# My Beetle Squared Build- "Equipped with Fun Bags"



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

This is the my old bug and its build thread. It was torn down October 2011 and in April 2012, I replaced it with the 2012 Turbo Beetle

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21123 











On to new things. We went through a few different ideas with this car, but couldn't pull the trigger on anything for a while. As some of you know going from a modified car to a completely stock car will drive you insane after a while. Thank goodness things were on a upswing for us and we were able to start working with this Beetle. 

Details: 
-2012 Black Metallic Pearl 2.0 TSI Beetle
-DSG with paddles
-Bi-Xenon headlights
-Blue and black two tone interior
-Sunroof

Stock pics:




















I saw a picture of a wheel I really wanted, but later found out they were a UK company. It was the only wheel that jumped out at me...of course 3 piece always do, but I don't have that kind of money. LOL! About a week or so later, they started being offered as a pre-sale here in the states so I put a deposit down. I got them about 2 months later and they sat in my basement for months. Sadly...waiting for word of suspension. 

The 18" 3SDM 0.05's:











Our answer came when a friend let us know of a barely used manual valve Airlift kit for a price our pocketbooks could handle and we could not turn down. We were able to order the Switchspeed Accuair controller from Open Road Tuning to replace the manual valves. With random other bits ordered, and friends to help we were able to start installing the suspension. Here are a few pics of the install and it's still in the process of being completed.

We ran the controller up through the back into a hidden cubby by the steering wheel:










A few of the local Lower Class, Wetdub.com guys and my husband helping with the fronts while our friend Marshall ran the power cable and some of the wiring:











Day Two with the rear install with the help of our friend, Randy and his garage:



















Air install completed.


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Photo credit: Max Krubsack










Continued as I am catching this up on Vortex. 


My husband, Aaron, and I cleaned the trunk up on a Sunday. We needed something to mount hardware too. Grabbed a piece of ply wood from the hardware store and wrapped it in suede from the last build. 





























The tank and compressor location are boring, but it's to get us by until we get another tank setup squared away through the winter. We are hoping to have it done by Sowo. 












We also put my 15mm spacers on the front wheels...it made a world of difference.













We had mostly everything wired and installed that weekend except for the gauges. Side note: my turbo did not come with the dash gauges, but it has a shallow pocket where one was supposed to be. My thinking was, "I will just order the stock gauge pod and use it for the air gauges." That would be too easy. VW doesn't like easy and I found out after I bought the pod that they make two different turbo dashes. One with a big hole in the top of the dash and one like mine. So I had to do a little "modification", which in short means destroy a $140 gauge pod or cut a large hole in the dash. I took the easy route...





























Your clips are belong to me.












And a mock up of what it will look like...hopefully. My friend, Randy, reverse engineered the gauge pod here at work so the face could be waterjetted out of aluminum. That is still in the works. Undecided if I will add a third gauge or not. 













What we also didn't know at the time was that it's a good idea to have adjustable end links...who would have thought? LOL! So, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we contacted Bagriders about having end links overnighted. I got really lucky that I paid them within minutes of their UPS guy showing up. :alright They showed up at my work the next day and that night Randy installed them. It sure made the drive less noisy. 












We needed to get as much done the night before Thanksgiving. We planned on traveling with our friends from Lower Class Kansas and Wetdub to the Tri-State meet in Oklahoma City. This was the first trip in the Beetle with air. 

Here are some pics of the Beetle taken by Dtek.


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Another update, our new tank setup should be here sometime next week. Standard Fabrications out of New York did the work and we are excited to see it in person. 

Teaser:











I am still messing around with the pod for the air gauges. I have been driving blind, and that really stinks. LOL! 

I had to dremel a little more on the pod to get it to sit correctly. It's the placement of the air lines under the pod and into the dash I am having an issue with, but it will happen.  The titanium surround will be painted, and possibly the gauge surrounds as well. 










I had some stickers and a euro plate made to acommodate the build thread title. 




















Some winter mode pictures with the stock 19's.


----------



## missamagnificent (Feb 1, 2011)

I've told you once, and I'll tell you again: I love this car :heart::wave:


----------



## MACRVAG (Oct 3, 2005)

Please tell me where did you get the dash pod


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

I ordered it through my dealer. It's a stock gauge pod consisting of two pieces.


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

missamagnificent said:


> I've told you once, and I'll tell you again: I love this car :heart::wave:


:heart: Thanks so much lady!


----------



## MACRVAG (Oct 3, 2005)

TJClover said:


> I ordered it through my dealer. It's a stock gauge pod consisting of two pieces.


Do you have the part numbers???


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Not off hand, but I'm sure I can find out for ya. :thumbup:


----------



## MACRVAG (Oct 3, 2005)

TJClover said:


> Not off hand, but I'm sure I can find out for ya. :thumbup:


Thanks a lot!!! hope my dealer can make it, here in Mexico is harder, imagine the car is built here and they dont know the parts


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

I like your first car pictured and what you have done and are doing to the turbo, look forward to following your progress.


