5 years on, the mods begin!

[genebaby]

So it was yesterday that marked 5 days since my GTI was delivered to my house, something they were doing at the time, LoL.....

Apart from puting in Eibach springs a year later, I have resisted the mods that get you into trouble with VW. The P3 gauge and wireless AA adaptor are just little things.

So now I have the green light to do the mods I've been waiting for.

I have had waiting for a while a Mishimoto Intercooler and also radiator and I have more recently gotten the other parts I want to put in prior to having it Galano tuned.

I have the MST intake and I've just ordered an ECS dual air inlet duct to go with it, so I can keep mine as it is. I also finally noticed I have the inlet holes on both sides underneath, so I won't be getting anything to make more holes there.

For the downpipe I have an ANTZ 3.5" catted version. I would not go catless, it has to be high flow catted.

I also got the turbo muffler delete from ANTZ, merely for the noises, not expecting any performance gains.

Also for noises is the GFB VTA BOV, which has it's own solenoid and can be adjusted for sound.

I chose the Powerflex yellow dog bone mount, and we'll see how it goes after the tune if I want anything else. I checked to confirm I have the V2 bush and I do, and it's in perfect condition.

After the other parts are installed in a few weeks I'll be putting in the MST intake, the TMD and the BOV and the ECS dual air duct, and then it will be tuned one month from today, along with a TCU file.

Looking forward to the car with it's new parts and custom stage 2 tune!

[genebaby]

The ECS dual intake has arrived and is very cool. Better than I expected as a quick google after I had ordered it gave a result of inferior plastics used, and the part not feeling solid, but still obviously doing the job.

I rushed the order as the first I had heard about it it was a very expensive CF part, and people were asking for a plastic one. So when I discovered there was a plastic one, and it was available from an Aus supplier I did the order, only to see the reviews from a few years ago.

As I had hoped, there has been some quality upgrades, so after a quick removal of the ECS logo plate it will be ready to go on next month when I do the full intake etc. For those interested its the ECS Tuning MK7/7.5 GTI/R/Tiguan Luft-Technik Dual Air Inlet Duct - Matte Black. The CF one is very expensive to get here and doesn't go with anything else in my engine bay, so this is a win-win.

[Lucas_R]

Some nice parts there and the right recipe for making reliable power. You will have a new found appreciation for the car once the parts are installed and the Galano ECU + TCU tuning are done.

[genebaby]

Thanks Lucas, I sure hope so! It's been a great car as it is, this will hopefully unleash some nice reliable power as I potter around town!!

The next big upgrade I'm looking forward to is change the tyres when it's needed.

[Veteran78]

Nice upgrades genebaby. My GTI is also reaching the 5 year mark later this year.

Keen to understand how the tune changes the driving experience for you. I am also looking at a tune. Why Galano? How did you choose who to go for the tuning?

[genebaby]

No worries, it's not too long now, a week till install of most of the hardware, the hard stuff, then I'll do the easy stuff, and then a tune two weeks from now.

I don't even think I would have tuned the car was it not for Galano appearing on the scene. This is my first VW and this type of car and I'm just a custom tune kind of person, where the car is tuned on the dyno to the best of the abilities of all the parts, including the engine etc. So I know the car will be safely tuned with the parts I have assembled.

The only possibility of me going with a tune file is if it was with a company that provided the tune and I had all their parts for the mods, ie, APR tune with APR downpipe, intake, intercooler etc. Something that I probably wouldn't do, plus APR don't do Stage 2 anymore, so it's moot.

Galano is not only a custom tune, it's a great custom tune, with cool features like boost by gear, so I'm looking forward to the change, along with the TCU update.

[genebaby]

Part one of the upgrades is done. A local shop has installed the intercooler, radiator, downpipe and the dogbone mount. On the way to their shop I got an alert that my left rear tyre was low. I wasn't sure if it was another false positive, but sure enough, there was a screw. The tyre shop found another in the other rear tyre. So that's all fixed.

I can definitely hear a difference with the downpipe, and it's fine, not overly loud, just different. No engine light on the drive home, waiting for it to turn up.

So this weekend the TMD, BOV and all the intake stuff will be going in, so I'm expecting more changes to the sound, and then a tune next Thursday when it will all come together!

[genebaby]

Part two has been completed. The TMD was a pain, as expected, but doable. The BOV was easy and the rest of the intake install was straight forward, along with the ESC dual intake duct at the front.

Well, it was easy enough once I snipped some of the MST box. It no longer lined up now that I have that larger radiator, so I made it fit nice.

I can hear more under the bonnet if I want to, but the music easily drowns it out.

I did get a CEL on the way home from going for a drive afterwards, which will be tuned out on Thursday.