Build Thread V2.0

[mr.candid]

Great pictures ! Im from upstate,ny and its good to see that your still driving.

Can u post some pictures of that lovely engine bay and interior ? Those dont look like stock seats...LOL

[One Gray GLI]

engine bay, I'll snap a picture tomorrow of it..but this is the interior

[mr.candid]

very nice seats ! Care to tell me about them and the sliders u used ? Im looking for some seats for my vrt before spring time. The last guy i remember with the gray and black look was sleepydub and he went crazy on his setup ! LOL

Have u sat in the r32 seat ? I was thinking about maybe using them in my gti

[One Gray GLI]

yeah, I like R seats a lot actually. these are pretty comfortable.. the way the brackets/sliders work is..the slider is on the bottom of the seat, and it's bolted into the stock rails with these little square brackets and it bolts in tight..

id get R seats if I were you for the ease of install, and you don't have to hunt for brackets if they dont come with

[DCdense88]

someone said the eip kit was rated at 460whp? Is this true? At how many pounds what are the turbo specs?. Seems like a lot w/ unitronic software, but i could be just putting my foot in my mouth

[PhReE]

EIP kit was just hardware ... (Their tune was bogus and all of their power ratings/etc can be ignored) All the turbo kits are pretty much the same hardware wise except there are really 2 main types of exhaust manifolds and there prolly isnt much difference between the 2 in terms of power.

I bet 460whp could be done on the Uni S/W, on a good day when it decided to run good, but he's running Jeff's S/W now.

[DCdense88]

what turbo was used in the stage 2? jw i really have no idea why i'm asking. Just thought that 460whp on a eip kit sounded a bit high. I would love to see some dyno graphs though if the owner/builder has them to back up the claims

[One Gray GLI]

the first, 397whp/365wtq pull, was with a 2.5" full turboback exhaust. 444whp/420wtq was with a 3" full turboback exhaust, same boost (18psi).

462whp was on about 20-21psi, i don't remember exactly. EIP stg 2 kit (meaning, t04b turbonetics turbo, their "tubular" collector piece off stock manifolds, with a c2 SRI, blah blah)

all done in the same day, maybe a few hours apart after the exhaust was made, was around the same time last year, so it was pretty cold out.

doesn't matter though anymore, I've got a different turbo/different setup, my old EIP kit is still sitting around downstairs if someone wants it.

turbo/manifold/both 2.5" and 3" downpipes. just no piping or IC and such.

[One Gray GLI]

and, since I never posted it.. newer engine bay pictures that aren't cell phone pictures. lol

[DCdense88]

looks really good. Keep up the good work. You running stock internals?

[One Gray GLI]

yup, HG spacer (8.8:1, schimmel one, IIRC) and ARP head studs, that's it, on a United Motorsport file.

thanks.

[GTIVRon]

Do you have a limited slip diff.?

The car being FWD is really the only reason I don't want to invest money into building it, and rather buy another car as a project car. My car's interior rattles to all hell though, which won't do for daily driving. I really want to just effing rip the whole interior out of it, hence the idea of making it a project car and buying a DD. But if you really spin 4th even with an LSD i'll sell this car and get a DD where the manufacturer didn't cheap out to hell on the interior and a RWD project.

[One Gray GLI]

It's also 30degrees out, it doesn't spin 4th on a nice day, but yes, has a LSD.

[24ValveGLI]

it doesn't spin 4th on a nice day

Thats because you're not running enough boost!

[GTIVRon]

So whats the point of all this power on a FWD car when its useless under 100mph?

[One Gray GLI]

It still pulls while it spins.

[DCdense88]

Thats because you're not running enough boost!

hahaha i agree. I get asked the same question. Why have all this hp in a fwd car. And i say. Why the hell not. If you are doing any street racing it's on the freeway. Plus, bikes arn't going to race from anything under 60. I have the stock diff. running 555whp and it spins through 3rd and sometimes spins a bit in 4th, but it is still faster than 99% of everything out there....and i know someone is going to give me the whole "you shouldn't race on the street" thing..lol. save it. You know you do it too.

[PhReE]

So whats the point of all this power on a FWD car when its useless under 100mph?

Heh, go for a spin in one. That's all I have to say

[PhReE]

hahaha i agree. I get asked the same question. Why have all this hp in a fwd car. And i say. Why the hell not. If you are doing any street racing it's on the freeway. Plus, bikes arn't going to race from anything under 60. I have the stock diff. running 555whp and it spins through 3rd and sometimes spins a bit in 4th, but it is still faster than 99% of everything out there....and i know someone is going to give me the whole "you shouldn't race on the street" thing..lol. save it. You know you do it too.

