’s always frowning. I like the meaner, more aggressive look and it will help more with cooling. I never use the fog lights anyway, so peace out to them.
Back from the body shop:
Also, I had a crazy rattling sound under my car. Took me forever to figure it out but when I finally did, turns out my BFI insert fell apart. I would not recommend it. After that I was on the quest to rid my car of any BFI part because of that, and also because of a thread on the forums about some dude with a defective clutch and they were making him jump through hoops for a refund. If you have a shitty product, at least have good customer service, damn. Done with them.
More drinks
Random photos
I’m a glutton for big brakes, and I autox in my past cars. When this build is done I have hopes to graduate to road courses, so time to sort the brakes out. Ended up finding a used kit. I would not recommend anyone buying used brakes. This was such a pain in the ass. Misrepresented by the seller, and the guy on the forum was not even the owner of the brakes.. he was the middle man for his friend selling them etc etc… Took forever to get but finally got them. They ended up work well and I’m happy with them after sorting them out.
Wheel locks and spacers for the new brakes
Guess what.. the brakes do not fit. But then I saw a Golf R with neuspeeds running the same brakes at Tyrolsport. I will not quit just yet:
My attempt at a list of modifications (I am definitely forgetting half of the stuff):
Engine
Stratified tune (they tuned both my is20 and is38)
IS38F turbo
AWE intake
AWE downpipe
AWE track exhaust
Forge motorsports turbo muffler delete
Unitronic turbo intake pipe
Integrated Engineering Intercooler
RS7 Spark plugs gapped at .023
RS3 Coilpacks
Transmission
SRE Performance Clutch
034 shifter cable bushings
034 shifter bracket bushings
OEM S3 metal shifter bracket
KMD stainless steel clutch line
Delay valve delete
Swirl valve delete
Suspension/Chassis/Brakes/Wheels
Bilstein PSS10 B16 coilovers
HR Performance Plus coilovers
EMD Rear sway bar (why the fuck did I buy a sway bar from them?)
Super pro front end links
Super pro rear end links
Tyrolsport Deadbolt Set Front AND Rear
034 Motor mount kit
034 Dog bone mount insert
AP Racing Radical I Brakes with j hook rotors
Ferodo DS2500 pads
Enkei NT03RR 18x8.5 +45 Matte Gunmetal w/ Michelin Pilot Super Sport 235/40/18
Neuspeed RSe10 18x8.5 +45 Hyperblack w/ Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 235/40/18
Clubsport S center caps
42 Draft Design Spacers
Exterior
Avery Matte Khaki Green wrap
OEM VW Golf R front bumper
Rieger front lip
OEM Clubsport S rear diffuser
Oettinger roof spoiler
OEM Euro GTI LED Tail lights with BEC wire harness
OEM power folding mirrors
VW671 license plate bracket
Inno Roof Rack
Inno Wedge Box 665
Interior
Recaro Sportster CS seats with OEM heating installed
UroTuning matte carbon fiber steering wheel
Sportshifter shiftknob and boot
OEM 8” Glass MIB2 Screen
WCT pedal spacer
Rennline throttle pedal
Rennline throttle pedal extension
OEM frameless auto dimming mirror with homelink
Warning almost 300 photos. If you get seizures easily, don't view.
Before I even had the car, I ordered the stuff to wrap it. I used to be a professional detailer before finishing graduate school and with my new career, I knew I would not have time to wash/polish/wax as much as I would want to so I chose a different route for protection: car wrap. I did not really like any of the color offerings of the GTI either so this was a perfect idea.
First thing I did to the car was the euro GTI MK7 led taillights with BEC harness. No pics of that install but everyone knows what it looks like. Made the car look so much nicer that the mod bug bit and I wanted to do other things to the ride. Next up was the first round of mods. Intake, exhaust, coilovers, forge turbo muffler delete, shifter cable bushings, shifter bracket bushings and aluminum shifter bracket. Also put in a GFB DV+ but that did not last long. It sounded cool almost like a blow off valve but car never felt right. Felt like the car was holding boost when it wanted to let go of it. Like trying to hold in a fart. Took it out after a couple months. I’ll chalk that one up as a ricer mistake. Did use some honda urea grease on it to prevent it from getting stuck. Some people use oil, but this worked well for me. Anyone who knows cars knows that honda urea grease, honda Shin-etsu Silicone Grease, and honda bond are the shit! I could probably build a whole car with that stuff and 10mm bolts. Probably not.
