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INTRODUCTION Hi, I'm Rich and this is my 2003 Silverstone Grey GTI. I purchased the car new in June 2003. Yes, its my baby... it has taken me some years of hard work to get to the position to afford a second car and in doing so I went back to my roots, the Volkswagen GTI. I had purchased a new MK2 GTI in 1985 when I graduated college and landed a good job. I really loved the car, but I only had it two years (sold it to get some extra funds to by my home). Since (as the locals well know) winters here in the Syracuse New York area can be pretty harsh on cars (about 130 inches of snow average per season - lots of salt and sand on the roads), my GTI is garaged and not driven during the winter. It's a 1.8T 5speed with leather interior, moon-roof, and 17" OE wheels (which I used for long road trips and winter storage). For me, the 1.8T was the only engine choice because it brings me back to my first GTI and the engineer in me loves the combination of power and efficiency that a turbo'd four cylinder engine offers. Performance (handling more so than straight line acceleration) is important to me, so my preference is for a very OEM look with subtle cosmetic enhancements that compliment the exterior and interior of the car while seriously upgrading the suspension to make the car handle/drive/ride like a mix between a true sports car and a great grand tourer. I do like my car to look nice though and I really like the 2002 GTI 337 (and especially its European 25th Anniversary Edition brother and various options/features found in European spec GTI's), so I have incorporated some of those things I like from that car into my GTI. In fact, at a small car show a few years ago the judges form the MKIV OEM+ car class (very nice folk - but they were more familiar with MK3s than MK4s) thought my GTI was a 337! We all had some good fun with this after the show with friends referring to my car as a 337+ (a mix of OEM+ and 337 I guess), hence the occasional reference to my car as the "338 Special Edition" (i.e. 337+1 = 338) on various car forums.
Exterior and Exterior Mods Spring of 2005 saw the addition of the VW Votex (20AE/337) body kit to the car as well as a nice mint set of BBS RC wheels I picked up fall '04 from a fellow Veedubber that took them off his new 04 GLi in order to put a set of 19's on! The 20AE front lip (lower valance) got pretty chipped up last year from a couple of long road trips so I took the bumper off this spring and it re-painted and then clearbra'd it to protect it (something I should have done last year!) I've learned my lesson though... the 3M Xpel Clearbra product works really well at protecting the front of the car from stone chips and bugs... I very highly recommend it! The OEM (Europe) HID headlights, though expensive, are also very much worthwhile. I have them installed with manual leveling control and this set-up makes night time driving much safer as the lighting is much more clear and better projected. I don't do allot of nighttime driving, but they are well worth the expense! A complete list of exterior mods includes:
The first picture below (left) shows the painted "4 Motion" rear valance on the car. I went with painting this stock rear valance over the 20AE GTI (VW Votex body kit) rear valance because the exhaust cutout matched the dual tips on my 2.5" eG Solid Cat-back exhaust system which I really like and wanted to keep (the 20AE Votex rear valance only has a cutout for a larger single round exhaust tip)... its another clue to the keen observer that (besides the body color :-) ) my car is not a 20AE or 337 GTI! The next picture (center top) from the 2006 opening day at Watkins Glenn racetrack you can see the OEM HIDs on the car and ready to light the way! The third picture below (on the right) shows the H2 Hummer stubby antenna. It takes a little bit a quick minor trimming on the base, but the Hummer antenna looks great and only cost $12! The last picture below (lower center) shows a nice view of "aero" style rear wiper borrowed from the VW Polo in Europe.