Hell yeah I was just rolling onto the throttle the other night when it was way cold(but dry) with my snow tires (which suck and are 195's) but I could roll onto it in 4th and break em loose at about 75mph, and in 5th I could roll on and break em loose at about 95mph (that is a bit scary and pretty dangerous btw, lol) But good god does it give you a rush! Getting on the freeway in the morning is a blast!

[DCdense88]

Hell yeah I was just rolling onto the throttle the other night when it was way cold(but dry) with my snow tires (which suck and are 195's) but I could roll onto it in 4th and break em loose at about 75mph, and in 5th I could roll on and break em loose at about 95mph (that is a bit scary and pretty dangerous btw, lol) But good god does it give you a rush! Getting on the freeway in the morning is a blast!

yes sir. VRT+fwd+wheelspin=orgasm. Can't wait til spring to get it on the road

[GTIVRon]

Would stripping as much weight as possible from the car help with traction? (less weight to try and get going..) or would it hinder traction? (Less weight on the tires..)

Thinking about making my car a project. I wanted to start shooting the ****ing **** out of the interior today on the way home from work.

[DCdense88]

have you ever driven in a gutted car? Let alone a gutted vrt?... geez man u have never heard rattles like that. And the whole weight/traction thing---Technically it should help with traction slightly because the motor is still sitting over the front wheels. So less weight in rear means the balance of the car is shifted forward. Car will def. be faster if it's gutted. But i highly HIGHLY recommend not doing it especially if it's a daily driver. You will hate your life if you are sensitive to rattle noises and stuff. Why so many rattles?. What kind of motor/tranny mounts are you running?

[PhReE]

Would stripping as much weight as possible from the car help with traction? (less weight to try and get going..) or would it hinder traction? (Less weight on the tires..)

Thinking about making my car a project. I wanted to start shooting the ****ing **** out of the interior today on the way home from work.

Yes, but focus on removing weight from the rear, and put as fat of tires on there as you can. I run 235's on it in the summer, and have heard of others running fatter but then you can start running into rubbing issues.

[29er]

The way I see it, who cares if a FWD platform isn't optimal for all the power some guys are making? It's all about having fun, right? VRTs are fun, hell even my head swapped 24v is fun and I didn't go over the top with anything. Who cares about a couple tenths at the strip?

The people who were traking gutted and caged mk1 Sciroccos in the 80's didn't mind that there were RWD options out there. I don't get why it's such a big deal today, especially with how much better the transmissions and diffs are today, even completely stock.

And GTIVRon, are your rattles really that bad? Check the mk4 forum DIYs regarding rattling. I've got near solid motor mounts and stiff suspension but just one small, intermittent rattle near the headlight switch...

[DCdense88]

Yes, but focus on removing weight from the rear, and put as fat of tires on there as you can. I run 235's on it in the summer, and have heard of others running fatter but then you can start running into rubbing issues.

It is good to hear that there are other people who run fat(ter) tires on their vw. I get heckled all the time for 245s and 225s.. People i guess don't understand that a "stretched" tire provides 1. less contact area and 2. weakens the sidewalls. Gut the rear, put some 235s or 245s(if you dare). PhReE has the right idea

[tehbrosta]

Yes, but focus on removing weight from the rear, and put as fat of tires on there as you can. I run 235's on it in the summer, and have heard of others running fatter but then you can start running into rubbing issues.

Don't get me wrong weight reduction is good, but why focus on the rear? The VR is a heavy engine, from the factory we don't have a 50/50 weight distribution, why make it worse? I think relocating the battery to the rear would help. Although this is coming from a handling point of view I guess.

/newb

[29er]

Don't get me wrong weight reduction is good, but why focus on the rear? The VR is a heavy engine, from the factory we don't have a 50/50 weight distribution, why make it worse? I think relocating the battery to the rear would help. Although this is coming from a handling point of view I guess.

/newb

Exactly, different goal, different way of going about achieving it. Take weight off the rear if you want traction to the front wheels, distribute more weight (evenly) to the rear for better balance. Then you get into corner-balancing of the suspension as well.

