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XGC75 - One for the Road

XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
XGK04BALLSFACTOR Build Thread

Many updates to come, of course :D

Mods

Engine/Transmission:

Depreciated
Installed
Planned
  • 42DD Shift Link Bushings
  • WMI - one nozzle just after the IC for cooling and cleaning
  • VWR/HPA Subframe Puck mount - haven't installed it...
Suspension/Handling:

Installed
Planned
  • Unibrace XB
  • Debating between TT strut mounts (30% stiffer) or 034 74 dur. (50% stiffer + vulcanized rubber for less squeaks)
  • LCA Bushings
  • RSB
  • FSB
Brakes:

Installed
  • Stoptech Street Ceramic Pads
  • DOT5 fluid (flavor of the week)
  • Cryo'd stock rotors (when they need to be replaced)
  • Brake Bushings
Planned
  • SS lines
  • S3 brake ducts
Aesthetic:

Installed

Performance

Dynos
Mods: APR Stage 1, VFE Intake and S3 IC (also, these are the 4th, 5th and 6th runs, so IAC's were at 37C+)


Mods: APR Stage 2, UR catted+resonated downpipe, S3 IC, VFE Intake, DV+


Tracking
All at Gingerman Raceway
Stock, no ESC: best lap 1:57.9
Stock, with ESC: best lap 1:56.1
Stage 1 w/ 100oct, summer tires, no ESC: best lap 1:54.1
 
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XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Wash, rinse, wax, repeat!

First time out with the car for pictures.


Subtle curves are all over this car. It's difficult to capture.


Shipping plastic wrap was never taken off the passenger side rims, so they look scuffed up. Need to take care of that soon.


God I love HDR sometimes...


I've been really impressed with the paint. There's no touching up done to this photo and it looks like a computer-generated gradient.

General impressions of the car: God it's good. I put nearly 800 miles on it in the first 3.5 days! This car severely outclasses the roads I have to drive on - can anyone recommend a great road in SW Michigan?

UPDATE: I put 5000 miles on it in under a month. Whoops. :rolleyes:
 
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XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Filling her up for the first time, moving books and bookshelves. The pride swells... :D

 
XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Tweak - USB Charger Install

First mod!! :thumbup:

This one's pretty simple but very essential to me. I mount my phone holder just above the leftmost vent (strategically placed so that I can blow AC on it if it's in the sun and charging, getting all sorts of hot), but need to charge it without hanging a wire accross the steering wheel to reach the 12V. Preferably the power source would turn off when I power off the ECU like the rest of sockets so that my charger doesn't eat any battery while I'm away.

The fuse box is right underneath the vent, so I open it up and use a DMM to check voltages at various operation modes. It turns out that all the fuses I checked operate just like the 12V sockets.

At the local hardware store I picked up some ring and tooth connectors, as well as the cheapest high-power charger I could find. I found a dual USB socket, 1000mA charger with a case that's split right down the middle through the whole piece. $7. Prime for tinkering :cool:

I split it open (turns out I just had to unscrew the gray socket cap) and fix a tooth connector to the positive power input wire and a ring to the ground. The cheap wires of the cheap charger actually snapped off the board, so I had to solder some new wires on in their place. Cheap charger is cheap :rolleyes:. In a nutshell, instead of feeding power through the socket I'm just plugging it into the fusebox. Screwing the cap back on, it's mostly intact.



The tooth connector fits right into the fuse socket. The screw holding the fusebox onto the console frame is actually self-threading, guaranteeing a good ground path for an amp of current.



Just need to find a good place to mount the charger so that it doesn't rattle (meanwhile, thinking of failure modes such as fire :laugh:. Really, I'm not too worried because the charge controller they used has temperature and current overlimit protection), wrap the chord in the remaining space and feed the last bit out to the phone holder between the a-pillar and console trim.



And voila! Not a complex mod by an means, but I'm pretty happy with it. Besides charging my fiance's phone with the existing center console socket, I could charge my cell and tablet on our 2300mi, 4-day excursion last week.

PS - Torque app is excellent. Highly recommended inexpensive mod/tweak.
 
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XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Tweak - Visor airbag warning removal

Before:


Found this one over at VWvortex, though it's been done since the mk4 afaik. It's also pretty simple, just requiring some time, elbow grease and isopropyl alcohol. Picked up a jug at my local supermarket for $3 after taxes.



Though the linked how-to advises you to remove the visor, I noticed that the harness is glued in place on my 2012! This is as far as I could take the visor off - I had to route my finger back there to find out that the connector wouldn't budge. I hear that the dealership will actually replace the visor if they find the label's been removed, so this could be a measure to make sure tweakers don't remove their warning labels in the first place. Pfft.



Fortunately you really don't even need to take the thing off :laugh:. Just pour some alcohol onto a folded paper towel and flip the visor over to let it soak for 15-20 minutes. Once it soaks past the label, the alcolol makes the adhesive not adhere anymore. The label comes off pretty easy.



In fact it feels just like a deflated balloon. :iono:



Here's where I'll throw caution to anyone doing this tweak: Getting the remaining adhesive off is a PITA. :mad0259: I went from an alcohol soak (to soften it, otherwise it's hard almost like epoxy) to a heavy-duty paper towel to the rough side of a dish sponge to sandpaper and nothing made a noticable dent in removing the adhesive! I eventually just gave up for the day. It doesn't look too bad, all things considered, and since it's a hard adhesive I don't expect it to get dirty over time. I may go back to it sometime to try my patience with it again. It would take a lot of alcohol soaking and some real forceful scrubbing to really get it off. This shot is about the worst light I can get on it to show you guys how it looks with the adhesive still there.



