I received the Akrapovic dry carbon rear diffuser weeks ago but simply didn't have time to put it on. It's the final exterior piece I wanted to change the look of the GTi and to do it right I knew I needed to get it on a lift and enlist the help of
SJF Performance. The OEM rear valence was a bit of a pain to remove but mostly because we did the install without removing the rear bumper so getting to some of the tabs was more challenging. Although the rear diffuser had great fitment, the holes for the screws were off by a few millimeters so we had to file them open a bit more. I also have OEM mudflaps that obviously weren't made for having a diffuser so SJF had to trim it down to make it work. The tips were a bit too close to the diffuser which both didn't look great and would probably result in scratches later so SJF used some washers to space them out a bit and now they're at the perfect distance.
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| Akrapovic dry carbon rear diffuser - 12/14/2019 |
I think it looks awesome back there with the Akrapovic titanium axle back. It's a subtle design that really doesn't call for any attention but is a nice detail when someone takes a closer look. The craftsmanship is perfect, not a single misplaced weave. It truly sets the bar for quality of carbon fiber pieces for me going forward.
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| Akrapovic dry carbon rear diffuser - 12/14/2019 |
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| Akrapovic dry carbon rear diffuser - 12/14/2019 |
There were also two maintenance items I wanted to get done that I've been procrastinating on while all the other work on the car was getting finished. The first was replacing the transmission fluid. I simply didn't have any record of it being changed but the stuff that came out seemed to be fairly clean so someone must've changed it at some point. I just don't like not knowing how old the fluids are in my cars. Whoever changed the transmission fluid previous also did a fantastic job overfilling it so I'm glad we got this done so now there's the correct amount in there (around 2.3L).
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| Fresh transmission fluid - 12/14/2019 |
The same was true for the Haldex diff. I didn't want to chance old fluid being in there since the car now has over 52k miles so I picked up a nice diff fluid replacement kit from shopdap which conveniently included a nice bit of fill hose and brand new fill and drain plugs and gaskets. I'm also glad we did this because the drain bolt was hand tight (loose) so that was a big no no.
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| Fresh diff fluid - 12/14/2019 |
Finally, I went to go visit Alex and while he was working on his car, I decided I might as well pop in the P3 V3 ODB2 vent gauge I bought during Black Friday. It's a pretty nifty gauge that'll let me see some engine parameters easily. I'll admit I mostly got it because I thought it looked cool but it does have the added benefit of being able to show and clear CEL codes that might crop up...a useful feature for anyone that owns a VAG product. The installation was fairly straightforward since I ordered the unit with a complete replacement OEM vent. I just had to pop out the old vent and run the wire through the side panel similar to what I did with the dashcam installation to run the connector to the OBD2 port.The match in both color and style is OEM so I'm very happy with it.
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| P3 V3 OBD2 vent gauge installed - 12/14/2019 |
I'm pretty much done modding this car and I'm enjoying driving it a lot. I did finally receive the auto folding mirrors but that's going to be an annoying install so I'll wait until I'm a bit more bored to work on that mini project. Now I can focus all my attention on the 911 when it arrives.
Maintenance Updates:
Mileage: 52,294
- Transmission Fluid Change
- Differential Fluid Change
