Such is life in the Mid-Atlantic


Quick car related update - I was hoping to get the clutch, mounts, and Fluidampr installed this week, but the mounts still haven't shipped. Apparently the Black Friday deal they were running depleted their stock. The are expected to ship sometime next week.

 

Not much of an update, but I'm still waiting on the mounts to ship. Apparently Black Forest Industries has been stringing along everyone since they oversold their stock. The latest update (from last Tuesday) was they would ship by the end of this week.

And on top of that, I've been having second thoughts about running the twin-disc I bought. There have been a few disc failures lately, and I do not want to deal with that crap. I've already got the RMA opened with the company I bought it from. Once they receive the clutch, they'll credit me so I can then apply it to a South Bend stage 3 daily, which has been proven reliable by a bunch of people. The downside is a slightly heavier clutch pedal and a bit more chatter, but that's a trade-off I'm willing to make. The other option is a Sachs 4-puck clutch with a stock dual mass flywheel, which holds much more torque, but I'm hesitant to run a puck clutch on a daily.

 

So when you trading this thing in for the new Supra?

 

New Supra is hot trash, get the Z4.

 

I actually don't mind the way the new FR-S looks, minus the horrible panel gaps. But, yeah...no

 

Dude, you are deep in it, Morgan.

 

?

 

Finally, a worth-while update:

Around mid-January, all the parts arrived. And then I decided to send back the DKM twin disc clutch because the newer revisions started having issues on other peoples cars. I didn't want to fuck around with that, so I got the Southbend stage 3 daily instead. I had to cough up shipping fees for the DKM to go back, plus pay the difference, and I lost out on the Black Friday sale prices, but whatever... what's done is done.

I finally had all the right parts on hand towards the end of January, and got it all installed Feb 11th:



iABED billet rear main seal:



Southbend Stage 3 Daily clutch, which is rated for 500lb-ft of torque. That should be sufficient, because even with the upgraded turbo I have my eyes, I'd only be making about 450lb-ft of torque without a built engine (which I have no intentions on doing):



The upgraded transmission mount from BFI is just an OEM unit that's been split and rebuilt with stiffer bushings. But that also means it's rebuildable, which is nice if the rubber ever wears out, or if I want to upgrade to the stage 2 inserts:



The BFI engine mount is also rebuildable, but it uses no OEM parts - and it's a pretty nice looking part.



I forgot to take a picture of the Fluidampr until after that side was all back together, but it's in there.

Overall, the car drives so much nicer. The clutch is obviously heavier, but nowhere near as heavy as the clutch I had in the CL (Clutchmasters FX350). It engages smoothly and quickly, and the engagement point is noticeable in the pedal, which is a welcome change over stock. The new mounts, paired with the Powerflex hybrid dogbone insert and the Roc-Euro stabilizer bar, add nearly zero NVH over stock. The clutch chatters a little bit once the car is warmed up at idle and if I'm chugging along up to ~1500rpm, but beyond that, it's unnoticeable. Everything, thankfully, passes the girlfriend test

One thing that surprised me the most was the smoothness of the car overall. In the past, you could feel when the car passed 75mph. It's hard to describe, but you could feel the engine spinning a bit more then usual. Now - and I'm not sure if it's due to the mounts, the lightweight flywheel, the Fluidampr, or all of the above - it's buttery smooth. There were many times on the drive home where I'd look down and be surprised that I was cruising at 80-85 because that slight coarseness is no longer existent.

We're driving down to South Carolina to visit my dad this weekend, which should help speed up the break in period slightly. I hope to be able to go WOT sometime next week, and finally turn the boost up a bit. I'm only around 21-22psi right now, which is about 3psi over stock. Jumping up to 24/25 (assuming fueling can keep up) should net a decent gain.

 

Lord...
"ONLY" 22 psi!
That's cool as fuck.
Great update, Morgsteiner.

 

I mean...stock is already a pretty high 18.something psi, so it's really not that high. Once I address fueling and upgrade to a better turbski, I'll probably be running 28psi or so. A lot of guys seem to be safely running 30psi from ~3k to redline, but I'm not that ballsy.

 

Yeah...you are, actually.
Must be fun to have such a quick and nimble car!

 

It's more fun because it's a sleeper. Most don't recognize what it is, which I like.

It's the quickest car I've owned, which isn't saying much... but it's fun. It's decently nimble, but the next round of upgrades will be addressing that

 

Awesome update so power wise where are you at rn ?

