# Gonz's Silver 225 TTrack [RIP Engine]



## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Welcome to my build thread. I would say this is long overdue but due to the recent events in this car's life, I have a lot of updates and progress moving forward that I feel would be simpler to just throw into a dedicated thread.

The main focus of this build will be to get close to the stock motor's threshold while making power utilizing water injection to run high boost pressure. This build will include a lot of supporting mods for safety reasons. Down the road I may drop rods in, but as of right now it is not a priority.

Quantified Goals:
360 BHP (300WHP) 
2880lbs = 1306kg

Power to weight of 8lbs/HP or 3.62 KG/HP

Current Photos:



So what do we have so far? 
2001 MK1 225 Silver 
*Motor*
GTS Stage 2+ Tune 24 psi http://tunedbygts.com/s2amu
Antilag and 2step
034 motorsports phenolic spacer
6" -> 3"Velocity stack intake 
Silicone TIP that has been trimmed (shorter distance so no sagging/bending)
MadMax EVOX diverter valve
4 bar fuel pressure regulator
Bosch EV14 550cc injectors
DW65V Fuel Pump
N249 Delete
Treadstone TR11 Intercooler : "Core Size 11" X 21.5" X 3" / 860CFM
Relentless 3" Downpipe No Cat
Forge/Blueflame 2.75" exhaust (everything muffler back was removed to make it a true 2.75" system)
Snow Performance Stage 2 Water Injected _2 nozzle 175ml/m pre IC 100ml/m post TB _
Wastegate Spring Mod
Valeo thicker radiator
Front bumper "hack" :twisted:

*Suspension*
Rota Grid 17x9 light weight racing wheels (20.8lbs)

Nitto NT05 275/40/17 tires
Bilstein PSS B14 Coilovers 
Hyperco 70mm x 8" x 500lb Front and 2.5" x 6" x 800lb Rear Springs
MadMax adjustable control arms
OEM R32 rear sway bar
Mix of Poly and OEM bushings in various parts
15mm F 20mm R hubcentric spacers
Sachs Strut Bushing kit
Black Forest Industries Stage 2 Dogbone mount
Phoenix Engineering GT1 Delrin Front LCA bushings
MK2 Audi TT Ball joints

*Brakes*
Tyrolsport brake stiffening kit
USP Motorsports Steel Brake Lines
Carbotech XP12 Brake Pads
Centric Blank Rotors

*MISC.*
PowerTrack insert
Cookbot shift knob
Custom race spec thicker FBSW with perforated leather and 12 o'clock marker
Garth Quattro Sport Net Replica
Stable Energies Rear Sway bar powder coated "Guards Red"
led ring for shift surround
leather shift gaiter
APSX "Wide-Band" boost gauge. Fully customizable. reads up to 60 psi. Accurate to 0.1 psi
ModShack vent ring for gauge
OEM Original Votex Spoiler
OEM Original QS Grille
SPEC D headlights
55w 5000k HID kit
Original Reiger roof spoiler
engine bay bling and silicone lines
2.0T Coil Conversion
Phoenix Engineering Shifter Bracket Bushings
Phoenix Engineering Billet Injector Cups
DieselGeek adjustable shifter bushing "First Gear Getter"
Diesel Geek Delrin Bushings for cable ends
Diesel Geek "high performance" side to side shifter pivot bushings
ESP coded out
DEKA ETX30L Lightweight racing battery 21lbs
3.5" Exhaust Tips
2.0 TSI/FSI CoilPack Cover 
ATE Type 200 brake fluid
Cum Cartec Comfort Blinker
GForce Pro Series 5 Point Harness
"Nick G" designed seat brackets :wink: 
Hayden 401 transmission cooler (power steering)

And many more I may have forgotten.

*Weight Reduction*
**All of these measurements where taken on a scale upon removing OEM parts** 
Current Weight: 2,950lbs = ~1335kg
Target Weight: 2,880lbs = ~1306kg
Rota Grids -36lbs
Coilovers -10lbs
Rear Counter Weight -35lbs
Custom Intake setup -3lbs
Headlight Aliens removed -10lbs
Spare Tire removed -30lbs 
Spec D Headlights -10lbs
FMIC -8lbs
6 Disc CD Changer -4lbs
3" Downpipe -19lbs
Catback Exhaust no muffler -30lbs
Aftermarket Audio equipment -4lbs
Rear Seat Delete -32lbs (bottom cushion weighed in at 6lbs)
Deka ETX30L Battery -19lbs 
Rear Tow Eye -5lbs
Sound Deadening Removed under carpet-14.5lbs
Bride Vios III including hardware and brackets -73.7lbs
All Interior Panels Removed -? lbs
Custom Race Spec Door Cards -10lbs
Radio Removed (including speakers + wiring) - 10lbs
Front Undertray
Engine Bay upper seal
sound deadening removed
insulation removed

So the car has had a lot done to it recently following a hydroplane accident due to worn tires and my negligence. Needless to say I have learned my lesson. The car came into contact with a tree on the left side quarter panel bending the QP inward, smashing the tail light, and destroying the rear bumper. This was roughly 8 months ago as of this posting date.

Here is how she sat before the accident. 


I decided to keep her and fix her up, given the tremendous amount of work already done to the car. I got her back FINALLY after 4 months in the bodyshop (run of the mill insurance place that prioritizes high output easy claims over personal customer cars). 
Here are just a few photos of the work that was done, I must say they did a superb job restoring the body.




I don't want to overload this thread with pictures, but the body work was painted over to prevent rust, the car received a newly refurbished rear bumper, new tail light, new wheel liner, new tail light bracket, repainted diffuser, and the Reiger and Votex spoilers.

Here she is today: 





This section will get updated periodically with pending mods:

Forge Unos MBC install

Current issues:
Tuning WMI in preparation for Forge Unos MBC install and 29psi setting.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Nice to see it back man! like those wheels much better.
R lhs wheel in your case..get suspension guys/rebuilders to check it and alignment unless you can visually see something broken/bent


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## kane (Jul 26, 2010)

Will follow this


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Thank you for the positive comments gentlemen 

So here are some pics of the wheel in question and the suspension components. Nothing appears to be broken. My only options now are either something is bent or my alignment got seriously messed up. 





Both seem to be very plausible answers, since my steering wheel needs to be heavily tilted to get the car to go straight, however I also noticed the entire rear trailing arm seems to be sitting away further from the wheel liner than on the other side. 
What do you guys make of this, have I found my culprit?

Left Side where the crash happened:


Right side which appears to be normal:


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## kane (Jul 26, 2010)

If the car pulls in any other direction than forward and your tires have normal pressure all around something is wrong so I would strongly recommend a 4 wheel alignment. 
They will also see if something is out of place or damaged far better than you can guess it from looking into the wheel arch :wink:


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

kane said:


> If the car pulls in any other direction than forward and your tires have normal pressure all around something is wrong so I would strongly recommend a 4 wheel alignment.
> They will also see if something is out of place or damaged far better than you can guess it from looking into the wheel arch :wink:


You're right, I'm taking it Monday to an alignment shop to see what they say, but having had the car gone for 8 months now and still not being able to drive it properly has my mind racing in 10 different directions. [smiley=bigcry.gif]


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Will follow this with interest my friend.

So refreshing to hear someone actually admit an accident was their fault, very rare this day and age.

Get the car aligned Gonzy your tech will see what wrong once underneath very quickly I'm sure.


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## kane (Jul 26, 2010)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> You're right, I'm taking it Monday to an alignment shop to see what they say, but having had the car gone for 8 months now and still not being able to drive it properly has my mind racing in 10 different directions. [smiley=bigcry.gif]


I know your pain so very well. When I got my car back after a year and a half and killed my turbo less than 2 weeks after getting it back I was almost sitting on my mechanics back until he had changed the turbo :lol:

Monday you'll know


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## Jay-225 (Mar 7, 2012)

100% looks like the trailing arm is bent, get that changed ( cheap ebay ) and should be all good and straight again 

Got any pics of that velocity stack with filter ?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

jamman said:


> Will follow this with interest my friend.
> 
> So refreshing to hear someone actually admit an accident was their fault, very rare this day and age.
> 
> Get the car aligned Gonzy your tech will see what wrong once underneath very quickly I'm sure.


I've always been about owning my faults, that's how we become better people imho. Thank you brother.



Jay-225 said:


> 100% looks like the trailing arm is bent, get that changed ( cheap ebay ) and should be all good and straight again
> 
> Got any pics of that velocity stack with filter ?


That's what I'm leaning towards. I hope that's the case and it's not a busted shock, bent control arm or something along those lines. I can pick up a used trailing arm for $100 shipped on ebay!


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## cam69 (Dec 22, 2011)

The repair looks good mate and they have re applied the seem sealer so should be well protected against corrosion.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


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## DC240S (Sep 24, 2014)

Looks good! - Well done.


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## IPG3.6 (Sep 5, 2015)

I say trailing arm too! I reckon stick your head under to see if the bolts have shifted on te left side vs the right. Otherwise yes maybe bent control arm. Or (hopefully not) the mounting foe the 4 bolts is damaged. They are slotted to allow for a little bit of movement so hopefully it's just they have moved and need to be put back. Alignment place will be able to fix that if it's the case.



Gonzalo1495 said:


> jamman said:
> 
> 
> > Will follow this with interest my friend.
> ...


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Good to see you've got her back! Maybe get out to a local skid pan and get some car control lessons?! :-*

Wheels look about a thousand times better now, fine choice indeed they were one of my considerations so nice to see how they look on another silver TiTTy! What ET are they to go with your 15 & 25mm spacers? Also what arch work have you done to make them fit?


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## Beunhaas (May 14, 2014)

Now there it is! Good work mate.

Secretly i was hoping to read something like rods and a gttx hybrid turbo like max runs. :lol:


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Beunhaas said:


> Now there it is! Good work mate.
> 
> Secretly i was hoping to read something like rods and a gttx hybrid turbo like max runs. :lol:


I can't COMPLETELY copy him :lol: That would be tacky, and tacky is not my style.

@Nick: Find me a skid pad that simulates hurricane like weather and I'll gladly practice so it never happens again.

The wheels have a +30 offset, and no arch work was done. Shocking but everything just worked right out of the box first go at it.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Try this place, worth a call? :lol:

http://mentalfloss.com/uk/science/29158/inside-the-worlds-largest-hurricane-simulator

RE: Wheels... good job, no idea how you've managed that as mine would have been well outside the arch without rolling, like 10-15mm and you've got bigger spacers!


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

I think tbh anyone would love to be able to copy Max minus some of the creature comforts removed. Almost everything I've done to my car has been Max inspired minus a few things that you have suggested yourself Gonz such as the velocity stack / mushroom combo that you created 8).


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Not much progress to report.

As some of you may know or can see by my profile, I live in Orlando Fl. Right now we are getting hammered by Hurricane Matthew which has had most of the east coast undergo mandatory evacuation, thankfully I live more inland so we aren't going to be as affected by this hurricane.

However this completely threw off my plans, I had booked the car in for Saturday morning at a renowned alignment/suspension shop in Orlando which was going to give me a full alignment using my own specifications and with me in the car to have it adjust for my weight, however now I don't think this will happen until 1 week from now at a minimum...

As far as progress goes, I installed the FBSW, replaced my seatbelt due to the tensioner going off in the accident on the old one, and repaired some of the rear interior trim while I had it out alongside some of those clips that always break off/get stuck in the body. 






I will take better photos once the storm passes and I have access to actual daylight :lol:

I also need to go get a resistor for the airbag. 
Would also like to point out that I weighed the airbag at approximately 4.1lbs, so more weight savings, woo!


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## Mondo (Feb 20, 2009)

Ooh, I like your big knob, fella. 

Hmmm... that came out wrong, didn't it?  :?


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## DC240S (Sep 24, 2014)

Looking very good!


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Well at least you didn't go with those $75 Sumitomo tires. :lol: Looks good, post some better pics when Matthew has left the state. My mom and her husband rode it out in Rockledge/Cocoa last night without any issues, but I heard the Daytona pier was gone!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

CollecTTor said:


> Well at least you didn't go with those $75 Sumitomo tires. :lol: Looks good, post some better pics when Matthew has left the state. My mom and her husband rode it out in Rockledge/Cocoa last night without any issues, but I heard the Daytona pier was gone!


I'm glad I didn't get them either tbh. I have yet to actually break these tires in but judging by how much sh#*t sticks to them already I can tell I will enjoy them!

I heard about the pier, absolutely insane. I love that pier too, has my all time favorite pizza place ever, hope it's still there 

Storm is practically off my radar at this point, so tomorrow morning we return to normal lives hopefully. Maybe I'll get lucky and the alignment shop will take me in still. If not I can take the opportunity to fix a few more tiny details and take some pics.

Thanks for the comments guys, and no sweat Mondo, we're used to your weird remarks by now brotha :lol: :wink:


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

That steering wheel is pure porn.


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## Antthony (Jul 29, 2016)

Nice to see the car saved and fixed properly [smiley=cheers.gif] Looking good.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

TT Tom TT said:


> That steering wheel is pure porn.


It was hard to track down! I wanted one that came originally with a black surround and not chrome. Ended up finding it on Greece's ebay. :lol:

Thank you Antthony! I'm glad too, although it's becoming a bigger pain that I anticipated.

Update: Central Florida was not severely hit, everything seems okay minus some debris here and there thank God.

I took the TT to the alignment shop, and learned two things:
1) I need to raise the car  
2) My trailing arm is indeed bent inward. This was confirmed by owner himself who I had spoken to personally. Unfortunately we won't be seeing much updates until I get a replacement installed and then drive it back to get the alignment done. Could be a few weeks sadly. 
At least we have a starting point, just praying now that nothing is messed up with the front either!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Some more porn:


Also had the pleasure of discovering the bolt that holds the brake disc in was bonkers... ask me how long this took to get out, I DARE YOU! :evil:


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## watersbluebird (Oct 26, 2015)

How long did that take?

I love that steering wheel too!


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## DC240S (Sep 24, 2014)

Alloys look great however -what is the profile as they definitely aren't low? I'd be keen to get some lower.

Steering wheel looks great!

