Budget B5 Buildup Part III

Article From Eurotuner Magazine

Interior upgrades

By Cullen Clutterham

photographer: Cullen Clutterham, Philip Royle

We begin by installing the shift boot. First, grab the OE boot, and lift to pop it out of the retention slots. There is a frame attached to the bottom of the boot that will need to be reused in order to properly secure the new boot—be careful not to damage this frame.

The OE shift knob and boot are a single unit. Unscrew the shift knob to remove knob/boot unit.

The OE boot needs to be cut from the frame in order to use it with Conrero’s unit. An X-Acto knife is more precise, but anything sharp will work.

We had to put a couple of small slits in the elastic of the boot in order to get it to fit on the frame. Reinforcing the frame beforehand keeps you from having to worry about damaging it while installing the boot. The leather of Conrero’s boot is much thicker than the pleather of the OE boot. It will require more force and more finesse to get the frame snapped back into its retention slots in the console.

Conrero’s Misano shift knob is a sturdy aluminum unit. The installation kit includes a set of five plastic sleeves to cap the threads of the shift lever, a handful of set screws, the necessary hex key for the set screws, and the threaded metal sleeve that the shift knob screws onto. The first step was to choose the correctly sized plastic sleeve. The middle size fit our application snuggly. We then slid the metal sleeve over the plastic sleeve.

The dash kit arrived with all the pieces taped face down on a piece of cardboard to keep them from getting scratched. Included with the kit was a set of very detailed instructions that denote where each piece belongs. We test-fitted all the pieces prior to cleaning the surfaces. Some of the pieces—specifically the five vent pieces and the four door handle pieces—had to be pre-bent to the shape of the dash and door for correct fitment.

The instructions also have detailed surface preparation instructions. We did the install in sections to ensure that the kit would stick for as long as the car is on the road. First, wipe down the surface with a lint-free cloth. Then, using rubbing alcohol, clean the surface with another lint-free cloth. Again, wipe down the surface with a lint-free cloth. Surface primer is included with the kit. Prime the surface and allow the primer to

The instructions say to heat up the individual pieces by setting them in the sun, so we did just that. A heat gun or hairdryer would also work for the intended purpose (i.e. heating up the adhesive so that it will work its way into the crevices and bond better.—MAX). After allowing the sun to work its magic, we carefully applied the pieces, making sure that we didn’t touch the adhesive with our hands. Be sure that you line up the pieces before letting any part of the adhesive come in contact with the dash—moving the pieces after they have bonded is Mission: Impossible difficult. Press firmly once the pieces are in place.

After finishing up the dash completely, we broke out our wheel kit. A leather ring, dark gray thread, and two needles awaited us. The instructions say to take off the steering wheel, though it is not imperative to do so. We decided to leave the steering wheel on. Start by fitting the leather in position around the perimeter of the steering wheel.

Though we can sum it up in a few words, it will take you a while to get everything properly sewn. Start off at one of the spokes. Anchor the thread with a knot, and tuck it under the leather cover. Using both needles, sew the leather together like you are lacing a shoe (It will look like a bunch of small Xs.—MAX). Monitor your work to make sure that it looks consistent. It will take a couple of hours to complete, but it’s well worth the effort. Come back next month when we finish up our Budget B5 buildup with some budget-minded exterior modifications.

This budget thing is killing us. We all have to deal with it when building our cars, but it’s still a pain in the neck. While determining what we were going to do for this installment, we realized how much, and how little, $1,054.17 really is. Although it’s a huge dent in a bank account (Any that we have access to.—MAX), it really is only a tiny amount of money, considering all the modifications that are available, and all that we’d like to experiment with. Despite these burning desires, we do have enough restraint to limit ourselves to the budget that we’ve set…at least we hope we do.

Rather than trying to find some way around the budget that we set up, we’re going to continue building. This month, we’re gonna go all-out in the cabin. A shift knob may be enough for some, but in the driver’s seat is where you spend most of your time, and being happy with your interior is going to make a huge difference in the driving experience. A shift knob is definitely going in, but so are a replacement shift boot, a leather steering wheel cover, and a complete billet aluminum dash kit.

For the shift knob, we searched out some extremely stylish products that have Gucci looks but not the Gucci price tag. Conrero (Represented in North America exclusively through CFI Motorsports.—MAX) is an Italian manufacturer with very classy designs and awesome pricing. For our shift knob, we chose the $59 Misano. It is a race-styled knob with a slim design, constructed of solid aluminum with a brushed finish. Rather than play mix-and-match, we also chose Conrero for the shift boot, which is your typical high-quality leather boot with high-quality stitching. Although the stitch was available in a contrasting color, we decided that the black stitch was the best for our application. With the boot ringing in at $55, our total expense for the Conrero products was $114.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, there have been several recurring words throughout the Budget B5 Buildup: stylish and classy (Not to mention “and” and “the” and…—MAX). Legend 5 manufactures some of the best-looking dash kits available. The kits cover all the bases from the conservative to the radical race look with components including colorful resin, colored carbon fiber, wood, and billet aluminum. Sticking with our two buzz words, we opted for Legend 5’s billet aluminum dash-trim kit. This 19-piece kit covers essentially every part that you can think of, ringing in at a price of $399. That price tag is more than reasonable, considering the kit is CNC-machined from billet aluminum and anodized clear. CNC-machining guarantees perfect fit and super-tight tolerances. The kit is beautifully finished and matches our shift knob quite well. It is imperative to be careful with the pieces, as they are metal and can be bent. Make sure you test-fit all the pieces before preparing the vehicle’s interior surfaces for application. The 3M adhesive tape sticks very well, and attempting to remove the pieces once the adhesive has set can damage them. By far, this is the most time- and fund-consuming part of the interior dress-up process, but no other product makes as big of an impact.

The final piece to what we consider the perfect budget-priced interior is leather steering wheel trim from Alan Gun Leather Accessories (AGLA.—MAX). This is not a generic one-size-fits-all steering wheel cover that you can get at Pep Boys. It’s a top-quality leather piece that covers the spokes, designed to look like factory. AGLA develops its wheel covers to look like factory by carefully measuring out the exact shape of the leather needed to properly cover the wheel. Considering that with the $1,500 factory leather package from VW all you get, beyond what was included in our GLS trim-level package, is a leather-covered e-brake handle, leather seats that have almost no grip and get quite uncomfortable on long drives, and the leather-covered steering wheel, it seems as though you’re stealing the steering wheel cover from AGLA. For $49.95, and a little patience to install it, we can get what is essentially the same steering wheel. AGLA’s kit comes with the leather in your choice of colors, as well as thread in the same or contrasting color, installation instructions, and needles. We opted for a dark gray stitch to match the interior a little better, however subtle it turned out.

Now that you know what we acquired to upgrade our interior, follow along as we install everything. All of the products come with installation instructions, so be sure to follow them, and only use our steps for reference. Then again, have we ever been wrong (Don’t answer that.—MAX)?