VW GTI – Fahrenheit 37 Build

It has been awhile since I’ve updated my site – I wanted to get back into adding some more contents but Skyrim keeps beckoning me to play.  So yeah, I’ve been spending my free time lately playing Skyrim and watching Battlestar Galactica on Blu-Ray.  >_>’  So now that I’m finished with the BSG box set and taking a break from Skyrim – I’m feeling too lazy to take photos of figures – so I thought I’ll just post up my GTI build .  Though it’s a copy and paste from my build thread on [iDUB], at least it’ll ease me back in to the writing mood (I hope).

Yes, I actually have hobbies (and a life) outside of figure collecting (and gaming).  LOL

Got my Volkswagen GTI (Fahrenheit Edition) on Aug. 31, 2007 – completely stock. It was purchased from Owasco VW, with roughly 1200km on it as it was used as the sales manager’s car for about a month. I preferred brand new, but the car was in great shape and I got a decent discount, so c’est la vie! It was #37 out of 150, hence my username on [iDUB].  The Fahrenheit GTI is a limited edition of the MKV GTI released in the 2007 model year, there are 1200 in the US and 150 in Canada.  It’s basically a fully loaded GTI, but comes in Orange, Charleston wheels and European tuned suspension.

A few weeks later, I received something in the mail. Yup, that’s right, it came orange too.  For those that don’t know, this is a “Fast”, the mascot for the GTI (at least for the MKV, not sure about the other gens).  It usually comes in black if you purchased a GTI – it was pretty cool of VW to make an orange one for the Fahrenheit.

The car remained stock for about a year as I slowly became more involved with the local VW enthusiast scene – though I did change the North American light switch to the European version.  I then decided to go for a different look – I really hated the black plastic lower trims on these GTI’s (and some Audi models). It feels cheap and just doesn’t match the car at all – it should’ve been colour matched in my opinion. Everyone had Votex or ABT kits at that time, so I decided to go with OSIR. I really liked their kit design and the carbon fibre accents – the gloss black, to me, felt like a nice accent and contrast to the orange.

I purchased my kit from Frank @ EuroSport Tuning back in February of 2008 during a sale as recommended by Nancy (Wyng on the forums). The kit wasn’t installed till later in October of 2008 though – I shopped around for a reputable body shop but this was how it turned out.

The paint colour didn’t match, they had my car for about a month and still couldn’t match it. Not all the kit was mounted on either (CF trim missing), they used cheap wooden screws (that rusted in a week) to mount the skirts and they told me my original lower trim were garbaged when I had asked them to keep it. I wasn’t in the mood to argue at that time, just needed my car back for work so I just left. It was a bad experience for sure, but other people seemed to have had great experiences with that particular body shop. I do admit the finish / clear coat was done fairly well though, too bad the colour didn’t match. I was still able to get this pretty cool shot of the car though. Around that time I also got my R32 rear installed by H2Sport, although I forgot to take pictures. I also installed a Euro switch and a rear fog light – I love rear fog lights, but I hate it when retards on the roads turn them on when not needed.  The rear fog on the MKV GTI is also asymmetrical – it replaces one of the white reverse lights – which is a little annoying as people are always telling me I have a bulb out when I reverse.  >_<’

I later installed a boost gauge, as I wanted to see how my boost and vacuum were performing. I wanted the OSIR vent pod, but I didn’t like the position of that pod. So I went with VMR’s vent gauge that sits in the center which I find more preferable. I can see the gauge with my peripheral vision while keeping my eyes on the road - it also freed up my driver side vent, which allows me to adjust it (I think it’s more important than the center vent). The air still blows through the vent, I can still adjust the open and close dial as well, but the air just blows straight (through the gauge).

A few months later, I was recommended to 360 Auto (by Nancy again) to help with the paint work. Pae did a pretty good job at matching the colour and definitely earned my trust as a customer. Too bad he’s not there anymore. :(  I cringe everytime I think about having to colour match this paint colour as it’s so difficult to do right.  Pae also mounted the CF side trims correctly.

March of 2009:  I installed a Evoms intake and got APR Stage 1 flashed by H2Sport. Talk about a night and day difference in power!  The APR Stage 1 is rated at 252hp/303lb-ft (94 octane), but I usually set it to 91 octane mode for more fuel efficiency.  I prefer 91 octane as Shell’s V-Power doesn’t contain ethanol like the 91/94 from Sunocco/Petro Canada.  At 91 octane, the APR is rated at 246hp/282lb-ft.  Gotta love this 2.0T!

June of 2009:  I got the rear tail lights tinted by Pierre @ ShinzoWerks

August of 2009:  I brought my car back to Shinzo to get my hood and roof vinyled gloss black.

I also attended Vagkraft for the first time that year as a booth car for Frank @ Eurosport Tuning since Marco couldn’t make it.

September of 2009:  I installed the BSH Stage 2+ PCV Fix and Catch Can, got the kit from Andrew @ Redline Motorworks which I bought at Vagkraft.

March of 2010:  I finally got fed up with that POS noise pipe (that thick black pipe you see above, just to the left of the engine) and decided to get rid of it.  It was always in the way when I worked in the engine bay.  Removing this first should’ve been my first mod, it would’ve made the intake and catch can installs so much less painful.

May of 2010:  On a whim, I bought a Votex lip and installed it.  Which was later sold to James just prior to the 2010 Vagkraft (which he won 1st for the mild show car category).