DC


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

DC240S said:


> Alloys look great however -what is the profile as they definitely aren't low? I'd be keen to get some lower.
> 
> Steering wheel looks great!
> 
> DC


They are 275/40/17, my issue is the sidewalls seem to be a lot taller than most conventional tires, I would assume this is a Nitto thing, not to mention they are really wide wheels and tires so if I go low I start rubbing on full lock. Have to experiment with ride height for a bit, but at the moment they are definitely rubbing.
@BlueBird roughly 30 minutes of hammering in a screwdriver into the center to be able to get a grip on it to twist it out... [smiley=bomb.gif]


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Your overall diameter is 14mm larger then standard which is quite a lot! That means a lift to the car of 7mm when you think about it.

A 225/40/18 tyre which is pretty standard gives a sidewall of 90mm whereas you now have 110mm so you are gunna see differences! Not a bad thing, I like the fat tyre look personally.

What are you rubbing on exactly? Presumably not the arch as I suggested previously?


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

NickG said:


> Your overall diameter is 14mm larger then standard which is quite a lot! That means a lift to the car of 7mm when you think about it.
> 
> A 225/40/18 tyre which is pretty standard gives a sidewall of 90mm whereas you now have 110mm so you are gunna see differences! Not a bad thing, I like the fat tyre look personally.
> 
> What are you rubbing on exactly? Presumably not the arch as I suggested previously?


Yeah this is certainly not gonna' make life easy on a low car, as you mentioned Nick there's a big difference between:

225mm x 0.4 ---> 90mm
and
275mm x 0.4 ---> 110mm

__________________________

275 / 30 would be much better as 275mm x 0.3 ---> 82.5mm which allows more clearance or even 275 / 35 would be better than 275 / 40 at around 96mm - Giving you a little less clearance than a stock 225/40.

Cliffs: I'd recommend 275 / 30 for clearance.

I personally got 255/35's to keep (pretty much) stock wheel height.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

NickG said:


> Your overall diameter is 14mm larger then standard which is quite a lot! That means a lift to the car of 7mm when you think about it.
> 
> A 225/40/18 tyre which is pretty standard gives a sidewall of 90mm whereas you now have 110mm so you are gunna see differences! Not a bad thing, I like the fat tyre look personally.
> 
> What are you rubbing on exactly? Presumably not the arch as I suggested previously?


I'm rubbing on bumps with the top of the wheel liner (ride height issue), and rubbing on full turn lock (ride height issue).

I raised up the coilovers a bit more today and took it for a drive and she's pretty much fine now. I no longer have a flush look but frankly I didn't expect to be able to retain that look given the tire width I'm running.

@ Tom great point, thank you for addressing that. You're right, had this been just a show car I would have gone for some lower profile tires, but as you all know it's important to have a strong sidewall on track/performance applications so I opted for just 40. In hind sight 35 would have been a more favorable compromise! None the less valuable information that you posted, thank you for sharing! Hopefully it benefits someone else down the road. Maybe once I run through this set of NTO5's I may try 275/35's and see how they sit just for shits.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

I'm running 255/40/17's and that's almost bang on with 225/40/18's for diameter/rolling radius.

I think with 275's on 17's you're right between 35 & 40 for perfect fit so in hindsight maybe 35's would have been better merely for fitment within the wheel arch? (And slightly better acceleration  )

EDIT: Just to note Tom, you need to chuck you're wheel size in there, 255/35 on a 17" rim isnt the same as 255/35 on an 18" rim. :?:


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> Maybe once I run through this set of NTO5's I may try 275/35's and see how they sit just for shits.





TT Tom TT said:


> Cliffs: I'd recommend 275 / 30 for clearance.


Except no one makes a 275/30 and the only 275/35's I know of are Hoosiers, not exactly street tires. :lol:


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

CollecTTor said:


> Except no one makes a 275/30 and the only 275/35's I know of are Hoosiers, not exactly street tires. :lol:


I'm not responsible for tyre manufacturers not manufacturing certain widths for certain size alloys. I was merely saying that 275/40 is not going to be good for clearance and that 35 or 30 would be better because Gonz mentioned clearance. I did not know they weren't available as I don't run rubber that is this wide and my wheels are 18's.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Without going into detail and forgetting clearance,gearing and %'s
If you have a 275 on a 9 inch rim youre better off with as hi a profile as possible, purely in terms of the wheel and tyre.


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

May have missed it, what's the ET on those wheels? 30, 35, or 42? Trying to figure out what thickness adapters I need. Thanks!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

CollecTTor said:


> May have missed it, what's the ET on those wheels? 30, 35, or 42? Trying to figure out what thickness adapters I need. Thanks!


+30 offset. Clears 15mm Front and 20mm Rear spacers perfectly and the rear sits flush while the front pokes a little. 10mm spacers up front would be perfect if you want a flush look.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

A bit of an update:

Finally was able to remove the cv axle from the "bent" trailing arm. Took a LOT of hammering and gravity to do the job. I can't stress enough how important having the cv joint facing downwards while you hammer it off. You won't get much progress with it on the ground. 

So now we are awaiting new cv boot repair kits for the inner and outer boots, alongside a new cv joint. The wheel bearing in the replacement trailing arm seems better than my previous one so no sense in doing that.

I also received the following items in the mail, hopefully if the trailing arm is indeed the culprit behind my issues we can make some actual progress on the build with the following:
Phoenix Engineering Billet Injector Cups (a few of my oem ones are leaking, going to go bullet proof with these)
Phoenix Engineering GT1 Delrin Bushings for the Lower Control Arms. I expect the car to drive like a train now :lol: 
I also received and installed a 2.2 ohm 1/2 watt resistor and the airbag light is gone now for the steering wheel. I am currently working on finding a push style button that is long enough to clear the airbag retaining screw holes on the sides of the steering wheel so that I can wire in a working horn button. I'm thinking something along these lines:









Lastly, some items currently on the way:
Rear Caliper Parking Brake Retaining Springs (I bent one to oblivion trying to get the parking brake cable off the caliper so I could remove the trailing arm. I will make a separate post in here regarding this one I get it sorted so that it can be archived for future reference and so people don't make the same mistake I did.) 
Garth's Quattro Sport Net from Wiggles01 here on the forum, he was kind enough to sell it and ship it to me from over there in the UK. Great guy. Hopefully once it's here I can ditch the rear seats finally for more weight savings.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

While I'm waiting on the rear axle parts, I decided to do some more engine bay work and install my PE injector cups.



I also wire brushed the hard vacuum pipe that was acquiring surface rust and painted it black. 



Lastly we got our Outer CV Joint kit in, now we're just waiting on the inner cv boot kit and the rear caliper e-brake spring.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Rear Seat Delete has been started. I received my net from Wiggles today. Very nicely made, car looks and feels like less of a street car now and more like a track car :lol:


















Gonna weigh the rear seats tomorrow and add that to the weight reduction list. Just for a while I'm going to keep the bottom cushion in the car to brace the amp in place and because I don't have a box made yet to replace it.


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Why is everything red? :wink:


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## Space (Apr 24, 2014)

Nice machine you have there.  Keep posting


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## hang your idols (Jul 8, 2013)

CollecTTor said:


> Why is everything red? :wink:


Good question! :lol:


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## Space (Apr 24, 2014)

I like red also


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## Mondo (Feb 20, 2009)

I'm liking those injector cups. $70 though... :?

Group buy?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Mondo said:


> I'm liking those injector cups. $70 though... :?
> 
> Group buy?


You could give it a shot. Remember he's from the US as well so it's $70 + shipping I'd imagine. Doubt he's hit the UK market though so you could maybe persuade him to do a group buy if you gather enough interest.

As far as red, the "theme" of the car is black, red, and silver. No other color is present on the car.


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> As far as red, the "theme" of the car is black, red, and silver. No other color is present on the car.


So when are you painting the dipstick? :wink: Just giving you a hard time, glad she's coming along and back together.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

CollecTTor said:


> Gonzalo1495 said:
> 
> 
> > As far as red, the "theme" of the car is black, red, and silver. No other color is present on the car.
> ...


I'll just buy a WhanAB dipstick :lol: :lol: :lol:

I know man haha. Believe me I've mentally blocked out the dipstick from my mind since it's the only little shit in the engine bay that doesn't match.


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## Mondo (Feb 20, 2009)

Brett aka whanab does a nice billet alu' tube and dipstick. I've got one. Was a prick to fit but looks awesome. 

The caps for me are the thin edge of a very expensive wedge. Caps would go in a zircotec coated mani - so that's another £300 or so. :?


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## Mondo (Feb 20, 2009)

Fook me; buying from Brett is wot you said.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Well according to my extremely conservative estimates on this thread, I have officially gotten the car below 3,000lbs via the rear seat delete. The seats weighed in a little over 13lbs each. I left the seat cushion in for now since I don't have a custom box made up yet.

I have fully replaced the CV Joint, Boots, and installed the new trailing arm. Gonna assemble the car back together today and see if the wheel sits like normal now. Fingers crossed!

I also installed the 2.0 FSI/TSI Coilpack cover. It took a bit of cutting to make room for the two extraneous wires but it worked out nicely and I didn't have to do any cutting that would make it look botched.


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Find a scale and confirm that weight. 8)


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

CollecTTor said:


> Find a scale and confirm that weight. 8)


I'm interested too. I'm confident he's right in what he says, I work in kg not lbs, I converted it and it says 3000lbs is 1360kg. My last weigh in of my car was 1360kg and that was with all four stock seats (which it still has). It now has the AC removed too and a few other bits and pieces so I think he's for sure hit 3000lbs<.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

I have a scale quite frankly a mile away from me! However, this car really LOVES to continue to throw problems at me... [smiley=bomb.gif]

While I assembled everything today, 2 things happened:
1) It seems the upper control arm outer end is bent at an angle (most likely due to the trailing arm being bent in the accident). I confirmed this because on the new trailing arm, I can not align the control arm so that the bolt can slide through both holes, only 1 at a time. I'm not sure if I can just straighten out the control arm myself or if it's structural integrity and rigidity has been compromised now. 
2) While winding back my rear brake caliper so I could get the wheels on finally, the piston seal cracked open. So now I have to replace the seal or get a whole new caliper. This means I also have to bleed the brake fluid now...

Fix 1 thing, 2 more break is probably the most accurate thing about these cars anyone's ever said.

So she'll be collecting more and more dust as I get these parts in. Maybe some day I'll actually be able to drive this biTTch :roll:


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Keep going Gonzy you'll get there my friend.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Hopefully I will brotha. Just an incredibly frustrating process. Needed to vent for a little there :x

Ordered the following:
Atec TYP 200 DOT4 Brake Fluid (3 LItres)
Caliper Seal Repair kit
3 Ltr Schwaben Brake bleeder
Catch Bottle

That should be everything right?


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> I have a scale quite frankly a mile away from me! However, this car really LOVES to continue to throw problems at me... [smiley=bomb.gif]
> 
> While I assembled everything today, 2 things happened:
> 1) It seems the upper control arm outer end is bent at an angle (most likely due to the trailing arm being bent in the accident). I confirmed this because on the new trailing arm, I can not align the control arm so that the bolt can slide through both holes, only 1 at a time. I'm not sure if I can just straighten out the control arm myself or if it's structural integrity and rigidity has been compromised now.
> ...


Rather then a bent trailing arm, is it not more likely that it was an issue with the tie-bar being bent? I'd say this is much more likely given the comparison of size between a tie bar and a trailing arm. Would likely effect the toe too if it was significantly out?

That's three of us recently who have royally cocked up rear brake calipers... they're not as easy as you think!! [smiley=bigcry.gif]

Keep going, a replacement OEM tie bar shouldn't be much, nor a calliper seal... nearly there dude!


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

NickG said:


> Gonzalo1495 said:
> 
> 
> > I have a scale quite frankly a mile away from me! However, this car really LOVES to continue to throw problems at me... [smiley=bomb.gif]
> ...


In my limited experience Nick, it seems to be random. I had my MAIN hub (not the wheel hub) bend rather than the tie-rod or control arm which I thought was bizarre. Go figure :-|.


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## 1781cc (Jan 25, 2015)

Add me to the rear calliper f**kup list... things are sent to test you Gonz, keep persisting and it'll be worth it!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

1781cc said:


> Add me to the rear calliper f**kup list... things are sent to test you Gonz, keep persisting and it'll be worth it!


Trying my best man.

More persisting it seems. The replacement control arm arrived today. It's from the same year as my car so it's the right size, measured and all. I can not get it to square up to the new trailing arm while also squaring up to the rear subframe mount...

Seeing as we can rule out the control arm being bent now, what do you guys think? Subframe? Maybe shocks? At this point idk.


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> 1781cc said:
> 
> 
> > Add me to the rear calliper f**kup list... things are sent to test you Gonz, keep persisting and it'll be worth it!
> ...


Trailing arm / hub, pretty sure. probably $50.00 on eBay shipped, maybe a little less .


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Have you got pics to upload so we can see what you mean? To get it in first time I find jacking the hub up to a more level position helped me.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

If you look through this thread at the pics, there should be plenty of space between the the arms mount to the hub.

http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=181919

Ideally get the subframe end mounted and then take a photo of the hub end to show us how far out it is from fitting.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Hey Tom!

I already swapped in a new trailing arm, complete with new hub, new cv joints, boots.

@ Nick I'll try again tomorrow morning. To be honest, I've been so tired from work lately I just tried to throw it on and had no success so gave up quickly. I'll do a more involved attempt at fitting it tomorrow! Thank you for the tips. Hopefully you're right.

I'll get some pics up tomorrow


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> Hey Tom!
> 
> I already swapped in a new trailing arm, complete with new hub, new cv joints, boots.
> 
> ...


What the fuark ... I guess if you've done that then all that's left is the bits you haven't done then I guess? It's always the last bit you change that fixes it, it was for me any way if that's any conciliation .


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## Beunhaas (May 14, 2014)

Do you mean you can't get the control arm to line up witht the bush on the hub?

If that's the case it's quite normal. The bush is 'twisted' when everything is connected.
What i did when replacing the rear springs and disconnected them i used a screwdriver and put that through the bush. now you can rotate it so that it alligns 'square' with the control arm. use a jack under the hub to push it a bit more up. Now the trick was to use the screwdriver to twist the bush and make it square with the control arm and slide it inward from the end of the control arm while jacking up the hub.

Putting in the bolts is another ballache.
If you got the bush from the hub in the sleeve on the control arm use the screwdriver again to manipulate the bush so that from one side the bolt can be pushed in. once half in just use a hammer and tap it all the way through.

hope this helps a bit :lol:


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

^^^^ this. Mount to the subframe first, then manipulate the bushing on the hub end via screwdriver through the bush to line up to the arm. [smiley=cheers.gif]


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

As above, you seem to be describing a problem with fitting not incorrect parts?
Put everything back on the car ,including the haldex subframe bolts and all the tiebar bolts except the one at the hub end of the upper tie bar.No need to torque them up fully yet.

