Might as well... CubbyChowder's TDI Build Thread

[CubbyChowder]

UPDATE 1/18/2011: I'm putting all my progress on this first post so you dont have to scroll through every page.

Well the time has come once again to start dumping all of my money into a new car. After hopping around from one MKIV to the next (as well as some Honda's ), I've finally settled on this 2003 Candy White 2-door Golf TDI. This one is a keeper, it's everything I could ever want in MKIV.

I searched far and wide (on the interwebz) for the perfect TDI, and my heart was set the moment I saw this one. Low miles, reasonable price, 2-door, and it was a good excuse for a mini road trip. Called the guy up and after talking for about an hour I put down a $500 deposit. One week later flew over to Phoenix, AZ and after a 5-hour energy drink and 9 hours of cracked out highway cruising, I made it back to my home in Pismo Beach, CA. Here are some pictures of how it sat the day after I purchased it:









Since I bought the TDI for fuel efficiency purposes, the engine is staying near stock. It already has an upgraded ECU, new turbo and new injectors. Sooo, as I know some of you will frown upon my next statement... this build will mainly consist of sexy aesthetic upgrades

So far, I have purchased:
- Smoked bumper markers
- Glass headlight lenses (I am doing a semi-custom Joeyish mod to a set of headlights that I bought off my friend for $16 )
- Mason Tech Great Plates for when I go low
- And these:

V-maxx's new Height/Dampening adjustable coilovers. I just ordered these today (10/14/10) so it might be a little before they are installed. Shipping was $75 heavy boxes from NY to CA aren't cheap!
With that said, I am very excited to try these out as I have never had any experience with dampening adjustable coilovers before.

Soon to come:
- Wheels. I don't really have my heart set on anything yet. I kinda wanna stay OEM and get some Aristo's (I've been starting to like Longbeaches and Santa Monica's lately as well ). But we'll see what happens, I also really like the new ESM BBS LM rep's, as well as a few other new wheels on the market. I might also go the staggered route. Spacers will definitely be happening.
- Window tint, not feelin the fishbowl look, I feel girly.
- Black roof and a Thule bike rack.
- 20th AE GTI Recaro seats (If i can find some semi-locally)
- 20th AE Steering Wheel
- Front and rear sway bars, already have front waiting to install.
- Either Ocean tails or the Euro look ones R/S/S/R. Haven't decided yet.
- Diesel Geek Sigma short shifter
- Skid Plate
- Rear wiper delete

Pretty much first thing I did was semi Joey Mod the headlights and put new glass lenses on. They came out great:





A few weeks later...Special Delivery (yes, I got excited and layed everything out on a towel on my floor and took pictures)



I thought it was really cute that V-maxx packaged the dampening adjusters so fancily. I felt like a highschool girl getting some diamond earrings from her first boyfriend.




Installed the coilovers and ditched the hubcaps Rocked it like this for about 2 weeks:








Installed this 22mm H&R Front Sway Bar to prevent axle rubbing:



I had some R32 bumpers, and decided not to go that route anymore so I traded one of my front bumpers for these Long Beaches +$140 on his end Tires were shot, had new 225/45/17's mounted later that day. The ride height was temporary, in these pictures the front was a little higher than the rear:






A few days later I got my ride height all situated and snapped some photos:




Gathered up some more goodies. Mint 3-spoke steering wheel, 15mm ECS spacers with bolts, new dogbone mounts, and some GTI tail lights (not pictured):





This is the car in its most current state. Pics taken on Jan 20th, 2011:







Made it into the Reader's Rides section in the February 2011 issue of EuroTuner. I realize it's not that big of a deal but I was pretty pumped on it haha



[Update 2/14/11]: Finally got around to installing the 3-spoke steering wheel. Super easy installation, took about 5 minutes. It looks and feels so much better than the 4-spoke, I love it.



And one outside of my house for shiits:



3/1/11 - I bought some 20mm spacers with bolts, so I installed those in the rear and moved the 15mm's up front. I rub slightly on both front and back on bumps and stuff, but it's only on a small portion of the inner fender liner. I'm just going to cut that little potion of the liner out and all should be good

Here's a quick comparison of the 15mm spacer (left) and 20mm spacer(right):



A few pics of how it currently sits with 15mm up front, 20mm out back:




The front clearance :




The back:




I also replaced my dogbone bushings with the ECS polyurethane ones. I gotta say, I'm not very happy with it. My car vibrates much more at idle and in first going from a stop. I am debating putting my old bushings back in because it made my drive quality a lot worse (and yes, I installed everything correctly).

A few shots of the dogbone taken apart and put back together with new bushings:

[zrau17]

So far, I have purchased:
- Smoked bumper markers

Good luck with it, love white golfs.

