Dafuture's Slow(ish) Build Thread

dafuture said:

Pretty disappointed today...the CTS downpipe setup I'm selling is supposed to be delivered today, but the guy who was supposed to sell me the AWE downpipe backed out. He said because of work he wasn't able to get it off his car, so he returned the money I had already sent him via Paypal. Guess I have to find a different setup altogether :iono:

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That's quite a setback. Any luck on this?

dafuture said:

Just a small update... since I've never been much of a fan of the red accents on our cars, I ordered a replica Golf R grill off eBay (without the R badge). Another forum member had recommended it to me as being fairly high quality without having to pay $200+ for an OEM Golf R grill. At some point I'd also like to pain the brake calipers a different color, possibly the dark grey Porsche uses on their calipers.

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To each his own, but I think those red accents make the GTI a "GTI" Btw, you could take care of those red stripes with pin-striping. That way you retain your OEM grill, also cheaper to do :thumbsup:

deep.mit said:

To each his own, but I think those red accents make the GTI a "GTI"

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I like the way you think!!


Sent from my EYEphone to yours...

Jared32 said:

I like the way you think!!


Sent from my EYEphone to yours...

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Haha, thanks for the vote!

deep.mit said:

That's quite a setback. Any luck on this?


To each his own, but I think those red accents make the GTI a "GTI" Btw, you could take care of those red stripes with pin-striping. That way you retain your OEM grill, also cheaper to do :thumbsup:

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Not yet. I'm still talking to someone else about buying their AWE, but he wants quite a bit for his and hasn't been able to find a box to ship it in. I'm waiting to see what happens on it though. Should know within the next day or two. I think a clutch would probably be next on the block should this not work. So far I'm leaning towards the Sachs SRE Stage 1, but I am a bit concerned about the state of my DMF. I definitely beat it up a bit when I learned to drive the car haha.

I don't disagree with you about the red accents sort of "making" the GTI. It may sound a little OCD, but what I can't stand about it is the way it looks with the stupid NY blue and yellow license plates. It really takes away from the whole look of the car. I did toss around the idea of doing pinstriping, but I figured for a few dollars I could try this and see if I liked it. If I didn't, I could still pop the stock grill back in and have it be the way it sits now. I'm kinda for that stealth look anyway haha.

dafuture said:

Not yet. I'm still talking to someone else about buying their AWE, but he wants quite a bit for his and hasn't been able to find a box to ship it in. I'm waiting to see what happens on it though. Should know within the next day or two. I think a clutch would probably be next on the block should this not work. So far I'm leaning towards the Sachs SRE Stage 1, but I am a bit concerned about the state of my DMF. I definitely beat it up a bit when I learned to drive the car haha.

I don't disagree with you about the red accents sort of "making" the GTI. It may sound a little OCD, but what I can't stand about it is the way it looks with the stupid NY blue and yellow license plates. It really takes away from the whole look of the car. I did toss around the idea of doing pinstriping, but I figured for a few dollars I could try this and see if I liked it. If I didn't, I could still pop the stock grill back in and have it be the way it sits now. I'm kinda for that stealth look anyway haha.

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How many miles on your car already? From what I have read, the flywheel is the last clutch component to get affected. You should be good retaining it unless you already running beyond 80K miles

About the grill, I totally get your point! There are many on the forum who think like you. Neither look is better/worse, just different tastes :thumbup:

deep.mit said:

How many miles on your car already? From what I have read, the flywheel is the last clutch component to get affected. You should be good retaining it unless you already running beyond 80K miles

About the grill, I totally get your point! There are many on the forum who think like you. Neither look is better/worse, just different tastes :thumbup:

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Oh I should be fine then, I just turned 33k miles the other day. I guess I was just a little concerned about hot spots, since I'm not totally sure my mechanic would be able to resurface it for me. I'm headed there tomorrow for a couple things, so I plan on asking him then.

You're definitely right though! To each their own haha. However, that being said, my word is law.

dafuture said:

Oh I should be fine then, I just turned 33k miles the other day. I guess I was just a little concerned about hot spots, since I'm not totally sure my mechanic would be able to resurface it for me. I'm headed there tomorrow for a couple things, so I plan on asking him then.

You're definitely right though! To each their own haha. However, that being said, my word is law.

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33k should be absolutely fine. Seems like clutch is the next thing for both of us. Looking forward

deep.mit said:

33k should be absolutely fine. Seems like clutch is the next thing for both of us. Looking forward

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One of these days I'll have to get my car out to the Bay Area and we can cruise haha. Maybe even do a head to head clutch comparo :thumbup:

dafuture said:

One of these days I'll have to get my car out to the Bay Area and we can cruise haha. Maybe even do a head to head clutch comparo :thumbup:

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Oh yes! Make that trip! :thumbup:

deep.mit said:

Oh yes! Make that trip! :thumbup:

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I've actually been working a little bit on making it happen. The hardest thing has been finding a co-pilot haha

So I had quite a few things installed today. All this stuff was lying around in my garage so I handed it off to DanGSR and let him handle it:

- H&R 26mm Front Sway Bar
- Tyrolsport Deadset Kit
- VWR Subframe Mounts
- Unibrace UB







Unfortunately, it's snowing in NY today, so I haven't gotten too much of a chance to test everything out. That being said, I can at least give my initial impressions with the promise of a larger review to follow.