----------



## jd007 (Mar 17, 2005)

i love your car. im baggin my turbo-s soon and could use your input. i live in dallas. im on newbeetle.org as 007. 

look forward to meeting you at a meet!

-jd


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

I'd like to make this my Desktop, but i'm afraid "Red" would get pissed.


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

jd007 said:


> i love your car. im baggin my turbo-s soon and could use your input. i live in dallas. im on newbeetle.org as 007.
> 
> look forward to meeting you at a meet!
> 
> -jd


UGH!! I miss my Turbo S so much! What color do you have? I'll try and help with any questions you have! I was just in TX for Dubsplash. Were you there?


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Guess I should update this. LOL!

This is all from installing the air tank setup, gauge install, selling of the 3DSM's and moving on to the CCW Classics. 

I can't tell you how much better everything sounds and feels since the two tanks and floor were mounted. Having two compressors is a night and day difference from the one and the piggly wiggly tank.  We have the gauges to complete, a fitting to get, some notching on the floor left to do and overall a good cleaning. Saw dust everywhere, but overall it's worth it! Shout out to Randy for all of the help and Susan for letting us borrow him nearly all weekend. Well, the good hours of the weekend. LOL! Without Randy we wouldn't be this far. It took us about a day and a half to get done what would have taken us about a week or so without all the tools, effort and the knowledge he has.Thanks to my husband for doing the wiring and putting up with me OCD'ness. I guess I should thank both of them for that. LOL!!!! 


Gauges and the pod as of right now. We are going to try and incorporate the bamboo into the gauge area to help bring it all together. 






We framed the compressors in also locating the ECU and the manifold so the lines wouldn't crimp and leak. I didn't get a good picture of everything neat and tidy just yet, but these give you an idea. 






We used the back carpet to measure the plywood that the bamboo is attached to. 




The base for the floor.




We glued the bamboo flooring to the plywood base and let it set with weight on it over night. Needless to say there were a few reasons why I would go a different route of glue other than liquid nails again, but it did adhere enough to let us get to the next step. Randy sawed and routed his way around the most of the floor and with more fitting and sanding we had a hardwood floor. 








The tanks were designed and painted by Standard Fabrications. I told them I wanted a lace overlay theme and they went with it. The colors are even better in person. :alright


Tanks on their way to be fitted:




Tanks partially mounted to the bamboo. I think the colors do well for each other. I don't have a really good picture of them in the car mounted just yet because we still have more to do before everything is complete. 




We used acorn nuts to secure the feet:








New washer, oil and coolant caps showed up today from Forge Motorsport. 




More progress will be happening this week. Sowo will be here before we know it! :devillook

Random pic with my husband's Rabbit.


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Even though the weather has been crappy, progress was made with the gauge location. It was black plastic before, but when cutting the floor we thought it would be kinda cool to use the bamboo in other areas of the car. We cut the outline, I sanded and sanded...and sanded some more to fit the bamboo piece. (Who needs fingerprints anyways?) I think it ended turning out well, but it's not installed in the car yet...hopefully have it all back in the car, connected and working this weekend. Better pics to come. :alright






Fitted the Forge Motorsport caps as well. They are down right fantastic. Here's the engine cover that Stafab painted as well. 




Sorry the pics are so big. It's either photobucket, my iPhone or Instagram. :confused

This is how the dash sat for a bit till the gauge area was done. Driving with the gauges on the seat was seriously a pain in the arse, but better than driving blind, which is what I did for a looong time. Not recommended. :devillook













I took the black plastic that I had originally fitted and used it as a template for the bamboo. The plastic is behind the bamboo to keep it from moving even though it's a pretty snug fit. A little chamfer on the edges of the wood helped to fit it nearly perfect. Everything is now connected and working properly. I really love how everything turned out. 































We moved the Switchspeed controller from being hidden in the cubby by the drivers side door to wiring it through the dash and up into the cup holder. It's definitely more accessible. However, I still reach for the cubby every once in a while. LOL! 














My husband and friend, Randy, finishing tightening up the fittings and line that run off the back of the tanks. 














I also decided that since I don't have gauges on the dash it looked a little bare up there and wanted to tie it in with everything else. I made a template from the dash rubber, cut and sanded the profile to fit. 























The exhaust tips were looking terrible, so my husband polished them and they are 100% better: 


Before:









After and with a new vinyl:


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Newest update: 

We sold the 3SDM's a few weeks ago and bought these CCW's from AJ with a red MKVI GLI in Texas. We test fitted Friday and man did they change the look. :alright

Specs are:

18x9 and 18x10 et 30 reverse mounted CCW Classics with Anodized gold faces, polished lips, gloss gold bolts and a black barrel. We are running a 10.5 spacer up front to bring it out a bit, but are thinking about changing the front lip sizes. I feel the need to try and dial the backs in a bit more so it will go lower, so we'll see. 

We had a few opportunities to do some small shoots while we were in Texas. :eyebrows The first was with Tommy Carlisle and his Beetle on Rotiform SNA's.


