When you hear of Minnesota you instantly think about that movie Fargo. And when you think of Fargo, you think of snow - lots of it. That's why we were surprised to find Mike Olson's pristine '03 GTI 1.8T in such a place. Residing in Minneapolis, Mike's passion for VW is unconditional. He's owned and modified several, including a Mk3 Jetta Wolfsburg, but its untimely demise forced him to purchase the 1.8T. "Back then, all my friends knew me for the Wolfsburg. It was done the way I wanted it and I never really dared to drive it anywhere, especially to work," said Mike. But after much persuasion from his peers, Mike finally relented and drove to work. On the way home, however, he was rear-ended. Despite this disaster, Mike draws solace: "I never did like the Jetta body style so I went back to a hatch," he explained.
When Mike wants something, he usually doesn't wait. When he first purchased the GTI he already had a stockpile of aftermarket parts lying in his garage. And it's taken him two winters of upgrading and swapping parts to bring the car to where it is today.
Only months after purchasing the car it went into winter storage where it was overhauled with various parts. Most of the original mods have long been replaced, like the APR chip and Forge side-mount intercooler. That's because the following winter the turbo was swapped for a larger Garret T03/04E hybrid.
The promise of big power convinced Mike to go with ATP products, like the cast turbo manifold, 3" downpipe, inlet pipe and the front-mount intercooler. Matching the downpipe is a 3" high-flow cat and GHL stainless steel exhaust. The mass airflow meter was also upgraded to a larger VR6 item but modified with 1.8T internals. The N75 and N249 valves have been disabled to improve boost and throttle response. And to manage all the new hardware, Mike turned to Revo for its Big Turbo programming.
The car is tuned to develop 312hp with 281 lb/ft at 19psi, the latest known dyno numbers. However, it currently runs 22psi and is daily-driven during the non-winter months. "The car's meant to be driven, unlike my Wolfsburg," he noted. The driveline is on its fourth clutch - a Spec Stage 3+. During the first clutch upgrade he also fitted an Autotech lightweight flywheel and installed a Quaife LSD, both of which have lasted to this day.
He didn't overlook the suspension either. The car sports FK Hyper Sport X coilovers which feature adjustable damping and height. An Autotech Club Sport rear sway bar reduces body roll, while an Autotech front strut bar and Yarrowsport rear stiffen the chassis.
Besides looking intimidating with his tattoos, we think Mike's borderline obsessive compulsive. We say this because since purchasing the car he's gone through 13 sets of wheels. Yes, 13!
At one time he even had a set of chromed Motegis. These lasted four days before he turned around and sold them. It's one of the perks of his job: he sells custom wheels. But after much dissatisfaction he finally settled on a set of 18x8" BBS LeMans with 225/40-18 Toyo T1-S tires. A classic combination.