Interior and Interior Mods I really like the stock leather interior of my GTi, so all I have tried to do is enhance it a bit with OEM style touches. I'm not a huge fan of the brushed aluminum trim look though, so I have stayed away from that and gone for adding a couple of small chrome to complement the few bits of chrome in the stock interior like the Reiger lighted shift knob that has some small chrome rings. I don't want to go overboard though, so all that is planned for the future will be some polished 337 pedal covers and chrome door lock buttons. If I get up the nerve to pull the door panels, I have a set of blue alarm LEDs that I want to put in. One of my favorite interior mods is the R series steering wheel which just feels great in my hands. The European double DIN Delta 6 head unit is one of those stealth type mods as it does not look that different than the stock Monsoon unit found in all USA MKIV GTI's, but it sounds better than the monsoon unit and some neat text (RDS) features. Someday if I have the cash I would love to get European Black Leather MKIV Recaro's and the Euro rear seat back with built in fold down arm rest. Interior mods include:
Some interior pictures. The picture on the left shows the R Line steering wheel and also a glimpse of the Reiger shift knob/boot and monster mats. The next picture over shows a close-up view of the Reiger shift knob/boot. On the right, a look at the rear seat headrests from the MKIV R32. The lower row set of pics show what things look when all lit up at night including a close-up of the VW Delta 6 head unit, then a pci of the center console/stack, and then a close up of the instrument cluster.
Engine Mods The 1.8T, while a strong and flexible motor as driven off the showroom floor, feels a bit chocked in the upper RPM ranges (part of which is admittedly due to the small KKK KO3 Sport turbo used on the cars) . With some basic mods, the engine revs much freer and has more power up top. In particular, a good turbo-back exhaust system just does wonders for the 1.8T. Before "chipping" the car, I did what I could to improve engine breathing - upgrading boost hoses, intercooler, piping, exhaust and pulleys. I chose a set-up that would increase flow and power (around 15whp) without getting too loud or raspy. For the stock turbo, a 2.5" exhaust system is perfect to meet these goals as larger diameter system or overkill and too loud. A set of lightweight under drive pulleys helped a little bit more to further open up the performance of the motor. In the fall of 2005 I made the addition of a Tyrol Sport upgraded side mount intercooler and GIAC X+ performance ECU programming. I did experience fair amount of part throttle surging issues (mainly in 3rd and 4th gear between 10 psi and max/peek boost) - with my dealer's help we worked through some of it by settling on a 4 bar FPR and N75J boost controller valve, but the cure turned out to be the new version of GIAC X+ (14c) which was flashed onto that car in the fall of '06. This new version of GIAC X+ made a big improvement in the overall drivability of the car and reduced part throttle surging to under certain light load situations in 3rd or 4th gear. Further experimenting with FPRs and N75s has shown that my car likes the stock 3 bar FPR and N75J that provides the best drivability. I highly recommend my GIAC dealer, Mike P and his crew at Tyrolsport... quality products and great service. His experience with the MKIV platform (he owns and regularly road course races his own MKIV GTI) is invaluable for a passionate driver looking to get the most out of their VW. On other fronts, I have done a custom smoothed air box mod which opened up the intake tract significantly while remaining very stealth stock appearance. Lastly I have used Untironics Uni-Settings software to bump up the idle speed of the motor about 100rpm to compensate for some of the affects of the under drive pulleys at idle (mostly for the drop in voltage from alternator at idle). The full list of engine mods is as follows:
Onto some pics of the engine bay and engine mods! First up (below left top row) is a pic of the engine bay. Appearance is basically stock except for the Audi S3 Strut Tower Brace which is how I like it. To the right you can see the engine cover off you can see the TT225 coil pack harness heat shield (a great way to protect those coil pack wires as the insulation on them has been known to dry up and crack/brake) and some of the Samco boost hoses and turbo inlet pipe (this is a older pic as it does not show the APR-R1 diverter valve and shows my old Neuspeed STB). On the 2nd row (left to right) , the first pic shows the Tyrolsport upgrade side mount intercooler being installed followed by some pics of my customer smoothed airbox mod showing a comparison of my moded vs. stock airbox followed by the installed smoothed airbox.
