Gordo's GTI Build

Hi all,

This is my first build log. My car is a 2013 MK6 GTI, 4-door, Driver's Edition.

Some history on the car. I've had it for the last 4 years on lease and have had an absolute blast. So I decided to by it. Now that I own the car outright I get to extract all the performance it has to offer.

Here she is in all her current glory



Current Mod list:

Engine & Exhaust

• Cobb AccessPort with Stratified Stage II Tune
• CTS Turbo Cold Air Intake
• Arm Motorsports Turbo Discharge Pipe
• Arm Motorsports Throttle Body Intake Pipe
• Arm Motorsports 3" Catted Downpipe
• AWE 2.5" CAT Back Exhaust
• GFB DV+

Suspension

• H&R Super Sport Springs
• H&R 26mm Front Sway Bar
• H&R 24mm Rear Sway Bar
• ECS Front End Links
• ECS Rear End Links

Brakes

• BBK still to come

Exterior

• ECS Front Splitter

Here are some stock reference shots of the car:




My goals for the build are simple: ENJOYMENT!

I want to get the maximum driving enjoyment out of the car. However, there is a "but," there always is. This is a daily driver, I have to get the kids to school, get to work, meetings and then kids to soccer practice in the afternoons. So all modifications need to be completed in the evenings or over the weekend and ready before the next school day.

The car is affectionately known as the "Baby Car" because it is dwarfed by the family SUV, and it has "Hyper Boost!"

So here's to building some serious hyper boost.

First Mod. - Cobb Accessport V3

The first decision was what tuning option to go for. This is the best money to spend to unlock the potential under the GTI hood.

I mulled over this for a few weeks, going back and forth between APR and Unitronic. I don't know how many threads I read, cases for and against. Then a third option came in, Cobb Tuning. Although the Cobb Off The Shelf tunes to have more conservative HP and TQ figures, what kept it in the race was the e-tune and pro-tune capability.

I eventuall went for the Cobb Accessport V3: https://www.cobbtuning.com/products/accessport/volkswagen-accessport-v3-gti-mk6-2010-2014-usdm-2009-2013-wm

More specifically I opted for the Cobb AP from Stratified with the Stratified Flash Tune: http://www.stratifiedauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=209_213&products_id=677



Here are my reasons for going with Cobb:
1: You get the Access Port that holds all the tunes and doubles as a gauge cluster/datalogger
2: You get Stage 1 to Stage 2 for one price
3: Stratified was running a deal for $650 that included their tune and some custom e-tune mapping for your setup
4: If I can my set-up, i.e. a FMIC, Catback, etc. for $50 Stratified update the tune based on logged data
5: I can sell the AP if I ever feel like getting rid of it
6: If I go crazy one day with a big turbo then I can get a Pro-tune

Within hours of getting the Cobb AP I had it plugged into the car and the Stage 1 93 Octane tune flashed while sitting in the parking lot at soccer practice. It took about 10min for the initial flash. I was kinda nervous considering I wasn't near a garage and they recommend having a batter tender attached while doing this.



Once it was done, I went out for a quick test drive. Holy smokes batman, this tune is great! Nothing but a few mods to the stock ECU mapping and the car came alive. It was great, the question came to mind: "why didn't the GTI come stock like this?"

I got back to the carpark and it was time to flash to Stage 1 High Boost, this was a quick flash, maybe 1min tops. Damn! Even better.

My experience with the Cobb AP has been great so far. Really easy to use, have been able to keep an eye on boost, ambient and inlet air temps, Long Term Fuel Trim and log some data along the way.

I've held off getting the Stratified Flash tune until I have all the hardware installed for a Stage II tune. Then I'll see what the driveable difference is between a Cobb OTS Stage II and the Stratified Tune.

I'll update more as I keep going.

nice man! another dfw guy here! ill be posting my journal here soon to start with-

looks good. I also bought my 2013 wolfsburg off lease (last aug). I had it flashed to stage 1 while still under lease but I'm flashing to stage 2 on Thursday. Waited until I decided to keep the car to install the downpipe and suspension. Did you get a catless or catted downpipe? I just installed a catted ARM dp last weekend. I love it so far, perfect with the stock catback.

Killer start. I tuned a few months ago and it's amazing. Went with Unitronic Stage 1+

Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the mods.

Awesome looking car, sometimes wish i went with united grey instead of black... Also good move on the Stratified tune, a friend just got one for his AP too and loves it:thumbup:

Step 2: Making it breath easier!

After getting maximum fun out of the Cobb OTS Stage 1 tunes it was time to move on to getting some hardware installed.

My first steps were to try and remove as many intake restrictions as possible. So removing the stock intake, turbo outlet pipe (affectionately known as the pancake pipe) and the throttle body pipe.

