Avaricious Appetites

Throughout history, the greatest innovations have usually come from the fertile mind of the little guy. Ford, Franklin, Marconi, Da Vinci—all little guys. The little guy is not afraid to take the R&D risks that larger well-established companies tend to avoid. When the little guy is comprised of a brotherly duo, one-upmanship and sibling rivalry figure prominently into the mix.

Take Orville and Wilbur Wright, for instance. Either brother could have probably invented the flying machine individually, but neither one may have been crazy enough to attempt the first flight without the other egging him on. What are brothers for if not to renounce any feelings of common sense we may have?

In the late-model aftermarket tuning industry, sibling duos have the potential to create some amazing work. Who in the Honda-tuning community has not heard of Ed and Ron Bergenholtz? As strong as Ed and Ron represent in H-car land, there are a couple of young lads taking up the charge for all things water-cooled.

Anthony and Jason Gelinas created GreedSpeed in 1997 to provide the finest in performance upgrades for late-model Volkswagen and Audis with a special focus on the MK 3 and 4 models. In its short time on the tuner map, GreedSpeed has been quietly building some of Southern California’s most powerful daily driven watercoolers. It’s not just coincidence that GreedSpeed is located near Neuspeed, the Mecca of late-model Volkswagen tuning. GreedSpeed utilizes many of the products from the Neuspeed catalog in order to create its high-horsepower projects.

This year, GreedSpeed will campaign a 300hp ’99 A4 Avant 1.8T in conjunction with the Millennium Team car club. The car can be seen at the SEMA Show, International Auto Salon, Import Showoff, Battle of the Imports, Hot Import Days/Nights, VW Jamboree, VW Classic, and Autopalooza. But for now, we managed to corral two of the finest examples from the GreedSpeed livery. These two cars represent GreedSpeed’s versatility in regards to the aftermarket tuning approach. The Passat showcases the tuner’s potent performance upgrades while the Silver Jetta demonstrates GreedSpeed’s ability to run with the car show crowd.

Passat With Twice the Ponies
What would you say about a car that puts out twice the horsepower it had from the factory while still preserving its everyday driveability. Impossible, you say. Not for the GreedSpeed gang. Their Project Passat 1.8T is rated at 300 hp at 5900 rpm with 305 lb-ft of torque at 3250 rpm. This horsepower rating is exactly twice the 150 hp produced by VW’s little 1.8L turbo, and the car has been a daily driver for almost two years with absolutely no reliability problems. In fact, the car is so well-built that GreedSpeed uses it as a test mule when performing R&D for future 1.8T performance hardware. But how does GreedSpeed manage to double up the horsepower numbers?

At the heart of this beast lies GreedSpeed’s GS4 Stage II turbocharger upgrade. The Stage II upgrade consists of a Garrett ceramic ball-bearing turbocharger (with a max boost of between 15 and 17 pounds), GS4 stainless-steel exhaust manifold and engine management upgrade, a sport front mount intercooler, larger flow-matched fuel injectors, new oil and water lines and fittings, Beru Ultra-X spark plugs, and a K&N filter. The transmission is beefed up with a GreedSpeed sport clutch kit, and the exhaust flow is increased with a Neuspeed stainless-steel system and a high-flow catalytic converter.

To match the power increases, corner carving agility is improved with a matched set of Neuspeed Sport lowering springs, specially valved Bilstein Sport dampers, and a set of Neuspeed’s antisway bars. Eighteen-inch TSW Revos and Nitto NT 555 rubber round out the suspension package, so to speak.

Cosmetic improvements on the Passat are kept to a minimum, giving the Passat a stealth-like sleeper look. A Projektzwo front air dam was added to not only show off, but also increase airflow to the intercooler. The OE side skirts and rear valance were color-matched, and a GS rear deck lid spoiler was also installed to increase down force for those top-speed runs.

The brothers Gelinas also prove that they’re not only about performance with the addition of some pumped-up mobiletronics gear for the cabin in the form of an Alpine receiver with in-dash CD, a Precision Power 2360 amplifier and 15-inch subwoofer, Boston Acoustics Pro Series component speakers, and Phoenix Gold wiring.

For Show With Some Neuspeed Go
Last year, GreedSpeed showcased this ’99 Jetta IV in the West coast import car show scene with the Team Folia Tec club. The Jetta’s 18-inch wheels, Oettinger body pieces, and wild graphics are a testament to the car’s show-scene presence. But Anthony and Jason did not neglect the performance side of the equation with a host of Neuspeed hardware.

The Jetta’s venerable 2.0L four was boosted with the aid of a Neuspeed Sport camshaft, P-Flo intake system, P-Chip, 8mm red ignition wires, and a Dynaflow high-flow intake manifold. Gear changes are quickened with Neuspeed’s short-shifter kit, and out gases are removed with a stainless-steel after-cat exhaust system, also from Neuspeed. GreedSpeed also turned to Neuspeed for some of its very trick suspension components like Race springs, specially valved Bilstein Sport dampers, front and rear antisway bars, and lower control arm and upper strut tie-bars. As impressive as all of these performance mods are, the style upgrades are even that much more radical.

We already mentioned the Oettinger body pieces, which are comprised of a grille, front bumper spoiler, side skirts, rear bumper spoiler, sport mirrors, and a rear deck lid spoiler. The 18-inch wheels are Racing Hart’s C-5 Evolution models with Pirelli P7000 rubber. Kool Tint laid out the large, bold Team Folia Tec graphics in silver hue on the silver Jetta. On the interior, the Folia Tec theme is continued with a multitude of the car stylist’s aluminum products, such as a pedal set, shift knob, and floor plates. Mobiletronics are improved with the addition of a Clarion receiver with in-dash CD, Boston Acoustics speakers and subwoofers, Precision Power amps, and Phoenix Gold wiring.