Print

[mjohnson]

So as I start cruising through internet shops and forums and such, I start to realize that I'm about running out of smaller things (performance wise) to do to the ole 1.8 without going bt (which I'm still contemplating).  Other than having the lsd put in this week, the only other things I can think of are vf motor mounts (which apparently are a hot commodity, everyone seems to be sold out) and adjusting the tune/timing to maximize the water/meth.  Oh yeah, I suppose I could relocate the dv to the cold side and swap the pancake pipe for a normal pipe, but other than that...

Guess I need to just pick my hp/tq goal and start pricing out a bt setup...

Perhaps there's supporting mods that would really be advisable to have for bt and wouldn't hurt to have now (ya know, stagger the cost instead of just dropping the K's bomb all at once)

[scurvy_bandit]

get... a big turbo

[mjohnson]

how did I know you were gonna say that?? 

[scurvy_bandit]

You dont want my truck to be faster than your car do you?

[mjohnson]

mmm, good point. maybe I'll go bt and then just sandbag it so the 1.8 pulls just barely enough on your truck to piss you off 

[snoopy]

You dont want my truck to be faster than your car do you?

Its going to be pretty darn close if not faster either way.  Weight is a funny thing like that.  The only thing I'm thinking is the LSD will give him more traction.

[mjohnson]

You dont want my truck to be faster than your car do you?

Its going to be pretty darn close if not faster either way.  Weight is a funny thing like that.  The only thing I'm thinking is the LSD will give him more traction.

Mm, didn't even think about his truck weighing all of what, 20lbs?   

[snoopy]

I was thinkin 15.

[sad_rocc]

Plaid vinyl. I hear it's the hot new thing. I bet everyone at H2O will be rocking it this year.

[mjohnson]

Plaid vinyl. I hear it's the hot new thing. I bet everyone at H2O will be rocking it this year.

eh..I was leaning more towards zebra stripe

[scurvy_bandit]

do something a little different... I was thinking flannel

[mjohnson]

do something a little different... I was thinking flannel

Ahh yes, and then I could swap the shifter out for a hatchet, and redo the seats with some kind of fur, maybe hang a squirrel from the rear view

[scurvy_bandit]

get some deer skin on those seats!  Barry will be jealous with his King Ranch

[mjohnson]

get some deer skin on those seats!  Barry will be jealous with his King Ranch

werd

[methodicalmayhem]

I've got a VF dog bone mount for sale. if interested shoot me a pm.

[mjohnson]

So I'm toying with the idea of ordering a bt kit, or piecing one together.

As far as the goal.  It is my understanding that the stock internals are reliable to ~350hp.  I don't know if I want to go in to all the work of rebuilding the motor and drivetrain, at least not for a while.  So, I'm thinking like 320ish.

Since I've already got APR s/w I naturally checked out their stage 3/+ kits and it looks like the 3+ would be too much (is that even possible??) for my goals.  I know I can tone it down, but they claim 340 on 93 gas, well, that's fine and dandy except I'll be running w/m on top of that...  So the next choice is to step down to just the stage 3 which they claim 290 on 93 and 338 on 100.  That's more like it.  The kit is 4k, but looking in to the parts included, I've already got a bunch of the stuff (but the more important items they don't give any info on...some secret squirrel stuff I guess), so I'm not sure if I want their kit anymore.

Next I looked at Kinentic's stage 2 kit which for just shy of $5k I can be right around a reliable 350 (obviously I'd tone it down until the internals/drivetrain was beefed up).  Their kit is more customizable, which I like.  Here is was I was thinking.  GT2871R, .48 a/r on a t3 housing, 630 injectors/sw, the rest of the kit includes the standard kinetic t3 mani, fmic, 39mm wastegate, and other supporting hardware.  The have an optional high flow fuel pump, since it's optional, is it really needed?? or just something else I can spend money on?

Another option is to just piece a kit together through 034 or another reputable company like that...

[mjohnson]

vf mounts should be in today.  That's exciting!!  pics to come.

[brandonb85]

VRT swap.

[mjohnson]

VRT swap.

eh, highly doubt I'll go that route.  Think I'd roll back to a mk2/3 for that, or jump to a mk4 r32.  but that's after I pick up a truck and house

[scurvy_bandit]

Yes!!!!!!  thats what Im talking about. I would go ahead and roll with the higherflowing pump. Surge tank? 

[mjohnson]

Yes!!!!!!  thats what Im talking about.

what are you talking about? 

I would go ahead and roll with the higherflowing pump. Surge tank? 

what's another $250 on a 5k transaction right??

[scurvy_bandit]

get... a big turbo

Yes!!!!!!  thats what Im talking about.

what are you talking about?  

yes.  give your bay a brazilian wax also

[mjohnson]

yes.  give your bay a brazilian wax also

Working on it.

Meanwhile, here's what showed up today.



A nice lil electronic dual boost controller..I was expecting a pair of VF motor mounts but aparently VF decided not to ship them.  So they are going to overnight them to me at no extra cost, should be here tomorrow!  Hopefully first part of next week the shop will have room to throw in the lsd for me.  Time to get the ball rolling for DATR.  Don't think I'll be able to have a bt setup done by then, but we'll see what happens.

[mjohnson]

So as I was on the computer reserving a hotel room for the parents, I heard the infamous squeaky brakes come to a stop in front of my house.  A look over my shoulder confirmed it was the big brown carriage and a guy holding a box containing these:



Looks like I've got some things to keep me busy today!