Get a bottle jack under point A on the trailing arm (rear of the car is already supported  ) Raise the bottle jack slowly. While lifting ,because of the angle the upper hub end will be tilted outwards more as you lift . Youll get to a point where a crowbar/tyre remover or a very big screwdriver  can be inserted at B between the bar and the hub lug and you can lever the tiebar down over the joint.
I also used this method to reduce the neg camber as much as possible (by taking up all the freeplay) before the bolts were fully tightened . Since youre using rosejoints you can do this.
This is refered to in John-H's how to section.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

The previous trailing arm had rose joints, but the new one I installed has the revised bushings which don't move. This is what's making this difficult for me.

Edit:
Just went outside and did Nick's suggestion sort of. Hopefully these steps help someone who also has the solid bush type.

1) Jack the car up from underneath the spring (Like 3TT3 showed us in his post! TY BTW)
2) Disconnect everything from the trailing arm (Lower Control Arm and sway bar link + rear shock)
3) Connect Upper Control arm to the subframe first
4) Use a screw driver to give you enough leverage to slide the bolt in. Once I got the "lip" of the threads in, I just used the ratchet to drive the bolt in like normal and now everything is in!

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. Really not sure how this turned into such an involved process lol but glad it's sorted. Now just waiting for my brake fluid and my equipment and hopefully we'll see where we are at with the suspension soon.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Wooop wooop!!

Glad it's in dude! Does it look any more... aligned?!


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

NickG said:


> Wooop wooop!!
> 
> Glad it's in dude! Does it look any more... aligned?!


Fingers crossed that he replies with "Yup, all fixed" 8)...


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

TT Tom TT said:


> NickG said:
> 
> 
> > Wooop wooop!!
> ...


Yup, kinda fixed? [smiley=dunce2.gif]

I'm not sure if I've said it enough times on the forums, but I do want to remind everyone that when it comes to suspension and alignments I am severely lacking in knowledge as far as that category is concerned. So the following may sound idiotic to the suspension gurus here so just keep that in mind lol.

I fitted everything today minus the brakes. Everything is bolted up. I *THINK* everything is sorted now. But I have some doubts. For starters;





This is the best I could get it "straight" as far as toe goes. I only adjusted the camber however. I ran out of day light so I didn't use the 4 bolts that hold the trailing arm to the underbody which are meant to adjust toe.

I'd really like someone to confirm this if it's true, but I noticed the more negative camber (increasing the length of the adj. control arm at the bottom) I added, the more "inward" the toe became. Is this normal? This seems to be the case.

The less camber, the more the toe came in line as seen in the above pictures. The above pictures had a positive camber however, which is far from ideal as we all know.

So can I realistically expect a big difference in adjusting the toe at the bottom to bring everything back in line? Or is there another underlying suspension component that needs to be replaced?

This is what we had before all the suspension work began. THIS was very noticable and worse compared to how she's sitting now. So I can tell swapping out the trailing arm removed a lot of the problem. 


I mentioned that I am just waiting on the brake fluid and equipment so I can put the brakes back on and do a brake fluid flush. 
I have a few questions:

I left the brake lines just sitting in the open (refurbishing the calipers), is this okay to do?
If I don't touch the brake pedal or turn on the ignition in the car, the brake fluid that should be coming out should only be what's in the lines right, and not leaking out fluid from the entire system? I read that if you are performing a fluid flush and you run out of fluid while you are pressurizing the system that you can get air into the ABS system?

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, hope to get this sorted soon and start enjoying this thing again... lol


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> TT Tom TT said:
> 
> 
> > NickG said:
> ...


I honestly think suspension is one of the most complex and important things which is why you, I and many others are definitely no experts on it... I could be well wrong here but that rear wheel to me looks like it's toe'ing IN quite significantly, I'd guess at like +4 or something which seems like a hell of a lot.

I think the toe'ing IN is hiding a small amount of positive camber too or neutral camber? Quite unusual as typically there is too much negative camber on rear wheels as you know so this seems unusual to me? Especially if you've dropped your car a little.

Nick or someone will hopefully shed some light on this, totally sympathise with struggling with suspension though, there's so many variables and adjustables, it's certainly a mine-field.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Tyres sticking out like that,a least the upper part not covered by the wheelarch are illegal over here.
Probably something to do with the romans /britons and spiked chariot wheels 

Course you knew that  ,but still it will be very difficult to stop that tyre rubbing ,with the suspension that low,unless you stick to very flat roads.

How to get it to clear if youre going to run with that much poke?
Increase the neg camber (a lot) ."I like to go swimmin with bow legged women".
If you do vary the camber ,whatever way you do it youre going to change the toe , mainly cos the tie bars/control arms arent vertical to each other but offset.

You can diy the camber angle by using a vertical straight edge /or a plumb line and measure the distance between the top edge of the wheel rim and the bottom edge and the old right angled triangle theorem thing 
The results are fairly accurate , within 1/2 degree anyway.Easier with bigger wheels. Use the wheelrim edge not the tyre itself cos of tyre compression etc.

Lets say /depending on how much its lowered ,you want camber max about -3 degrees.I know thats not ideal more like -2 would be better but.
Anyway set the camber as best you can with the toe adjusters locked near the end of their travel towards the body sides(doesnt sound like you have adjustable tiebars,mm's,cookbots or whoever) .

Then you come to toe adjustment..and I really dont know a diy way of doing this .Maybe there is some kit in the US ,but Id feel a visual check is a waste of time 
You really need 4 wheel alignment done too.
+ theres the idea that lhs and rhs toe in probably wont be exactly the same, what you need is 0 thrust angle ,so the back wont be pulling to one side or the other.
I for 1 couldnt guesstimate that 
We wouldnt want any more"hello mr ditch and how are you today" incidents


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## Beunhaas (May 14, 2014)

My english isnt the best but if i read it correct he has adjustable lower control arms (madmax make if i remember right)

About the suspension, hell i have no idea. For some reason i prefer to read BT builds over suspension topics.

Are you sure your calculations about rim width and ET are correct? Its a hell of a lot of poke to fit in the arch.



3TT3 said:


> Anyway set the camber as best you can with the toe adjusters locked near the end of their travel towards the body sides(doesnt sound like you have adjustable tiebars,mm's,cookbots or whoever) .





TT Tom TT said:


> Quite unusual as typically there is too much negative camber on rear wheels as you know so this seems unusual to me? Especially if you've dropped your car a little.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

It most likely just needs an alignment. The right side which I have not touched has negative camber and a lot less "poke" at the top.

My car is not necessarily about being "street legal". :lol: Florida is incredibly lax when it comes to regulations and enforcement so we never have issues. Thank god I don't live in an extremely liberal state like NY or California.

@3TT3 yeah man I completely agree, the car needs a 4 wheel alignment. I took it a few weeks back to get it diagnosed before having it done because the inward toe was just way too much and sure enough the trailing arm was bent inward. I'm gonna fiddle around with the toe adjustment bolts a bit today and see if I can't dial in more negative camber without increasing inward toe. I'll post some follow up pics. And as Beunhaas mentioned I have Max's adjustable control arms.

@Beunhaas Me too brotha. Suspension is a minefield as Tom put it. I'd much rather focus on dialing in power, adjusting my fuel trims, doing mods etc. 
Unfortunately suspension is a critical role when building/modifying a car so you have to get through it regardless. Just doing my best to learn as I go.

And as far as the wheels fitting under, they are perfectly fine. I've already driven the car (before I started the suspension work) and aside from potholes she was perfectly fine. After swapping out all the suspension components I did, I also went ahead and added the spring perches back onto the rear of the car to keep it from rubbing in the case of a small bump on the road, and I raised the front up a slight bit. It took a lot of research but you can definitely manage to cram 9" wheels and 275 rubber underneath this thing! 8)


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

I'm amazed at all the comments regarding suspension being difficult! 

Undo some bolts, do them back up again, line things up... no fancy electronics, no theory over flow rates, temperatures etc. Get your alignment wrong and the car will feel twitchy under different conditions, so have a play until you get it right... not enough fuel, too much timing (?), too hot and you melt stuff or your engine blows up or you bend a rod or you throw a rod and get jumped by a gang of thugs in balaclavas (That last outcome might be wrong!).

Suspension is easy!!



> This is the best I could get it "straight" as far as toe goes. I only adjusted the camber however. I ran out of day light so I didn't use the 4 bolts that hold the trailing arm to the underbody which are meant to adjust toe


Those 4 bolts are gunna be where you make up most of your toe, obviously you want to pull the mount as far to the outside of the car as possible, then see where it lies and start dialing your camber back in. I'd do this now before paying for another alignment just for peace of mind that it is possible.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Since your in a State that came up trumps Ill send another bit of sunshine your way:
(theres a couple of bad puns in there  )
In John-H's suspension article viewtopic.php?f=2&t=333588&p=2599583
he mentions those pesky tiebars.

_Of course if you lower even more you may run out of toe adjustment the other way and your adjustable tie bars may not shorten enough even if you do take the lock washers off (the right hand lockwasher is useless with the left hand thread anyway). Another trick is to take the shorter original top bars (515 mm) and fit them in the lower position and then fit your adjustable tie bars in the upper position and make them longer to compensate. This can then centre the toe adjustment slots for you._

You have 517mm upper bars anyway I think..but wouldnt it be fun if you had to swop the adjustable bar to the top..NOT.

MM has a long read suspension article too, somewhere on the US forums.with graphic uppydowny suspension movement diagrams.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Well guys, not to jump the gun or anything but I thing we are solid!

Performed my novice alignment today of the rear and got it pretty spot on. I couldn't quite push the bracket all the way to the edge so I'm sure I have even more toe that I can dial out. 
This is what we left off on before I adjusted the trailing arm bracket:

Here are two pictures, I need to find a sweet spot in between picture 1 and 2 in order to match the right side.

Picture 1: More camber than the right side, this created more inward toe. 

Picture 2: Adj. Control arm pulled back all the way in, less negative camber than the right side, but toe is practically neutral! 

At this point I left it at picture #2. I may dial try to push the front of the trailing arm more outward again tomorrow, but ultimately I think it's ready to go get a proper alignment. Just waiting on the brakes now. I also take it since no one responded to my questions about just leaving the brake lines out in the open that I shouldn't worry about having an empty MC or getting air into the ABS system? :lol:


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

It still looks a bit "ripleys believe it or not " on upper arch contact to me unless theres like 0 suspension travel, but hey if you say its so,I'm unworthy


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Glad you've solved the toe issue, I really can't see that the tyre isn't gunna catch that arch under load though!!! It's got to travel at least 10mm and I can't see the dynamic camber tucking it under that arch to stop rubbing issues :?:


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

3TT3 said:


> It still looks a bit "ripleys believe it or not " on upper arch contact to me unless theres like 0 suspension travel, but hey if you say its so,I'm unworthy


I can always adjust the perch to increase the ride height! It's at the lowest right now.

Believe it or not, the raceland coils are stiff enough that I got NO rubbing in the rear even before I put the perches in. The only place that rubbed was up front and that was because I had it dirt nasty low and it only rubbed on potholes and bumps ON THE HIGHWAY. Not even on the street. If I wanted to I could remove the perches for a lower look in the rear but I added them because I want the ride height to be similar front and rear!

Edit:
@Nick lol you guys worry too much! I can always raise it up if it comes to that, like I mentioned when I went to the suspension shop the first time with the bad trailing arm the only place that rubbed was up front, and that was with the car sitting lower than it is now and with a ton of bumps, holes in the road etc. traveling anywhere between 40-70mph on the highway.


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## ProjectMick (Sep 29, 2015)

Good job on sorting that out yourself. Hopefully it doesn't catch (would be a pain to have to raise it up).


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

Simple way to appease the crowd Gonzalo:

jack one front end corner all the way up --> this will squat the opposite rear going through the geometry's natural camber curve. If you clear the rear arch, everyone will be able to sleep in peace. If you have contact, then you know you have more sorting and clearancing to do in the back. Regardless, that's nothing that can't be sorted rather easily, there is plenty of inner clearance out back... don't ask me how I know.

BTW, you want some toe-in in the back. Zero rear toe is not desirable unless you have a death wish (way too ustable in high speed cornering). I suggest you get an alignment and just give them the specs that you want. Car is starting to look proper, keep up the out-of-the-box work! 
'


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Let's not misinterpret what I'm saying here, because I'm all for going wider with the rubber!!

BUT if we are trying to convince a community with what's achievable, in order to get people to believe you have got to be honest. Offsets are important as is recording and letting people know what work is required. Unless you're running spacers which iirc you're not, it's not going to be possible to pull that wheel in more... in which case it's the arch that has to flare out more. (Correct me if I'm missing an obvious solution here!!).

This also extends to, if it rubs, be honest and say!! Rubbing is not desireable at any speed or condition, so personally you need to find away to eliminate it and as above, record what you've done to eliminate it for others to be able to use.

I'm not being negative or a naysayer, just think if we're going to convince people, good hard facts and honesty are important!!

So if you can, try Max's suggestion of jacking one front side up and upload some photos showing how it tucks under the arch, then everyone can sleep easy!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

NickG said:


> Let's not misinterpret what I'm saying here, because I'm all for going wider with the rubber!!
> 
> BUT if we are trying to convince a community with what's achievable, in order to get people to believe you have got to be honest. Offsets are important as is recording and letting people know what work is required. Unless you're running spacers which iirc you're not, it's not going to be possible to pull that wheel in more... in which case it's the arch that has to flare out more. (Correct me if I'm missing an obvious solution here!!).
> 
> ...


If you look under my mod list, you will find my spacer sizes for both front and rear...  :lol: 


> 15mm F 20mm R hubcentric spacers


And like I mentioned, I've already stated when the car rubbed which was essentially on a very poorly built highway with un-optimal road conditions.

I'm a big believer in honesty, you'll find that's one of the many flaws I don't have :wink: With that said, I completely agree with your post that it's always better for the sake of the community and documentation purposes to accurately describe everything. There's enough misinformation running rampant on these forums as is!

I'll get some pics of the rear wheels like Max described once I get the brakes in, can't jack up the front if there is nothing holding the rear down lol..


