lethal6's VR6 GLI

[lethal6]

It's all good Mark. I went with ST. Smoking deal through our vendor at work.

Couple pics from today.

On the alignment rack at VW. Couldn't get it to work with their set up because theirs isn't set for lowered vehicles this low. Would have f**ked up my fenders if we went any farther. Will do it in a couple weeks on the one at Porsche.


After I picked a height that I liked for now. Might leave it here, maybe a little lower in the rear. Have to re mold the fender liners as it rubs on big turns and heavy bumps.

Next Saturday I will put the GLI lip on and see if my wheel spacers fit.

 

[lethal6]

Not an update for the car but got this little beauty from the guy that takes the pictures of the vehicles for all 11 of our dealerships for the website. Lens is one of his spares but the camera (D3100) was brand new in box. Soon to have some better pics. Memory card shows up tomorrow.

 

[lethal6]

OK!!! First shoot with the new DSLR. Have patience with me until I get the hang of the settings. I have a very lot to learn that is for sure, but it is night and day different between these and my andriod photos with just minor "set up your dslr for dummies" settings.

Head lights are all done and ready to go in tomorrow. I won't lie and say that I built them myself, I got lazy and had a dude out of Oregon do them. He has been doing these on VWs and many sets on my exact generation for a while now. Got them for cheaper than it would have cost me to piece it all together and fumble through the retrofit. I am absolutely hands down very happy with the way they turned out.

 

[ImportFan1]

Glass lens?

 

[lethal6]

Yessir. I read that the glass is best for clarity when doing retrofit. I have the plastic lenses in the box he sent the lights in if something ever happens to the glass and I need a backup until I can get another glass lens sent out.

Put the later MKIV GLi valance on the other night. Love it! (Cell pics, it was before I got the camera)

 

[lethal6]

Aight den. The retrofitted headlights are in!

Some pics of the install.


Peaking at me while I made some phone calls and did some paperwork in the morning. Started on the install when it died down on Saturday just after lunch.

Before (head on shot):

Bumper grill and stock headlights removed:

Test fit and run of the passenger side. The glow is the city light hidden behind the H1 Shroud:

Both in, wired, and bumper ready to go back on:

After (head on shot):

Very hard to get a good shot with the HIDs on. They don't look blue in person. They are 6000k.

 

[lethal6]

Next up:

- Picked up a 3000k HID kit for the lower hella fog lights.

- Have a new hood latch to install

- New rear driver's side door latch to install too. The lock pin is getting stuck and is causing the car to freak out. Thinks that the car is either locked or unlocked depending on which position it gets stuck in. If it is stuck up, it won't set the alarm and has been causing the alarm to randomly go off when stuck in the down position.

- Massage the fender liners some more to stop the rubbing. Most of the rubbing is gone. Now it only rubs on big bumps and hitting a bump in hard turns. Might just live with it though. It isn't too bad.

- Gathering the pieces to do a console conversion. They don't make the grey ones anymore so I might have to go black. It won't look bad because my interior is mixed black and grey anyway. We'll see. Searching for grey but will see what happens. The conversion is for the later mk4 models that had 3 cup holders.

 

[lethal6]

Back for another small picture dump.

Going off the list above:

- Finished putting in the hood latch.

- Installed the rear driver's side door latch. No more locking problems and my alarm stays put. No random false hits.

- Fixed the fender liners and there is no more rubbing unless I am cornering when I hit a decent bump. Suspension is sporty enough to control it going in a straight line and hitting good bumps to where it doesn't flex enough to rub after the massaging.

- Did the console conversion but am not happy with it. It isn't bad because the interior is black on top with grey on the bottom but with this being black mixed in to the bottom it fires up my OCD and I don't like it. I love the new cup holders that it provides but am not settling for the fact that grey is discontinued. I will hunt one down from a seller somewhere and sell my black one. Patience is key in this one.

- Had a good friend install the coil overs. They aren't cranked all the way down. The front has about 5 threads left and the rear has about 4. The rear is going to go down a couple more threads to match the front in height. Have a raked thing going on right now after the front settled more than the rear after putting miles on the kit.

