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Quebster's Neverending Story - 2015 GTI S 6MT - The Good, the Bad, the End... and the Resurrection!

Hulk1

Go Kart Champion
Location
Sakaar
Superpro endlinks are most choice


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Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
Y'all commented before I was finished with the post! Hopefully you saw the pictures. If you're just reading this, be sure to jump back a page and take a look at my update with coilovers, SuperPro endlinks, stainless rear brake lines, and more! (Post 150)

I'd also like to say I'm pretty happy with these ST XTA coils so far. I have them set to 11 out of 16 clicks as far as the dampening goes. They feel so responsive, and ride quality isn't bad at this stiffness setting. I may could bring them down a couple of notches for the day-to-day, but for now I don't mind. ~550 miles so far. Once again, they've passed the wife test with flying colors. We still take my car everywhere we go, after everything that's been done to it. That, in my book, is complete success as far as my goals for this car go.

I also installed the Eurocode front and rear chassis braces:

https://www.ecodetuning.com/eurocode-8v-mk7-mqb-front-rear-chassis-brace.html?category_id=659

I picked these up on sale a few weeks ago for $80 off from their site. Looks like they're no longer on sale, guess it wasn't a "fake" sale! Man I lucked out there looks like.

Anyway, the main reason I picked these up was because I was planning to cut out much of the top portion of my strut mounts to gain access to the camber adjustment plates without removing the struts. I wanted these front braces to add the extra reinforcement and replace what I was taking away.

Install was pretty simple and straightforward. You can immediately feel the results, just take the car out and jerk the wheel around. You don't feel the body/chassis "bend" like it used to, that's the best way I can describe it. Definitely a positive effect on the car, improving overall rigidity and confidence in corners!







As far as cutting the strut mounts, well I just pulled out my handy wireless Dremel and went to work. The metal isn't thick. At first I cut a 2" circle around the camber adjustments, and it was actually a pretty nice circle! However I quickly realized this wasn't actually going to give me the access needed to the camber adjustment once you actually adjust it (lol I'm new, remember?)



So at that point I began cutting more on the inside of the strut mounts so that once the camber plates are actually adjusted, we can still access the screws. My performance alignment shop was very thankful for this, otherwise they would've had to pull off the struts to align (and I'm sure I would've been charged extra on top of my unlimited plan :rolleyes:)

Right side:




Left:


Forgot to mention I picked up some Rustoleum black spray paint and painters tape, and spray painted where I cut into the metal just to make sure I don't get any rust. I sanded the edges first using a sanding bit on my Dremel. My alignment guy told me he was almost right at the edge of camber adjustment, so if I wanted to go more I'll actually still need to cut more into the insides of the strut mounts! Sheesh.
 
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Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
And here's a picture of one of my meth-making sessions just because! In the kitchen of all places, very safe I know. Such is apartment life :rolleyes:

 

Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
Oh yeah, while I'm at it, here is my new, current alignment. I told him give me the balance between aggressive street alignment and track alignment, then "move" it a notch more towards track alignment [emoji1]

I have unlimited alignments, but unfortunately the place is 44 minutes away minus traffic, so not super convenient to try to go to before and after every track weekend... so I'll just settle for the somewhat balanced alignment.

 

Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
I hope whomever happens to be reading has enjoyed these updates! I have a couple more small ones that I will post later. As always, please let me know if I can answer any questions about anything I've done, I love to share my experiences. :)
 

ATR

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Baltimore
Car(s)
'17 Golf R 6mt
I hope whomever happens to be reading has enjoyed these updates! I have a couple more small ones that I will post later. As always, please let me know if I can answer any questions about anything I've done, I love to share my experiences. :)
Winner winner chicken dinner!
 

Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
Awesome updates! Meth lab in the kitchen though?

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Yeah... not the greatest place. But I can't really do it anywhere else. Have a small patio, but I'm legitimately worried about what people would think walking by. It's against the lease to store flammable liquids lol (I need a house/garage!)