In all, though, I think it looks great! I was pretty surprised by the difference it makes for the interior. It's something you don't notice until it's gone, then the cabin feels just that much more 'austere'. :w00t:

After:
 
zVp

zVp

Go Kart Champion
Goo-gone works a bit but I still have some residue left.

Might wanna try some vinyl cleaners if you really wanna get rid of it :)
 
XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
First big road trip - 1k miles to New England

This is actually a heavily belated post. Been a lot I've been meaning to update recently! So come back soon for my track impressions and honeymoon road trip. Have some seriously good pic opportunities to share ;)

First, some stats:
Total mileage 2348.3 mi
There/back 830 mi
In-between 688 mi
Odo before 9300
Odo after 11700
Druation 4 days
Consumption
There 31.8 mpg
Back 28.9 mpg

Comments about the car:
  • After the first day of driving (about 1000 mi total) my opinions of the GTI as a road tripper were that it's far too active to be comfortable for very long trips. Every input is translated into activity for the car (which I looooove every other day of the week, by the way!), so far more sensory inputs and responses are required to keep it stable and comfortable for my fiance. It's VERY exhausting in comparison to my previous, a B5 Passat. A lot of this sentiment had to do with the cramped New England traffic towards the end of the trip.
  • In 6th, at slow highway speeds (55-70 thereabout), there's not enough power to blast around traffic. Low-end torque is pretty dissapointing to me so far, especially if the turbo isn't ready. Is this one of those things that opens up after 30k miles or what? :mad:
  • My sister, who rode behind my 6' frame for 300 miles, commented that it's FAR more comfortable to ride in than my father's IS250. More room in front, to the sides and above her and better support from the seat. The downside, she said, was that she was more "aware of my sloppy inputs and the road beneath her" (we're all nerds) which at times gave her some trepidation.
  • At the end of the way back (straight and level roads, a "halmark" of the midwest, with very little traffic), with the heated seats on to sooth my back (which barely hurt in the first place I should add), I remember that the "GT" of GTI stands for Grand Touring. It's the most suscinct way to desctribe the nature of this car. It's not an all-out no-compormises sports car - there's a distinct speed-blindness in the cabin (not through the controls), a million great little features and creature comforts, and it won't pump adrenailne until 8/10ths. It makes compormizes to please passengers and owners in the everyday, but when you get on it, the car responds with athleticism. I feel like it's a stepping stone for something like an M5/DB9/R8, not a 458/911RS3/Gallardo, and it takes that role seriously.
 
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XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Road Trip - Smokey Mountains

My fiance and I decided to take our honeymoon in Gatlinburg, TN. Wouldn't recommend the town as a destination in itself (it's a strange mix of Las Vegas and a theme park on the east coast), but the Smokey Mountains were incredible. Some pictures:



Plenty of excellent outlooks on route 441. Unfortunately there was some traffic around here as it was still close to the tourist heavy Gatlinburg.





Ladies and Gentlemen: This exists.




Found the entrance to the Blue ridge parkway! See here. It's really much of the same great roads as 441 but much less traffic. It's like a world wonder- Vastly expensive and has no reason for being except for the enjoyment of generations to follow.






Plenty of great tunnels


This was by far my favorite outlook. So. Damn. High. It's appreciably harder to breath at 6000 ft in the air. The car didn't skip a beat, though. Still strong as ever - loving the cool air actually.








 
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XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
The Vanderbilt Home

Because ..showcar? Car wasn't clean by any means. My wife and I got there by tearing up the Blue Ridge Parkway. But I was there, and why the hell wouldn't I try and get these shots??





 
XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Tweaks - VAG-Comm tweaks

Just got a VCDS HEX+USB comm cable. Many thanks to dubturbo15! :thumbup:

Tweaks installed:
  • DRL in MFA menu (doesn't work yet but I haven't been driving around)
  • Gauge sweep :)happyanim:)
  • Windows up/down via remote
  • Driver's and passenger's seat heater memory retention
  • Fogs independent of high beams
  • Disable horn on unlock
  • Emergency brake flashing (just turn signals)
  • Push-to-talk button as mute (shit never hears me correctly.)
Also want to recognize zVp and veedoubleme for their resources to get me going with the tool. Good stuff.
And best of all, when I'm at a track: ESP disable :burnrubber:
 
XGC75

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
So I just did an AutoScan. Engine returned a couple interesting codes:

Address 01: Engine (CBF) Labels: 06J-907-115-CBF.clb
Part No SW: 1K0 907 115 AT HW: 1K0 907 115 AK
Component: 2.0l R4/4V TFSI 0010
Revision: E3H26--- Serial number:
Coding: 0403010818070160
Shop #: WSC 01357 011 00200
VCID: 78F5D20D0B9267D8195

2 Faults Found:
001110 - EVAP System
P0456 - 000 - Very Small Leak Detected - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 1
Mileage: 29211 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2009.14.16
Time: 07:28:40

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 3128 /min
Load: 37.2 %
Speed: 128.0 km/h
Temperature: 76.0°C
Temperature: 24.0°C
Absolute Pres.: 980.0 mbar
Voltage: 13.970 V

005386 - Engine Off Timer Performance
P150A - 000 - - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100000
Fault Priority: 0
Fault Frequency: 1
Mileage: 29827 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2009.14.20
Time: 12:20:08

Freeze Frame:
RPM: 0 /min
Load: 0.0 %
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Temperature: 93.0°C
Temperature: 61.0°C
Absolute Pres.: 980.0 mbar
Voltage: 12.192 V

Anyone seen this?
 
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