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

:lol: I even quoted that further back in the thread! :roll:

Okay, so either way you have the option to move it in then, provided you clear the shock, but iirc there is loads of space inside at the rear (The front is where it's tight!). I personally don't think the road condition is a consideration to be made, in my opinion the car should be fit for any surface (within reason!!) without rubbing, after all a high speed sweeping bend can put a lot of load on the tyre as can a lower speed sharp bend and you won't want to catch on either.



Gonzalo1495 said:


>


Your front looks to be sitting perfect though! Gunna be a mean setup... what are your thoughts on alignment spec aims?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

NickG said:


> :lol: I even quoted that further back in the thread! :roll:
> 
> Okay, so either way you have the option to move it in then, provided you clear the shock, but iirc there is loads of space inside at the rear (The front is where it's tight!). I personally don't think the road condition is a consideration to be made, in my opinion the car should be fit for any surface (within reason!!) without rubbing, after all a high speed sweeping bend can put a lot of load on the tyre as can a lower speed sharp bend and you won't want to catch on either.
> 
> ...


Yep you definitely have a point there. I was just mentioning that only in very rough conditions did it start rubbing.

Alignment goals:
Front
As much neg. camber as I can get. 
Virtually no toe

Rear
-1.5 camber (I'm sure I can get away with -2 degrees, it's not my daily so tire wear is irrelevant to me)
1/16 toe in at a minimum (as recommended by Max)


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Update:

We are back on the road. Brakes and clutch were bled yesterday. I bled the clutch twice, using a power bleeder for the brakes and clutch fyi, I bled the clutch the first time like I did the brakes normally, then I noticed the clutch pedal was softer than before. Went back and bled again using this technique:
- Have someone press the clutch in the car all the way down
- While the clutch is pressed in, hook up your catch bottle and then loosen the bleed screw in front of the gearbox
- Once you open the bleed screw, the clutch pedal should drop to the floor
- Manually pick it up and pump it 5 or 6 times
- After you've finished manually pumping it, leave it depressed in again (should stay down by itself, you still have the bleed screw open)
-close the bleed screw and lift the clutch pedal. Now your clutch pedal feels firm and brand new!

Even after bleeding the entire system the first time, when I redid the clutch again, none of the new race fluid came out, I think both methods bled two different parts of the system. I remember reading a post on vortex where one side of the clutch bleeder screw box doesn't get bled normally (the left side) and most people use a syringe to do that side.

Anyways, the ATE Type 200 (same as super blue minus the blue color) is in the system now, braking is fantastic, this completely confirms my belief that you don't need 6 pot brakes for performance, you need a clean system with good fluid and fresh pads. 
The brake calipers were rebuilt, pistons were cleaned, new seals were placed in, and the calipers received fresh paint.




I don't think I've posted an interior picture yet so good time to plug that in this thread  


Edit:
I also forgot, my boost gauge is getting replaced with a nicer one that is more accurate. It always had a +1psi reading, now it's bonkers and reading +6 difference lol.


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## DC240S (Sep 24, 2014)

I love how everything (i.e. callipers) is rust free - Benefit of being in Florida


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

DC240S said:


> I love how everything (i.e. callipers) is rust free - Benefit of being in Florida


I love it! There's not a spot of rust on this car. Granted I clean the underside of it once a year as well, and I've been on top of spray painting every piece that I remove in order to prevent rust. If you look closely at the trailing arm I swapped in, it's all freshly painted. Can never be too careful!


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

My gauge (electric and sensor from chinatown) often isnt spot on initially,must be just set for standard oat and pressure.
Rust free is gooood!.then again seats look a little dry


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Here's the current ride height, I went overkill simply because some of the roads here are terrible. Had this been a dedicated track car I would have slightly raised it. It's also my fault for getting my tires in 275/40 and not 275/35 like 3TT3 mentioned in an earlier post. The car looks mean with these big wheels :lol:

The car handles like it's glued to the pavement, no body roll, no slip, just pure corner hugging fun. Can't wait to get it dialed in with a proper alignment, the front left wheel has way more camber than the passenger side right now. 
Here's how she sits now



All that's left now off the top of my head is:
Forge Unos Boost Controller (29psi)
New Boost Gauge (To make sure I have an accurate gauge and don't bend a rod cranking up the boost to 32psi)
Water Injection
GT1 Delrin Bushings for the LCA


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## infidel.uk (Feb 21, 2015)

That looks the bomb ! i think is the correct word. :lol:

Really like the way this sits on the road, what size/offset are the wheels :?
Also interested to see how much neg camber you can get when the time comes as im going to attempt the same thing with as much neg as possible on the front.


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## Baalthazaar (Jul 11, 2010)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> Update:
> 
> We are back on the road. Brakes and clutch were bled yesterday. I bled the clutch twice, using a power bleeder for the brakes and clutch fyi, I bled the clutch the first time like I did the brakes normally, then I noticed the clutch pedal was softer than before. Went back and bled again using this technique:
> - Have someone press the clutch in the car all the way down
> ...


I don't know if you've noticed but someone's fitted your steering wheel on the wrong side how do you reach it from the drivers Seat?..


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## Mondo (Feb 20, 2009)

It's his drinking car. When he's as drunk as a Lord his manservant can drive him home and preserve the illusion that it's him wot is driving.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

infidel.uk said:


> That looks the bomb ! i think is the correct word. :lol:
> 
> Really like the way this sits on the road, what size/offset are the wheels :?
> Also interested to see how much neg camber you can get when the time comes as im going to attempt the same thing with as much neg as possible on the front.


Wheels at 17x9 +30 offset. 
Yeah I agree, if I had to change anything, I'd get the tires in a 35 profile instead of 40, so the car would sit a little lower and look a bit more subtle. It looks like a straight up track monster now.

Yeah if I can pull -1.5 degrees I'll be content. I may upgrade to MK2 Ball Joints just to know for a fact that I can hit that.

@Mondo and Baal: Only when I'm absolutely faded does my private chauffeur come and pick me up. :lol: You silly blokes across the pond, pffft.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Car is doing great, really enjoying the NT05 tires, they are unbelievable!

She is shedding more weight today, I received my Deka ETX30L battery. Weighs 21 lbs, Cold Cranking Amps are 400 which will be plenty in Florida. Probably could have gone smaller but decided not to risk it. Very cheap battery as well. 

When buying a Deka battery, you have to also purchase terminals for the cables. Picked these up for cheap: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q ... UTF8&psc=1

OEM battery has been said to weigh 40lbs+ from what I've read online. If anyone could confirm this that would be fantastic. We are looking at a 19lb loss of weight off the front nose of the car if that's the case!

Also going to remove the rear toe hook assembly, glimpsed at it today and it seems like a bumper-off job. Will tackle it tomorrow along with attempting to do a full detailing of the paint. I purchased the following equipment for the job:

Porter Cable 7424 XP DA Polisher/Buffer
Meguiar's Ultra Finishing Polish M205
Meguiar's Ultra-Cut Compound M105
6" Backing plate
Corresponding pads for the Polish and Compound (White and Orange respectively)
Clay Bar

Very excited to see how this turns out and if I can remove some swirl marks and scratches! The paint has been pretty neglected in it's prior life before I owned the car.

Lastly, waiting on MK2 Ball Joints before taking the car to get an alignment. Should be sometime this month that we get to that.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Looking good, are you sure on the battery weights?

My OEM was 13kg/28.6lbs and the one going in is 7kg/15.4lbs for reference!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

NickG said:


> Looking good, are you sure on the battery weights?
> 
> My OEM was 13kg/28.6lbs and the one going in is 7kg/15.4lbs for reference!


Interesting. Mine is the same battery as OEM, just from a mercedes dealership (old owner?). Threw it on the scale and it weighs 44lbs roughly. You sure yours was OEM?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Detailing was a MAJOR success. Blown away by the results. I finished just now around 7pm EST, so I will have to upload some day pics tomorrow.

99% of scratches were removed with the Ultra Cut Compound. There's a few dried up compound residue in some of the pics, hard to clean up when it's pitch black at night lol. 





One of the worst scratches that were present on the car:


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Looking good Gonzy


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

:-|

Spent my day today hoping to install the MK2 ball joints and GT1 Delrin bushings only to have to come to a halt because the control arm bolt in the rear position decided to round off.... So annoyed right now.

I was hoping to get the car aligned tomorrow and finally move on from suspension but it seems I'm stuck for the time being. Going to do some calling around and find a place that can remove it. It's stripped to the point where I think it would need to be spot welded to remove it. My guess is when I had the downpipe fitted, the idiots just used air tools and tightened it as tight as possible instead of the correct torque spec...

Edit: Had to bring out the ole' breaker bar. Got a 17mm socket (1 size smaller) and hammered the living hell out of it until it fit, then presto it came off.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Very busy past few weeks for me with the holidays and all. Had to do what I could in between days but most of the car is near completion and ready for the road in a few days.

New Meyle tie rod ends


OEM rear position bushings and Phoenix Engineering GT1 Delrin front position bushings were pressed in and fitted to the car


MK2 Ball joints were taken to a machine shop to get cut to fit the MK1 control arms (These add a good amount of camber!!)


Passenger side CV axle was confirmed to be a giant chinese POS aftermarket replacement. Tried to replace just the outer joint with a new one and because it was not a joint from the same chinese company, the clearances were way off and the Joint would SPIN AROUND THE AXLE SHAFT!!!  Basically had no power going to that wheel since the axle could not spin the joint. 


Removed the Rear tow eye and rear back seat cushion. 5lbs and 6lbs respectively. Also organized my wires (I have an extensive background in computers so this is just by nature now lol)


Fitted new boost gauge. Incredibly accurate, reads up to 60psi if you want, customizable, affordable. Supports Data Logging directly. 10/10 would recommend.


Got around to painting the front calipers. 


Removed my cheesy Euro Plate (We are going function over form boys! Stay tuned for what's gonna happen to the front of the car :wink: ). 


So we are waiting on a front passenger CV axle from Raxles which happens to also be in Florida. Alongside a replacement front spindle to (hopefully) sort out the front driver side wheel which is bent in and has wayyy to much camber (I wish I could get this much camber LOL. Maybe I should hit a curb on the passenger side).

Assuming the spindle is the culprit, the car will be drivable (to my standards) by this upcoming weekend.


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## Beunhaas (May 14, 2014)

ehhh, there is something red sticking out of the lower grill [smiley=bigcry.gif]


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

Good progress bud! BTW you seem to have a flux capacitor where your backseat used to be... must be building another one of those night club on wheels. Take that junk off, remove the exposed bitumen and it'll look super clean back there with the net and bar. :wink:


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Thanks everyone!


Madmax199 said:


> Good progress bud! BTW you seem to have a flux capacitor where your backseat used to be... must be building another one of those night club on wheels. Take that junk off, remove the exposed bitumen and it'll look super clean back there with the net and bar. :wink:


If there is one thing I can't compromise while driving it's music. It's not a heavy amp at all either so eh :lol: .

I scrubbed most of the grime and dirt. Keep in mind that area won't be visible once I have my replica QS box. The bitumen was rather difficult to remove. Most of it was on the sound deadening though, so maybe it's a sign to make that my next weight savings task.

Onto the update:

- I installed my new Raxle into the front passenger side. The joints on the driver's side were flawless so simply re-greased and placed a fresh boot on them. 


- New spindle is in. After 2 days of novice alignment attempts, I've determined I've solved half the problem as far as the driver's side wheel having more negative camber. The replacement spindle brought it back down well, but it's still noticeable if you really look at it. My guess is since the spindle was bent, by association so is the strut! I had both control arms out when I did the bushings and they seemed fine. Could also be the tie bar at this point but my gut feeling is telling me that it's the strut.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


PASSENGER SIDE:


No problem really, since I want to get some good coil overs for the car now, the Raceland's are average, and while they did have the capacity to go very low, the spring rates are not enough to handle the grip of the car and the fact that my tires have significantly affected my ride height so their one positive no longer applies to me. (Really regretting not going 275/35 since this will be a street car first).

- A recent thread reminded me that I have an S4 maf lying around so I will throw that on the car as well.

- My plans for the front of the car have begun. I got tired of the euro plate, and the front filler has deeply scratched. Some inspiration from a handful of TT's out there led me to cut it out. I also ordered a set of lower grills because I plan on having my intercooler piping done custom (will be black not red lol) so it's all 1 piece rather than some couplers and tubes, so no longer need the cut up ones (Which I myself am not a fan on believe me). 


- Snow Performance Stage 2 WMI kit has been ordered. I have also ordered the "sandwich" style nozzle mount so I can mount one nozzle in the intercooler piping. Other nozzle will be post TB. Because it's post TB and will be exposed to vacuum, had to order a solenoid for that nozzle. I don't think I need one for the intercooler nozzle, and if so the way SP routes more than 1 line (tee off) they can share the solenoid if my understanding is correct.

Nozzle post TB: 175ml/min
Nozzle intercooler piping: 375ml/min (Haven't decided on pre or post intercooler placement yet)

I desperately want to utilize the washer fluid bottle, so I will give that a try and hopefully it works. Haven't seen a single write up on it for these cars however.

- I updated the first post of this thread with my goals. I want 29-30lbs of boost, and making 300whp, or 360bhp. This will yield a power to weight ratio that I will be happy with. Hopefully tuning the WMI with lemmiwinks will be straight forward. Seems that way.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Okay, Water injection is a GO folks!

So far I have the following:
1 pre Intercooler nozzle right after the charge pipe: 175ml/min
1 post TB nozzle: 100ml/min
Innitial Spray: 2.5V
Full Spray: 3.25V

Today was a hot day here in FL. 84 ambient (F). I saw initial IAT's at WOT around the 40*c range. After many logs and a lot of heatsoak we were peaking at 65*c IAT's after back to back logs and no "cool down" driving. Pretty damn good. I would imagine this is the kind of abuse the car would see on a track and the car handled well.

*The post TB nozzle does not sit flush inside the TB spacer. It's sits about 3/4 inside the threaded hole. Seems like a compatibility issue with 034 Motorsports TB spacer tbh.. Not sure if this is affection my spray pattern or if it shouldn't be a problem. I don't think it should since they are small nozzles which should be atomizing easily with the 300PSI pump...

** Another note I want to make is I found myself running lean right after install. I ended up having to add fuel to the tune in order to bring A/F back down. I will post more about this after I do more logs with different adjustments and understand the effects of wi firsthand better.

