GTI Gets New Suspenders!

Praise the Lowered! My 2024 GTI 380 Autobahn is back from the shop. H&R Sport springs and CTS Turbo wheel spacers are installed and man, it looks good doesn't it?

I'm not sure what it is about stock VWs, but they come from the factory riding like 4x4s. My Reflex Silver MK5 rode high, my Carbon Steel Grey MK7 rode high, and this Dolphin Grey MK8 rode high too - but no more.

My local specialists Speed Factor Racing recommended H&R Sport springs to work with the GTI's DCC adaptive suspension. They were about $100 more expensive than the CTS Turbo set I'd had my eye on, but I'd had H&Rs on my MK5 and they were good, so I went that way. 

The spacers from CTS Turbo were quite inexpensive, came with wheel bolts, and had good reviews. I went with the recommended combo of 10mm front and 15mm rear.

The H&Rs have settled down to pretty much a perfect ride height I think - the car looks really good.

Got the obligatory (for me anyway) country-coded decal on - D for Deutschland. But it's not exactly a decal on the car - as with past cars I stuck the decal on thin magnet material so I can stick and unstick it from the car. Handy when you want to wash the car.

It does look pretty purposeful with the springs and spacers doesn't it!

The 380 Autobahn GTIs only come with a six-speed manual transmission and these pretty fancy gloss black Golf R wheels. 

You can see those meaty 235-section tires pushed out to the edges of the bodywork. I think the MK8 is as good-looking as any previous generation GTI.

Anyway that's it for showing off the springs and spacers. The ride is noticeably firmer than stock and there is ZERO body roll in the corners. So that's the suspension done, save for some adjustment of the DCC damping. Next up? Not sure. The guys at Speed Factor have been talking up the new APR tune package for the car, over 325hp and 390lb-ft of torque, all on regular fuel. That sounds tempting for about $700. Power certainly doesn't come any cheaper than that. I'll keep you posted!

Hawk GT is Done!

Well I reckon the Hawk GT project is done! The panels are back from Brandon the painter and fitted to the bike. I applied the gold striping and decals myself. I think it looks pretty good in the RC30 colour scheme.

The colour blocks even line up pretty well, which was a concern if I'm honest. The gold stripes set off the colours nicely don't they.

I figure this would be a good time to go over all the work that was done, before I forget!

• RC31 fairing, brackets, headlight kit (Facebook Hawk group)
• Bodywork and paint by Brandon Graham, local painter
• Powdercoated wheels (Villain Motorsports)
• Dunlop GPR-300 Tires - 110/80 and 160/60R17 (Fortnine)
• Stainless steel brake line (Facebook Hawk group)
• Rear wheel hubcap (Hawk GT Forum), painted by me
• Clip-on bars (Chinese, eBay)
• F1 mirrors (eBay from the UK)
• Seat cover (eBay, installed by Guy Anthony)
• Battery (Fortnine)
• Fuel filler cap restored by me
• Fork lowers sanded by me, much improved!
• Honda decals (Honda-decals.com); tank wings and stripes (eBay)

This cap is funny story. I posted on the Forum looking for one and some joker said he'd sell me one for $45 or something. Then I got a message from another user offering me one for free. Nice!

The striping was mostly straightforward but getting it round the curves was a bit tricky. Hairdryer heat helped.
 

Here's what we started with last year. Good mechanicals but poor cosmetics. The fairing was all cut up, the PO had trimmed it back to fit raised bars but that meant no top bracket and wobbly mounting...

This was fixed with the fresh vintage RC31 kit, it came with all the brackets and even the original paperwork from Two Brothers Racing, pretty cool.

Takes you back doesn't it! Although I still have a couple things to do on the bike (the horn stopped working, not sure why) it's pretty much done. I had it out for a ride over to my photo spot tonight and fortunately it fired right up with some gas added to the freshly painted tank. Man is it ever tiny though - the seat is so low it feels like a cruiser, next to the R1 or even the Buell XB9R. Fortunately I've got an old-school 900RR shock modded to fit the Hawk GT. My old Hawk GT had a 900RR shock too and it was a great mod, really improved the ride and usefully increased the rear ride height. Anyway I'll likely get that fitted this summer at some point. Then it will REALLY be done :-)

Cheers!

Hawk GT Paintwork

OK so let's get this out of the way right off the hop: painting is expensive. Like REALLY expensive. But it was really necessary to have paint done on the Hawk GT because it was a multi-coloured mess.

Not only are the materials expensive, but it takes time to do bodywork, especially on 30-year-old fiberglass like this Two Brothers Racing fairing. But just look at the result - fantastic.

The gold pinstripes between the colour blocks will be added with tape.

It took a bit of figuring to work out how the lines would work on the tank but I think we got it.

Next thing is to get the bodywork on the bike and apply some more decals. You should see the seat unit, the red looks really good. Fingers crossed that all of the assembly goes smoothly.