Anyways once I got everything for the wrap… that process started. What a pain in the ass. Huge learning process BUT I did save a ton of money. Material is only 450-500 bucks. The rest is all labor and I can see why some shops charge 3200. Tedious work and your body is sore as shit afterwards. If I had to do it again, I could do it perfectly in 1/3 the time. Might switch up the color this summer, as the wrap is going to be 2 years old soon and you can tell. It is quite weathered and stained.
Finally finished the wrap. Loved how it came out.
The car was coming together really nicely but needed some rimmies. I wanted something unique and a little different. Had my eyes on some new at the time, Enkei’s. Finally found a guy that could get me a really good deal on them. Waited 4 months for them and was the first to have them in the states in VW/Audi fitment. Flow formed, 19lbs. I really wanted Volk’s but could not justify the cost at the time. I had two sets of Volks on my old car and really am a fan of their wheels. This summer I may do either Volk ZE40 or Advan RZDF because my current summer wheels do not clear my brakes that well.
Also, WTF is up with that POS mirror they sell this car with? Had to change that ASAP rocky
Random photo that I thought looked nice before the stock wheels were shunned for storage. Haven’t used them since. Wanted to use the for winter this year, but they will not fit over my brakes Nothing clears the AP Racing brakes. Do not buy them.
Enkei NT03RR 18x8.5 wheels mounted. Somewhere along the way, I did OEM VW window visors. I always like having windows open, even in the rain to let the fresh polluted NYC air circulate. I have run window visors in my last couple cars so why not. Honestly I don’t really like the fitment of the VW OEM visors and thought they would fit better but oh well…
Time for a drink. Thought car was almost done. Little did I know.
Decided I wanted to upgrade the shift knob because the stock one is nice, and has some cool details in it, but light as fuck.. come on plastic? I think this photo I was trying to impress a girl with some expensive juice I was trying to be healthy with, but ignore that. Best photo I could find of the BFI shift knob in magna red.
Some more random pictures.
So car was loud but slow. What if we can do loud and kind of fast? Went with COBB. Was running the MAPerformane tune at first. It is an ok tune, but I still consider it an OTS flash and would not recommend it. I was getting a ton of knock on their 93 tune. I had to run their 91 tune with 93 gas before it felt “safe.” Ended up going protuned a couple months later when I got a downpipe.
Clutch never slipped on me but I didn’t want to wait for that to happen. Upgraded the clutch to a Sachs Performance Clutch and love it. 15k miles on it and it’s just as strong as new. I beat on it pretty hard as well, and it keeps coming back for more. I had it installed by excelerate. This is the only thing on my car that I did not install myself. I have done clutches on Honda’s and Nissan’s as well as Yamaha motorcycles but did not want to risk breaking something on this car since she’s my first German. If the clutch ever goes, I’ll do it myself next time with an RSR Plus clutch. After figuring out the build quality while doing all the other mods on this car, I feel confident on being able to drop the tranny. I should not have pussed out the first time, but excl8 did a nice job regardless. Then went protune with Stratified. They have some cool cars at excelerate:
I see a snail hiding
Side note… I really like the guys at excelerate. I have gone there three times for service work and each time they have been honest and all three times finished in under the time they quoted, actually saving me money from the quote. I know some shops will charge you full price even if they finish early and pretend they didn’t finish until the time they quoted is up. I would recommend these dudes in CT for service. Even when I had an issue with my axle, they showed me so that I would not have to just take their word for it, but actually see it. I thought that was nice and transparent. BUT for retail stuff, I would not buy most things from them. Everything I have wanted from them, they have always asked MSRP and I have always found for less than MSRP, even including directly from the manufacturer!! I understand that they are a brick and mortar store and have to cover the costs of a retail space so I’m not hating on them for that, but I’m just not the customer to pay retail for things when I can get them cheaper elsewhere. I’ll let their Porsche customers do that
Had a nice fried chicken sandwich in LES after driving home with the new clutch.
