My names Chris. This is my 1984 Volkswagen Jetta Gli. I grew up racing go karts and hare scrambles, then moved to midgets then SCCA IT racing. I graduated HS and went in tthe Army and spent 1997-2004 in the 75th Ranger regiment(2nd batt 98-00 then 1st batt 00-04). From fall of 2003 I started working at the VW dealer and from 03-07 I was at the dealer, then I moved to a couple high profile shops in the DC/MD/Va area.Then I left for Hawaii to be with my wife. I grew up around VW’s and such, so I was always getting in them and working on them, etc. My first car was an 82 Rabbit S…I had it for a very long time, even through a couple dozen other cars lol.
I’ve owned the Gli for 11 years, along many other(over 20) MKI’s, and a handful or so of other platform VW’s, Audi’s and Porsches and a couple BMW’s.
It is a total sleeper, all done in my garage by myself or with a close friend of mine. here is a vw forum build thread i did…it’s long lol.
My 1984 GLi 20vBT sleeper
synopsis… I had to fabricate most everything and the details are killer. There are 5 platforms of gti/gli in my car lol. The setup was though of in 2005, but i ended up collecting parts from a couple years, then I moved to Hawaii from DC. Flew back in mid November of 2008 and spent 5 weeks taking the car from stock, to a full first ever “Early Westy” front end swap, pulled hte interior, fitted the harness and wired it up, put in the drive by wire throttle pedal, and started on the new brake setup.
Made mounts to fit the motor in trans in the car, made intercooler piping for the AWIC setup we built. I ordered a ton of 304 16g Stainless and viands from Burns Stainless t build the exhaust and dump,etc. All of this was hand TIG’d in the garage at home. I ended up getting it done with two and a half days until my wife arrived and we had to drive cross country to ship the car to Hawaii since I moved there. I did 1400 miles in rain and snow just before xmas with no interior lol. Just a cluster and boost gauge ziptied to the steering column so I could break in the clutch motor and so on. needless to say i only had one hiccup right before we left( originally my buddy made an intake manifold for the car…i popped it when i turned up from 10psi waste gate pressure to 18psi…had to pull it and redo it the night before we left lol.
Engine is from a 2003 20th AE GTi 1.8T
Transmission is from a 99.9 2.0gas/1.9tdi 5 speed
head is from a 97 AEB 1.8t Audi A4
Cylinder head is fully built and has light work:
Ferrera Stainless valves
034 Race Valve springs
Titanium retainers
7mm thin high brass valve stems
light bowl work and porth matching with exhaust side polishing.
Cat Billet 3651 one piece cams
SEM port matched intake manifold
IE fuel rail
Bosch EV14 GenesisII 1000cc injectors
Custom tuning I keep on top of with GTS tuning
81mm throttle body
Stock bore and stroke
IE rods
OEM rings
OEM pistons
Calico coated race bearings
ARP aged 625 fasteners
ARP head bolts
Treadstone exhaust manifold
Tial 50mm Blow off valve
Tial f38 waste gate(custom 1.75" dump tube and feed pipe)
Turbosmart in cabin sleeper MBC
Garrett GT3071r(which in 2010 I had Arnold from Pag Parts put his version custom billet compressor wheel and a custom ceramic turbine wheel in, whch is 20%+ more effiecent and flow)
Custom AWIC system, closed loop.
Snow boost based watermeth stg system 125cc nozzle 50/50 distilled water/methanol
All emissions deletes
no a/c
no power steering
Semi shaved bay with welded seams(not all but soon)
All interior sound deadening removed and in the trunk and from the bottom of the carpet
Clutch Masters FX400
Peloquin LSD
TDi inner CV joints
stock outer CV joints
Scricocco 16v axles
2002-04 Eurovan 24v 5 speed cable clutch actuator and clutch cable
corrado 11" front brakes
Corrado 9.3" rear discs(started 200mm drums with hak shoes)
Hawk HPS pads all around
stainless braided brake lines
1992 8v GTi brake booster
1998 2.0l 8v brake booster fitted
1993 16v Passat brake push rod
1990 Audi 100 23mm brake master cylinder.
H&R Ultralow coil overs with custom spring rates and valving
Custom(by me) rear triangulated stress bar
VW Motorsport(rare) 31mm solid rear sway
VW Motorsport front adjustable 28mm lower tie bar
zip welded OEM front control arms
BFi stg2 bushings in the motor and around the suspension area, some spherical(slowly converting to all spherical)
1552 15x8 Snowflakes with DIrezza Z2(originally the z101 star specs) 205/50/15(8" contact patch) sticky tires!!
OEM 14x6 snowflakes with bridgestone cut snow and ice tires(drove through the winter across the USA…boy do they smoke when doing 75mph burnouts!!)
3" turbo back custom stainless exhaust into a stainless Flowmaster Super Delta 40 muffler(straight through) also made a custom 3" 110 cell Pypes high flow-high temp Catalyst, but use the test pipe
section after arriving in Hawaii lol
Recaro power Trophy front seats
Grant GT2 wheel
OEM Hella projector headlights
BBS front airdam
NLS Berg Cup Kit(in process)
and sooo much more…so many little things…
Bunch of stuff to go over but the build thread is awesome. Lots of doubts, people back in 07/08 thought the turbo was too big then they said it wouldn’t make 400whp…i make 475whp on 92 pump. I’ve been dailying it ever since. It’s quite the sleeper lol. It weighs 1976lbs with my pack, pistol, laptop, breaker bar, large safety bag with first aid kit, and full tank of fuel.
Here are some Pics!!








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here is a video from that time frame…versus a white supercharged v8 M3 501rwhp and a bolt ons 330whp E46 M3…in the wet…
Sooooo yup. Been playing forza since the first one. You can see the progress of my car and the many others I build, modify, and maintan and so on my instagram, follow me on there I'm Ungluck. I may add more later, oh and I have a shoot in the future with Speed Hunters :]
I know they won’t see it but I want to thank my wife, my buddy Jason Duerr, Brian Hanszel, Arnold@PagParts, Pete@IE, Jeff and Gonzo@GTS and my HGM and NoClub family and others i didn’t list.
-Chris- Sua Sponte