tigeo
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Richmond, VA area
Wow. 8 track days with -2.
7
Boosting on a Budget- 19birel's MK7.5 Build
- Thread starter 19birel
- Start date
19birel
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Car(s)
- MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
Me: Yeah I'm focusing on track prep now
Also Me: *proceeds buy bs off Aliexpress bc it looks cool
You guessed it folks I got an Aliexpress virtual cockpit
Why? I was jealous of euro MK7.5s getting them stock but wasn't about to fork over nearly $2k for OEM. I also mentally filed this under "track prep" bc theoretically I will be able to use screen mirroring to display my Simostools gauges to monitor at the track.
Overall impressions are that it's great, especially for the money (~$450 shipped). A couple gripes but nothing major so far, the 1st one being the chrome trim around the cluster doesn't match the satin silver trim everywhere else and produces a slight glare if the sun hits it just right. Nothing crazy and likely easy to remedy though. Also the sport guages, like the two I posted, have shift lights that appear in the tach (just like in the Audis with those gauges) but they start flashing red at ~4k lol. Might be fine if you have a TDI, but a little annoying otherwise. I didn't see a setting to adjust this but I messaged the seller to see if theres a solution. Also, I have a manual gearbox, and when it shows your current gear, it's displayed as "D3" (or whatever gear you're in), would be nice if it just said "3" or even "M3", but again, not a huge concern.
Still have to try screen mirroring out, will report back on that, but I'm pretty stoked!
Also Me: *proceeds buy bs off Aliexpress bc it looks cool
You guessed it folks I got an Aliexpress virtual cockpit
Why? I was jealous of euro MK7.5s getting them stock but wasn't about to fork over nearly $2k for OEM. I also mentally filed this under "track prep" bc theoretically I will be able to use screen mirroring to display my Simostools gauges to monitor at the track.Install was straight forward, just a pain bc the car did not want to come apart haha the trim around the headunit didn't want to fully detach so I removed it just enough to remove the gauge trim and subsequently free the cluster
Installed
here are just some of the gauge layouts.
Installed
here are just some of the gauge layouts.
Overall impressions are that it's great, especially for the money (~$450 shipped). A couple gripes but nothing major so far, the 1st one being the chrome trim around the cluster doesn't match the satin silver trim everywhere else and produces a slight glare if the sun hits it just right. Nothing crazy and likely easy to remedy though. Also the sport guages, like the two I posted, have shift lights that appear in the tach (just like in the Audis with those gauges) but they start flashing red at ~4k lol. Might be fine if you have a TDI, but a little annoying otherwise. I didn't see a setting to adjust this but I messaged the seller to see if theres a solution. Also, I have a manual gearbox, and when it shows your current gear, it's displayed as "D3" (or whatever gear you're in), would be nice if it just said "3" or even "M3", but again, not a huge concern.
Still have to try screen mirroring out, will report back on that, but I'm pretty stoked!
Cuzoe
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Los Angeles
Shift light at 4k sounds right to me <<<< drives my TDI away slowly.
19birel
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Car(s)
- MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
Got screen mirroring to work, here's simostools displayed in the cluster
Only problem is that the phone I use doesn't fit in the driver's side cubby with a usb plugged into it lol
Only problem is that the phone I use doesn't fit in the driver's side cubby with a usb plugged into it lol
DerHase
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Hampton Roads, VA
- Car(s)
- 2019 GTI Rabbit
Get good tires. Cheapest speed you can buy.
CR-S for lapping consistency. RE71RS only if you're doing autocross also.
I'll probably be buying a set of each for just those purposes.
CR-S for lapping consistency. RE71RS only if you're doing autocross also.
I'll probably be buying a set of each for just those purposes.