Ok, so I have a new clutch and a COBB AP.. why not go stage 2? Shall we? We shall. On the drive out, some nice sunlight…
Hugest bird shit ever on my car
Driving home, caught a cool pic on the Kosciuszko bridge
Did some spark plugs… Don’t remember why all 8 of them look used? I must have been checking something? Maybe comparing current plugs to old plugs while in the tuning process to see how the engine is looking? Oh well, here they are
I was getting heat soak like a mother fucker. Couldn’t decide between the Forge intercooler and IE intercooler. Both were being sold for 750 at the time brand new from their respective manufacturers directly due to some sale at the time. Everyone on the forums swore by the IE, so why not? I also could not find any info on the Forge intercooler.
Oh, it’s pretty
Next to my winter wheels that just came in. 17x7.5 sparcos with sottozero 3 performance WINTER tires. They are very good in the snow even though they are not a performance SNOW tire. Yes, I’m the only person that installs an intercooler in winter lol
Engine is shifting around too much in the engine bay with all the powaaaa. Time for some 034 motor mounts. Really recommend them. I had a failure on one but their customer service is top notch and in my opinion, these are the best for a decent idle that doesn’t break your teeth, and a direct/connected feeling with the motor/transmission and chassis. I have heard that BFI are good and probably will not ever fail compared to the design of the 034 but I just did not want much NVH increase. I had that in my old car and it sucked. I think the 034 are a perfect medium. I’ll take my chances with these motor mounts and warranty them if anything. They are that good in my opinion.
While in the engine bay, I wanted to fix the vague clutch feel. Ripped out this bullshit swirl valve and rubber line. I think I went with an ECS stainless steel line… or was it a KMD tuning line? Either way, it helped.
Also, for the rear fog lights, I ordered a euro switch and the one I got was red. From a Cupra R maybe??? I took it out and put in a Euro R switch from 245cars, but that one does not allow you to run the rear fog with the parking lights on so I went back to the skoda switch. I think I prefer the red.. reminds me of my dad’s BMWs and easier to see in the daytime. Nostalgic in a way.
First snow with this car… took her out when no one else would go out. Handled like a champ. Pun intended. Drove to depot of home, to get a shovel to shovel out my wife’s car.
All the snow is gone
New intake came in. I was running the Unitronic intake, unitronic air intake duct, AWE tuning downpipe and track exhaust. I wanted to go full AWE (for no real good reason) so got their new intake when the redesigned it. Quality piece. Honestly I like the unitronic a lot, and it flowed more air and made more turbo. Probably made a little more power too but oh well. Urotuning hooked it up with a killer deal on black Friday last year.
Time to install the new intake. Current state:
Did an oil change also.
Hulk jizz to lubricate the motor
I installed the full underbody skid plate. Supposed to help with aerodynamics, protection and cooling… Not sure if it does any of that. But it does not help with oil changes. I am sure of that.
Out with the old
In with the new. I do prefer the fitment of the awe more. The unitronic was just so huge and rubbed against everything. This has more of an OEM feel except in carbon fiber.
Also, I kept reading about the Subaru STI S208 and was falling in love with it. Can’t afford to import one, but damn those seats.. more on that later…
I never liked the front end because it always looked like it was smiling, kind of like the s2000’s. Switched to a Golf R bumper, so now she’s always frowning. I like the meaner, more aggressive look and it will help more with cooling. I never use the fog lights anyway, so peace out to them.
Back from the body shop:
Also, I had a crazy rattling sound under my car. Took me forever to figure it out but when I finally did, turns out my BFI insert fell apart. I would not recommend it. After that I was on the quest to rid my car of any BFI part because of that, and also because of a thread on the forums about some dude with a defective clutch and they were making him jump through hoops for a refund. If you have a shitty product, at least have good customer service, damn. Done with them.
More drinks
Random photos
I’m a glutton for big brakes, and I autox in my past cars. When this build is done I have hopes to graduate to road courses, so time to sort the brakes out. Ended up finding a used kit. I would not recommend anyone buying used brakes. This was such a pain in the ass. Misrepresented by the seller, and the guy on the forum was not even the owner of the brakes.. he was the middle man for his friend selling them etc etc… Took forever to get but finally got them. They ended up work well and I’m happy with them after sorting them out.
Wheel locks and spacers for the new brakes
Guess what.. the brakes do not fit. But then I saw a Golf R with neuspeeds running the same brakes at Tyrolsport. I will not quit just yet:
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