[orau22]

sounds like you got some work ahead of you, TDI ftw

[Mr.Tan]

i like how the adjustment knob for the rear shocks is down on the bottom like that, makes it easier to adjust. My konis you have to remove the rear shock and then adjust it and put it back on



good stuff though, should be nice when its done

[CubbyChowder]

i like how the adjustment knob for the rear shocks is down on the bottom like that, makes it easier to adjust. My konis you have to remove the rear shock and then adjust it and put it back on

yeah that was definitely a selling point for me

[Incubusions]

i like how the adjustment knob for the rear shocks is down on the bottom like that, makes it easier to adjust. My konis you have to remove the rear shock and then adjust it and put it back on

Same with Ksports... I have had them installed 3 months now and cant even count how many times i have dropped the rears to adjust the dampening.... I've got it down to under 15 minutes... Still a pain though.

[pDUBc]

good base to start with.
TDI FTW

[x_GTI_x]

let us know how the vmaxx's ride, im in the market for some new coils

[CubbyChowder]

let us know how the vmaxx's ride, im in the market for some new coils

Will do, I couldnt really find too many customer reviews on them but I imagine they're pretty sweet. I'll write a little review after I've driven around on them for awhile and get all the dampening set.

[x_GTI_x]

Will do, I couldnt really find too many customer reviews on them but I imagine they're pretty sweet. I'll write a little review after I've driven around on them for awhile and get all the dampening set.

That would be awesome, i've been looking at Fk streetlines but adjustable dampening would be nice, and ive heard some not so great things about the FK's. Ive ridden with some older vmaxx's on a buddies car and was kind of surprised with the ride quality, so this should be interesting.

[gr0undscraper]

looks promising

[DEZL_DUB]

watching this one. Havent seen it around yet

[CubbyChowder]

watching this one. Havent seen it around yet

It was outta commish for over a week cuz air was leaking into the fuel lines and I had to wait for a part to come in the mail. So i finally got it up and running again yesterday. I'm sure you'll see it around eventually im in SLO quite often

[davenowood]

def watching, maybe it will give me some inspiration for my TDI

[CubbyChowder]

def watching, maybe it will give me some inspiration for my TDI

I got the Joey mod's all sealed up and ready to go with the new glass lenses. They look pretty cool, we'll see how they look installed. I'll post up pictures later.

[CubbyChowder]

just finished the headlights and got em installed. I think they look pretty decent car is super dirty though

[DEZL_DUB]

lookin good

[agentmaddock]

I picked up my dampening adjustable Vmaxx's at H2Oi 3 weeks ago. Been running them for two weeks now and they are great! You can't beat height and dampening adjustment for $600! GL with the build

[CubbyChowder]

I picked up my dampening adjustable Vmaxx's at H2Oi 3 weeks ago. Been running them for two weeks now and they are great! You can't beat height and dampening adjustment for $600! GL with the build

sweeet im really excited to try mine out. They shipped today so hopefully within a week i'll have them on

[CubbyChowder]

Special Delivery (yes, I got excited and layed everything out on a towel on my floor and took pictures)



I thought it was really cute that V-maxx packaged the dampening adjusters so fancily. I felt like a highschool girl getting some diamond earrings from her first boyfriend.

[jettaaddiction]

you are now vortex approved

[CubbyChowder]

you are now vortex approved

haha not quite. Can't be approved with steelies and hubbies

wheels are next

[ornithology]

Hey looking good!

[T-Mar]

Looking good so far

[CubbyChowder]

thanks guys Coilovers will be on the car on Monday

[mlenn820]

white

[dud122]

(pssstt... a lot of TDI's performance upgrades can actually boost MPG's as well)



looking good so far

[Deathader]

Headlights looks sweet! You should paint that grille black to match

[AzDubN]

[vgasbrkdrms1]

please boost the hell out of it!

[PLAYED TT]

[motoo344]

Nice job so far. Looking forward to seeing more progress.

[CubbyChowder]

thanks for all the positive comments guys! I am definitely tempted to start doing some performance upgrades as well. Going BT is a definite possibility I need to read up more on performance stuff soon.

I'm gonna get my stance all setup first, then work on the interior a bit. So we'll see how this goes

[Guitarman355]

just finished the headlights and got em installed. I think they look pretty decent car is super dirty though

Gonna have to smoke my turn signals when I joey mod my lights
Was it hard at all?

[CubbyChowder]

Gonna have to smoke my turn signals when I joey mod my lights
Was it hard at all?

No it was actually really easy, I just went to OSH and bought a black paint pen and used that for the turn signals. It came out really good and the light is still completely visible at night when the blinkers/hazard lights are on