Griffin - my baby GT-R! (GTI Mk5) [SOLD!]

[samx300]

Stunning roads and gorgeous car!  Are you leaving the skirts etc. black or are you planning to colour code?

Cheers mate!  I am leaving the skirts as is right now. I always try and prioritise internals and performance upgrades before external/body work.

did it cost alot £££ and how much has it improved the car with having Intake Valves cleaned ?
nice car and build any more plans

If you are talking about the inlet port clean costs, it took about 3hrs labour charge @ AKS Tuning. That's reasonable IMO for the amount of elbow grease required and getting the injectors out etc. I have noticed slightly better mileage in normal city driving for sure. I haven't been on any longer motorway drives since so yet to see if I can beat my 39MPG record 

[DansFR]

[/quote]

Hi mate, to be honest I did notice a considerable jump from my initial R-Tech map to the tweaked one with Stage 1.5. Niki managed to squeeze out some more potential with his fettling  Only reason he was able to make that difference was because of the BCS Full TBE upgrade. If you are moving up from Stage 1 to anything higher (courtesy some decent flowing hardware), you'll certainly notice a change. Trust me - you'd love it 

What spec are you running at the moment and what upgrade makes you want to go for 1.5?

See my experience from my previous post here:http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,92146.msg962530.html#msg962530

Cheers
[/quote]

I am tempted!  I'm currently running a neuspeed p-flo intake and 200 cell sports cat and would be looking to get a Bcs cat back mounted onto this before I would get stage 1.5... My only slight worry is that it's a manual and how the stock clutch will hold out, it's only had a couple of thousand miles on it however so is basically new! Any opinions on this?!

[samx300]

Quick update: cleared MOT today with zero advisories 

I am tempted!  I'm currently running a neuspeed p-flo intake and 200 cell sports cat and would be looking to get a Bcs cat back mounted onto this before I would get stage 1.5... My only slight worry is that it's a manual and how the stock clutch will hold out, it's only had a couple of thousand miles on it however so is basically new! Any opinions on this?!

You will have ZERO regrets (minus the speeding tickets and silly temptations on road) once you get a remap.
Regarding the clutch, you're better off checking on the TFSI Tuning group on FB. I am a DSG boy so have little idea what a stock clutch could hold up to. Though I reckon it should be okay till 300-350 LB-FT.

[phatedition30]

Love the dash conversion,stunning!

[samx300]

It's that time of the year again... - INSURANCE RENEWAL!

I paid approx £1100 for my first year. That was at 26yo, zero NCB and first ever car - Mk5 Golf GTI. I thought that wasn't too bad.

After a bit of research and few phone calls/references, these were my options for my second year/renewal. This is for my 2007 Mk5 GTI (see my thread for more info), 1 year NCB, all mods declared and with a SP30 conviction

Adrian Flux: Ridiculous quote of around £2200 since I haven't lived in the UK since birth.. #SMH 

Greenlight: Said they don't cover an entire range of postcodes around (and including) the area I live in. Strange, but I am London Zone 4, Surrey and its' a lot safer than Croydon where I lived before... 

Chris Knott: £745, fully comp, £300 excess. Underwriter Highway Insurance (part of LV Group). All the standard bits included such as windscreen cover included (£75 excess), lost key cover up to £750, ICE cover worth £500 for after market, like for like mod cover, courtesy car, legal cover, personal injury and EU wide cover for up to 90 days. For cancellation purposes, there is a £15 Admin fee and the £25 legal cover not refundable but rest will be refunded pro rata.

Sky Insurance: £800 fully comp, £300 excess. Underwriter Aegeas. All the standard bits included such as windscreen cover (£60 excess), windscreen chips/cracks (£10 excess), lost key cover up to £400, courtesy car, legal cover, personal injury, ICE cover etc. For cancellation purposes there is a £50 Admin fee.

A-Plan: £740 fully comp, £300 excess. Underwriter Marker Study. All the standard bits included such as windscreen cover (£80 excess), windscreen chips/cracks (£25 excess), courtesy car, legal cover, personal injury etc. For cancellation purposes there is a £26.50 Admin fee + 15% broker commission (of the remaining policy cover). Rest will be refunded pro rata.

Initially, all three suitable candidates started high at about £865. I had to haggle and speak with each about 2-3 times. In the end, I went with Chris Knott. They came close to the best quote and had a better cancellation policy. I would recommend them to anyone. Speak to a lady called Tabata and she'll sort you out.

I am chuffed as my £1000 budget will now sort both the insurance and the £265 road tax! 

