Hey Scott,
First off I want to say I love your videos from YT. I've recently obtained a 2009 VW jetta with the 2.5l paired with a 5 speed manual transmission that I'm going to be using as my daily driver for the foreseeable future. I'd like to make the car a bit more fun to drive and was wondering what you thought of my modification list and if there was anything else you would recommend that I do to the car? It currently has 145k on it and has been completely unmolested during its life with its previous owner. Any suggestions you could make as far as alternatives or specific brands for some of these parts would be awesome.
My list of mods I'd like to do with the car is as follows:
Ultimate power kit from Integrated Engineering (includes a cold air intake, redesigned intake manifold, and an ecu tune to take advantage of the new parts), a Borla 2.5" catback exhaust, some new coilovers for all four corners (budget friendly options are appreciated here) and some better brakes to make sure I don't kill myself (again budget friendly options),a new performance clutch kit, and a short throw shift kit.
Are there any other modifications that you would recommend? I had purchased this vehicle for $2800 with the intention of making it a mild project car to push myself to learn a bit more about the modification scene in the car community. I'd like to keep the engine naturally aspirated for as long as possible so that I'm not dealing with shortened engine life from higher compression that turbos and the like cause. Thank you in advance for any input you may have.
Just know you are losing every dollar you put into that car.
Your list of modifications is as far as I would take it. But also know that if you're running a tuned intake, you are already shortening the engine life, though it may be a minuscule difference from stock. Any time you push additional performance from a motor than what it was originally designed for, you stress the motor more. This stresses the trans more. Then you change out suspension parts and you could throw the whole car geometry off and wind up eating tires and getting horrible gas mileage while also straining the engine harder.
If you want it to be reliable, stick to the basic bolt on stuff. Just keep in mind that you are losing all the money you put into it and if you are driving it hard, which it sounds like you will be, things are going to break. Just being honest man. I have a lot of guys come into my shop who souped up their cars and didn't beef up all the little necessary components. Now I'm having to pull the motor and trans for a rebuild and my guys do not work cheap. Just hate to see it happen to you is all.
@mod_man
The honesty factor here is real and 100% appreciated. Im definately not trying to make it a race car. My main complaints with the car are the rev hang, the DUMB quiet exhaust, and the slow start from dead stop. From my list what would be your recommendations as to what I should do to deal with these complaints? I honestly was looking at these as incremental as needed upgrades, ya know its needs such and such a part anyway so might as well go the aftermarket performance route since the price difference isn't that much. Im not completely committed to the list yet so I'm open to suggestions and recommendations 😎
Just to be clear my friend I meant no disrespect at all. Just passing along some advice based on my experience. Trust me, I mod every car I own so I get the whole mod bug situation. Lol. If you are going to replace the clutch, remember this is your daily driver. Don't go too stiff or you'll hate it because it will be like leg day at the gym every time you hit traffic. If it is too quiet for you, exhaust is simple enough. A good exhaust shop can do a custom setup for you for under $500. Cheaper than most catback kits out there I would wager. For the rev hang, does the car allow for adjustments of the throttle system? Some do, some don't. If not, there is usually a small tag under the hood, that's on the front lip of the hood itself, that says something along the lines of "throttle system is not adjustable on this vehicle". If you can adjust it, you may be able to eliminate the hang without putting any money into it. If not, I suppose the short throw will help you row the gears better. Being a VW, I'm betting there's some slop between shifts with the factory stick at that mileage. So it does make sense to do. As for the slowstart, first make sure you check all the basic parts and pieces before throwing money at parts. What I mean is, when was the last time the fuel system was serviced? The spark plugs? Things like that. You would be surprised how much of a difference a bad plug makes when it comes to performance. Now, if you check everything and maintenance is all good and it is still too slow, you COULD look at gears and moving to an higher ratio. But you would be limited on options as you still need that daily driver ability.
All in all, if I were you, I would probably mod the exhaust to give you some sound so your drive is spiced up a bit and when the clutch is going replace it with something better suited to your driving style. But I would mainly be concerned about saving my money. VW's are not really reliable at high mileage and you are probably going to have repairs that need to be done since you are putting even more miles on it. Nothing wrong with replacing worn parts with better aftermarket pieces. Just remember to watch your bottom line on expenses and be ready to cut the cord when the cost to own gets too high. I just couldn't put the money in that car myself, again no disrespect.
