Well sorta. Just a few trim swaps. I got all the new grill pieces in place. The lowers had the paint chipping off of them (used pieces) so I just plastidipped them. Plastidip is an great match for the stock textured trim. The car looks sweet with the hidden fogs. Just as well since one of the fogs is also cracked. Two birds, one stone…nice.
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Frontal Surgery
I just received a few new pieces for the front end of the car. I picked up a grill from the 2010 Wolfsburg Jetta and the lower trim pieces as well.
The Jetta grill is a pretty popular mod to the GTI. It’s kinda pricey to get though and it’s not uncommon to see them selling used for above 150 dollars. If you dig chrome, the Jetta grill is also covered in it, but that’s not exactly my taste. The grill from the Wolfsburg edition though, is all black except for the emblem.
I haven’t installed anything yet but pictures will be live after I actually have some.
Fuel Filter Madness!
Not really. I’ve just ordered one and hopefully it will be going in this coming weekend. The replacement interval is supposed to be every 40,000 miles. I am about 40,000 miles late. Oops.
I picked one up from DBC Performance. Twenty-five dollars and some change seems to be a standard price for the filter. Hoping to get some extra MPG as a side effect. Updates after I get it in my hands.
Simota Catch Can
If you’ve followed along, I’ve had the BSH Stage 2 kit for awhile now. However, the first generation catch can was, for lack of nice words, pretty damn ugly. Plastic fittings, small size, ghetto rigged filtration etc., etc. It worked, but damn that thing was hit with the ugly stick. Like beat with it. I’ve also wondered whether the filtration medium was truly getting everything. The newer generation cans have welded fittings and a mesh screen separation medium now.
This leads to me finding a used Simota catch can on the golfmkv forum. Only 35 bucks! These things aren’t too expensive though, I think around 60 new, give or take shipping. It’s solidly built and has an internal separator but the see through window sucks. It’s made of crappy plastic that you can’t see through. I made a bracket to mate it to the BSH bracket and voila! More awesome catch can. I had to buy a few brass elbows and get creative with the hose routing, but I think it’ll hold up fine. Testing begins now. Once I’m sure the whole setup won’t self destruct itself, I’ll finish up the L-hoses with better hosing.
Here’s a few more pictures:
The old can for comparison:
OEM Plus
I’ve been looking for a stock MK6 GTI rear sway bar to swap into my car recently. Yes, I’m that indecisive with suspension. Anyways, I hear it’s sized at 22mm, larger than the stock MKV bar. I have a 27mm BSH bar right now but I want to bring the suspension back to stock.
I sourced one out from the vortex and coincidentally it was the same guy I bought the MK6 springs and shocks from. I’ll update and see what difference having smaller bar will have. More roll for sure, but smoother ride also. It’s coming in this Thursday, I’ll update as it comes along.
Cam Follower – Progress Report
This current follower has 30,000 miles on it, 15~20,000 of it on APR Stage I. I changed out my first one at around 57,000 miles. This new one still has not developed any appreciable wear. The DLC coating is still there, unworn for all intents and purposes.
There has to be a rhyme and reason to all this. Is it really just people using poor oil? Not breaking the car in properly? Too early for the first oil change? Manufacturing flaws?
While there was improper cam hardening with the A cams, the B cams supposedly remedied that problem and there are still reports of failure. My car does not have any accelerated wear. Other cars chew them up in as little as 10,000 miles.
My advice would be to check at least every other oil change until you’ve established the rate of wear. Then you can increase your intervals. Keep in mind that wear is also accelerated as the cam follower wears down.
Links to more information:
markFive GTI 