Top row center picture below shows a pic of my Diesel Geek Race Short Shifter just after installation. I've been very happy with the performance of the Diesel Geek Short Shifter as I like its very direct mechanical feel. In the future I plan to upgrade to their newer Sigma Series short shifter. To either side of the short shifter pic are some graphs from a Dyno run done during the late summer of 2007 at a club dyno day. On a (recently calibrated) SuperFlow dynometer the car actually put down 237 whp & 275 lb-ft tourque (SAE corrected - you can see a video of the dyno run here on YouTube)! Given the mods I have on the car, I was amazed by the numbers too (maybe its what they call a "happy" dyno or a error in the SAE correction factor), but the power did only drop 8 to 9 whp on the immediate following two runs and I was about 10 & 23 whp more than the other two chipped 1.8Ts that run during that day (in case you are curious the uncorrected whp numbers were about 11 whp less). The VAG-COM data log of boost and correction factors is actually from the 2nd Dyno run as I forgot to hit the key on my laptop to data log the first run! The bottom row of pics show my GHL 2.5" downpipe which is coupled to my eG Solid 2.5" Cat-back exhaust system whose tips you see in the other pictures.
Suspension, Brakes, Tires/Wheels Mods When I purchased my GTI, the one thing that I was somewhat disappointed with was the cars handling ability. I was yearning for the more balanced/neutral feel that my 1985 GTI had when I drove it off the showroom floor. So, I started reading and researching what could be done. What I learned was that with the MKIV (A4) (and most other A series based) VW platform's suspension design, you will find that any significant lowering negatively effects the cars handling ability. Yes, a lowered car may feel more responsive and have less body roll, but you have sacrificed some of the ability of the car to corner as fast as it can. Since I do (sometimes) like to go around corners fast, appreciate that suspension travel is important to keeping tires in contact with the road, and that I like my oil pan, I have chosen my current suspension set-up to stiffen things up some (upgraded springs and shocks to control body motions), minimally lower the car (via spring selection - Neuspeed SofSports), remove most of the car's tendency to significant understeer (added a rear sway bar), and then improved overall grip with better tires (a new set of BBS-RC wheels with Goodyear Eagle F-1 tires from a guy who just bought a new GLI). I then added camber plates to run a bit more negative camber to optimize grip in cornering. I started first by auto-crossing the car in its stock form to get a better feel for the stock handling, then proceeded (over the period of about two years) next with the rear sway, followed by wheels/tires, and then the spring/shock set-up. I've also done mods to help stiffen things up here and there with some braces... some probably have little or no effect (like the strut tower brace), but others (like the lower front tie bar and the Thomas Sport Tuning Stress Brace) really help the feel and stiffen the (already pretty strong) A4 VW platform. Brakes wise, I have gone to better front pads and caliper stiffeners to improve the stock braking and feel. I'm hoping to do a brake upgrade of some kind down the road... probably a 20AE GTI or R32 type set-up, or if budget permits a nice Brembo type set-up for the front. I have not done much in the past couple years in regards to the suspension, but I have a substantial wish list of what I'd like to accomplish in the next year or two: brake upgrades, Audi TT LCAs, H2Sport Sport Spindles, new springs, quicker ratio Audi TT steering rack etc... its going to take some time to save the $$$ up to do all this, but I have started collecting some of these parts! To date, the suspension mods on the car include:
I have learned much about the capabilities of this set-up since putting it one the car (late 2005), and so far it is working out pretty well. Ride quality is firm, but not rough. After doing a couple AutoX events and some back road cruising, I like the grip and control the car has. The Neuspeed SofSport springs are a bit progressive in rate though, so quick left/right right/left transitions can be a little twitchy until the spring rates ramp up. Because of this I am thinking that when I do upgrade the suspension further I will be looking into springs (who knows, maybe even a coil-over set-up) with a more linear rate/design. Having said that, the car is allot of fun to drive. Between the springs, shocks, and especially the Goodyear F1 tires, the handling (grip) is great. The car is considerably more fun to drive than stock. I started off with the rear sway set on its medium setting and 50% rear damping on the Koni's (front and rear) which did make the rear a bit twitchy in certain situations, so I have backed the sway bar setting off to soft and dialed down the rear shocks rebound damping to 25% from full soft which I have found to feel more stable - maybe a touch more understeer, but still more neutral than stock. The S3 strut tower brace is a interesting mod.... this item is standard equipment