It's a general rule that you shouldn't mod your daily driver. this isn't my rule this is what Scotty and a heal of other people have recommended. Me personally its your car I really care what you do to it. Okay and example time: I've installed everything you mentioned on a car that I own. I'm prepping that car to be a dedicated track car. This stuff does not make sense to do to daily driver. And its going to make the car a nightmare to drive on the street if you put all that on. It's going to make the car MUCH louder and if you do you feel every single bump on the road. Heres what you need to picture your taking a girl on a date she's like why is your car so loud? Why does your car ride so rough? Why does car make that noise? and ontop of all that the faster you make your car the more problems your going to have and the faster its going wear out.
But you want to drive a fast car still? even after all that. There are track rental days where you can rent a 500hp SUPERCAR like a Lambo or a Porshe for like 100ish bucks and fucking SEND IT at a place where your allowed to drive fast.
And you still want to modify your car okay the only mods I would do on that thing. Are a short shifter(bonus their easy to install) better brakes.. all you need it better pads and if you do any mod do that one because they could legit help save your car/life and get it tuned by someone who knows how to tune cars not your buddy down the street. Your going to get crap gas mileage if you get it tuned though... That sounds like a daily I would want to drive and you save all that money for doing maintenance and repairs on your car when it needs it. Owning a car is expensive just as a daily driver... Owning a race car is like setting like giant dump truck FULL of money on fire. like this: 
@jacksonishere
I appreciate the honesty man. As brutal as it was lol. My main list of complaints is that its way to quiet( I use noise for my shift points), it's slow getting up and moving from a dead stop, and it has a hella amount of rev hang that bugs the begezus out of me. Im definately not trying to make it a race car. As far as my list of mods is concerned I was looking at is as incremental upgrades on an as needed basis for the car. I know the clutch needs to be replaced soon so I figured why not swap in a performance clutch while the trans is down anyway since its about the same price as an OEM, I've already had to rebuild the front suspension (struts, sway bar end links, tie rods, lower ball joints). Everything else was just me trying to dip my toes into unknown waters. I'll definately be doing more research before 100% committing to this list of mods. Thanks for all the advice man. 😁
Performance clutches are actually not always that desirable. Puck style clutches make the car harder to drive and stage II sprung clutches are stiffer so harder to manage in stop-and-go traffic. There is nothing wrong with replacing a worn out clutch with a OEM spec clutch from a quality manufacturer. In clutches quality is more important than buying something capable of standing up to 300HP when your car is only 180HP (or whatever it happens to be). In my opinion South Bend makes great clutches if you can find one for your car and if you are absolutely dead set on buying an "upgraded" clutch get their endurance series versus their performance series. The endurance clutch should give you a little more life but keep in mind like I said - it will be harder to manage in stop-and-go traffic.
@jacksonishere
Ok let's set up a hypothetical situation. I bring my car to you with my previously mentioned list of complaints as a customer. What would you do to the car to address those complaints? I don't hate the car, in fact its quite the opposite I love the car and I can deal with the minor inconveniences, I'd just like to enjoy it a little more. This is new territory for me. Even though I've been working on cars for over 20 years I've never had the mod bug bite me till now.
Just maintain it really, really well. Maybe do a full detail with paint correction to bring back the shine. Add some fun interior fixtures. Just enjoy it - I wouldn't mess with the drivability of it because it can quickly go from a labor of love to a chore. If you take good enough care of it you might get 5 or 6 years out of it and that is plenty of time to save up for something really worth your while modifying.
If you clutch goes out the only reason you want to replace it with a aftermarket one is if you car is making way more power than stock. Otherwise the OEM clutch is fine even if you put a few mods on the car. Most cars will do fine with the mods I suggested and an exhaust since you want to do that too. Keep it simple anything more than that and your going to make the car hard to drive on the road.
I wouldn't mod a daily driver nor would I mod a car with almost 150,000 miles especially not a VW. Save your money, you're going to need it for a different vehicle soon enough.
