My 1992 GTI

**wingnut** · 01-30-2013, 11:44 AM

Turbo time?!?

**DocWalt** · 01-30-2013, 12:29 PM

^^ Wow.

**Hans@GZP** · 01-30-2013, 01:10 PM

wheel spin makes that look so much faster LOL. Looks, my wheels are going 100 mph and I'm going 60

**DocWalt** · 01-31-2013, 12:30 AM

Ordered the rest of the parts to do a 10.1" brake swap and front suspension refresh. Picked up the full Mk3 set up with worn out pads and crusty rotors a couple of weeks ago. I plan on calling up TT and ordering a chip for my setup in the future, as well as some other odds and ends before I tackle the bodywork. In the meantime I thought I'd write down some thoughts about the new parts I've installed. My thanks to all of the posters following along

1.8L 16v head w/ Autotech Sport Cams
I installed this combo over 2000 miles ago, and I have to say it's made a noticeable improvement in almost every way. I can rev to 6800 RPM without a big drop in power at the top end. With the stock 2.0L 16v head it felt like it was pointless to rev past about 6250 RPM. I also love the feeling of opening the first butterfly and feeling the engine pick up more and more speed as the revs build. In addition, I've been getting about 1 mpg better fuel economy on top of the improved power. The only real drawback, if you can call it that, is less of a torque spike at 4000 RPM. I can't smash the throttle open and break tires free in 3rd at 4000 RPM on wet roads anymore, which is probably a good thing, ha.

KYB GR-2 (Excel-G) Struts
I'm rather disappointed in these struts. They bill themselves as being a bit of an improvement over stock and they simply aren't good enough. I have H&R Sport springs on my GTI and they're lower than stock and slightly stiffer. These struts cannot properly handle the spring rate of the H&R's. The front is floaty and bottoms out rather easily. I will be changing to G60 struts/shocks in the relatively near future.

Pagid Front Brake Pads
These are superb, if you're ok with a bit of cleanup work. Great feel and modulation while threshold braking, with a smooth initial bite. These Pagid pads do produce a bit of dust. Compared to my prior two cars (Evo X w/ stock pads & 3000GT VR-4 with HPS pads) the dust is minimal and cleanup is easy. If you don't mind the light brake dust produced, these are great street pads.

TT 2.25" Exhaust w/ Magnaflow Muffler
Not much to say really. It's an exhaust that fits quite well, doesn't leak, and sounds great. Long term durability of the aluminized steel is always going to be a problem.

Mk4 Rear Caliper Kit from GAP
The calipers are nice lightweight calipers. The handbrake mechanism actually works, which is fantastic. In my case the SS lines needed to be at least 1" shorter to smooth out the harsh bend in the line. I feel like making the SS line 1" shorter would not impact performance, and would only ease installation and increase durability. You can see in this pic how the line could be shorter: http://imageshack.us/a/img217/7094/2...9203029105.jpg

Autopal H4 7" Round Housings
Acceptable. They have a decent cutoff with minimal glare. I did have some condensation in one housing, but I believe it was due to a damaged rear rubber seal. I have not seen the issue reoccur after fixing the seal. I'm still going to replace them with Hella H4 housings.

BFI Red Stripe Grille
Not bad, and if you factor in the price it's great. The paint quality isn't great, but it's acceptable for a DD. I have one rock chip in the red stripe already. The plastic itself seems pretty good, only one broken tab so far. Looks OEM, and seems durable enough to not worry about it.

NGP Spark Plug Wires
These look great and feel great when installing them. The wires are flexible, and the insulation is nice and soft. My OEM wires performed fine, so these didn't provide any improvement in performance. One big complaint though, they need to come with an ignition trigger sensor as an option. I had to destroy my OEM wires to reuse my crusty old ignition trigger sensor. Not cool.

eBay Fog Lights
They fill the bumper holes and they come with usable brackets. There are absolutely no other positives. Totally crap build quality. When I replace them with OEM fogs I'll post pics comparing the internals.

Plastic Coolant Flanges
Complete garbage, all of them. Find a metal flange to use instead. I have 4 metal coolant flanges for the front of 16v heads and I don't regret any of the money I've spent on them. I also spent the extra for a metal thermostat housing flange because I've seen the plastic ones warp and leak.

**DocWalt** · 01-31-2013, 12:24 PM

Forgot to add these two last night:

Redline Gear Oil (MTL & MT90)
Great stuff for my trans. YMMMV, but it works great for me. I used this combo in my VR-4, and it's also very popular in the Evo crowd for a reason. I had a little tiny 2nd gear grind before, and if I was trying to shift too fast I would get locked out of 2nd gear. No such issues now, and shifting feel is greatly improved elsewhere. When I shift, everything falls into place a lot easier.

Mk3 Weighted Shift Rod
Why didn't VW use this on the Mk2? Great addition. Feels a LOT nicer to shift, with less effort required and it tightened my linkage up quite a bit. Keep in mind I don't have many miles on my linkage rebuild.