19birel
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Car(s)
- MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
True words- I keep going back and forth between CRS and Accelera 100TW, effectively trying to justify is the extra speed is worth the money to me or not in the context of HPDE. I still have some time to decide, though the Acceleras have been out of stock for a while which might make my decision for me haha
One more goodie for the interior showed up. Renstall shiftknob! The stock one felt a little odd to me, the renstall has a nice weight and sits lower which make the throw feel shorter. Also loving the 90s touring car look it has
FWIW the CR-S did pretty decent for wear compared to the RE71RS. (https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/why-is-nankang-is-going-all-in-on-the-sportnex-crs/)
Acceleras wear out _fast_, so you're probably not getting that bad a value with the CR-S in comparison.
That looks like a filled up condom - get rid of it.True words- I keep going back and forth between CRS and Accelera 100TW, effectively trying to justify is the extra speed is worth the money to me or not in the context of HPDE. I still have some time to decide, though the Acceleras have been out of stock for a while which might make my decision for me haha
One more goodie for the interior showed up. Renstall shiftknob! The stock one felt a little odd to me, the renstall has a nice weight and sits lower which make the throw feel shorter. Also loving the 90s touring car look it has
19birel
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Car(s)
- MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
I'll start with the slight bummer that I've decided to postpone the start of my track season, too much going on at the moment unfortunately, but hey more time to dial the car in!
Anyways, I wasn't planning on picking up a downpipe for a while, but Cobb threw some left over stock of their discontinued Gesi downpipes on their site for 50% off. $600 for a Gesi downpipe is crazy cheap- so I pounced on it. I figured even if I had to mess with spacers (it's a little unknown as to which Gesi core is used) I'd know I had something better than I otherwise would've ended up with. It arrived this morning
They even included the ABS module heat-shield which was nice! Quality looked amazing and fitment is fantastic, it took maybe 2hrs start to finish and most of that was spent removing the stock dp.
Sound is fantastic, no drone but sounds more aggressive when you want it to. Turbo feels more responsive which is a nice plus, and to top it off 84 miles off driving quite spiritedly today, and no CEL! Guess that's the benefit of an fed compliant cat haha. Overall really happy with the purchase! Keen to do some dragy testing soon, hoping to find some time tomorrow
Anyways, I wasn't planning on picking up a downpipe for a while, but Cobb threw some left over stock of their discontinued Gesi downpipes on their site for 50% off. $600 for a Gesi downpipe is crazy cheap- so I pounced on it. I figured even if I had to mess with spacers (it's a little unknown as to which Gesi core is used) I'd know I had something better than I otherwise would've ended up with. It arrived this morning
They even included the ABS module heat-shield which was nice! Quality looked amazing and fitment is fantastic, it took maybe 2hrs start to finish and most of that was spent removing the stock dp.
Sound is fantastic, no drone but sounds more aggressive when you want it to. Turbo feels more responsive which is a nice plus, and to top it off 84 miles off driving quite spiritedly today, and no CEL! Guess that's the benefit of an fed compliant cat haha. Overall really happy with the purchase! Keen to do some dragy testing soon, hoping to find some time tomorrow
nefario90
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- Nashville TN
Looking forward to your track day experience with the Koni SAs, lowering springs, and 034 camster plates as I'm weighing between the same setup vs Fortune Auto's 510s
RSLEW27
New member
- Location
- Sacramento
- Car(s)
- 2016 GTI
Oh man, just when I was thinking I didn't need a downpipe, your comments have me looking at the cobb gesi downpipe now...
19birel
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Car(s)
- MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
Based on how they feel on the street I have high hopes for them on track, will definitely report back with my impressions once I make it back out this season.
Get one while you can! I'm really glad I did it. I shaved ~0.5 off my 60-130 after installing the downpipe, it definitely made a difference
nefario90
Passed Driver's Ed
- Location
- Nashville TN
My only concern is using the SAs on a lowered car when they’re recommended for stock height, and therefore reducing their efficacy. Or maybe they’ll work just as well lol
19birel
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Car(s)
- MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
In another thread someone posted correspondence they had with Koni saying they were compatible with Eibach pro springs which is what I'm running so I should be good on that front.
19birel
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Pittsburgh
- Car(s)
- MK7.5 - MK4 - B8.5
Put together a little story time video on the GTI's journey up to this point, hoping to do some more Youtube this year. Give it a watch if you're keen!