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Tony's Black GTI

Tony48

Tony48

Go Kart Champion
After a few issues my Golf R Grille came in from OnePerfectDose. The one I originally received last week had some large paint drip marks. After some email exchanged, I shipped the old one back and they promised to pick me one that looked better. It came yesterday and looked great! Good customer service. I got it installed without the "R" badge. Not sure if I want to leave it badgeless or make a custom gloss black "GTI" badge to replace the "R" badge. I'm kinda liking the clean front & rear badgeless look.

I cut out the honeycomb mesh behind the VW emblem so the area between the emblem is see through. I think it looks a lot better this way.

 
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Roctre

Roctre

Ready to race!
Looks good I have the jetta sportwagen grille since I wanted to get rid of the gti badge and the red.
 
Tony48

Tony48

Go Kart Champion
I got the downpipe installed today. It wasn't a terribly difficult job but reaching all of the downpipe nuts wasn't exactly fun. The downpipe bolted up perfectly. I replaced the exhaust clamp between the downpipe and catback because it was very rusted out. I noticed a bit more noise on cold starts but the downpipe doesn't seem to add any more noise than the Magna flow catback during regular driving. No check engine light so far with the Vibrant J spacer at the rear O2 sensor w/ the smallest insert. We'll see how long that holds up. I'm trying to put off going stage 2 until I replace my clutch because I don't want to roast my stock dual mass flywheel. I'd like to save myself some $$$ and re use it with a DIY RSR clutch. Anyway, pics.



Here's the neck down to OEM diameter between the RAI downpipe and Magnaflow catback. Anyone have an idea how much this neck down affects performance? I'm thinking about getting the reduction cut off and a 3" piece welded in to make it a full 3" turbo back.
 
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Tony48

Tony48

Go Kart Champion
Now that I've had a few days to drive with the downpipe I must say that I'm impressed. The turbo seems to spool much quicker, especially in the 3k-5k range. Power comes on so quick and passing at highway speed is sooooo addicting. This is the best thing I've done to my car since I went Stage I. I'm enjoying my car like it's brand new again and I haven't even gone stage II yet! I did not expect any performance gains from adding the downpipe without a tune so I'm very pleasantly surprised! I did pop a CEL after ~80miles (P2096/o2 sensor too lean) so I reset it and we'll see how long it takes to come back. Assuming it comes back quickly I'll be switching the spacer small insert out in favor of the middle size. I'll also put some exhaust sealant on the downpipe/catback clamp connection to make sure I don't have a leak there.

In other news, on my way to work this morning the PCV hose popped off of my boost tap at the intake manifold. Not sure why that happened but it made the car run AWFUL for the few minutes it took to pull off the road somewhere safe and diagnose the issue. I'm glad it was an easy to resolve issue (in the parking lot at work) and not something like a loose intercooler hose that would have required a jack.
 
GoodTimesIndeed

GoodTimesIndeed

Go Kart Champion
Nice man, glad to hear that you're enjoying the downpipe!
 
Tony48

Tony48

Go Kart Champion
I put some ebay carbon fiber eyebrows on to cover some sun damage on the clearcoat of my headlights. Eventually I will wetsand, polish, and re-clear coat them. Figured I would try this out in the meantime. I think they look pretty good with the black car. I like that they make the front end look subtly more aggressive. The fitment is awful so we'll see how they hold up. I had to flex them into place and it seems like the adhesive may not hold up. Time will tell.

Before & After:
 IMG_20170415_125036_zpsay04rzim by Tony G, on Flickr
IMG_20170415_125126_zpshc2pddkw by Tony G, on Flickr
IMG_20170415_134019_zpswvyfqxmb by Tony G, on Flickr
IMG_20170415_134039_zpsm8xzvmw6 by Tony G, on Flickr
 
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Tony48

Tony48

Go Kart Champion
Bad news update: My clutch has started slipping.

Only at WOT in high gear and low RPM. The car remains drive-able but I'll have to be careful. As much as this sucks it was inevitable and I should probably count myself lucky to have prevented it for this long. I'm at 91k miles, the last 25k of which have been Stage 1. Time to start piecing together my DIY RSR Clutch kit!
 
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GoodTimesIndeed

GoodTimesIndeed

Go Kart Champion
Tony48 said:
Bad news update: My clutch has started slipping.

Only at WOT in high gear and low RPM. The car remains drive able but I'll have to be careful. As much as this sucks it was inevitable and I should probably count myself lucky to have prevented it for this long. I'm at 91k miles, the last 25k of which have been Stage 1. Time to start piecing together my DIY RSR Clutch kit!
Click to expand...

That sucks.

Looked for you at the Loch Raven meet yesterday, guessing you didn't make it out though.
 
GoodTimesIndeed

GoodTimesIndeed

Go Kart Champion
Tony48 said:
Unfortunately I was busy. I'm hoping to make it out to one soon. Spring and summer are always crazy busy for me. How was it?
Click to expand...

Meh, it was alright. A decent mix and some nice rides there. I stayed for about an hour or so. Cars seemed to come and go during that time. Nice area for a meet.

A quick pic I snapped at one point.
https://flic.kr/p/TXKi1w
 
GoodTimesIndeed

GoodTimesIndeed

Go Kart Champion
Those wheels are gonna look great! Hopefully you have better luck with colored lugs then I did. I ran a set of red ones (different brand) and after a few months they were all pink and faded.
 
Tony48

Tony48

Go Kart Champion
GoodTimesIndeed said:
Those wheels are gonna look great! Hopefully you have better luck with colored lugs then I did. I ran a set of red ones (different brand) and after a few months they were all pink and faded.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! I saw those lugs on your build thread. Your experience swayed me to purchase steel lugs as opposed to aluminum. Anodized aluminum is subject to fading, especially when manufactured poorly. I think this set will last but only time will tell I suppose. I like the idea of forged steel versus aluminum solely from a strength standpoint as well.
 
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