Intake sorted, now getting exhaust gasses out more efficiently meant ditching the stock down pipe. Due to budget constraints I had to give the cat back a miss for the time being, but I have read some pretty good things of other owners with a aftermarket down pipe and stock cat back. I decided to go with a catted DP to eliminate the fuel burn smell, I personally like it but didn't want the family freaking out that the car smells bad.

These were the product choices:

1: Cold air intake - CTS Turbo (I can't recall why I decided on this one now)
2: Turbo Outlet Pipe - ARM Motorsports
3: Throttle Body Pipe - ARM Motorsports
4: DV replacement - GFB DV+
5: DP (Catted) - ARM Motorsports

I decided to go with ARM Motorsports on the DP, TOP and TBP because they offered a really attractive price point, good warranty and had some good reviews on various forums. They're a new company too, and I've been in that space before, so wanted to give them a shot.

It was like Christmas morning when all the boxes arrived!!



Install took place over Memorial Weekend. A couple pics of some of the components.

Throttle Body Pipe:


Turbo Outlet Pipe:


Down Pipe:


CTS Intake (w/ SAI Filter)



If you guys are on the fence about ARM products, give them a shot. The guys there are super responsive to sales/support questions and the products are great value for money! Shipping is fast too.

Right, so Stage II hardware in time to get my mod report to Stratified so they can get my tune put together and sent over.

In the meantime Cobb OTS Stage II with Stock MAF flashed into ECU. It was super simple to get the tune from Cobb, it doesn't come standard in the AP so after you have created an account with Cobb and registered the AP you place an order for the map you required, and then download it. Then using Accessport Manager upload it to the AP and finally flash to the ECU.

Feedback on the Cobb OTS II with Stock MAF tune. Bloody hell! I was out at about midnight after spending hours installing hardware. I wasn't mentally ready for this. Pushed into the seat, head snapping back, lights flashing past. It was freaking awesome! After the initial shock of improved performance I drove around a little and noticed some hesitation in lower RPMs until some boost had been generated. It's nothing that would make driving terrible, but it just felt like the throttle response was quite dialed in. Anyway, I wasn't stressed about this with the Stratified Tune coming in a couple days.

Stay tuned for Stratified Tune feedback.

senseless1707 said:

Killer start. I tuned a few months ago and it's amazing. Went with Unitronic Stage 1+

Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the mods.

Click to expand...

Thanks mate! I can't imagine going back to stock now. I have a few more updates to share.

:laugh:

whitewolf33 said:

looks good. I also bought my 2013 wolfsburg off lease (last aug). I had it flashed to stage 1 while still under lease but I'm flashing to stage 2 on Thursday. Waited until I decided to keep the car to install the downpipe and suspension. Did you get a catless or catted downpipe? I just installed a catted ARM dp last weekend. I love it so far, perfect with the stock catback.

Click to expand...

I went with the catted downpipe too. It's pretty sweet with the stock catback. I've since changed to a AWE 2.5" catback just a few hours ago. It's a little louder now

Went right for all the fun stuff! nice upgrades,

Round 2 upgrades

I said I was going to report on the Stratified tune, but its been a little busy and I just haven't had a chance to get to it, plus a whole bunch of boxes arrived last week! That was a massive distraction



Box 1: H&R Super Sport Springs
I was ready to spend the weekend installing some H&R Super Sport springs, as I was doing this on my own and was ready for a complete mission, but it turned out to be pretty straight forward. Probably took about 4 hours to get all four corners done. I did have a problem with the front driver side strut. The strut nut had rusted pretty badly and required some WD40 to prepare it for coming off. Having no air meant patience and persistence to get it off.




When trying to figure out how to get the driver side strut free of the pinch clamp I figured to try using the spring compressors to help. This is not the safest thing to do, so: WARNING - this could be hazardous to your health. I placed the spring compressors on the strut spring base and the coil, used a jack to compress the spring/shock assembly and then tightened the spring compressor. As so:



This meant I only had to fight with the shock in order to get the strut free of the pinch clamp.

I also spent a few dollars to get the spreader tool. I got this on on next one-day deliver from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007QV53EO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It worked really well.

Box 2: Front Lip Diffuser
I also got a lower lip diffuser from ESC Tuning, it's pretty expensive but I liked the styling. This install was more frustrating than anticipated. I ditched the self tapping screws (they were supposed to be in the box but I couldn't find them after searching through all the packing material 3 times). I went down to Home Depot and got some bolts, nyloc nuts and washers. Getting a assembly back on is a little challenging, some brute force to get the clips in and once you have a couple slotted in the rest is easy.

Here is the result:





I'm going to wait for the springs to settle before getting some spacers to flush up the wheels. So far the ride is okay on stock shocks.

I just finished installing the third box, a AWE 2.5" Catback exhaust. It's pretty loud, gonna give it a few days to see if I can live with it.