Dr. Cat's ADV TRACK

Hello. I'm Mil. I saw Marshall's post and decided to write my own. I had nothing but subarus for a while until I decided to get a TDI to do some long distance traveling during my medical training. I really like long road trips.

Shortly after medical school, I packed up and left sunny California for upstate NY. I'm originally from TX, so I'd never really seen snow. Snow is in no short supply up here, and as soon as I found out I got the job, I traded my dieselgate TDI wagon (which I loved. I really really loved that car. It was amazing that I could get from SF to LA on a single tank of gas.) and picked up a white ALLTRACK SEL.

Current Picture:


Current Modifications
Rallyarmor Flaps
APR STG 1 software update
Window tint 30% 3M tint (will likely have to rip off and reapply when I get it inspected for NY next year. UGH)
DeAutoKey LED reverse lights
hard wired V1 Radar Detector (this thing has been through 15 years with me)
Yakima Whispbar roof rack

Stuff I have laying around waiting to install:
Forge Intake (pending install)
IS38 turbo (pending install)
APR Downpipe (pending install)



here's the old TDI pretending it was an alltrack. I did neutral support for a brutal muddy gravel bicycle race. I got stuck a little bit with an open differential but I made it eventually!


apart from working way too many hours as a medical student, and now as a resident, I've also managed to get into a lot of fun. I had a youtube channel with some motorcycle trip and ride videos, and I like motorcycle touring! I've sold this one, and I miss it dearly!


And right now I'm rebuilding an old repli-racer Kawasaki GPZ550: basically rebuild as a modern day "resto-mod" with new gen era parts on it and a lightly worked up engine.

and before that I had a string of Suzuki SV650s

Nice all track. IS38? Just skipping the IS20 eh? how do you have so much time as a resident? I barely have time to eat. Can't wait to be an attending and just show face in the morning and then disappear lol. 7 on 7 off will give me more time to get back into motorcycles. You don't have to rip off the tint. I just got my car passed with tint. You have to find a good shop, or know someone. I could tell you where but it's all the way in brooklyn.

Welcome to Rochester! I hope you're having fun with that all track and our cold snowy winter.

What's up Mil, glad to have you on these pages. Looking forward to your is38 build...

Got these recently, and a set of black emblems on their way. Sadly I was not there to sign for the package so it will have to wait until tomorrow!


I also got a fork oil tool to measure the correct amount of fork oil on the motorcycle, so tomorrow will likely be a shop day as soon as work is out...probably be there hammering away until midnight.

navindralr said:

Nice all track. IS38? Just skipping the IS20 eh? how do you have so much time as a resident? I barely have time to eat. Can't wait to be an attending and just show face in the morning and then disappear lol. 7 on 7 off will give me more time to get back into motorcycles. You don't have to rip off the tint. I just got my car passed with tint. You have to find a good shop, or know someone. I could tell you where but it's all the way in brooklyn.

Click to expand...

Psychiatry But seriously though, when I have a rotation that has normal hours and weekends I take advantage of it. I try and plan out my "me" time to include sleeping, biking, and wrenching. All of the "epic" journeys I took on the moto were in med school. I'd plan my week to try and include some good rides on the way home the twisty way, and since my 3rd and 4th years included going to hospitals pretty far from home but not far enough to move away, I'd just hop on the moto and lane split the whole way there.

The reason I chose Rochester over other cities is I can get to work in <10 minutes, and my workshop is also <10 minutes away, and so is pretty much everything I want to do. I definitely don't miss living in my car (or on my moto stuck filtering through traffic) in california! Even with the snow!

When I'm going through an off service rotation as an intern(medicine, neurology), I have just sucked it up and work/sleep repeat, and eat healthy (I went vegan! So much energy! So many snacks!) and then save my energy for when I have a little time off. I keep a journal of ongoing projects and notes to myself and when I have a free moment make a plan of attack to get it done. I do a lot of writing for fun, so it's a good exercise for my brain.

Finally broke down and ordered a set of ED's lights from BEC Autoparts. The quality of them is impressive to me, and better lighting is a real help up here "north of the wall" (lol) They should be here this week.


Right now, I want a boost gauge. It can help me notice problems before they happen (I hear overboost can be an issue in really cold weather like we get here) but there really is no good place to mount one on the mk7. Here are my thoughts:

Aeroforce pod: I like that it is made with a factory VW vent (though 3d printing would be a better way to make this...) and it hides in a space just right of where my cell phone mount sits.


The other option I like a lot is the OSIR pod. I'm not a fan of the ECS vent as much, it just always looks like the gauge doesn't belong there in photos, and I just really like the pod:


As for gauges, I've always loved DEFI. I absolutely want an electronic stepper motor gauge. I had DEFI on my 98 RSTi and I loved it. I love how they are black and then come to life when you turn the car on.

but right now I'm really into the PODI gauges: they match well, and seem to be an OEM looking solution



Thankfully we have a long winter here to think this over before I go all out. First weekend I have off in Spring (I think in April I'm done with inpatient medicine and back to clinic hours) I'll be tearing into the turbo system.

I love my APR gauge. It's an electronic gauge that runs off a sensor you install in the engine bay.

I use the Areoforce one for boost and a vent pod for an oil pressure gauge.