on A4 platform based AudiS3's (these were not sold here in the USA unlike the newer A5 platform based A3 that you can by here today). I found one in the winter of 2005/2006 on Ireland's E-Bay website and bought it. This strut tower brace is the only OEM VW one that will fit Golfs and Jettas (were the Audi TT one will not due to interference with the hood lift bracket). It had a extra tab on it (which bolts into something on the S3... not needed for installation in a Golf/Jetta/GTI) on the brace which I had cut off and then had it painted Silverstone Grey to match the car's color. You can see it in some of the engine compartment pics up on this page. The Thomas Sport Tuning Stress Brace is a very well designed piece (originally designed for R32) which helps stiffen the structure of VW Golfs/GTIs nicely as it mounts to multiple points just behind the back seat were there is not much structure (like on Jetta's). Getting back to future plans.... I have already purchased the H2Sport Sport Spindles (which will allow me to get a bit lower and improve the front suspension geometry of the car) and got a good deal on a set of new Audi TT LCAs (which have stiffer bushings and slots in the ball joint mounting holes that allow camber adjustment). I still need to figure out what I am going to do spring wise (and pick up some misc associated items), but if all goes well, the summer of 2008 will see these items installed on the car! The first row of pictures below (from left to right) shows a close up of the installed SPC camber plate followed by a look at the front Koni Sport shock and Neuspeed SofSport spring just after installation and then a close up view of the passenger side mounting of the Audi S3 strut tower brace. In the next row down the picture on the left shows a comparison between the stock upper front strut bushing with its VW Motorsport bother (left side of pic)... I was lucky enough to get a set of these VWMS bushings a few years ago (made from a higher durometer rubber than the stock bushing which you can see is already slightly compressed only after around 15,000 miles of use) and I'm saving for use down the road. To the right of the strut bushing pic is a picture of the Neuspeed lower front tie bar just after installation. The bottom row pair of pictures shows what my alignment looks like after suspension install with the SPC camber plates set at maximum negative camber. The picture next to that is my Thomas Sport Tuning StressBrace just before installation in the GTI.
The Accident I don't like to talk about this, but Friday the 13th of October 2006 was not a good day for me or my car. A tight turn (yes, probably taken too fast while attempting to avoid a animal), plus cool 40 degree weather on high performance summer tires, and some not so good driving by yours truly, led to the car sliding off the road and down a small soft grass embankment. The car landed on it side. Lots of body panel damage and only a little damage to the body structure - myself (except for a crack tooth found a few weeks later by my dentist) and rest of the car (motor, suspension, interior etc - no airbags deployed) was all fine. The insurance didn't total out the car and I was not by a long stretch ready to part with her despite the rather large amount of dented body panels. Fortunately, I found a great shop to fix her up to be as good as new. Jeff Franklin (a bit of a VW enthusiast himself) and his auto restoration company (Franklin & Co Auto Restoration on Plum Street in Syracuse, NY, 315-468-1103) agreed to take on my car and bring her back to life. My car was worked on in the same shop right next to where cars like a vintage Jag were undergoing a full body off chassis restoration. It took a few months, but I am very happy with the results. The pics below are all post accident of the car, the two on the ends are from a regional VW car show where she won best in class!
Future Plans/Dreams/Wish List
Last but not least, the car's vanity plates (LTTL GTI) comes from a VW Rabbit GTI commercial from back in the early 80's (I can remember watching this commercial on my college roomies small dim old Sony Trinitron TV set with failing picture tube). This commercial showed a bunch of Rabbit GTI's driving spiritedly around to the soundtrack of some German pop group singing in German a version of the old Ronnie and the Daytona's song, Little GTO (with GTO changed to GTI of course).
CNY FastDubs! My dub wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun or have come along as far as it has if it weren't for the guys & gals at my local Central New York (CNY) car club called FastDubs. Just a great group of people who are fellow car enthusiasts... Most are VW/Audi owners, but we're all lovers of anything cool and fast that's on four wheels (2 wheels too!). I owe them much for their friendship, support, advice, and camaraderie that they have provided for me since I bought my GTI back in 2003. Picture Libraries I have allot of pictures in my on-line VW image gallery of my car, various other dubs, FastDubs events, car shows etc. Click on the appropriate link to view and enjoy the various image gallery pages!
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