[samx300]

​​
I am embarrassed that the forum is warning me before posting that no updates have been made in this thread for about 90 days 

So, what has changed since my last batch of updates..? Quite a bit actually. Here's an insight into my journey with Griffin 

I'll go into more details with pictures where possible below, but here's a list of all that's been done.

​​​​

• ​​New Neuspeed RSe 10 Wheels
• ​​Uprated Brembo TTRS Brakes Fronts and S3 Rears
• ​​New LOBA HPFP
• ​Revised Peron Intercooler
• ​RFD​ and RS4 FPRV
• H&R ARB Front and Rear (28/24)​
• ​US Spec Smoothed Front Grilles in gloss black with genuine open fog covers​
• AKS Tuning ​Custom welded Charge Pipe​
• ​R-Tech Stage2+ Map​
• ​LED Sidelights
• ​DSG surround Carbon Fibre wrap

​​
Picked up a set of front US style smoothed grilles and fog covers with cut outs from Marv (mvb12). Made a MASSIVE difference to the front end! I tried to apply some red vinyl to replace the grille lipstick but it was quite hard to get it to stick around the bends. This lifting vinyl is visible after the wash in the pictures. Later I just ended up plastidipping the damn thing which worked a treat and looked much better.



















I also plastidipped some internal handles. Good improvement over the tattered scratched OEM ones and dead simple to apply. About 4-5 coats did the job. But I didn't get the lower handles out as you need to take the door cards out for that













Ordered a Carbon Fibre DSG surround wrap from Bold-Sport. Looks good and fit perfect.







I had been looking at different wheels for a while as I planned on eventually replacing the 18" Monza Shadow II reps that I was running since I bought the car in 2014. There was nothing wrong with the Monzas and I loved them, but my OCD kept bothering me about them being reps.
Anyway...

I absolutely love widely spaced spokes and the Y spoke design. My all time favourite are the forged BBS FI-R but at roughly £7000 they were more than the value of most of our cars (stock). So I settled with the next best option, which was the Neuspeed RSe series. They have a pretty decent range and I particularly like the RSe 05 and 12. I believe Alex (AKS) is running the RSe 12s on his VRS and these also come highly recommended from him.

However, I instantly fell in love with the RSe 10s the first time I saw them on Awesome's website. Good looks, plenty of clearance for BBKs (more on this later..), just about 9kgs each, plenty of colour choices, what's not to like?! Next hardest decision was to finalise the colour. I was split between Anthracite and Satin Machined Silver. In the end I went for the Satin Machined Silver because it would pair nicely with my Reflex Silver Mk5 for a clean, chiselled look. And boy did that combo turn out to be nice! Al (from Awesome) even confirmed that my set was the first one to hit UK shores in this particular colour. These were imported from US of course and I had to wait 3-4 weeks from order to delivery. Alex very kindly applied some Gtechniq C5 to seal them off properly, including the barrel. Bought some new TPi wheel bolts and locking nuts to protect the new investment. The setup was perfectly balanced followed by AKS Tunings' Fast Road alignment for a sharp geometry.







I did get my existing Goodies Asym 2 transferred over to the new wheels in the process. The man who turned up at AKS to do the job found a nail (wish I had clicked a pic!) in the rear left tyre. It was scarily close to the tyre wall and had it touched at any stage, I would've had some pant soiling moments. Funny thing is, I was paranoid about my rear left tyre anyway as every month I did an air pressure check and whilst the other three tyres remained steady at 34-35PSI, this one was always down to 29PSI. I wondered what it was and suspected the valve but never got around to checking it properly. Can you believe I ran this way from May-June 2015 until Feb 2016! Haha - my luck!

Next in my list was a tasty BBK. I always wanted to upgrade both front and rears together and had my eye on the AP Racing 4 pots from Reyland on a floating disc setup. That was a tad pricey though but still cheaper than the Forge 6 pots (which I've heard are excellent!) and many other Brembo GT and similar setups.

In the end I picked up a tidy set of TTRS Brembo 4 pots front and S3 rear caliper set from Dan (DANBOY66) from the forum. He's a top bloke and I'd recommend him without hesitation. These came complete with TTRS 370mm discs and EBC Red Stuff pads for front and 310mm vented discs with stock Ferodo pads for the rear. Good place to start with until I wear through the consumables and opt for a different set of discs and pads. Damn those 370s are heavy at nearly 14kg each! Gave them a good clean and they looked mint! Yeah, I know the rears aren't really Brembo (they are TRW) but I felt cheeky and had some spare Brembo vinyl stickers :) Another good point of getting the Neuspeed RSe 10s was that they're one of the few wheels which clear the TTRS calipers without any spacers. #Win

















The sun greeted AKS Tuning on a very cold February day!



