Natasha ~ 2003 Black GLS TDI

[nagal]

I spent my morning treating Natasha to a nice spa day Sad to say her paint needs some serious help in spots, notably the front.

So without anymore wait, here she is....

[CoriBug]

I can see some scratches on the hood but that is a great car!! And black goes with everything so any mods you do can be any color, if you want something other than black. How about some pics of the interior?

Have fun!

Cori

[captbp]

Natasha looks great catching some rays, all nice and clean

[nagal]

No interior pics as I ran out of steam I'll get some soon after I wash and wax the wife's Jetta.

[yellowherbie]

Looks Great!!!!

[bockegg]

Originally Posted by nagal

No interior pics as I ran out of steam I'll get some soon after I wash and wax the wife's Jetta.

That's okay. It still looks wonderful. I have a TDI beetle on order. How many miles do you have?
Also, are you getting close to 50 MPG?

[AndySL]

You mentioned the paint. In that last pictures are those reflections spots on the hood or is it littered with chips? I can't imagine that many chips. If so it might be time for a Bra. I had the Clear Car Armor applied to mine within a month of owning the car. So far is has worked perfect. Even saved the hood from cat claw scratches. For some reason cats love to jump on a freshly washed car.

[nagal]

Originally Posted by AndySL

You mentioned the paint. In that last pictures are those reflections spots on the hood or is it littered with chips? I can't imagine that many chips.

It is that many chips The previous owner did not take very good care of her. I am watching the TouchUp 123 thread to see if it works. It might be the answer to some of my paint problems. A bra is not the best idea where I live. A ton of sand will get under it and really do some damage. Just part of living in the desert.

Originally Posted by bockegg

How many miles do you have? Also, are you getting close to 50 MPG?

She had 50k on her when I bought her. If it wasn't a diesel I would have walked away from a car with that many miles.

The first time I checked I got a little over 51 MPG. My daily commute is 95% highway/interstate so I really get to maximum the fuel efficiency. Last fill-up I forgot to mark the mileage so not sure if I am still getting that.

[AndySL]

Bummer on the chips, and the bra. Sandy or rainy areas don’t mix well with a bra. Looks like a lot of touch up paint but with patience and detail I’m sure you can have the front looking new again.

Your mileage is AWSOME. 95% of my driving is less then 5 miles in town. Heck, the cold engine light just turns off around the time I reach my destination. It’s killing my mileage at around 35mpg.(But still beats my truck at 15mpg) I’ll have to take a few road trips to really see what it’s capable of. Course the power box and my heavy foot probably don’t help either.

[nagal]

After installing my old HU and Sub + Amp, I just wasn't digging the sound of the Monsoon amp. So I scraped up some pennies and got the ball rolling. Everything I need was here, so I decided to do it today.

Here is what I had already installed

Alpine 9847 CD Player w/ XM Tuner and iPod Controller
2x Rockford Fosgate 6.5 speakers in the rear panels
Profile California 400W Sub Amp
Rockford Fosgate 10" Stage 2 Sub woofer in a homemade enclosure

This is what needed to go in:

Profile Califronia 65x4 Amp
2x Rockford Fosgate 5.25 speakers in the door panels

I ran all new wiring for the speakers instead of splicing into the Monsoon amp wiring harness. 2 pairs of RCA cables to go from the Alpine to the new amp. I also needed to replace the 8 ga wire coming from the battery to a 4 ga to handle the additional load. This also involved a splitter box to power the amps.

I still need to tune the amps but so far it is sounding a lot better. I am not sure how the 5.25 are going to hold up but since I had them left over, I figured I would use them.

I still need to cleanup the wiring around the amps but still debating on how I want to do it.

Now for some pics of this mess

Here is how Natasha looked after I tore everything down to make wiring a bit easier.








Here are all the bits:




And the finished product:

[SPIRU]

Thats SWEET pixs man!!! Looking good.

[AndySL]

Great job on the pictures. They are a handy reference to anyone wanting to see what is accessible behind all the interior panels.

Looks like a nice boost over the stock sound system.

[JuggBug]

Holy moly! I know you said you were busy, but dang dude! You were BUSY! lol Awesome job! I can't believe you did that yourself....I'm very impressed Can't wait to HEAR it too....hint, hint... lol

[Toad]

Nice install pics.

Reminds me of when I did mine. Then re-did it. Then did it again.

I bet your wiring under the rear seat isn't as much of a jungle as mine.

Where's your sub? Did you take it out for the shot of the amps?

[nagal]

Originally Posted by JuggBug

Can't wait to HEAR it too....hint, hint... lol

You will get a chance, don't worry

Originally Posted by Toad

Reminds me of when I did mine. Then re-did it. Then did it again.

I bet your wiring under the rear seat isn't as much of a jungle as mine.

Where's your sub? Did you take it out for the shot of the amps?

I hope not to ever redo it except maybe better speakers, thats about it. There is some wiring hanging out under the rear seat but not too much

I took the sub out for the pics and because my home box looks like crapage I plan to get a real enclosure one of these days.

[JuggBug]

And I miss Michael and Natasha!

This is Brenna, Juggy and Natasha after the big Vdub Classic in Irvine..... Look how purty they all are?! This is how So Cal rolls......:

[nagal]

Thanks for the pic Aura! I totally forgot I have some myself somewhere...

[JuggBug]

Originally Posted by nagal

Thanks for the pic Aura! I totally forgot I have some myself somewhere...

Don't they look happy?!

[nagal]

Originally Posted by JuggBug

Don't they look happy?!

Most of them do... Natasha is not a happy bug. I thought we already discussed this? She is a bitchy angry bug!

[JuggBug]

Originally Posted by nagal

Most of them do... Natasha is not a happy bug. I thought we already discussed this? She is a bitchy angry bug!

Because she misses Juggy and Brenna! Silly, girls need a night out every once in a while!