On a whole, the car feels tighter and more composed. Traction seemed a bit improved (even with the roads covered in snow). Body roll is near non-existent thanks to the sway bar combo, though I was only able to test it at low speed on a highway off ramp. The subframe mounts made a big difference as well. Shifting feels fantastic. All the slop that was there previously is gone and the car goes into gear much, much easier. There's definitely some increased vibrations, especially at low RPMs (below 1500 or so), but this can mostly be avoided by giving the car a bit more gas when taking off in 1st. I'm definitely looking forward to taking the car out on some better roads when the weather is nicer!

dafuture said:

So I had quite a few things installed today. All this stuff was lying around in my garage so I handed it off to DanGSR and let him handle it:

- H&R 26mm Front Sway Bar
- Tyrolsport Deadset Kit
- VWR Subframe Mounts
- Unibrace UB

Unfortunately, it's snowing in NY today, so I haven't gotten too much of a chance to test everything out. That being said, I can at least give my initial impressions with the promise of a larger review to follow.

On a whole, the car feels tighter and more composed. Traction seemed a bit improved (even with the roads covered in snow). Body roll is near non-existent thanks to the sway bar combo, though I was only able to test it at low speed on a highway off ramp. The subframe mounts made a big difference as well. Shifting feels fantastic. All the slop that was there previously is gone and the car goes into gear much, much easier. There's definitely some increased vibrations, especially at low RPMs (below 1500 or so), but this can mostly be avoided by giving the car a bit more gas when taking off in 1st. I'm definitely looking forward to taking the car out on some better roads when the weather is nicer!

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Looking forward to your impressions on the subframe mounts over long term. Have considered them many times but shied away due to the vibrations that creep in. When you say "vibrations", do you refer to a more jerky launch? Or, there is an overall increase in NVH/coarseness? Also, I heard that the noise increases when the AC is on?

deep.mit said:

Looking forward to your impressions on the subframe mounts over long term. Have considered them many times but shied away due to the vibrations that creep in. When you say "vibrations", do you refer to a more jerky launch? Or, there is an overall increase in NVH/coarseness? Also, I heard that the noise increases when the AC is on?

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The vibrations I'm talking about are more of the NVH/coarseness variety. I would actually say that launches overall are a bit smoother. You feel some shaking through your seat when you're sitting at a stop, but once you start moving they pretty much go away. Even with the vibes, it's definitely worth the tradeoff IMO. The car just shifts so much smoother once you're actually driving.

I'm hoping they break in a little more over time (they have a total of like 10 miles on them so far), but they are metal cased so I'm not expecting a ton of improvement. I haven't had the chance to try it with the A/C on either since it's about ~20 degrees here. I'll definitely be sure to update once I put some more miles on them.

dafuture said:

The vibrations I'm talking about are more of the NVH/coarseness variety. I would actually say that launches overall are a bit smoother. You feel some shaking through your seat when you're sitting at a stop, but once you start moving they pretty much go away. Even with the vibes, it's definitely worth the tradeoff IMO. The car just shifts so much smoother once you're actually driving.

I'm hoping they break in a little more over time (they have a total of like 10 miles on them so far), but they are metal cased so I'm not expecting a ton of improvement. I haven't had the chance to try it with the A/C on either since it's about ~20 degrees here. I'll definitely be sure to update once I put some more miles on them.

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Hmm, that's a much better explanation! I really would like to drive someone's car with the mounts on before biting the bullet. Glad that you are back on the "modding" track after that DP setback :thumbsup:

deep.mit said:

Hmm, that's a much better explanation! I really would like to drive someone's car with the mounts on before biting the bullet. Glad that you are back on the "modding" track after that DP setback :thumbsup:

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I would definitely recommend driving someone else's car first. If I had been able to, I definitely would have as well. Unfortunately the only other person I know with these specific mounts is Hyde, and his car probably wouldn't have been a great comparison to mine haha.

Speaking of that DP, I managed to track one down off eBay. Turns out a performance shop in NC had ordered one for a customer and opened the box, only to find out that the customer didn't want it. As a result, they sold me a brand new AWE DP at a pretty big discount. Should be here Friday! :thumbup:

I also forgot to mention earlier that DanGSR drove the car for a bit after the install today. He mentioned that my clutch felt unnaturally light and that my Dieselgeek shifter was pretty out of alignment. I'm probably going to head back there soon for a clutch bleed and brake fluid swap. Hopefully the bleed firms everything up a bit as far as the clutch is concerned. I am very disappointed about the shifter though. This is my first M/T car so I didn't really have anything to compare it to, but the shifter itself was aligned by Elite Motorsports. For what I paid them, this should have been installed properly. I won't be going back to them again.