Then there was the unforgettable GO Dubbin’ meet that same month, which brought in typhoon-like winds.  Many umbrellas lost their lives that day.

July of 2010:  I decided to give the hood a new vinyl treatment, so it was back to Shinzo once again.  This time I got the 3M dinoc CF vinyl, unfortunately it only comes in dry carbon and no gloss.  :(  I really wanted a gloss CF hood to match the rest of the car’s CF, but this had to do in the interim.  I also installed the OSIR CF eyelids for the lights, I liked this much better than all the other brands with the droopy eyelids out there.  This followed the contours of the car.

August of 2010:  I got the new plastic OSIR vented fog covers, which was nice because I didn’t have to drill into my bumper like the CF fog covers (which I still haven’t installed because of this fact).  The plastic fog covers just screws on using the OEM mount.  I initially painted the fog covers gloss black to match the front mask, but it didn’t look good.  I thought there was too much black and too much gloss, it diverted attention away from the rest of the car and it didn’t match the dry CF vinyl hood.  I had these black fog covers on for a few minutes then told Pae to repaint them to colour match the car.  I also reverted back to the OSIR lip as I felt it matched the car more in terms of my current styling.  But I kind of miss that Votex lip now that I think about it. 

That same month, I also FINALLY got my car lowered on FK Silverlines (installed by 360 Auto) that I got from Max.  So nice not being 4×4 status anymore, but then again, once you go lower, all sorts of weird noises and gremlins start happening.  Ah well.  I didn’t slam my car though, I still wanted something driveable as this is my daily – so I left it at about one and a half finger gap.

And once again, I was one of the booth cars for EuroSport Tuning at Vagkraft.  Lowered my car just in time for the show.  My CF vinyl hood and side pillars were a HUGE hit at the show, everybody who walked by had the urge to feel it off.  My poor Fahrenheit…

September of 2010:  I installed the Waywell WD6050 HU in place of my stock Premium VII HU and also CF wrapped my center console.  The Waywell is somewhat of a replica of VW’s RNS-510 at a fraction of the cost.  I can now play an assortment of media as well as have bluetooth connectivity for the phone – it also comes with iGO Primo navigation.  The software definitely have bugs and needs polishing, but so far it’s working fine for me so I don’t have much to complain about.  Since I had taken apart the center console to install the Waywell, I thought I might as well give the CF wrap a shot.

 

November of 2010:  I’ve always wanted to get KW v2 coil overs, so when the opportunity came, I got a set for a pretty decent price.

December of 2010:  I would’ve waited until spring before installing the new coils, but due to an emergency, I needed some cash to help pay for some bills.  So I sold my FK coils as quickly as possible and got the KW installed.  (This pic was taken much later, forgot to take pics of the actual install).

January of 2011:  Got Euro LED tails installed, purchased them from Pierre @ Shinzo as he was parting out his GTI.  I hadn’t done this mod up to this point since I wasn’t sure how the crystal/chrome would look on the orange.  Also because I was afraid fo getting that dreaded light bulb out dash light, I hate warning lights on my dash if they don’t need to be there.  lol  But the install went well, and no bulb out warning lights!  The LED tail lights have also grown on me.  At least it matches the emblem and badges on the hatch.  The North American model of the GTI didn’t come with LED tails, so a new cable needed to be installed and plug configurations changed for the LED.  Some model years didn’t seem to like this – though the LED will function normally – the car will think there’s a bulb missing to the rear.

I also decided to slap an [iDUB] sticker on my colour matched fog cover, still can’t decide whether this was too “rice” to do.  No one’s really said anything to me about it, so I just left it there.  LOL

July of 2011:  Finally installed my Hawk HPS brake pads with Super Blue brake fluid and stainless steel lines.  These were purchased from Frank @ EuroSport Tuning about a year ago during the group buy.  But since I still had a lot of padding left and have just flushed my brakes during a maintenance service, I didn’t install these new items till this year.

August of 2011:  Courtesy of the 401 and a constrution truck, I had to replace my windshield.  Got it replaced by Pedro @ Speedee Gonzales Auto Glass, saw that he was recommended on a lot of different forums so I gave him a try.  He came to my house and replaced it within a couple of days (had to wait for the part) and I thought he did a really good job.  Seal was excellent and it was very cleanly done.  My only gripe is that the rearview mirror mount came from the factory higher than normal, so it feels a little weird when I look up at the mirror as things are pointing ever slightly downwards.  On the plus side, I have more visibility in front and that stupid rock chip I’ve had in front of my eyes for the past 3 years is now gone.

I also installed the OSIR Telson CF Spoiler as well as the OSIR vented double sided CF hood around the same time.  Bling.

We’re now almost there – in terms of how I envisioned my car to look when I first got it.  Performance wise, I’m pretty satisfied with my APR Stage 1.  No plans yet to go Stage 2 and downpipe as I think Stage 1 is a good compromise between power and reliability.

August of 2011:  And here’s how the car currently looks, pictures taken at Vagkraft 5.  You may or may not have noticed that I have changed the front mask to the OSIR CF front mask.  =P  I was debating whether to put on the CF fog covers, but decided to keep with the orange for the show.  I think the colours flow better with the orange fog covers.

And a pic by Calvin Lee from the show – I haven’t had the opportunity to take more formal shots of my car in its current form.  With winter upon us, I probably won’t be taking any pics of the car till next Spring.