So about two months ago I picked up a 5-speed 93' TSI awd for $1500 bucks from a local mechanic shop. The owners son was selling it for his ex wife. It ran like complete shit and made zero power when I test drove it, and the paint was gone to hell on the driver door. Other than that, the car is pretty clean inside and out. I learned that he'd swapped in a JDM 6 bolt he got from an engine depot in Houston, a newer tranny two years ago, a NEW oem t-case, driveshaft, radiator, clutch, struts, etc etc. He also mentioned the donor engine had an automatic, and it dawned on me he also installed the auto injectors. Gotcha bitch! Gave him 1500 cash, swapped in a set of stock 450's I had lying around and voila, she ran perfect.

The car was completely stock when I got it and never been molested. I immediately replaced the timing/bs belts, water pump, and all pulleys and the tensioner, all fluids and performed a compression check. 150 across the board. I was good to go! I never had a bone stock car to start from scratch with but I wanted to see what I could do on an ultra cheap budget with simple bolt ons. Of course I did the free mods and got rid of the majority of the unnecessary crap under the hood. After hooking up my logger and installing a boost gauge I noticed I wasnt getting full boost till almost 4500rpm! After looking at the cracked to shit manifold and 02 housing it was obvious. Upon removal I discovered the tubine housing to be in the same condition. Luckily I had a spare housing lying around, so I ported the inlet and some of the WG hole.

I went uber cheap and ordered an Ebay tubular manifold, 2.5" tubular o2 housing, and a 3" downpipe all for less than $200. I had a Walboro 255 laying around as well, so I rewired and installed it along with a boost controller I made. Removed the aircan and dropped in a K&N and drove the car 15 miles to a close by town with straight downpipe to a muffler shop and had a buddy fab up a 3" dp-back exhaust with a Magnaflow muffler for $200. I have to say the Ebay exhaust parts fit flawlessly and look great as well, and after over 3k miles of good hard driving are performing flawlessly. As for the results...

I made 5 passes the night I went to the track before the clutch almost completely gave out. With the boost set at 15 psi and the clutch slipping its ass off I ran 13.43 @ 102.2mph with a shitty 1.98 60ft. Yay! All considering and with a total investment of around 2k I was pretty happy. With a fresh clutch, a new upper IC pipe and 16-17 psi she will see 12's!....and then I swear I wont mod her more ;) No, really I wont. Maybe....

Originally posted by SaberKhan
So about two months ago I picked up a 5-speed 93' TSI awd for $1500 bucks from a local mechanic shop. The owners son was selling it for his ex wife. It ran like complete shit and made zero power when I test drove it, and the paint was gone to hell on the driver door. Other than that, the car is pretty clean inside and out. I learned that he'd swapped in a JDM 6 bolt he got from an engine depot in Houston, a newer tranny two years ago, a NEW oem t-case, driveshaft, radiator, clutch, struts, etc etc. He also mentioned the donor engine had an automatic, and it dawned on me he also installed the auto injectors. Gotcha bitch! Gave him 1500 cash, swapped in a set of stock 450's I had lying around and voila, she ran perfect. The car was completely stock when I got it and never been molested. I immediately replaced the timing/bs belts, water pump, and all pulleys and the tensioner, all fluids and performed a compression check. 150 across the board. I was good to go! I never had a bone stock car to start from scratch with but I wanted to see what I could do on an ultra cheap budget with simple bolt ons. Of course I did the free mods and got rid of the majority of the unnecessary crap under the hood. After hooking up my logger and installing a boost gauge I noticed I wasnt getting full boost till almost 4500rpm! After looking at the cracked to shit manifold and 02 housing it was obvious. Upon removal I discovered the tubine housing to be in the same condition. Luckily I had a spare housing lying around, so I ported the inlet and some of the WG hole. I went uber cheap and ordered an Ebay tubular manifold, 2.5" tubular o2 housing, and a 3" downpipe all for less than $200. I had a Walboro 255 laying around as well, so I rewired and installed it along with a boost controller I made. Removed the aircan and dropped in a K&N and drove the car 15 miles to a close by town with straight downpipe to a muffler shop and had a buddy fab up a 3" dp-back exhaust with a Magnaflow muffler for $200. I have to say the Ebay exhaust parts fit flawlessly and look great as well, and after over 3k miles of good hard driving are performing flawlessly. As for the results... I made 5 passes the night I went to the track before the clutch almost completely gave out. With the boost set at 15 psi and the clutch slipping its ass off I ran 13.43 @ 102.2mph with a shitty 1.98 60ft. Yay! All considering and with a total investment of around 2k I was pretty happy. With a fresh clutch, a new upper IC pipe and 16-17 psi she will see 12's!....and then I swear I wont mod her more ;) No, really I wont. Maybe....

Nice find, I have a body kit for both your cars 90-94.

It was my brother's he left it behind when he passed away. He owned an 93 laser back then.

No offense, but ewwwww. I am 98% against body kits in general, but I whole heartedly belive 1Gs should be left alone. Period.

Nice score man. Sounds like you'll be enjoying that car for years to come!

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with the beater. I got a sweet set of 17's for 50 bucks last week, and I'll be ghetto fixing the paint on the door soon, so maybe she'll look half as decent as she runs :D

I get wood thinking about driving the silver car after getting out of this one. I just need a bottom end! :D

Originally posted by SaberKhan
Thanks! I'm pretty happy with the beater. I got a sweet set of 17's for 50 bucks last week, and I'll be ghetto fixing the paint on the door soon, so maybe she'll look half as decent as she runs :D I get wood thinking about driving the silver car after getting out of this one. I just need a bottom end! :D

Flat black the car when you do the door.

Sleeper style.

Congrats on the beater times.

Thanks! I've always wanted to flat black a car. I'd spray this one but other than the driver door and perhaps the hood slightly, the paint is in pretty decent condition for 218k miles. As soon as I stick a clutch in her I'm gonna head back to Evadale and crack the 12's on the same setup, with perhaps a 2.5" upper IC pipe if I pick one up by then. Then I'm leaving it alone...need to concentrate on the 1Ga :D