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Greetings everyone! My name is Brandon and I’ve just begun to dip my toes into European waters. I am 19 years old and I have recently purchased my second car, a 2003 GTI VR6.
After moving in with my buddy Jason (you may know him as GingerBeef), I quickly gained interest into the euro car scene. This was a nice switch from the JDM scene I had known through my first vehicle; a static 2006 Subaru Impreza wagon.
After cruising around in Jason’s ginster MK3 GTI VR6, I fell in love with the car and decided I needed one for myself. A few weeks of searching later, I realized a buddy of mine had a MK4 GTI VR6 that had been sitting in his driveway for the last year and a half. It did not run, and he had little idea as to the state it was in. I took a quick look at it, and a few days later, towed it home in the darkness.
After giving the car a good look over the next day, I realized I had gotten a little bit more car than I had anticipated. Turns out this little golf had a 24v VR6 paired with a 6 speed gearbox, as well as an AEM cold air intake and a Milltek exhaust. It came with the big bolster, leather, and heated seats (I've heard they're made by Recaro, can anyone confirm?), as well as a basically new OEM clutch! Thrilled, I quickly swapped the battery and tried to turn it over. This, of course, did not go as planned.
An few hours later, we got the car to start. Turns out, the internals of the starter motor were quite corroded and the motor would not spin. To make sure that the car did in fact run, we pushed it up a hill and bump started it. After ensuring that it was the starter motor that was broken and not some jank wiring issue, I got the starter rebuilt, and now I have a car that can start on its own!
Now, this isn’t the only mechanical problem that this car came with. The previous owner informed me that there is something iffy with the thermostat as the car would overheat out of nowhere when he used to drive it, which is why it had been parked for the last year. So, I’ve got to replace that at some point, but that can come later as it is just parked right now. Projects, am I right?
Now for the body. Honestly, I’m quite happy with the condition of the car, but as with any 13-year-old car, it has its flaws. Upon closer inspection, I found two huge key marks; one in the door and one in the hatch. Conveniently, Jason is a detailer, so I’m going to make that his problem (haha). The car also has a few dents throughout; a couple on the passenger side as well as 10 or so hail(?) dents on the hood. I believe most of the dents can be PDR’d, and I’ll be filling the hood dents when I fill the hood notch, which is a must IMO if you’re going to run a badgeless grill. The bumper cover was also quite busted, with a huge crease on the top near the hatch. Overall though, the body is in pretty good shape, and has no rust! Bonus!
Now onto the fun part; modifications. My vision for this car is to go the OEM+ route with a bit of my own touches. I’ve been hoarding parts lately as it’s been too cold to install them, as well as the fact that I have almost no time to work on the car as I’m currently in 2nd year mechanical engineering at U of C. Anyways, here’s what I have so far:
- MK4 Jetta “Lay flat” vents
- OEM Golf 2.0 Tails (You’ll see why)
- So much missing trim
- Koilhaus Coilovers
- Badgeless Grill
- Authentic Volk TE37’s in 18x9 with 225/40 r18 rubber
- New OEM Rear Bumper
It’s not much, but it’s a start. There’s a ton of stuff I need to clean up and fix with the car first before a dump a bunch more money into it. All the windows need to be cleaned of the terrible tint that was on the car when I bought it, the headlights need restoration, steering wheel and shift knob need to be reupholstered, and the whole thing needs a damn good detail. All this should be plenty to get me started. The plan for this GTI is to build it as cheap as possible, but not doing anything sketchy in order to do so. For this car, cheap and quality will go hand in hand (hopefully).
A lot of work will need to go into it, and a few helping hands are always welcome. So, is anyone interested in a little VW/Put Brandon’s car together BBQ??
After moving in with my buddy Jason (you may know him as GingerBeef), I quickly gained interest into the euro car scene. This was a nice switch from the JDM scene I had known through my first vehicle; a static 2006 Subaru Impreza wagon.
After cruising around in Jason’s ginster MK3 GTI VR6, I fell in love with the car and decided I needed one for myself. A few weeks of searching later, I realized a buddy of mine had a MK4 GTI VR6 that had been sitting in his driveway for the last year and a half. It did not run, and he had little idea as to the state it was in. I took a quick look at it, and a few days later, towed it home in the darkness.
After giving the car a good look over the next day, I realized I had gotten a little bit more car than I had anticipated. Turns out this little golf had a 24v VR6 paired with a 6 speed gearbox, as well as an AEM cold air intake and a Milltek exhaust. It came with the big bolster, leather, and heated seats (I've heard they're made by Recaro, can anyone confirm?), as well as a basically new OEM clutch! Thrilled, I quickly swapped the battery and tried to turn it over. This, of course, did not go as planned.
An few hours later, we got the car to start. Turns out, the internals of the starter motor were quite corroded and the motor would not spin. To make sure that the car did in fact run, we pushed it up a hill and bump started it. After ensuring that it was the starter motor that was broken and not some jank wiring issue, I got the starter rebuilt, and now I have a car that can start on its own!
Now, this isn’t the only mechanical problem that this car came with. The previous owner informed me that there is something iffy with the thermostat as the car would overheat out of nowhere when he used to drive it, which is why it had been parked for the last year. So, I’ve got to replace that at some point, but that can come later as it is just parked right now. Projects, am I right?
Now for the body. Honestly, I’m quite happy with the condition of the car, but as with any 13-year-old car, it has its flaws. Upon closer inspection, I found two huge key marks; one in the door and one in the hatch. Conveniently, Jason is a detailer, so I’m going to make that his problem (haha). The car also has a few dents throughout; a couple on the passenger side as well as 10 or so hail(?) dents on the hood. I believe most of the dents can be PDR’d, and I’ll be filling the hood dents when I fill the hood notch, which is a must IMO if you’re going to run a badgeless grill. The bumper cover was also quite busted, with a huge crease on the top near the hatch. Overall though, the body is in pretty good shape, and has no rust! Bonus!
Now onto the fun part; modifications. My vision for this car is to go the OEM+ route with a bit of my own touches. I’ve been hoarding parts lately as it’s been too cold to install them, as well as the fact that I have almost no time to work on the car as I’m currently in 2nd year mechanical engineering at U of C. Anyways, here’s what I have so far:
- MK4 Jetta “Lay flat” vents
- OEM Golf 2.0 Tails (You’ll see why)
- So much missing trim
- Koilhaus Coilovers
- Badgeless Grill
- Authentic Volk TE37’s in 18x9 with 225/40 r18 rubber
- New OEM Rear Bumper
It’s not much, but it’s a start. There’s a ton of stuff I need to clean up and fix with the car first before a dump a bunch more money into it. All the windows need to be cleaned of the terrible tint that was on the car when I bought it, the headlights need restoration, steering wheel and shift knob need to be reupholstered, and the whole thing needs a damn good detail. All this should be plenty to get me started. The plan for this GTI is to build it as cheap as possible, but not doing anything sketchy in order to do so. For this car, cheap and quality will go hand in hand (hopefully).
A lot of work will need to go into it, and a few helping hands are always welcome. So, is anyone interested in a little VW/Put Brandon’s car together BBQ??
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