Loads of clearance and no spacers!





Also had front and rear H&R ARBs fitted. Only one is visible in the pic below as the other was on the car by the time I was invited to click pictures. Chris fitted a RFD kit and a RS4 FPRV while the manifold was off. No pictures for this
I know RS4 FPRV isn't really a requirement for a tune at my stage but I did some research and thought best to go for it at the low cost of losing 4-5 bar of fuel pressure at the top end. This will of course be replaced with a 155bar FPRV and a high pressure (200bar?) map sensor when I replace my turbo in the near future.



Next was a new revised Peron Intercooler (silver colour). No chopping required, straight fit. This is one mod which isn't prominent (unless you remove aircon) from the outside anyway but still useful when going Hybrid or BT. Then went in a brand new LOBA HPFP from one of the groups on FB. This was one of Niki's last recommendation to unlock some mid range grunt and obviously one of the most important performance mods when chasing good numbers. Which I am.
Alex then did a custom weld job on the charge intake pipe to stop the common boost leak from the O-Ring. Works a treat. Sorry, didn't click any pics for any of these last few mods

I purchased these HPFP titanium bolts from Lee Chadwick



Of course, most of the above work was carried out to the usual impeccable standards of AKS Tuning. Hats off to Alex and Chris for some long evenings

Visit to R-Tech was sublime and I clicked some non-professional pics (from my Nexus 6P) of the new wheels and the way she currently sits. Sunny day helped bring out the good looks. I'll click some more when she's spotless and there is a good backdrop







Decent caliper clearance
















So final result with R-Tech Stage 2+? She made 280.1HP and 364.5LB-FT with the stock K03 with 75K miles on the odo. More importantly, look at the graph! All that torque at just around 3000RPM is very enjoyable indeed. On the obligatory test drive post tune, she went like some possessed bat out of hell! Chuffed to bits. Seems those red bulls for Niki did the trick



LOL, you know you're at the tuners when the bog roll holder looks like this!  



PS* I have some almost new OEM spec (Pagid) 312mm front discs and pads for sale. I also have genuine front lower grille and fog covers if anyone wants them.

Future plans include a facelift Mk6 Climatronic Panel (being fitted this weekend), Polar FIS (already purchased, needs fitting), Aluminium DSG/Oil Filter housings, Balance Shaft Delete mod, TTE 350+/BBT K03 Hybrid, S3 injectors and few other goodies. Watch this space

​​
As of April 2015, Griffin's Improvement/Mods pipeline is as below:

​Ride/Handling
- 4 x ​Goodyear Eagle F1 ASY 2s  225/40/18 XLs with MFS
- SuperPro Subframe Bush and Anti-Lift Kit
​- SuperPro Front Control Arm Inner Bush Kit
​- ​​SuperPro Rear Lower Control Arm Bushings
​- ​​H&R Lowering Sport Springs all around (30mm)
- New Discs all around, ​Pagid/Textar Pads​, Fluid Change​ & Bleed​ [strike]
- Front and Rear H&R ARBs (28/24)
- TTRS Brembo 4 Pot Calipers Front with TTRS 370mm Discs, running EBC Red Stuff pads
- S3 Rear Calipers with 310mm vented discs, running stock Ferodo pads

Interior
- 850W RMS+ ​Rockford Fosgate/Focal Sound System, specs in previous posts
- Full White LED interior lighting​ inlcuding wing mirrors​ puddle lights
- GTI Metal Trim for Passenger Seat Recline Handle
- Rebuilt Rear​ Passenger​ Air Vent
- Remove OEM 6 CD Changer and install rubber sleeve for storage
- Stainless Steel Flappy Pedal Shifter
- Mk6 R White Dot Cluster 200MPH
- Mk6 GTI Steering Wheel
- GTI Trim Floor Mats
- GTI Metal Dead Pedal
​- Chrome Headlight Switch
- Driver Side Chrome Power Windows Switches with new door pull handle
- Aircon High Pressure Switch ​Fixed, fully leak tested and regassed
- Bold-Sport Carbon Fibre DSG surround