The install itself was pretty straight forward. Aside from the nozzles (hard to hide) everything was tucked away. Only issue I had was I could not flip the throttle body upwards so the electronics would be on top. The wiring loom for the TB connector was too short, and I really did not want to wire anything else after that lengthy install. 





I decided to revisit my past project of the velocity stack. I came across new information recently that showed different V-stack designs and how they affected airflow. 
It seems the wider the top of the V stack is in relation to the neck, the more airflow. So I ditched my 6" -> 4" V-Stack for a 6" -> 3" one, and I can notice the improvement on logs. 


As of right now, no filter. Not sure if I'll bother with one either tbh. Sidenote: You can see the Audi S4 82mm maf housing is installed as well.

I ran out of time today to finish "tuning" the car, but I left off at 102% Fuel on Increasing Load, and 1.17% Primary. We were seeing almost 11* of CF in some logs, after adding more fuel and bring down the a/f, we are now in the 6's area. Not good, but I am on the right track at least. After I get it relatively solid, I'll throw the MBC in and we'll crank up boost and make final adjustments. I'd rather go into the MBC install with a good tune versus throwing 2 different animals onto the car at once and trying to get them to cooperate. :lol:

Highest log reading today showed roughly 294bhp via the Maf g/s butt dyno
Here's a booty pic from a few days ago just cause.


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

Sweet update, what made you go for your first nozzle pre-intercooler rather than post? That's quite unusal as it's typically one after the intercooler and then one next to the TB.

Do you have the screens in your MAF or is it de-screened? If it's screened I think you MAY get away with no filtering element for a time being if your area of the World is low on dust / particulate crap.

Funnily enough we have the exact same velocity stack, this is mine :lol:...

Straight from China: 160*75*75mm by any chance ?


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## Wak (May 6, 2002)

Recommendation for you:- the post valve pipework to the throttle body,

Use clear hose not red then you can see the liquid and when idling you can spray brake cleaner on the joints to see if any liquid is drawn in under vacuum.

I just found a long term leak that was a push fitting from the solenoid valve outlet that needed a new fitting to cure.

Clear pipe was the way I found it seeing the drawn in fluid.


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## intott (Apr 7, 2015)

Well done on the install Gonz.

I'm about to install my WI kit which has the same nozzles as you have used. Having looked into nozzle positioning I agree with Tom that post intercooler injection is not the most efficient way to do it (theoretically speaking). Basically you are making your intercoolers less efficient by injecting pre IC as this will give less of a temperature delta between the outside air and the charge temp going through the IC. I would place both nozzles after the IC to get the most cooling out of your current hardware and WI.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Nice stuff Gonz lookin good too, well except for the 








as mentioned before  and yer a braver man than I running no filter .


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

intott said:


> Having looked into nozzle positioning I agree with Tom that post intercooler injection is not the most efficient way to do it (theoretically speaking). Basically you are making your intercoolers less efficient by injecting pre IC as this will give less of a temperature delta between the outside air and the charge temp going through the IC. I would place both nozzles after the IC to get the most cooling out of your current hardware and WI.


I have tested (and documented the results on Vortex) all the possible nozzle placements. I have tested pre and post intercooler as single variables, and placing the nozzle before the IC on these small factory frame turbo yields the best results due to the extreme heat generated. The IC efficiency argument just does not materialize in real life. The air charge is still hot enough for the IC to serve its purpose at full efficiency. Another thing noted doing this is that the common IC heat-soak issue is semi resolved (unless sitting in traffic). After testing pre-turbo, pre-IC, post IC, TB flange, direct-port nozzles, if I had to run a single nozzle, it would be right after the turbo (where the air is the most heated) because that is the most efficient location.


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## intott (Apr 7, 2015)

Hey Max, a perfect example of where theory and practice don't align. If possible, would you have a link to your results on nozzle placement as I am keen to gain a better understanding of real life installations?

Cheers,


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

I would link you to one my 2 main build thread on Vortex but that's like searching for a needle in a haystack (each of them about 50 pages long with over 1,000 posts).

Best place to look is in here as this was a thread where I focussed on charge cooling specifically.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.p ... roach-quot


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## intott (Apr 7, 2015)

Thanks for the link Max. I was just half way through reading that.

I forget/underestimate the heat a ko4 throws out at higher boost! I still find it alomst unbelievable you run 30+psi. 
Interesting what you picked up on about ignition timing and coolant temperatures. I need to re read your post but think this is good info to have.


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## TT Tom TT (Oct 9, 2015)

Madmax199 said:


> I would link you to one my 2 main build thread on Vortex but that's like searching for a needle in a haystack (each of them about 50 pages long with over 1,000 posts).
> 
> Best place to look is in here as this was a thread where I focus on charge cooling specifically.
> 
> http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.p ... roach-quot


Reading [smiley=book2.gif]


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

TT Tom TT said:


> Sweet update, what made you go for your first nozzle pre-intercooler rather than post? That's quite unusal as it's typically one after the intercooler and then one next to the TB.
> 
> Do you have the screens in your MAF or is it de-screened? If it's screened I think you MAY get away with no filtering element for a time being if your area of the World is low on dust / particulate crap.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys!

@Tom Legend has it that placing the nozzle pre intercooler has drastic effects at lowering IAT's

From our friend's at FrankenTurbo: 




I will likely throw another modified to fit mushroom filter over it. Or if I'm feeling ballsy a mesh screen for even better airflow. Pro's and Con's to each. 
And yes, we have the same V-stack :wink: Best dimensions I found by far!

@Intott
Max already answered, but to add on. Yes you are "reducing" the efficiency of the IC by placing it pre IC, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. You're taking a lot less strain off the intercooler. 
In a perfect world, say you ran a huge turbo. You would need a massive 3" or 4" thick intercooler covering the entire front radiator in order to keep your charge cool! With water being injected into the charge (somewhat) directly after it's built by the turbo, you can theoretically downsize your intercooler because you no longer need that level of "efficiency".

Remember, big thick intercoolers = slower to fill. I bought my intercooler with the knowledge beforehand that I would be running WI and thus chose a smaller IC size than 90% on here run. It's still efficient enough to handle the car without injection however. But it does get hot. That's why in between getting the WI kit, I also installed the Phenolic Intake Manifold Spacer to help keep the charge cooler.

Coupled with the MadMax DV, it makes a lethal combination of near "on demand" boost in between shifting.

@3TT3 lol you guys hating on my red couplers :lol: They'll be gone soon enough. Or at least hidden if I ever get my replacement grills in


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Wak said:


> Recommendation for you:- the post valve pipework to the throttle body,
> 
> Use clear hose not red then you can see the liquid and when idling you can spray brake cleaner on the joints to see if any liquid is drawn in under vacuum.
> 
> ...


That does sound troublesome Wak!

I noticed when installing that snow performance calls for a thin razor blade to be used to cut the nylon hoses. Reason being is if it's cut at even a slight angle it may be enough to cause a leak. I checked the system at idle spraying and found no leaks thank god. I will keep this in mind down the road though if something comes up! Thank you for the preventative insight! [smiley=book2.gif]


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

We started off with roughly 10-11* CF (Timing pull).

My only guess is that Gonzo Tuning's tune is just so aggressive that it normally runs with a timing pull of 3-4*.

I have begun trying to tune the fueling to get the timing pull down considerably. I have also purchased the following just in case it's a hardware problem:
New IAT Sensor
New Knock sensors
New Valeo "3 row" radiator


Tank is rear mounted. No leaks, no issues with the pump that I can tell.

With that said, through adjusting the tune I have brought down the CF to 6-7* which is a lot less stressful than 11*, and tells me I'm on the right path.

I have increased the fueling considerably. Still need a bit more probably in order to hit the target 3*CF. Hopefully all goes smoothly or maybe we just have a faulty IAT Sensor! My IAT's are rather on the high end lately which shouldn't be the case with Water Injection.

I'll post some logs soon so you guys can see.


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Gonzybaby just make sure your tank is solid because if it's just screwed into the card stuff on the side it will come off in time mate.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

jamman said:


> Gonzybaby just make sure your tank is solid because if it's just screwed into the card stuff on the side it will come off in time mate.


Used long screws so it goes into the metal behind the trim.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Weekly update:

Slow progress. Tuning the car has been rather annoying. With the massive assistance from Wak (Thanks brudda [smiley=cheers.gif] ), tons and tons of logs, and a speeding ticket while taking said logs...

- IAT's are too high. After swapping in a new Bosch IAT sensor, I have narrowed it down to the cheap ebay intercooler. The core is garbage and peak IAT's are around 40*C when on boost and no WI, and with WI they are around mid to upper 30's with heatsoak. With water being atomized into the charge, this just proves that while the size of the intercooler is ideal for the car, the design of the core is weak. Very little fin density (less cooling).

To solve this, I ordered a Treadstone T11 intercooler. A bit thicker than I wanted but 1/10th of a second of additional "lag" in exchange for near or below ambient IAT's is a no brainer. https://www.treadstoneperformance.com/p ... ler++560HP

- I need a new turbo outlet pipe. We had some boost leak issues while trying to log. Come to find the hose went from slightly leaking to poping off under full boost. Tried hardcore clamps, hairspray, sanding the charge pipe surface to no avail.

To solve this, I ordered a CM turbo outlet hose and some heavy duty hose clamps.

- The 3" MAF housing was performing, but the car did not like it in terms of misfires at idle, running rich at WOT etc. Without software to manually adjust the tables in the ECU, I am stuck with the OEM maf housing unless I pick up Maestro or re-tune the car. Highly considering this option for down the road. Wak was also not a fan of the 3" maf housing on my car as well.

- You guys won't believe me, but I picked up a brand new Valeo radiator (the one that's thicker than oem and cools more, commonly referred to as the "3 row radiator") for $18 shipped to my door. I shit you not! 
It was an Amazon warehouse deal which stated the radiator's box was completely trashed and the radiator had a dent on the top. Not even close to what I expected. It has like a small indent on the top which is maybe 3 fingers wide? So virtually no damage on a $115 radiator and they sold it to me for 1/10 of that. :lol:



So once I get everything installed, and sort the outlet hose. I'll be going full force on tuning the car so I can throw the boost controller in and start dialing in towards that 360bhp mark.

PS: OEM grills are coming in, so no more red couplers :wink:
PPS: I also did the "Wastegate spring mod". Used a 5lb door spring from Amazon. Wastegate is working beautifully now.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

we were of course only takin the p a bit about the red hoses .
Sorry to hear about the iat  , do you have egt logging/readout of some sort?

Further back the 65C seems awfull high  maybe its the weather .
Just on the wmi
I dont even have the kit yet :lol: 
but am wondering about the tb nozzle placement .I was(am) worried that having the nozzle so close to the iat sensor might result in the nozzle cooling the sensor directly and giving a more optimistic than real reading on the cooling of the charge.
That doesnt seem to be a problem!.
The dual nozzle placement biz . I dont know,I guess the theory is right but it just feels like any water vapor droplet effect could be long gone by the time it reached the tb .
Did you try stuff like closing off the pre ic line and using the big nozzle solely on the spacer plate to see what happened?
or even !close off the tb plate line and see what happened with just the pre ic line open.
Where is the pump mounted btw near the tank at the back?

I think you said iat 40c approx with no wmi on and 35-38 with it on? so it must be doing something 
I think, the theory goes that with wmi or wi or wai wotever , your mixture,a/f should get a little leaner anyway ,just on the basis :
when things get hot richer mixture is partially for cooling so that maybe with wmi the mixture should lean out a bit anyway?
That controller..its maf/map signal operated or both? .maybe the maf being off a little is sending strange signals?

Dunno :lol: Im rambling on .keep the update going !


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

LOL @ speeding ticket while logging. "No officer, this is juts my carputer." :lol:

What year/ECU is your car? You're wideband converted, right? I had no issues running a 2.75" ID housing and now a 3" ID housing on my AWP ECU. Is Wak tuning for you, or just making suggestions? I don't have tuning ability, and have been on a scaled MAF on AWP housing on AMU/225 motor for 3 years and don't have any idle at misfire issues, so not sure why you think the MAF is causing that.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

CollecTTor said:


> LOL @ speeding ticket while logging. "No officer, this is juts my carputer." :lol:
> 
> What year/ECU is your car? You're wideband converted, right? I had no issues running a 2.75" ID housing and now a 3" ID housing on my AWP ECU. Is Wak tuning for you, or just making suggestions? I don't have tuning ability, and have been on a scaled MAF on AWP housing on AMU/225 motor for 3 years and don't have any idle at misfire issues, so not sure why you think the MAF is causing that.


2001 Narrowband 02. No conversion!

It could all be just a series of different problems all being jumbled together currently. Wak thinks it's not helping the car. Ultimately logs will show whether I should use it or not once I get everything else sorted and on the car by this weekend. 
While I'm not 100% sold on the MAF housing causing issues, I do agree that to tune the A/F ratio and get accurate logs of the car while I prepare for timing increase and boost increase I should be using the OEM maf housing which is what the car's tune is based of.

Also I was really pissed about that ticket lmao. I even tried something like "I'm just running the car to diagnose some issues and fix it. Please have mercy I'm not lying, look at this computer hooked up to the car" :lol:

Needless to say it didn't work.

@3tt3:

No EGT sensor since it's a 2001 AMU Engine (APX to you guys). 
Best I can do is log the 02 Sensor's temperature. Which I suspect would be slightly lower than EGT's straight out of the turbo hot side. Highest I've seen is 290*C. Seems decent.

As far as the TB spacer spraying onto the IAT sensor in theory, that's exactly the point! As long as your actual temps are low, EGT's are low, and you have no timing pull/CF, having the sensor think the temps are less than they are isn't really a negative. You'll be having the ECU ask for more out of the car which isn't a bad thing (again, assuming everything else is in check).