There's a trade off for everything. Most mk4 guys don't take the weight reduction/redistribution thing too far, because most of us don't want to give up too much in the way of interior/comforts/features/MPG/safety/etc. The vast majority of modified mk4s are still daily drivers, or the owner's "nice" car. A stripped out mk2 racecar with a VRT in it would be a different story, you can go much further if you aren't worried about the drawbacks.

[PhReE]

Exactly, different goal, different way of going about achieving it. Take weight off the rear if you want traction to the front wheels, distribute more weight (evenly) to the rear for better balance. Then you get into corner-balancing of the suspension as well.

There's a trade off for everything. Most mk4 guys don't take the weight reduction/redistribution thing too far, because most of us don't want to give up too much in the way of interior/comforts/features/MPG/safety/etc. The vast majority of modified mk4s are still daily drivers, or the owner's "nice" car. A stripped out mk2 racecar with a VRT in it would be a different story, you can go much further if you aren't worried about the drawbacks.

x2

[One Gray GLI]

but just one small, intermittent rattle near the headlight switch...

I've got that same wretched rattle near the headlight switch, but it's only on decel. drives me nuts. haha

[GTIVRon]

I have a rattle that gets quieter when I pull closed the sunroof slider thing, so I guess thats rattling, actually more of a squeak. In the rear there is 2-3 rattles, no idea where. there is also a rattle up front passenger side that I can't track down, either somewhere behind the glovebox or in the door panel.

If I do any more modding on this car it will be project and I'll first have bought a "nice" car. (Thinking MK6 Golf TDI) I figure that with the interior slipped, rattling parts will be easier to find and epoxied or something back in place. If I do strip it, it will be lower half of dash and everything behind it gone. I'll probably also then get into cleaning out the bay (sai/evap, most likely the AC too) lighter battery, and MAYBE go as far as cutting into the frame. And before I get serious about tracking the rear windows to plexy and painted carbon fiber hood.

But yea, the rattles/squeaks in this car have become intolerable.

[PhReE]

Interesting, My car has really only one rattle and its the little piece of the overhead console that you can remove to get to the allen key to manually close the sunroof. All I have to do is push on it occasionally and it stops.

[29er]

Yeah, something must be going on for it to be THAT bad...especially on a later mk4. Check the foam behind the door cards, the metal plates bolted to the doors which need to have a rubber gasket between them (not sure if any of this applies to the rear "door cards" in a GTI), metal clips in the dash, etc. Loose objects in the spare tire well? Rear seat frames? Loose stuff under the hatch panel?

One of my worst dash rattles was after I got it back from paint, for some reason all the screws that hold the lower dash panels in were gone, they were just kinda clipped in So missing screws will do that...

Edit: Oh, and do you still have the rubber isolators on top of your rear springs? The stock ones suck, and the inner metal exposed will cause rattling/clunking, even worse if you simply remove them completely.

[GTIVRon]

Yeah, something must be going on for it to be THAT bad...especially on a later mk4. Check the foam behind the door cards, the metal plates bolted to the doors which need to have a rubber gasket between them (not sure if any of this applies to the rear "door cards" in a GTI), metal clips in the dash, etc. Loose objects in the spare tire well? Rear seat frames? Loose stuff under the hatch panel?

One of my worst dash rattles was after I got it back from paint, for some reason all the screws that hold the lower dash panels in were gone, they were just kinda clipped in So missing screws will do that...

Edit: Oh, and do you still have the rubber isolators on top of your rear springs? The stock ones suck, and the inner metal exposed will cause rattling/clunking, even worse if you simply remove them completely.

I have an 02.5.... No idea when/if they changed anything to the interior to fix rattling problems. The real spring isolators are still in, everything bolted tight. It sounds like its coming from higher up. These rattles in the rear started after driving on the ice here in DFW area to/from work for 2 days.

The rattle on the passenger side front is persistent and any cruising speed or any bump in the road. The sunroof area rattle happens on any kind of uneven like going up the driveway, or sideways over a speed bump, or dips on one side of the road...

And they are loud, even with speakers clipping when I turn the radio up I can still hear the one up front.

[29er]

Brian, not sure if he also PM'd you, but I got a piece of advice from "VR6VDub172" regarding the rattle we have. He says removing the metal clips that hold in the dimmer switch should fix it, and that without them he doesn't have an issue with the switch staying in. I'm gonna try it when I get a chance, so many other stupid things to take care of first

[One Gray GLI]

mine seems to be near the actual headlight switch.. like, if I press the headlight switch in on the left side hard, it stops rattling. I just need to peek in there one day or something. lol