I purchased this car in 2013 from my boss who bought it new. Immediately after him buying it new, he put in Koni sport struts, SSR GT03 wheels and a full APR Stage 3 turbo upgrade. Lucky for me in 2013 it on had 9k miles on it. I stole it for 12k.
I drove it daily for 4 years doing some cosmetic changes under the hood and added water/meth injection on top of the 93/100 octane tune. Just a super fun car to for spirited driving making. I knew if I wanted more out of it I would need to build the bottom end to support the power. Well the turbo start to go and then the stock clutch started to go around 60k miles. So it was time make a move.
January of 2017 the snow ball build started to roll. I hate doing things twice so "while im in there" was the moto. I didn't have the space at the time or the knowledge to under go what was about to happen. A friend who owned a customs shop and had previously built a mk4 himself loaned me a space in his shop for 3 years. He messed with it when the time allowed and taught me so much along the way. His car made PVW and EuroTuner Mag so I knew it was going to be legit. Here's what we did.
Engine came out and was built with the goal of 600hp in mind. JE pistons, Integrated Engineering H-beam Rods, Supertech top end, built 02m transmission with wavetrac lsd, Raxle red axles, gen 2 gtx2863 CTS turbo kit and downpipe, CTS intercooler with all custom stainless pipes, Integrated Engineering Intake manifold reversed fitted with 80mm hemi throttle body, IE fuel rail, AGN valve cover mafless tuned with Eurodyne Maestro. The engine bay was shaved and wires tucked. Many thing deleted or relocated. The car was resprayed a variant of the oem platinum grey.
With more power to go you need more to stop and suspension to accommodate. We also were going for a show quality and street race functionality type build, so Airlift Performance struts, Accuair E-Level +H, endo cvt tank, tubular control arms, frame notched, Hotchkis sway bay, Porsche 18z 6pot calipers and ECS 358mm front 2 piece rotors, hawk hps pads, ECS dual rear brake kit with Porsche 996 4pot calipers.
We did a simple clean trunk setup and a custom stitched interior with Recaro Sportster CS seats, Wedge Engineering brackets and sliders, custom door cards, Alcantera rear deck, pillars and headliner.
January of 2020 I brought the car to my home to finish the build. Several things to clean up. Lots of break-in times and tuning to perform. Several issues to work through. One major issue with the Endo cvt tank. Accuair went into bankruptcy just as my internal tank compressor failed. The car did not move for over a year and I began to lose interest and drive to continue. Luckily a solution became available to remove the internal compressor from the tank, rewire some things and retaining the manifolds which are located on the end caps of the tank essentially making it an endo VT. The Clutchmasters fx400 8 puck did not last long. Since have swapped to Southbend stage 3 daily and repainted the transmission wrinkle black. The valve cover is now a beautiful polished billet aluminum from Carrot Top Tuning. All charge pipes are polished, as well as the throttle body and many other pieces. The alternator, engine mounts and shift bracket are chromed.
Body kit is a oem Bora R front bumper, GLI skirts, oem Votex rear bumper, Triple R Composites splitters. The hood is custom. Its cut like a picture frame to reveal the engine bay. I has a welded turndown lip for a better look and to add rigidity. Yes, I also have a full hood and have become a weather man before I go out. This was for shows only but thats about all I take it out for these days anyway.
Wheels are BBS CH-R Nürburgring Edition 19x 8.5 +48 5x112. This fit the theme of the car and over the big ass brakes. Im considering a slight downsize on the brakes to accommodate the wheels i want which are BBS LM or LM-R and to tuck more in the rear. Cant run camber plates with caliper adapter in the rear. Its a challenging situation with 9mm caliper brackets, 15mm adapters and 5 mm spacers and +48 to clear brakes and fenders on the smallest 19" tire available at the time. No longer available now. Other than a wheel and brake change this thing is almost complete and almost perfect imo.
