034 Golf V6
After sweeping last year's eurotuner GP with its monstrous 908whp Audi A4, 034 Motorsport is retiring the car from GP competition. In its place will be a new breed of car that will have track, street and even some show appeal - 034 is joining on the Mk4 Golf community and reinventing this '01 VW GTI.
The entire engine has been pulled out. But instead of swapping in a motor under the hood, a 2.7T will find a new home within the hatch. "Our goal was to give the VW perfect weight distribution with a mid-engine setup," explained Javad Shadzi of 034. "We want to remove its understeer tendencies and inherent FWD problems."
Construction has started on this insane project, with the floor cut out from the rear bumper to the front seats. Even the fender wells and rear shock mounts were removed in preparation for an entirely new subframe - according to Javad, the subframe will attached by four bolts.
As for the rear suspension and wheels, components from a Porsche 996 Turbo will be used. For traction, a widebody will be developed to accommodate 18'' Porsche Twists along with 305-series rubber in the back. The engine won't be your standard 2.7T either. Instead, it's been stroked to 3.0L and will use a single turbo setup. Stay tuned for more on this rear-wheel drive insanity.
Avdic Mk1
We introduced Fikret Avdic's Mk1 VW Rabbit project in et 5/10 and he's back with an update. After stretching the fenders of his '83 Rabbit by 3'' each corner, the entire shell was painted gloss black.
With the body and paint done, the 2.0 16v motor is ready for tuning. It features Autotech cams with Techtonics software and exhaust. The transmission was sourced from a Euro model, and a Peloquin LSD installed for traction. A six-point rollcage is in the process of being finalized. Stay tuned for more interior updates as well as the dyno numbers once Fikret fine-tunes the naturally aspirated 16v.
Aaron Air
When we first saw Aaron Woodward's '04 Jetta GLI it needed help. "Thank the Euro gods I'm coming to my senses and understand where you guys were coming from," Aaron from Enfield, NH wrote in a recent email.
First thing on the list was the stance because it apparently had bugged him for years. However, he'd been told he couldn't get it this low. Yet he's engineered a bolt-on solution to sit the Mk4 on the ground in the rear. "I'm throwing sparks at 40mph!" he laughed. He aims to have a kit in production so others can achieve the same stance after Waterfest.
Such extreme lowering presented it's own problems: "I'm almost done massaging the rear quarters to accommodate the wheels and tires - just a bit more rolling, pulling and cutting before it will be in primer," he said.
With an OEM Bora R front bumper, he will shave the rub strip from the rear bumper and have the GLI valance molded into place. The chrome-trim door strips will be staying to set off the staggered set of 17x8/8.5'' BBS RS wheels he had refinished. But the fender markers will be gone and, if time permits, maybe the handle pockets as well.
The car will be in the bodyshop for what he described as "an insane amount of shaving, cutting and fresh paint before Waterfest." The two-tone paint ("What was I thinking?") will be gone, replaced by a satin-coated paint - "Working at a bodyshop sure has its perks!" he told us.
Contact: to be included on this page, email details of your vehicle to: eurotuner@sorc.com