Aaahhh.....summer weather is finally here, and with it brings this month's feature car project. A nicely tuned Tornado Red R32 brought to you by one of the fastest Finnish drivers this side of the Atlantic, Aaron Johnson A.K.A "The Flying Finn". Seriously, this guy drives like a hungry pitbull chasing an overweight cat through the neighborhood. Aaron first started with his love of the Dub with the aircooled scene, and still has a 12 second '65 beetle with a fully modded 1914cc motor. Being a service technician for a VW dealership in the Bay Area (Bob Lewis VW of Newark, Ca) it didn't take Finn long to snach up a brand new R32, it took him even less time to start modding on it. Finn started with tires belive it or not, after only 6k miles on his first set of Eagle F1's he was already due for new rubber and decided to switch to the Falken RT615's. He liked them so much that he's on his fourth set since.

To get the car to breath better Aaron added a K&N Typhoon intake, but later changed it out for a EIP CAI with a air bypass valve. Sticking with better flow in mind, Finn cut out the factory exhaust resonator and restricted triangle pipe and replaced them with stright flow piping. He also installed a 3 way exhaust flapper switch to control the exhaust note when needed. Finn also shortened the stock exhaust tips to sit more flush with the stock rear bumper. To take advantage of the breathing, Aaron took his car to the guys at emotionGarage in Milpitias CA, and had them install a Revo ECU flash, they're also working on a custom set of light weight race wheels for Finn to use on track days.

With the car breathing better Finn turned his attention to the suspension. H&R coilovers were used to lower the car's center of gravity and clean up the wheel gap between the tires and the fenders. Billet "R" strut caps sit atop of the strut towers adding a little floss to the engine bay. H&R front and rear sway bars also supplied by emotionGarage, were installed to combat body roll while smashing through Bay Area backroads or when needed on the track. A Yarrow Sport rear stress bar was also added to stiffen up the hatch end of the car. HPA's adjustable 02M short shifter was installed to reduce the shift throw by 20% or 35%, Finn has his set at the shortest 35% throw reduction. Now with shorter shifts, Finn's VF Engineering engine & pendulum mounts keep the power transfer soild when accelerating and braking hard.

With most of Aaron's mod's done with performance in mind, he has also done a bit to keep his R32 looking different from others by powder coating his stock Aristo's in a darker silver color. "R" logo center caps take place of the norm "VW" centers. Hella angle eye projector headlights, a stubby antenna, and smoked side markers finish off the exterior mod's for now.

Aaron is not only a weekend Dub junkie, he lives it. All mod's done to his car have been by Finn himself. As a factory trained VW technician he works on all dubs, and is quickly becoming one of the Bay Area's most trusted and requested tech's. Finn has have customers drive miles out of their way just to have him do a simple oil change. It's not out of the ordinary to see 4 or 5 R32's lined up in the service department waiting for his wrenching skills. He's serviced blown turbo's on mod'ed 1.8t's, and even installed a VF stage 2 supercharger kit on a R32 for a customer at the dealership! Who say's dealerships arn't mod friendly?

:: FEATURED VEHICLE SPECS :: Owner :: Aaron Johnson WCM Username :: flyingfinn Vehicle Specs :: Tornado Red R32
	: Future mod's include : Audi TT lower tie bar CPP adjustible rear control arms Brake switch mod HPA Orange haldex controller Painted black roof OEM Navi unit : Aaron would like to thank : Mark Mitose (kosho-ryu.com) Bob Lewis VW of Newark Derrick Sanchez Will Change Emotion Garage (emotiongarage.com) Andy Mitchell S4bum (for the pictures)

:: Article by :: Insidious :: Pictures by :: Insidious and S4bum :: Layout :: Will O.

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