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Cameron's 2015 GTI Autobahn College Student Build

cbentley

New member
Location
Calgary, AB
Hey, I'm pretty new to this forum, the Mk7, and the enthusiast community in general, so I figured making a quick build thread would be a great way to get acquainted with everything, and also to keep a log of everything I do to this car over the next few years.

I'm a mechanical engineering student. I've always been interested in cars but didn't really have the means to get involved all that much. So for the first half of my degree, I saved up over my work terms, and this is the end result: my new (to me) GTI that I've been breaking in for the last few months.


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In the few months since buying it, I've:

  • taught myself stick on it (had to have the sales rep drive it home for me :p)
  • put thousands of km's on it in the Rockies
  • received my first ever speeding ticket :(
  • driven across the country to Ontario, and
  • met a whole bunch of really cool enthusiasts with really cool stories.
The car is pretty much stock right now. The only notable exception is the Boomba Racing short shift adapter that I installed last week. Improving the shifter feel was my #1 priority after trying out a friend's Focus ST with a Cobb short throw kit. The shipping was quite high to Canada, so I actually drove via Chicago when heading to Ontario and picked it up from their office in person. They gave me a bunch of stuff with it (decals, calendar, stickers, lanyards, etc), and surely enough, it was a doddle to install. Unfortunately I don't have any install pictures, because it was done in the rain halfway inside a friend's garage and our hands were frankly too freezing to operate a phone. But if I ever take the airbox off again, I'll take a shot of how it's holding up. So far, I'm loving it.

I bought it mid-winter, so I kept it on the Austins and the (low tread) all seasons I bought it with for the rest of the season. Promptly swapped to a set of Prets and Firehawk Indy 500's at the first sign of melting snow. I don't have much of a reference, but to me, the grip feels incredible.

I attended my first track day over the weekend at TMP Cayuga, just to spectate. Even just being a passenger for a couple laps I had a great time, but I'm looking forward to getting in the driver's seat myself. So the next few weeks are going to be getting this thing track-ready. Due to my lack of experience I'm not interested in adding power just yet, but I'm focusing on brakes first. Coincidentally, a GTI on stock (non-PP) brakes, just like mine, lost brakes at the end of the straight, and ended up halfway up the embankment, shutting down the track for the better part of an hour. I don't want to be that guy. Currently looking into R1 Carbon GEOMETs.

So yup. Not all that much to say right now. But going forward I hope to document all the changes here. Knowing me... there will probably be more than a few.
 
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MaxM97

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Canton, Connecticut
Car(s)
'19 Alltrack SEL 6MT
Fellow 2015 Deep Black Pearl GTI owner here,

I’m also a mechanical engineering student and will be graduating in a few months. I really wanted to keep the car stock through school, but that didn’t last. Started with just a Clubsport S muffler, Pilot Super Sports, and intake for a fun daily. And then it became a JB4 too. And then a downpipe found its way on. And now an Accessport replaced the JB4.

These cars are a lot of fun and so is slipping down the rabbit hole of modifications.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

cbentley

New member
Location
Calgary, AB
New Brake Pads

My EBC Yellow Stuff pads arrived last week.

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This was my first time installing pads, so I got some help (and borrowed tools) from a friend who'd done it before.

Removing the old pads was surprisingly stress-free. Take wheels off, remove the two bolts holding the caliper (mounted on the back), and the old pads are out.

IMG_0349.jpg

The install was easy, too. We didn't have a caliper tool on hand, so we went down to Canadian Tire and borrowed one (it's a very useful service if you want a niche tool but don't want to throw down the money). Using this, the pistons can be pushed back in to make room for the (thicker) new pads.

After that, it was effectively just the reverse of the disassembly process.

And the end result is... a new set of pads, rocking the Ronald McDonald red-yellow colour scheme :p

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I drove back from my buddies' via the backroads to get some bedding KM's on the brakes.

I did order some R1 rotors at the same time as the pads. However, they were the wrong size. I wanted to install the pads and rotors at the same time, but I have a track day coming up on the weekend, so I decided to install the pads on the stock rotors for this track day. Once the correct size rotors arrive, I'll re-bed the pads with these new rotors. If anyone has any bedding procedure advice for swapping used pads onto new rotors, it'd be much appreciated.

I am going to keep the stock fluid till after this first track day, and then put in the RBF600 at the same time as the rotors. I'm focusing on my classwork and didn't have time to flush. I doubt I'll have any issues with boiling that fluid; it's my first time on track so I'll hardly be running world record times with very hard, very late braking.

I'm very excited to try my hand at track driving and will update this thread with pictures and my thoughts afterwards. If you've made it this far, cheers for reading.
 
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mattdelisle77

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Québec, Canada
Stock fluid can be good if you let your car cool down properly, i had to stop for at least 1-2 sessions in order to keep good brake temp otherwise it was boiling really quickly.

If it's your first time on track as driver I recommend getting yourself an instructor. He will most likely show you to basics on tire/brake management, and also a lot of experience sharing.

Most important, HAVE FUN!:p But once you get into it, there's no remedy :D. Looking forward to see more of you!
 

cbentley

New member
Location
Calgary, AB
Haha, I will definitely do my best to let it cool down properly, there are 3 run groups (I'm in novice of course) so there should be a while between each session.

I'm very fortunate that the same friend that helped me out with the brake install is very experienced on track and will be able to give me some pointers. Unfortunately there are no dedicated instructors for this event but it's a lot of lapping for $130 so I couldn't pass it up.

And I'm sure I'll have fun!

I took a look at your build thread and it's awesome to see other Canadians tracking. I'm often jealous of those further south with the (relative) abundance of tracks and the weather to enjoy them year round, but there's still a big scene in Canada. The event is at Shannonville which is close to Quebec, so if you ever find yourself at an event there, I might bump in to you (not on track hopefully :p)
 
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