Most liked posts in thread: My MK2 VW GTI 20V 1.8T Projekt

Thanks for the comments everyone. The striker on the MK2 had no adjustability so there really isn't any difference as far as that goes. I was considering drilling holes for the striker and replacing it with another just because it would look better and allow me to remove it when I clean up the area in the door jamb. Right now the door actually closes and latches noticablly easier that it did before so hopefully the adjustability won't be needed.

 

I had a cat back exhaust fabricated. 2.5in with a magnaflow and resonator:



Now the tip is centered in the cut out and it has a little more flow. I also changed up the front grill:



I also have some crosshair headlights and red/clear tails on the way from TM Tuning. I took it out on a 300 mile road trip yesterday and was able to stop by the Vista Sonic GTG. dsm1983 took these shots there:







Tomorrow I go to LA to see eurocabi for some fender rolling and stance :thumbup: More pics to come.

 

Yeah it is fun to just kick back and watch everybody crowd around the engine bay until that one person looks inside and notices the dash. I love the reaction. Yesterday I took a trip down to LA to see eurocabi from vwvortex for some fender rolling. He does great work at a great price. I finally got my drop done:


It could go lower, but here is my driveway that I need to negotiate every time it goes out:


and just cause I love it, Kelli's MINI doing the same:

 

Took it into an AC shop today and had the system checked for leaks, vacuumed, and then filled. Surprisingly it was all good to go and now I have AC just in time for the hot weather. Since last time I posted, I got my cross hair headlights, red/clear euro taillights, and clear side marker lights so all of the lighting is finished now. I managed to get a hold of all of the interior switches and lights so I will be trying to figure out how to get it all to work with the MKIV harness and try to figure out how to make door panels that will work.

 

I went to a local car show today. The car show was pretty cool. Lot's of good old American iron and muscle and a couple of sweet air- cooled VW's and then me. There were no other foreign cars of any kind there. I was in the "90's and up" and "Under Construction " categories. I got a lot of positive feedback on the car and most people said they had never even seen a modified water-cooled VW. I tightened up a few things since I last checked in. Red striped the bumpers, added dual tips to the exhaust, got the fog lights straightened out, got a hold of a new rear emblem, and got a few small parts painted in Inaris Silber. I think the Eurotrash plate is appropriate and represents the spirit of the build. It sure is what I felt like at the car show. Here is how it is looking all cleaned up with a little bit of new paint:

Look close and you can see the lower valence painted along with the lower grill strip. Gives a small idea of what it will all look like painted. I really like this color:


The Inaris Silber looks hot with the bay color:


When you have a hot rod builder do your paint, you end up with pinstripes:


I also got a sunroof assembly from a VW Quantum which tilts and slides instead of just sliding like the GTI's sunroof. I had it painted and then added a new seal and now I can install it:


Some old Monza exhaust tips:




Some random shots:

 

My 04 Jetta GLI with a KO4-001 turbo swap had to be smogged this year for the first time. With this car and Kelli's MINI needing the "special smog test" I decided to strip it down to look OEM and run it through. I pulled all of the obvious parts off so it would look OEM and took it in for the test and it failed because of the 2.5 inch TT downpipe I have. I have an OEM downpipe on this car and I decided that if I am going to go to all of the trouble to swap downpipes, I might as well swap everything and bring the GLI back to stock so I don't have to worry about smogging it again. So what that means is this car is going to get a Kinetic exhaust manifold, KO4-001 turbo, and a 2.5 inch TT downpipe. Since I can't swap ECUs and I have APR on this car, I will just add APR's KO4 file to the ECU. At least they throw all of the other programs in for $200 total. All the APR requires is a 4bar FPR too so I can ditch the 3 inch MAF that has been a pain in the ass to deal with. I will also ditch the SAI, N249, PCV and Evap to really clean up the bay. Here is a dyno from my Jetta so this should be fun in the lighter car:

 

:blush2: Thanks guys. I started tearing it down today and I go to get the needed parts to swap turbos tomorrow. It is a big risk because it is supposed to go to Vegas on the third and I have never installed a turbo before. I broke on e of the downpipe mounting studs so i will have that to contend with tomorrow. I will be able to tear down the Jetta tomorrow too so I will know what I am getting into soon enough.

 

It should be there. I Pulled the turbo, exhaust manifold, and downpipe today. I also decided to remove some stuff to clean up the engine bay some more:



Hard to believe all of this is in there just for pollution control. Tomorrow I will pull the parts off of the Jetta to swap onto the GTI.

 

I finished getting everything off of both cars today. I only broke one exhaust stud and stripped one bolt. Both were easy to get out and replace though. Unfortunately the Kinetic high flow exhaust manifold has a crack where the turbo mounts. Explains the exhaust leak I had on my Jetta. I am going to see if it can be repaired tomorrow, but if not, I still have the OEM manifold to put on. I also have some oil leaking from the valve cover so I am going to change the gasket. Since I had the intake manifold and valve cover off, I dropped them off at the polisher for a refresh. Hopefully I will have it all reassembled by Wednesday so I can get it ready to go to Vegas.