LS1-powered Volkswagen R32 is a Masterpiece Home-built Racer
Awesome mod really does prove the old adage, ‘LS swap all the things.’
Ah, the Volkswagen GTI. The quintessential hot hatch. The most fun you can have with front-wheel drive, well, maybe. Cheap, flingable, and easy to tune; as comfortable on a commute as it is on the track. Yeah, well, it’s still a front-drive hatchback. And dynamic or not, tiny four-bangers can’t hold a candle to a high-horsepower V8. That’s why we love this build. It combines everything that’s great about the GTI, but it’s powered by an LS1.
This GTI started out as a 2004 R32, the all-wheel drive giant-slaying GTI variant. In Volkswagen circles, this is a rapidly appreciating future classic; the best variant of arguably the best-looking GTI generation. But owner Steven Berchtold wasn’t so precious. He bought an impressively clean R32 in his native California, and turned it into a stripped, caged, and fully custom track rocket.
He uses this Facebook thread to document the “R59” transformation into a track day warrior. Needless to say, it’s impressive. He strips the car bare, doing an impressive amount of fabrication work in his garage. Here’s he describes the work done:
One of the biggest issues I foresaw in this project was the question of how to transfer the load from the rear axle into the chassis/body. Although the R32 had the provisions to take some force (original AWD) it was never meant to take twice the horsepower on just the rear axle. The trailing arms meet the body in a recessed pocket through some rubber bushings. I cut open the pocket and massively reinforced from the inside out. Fortunately I was able to get a hold of one of the last sets of spherical trailing and control arm bushings made buy an awesome guy years ago.
Looking over the quality of the work, it’s definitely professional grade. The car is described as mid-engined. But if you’re expecting a Group B-style powerplant just behind the driver, you’d be wrong. In the R59, the engine is riding shotgun inside a custom shroud. The driver is now sitting approximately where the rear left-side passenger would in a stock GTI.
LS power, take two.
Unfortunately, the original GM V8 threw a rod on the track. It was quickly replaced by an LS1 from a Pontiac GTO. The results have been promising. In a post, he says: “Last year we made 360bhp N/A with a cam and valvesprings. Today we made 473 on wastegate (5.5PSI) boost. On demand I can power up the boost controller and we make 528BHP at 9PSI.” In case you were wondering, that power is now sent to the rear wheels via a Ford 8.8 rear end, and mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
Surprisingly, there are still a few Volkswagen parts in the car. The original suspension layout was left intact. And after realizing that the stock R32 radiator was larger than a Camaro or Firebird’s, he decided to leave that stock.
If you told us “LS1 in a GTI,” we’d have thought of something completely different, and nowhere near as nice as this. But the R59 is a masterpiece of a project car. We salute Berchtold and all the people who helped him build this car. And if you see him racing around California, be sure to pat him on the back for a job well done. When we yell to LS all the things, this is what we’re talking about.
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