- Put my 10mm spacers on the rear. The rear had 20mm before but the rear fender would need pulled do to being lower now so I sold them. Going to go with some 5mm on the front maybe, or just leave it.



On to the pics!!


Better shot with the OEM GLi front valance painted and installed.


2003 Jetta Gli by Cary Center, on Flickr



2003 Jetta GLi by Cary Center, on Flickr



New trunk painted, installed, blended with the rear quarters, and pin striping replaced. This trunk is from a 2004-2005 Jetta and has the integrated lip. It is also debadged except for the center emblem because it is also the lock carrier. I thought about removing and filling the hole but decided to keep it.



2003 Jetta GLi by Cary Center, on Flickr



2003 Jetta Gli by Cary Center, on Flickr



2003 Jetta Gli by Cary Center, on Flickr



Side shot. You can see the rake. I have Gli side skirts that are all painted and ready to go on, just need to cut out the time to install them. Probably next month sometime after I get my term finished at school.



2003 Jetta GLi by Cary Center, on Flickr



Some more interior shots. New OEM steering wheel, Audi A4 shift knob and boot, all aluminum trim finished.



DSC_0087 by Cary Center, on Flickr



DSC_0088 by Cary Center, on Flickr



DSC_0089 by Cary Center, on Flickr



DSC_0097 by Cary Center, on Flickr



Next up:

- Install Gli side skirts
- Replace passengers side tie rod as it is bent
- Have our mobile scratch and dent guy fix the rear driver's side bumper blemish, fix the dent in the hood, and fill the rock chips.
- Possible front auto mask after the rock chips are fixed and the hood is done.
- Clay bar and buff out the whole car. Give it a good coat of wax and hopefully keep up on it this time.
- Replace the driver's side front seat leather or at the very least fix the bolster. This one, the stitching pulled and it looks terrible. Was that way when I bought it but my fat ass getting in and out every day doesn't help.

 

[Turbo_Freak]

Do you have a pic of the cutoff?

 

[lethal6]

Do you have a pic of the cutoff?

I don't yet. I can get one next time I drive at night (which is pretty scarce right now with it staying light out for longer). I haven't adjusted them completely yet, mostly just vertical so I don't blind people, but the driver's side is "twisted" clockwise so it is up higher on the left side. Waiting for some time to be able to open it back up and fix it.

One of the downfalls of having someone do them for me. I just didn't have the time to dig in and cut up mine to make it fit so I found a dude that does them for a very small fee. Fee was smaller than what it would have cost me to get the parts to do it myself, not counting what my time is worth. Problem is, I didn't have the opportunity to put them on the car and adjust them completely before buttoning them up. He did the best he could on his bench but the driver one is slightly off. Nothing that can't be fixed though and I am more than happy with the output, especially for the money that I paid. He did all the heavy work. They aren't as easy as the 5th and 6th gen civics where they are almost plug and play. There is a bunch of cutting and molding to do to get them to look right without looking "hacked" together.

 

[young_]

Love how clean this thing is.

 

[lethal6]

Thanks man! I cleaned her up this weekend, clay bar'd it, waxed it, and put some fresh tire shine on it. Of course it starts raining today and ruined all of it. lol.

Going to try and install the side skirts this Saturday if it is slow at work. We will see. Have all the materials to do it, just need the time and a car to take home for the night because the adhesive needs to cure over night if possible.

 

[xxBLOOD88SHOTxx]

 

[lethal6]

Update.

- Cranked the rear all the way down.

- Side skirts painted and installed

- Picked up some mint (refinished) Longbeaches for the winter tires to go on.

- Found a grey updated center console to get rid of the black updated one that doesn't match. Didn't know they were still available, found a good condition one from a member on another forum.

20150614_161622 by C. Center, on Flickr

20150614_161608 by Cary Center, on Flickr

Fresh refurbished longbeaches. by C. Center, on Flickr