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You Can't Polish a Turd (Or Can You?)

396K views 3K replies 242 participants last post by  mdubcajka12 
#1 · (Edited)
...Guess we'll see.

This is something that started out just as a winter build thread in 2011, then I let the thread kinda die out. But why not bring it back and document my progress as a whole.

When I first got the car, I figured I'd do wheels, coilovers, exhaust, and be done. HA, HAHAHAH, boy was I wrong. I now realize I'll never be done dumping money into this thing just trying to polish a turd. Looking back on it, i definitely regret not starting a thread when I first got the car because i know there's things i forgot to include. But here's some catch up to where I am now and how I got here.

Timeline
Catching up from purchase (May 2010) to the start of this thread (November 2011)

Winter 2011/2012
Arrival of Air Ride and new Drilled & Slotted Rotors
18x9 miro rear wheel test fit
Rear bags installed and trunk setup finished
bag install finished and management turning on
Frame Notch and glass headlight lenses
205/40 tires mounted on 18x9 miros and installed
rear bag leak
Shots from 2012 show season: 1 2 3 4 5

winter 2012/2013
IDF Drop Plates & TT LCA's/spindles
EVAP/SAI/n249/PCV/coolant overflow deletes
starting to polish AGN valve cover
Forge TIP installed
Power Steering Reservoir Relocate and the start of a Passenger side Wire Tuck
getting ready to set up breather system with AN fittings, relocate battery, and sell my wheels
Brotiforms bro
Battery Relocate
Acquiring more engine goodies
wire tucking: 1 2 3 4 5
Retrofits: 1 2 3

2013 show season
Dubs on Defrost: 1 2
Toys for Tots
TriState Tuners
20th AE brake swap
Staggered
Hidden slim fans, AC Delete, and retrofit problems
TH Lines
Sowo: 1 2 3
Motor Mount Design
OZ Pegasus: 1
finished polishing AGN valve cover
Cult Classic
Bay right about where i want it before the shave
Waterfest(took 3rd):1 2
Vag Fair: Vag Fair
Wetsanding/polishing lips: 1 2
Dubs on the Boards: 1 2
H2O


Winter 2013/2014 build(shaved bay):
E-Level & Trunk setup
refinishing pegs: 1 2
Engine out
Cut out the rain tray & gutted interior
Powdercoating
MK3 mounts and raised subframe finished
Plates welded onto frame rails
Started laying bodyfiller
On the ground and ready for paint
Pegs refinished
VIN molded to heater core hole




current mods: lets see if i can actually rememeber everything.

exterior:
shaved antenna
shaved gli trunk
notch filled hood
shaved & rolled fenders
OEM euro front rubstrip
smoothed & painted 4motion front lip
gli rear lip & skirts
r/w/r/w tails
HID Retrofits

Motor:
custom 3" turboback exhaust (42DD high flow cat, GHL resonator, muffler delete, 4" tip)
VF Motor & trans mounts w/ ECS dogbone inserts
tuned boosting 20lb
Forge Turbo Inlet Pipe
Forge Splitr Valve
deleted washerfluid, coolant overflow, evap, sai, n249, pcv, FCM, AC
relocated battery, fuse box, & powersteering reservoir
hidden slim fans
Full wire tuck
polished fuel rail, AGN valve cover, & intake mani
-10AN Steel Braided line & Black annodized fittings for breather system
2.0t coilpacks w/ polished Chopshop boltless spacers
Porsche oil cap
Billet Brake Reservoir cap

Suspension:
Airlift XL slam series, V1 management, VU4 manifold
drop plates(-4* camber)
TT LCAs/spindles (-2* camber)
OZ Pegasus: 17x8.5/10 et 20/30
20th AE calipers w/ Slotted front and Drilled & slotted rear rotors

Interior:
Kenwood DNX 5220 double din touchscreen GPS
newsouth color matched boost gauge with steering column pod
GLI pedal set
GLI brushed aluminum trim
brushed aluminum Euro switch
brushed door lock deletes
20th AE cluster
GTI dash

Quick history and brief picture updates: May 2010-present
When I first bought her in may 2010, my first car, 17 years old, putting every penny I had into her. She was my pride and joy, regardless of how she looked at the time.