Lastly:
"Did you try stuff like closing off the pre ic line and using the big nozzle solely on the spacer plate to see what happened?"
If you use a big nozzle in the Post TB position. You will most likely bog the engine. The whole point of the stage 2 kit is to introduce the water injection gradually. You can see the effects of not doing this by setting the controller to spray full very early, or even just see how the car idles while spraying. Hint: (Not well) :lol:

The more smaller nozzles, the better IMO. the charge gets cooled halfway to the intercooler, and then further cooled inside the intercooler. I doubt it regains temp along the way since in reality it's not much distance the charge travels. Having seen Frankenturbo's video, I have no doubt this is the best setup.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

i know not a lot about it.
but the kit I purchased is the 210..oooh at present Im just gonna wire it /fit it as the stage 1 or 1st stage whatever you wanna call it. 2nd stage needs a seperate solenoid to open the 2nd nozzle and the nozzles supplied seem giant  either way.. you wouldnt be opening for idle or low boost would you?
I came across this thread about 1 hr ago.
I get the feeling your using lemmiwinks or similar? and the 40c and below temps caught my eye.
The thread is only 10 years old so should be loads of info :lol: 
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=135821


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

3TT3 said:


> i know not a lot about it.
> but the kit I purchased is the 210..oooh at present Im just gonna wire it /fit it as the stage 1 or 1st stage whatever you wanna call it. 2nd stage needs a seperate solenoid to open the 2nd nozzle and the nozzles supplied seem giant  either way.. you wouldnt be opening for idle or low boost would you?
> I came across this thread about 1 hr ago.
> I get the feeling your using lemmiwinks or similar? and the 40c and below temps caught my eye.
> ...


Yeah you're not injecting water at low boost or idle, the point is to demonstrate that if you inject too much water when you shouldn't be you will bog down the engine. This can also happen at full boost if you run a large nozzle and have it spray too early. It's all trial and error setting it up anyways!

Yes I'm using lemmiwinks to tune the fueling and the timing. 
Thanks for the link, always love some good reading material. [smiley=book2.gif]


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## ProjectMick (Sep 29, 2015)

Shame it's being a git to tune, and the ticket thing sucks - but you made up for it with the cheap rad!

By the way, is there a model number for that as I need a new one and didn't know there was an "OEM upgrade" put there.

Oh by the way, the red couplers are just fine. Don't listen to that lot!


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> 2001 Narrowband 02. No conversion!
> 
> It could all be just a series of different problems all being jumbled together currently. Wak thinks it's not helping the car. Ultimately logs will show whether I should use it or not once I get everything else sorted and on the car by this weekend.
> While I'm not 100% sold on the MAF housing causing issues, I do agree that to tune the A/F ratio and get accurate logs of the car while I prepare for timing increase and boost increase I should be using the OEM maf housing which is what the car's tune is based of.
> ...


Max had no problem running his narrowband ECU on the larger MAF housing for a LONG time. If you're not scaling injectors up in size to match, definitely not needed though. P.S. AFR at WOT doesn't use the MAF.  The o2 sensor temperatures are "calculated" values and are only used to determine catalyst efficiency (or lack thereof). If the highest you've seen at WOT is 290*C, that should tell you that that information is useless. :lol:


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

ProjectMick said:


> Shame it's being a git to tune, and the ticket thing sucks - but you made up for it with the cheap rad!
> 
> By the way, is there a model number for that as I need a new one and didn't know there was an "OEM upgrade" put there.
> 
> Oh by the way, the red couplers are just fine. Don't listen to that lot!


I would be done by now TBH if it wasn't for all the roadblocks like the torn outlet hose, poor intercooler performance, and some other mistakes along the way.

@Collector lmao, and here I was thinking I found a way to cheat and get rough estimates of EGT's  
The problem is I'm running larger injectors as well than what my tune was written for. So already deviating from the tune as is, further adding more mods that shouldn't be on there seems to throw the logs off.

Again, this isn't me saying I'm giving up on the MAF housing or injectors. But I think it's a smart approach to get the setup as close to the specs the tune was written for and then dial it in for the water injection before I go further to extract more power with mods deviating from the tune. I am going to be very near the threshold of the stock connecting rods so I need to be as calculated as possible while setting this up.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Alright boys,

Busy busy weekend. We did a lot and I'm starting to fall behind as far as updating this thread. 

I think I've found the cause of my driver side front wheel having too much neg. camber. Anyone care to take a guess?



Installed the Treadstone T11 intercooler. God I wish someone would have schooled me before I threw money at a cheap ebay core. Upon taking off the ebay intercooler, I took a look into the actual core to see there were NO FINS inside. Just straight channels going to the other end of the intercooler!! It's amazing I was even running 40* IAT's with this garbage.



Here's a comparison from online pictures. 
Ebay intercooler core: 








Here is a treadstone core:


No comparison. NONE. 
Now, the T11's core size is: 11" X 21.5" X 3" . You'll notice this is significantly taller than the ebay intercooler. While many people would settle for airflow directly hitting only half the intercooler, I am not one to settle! 8)



Lastly, if you look very closely, you'll notice I got around to installing the Valeo radiator as well! God this was not a fun job. I highly advise anyone who takes on this job to remove the rubber grommets that go on the ends of the radiator and are used to bolt it in place. Took me 4 hours start to finish. 30 of which were spent figuring out how to slide the radiator out from underneath. You NEED to remove those grommets.

Also figured I'd measure the thickness. OEM is exactly 1" thick, while the Valeo is 1 1/4" thick. Was expecting more tbh. 


So that wraps up our "cooling" journey for this car. With this setup I'm expecting near or below ambient IAT's, and tons of headroom for timing advance! All we are waiting on now is the CM turbo outlet pipe, some constant torque clamps for the hoses and I'll be able to start refining the tune. Fingers crossed!


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Does the snow perf have 2 different inputs maf and boost,try boost only?
Wound adjuster up too far on coilover?
egts.. I have a gauge and probe that I never fitted (see some thread way back where)
In the end since I have a mid turbo sensor built in didnt seem worth it.
MM did plumb in an egt gauge at some stage.
My temps do get up to 940 with massive timing pull then  or at least did..Ill see what happens after wmi thing.


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

New IC looks way better! Maybe you're joining the old fart crew and amnesia is setting in, but I did grill you on the IC and you said that the old IC abomination with WMI working in tandem would be more than enough to push a K04 (I'm sure I can find the thread if I cared enough to look :lol. Anyway, you live and you learn and the new setup is looking on point, just another case of "I told you so" for me. Get some good logs now to confirm that you're all good.


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Craptacular IC core. That's horrible.


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

CollecTTor said:


> Craptacular IC core. That's horrible.


Internal core fin density ... overated! Lol


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

I just thought Id link this up ..yuk!.




No doubt this guy left the nozzle way recessed inside the adapter ,but it looks nasty.
Ill pass on the pipe mounting for now !.
Me Im still "will I ,wont I" on the mounting of the kit bits Its coming down to 4l windshield washer tank vs 2.87 L (3 quart) snow perf tank.
Im trying to rationalise it to , All Ill be doing is reducing my washer capacity to 1.13 litres and ill be saving weight..thats not so bad :lol: 
"I used to be indecisive,now I'm not so sure"

edit:
The nozzle in the tb adapter ,Mine like, intott's seemed to go in less than yours(and the spacer dimensions look the same).
I "cut" the adapter tread a little more by using more torque than recommended (with the spare nozzle) and a little lube.
Now it sits,like yours with the spanner part (flat cut) area of the nozzle almost flush with the out side of the adapter.
Its still slightly recessed but ,by looking at the snow perf spray pattern on youtube a couple of mm should be np.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

3TT3 said:


> Does the snow perf have 2 different inputs maf and boost,try boost only?
> Wound adjuster up too far on coilover?
> egts.. I have a gauge and probe that I never fitted (see some thread way back where)
> In the end since I have a mid turbo sensor built in didnt seem worth it.
> ...


I figured it'd be clear looking at the picture. The strut is bent inward. You can notice it halfway up the shaft. There is also a dent in the same spot. Looking at some Bilstein PSS9 coilovers to replace these. Should come soon.

I completely agree @Max. The best way to learn is to try and fail for yourself. I don't doubt you told me otherwise, I'm just stubborn and probably figured I'd be okay with the water injection compensating. :lol:



3TT3 said:


> I just thought Id link this up ..yuk!.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


As far as this video goes, it's honestly really irrelevant! 
That guy either has a clogged nozzle, or pump that's starting to fail. That is not a normal spray pattern. Either that or my guess is he screwed the nozzle in crooked and stripped it, so the nozzle has some play and can move around slightly and the spray hits the inside of the adapter. Also in snow's instructions, it says to use a sealant with that adapter. Another possible culprit in that guy's video if he failed to use it.

I double checked my spray patterns before installing them on the car.

Also, EVEN if it was a problem with the silicone or adapter not causing "enough" atomization in this video. You can never fully test it. Because you have to remember this kit is design to atomize the water under hot air/boost pressure which ramps up the atomization process. I'd argue with the right nozzle size (small) and a good pump, it should be near instantaneous that there should be no water droplets even being able to build on the side wall of the piping.

Update time!!! I'm super excited.

Installed the bumper, got my new grills! I also realized my old grills had been swapped with ones from a 180TT, so the driver's side has a complete blanking plate behind it, while the passenger side has a half plate. I fabbed up a full blanking plate for the passenger (right) side to keep unnecessary air out! Turned out sick.

I also did a fresh oil change and new coolant. Then we took her for a quick "test" drive just to see how we performed. I'm blown away...

IAT's with this intercooler and bumper combo peaked at 24*C while standing still after a run, 20* while rolling, and 21-23*C under load!!!! That is insane. To give you guys a reference, the ambient temperature today in Florida when I logged was roughly 22-23*C

Best of all, I adjusted my wi controller to start spraying much later (for optimal atomization), so all of this was WITHOUT water injection on since I didn't want to push the car too hard after all the new mods (and needed to let the coolant go through the system alongside the oil, this was all logged on the first drive after changing the fluids). I need to go on the highway now to log my IAT's under water injection. I expect insane results far below ambient temps. Stay tuned for logs.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Definitely lookin good .No more red codpiece jokes then.. bummer


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Here are some excel graphs of the data I logged today.




I decided to do something I never would have tried a few months back on my old setup, I jumped on the free way in complete stop and go traffic. My IAT sensor was reading 45*C and higher at some points that's how bad the heatsoak was.

After getting the car as warm as I'd possibly ever be able to get it warm, I jumped off and found a nice backroad. IAT's were still high around 35*C while normal driving with heatsoak. However in the second graph you can see the real effects of water injection come into play. Almost 10*C of cooldown from the intercooler and water injection's combined efforts.

The first graph is what I see for roughly 2 pulls, then it starts slightly going up by a few degrees. Keep in mind first graph did not have water injection, therefore it wasn't as large of a cooldown as the second graph where I was able to go WOT.


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

You have to log to redline to have a good indication of how it's doing. On these small frame snails, the bulk of the heat comes on past 4500 rpm ... which is not represented in your graphs. Anyway looks like the new setup is light years ahead of what it's replacing!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Have had a crazy few weeks, I've honestly had to put the tuning of the water injection on hold. I'll do my best to get proper IAT logs and get that wrapped up within the upcoming weeks.  From just monitoring it on pulls I can safely say that we hover around ambient by a few degrees while at max boost, which is amazing. I'm excited to quantify this with actual data.

Now, I've made the decision that life is too short to not go "balls to ze wall". I've always wanted to keep the car "streetable", but have come to the conclusion that I may as well enjoy the car to it's fullest while I can and more importantly, how I want to.

With that said, I'm going to go a bit more extreme with the build than previously anticipated. You can call it a track build, you can call it an over the top street car etc. Point is, I'm gutting the car. :lol:

I am proud to say that today alone I reduced the weight by almost 90lbs/40kg.

To begin, I purchased some Bride Vios III's. They weighed in at around 14.75lbs each. My side mounts weigh 5.3lbs (2) per seat, and the seat brackets (a design I borrowed from our great contributor Nick G here) weigh 2.1lbs per seat (2 brackets). 



Oem seats weighed in at just under 60lbs each with sliders and mounts. This brings our total weight reduction from just the seats to 73.3lbs, or 36.85lbs per seat! 
**I will also be running a 5 point harness**

Next, as I stated above. I want to gut the car. Door cards and panels will come off after I get the car weighed properly, maybe not the headliner or A pillar to keep it looking decent. But I made the decision to try something rather unorthodox in this community.



I removed the carpet, and completely stripped apart the carpet from the foam/sound deadening. I came to the conclusion that I wanted a carpet, but without the drawback of the weight. I figure if the thin carpet overlay looks like trash, I'll simply run the car without it. But I wanted to give this a shot.

Regardless, the sound deadening weighed in at 14.5lbs!!

*So, even with conservative estimates, I have passed my initial goal of 2,880lbs already!*

I also feel like it's worth updating that I rebuilt my shifter from the cables back. 
- Diesel Geek Cable Saver Delrin Bushings
- Custom Shims on the ball joint, side to side spring, and the rubber piece that slides up and down on the gear lever to allow the engagement of reverse. 
- Had the shift lever welded for a permanent fix to the cracking issue on top. 
-Diesel Geek "side to side high performance" bushings
-New ball joint

My shifter now feels unreal. Completely solid in every possible direction and throw. :mrgreen:



"Shim is underneath the tape"



What I really want to discuss is my discovery. After sorting the shifter, I noticed a negligible amount of movement in the shifter still. You are able to slightly rotate the shifter left and right, and tilt it forwards and backwards.

I noticed that this is by design, because the way our shifters are built, it's essentially a rod that is inside a housing. This gives it the ability to be pressed down and slide down further from the housing, while allowing you to engage reverse in the process.

The problem is that this black piece that is the stopping point for the shift lever up and and down motion has very poor clearances, and ultimately depending on how worn out this piece is, will dictate how much play your shifter has. Again, it's not a lot, but it is enough to notice. And having gone through all that work to achieve a solid feeling shifter, I wasn't about to settle!

I took the idea of "shimming" the ball joint, which is a popular mod to the shifter, and applied it to the bottom of the shift lever. Placing a thin piece of metal, alloy, or even cardboard inbetween the black piece and the shifter housing creates a perfect seal and removes any unwanted movement in the shift lever besides it's intended up and down motion! 


Not the prettiest, but this was the first attempt to prove my notion right and it works flawlessly. I wish I would have taken a video of the shifter while it was out of the car to show the play it has without these shims in place. I think a thin alloy will work best, as you can insert it and then fold it into the black piece so it doesn't slide away.


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## Takahashi (Oct 30, 2016)

finally, someone putting Bride seats in a TT, had Bride in my Eunos, and loved it. WOuld love to stick a set of glitterbacks in my 8n


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Thats a track car..but so what eh! 

That weight saving has to feel good for driving response .
I add on about 13lbs per wheel when I change from winter to summer wheels so I cant talk :lol: .