[scurvy_bandit]

niiiice

BTW Elvir on vortex has a nice shave DIY write up somewhere.  He might have it under his other username Elvir2

[mjohnson]

Ok, so I've placed a couple more orders and am about to order a couple more things I think.

Ordered:
Hybrid pan (turns out cast aluminum doesnt like hitting huge rocks at 50+mph)
HIDs 35watt 8000k (dims) 55watt 6000k (brights)
AEM wideband a/f

After thinking it over and talking with Jeff, my limp mode seems to make sense to be caused by running lean as apposed to "too much boost".  After going with a mbc my boost doesn't bleed off, it maintains 23psi.  So needless to say, in "race" mode on the mbc, the ko4 is being raped on a regular basis.  Because of this, I am kind of thinking that I must be pretty darn near the capacity of the stock injectors.  This will be verified once the wideband is installed, but since a set of 630 injectors is only $220, I think I might order up a set of those now, that way I've already got em for BT.

Anyone happen to know what the stock fuel pump is rated to?

Oh, I also replaced the coolant expansion tank with a brand new one.  Last time I replaced it with a used one, which has been fine, but the plastic was starting to turn different shades of brown and turning brittle, so I figured for $18 it'd be a nice reliable fix plus look a whole lot nicer. 

[mjohnson]

Well, the ole girl has been racked up at Gabe's for the past week getting some tlc.  I told him I had a laundry list of things for him to do, and when I dropped her off, he said "wow! you weren't kidding about a laundry list.." 

Here's the jist of what he is working on.  A bolt on the transmission mount sheared off, so the motor would rotate forward when put in reverse, which in turn cracked the exhaust manifold, giving me a retarded exhaust leak.  He drilled out the old bolt and then replaced the stock tranny mount with a vf dogbone.  Had him install the wavetrac lsd.  While in there, had him inspect the tranny, come to find that my throw out bearing was shot.  Good eye Gabe! Also found a torn cv boot.  Found it'd cost about the same to replace the whole axle as opposed to just a boot.  Decided to go that route.  He is adjusting the ebrake, and tranny cables.  Relocating the battery to the trunk.  Relocating the w/m pump to a more secure location.  Making some brackets to secure other components inside the engine bay.  Running the wires for the a/f gauge.  Installing the hybrid oil pan.  He is also taking a look at my various electrical issues, to include the limp mode that I've experienced on the highway (more constant speeds).  There's more that he is doing, but they are small.  Gabe and Andrew have been a big help in taking care of a bunch of stuff on the car.  Having Bluewater Performance as a title sponsor is a great thing for DATR!!  for those guys!

[Barry]

Gabe is an awesome asset to the CO VW scene.

I am glad he got title too. Great guy, that provides great work to the community, and actually cares about the local scene

[scurvy_bandit]

Did you talk to nat (punkrider) on here about he AEM? He could prolly hook you up.

[mjohnson]

If you're talking about an AEM wideband, I've already got one. I'm just having Gabe run the wires to the cab since he's already in the area with welding the bung and relocating the battery anyway.

I still need to do the timing belt, build a box to put the subs in the spare tire well and start cleaning some stuff up for datr.  Anyone have experience building custom sub boxes?  I'll likely use the fiberglass diy on the tex unless someone has experience/a better idea.  The goal is have both subs and the battery in the spare tire well and mount the amp to the top of the trunk (next to the stock amp).  Other option is to put the amp in the tire well and have the battery somewhere else in the trunk.

[mjohnson]

Picked up the car from Gabe's yesterday (sat) and the sucker runs pretty nice.  Not sure if it was just the lsd or the new throw out bearing as well, but everything just feels so solid and pulls so smooth!  The lsd did reduce quite a bit of wheel spin, but even so, I still spin in 1st when 22psi is dialed in.  I toyed with pretty successful launches with the low setting (9psi) in 1st and then switching to hi (22psi) just after the shift to 2nd.  The nice thing about the wot box is that I don't have to rebuild that 9psi in 2nd, it's already there and after the switch to hi, it climbs nicely to 22psi.  I've got a pressure switch that I'm gonna wire up that'll keep the bc in low while in 1st and then allow hi in 2-5.  Perhaps after afghanistan I'll throw a bt in, but that's low on priority right now.

First up, I'm having fuel issues. Every once in a while, the car sputters and dies (whether at an idle or driving).  I suspected a bad pump.  Talked to gabe.  He says it could be a number of things, to include the pump, clogged filter, or bad injectors.  I'm gonna drop it back off for him to check out while I'm down in TX next week.  That'd be real nice if it's something simple like the filter, but if it's the pump then I think I just might put in an upgraded 255lph one in preps for bt.

Once I get back I wanna start cleaning up the bay.  With the batt in the trunk now, my thought's are no longer as cluttered.  I can now focus on relocating the coolant/power steering/washer fluid tanks, and tucking the wires.  Gabe was pretty informative and had some good suggestions on how to go about doing these things.  I'm also referencing http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4770851-FAQ-Clean-Up-Engine-Bay.-Relocate-Battery-Fuse-block-Coolant-Ball-EVAP-WS-Washer-Power-Steering and http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4368818 which has given me some great ideas and hints on how to make this happen.  We'll see what I can get done for datr!