Regina, Saskatchewan, is home to both minus 58-degree winter temperatures, and most unexpectedly, more tuner cars than you can shake a case of Molsen at. A surprisingly rich car culture features the expected big-cube, big-power muscle cars, a disturbing number of J-bodies, and a healthy number of modern performance cars, with most of the fast ones emerging from one shop: CWS Tuning. This swift, refined GTI is the fourth vehicle from CWS to appear on our pages. There would be more if our thin California blood could better resist the cold.
Despite shop owner Cam Waugh having hot-rodded everything from a 1956 school bus to Ford Festivas, his shop is best known for its work with water-cooled VWs. Longtime CWS friend, Jeremiah Morrison, is a VW lifer. Given his current car, understandably so. Morrison started with one of the most desirable GTIs ever built, the still-sort-of-light 1992 MkII GTI 16V, which also featured factory Recaro seats and two-piece BBS RM wheels. What the stock GTI didn't do terribly well was haul ass, which CWS remedied by adding a couple of cylinders, 1.2 liters of displacement and 12 years of engine development. CWS procured a wrecked '04 Audi 3.2 TT and swapped as much of the good stuff as possible.
Why is Morrison's Golf an order of magnitude faster than the similarly-engined R32? It weighs about 1000 pounds less, and as modified, produces more power. Long before shuffling Honda engines became en vogue, VW enthusiasts were playing swapsies with the various generations of chassis and engines, as most are fairly straightforward operations. Engines like the factory-supercharged G60 are understandably attractive. The GTI's stock 2.0-liter engine produces 134bhp and is desirable for light first-generation cars, but limited in potential for easy, big power.
Swapping a VR6 into an earlier chassis was nothing new for Cam, but this almost-new 3.2, the last made before the switch to direct injection, features drive-by-wire throttle, an immobilizer, and other electronic eccentricities. As part of an advanced theft deterrent system, the engine will not run without the proper instrument cluster and ignition system, which are keyed to work together. The Audi TT cluster installed in the GTI's dashboard, therefore, doesn't just look great but is necessary. Another layer of complexity is that this was an all-wheel-drive, DSG transmission-equipped TT with paddle shifters. A 1997 Jetta donated its five-speed transmission, shifter and pedal assembly, while a Sachs Sport clutch, sufficiently beefy to handle the approximate doubling of horsepower, was also installed.
CWS fabricated a front engine mount to clear the 3.2's front-mounted oil cooler, but otherwise the mechanical installation went smoothly enough. The herding of electrons, however, was much trickier, especially when trying to integrate an engine with a chassis 12 years its senior. Cam Waugh is legendary for this kind of dabbling in the electrical black arts, and has mated turbos to NA Toyota engines, made Cadillac V8s roar in VWs, and will shortly have a turbocharged Nissan Sentra Spec-V engine running in a Geo Metro. The DSG transmission-specific computer, however, remained unhappy and stuck the car with an early redline; American VW specialist, APR, anaesthetized the DSG portion of the computer and tickled the code for more power.
CWS fabricated custom downpipes which feed into a 2.5-inch Borla exhaust system, producing a devilish and confident howl. When we rode in Morrison's GTI, it only revved to 5500rpm, and even then warranted expletives. Just as we are fans of dropping the reliable, light, and hugely powerful Chevy LS-1 V8 in anything with rear-wheel drive, dropping in one of VW's biggest guns makes tire-shredding power easily, reliably and without the drama of forced induction. An awesome solution.
Like those meaty lips on the two-piece BBS wheels, Kodiak Motorsports sells spun shells of this or any specified width; Morrison chose two-inch lips. The winters in Regina are cruel enough to both man and machine that people don't just have a set of winter tires, they have separate winter cars, or 'rats'. So sticky Toyo T1-Rs stay on the car all year.
Non-adjustable Patec Holeshot coilovers (originally destined for a Corrado) are properly valved and sprung for the heavier iron-block VR6 engine, but as installed in the much lighter GTI, are more aggressive. The GTI also took 11-inch front rotors and calipers from a Corrado.
Teutonic design is tough to knock (as long as Bangle isn't involved) and the unfettered, clean lines of the GTI are a terrific complement to the car's omni-directional prowess. Morrison installed Kamei upper and lower grille spoilers, smoked 'Euro' taillights, and Hella H4 headlights, but the exterior is otherwise a meticulously maintained (Morrison is a professional car detailer) stock example, made easier by never suffering the indignity of salted roads. Few tuner cars offer tremendous performance without compromise-it's just a shame Morrison doesn't get to enjoy his car year round.
1992 VW GTIEngineEngine Code: BHE (2004 Audi TT 3.2 V6)Type: 3189cc V6, cast iron block and aluminum headInternal Modifications: noneExternal Modifications: CWS Tuning custom downpipes, 2.5-inch Borla exhaust system, custom CWS front engine mount, custom CWS wiring harnessEngine Management Modifications: APR modified Computer
DrivetrainLayout: Transverse front engine, front-wheel driveDrivetrain modifications: '97 VW Jetta O2A five-speed transmission, Sachs Sport clutch, '97 Jetta shifter and pedal assembly
SuspensionFront: Patec Holeshot Corrado VR6 coiloversRear: Patec Holeshot Corrado VR6 coilovers
BrakesFront: 11-in. Corrado rotors and calipersRear: stock
ExternalWheels: BBS 15x7. RMs with 2-in. polished Kodiak lipsTires: 195/45-15 Toyo T1-RInterior: Momo Millennium steering wheel, Audi TT shift knob, Audi TT instrument cluster with trip computer and immobilizer, custom suede headliner and parcel traysExterior: Tornado Red paint, 16V fender flares and skirts, Kamei upper and lower grille spoilers, smoked 'Euro' taillights, Hella H4 headlights