Passat Hi-Def Build thread by AE2058

25 minute(s) of a 55 minute read

Passat Hi-Def Build thread

Compliments of AE2058 @ www.vwvortex.com

10/5/09

So I finally got the wife on broad to start allowing me to Mod her 08 Passat. I will not go to the extreme Like I have with my 03 GTI as this car will remain a true daily driven car. Suspension will be slammed only during a show and bought back up ASAP. My wife Jen will be taken part in, installing any aftermarket part and detailing the exterior and interior.

The car was bought back in January 08 from Larry Miller in Avondale AZ.

2.0t, loaded, no Nav. Tiptronic with paddle shifting, Hi-Def (RGT) OEM body kit.

Previous cars:

04 Jetta GLS 2.slow (Silver)

05 Jetta GLI 1.8t (PG)

06 Touareg V8 (white) on 22's

07 Passat 2.0t W.E (silver)

Future upgrades are as followed

Interior: 

Upgrade seats to the OEM sport style in Black

Upgraded speakers

Headrest monitors

Engine: 

K04

3" DP & Hi flow cat 

Move battery to the rear

CAI

DV

Suspension & brakes: 

Nuespeed RSB

Cross drilled rotors

Heavy duty pads (unknown)

Current MODS: 

Exterior

Hella Smoked Bumper Signal "TMTuning"

Inpro Smoked mirror Turn Signal "TMTuning"

Color match lower door molding

Wheels: 

VMR VB3 19x8.5 (45et) in Gunmetal 

235/35/19 tires Nexen N3000

Engine

Revo Stage 1 installed by BSH

NGK BKR7E

Suspension: 

K-sport Coilovers installed by "The Shop"

Gloss white Calipers "The Shop"

Interior: 

GLI steering wheel

Complete Brush aluminum dash trim

R36 Gas/Brake/Dead pedals "From TMTuning"

I.C.E: 

Kenwood DNX-7140 DD navigation unit.

4gb Nano I-pod

With out further adue the car.

The Wheels

thread will be updated as progress is made.

10/12/09

VB3 were placed on ordered today by Steve with VMR wheels

http://www.velocitymotoring.com/index.htm

Going with the 19x8.5 45et in Gunmetal, Next moth I'll purchase some 5mm spacer and longer bolts.

Not sure if I should run 225 or 235...

10/14/09

VB3 from VMR

10/28/09

Going to order some Nexen N3000 235/35/19

30k and the rear brakes are done.

Time for another AMSOIL change.

10/30/09

At last the wheels are mounted.

11/3/09

1/23/10

Bored, So I took a ginder to the front caliper today. Not much shaved off, just enough to get rid of the front line in the cast. I have some White G2 caipler paint on order from E-bay. $37 with free shipping is not bad at all.

1/30/10

Change of plans, The car will be put on jack stand for a couple of days while the all four caliper get powder coated white professional by Phoenix powder coating company in AZ.

Stay tuned

2/17/10

K-Sport Coil-over put on order today, Still waiting to get the calipers powder coated. More than likely knock them both out at the same time.

3/3/10

Just received these bad boys today. Many thanks to K-sport.

Should have them installed by this weekend

3/6/10

One for Now, more to come.

3/18/10

Just ordered brush aluminum trim for the dash 

Pictures should be up by next week. I'll be having the calipers painted this weekend.

Actual pulling all four off and doing a two year fluid change in the process.

3/21/10

Sorry for the long wait. Brake calipers still not done yet

3/22/10

Bye Bye wood, Hello Brush look. Middle piece will be put on order tomorrow.

Looking for a nice used GLI/GTI MK5 steering wheel hopefully next month.

pedals should be done the following month

DIY quick link: took about 1.5 hours to remove and install.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4815672

Stereo should arrive in about a week

3/30/10

Temp installed. I'll be trimming the cage a little tomorrow and should have it all installed by late afternoon.

Mic cable / Nav cable and Ipod cable are partially installed.

I'll be installing the mic on the A-pillar.

Nav antenna on the dash, very front corner by the window and A-pillar.

Ipod cable will be in the driverside cubby drawer which will house both the remote and Ipod

I need to bypass the DVD/NAV feature that allows you to do both while driving. E-bay sells a module for $30. I was told that it can be done for about $3 by buying a toggle switch (3 pole)? Can anybody chim on this and help me out?

OK, spent the last three hours routing/fishing wiring to complete the install. Little trim adjustment and the unit is now sitting pretty damn flush. Still learning and reading about the DNX7140. It is amazing unit from what I have experienced so far.

