Just a few detail shots of some departures from OEM on the Rallye. My current rule for straying from stock is simple: it has to matter, and it has to be better.

The @davies.motorsport.engineering handles encapsulate that perfectly — at a glance they could pass for OEM, but the moment you touch them it’s obvious: they’re way, way better. I’m now that idiot who makes every mk2 person try his door handles. They’re really that good.

The @sdg.industries pulls, on the other hand, definitely don’t pass for OEM — but the quality, fitment, and action are so damn good (and so easily reversible) that purity be damned. Opening the door after a drive just feels right. And it’s downright luxurious to drive a mk2 and have somewhere for my coffee cup.

I’ve already gushed about the @autobahnautoworx rad and hoses, but honestly, I can’t say enough about how good it all is. Pics 7–10 show a bunch of the mounting and just how spot-on the fitment of everything is — this setup uses their Corrado VR6 radiator with G60 hoses. I had to shorten the rad-side hoses by about ¾″ to fit the Golf perfectly. A couple hundred miles in, including a decent chunk of Chicago traffic, and the coolant stayed cool. (I mean… it’s still a G60, so it’s still pretty hot — but definitely cooler and safer.)

Thanks, friends, for making awesome things.
Now if only I didn’t have five other mk2s that are all gonna need these parts, lol.