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Some of my faves from Erik Marroquin:


----------



## drtechy (Jun 3, 2009)

Looks awesome, great work!


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

drtechy said:


> Looks awesome, great work!



Well thank ya!! :thumbup:


----------



## [email protected] (Feb 16, 1999)

Car looks great! Nice work.


----------



## Gabrius (Nov 7, 2009)

Freaking love this!

Saw the feature on Canibeat and even asked on there if there was a build thread for this...stumbled across it browsing Vortex 

Love the air set up...maybe some insirpation for my upcoming kit going in my MKV GLI :thumbup:


----------



## vdubjettaman (Mar 31, 2004)

:thumbup:
what compressors are you running?


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> Car looks great! Nice work.



Thanks Jamie! I'm really liking what you guys have going on with the convertible. We are trying to talk our local dealer into letting us have a go at one of the convertible Beetles for them. :beer:


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Gabrius said:


> Freaking love this!
> 
> Saw the feature on Canibeat and even asked on there if there was a build thread for this...stumbled across it browsing Vortex
> 
> Love the air set up...maybe some insirpation for my upcoming kit going in my MKV GLI :thumbup:




Thank you for the kind words. 

I can be really bad about updating build threads. LOL! 

*Edit* Just saw your signature about color of your car. LOL!!!* MMM...MKV GLI! Do you have the plaid interior? My husband had a MKIV GLI and wants a newer GLI. We saw a black MKV on a lot and didn't realize till then that they offered the plaid interior like the GTI's. :heart:

BTW, we use Kleen Freaks product on the Beetle. It brought that color back to life. It was only a year old and dull until we tried their products. It's great for the Deep Black Pearl. :thumbup:


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

vdubjettaman said:


> :thumbup:
> what compressors are you running?



(2) 380c ViAir compressors.


----------



## Gabrius (Nov 7, 2009)

TJClover said:


> Thank you for the kind words.
> 
> I can be really bad about updating build threads. LOL!
> 
> ...


Yeah I had no clue that GTI and GLI colors were different...they are pratically identical though. 

Yes I do have the plaid interior!

I'll have to try that product. It's in need of a major detail here soon, just got to get all the darn plasti-dip residue off from it being dipped white. Have a link to that product by chance?


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Gabrius said:


> Yeah I had no clue that GTI and GLI colors were different...they are pratically identical though.
> 
> Yes I do have the plaid interior!
> 
> I'll have to try that product. It's in need of a major detail here soon, just got to get all the darn plasti-dip residue off from it being dipped white. Have a link to that product by chance?



Kleen Freaks is actually made by hand in Ireland, but the product is carried here by: www.sowopartners.com and www.gengstout.com 

They had a guy once leave the wax on the car for 48hrs in a garage as a test. He went back and the wax came off as quickly as it went on. My husband has left it on for 30 min in the sun and it come off easily. It gives a great finish. Love the stuff really.


----------



## TheTynosaur (Jul 27, 2012)

Looks awesome :thumbup:

Sent from my HTC 3D using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

SICK :beer::beer:


----------



## vdubjettaman (Mar 31, 2004)

TJClover said:


> (2) 380c ViAir compressors.


sent you a pm


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Carbon Steel said:


> SICK :beer::beer:


I love this pic! Erik did an awesome job photographing the car. :thumbup:


----------



## Slipstream (Feb 8, 2002)

Damn, Tara.  The Beetle looked amazing before, but the CCWs just took it to a new level. Love the black/silver/gold combo... ties in the wood really nicely.


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Slipstream said:


> Damn, Tara.  The Beetle looked amazing before, but the CCWs just took it to a new level. Love the black/silver/gold combo... ties in the wood really nicely.


Adam!!! I've missed you, sir!!! It's good to hear from ya and I'm glad ya like the new setup. Hope you and the misses are doing well!


----------



## JustFord0099 (Apr 5, 2009)

Excellent work! Everything ties together quite nice!


----------



## superbeetleboy (Apr 25, 2008)

*STOP IT I'M GETTING SO SICK.... :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:*


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

Newest pic not on stock wheels. Lost one of my Continental's to a roofing nail last week. In the meantime, my husband let me use his Audi A5 wheels. :thumbup: :beer:

iPhone pic.


----------



## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

TJClover said:


> Newest pic not on stock wheels. Lost one of my Continental's to a roofing nail last week. In the meantime, my husband let me use his Audi A5 wheels. :thumbup: :beer:
> 
> iPhone pic.


Love it! Those wheels really work on the car. :thumbup:


----------



## Carbon Steel (Sep 6, 2010)

Dude, lotta work but you got one majorily sick ass ride, love it.:beer:


----------



## TJClover (Feb 10, 2007)

So...moving on and at a quick pace. LOL! A few pics from a small shoot a few months ago. I sold the Audi wheels and bought new ones. We have changed the trunk setup, and a few other details for this season. Will post when I have more pictures.


----------



## oidoglr (Jan 26, 2009)

Fantastic photos. :thumbup:


----------



## superbeetleboy (Apr 25, 2008)

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


----------