4/10/10

Little suspension update(K-sport). Had the car aligned and brought back to factory spec's (Larry Miller VW in AZ). So Thursday night we (Jen and I) picked up my wife Father and a couple bags of luggage. The rear tires were continuously rubbing on every single bump, dip and rock in the road (already cut the rear fender liners and dampener were set at 15). Friday - Had the opportunity to adjust the rear suspension by compressing the rear spring by one full turn on the adjustable rear perch and bumping the dampener to 25 out of 36. Only took about 35 minutes to do. So that night we (father/wife/me/two JRT dogs/plastic dog kennel and 3 luggage bags) ventured on a 4.5 hour drive from AZ to Cali. Let me just start off by saying Wow, The ride was firm but not uncomfortable done. The car felt like it was flowing on air at 90 mph. No mouth guard needed like in my GTI. I beleive the the rear tire rubbed once going up the drive way.

4/17/10

Finally got the missing link to my brush aluminum dash trim. Paul@KefferVW was great help, second time was a charm. Pedals are pretty damn boring, so I'm going to order some R36 pedals from Katja @ TMtuning.

Nav antenna location.

I-pod and control location.

Complete BA dash trim.

Two road trips back to back without time for a proper washing.

4/27/10

R36 Gas/Brake & Dead Pedals ordered from http://WWW.TMtuning.com Should arrive in about a week or so.

http://www.tmtuning.com/HOME/c...=1510

5/19/10

Took a total of about half a hour to install. Many Thanks to Katja

Boring:

Exciting:

5/29/10

Finally got a opening at a local repair shop. Pulled all four calipers off and getting ready to paint.

Coat of primer.

First coat of Gloss white.

5/30/10

Almost done

6/2/10

Thanks Jay

6/7/10

Here is a side profile shot. We stopped in Bullhead to see the Wife's G-parent on our way to Wuste2010.

6/25/10

We have another driver and only at 10 weeks

7/2/10

Just finish the photo-shoot at VMR about a hour ago. Thanks to Steve for making time and Joe the Photographer.

7/17/10

8/13/10

So the Passat is making it's first appearance in Eurotuner under the Wustefest2010 coverage.....

Still waiting on the garage project.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php...00000589792069

8/16/10

So I manage to damage my center lower grill, ( looks like a rock or tire hit it) it's about 50 cent piece. I can't stand looking or driving the car knowing the part is broken. Hopefully Paul from Keffer VW come through.

post pic's later.

8/17/10

8/23/10

New grill on order and should be here around Thursday- Friday.

8/29/10

DIY front bumper Removal. Took about 20 minutes to removed the Hi-Def front bumper.

1. Pop the hood

2. Remove 6 star screws on top between the headlight.

3. Turn the wheel Right, Remove two lower screws on the fender liner and one on the very top of the bumper portion connected to the fender.

4. Pull top fender liner out a little and remove (2) 10mm nuts, toward the headlight.

5. Turn wheel left and repeat step (3)

6. (Helps with two people) Pop lower portion of rear front bumper out on the both sides, give a good tug away from the car, Caution not much wire slack on the driver side.

7. DO NOT remove rear lower bottom screws, they are there to hold in a side bracket on the front bumper.

1/22/11

update: My baby girl was born Dec 27th. 20" long 6.7 lbs. Now car news, I never purchased the second exhaust tip.

I did how ever buy some rust-oleum Nite shade paint. Front turn signals were coated and installed, no more amber.

1/23/11

Fresh wash

1/24/11

With the baby now on board I ended up raising the car to 25" (center of wheel, top fender to ground). I prefer slam and tucking tire, but the wife win's this time.

2/3/11

While on vacation in SoCal, a dog ran out in front of me last night and survived. Too bad my front bumper did not. From the looks of everything, all the damage was only in the front bumper and under paneling.

2/7/11

Prepped and ready for the drive back to AZ, Progessive already cut check for the damage. All part should be on order by tomorrow.

2/11/11

Stock vs. In-pro smoked mirror turn signals

2/13/11

How sad is this, both bumper and Hella smoked turn signal were put on order a week ago. Turn signal just showed up from tmtuning.com

3/3/11

Dropped the Passat off at the dealership to have the front bumper changed. Hella smoke bumper signal will be going in. Also having the Alignment done.

Mechanic found a cracked driver side sideskirt, waiting on the insurance adjuster.