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Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
Couple of things, I ended up purchasing a dedicated GPS device solely to get accurate telemetry on the track, specifically so I can see the line I'm driving accurately in my track app (instead of it looking like I'm driving on the grass) as well as to provide accurate GPS speed since my speedometer is off a bit from having larger tires.

I settled on the Dual SkyPro XGPS160, capable of updating position 10 times per second, as opposed to your phone which is 5 or less (mostly less). This device also transmits the raw data to the phone/app, as opposed to the Garmin GLO, for example, which requires conversion and reduces accuracy in the track app. I'll be mounting it here, and I've ensured this clip is hella strong:



I was planning to use this in conjunction with a Kiwi3 OBDII device, but it constantly overheated and drew power from the car over night (was hot to the touch when I would first get in the car in the morning) so it's currently in the process of being RMA'd by them. So I'm back to using my $30 Chinese knock-off device for now, which I've been using for over a year now hasn't failed me :confused: I mean I figured I'd buy a nice, non-knockoff OBDII device and turns out the knockoff works better. Hopefully when I get the KIWI3 back it'll be better. It's supposed to have the fastest refresh rate which is very desirable.

We'll see how the GPS unit does this weekend.
 
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Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
Oh, and to get ready for Texas World Speedway this weekend, I purchased some race sim stuff! I purchased rFactor2, which is a cool, older race sim that isn't demanding on your system. I purchased it because of the modding community having created my local track as well as TWS in it, so I could practice learning the track.

Then I found out someone had imported those tracks to Asseto Corsa, a much "nicer" and newer race sim, so I picked up Asseto Corsa. I stopped by my local Fry's and bought the Thrustmaster (heh heh) TX Leather edition, which comes with a race wheel and pedals with clutch, and then bought the Thrustmaster (heh heh) 7-speed shifter as well.



So, here is what that looks like at my desk:



It's not perfect or a dedicated race seat setup by any means, but hey, it works for me, and honestly it works pretty well!

The race wheel is impressive. You can really feel the road, the rumble strips, when your tires are about to break loose... I mean you can really feel it. Very impressed with it.

The pedals, however, are pretty "meh". And that's really all I have to say about them. They're ok, they mostly get the job done, they're just "meh".

The shifter has a very nice feel and is adjustable. I like the shifter a lot.

Anyway, this has given me a chance to learn the track before I go this weekend. Since the track was created by a user, I know it's not 100%. However it should be enough to at least learn all the turns and the relative speed of the turns. Also people that have driven TWS have rated the map pretty highly, so it would seem that the creator actually did a decent job.

Lastly, at some point I fully plan to get an Oculus Rift VR headset for use with this race sim. I think that's the best way to go, it's cheaper than buying 3 gaming monitors for a race setup and also far more immersive. I'd be able to look through turns and check my mirrors and gauges. I may do this by the end of the year, we'll see :)


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AR11

Ready to race!
Location
CA
I noticed you've got your front links set up in nearly the shortest possible length -- any thoughts behind that?
 

Quebster

Autocross Newbie
Location
Dallas, Tx
I noticed you've got your front links set up in nearly the shortest possible length -- any thoughts behind that?

I believe we just set them up according to ride height, not really worrying about pre-load so much. I believe that's about how long the endlinks that came with the coils were. I don't think we put any crazy science behind it...

Should we have?
 

AR11

Ready to race!
Location
CA
I believe we just set them up according to ride height, not really worrying about pre-load so much. I believe that's about how long the endlinks that came with the coils were. I don't think we put any crazy science behind it...

Should we have?

I really don't have much hands on experience with setting up end link lengths. Starting to research this now which was why I asked. The instructions in the superpro kit say to start with the same length as stock which yields a little over an inch of threads showing on each side of the link so figure 2-3" longer than you have it set up there. I think this might be a cover-your-ass clause as surely the links should fit if they are the same configuration as stock.
 
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