Gearchange,I need to adjust mine one of these days,but im crapping it a bit on the known "selector falls off and destroys your gearbox thing" 

The WI , you could save 6-7 lbs just by using the windscreen washer bottle as the resevoir instead of the snow performance tank.
The WI Im looking at it with 2-3 parameters for now
1.the smallest nozzle that came with mine (175 ml) is rated for 250-350 whp so even on a v good day I shouldnt need the pump at 100% output.
2.According to snow performance you shouldnt have wi below3000 rpm at all.
3.According to the few logs Ive done so far and I can get iat to heatsoak to 35C at idle np with some wot runs,even if oat is 10C) ,The WI on mine doesnt make any diff untill about 4000+ ,5000+ big diff,6000+ v big diff ,like 20 degrees.


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## rocker tt. (Oct 12, 2015)

.

.

My WMI is set up to come on at boost which in my case is 4200 rpm & as you state there's no massive IAT difference until 5500-6000 when IAT will drop by at least 20 degrees,I think there's something quite pleasing to see the IAT readout drop quite that sharply.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

rocker tt. said:


> My WMI is set up to come on at boost which in my case is 4200 rpm & as you state there's no massive IAT difference until 5500-6000 when IAT will drop by at least 20 degrees,I think there's something quite pleasing to see the IAT readout drop quite that sharply.


What V is that on the progressive controller? mid 3's or 4's? 
Mine is setup so it starts cooling roughly around 4krpm and full spray is at like 4.8~4.9V. And yes the IAT drops are so nice, 20 degrees is insane though, what size nozzle/s are you running?

@3tt3 Unless you are also adding the weight of the water inside the tank (on top of the water in the windshield reservoir), the Snow tank weighs nearly nothing. I also don't run any water in the windshield reservoir (barely enough to keep the sensor from tripping) so there's no negative to my setup as far as weight goes.

I got the seats fully installed. I'm waiting on some pool noodles (I know I know :lol: ) so I can mount the shoulder harnesses to the harness bar since I don't want to scuff up the paint on it. I also ordered some hardware to mount the 5th point aka "the future kids killer" harness. Everything else I just used existing locations.




_Final note:_ I am *EXTREMELY* pleased with the carpet mod. The carpet fits exactly like it used to, the only difference is it's thinner in a few places, and some double sided tape is needed on the door seams. Other than those easy fixes, it's amazing. Totally worth your time. It took me maybe 45 minutes tops to do and the weight savings are significant as I noted.


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## ProjectMick (Sep 29, 2015)

Looking good Gonz. Like the Brides - don't see bride stuff used very often in German cars but they are nice seats.

I'll have to go back and find the carpet mod part as it looks like a very OEM way of losing weight.


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## rocker tt. (Oct 12, 2015)

In answer to your question Gonzalo, firstly I don't understand what you mean by V ? anyway I use an AEM WMI kit & on the controller, there are 2 nobs to adj PSI & my start psi is at 7 & full psi is at 30, then the other 2 adjusters which have Phillips screwdriver heads are also set at 7 & 30, the nozzle is either the mid range 0315 or the largest size 0603, ( I can't find the buggers to check it ) I hope this is of some help to you. Regards Rocker TT.  8)


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

rocker tt. said:


> In answer to your question Gonzalo, firstly I don't understand what you mean by V ? anyway I use an AEM WMI kit & on the controller, there are 2 nobs to adj PSI & my start psi is at 7 & full psi is at 30, then the other 2 adjusters which have Phillips screwdriver heads are also set at 7 & 30, the nozzle is either the mid range 0315 or the largest size 0603, ( I can't find the buggers to check it ) I hope this is of some help to you. Regards Rocker TT.  8)


He's talking about the new version of the SP controller that we both run that uses Volts at MAF to control.


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## rocker tt. (Oct 12, 2015)

AH ok,  thanks, Jamman, I will have to check this out, [smiley=book2.gif] has it been out very long like over a year?? :?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

rocker tt. said:


> In answer to your question Gonzalo, firstly I don't understand what you mean by V ? anyway I use an AEM WMI kit & on the controller, there are 2 nobs to adj PSI & my start psi is at 7 & full psi is at 30, then the other 2 adjusters which have Phillips screwdriver heads are also set at 7 & 30, the nozzle is either the mid range 0315 or the largest size 0603, ( I can't find the buggers to check it ) I hope this is of some help to you. Regards Rocker TT.  8)


Interesting. I'm having trouble finding out how much those nozzles put out in ml/min so I can compare them. Your settings seem fine, it's just crazy to hear that you're getting 20 degrees of IAT cooling. The most I've ever recorded on my setup was 10*, but to be fair I haven't done much logging.

EDIT: I downloaded AEM's imstructions. Basically 3 nozzles: 250, 500, and 1000 cc/min. Where are you injecting that much fluid?! Can't be post TB.

@Mick thanks man. They feel absolutely fantastic. Almost a perfect fit on me, such a fantastic feeling when you're taking a sharp corner and you feel so planted and one with the car! I do have to admit, I bought these out of sheer impatience, because over here in the states it's hard to find Recaro seats, especially pole positions. And these have the same style as PPs so I figured I'd get them and at the same time be a little unique haha.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

I spoke with Rocker personally. At a minimum he's running 500cc/min or ml/min (same thing). I'm blown away by his gains so I decided to purchase a larger nozzle for testing, specifically a 625ml/min nozzle. This will probably be overkill on my setup since I don't have a crazy build like Rocker but I am curious to see just how far I can take this IAT cooling.

Here's the G-Force 5 point harness fully installed. In retrospect I would go with a red harness for looks (maybe Racequip) since now the red harness bar is covered by a pool noodle. But all in all an awesome install and tons of weight shed! 


I had the car weighed today. I don't want to call it official since it was at a public landfill, where they charge by the lb, so it's in their best interest to have a scale that reads higher than it should.

I weighed the car with me in it, and then without. First red flag was the scale weighed me in at 160lbs, which is 10lbs higher than what I weigh, or roughly a 6% error. (See Jamman, not all 'Mericans are fat :lol: )

So with that in mind, the scale registered 3040lbs, which is grotesquely too high. If you apply that 6% error to the 3040lbs, you get roughly 2850lbs, which is right on the money and is within a small margin of error to my hand calculations and measurements. 


So the unofficial weight of the car is 2850lbs (1293kg) right now. I plan on weighing the car at the drag strip once I take it to get my quarter mile times. I know for a fact that scale is extremely accurate at OSW. So I will post my official weight once I go there.


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Mate I got no room to talk trust me :lol:

Gonzy not wanting to go OT but are you really happy with Trump ?

Do you not find his constant crazy rantings embarrassing ?


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## ProjectMick (Sep 29, 2015)

All looking good dude - although you might want to ditch the pool noodles for the 1/4 mile haha ha!


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

Harness and seats look good! Just make sure that rear harness bar is structurally anchored with mounts rated for the loads belts seen in an accident.

As for the weight, as I mentioned to you before you are being very optimistic. Those landfill operate totally differently than how you are processing it. They weigh a truck coming in filled with junk (entry weight), then weight it again after they dump all the stuff (exit weight). The difference in weight (entry-exit) tells them how much junk you had in weight. It's not in their interest to boost the weight as it does not matter at the end. I use one myself since I'm friend with the owner's son who happen to be a local racer. He always let's us know when the scale freshly calibrated so the local racers can come and get their weight. The inside scoop is that by law (depending on the state) the scale has to be accurate within 50 lbs, and they get calibrated regularly to avoid state inspector's fines. The difference in your body weight to what the scale reported says it's a very close to accurate one (just 10 lbs off), it is not a percentage. I would say that the car is probably closer to to what is registered by the scale, and very unlikely to be off by 190 lbs .


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Madmax199 said:


> Harness and seats look good! Just make sure that rear harness bar is structurally anchored with mounts rated for the loads belts seen in an accident.
> 
> As for the weight, as I mentioned to you before you are being very optimistic. Those landfill operate totally differently than how you are processing it. They weigh a truck coming in filled with junk (entry weight), then weight it again after they dump all the stuff (exit weight). The difference in weight (entry-exit) tells them how much junk you had in weight. It's not in their interest to boost the weight as it does not matter at the end. I use one myself since I'm friend with the owner's son who happen to be a local racer. He always let's us know when the scale freshly calibrated so the local racers can come and get their weight. The inside scoop is that by law (depending on the state) the scale has to be accurate within 50 lbs, and they get calibrated regularly to avoid state inspector's fines. The difference in your body weight to what the scale reported says it's a very close to accurate one (just 10 lbs off), it is not a percentage. I would say that the car is probably closer to to what is registered by the scale, and very unlikely to be off by 190 lbs .


I get what you're saying. I'm aware of how landfills operate. However we can't assume all landfill's are always up to par with the rest of the country, and who knows when the last time that scale was calibrated.

I've cross referenced my measurements with many others from various forums. They aren't more than maybe 5-10% off at best on the personal stuff, and even then the universal items like the counter weight, spare tire all weighed in at exactly the same weight many other's have confirmed over the years on the same scale.

2850 is optimistic yes, but there is no chance in hell I am over 3000lbs!

Either my bathroom scale would have to be completely fucked (and I'd have to be an oblivious anorexic), my TT has a dead body or a lot of coke underneath the body panels, or their scale was just not up to par today. I'm leaning towards the latter my man.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.p ... ion-thread

I would put money down that the car hits 2950lbs or slightly lower on the drag strip scale. Even extremely conservative estimates put me at 2974lbs. Which is 60+lbs away from that landfill scale.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Considering the very disappointing results of the weigh in, I've decided to make light weight door cards, taking inspiration from the old school Porsche GT models. I'm considering other options to reduce the weight, while keeping the interior not looking like dog shit. At the end of the day I want it to be light weight but I can't stomach to rip the interior apart (I already tried and threw the panels back on). 

One of my best friends was back in town and he has access to a very good camera and he wanted to practice his photography. This was his first ever "shoot", and I was more than happy to finally get quality pictures of the car.


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Looking good gonzybaby looking good .....


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

OOOO yeah, she's looking good dude! 8)


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

Pics are doing it justice! Something about a TT with some rubber underneath it, it makes the car go from anemic squashed beetle to a muscular beast. Looking good!!!


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## CollecTTor (Jan 17, 2014)

Did you stiffen up those rear springs yet? :wink:


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

CollecTTor said:


> Did you stiffen up those rear springs yet? :wink:


Tomorrow I'll have a special update JUST for you baby :twisted:

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I'm thrilled with how the pics turned out.

The light weight door cards are coming along well! I chose Coroplast as the material. It's basically a really strong plastic material/board. Won't rust, won't absorb moisture, and best of all weighs almost nothing!



Edit: 

I'm going to throw a black marine grade UV resistant fabric over it as well. That fabric weighs around 1.5lbs per yard. I also purchased some Porsche style door pulls, and Porsche rosettes as well. Will look superb.

Total weight of these door cards should be 2lbs each! OEM door cards are 11lbs with speakers. 
I've decided to remove my sound system entirely (I'm getting rid of the flux capacitor Max! :lol: ), this will shed some serious weight, along with cleaning up the wiring and more importantly, freeing up the real estate underneath the radio cover for some gauges! 
I'm also most likely going to strip everything from the back half of the car once I get the door cards finished.

Now, I love the MK2 steering wheel I have in the car now. But it felt too... tame, for the direction I'm taking the car. On an impulse buy a month ago, I went ahead and ordered the custom FBSW from the company in Poland. It turned up today and I'm blown away by the quality and feel.







Feels good to have an airbag again man


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

CollecTTor said:


> Did you stiffen up those rear springs yet? :wink:




Also went ahead and got AFCO 600lb springs for the rear. Stiff enough yet? :wink:



Anyone have any recommendations for front springs? I couldn't find any info regarding the Bilstein spring rates, but seeing as how most coilovers for these cars are around the 350-400 lb in the fronts, I figure these are near that.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Well 600*0.63 (rear wheel motion ratio) = 378 so somewhere between 350-400 is what you want!


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

As Nick demonstrated 600 lbs/in is really soft for the rear due to the motion ratio. For example here are the rates on the H&R lineup. Street / Street Ultra / RSS Clubsport

When you factor the motion ratio, the effective rates are:

375/605 = 363/381

428/941 = 415/592

675/1141 = 654/718

I can't remember exact figures off the top of my head, but the default rear rate on the Bilstein are around 600 already. I find it strange that you consider 600 stiff or a meaningful upgrade ??


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

If you have any specs on the B14s please post them! Because I spent an hour yesterday looking for their spring rates with no avail sadly.

My understanding was that the B14 were a much better dampner than most coils in it's pricepoint, and with spring upgrades you could have a very cost effective setup.

These 600lb springs are shorter than the B14 springs, so if they are the same rate, it should provide a firmer ride regardless right? 
They were cheap anyways as they were second hand so no loss really!

I'm going to take Nick's advice and stick to that ratio to try these out, and then move up to stiffer springs eventually.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Gonzalo1495 said:


> These 600lb springs are shorter than the B14 springs, so if they are the same rate, it should provide a firmer ride regardless right?


No, it just means it will have less travel until it is fully compressed - You obviously don't want a spring fully compressed.

Also worth remembering you'll want the shocks re-valved to suit the springs if you move them a long way from original.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

NickG said:


> Gonzalo1495 said:
> 
> 
> > These 600lb springs are shorter than the B14 springs, so if they are the same rate, it should provide a firmer ride regardless right?
> ...


Fair enough. I figured it was more tension in a smaller package.

I called Bilstein East Coast today and spoke with an official Technical Representative. Took some coercing, but he finally divulged the spring rates to me. As Nick mentioned, the reason they don't publicize their spring rates is so people won't try to modify their spring rates outside their parameters (+/- 15-20%) for the shocks.

None the less, as I predicted: Fronts = 340lbs (helper springs: 140lbs) Rears = 190lbs 
So a definitive jump in the rear. Far from the same. With that said, down the road the dampers will clearly need to be revalved upgrading from these springs or not. They don't charge an outrageous amount to do it either which is good to know.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

I think it's safe to say he's given you dud information!