Before I got to even do much to it, I into an accident on July 28, 2010 and thought the car was done for good :facepalm:

And yes, I cried a little

^^messed both fenders and hood up bad, destroyed bumper and rebar, ripped the rad support in half, broke a motor mount, the grill flew about 30 feet forward, and the list goes on :banghead:

At this point, I was getting ready to just part the car out and try to get some of my money back. I even started a part out thread on here.


But on august 26th, one of my good friends talked me into giving it one last shot, and believe it or not, we pieced it back together in just a day in my back yard.



She pretty much stayed looking like that all winter (with headlights of course) while I saved up money for some body work and a full respray.

But of course I still blew some money on little winter projects.
joey modded headlights with dual blinkers


GLI brushed aluminum radio cage, door pulls, and pedals. and a kenwood double din gps headunit


Custom 3" turboback exhaust


Then some hater pushed me to getting the body work done even quicker :bs:


In february of 2011 the body work had begun: shaved antenna, shaved and rolled fenders, shaved GLI trunk, notched hood, fixed all dings and dents, and got they key engraving out

^^Oh, I also got some new wheels and 15% tint in the mean time

In April 2011 I finally had enough money for the fully respray



Finally got her back by the beginning of may, right in time for our one year aniversary, and I couldn't be any more excited. Along with the bodywork mentioned above, I now had GLI side skirts, gli rear lip, painted 4mo front lip, euro front rub strip, and a gli trunk :cool:


^^Now something had to be done about that wheel gap, rear stance, and hideous tail lights.

By June I invested in some FK Streetline coilovers and GLI tail lights




Only to find out there are things that get in the way when you lower the front too much :facepalm:


So out came the sway bar and I dropped the car even lower, when i learned my second lesson in July, low front + road debris=bye bye oil pan :facepalm:



While waiting for my hybrid oilpan to get here, I picked up some spacers for the rear



With the new hybrid oilpan giving me nearly an inch more clearance, of course I had to go even lower than before, or at least until the frame rail started rubbing.



A couple rollers going to my first H2Oi in 2011 when I was static on FK coilovers and LM reps 18x8 all around.





Shortly after, I decided to go air and get 18x9's for the rear over the holidays:




Grabbed some Schwaben Front/Rear Drilled & Slotted rotors with EBC Redstuff break pads for pretty cheap too :D


She was looking pretty for spring show n go, but I still had to do something about that positive camber and haggard fender


So I fixed that with a new shaved fender, Audi TT LCA's/spindles, and IDF drop plates in the rear, sitting just how I wanted in time for the end of the show season.






Started ripping into the engine bay December 2012 :eek:


and got a bit carried away:


removed my tint and got new wheels for the 2013 show season:

(photo cred: Archie Srey)

Traveled 12 hours to sowo, overheated at least 6 times, but it was the time of my life




changed up the wheels, took 3rd at waterfest



how the bay will more or less look until i do the full shave this winter



H2O 2013:



New trunk setup:


Engine out and ready to shave:



MK3 motor mounts and raised subframe





And waiting for paint :popcorn:


Refinished my pegs:


por15:



Back on the road:





First place at H2O:



 
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67
#15 ·
shh! because i believe it does... i'm addressing that this break also.

Frame rail bent?

Hope you fixed it properly.

Car looks good though!
the passenger side frame rail was pulled to the side, you can see it in the picture of the car on the trailer with no fender. it was fixed enough that i can floor it with my hands off the wheel and it still goes straight.
 
#27 ·
As long as someone buys my coilovers I will be :thumbup:

Good progress, what are these goodies in store?
You'll have to wait and see. I promise I won't let you down ;)
 
#26 ·
:popcorn: Everyone is 18 at some point. I wish I was a smarter 18 year old and waited for a better GTI than the one I ended up buying...... But its a learning experience
 
#42 ·
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