Exterior
- New Neuspeed RSe 10 18" Wheels in Machined Silver
- Genuine VW US Spec Front Smoothed Grilles
- Genuine VW Open Cut Fog Grilles
- Front Grille Black VW Badge
- Black VW Boot Badge with Carbon Fibre insert. Not the tidiest job in history 
- LED Licence Plate Lights
- LED sidelights
- Rain-X Water Repellent Coating on all Glass
- Dubmeister Pressed Legal GB Plates
- Carbon Fibre Licence Plate Holder​s​
- Carbon Fibre Vinyl Wrap for Boot Protection
- Volkswagen Motorsports Wheel Valve Dust Caps​
- Engine Bay Detail
- Black Washer Fluid and Brake Fluid Reservoir Caps
- R8 Oil Cap
- Samsung 18 SMD LED Fog Lamps
- New Driver Side Inner Door Handle
- Chrome Tipped Headlight and Power Window Switches on Driver Side
​- Fixed Wobbly Wing Mirrors
- Short Stubby Radio Antenna
​- Full Paint Correction/Swirl removal and chip marks touched up [DONE]​

Performance/Tuning
- ​​​R-Tech Stage2+ ECU Remap
- R-Tech DSG Remap​
- K&N Typhoon CAI
- LOBA HPFP
- RFD
- Revised Peron IC
- ​​​BCS 3" TBE ​Powervalve System with​ 200 Cell Motorsport Cat
- RS4 FPRV
- Regular Engine Oil & Filter Change (replace with Millers CFS 5W40 NT)
- DSG Oil & Filter Change
​- Latest Revision G DV
- R-Tech PCV Delete
- R8 Coilpacks
​- ​NGK 7 Spark Plugs
- R8 Coilpacks
​- Inlet Valve Clean and Engine Decoke
- New Injector Seals
- New Oil Pick Up Pipe
- New Oil Filter Housing
- AKS Tuning custom welded charge pipe to avoid nasty boost leaks

Miscellaneous
- New Bosch Wiper Blades back and front
- Car Plan Washer Fluid Top Up
- New VW Bottle Opener for Cup Holder
- New VW Cup Holder Rubber Mat

Dream Mods funds permitting​
- Big Brembo (or similar) Brake Kit - unlikely DONE!
- Peron ​I​C DONE!
​- RS4 FPRV DONE!
​- ​Uprated LOBA Fuel Pump DONE!

Thought/comments welcome!

[lewisako]

Nice amount of wrk there mate! Missed your updates! Love it


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[samx300]

Nice amount of wrk there mate! Missed your updates! Love it

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Cheers buddy! We should catch up sometime.. I know I've been lazy updating the thread lately 

[S800BRN]

Lovely example and some excellent mods.
I think it'd look much cleaner if you removed all decals and badges - leave only the GTI.

[samx300]

Lovely example and some excellent mods.
I think it'd look much cleaner if you removed all decals and badges - leave only the GTI.

Haha, thanks mate! 
I agree with you, the stickers are not to everyone's taste and they will definitely come off soon.
The WALD one came with the car. I stuck on the silly skull (pointless) and the R-Tech/K&N ones. I'd much rather have just one R-Tech one on the bottom of driver side door. Then the Griffin on left is because that's her name - so the resemblance. Scorpio on the right, well, just because that's my starsign.

I'm planning to get the boot resprayed at some point. Been quoted £160. So all the rear ones will come off then 

[patpong_pete]

sam been a long time but very good update and you have done a good job on the golf
like new alloys what u doing with old moza alloys ?
the new peron where did you get from good price
open grills where did you get from thanks in advance for reply

when is the bbt hybrid going to happen ?

[Lèbrook]

Great write up. I haven't had mine long and had most of the same mods on the list. Wheels look nice. Good to see the big brakes fit under them. Looking forward to the next update!

[samx300]

sam been a long time but very good update and you have done a good job on the golf
like new alloys what u doing with old moza alloys ?
the new peron where did you get from good price
open grills where did you get from thanks in advance for reply

when is the bbt hybrid going to happen ?

Hey Pete, thanks for the kind words. I sold the old Monzas via one of the FB groups. AKS Tuning is the only place I'm aware of that do the Peron ICs and I believe they might have the new versions in stock. Price is around £550. The open grilles I did mention in the post, I picked them up from another forum member Marv (mvb12). He had painted all of them gloss black so they look the part  Not sure about the BBT K03 / TTE 350+ until I see some proven results without them claiming engines (albeit due to other factors). I saw what happened to Lee and Andrew's cars. I also want to see some dyno prints for TTEs Hybrid solution. I'm in no rush to get this done though. Have few other bits in mind and need the balance shaft delete mod before I go down any hybrid route 

Great write up. I haven't had mine long and had most of the same mods on the list. Wheels look nice. Good to see the big brakes fit under them. Looking forward to the next update!

Thank you buddy 

[Andy]

great updates Sam and excellent mods

[Mike58]

Looks like you've done a nice job there mate. Love the wheels. Did the ARBs make a big difference to the handling? See you've bushed all the suspension. How does it ride? Great write up.