That would give effective wheel rates of 330lbs/in front and 120lbs/in rear!! You'd be bouncing all over the shop :lol:


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

NickG said:


> I think it's safe to say he's given you dud information!
> 
> That would give effective wheel rates of 330lbs/in front and 120lbs/in rear!! You'd be bouncing all over the shop :lol:


I agree, he just gave Gonzy something to shake him off. There is no way in hell their rear spring is that low. First of all the rear spring rate MUST be higher than the front's to account for the motion ratio differential. At 120 lbs effective rear rate, there would be no point in upgrading from stock to set of PSS.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

I agree, I was very skeptical and asked him three times to make sure. It could very well be that he gave me bogus numbers just to get me to leave him alone. Either way the front doesn't seem off, because that's what most coil overs for this platform run. The rears are 100% questionable. Either way I don't plan on staying on these springs or valving for long so it's useless info to me, but I wanted a definitive answer to help others know what they are buying.

What's a good easy way to test spring rates that I can do myself? I'd love to get a definitive answer for these coils, I also doubt that they are 190, but I really don't think they are 600. The Bilstein ones don't feel as stiff as the AFCO ones for certain.

Edit: if you have the equipment to test them, I'll happily ship you the springs Max!

Edit #2: I called again, used a different name, and instead of telling the rep "i want the spring rates for the B14 coils for the Audi TT" I gave him the part number to the coils I have, and he immediately looked it up and gave me the same exact spring rates without hesitation or issues. This was a completely different representative as well. So I'm not sure what to believe anymore LOL


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

I can tell you this much, the rear springs on the PSS is progressive (barrel design). Therefore there is an initial rate and they continue to get stiffer as they compress until they plateau at a final rate through the majority of the compression curve. If anything both reps just gave you the initial rate and sent you packing (fronts are dual rate progressive too). As you say, there is no point in pursuing them as you already have the linear 600s and will be re-valving for those. I would have gladly tested them for you since had access to a spring Dyno and shock Dyno at work when I was at Mitsubishi, but no longer work there. :?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Me and Nick came to the conclusion that since these and the PSS9 are basically the same coils (except PSS don't have dampening adjustability) that they SHOULD share the same springs. The PSS9 spring rates are known and listed in a thread around here. As Max pointed out, we can safely assume that the initial spring rate is 190lbs based on what they told me, and then it works its way up to 660+. This is a good rate, but progressive springs aren't what I want on this car for track/autoX work.

So now that I know the spring rates from Bilstein, I've gone ahead and ordered 500lb front and 800lb rear springs. This is within the 20% margin from Bilstein, and should be a very nice setup for an entry level novice such as myself. The 600lb AFCO springs were a small upgrade since they were linear, but this will prove to be a much more significant improvement in the cars suspension and handling.

The diet continues, today I ripped out the headunit, speakers, every panel (minus the pillars which I will get to tomorrow), wiring, and started on removing some of the sound deadening. The wiring alone was like 4lbs!



The door cards are coming along nicely! I'm super excited because I received the fabric I'm wrapping them in and it's really nice and as an added bonus looks OEM!


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## infidel.uk (Feb 21, 2015)

please tell me thats not a ''power cap'' sat on the chair too  
they dont do anything but introduce noise and 'hassle' :lol:


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Door cards are finished!





Total weight is around 1.5lbs per door card. 10lbs shaved off total.


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Nice work, they look spot on!

Have you managed to keep the electric window can i see??


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## ProjectMick (Sep 29, 2015)

Love the door cards, I did something very similar in my old Bora (Jetta to you guys) using the same rosettes and pulls by the look of it.

Also like the way it (hopefully) wont look too stripped out inside either.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

NickG said:


> Nice work, they look spot on!
> 
> Have you managed to keep the electric window can i see??


I did. In order to get it to work without modification of the door card, I had to remove the entire assembly and mount it including the bracket (the window switches are two separate switches held together by 1 bracket). I did an almost exact cut into the door card so that it would sit tight and not move when operating the switches. Came out great.







Edit: I also want to make a correction. The AFCO springs I ordered were the wrong size. 2-5/8" ID is too small for the Bilstein top mount, so therefore I had to return those springs.

However, the good news is I got better springs. Hyperco 70mm (2.75") x 8" for the front, and Hyperco 2.5" x 6" for the rear.



I'm going to edit that other post to make sure I'm not spreading false spring sizes for the Bilstein users out there!


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## Van Well (Apr 8, 2017)

Holy Shit, Batman...... that is a build thread!  Seriously impressive 8)

Those big meat tyres give it a mean stance. I won't even make a comment regarding all the engine mods.....

Real dedication, hard work, perseverance and some more hard work - well done! It must drive like a Banshee and stick to the road like a Gecko = Big Fat Grin on Your Face


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Been really busy lately, new career and the transition was far from smooth.

However everything is settled now thankfully and the larger income has allowed me to expedite my build. I'm hoping to do my first track day by mid to late summer!

So far I have:

All 4 bearings and wheel hubs


I did the rear diff oil, and transmission oil



Drilled out the TB spacer as suggested by 3TT3



Timing belt is going to get done along with many upgrades such as metal water pump, drilled 80* thermostat, Al housing, Kevlar belt etc.


Haldex pump was serviced



I found these rubber grommets leaking into the connector. I sealed it with some "goop" sealant



Last but not least, the Hayden cooler which I will use for in place of the power steering line.



I'm waiting on a forge baffled sump and a Motul 16 row oil cooler to finally get the car TTrack ready confidently.


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## 1781cc (Jan 25, 2015)

Power steering cooler is a good shout - I need to be thinking about this soon


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Nice work Gonz, are you planning to get a new high pressure power steering pipe to go straight to the rack, or keeping the original one?


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

NJ ,very clean tb ! ,looks like you're on a roll .
What was the oil diff oil like ?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

The forge sump arrived today, it's a thing of beauty.



I haven't seen anyone make a "how to" regarding a power steering cooler install for these cars, so I figured I'd make one up.

Disconnect oem "cooler" hose


Catch the old fluid


I used the Hayden 401 transmission cooler. This comes with just enough hose to get the cooler mounted in the lower right hand corner in front of the radiator.

I had to buy a barbed joint, 3/8". It worked but required clamps to be used and really tightened down and it still kinda slid around if you pulled hard enough. Was kinda sketched out so I upgraded to a 1/2" joint, same style, but I forgot to take a picture of the new one.





Last step is to do a bleed of the system. Many links on how to do that out there. Very simple job and well worth the $27 + fittings.

Oil cooler is making it's way over from across the pond (same ebay seller a few people here have used). All that is left is to do the timing belt, wheel hubs + bearings, and possibly some usr slotted rotors + ebc yellows before I'm track ready. Any brake pad recommendations btw? I can get the ebc yellows for dirt cheap which is why I want to try them.

According to this study, the Yellows faired well against the Hawk pads. And more importantly, was the most consistent 
http://blog.caranddriver.com/performanc ... llowstuff/

I also need an alignment. Can you guys believe I still haven't gotten one since the accident :roll:



NickG said:


> Nice work Gonz, are you planning to get a new high pressure power steering pipe to go straight to the rack, or keeping the original one?


Keeping the original. I'm not sure what the benefits would be for swapping out the high pressure pipe?

@3tt3 I posted a pic in the "post your TT pic of the day" thread!


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## ecko223 (May 9, 2017)

Your build is looking crazy 

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Brakes are under way! I decided to spend the extra cash and get Carbotech XP12 race pads. Looking forward to seeing their immense stopping power. For rotors I went with Centric blanks which I hear make a great track day combination. Plus they are cheap and I'd rather have my expensive pads eating away at my cheap rotors than have decent rotors eating away at my expensive pads.

I also took the opportunity to upgrade to steel braided lines as well as the Tyrolsport brake stiffening kit!





I got the Mocal 16 row intercooler installed. Centered and tucked away behind the front grill. Install was a breeze thanks to Jay225's thread! 



Also ordered Motul 660 brake fluid just to try it out and compare it to the ATE Typ 200

Waiting on the Carbotech pads now and the brake setup will be complete. I'm VERY excited because my brakes were the least touched part of my build up until this point, and I always suffered from the dreaded VW "squishy" pedal. I have a feeling this thing is going to stop like an anchor on a row boat now.


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

Congrats on the new career more money is alway good.

Car is coming on leaps and bounds


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Build has been put on the back burner for a few different reasons, primarily the fact that at the moment this is now my daily driver ( [smiley=bigcry.gif] ) and therefore I don't have the availability to modify this thing without worrying about it sitting for a week waiting for parts. I'm ready to close on another daily driver next week which is really exciting however so hopefully it goes well and I can expedite the build.

The other issue is that I'm trying to wrap up the lemmiwinks tuning to work well with the water injection. I've got it very close now as far as correcting the lean issue most canned tunes face + adjusting for the larger injectors I have. Currently she's running very nicely but I want to triple check a few things and get my gauges wired up before I up the boost and timing.

I do want to mention that I had stated I wanted to try the 600 ml/min nozzle. It ended up being WAY too much and bogging down the engine regardless of how late I set up the initial injection. I'm not sure how other cars are running that much fluid even with larger turbos. Maybe the methanol mixture would help burn it up, but that's not what I need for this application. I downsized the nozzle now to 100ml/min post throttle body and 175ml/min pre intercooler and this seems to be a good combination.

One final note I want to add is that my temps are beyond incredible right now. The valeo radiator + bumper modification has been keeping my coolant temps between 71-75*C at road/highway speeds. During traffic and heat soak she sits at 90*C flat according to 49c and not a degree more.

Oil temps are amazing right now after the mocal oil cooler. Roughly between 80-85C while moving, and the car has not passed 91*C even in 35*C weather and stop and go traffic for miles. Incredible.

As for an update,

The brakes are complete now. The difference is night and day even with track pads on the road. It's a pretty interesting feeling to go from cheap DD pads to full spec race pads. These pads on cold bite grip as much as the cheap street pads I had, but the more I stay on the brakes and heat them up, they just grip harder and harder, it's awesome. (Mind you this is on the street, not what these pads are meant for). I can tell on the track these will perform exceptionally.

I decided to do a brake bleed and use the rest of the ATE 500 fluid I had, after a few months I will switch to Motul RBF 660 to compare them both fairly. So far no complaints from the ATE though.

Essentially this is what was done:
- Tyrolsport brake stiffening kit
- USP Motorsports Steel Brake Lines
- Carbotech XP12 Brake Pads
- Centric Blank Rotors


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## NickG (Aug 15, 2013)

Coming along well Gonzy!!

The reason I asked is as I am planning to replace mine with a simple high pressure line. More for tidying the thing up and simplifiying as with the external cooler all those bends and switchbacks just aren't necessary! A simple pipe from pump to rack should be ideal.


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## Madmax199 (Jun 14, 2015)

Good progress, keep up the good work!!!


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Unfortunately it seems that photobucket has now completely restricted my account from embedding on forums...

That means that the handful of diy's I created along are essentially gone now. That really sucks. I'm going to try to restore some of the pictures like the headlight, velocity stack, power steering cooler, and a couple others from those diy's so they aren't lost to the community. Real bummer.

Good news is the daily was purchased 2 weeks ago, it's a 2005 645ci. Purchased it in near mint condition, 96k miles, and not a single leak, mechanical fault, or issue. Honestly got it for a steal. Already did a few cosmetic mods and she looks mean as hell.

To keep it reliable, not gonna go crazy on mods either, but I'm hoping to hit 360-380bhp out of that 4.4L V8. Once I get this car to a solid place as far as mods go I'll come back to the TT to finish up the build. I still need to do the timing belt, install the oil temp gauge, forge baffled sump, and the forge mbc.


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

To be honest, I've spent a lot of time deciding what I want to do with the tiTTy. I can't see myself parting ways with it, too much time, money, and energy spent into it. I've fallen into the BMW fan boy vortex that is hard to get out of and I keep spending time and money on my BMW rather than this project.

I am a lot more motivated now however, I tracked down the source of my misfires and lean condition which was holding me back from properly and safely tuning for the water injection so I could up my boost and finally finish the build.



Turns out some dimwit (me) installed the injectors incorrectly and messed up the lower seal. My spark plugs were also incredibly fouled due to the lean condition and incorrectly tuning a system with a leak + excessive water injection.

At this point, the only thing holding me back is time, and my new money pit. I ordered an 80mm Creation Motorsports TIP to wrap up the induction aspect, and all I have left is to tune everything, and then install the boost controller. I'm hoping to accomplish this all before the year is over. 

Here she is, the money pit. It's hard not to love this thing.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

Nice (except for the ass  ) which version?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

3TT3 said:


> Nice (except for the ass  ) which version?


In the US, we only get the V8, no I6 or diesels.


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## 1781cc (Jan 25, 2015)

Mate, I hear you on the daily being the money pit...

In the last 6 months I've decoked my S8, deflaped it, replaced two inlet motors, fitted a Miltek non-res catback and a new set of 275/35/20 boots... came out the other side with a light wallet and 480bhp.

It hurts, but its fun when you drive it right? you only live once...

What else you got planned for the 6?


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## Gonzalo1495 (Oct 13, 2014)

Well some pretty sad news.

Car has been behaving poorly under boost for the longest time, I was having misfires sporadically that I couldn't track down, I even had Wak trying to help me analyzing some logs. This was/has been slowing me down as far as adjusting my tune for WI. This was a few months back, it got progressively worse over time. Recently the past month I could not rev past 5k rpm without spark blow out/sputtering.

Ran a dry compression test today... [smiley=bigcry.gif] 
Cyl 1: 108
Cyl 2: 102
Cyl 3: 106
Cyl 4: 106

According to specs dry compression should be 145-189.
Gonna do a leak down test later this week, I'm hoping for valve train so it's only a head job and I can upgrade the rods while I'm in there swapping out the oil pan for the baffled one anyways! That would be ideal...

The BMW is doing excellent. Last weekend I replaced the clutch, flywheel, headers, and did a full re-seal of the engine with all new gaskets everywhere. I'm at least content that my daily driver is now 95% restored and will be reliable.

I can't start the Audi until I finish the BMW, because the BMW still needs exhaust work done after the headers in order to put her back together. Probably by next week I can start tackling the Audi.


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## ProjectMick (Sep 29, 2015)

Fingers crossed for you dude.


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## desertstorm (Apr 25, 2017)

Those are all remarkably low but very similar. Are you sure the gauge is good.Usually you would expect there to be one or two lower but not all as low as those are. A good 225 TT should be around the 170-180 mark.


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## 3TT3 (Aug 30, 2014)

I think youve "lost that loving feeling"  , I might have too with the bmer 

Wasnt there something way back in posting about running the TT with a totally unfiltered air intake ,no engine undertray and gravelly /dusty road surfaces .
Could have found its way to the internals  .


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