3/22/11

Finally got a chance to install the Best VW steering ever made. Very simple and easy install, took about 25 minutes start to finish. Major update styling for the interior. One day I'll buy one for my MK4 GTI.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

3/27/11

Just snagged the bad boys from Craigslist in Phoenix, $50 brand new.

4/8/11

Winter wheels for Germany

2 down and two more to paint.

4/22/11

1. So The Insurance company did not want to cover the cracked side skirts. Dropped Progress and moved back to GEICO.

2. Got Hit on the driver side at a Wal-mart Parking lot. Old man backing out hit the drivers and passenger side door. Nice die size dent on the driver door and scratch on the passenger door. 

3. Ordered new Hi-Def side skirts from ECS Order#: 104-441-675, Going all white, no more black lower door molding.

5/4/11

These are going to get painted Candy White next week.....

5/13/11

Get the car back today, I need to spend about a 1 hour to remove and install new lower door molding. Here are pic's of the new/old winter wheels with Hankook tires.

After a close up interview, both door and lower molding need a little more attention from the paint shop. Going back in on Monday morning. Minor crap and a couple of bubbles in the doors, now the molding look like they painted without sanding them down. I could of done that for $40 bucks. 

Far away shots so your not disappointed like myself.

5/21/11

Winterized at the beginning of summer….I hate it.

7/26/11

Haven't posted in a while. Currently chill'n in Cali, getting ready to move to Germany.

New plans: Talking to Matt at VMR again. looking at V710 in gunmetal or gloss white (Not Sure).

still looking for Black sport seats, hopefully be able to source them out in Europe.

9/1/11

One month from now, I'll be living up in Germany. Been searching for my next set of wheels. Thought about VMR 710 gunmetal (19")/ LM reps in 20". or blow a one month check on some 

www.ModulareWheels.com 

10/18/11

This is how I received my car from the shipping port in Kaiserslautern VPC. Shipped by "American Auto Logistics,LP" 

VW dealership out here wants $2.8k to replace the bumper with paint and repaint the left front fender. (Small crack where the bumper attachment spot broke).

12/2/11

So the White Passat got hit, 4 inch dent on the right rear fender.

Still waiting on the shipping company to fix my front bumper.

12/5/11

OEM Votex roof bars are in the mail. Time to start looking for a thule cargo box

1/9/12

Shipping company denies that they did any damage but offered me $500........ They said previous scratches on the bottom weakened the bumper...

USAA has jumped in and will take action against them. I have to fork out the deductible for now. Hopefully have the Passat in the shop next week. Front end will be painted differently.

1/31/12

Well the wife shut down my plans, probably a good thing? But I did color match my inner sensor's and remounted the license plate.

Look for some V710 this Spring.

2/5/12

Just purchased a Euro inner left tail light for $30 off of Ebay.DE. Time for a Euro switch and trigger wire.

3/9/12

Here is a quick shot of a freshly wash car. Can't see it in the pic but the paint is filthy. Winter is almost over and in dire need of full detail. So far VMR V710 in gunmetal seem to be the right fit. Still looking for some Sport seats with integrated rear child booster seat.

5/23/12

Just pick up this sweet a55 Thule Roof box for $100...

5/25/12

So I'm not going to ship my GTI over to Germany any more. Now allowing me to start building the Passat back up.

First investment is looking like VMR 705 in GM. Hopefully be on order by Monday.

6/29/12

My Barracuda bike carrier's finally showed up today.

10/13/12

Well, living in Germany has definitely thrown a wrench in my gears. I maybe washed the Passat a total of 10 time this year? Compared to weekly back in the states. 

I opted to buy a Cannondale Jekyll 4 mountain bike in leu of some new 19" wheels. 

Baby #2 is due in March.

Finally got some free time to fix the crack in my roof box.

2/19/13

So after 75,XXX it's time to change out the brakes. Going with R1 rotors and EBC green stuff pads on all four corners.

KID NUMBER 2 WILL BE HERE TODAY!

With 50k on the ksports, they are slowly declining. I'm feeling slightly more harsher ride. They creek when dirty so I really have to wash the car bi-monthly. Would I choose to buy them again 50/50. I did how ever love the fact that I was able to lower the car without compromising spring tension. Since I'm dumping all my money into my GTI, I'll more than likely rebuilding my K-sport for a faction of the cost of new coilovers.

5/2/13

Front right strut is dead, just blew out this morning....55k

10/12/2013

Cheap Ebay HID kits installed. $55 shipped. Running Valero headlights so I had to modify the locking clip and the fogs plug had to be flipped in order to work properly.