 

Alll of da boost.



Great update man! So ... turbos upgrades ... TTE? IS38?

 

If I had to guess, mid-300s with the current settings. Once I bump to 24-25psi, I should be around 380whp and 400wtq on 93, and maybe 400whp/415wtq on an E30 mix. My next major performance upgrade is adding port injection and a higher flow low pressure fuel pump, which should let me run full E85 - but that's only when someone parts out their stuff or the parts go on sale




The R comes with an IS38 from factory. I'm leaning towards the EQT Vortex turbo - it's a TD06SL2. It likes to live in the 27-28psi range. The graph below is a bit fuzzy, but the purple lines are a stock Golf R DSG with an IS38 (383whp/416wtq - tuned, obviously), green is the same car with the EQT turbo on 91 octane (447whp/434wtq), and blue is an E30 mix (506whp/451wtq). Completely stock catback and a catted downpipe too.



It's a $2200 upgrade with wastegate actuator, but they usually do a decent sale in Fall/Winter. But, if I could get my hands on an APR stage 3 kit (EFR7163) without their tune, I'd snatch that up in a heartbeat.


However, if I really wanted to go crazy, I'd throw my money at Iroz - MQB IMS TURBO KITS - Iroz Motorsport

The dude holds the record for the R (9.5s @ 14xmph, at elevation) and he's got multiple full-weight RS3s running 9s in the quarter too. Dude knows how to build fast cars.

 

The peak numbers are good ... but I'm actually kind of surprised how high up that turbo kit puts your powerband.

Are the dotted lines stock vs solid lines EQT?

 

Oh, and some news on the FR-S - the part out continues...slowly

I've sold the header, front pipe, and over pipe. I've also gotten rid of the fan shroud and I'm meeting the same guy tomorrow to sell the Recaros (I'm sad to see those go, but w/e). I still have a bunch of other parts to remove/sell, but it's coming along

 

The dotted lines are torque, the solid lines are horsepower.

 

Glad I asked ... that's a solid powerband and I'll shut up now

I'm excited man!

 

damn those things make power

my 1.6 can make up to 300whp without touching rods but thats already with upgraded turbo kinda wish it had bigger 2.0 those things make numbers close to yours

 

That much power out of a stock drivetrain is ballsy at best... What tune are you running right now?

 

You should put wheels like this on and see what happens. I catch a lot of people off guard with this look.

 

 

Looking good. Can't wait to see the power upgrades get done.

 

Sam...
don't be a debbie downer...
remember, this isn't the first time morgan blows a fuckin engine up, so he ain't scared.

 

Hellzzzzzzz yeah bruh

Lemme drive it

 

Let Tyler drive it down to Florida so I can drive it too.
That thing looks like it fucks.
And Tyler and I both fuck too...
so...fitting.

 

Those are impressive numbers. Is that a dyno queen or are there customers out there running those power levels? I've read some stories of the GTI guys in the FB groups running some Optimas and being very surprised by how quick they were from a roll.

Eurodyne stage 2 Maestro - just the base map for now. I'll be getting a custom tune soon for E30, just gotta wait for the clutch to break in. I wouldn't call it very ballsy though. If you run quality oil and keep a reasonable OCI, the engine can handle those numbers. It seems to be once you pass 500wtq that things get interesting. Obviously, quality gas is a must as well. I wouldn't be launching it super hard either, so the tranny and diffs shouldn't see too much abuse.

Pushing 440whp on a stock turbo though...that's ballsy. These IHI turbos are trash.

If we regularly got snow, I'd have another set of dedicated snow tires. But if it snows here, I'm usually staying home anyway.

Same - it may take a little while though. I want to start building out my backyard in March/April, so car mods will go a little slowly.

Why'd you have to bring that up??

Let me know if you guys are around Sunday - I'm heading back home from SC then. Maybe I can swing by, grab lunch, take you for a ride and touch tips or something. If the clutch is broken in, I'll let you drive it.

You guys fuck? That must be why Tyler's booty hole is a gaper...

 

I don't give two shits of if he blows his engine up, I care about blowing mine up.

Probably why I'm going to go with the APR+ tune and call it good. After driving a rental Malibu with some pathetic engine in it for the past week, I really appreciate the Golf.

 

To be clear, Tyler pitches, you catch

 

APR+ was something I highly considered before I even got the car. But it's just not enough power for me. It's basically a stage 1 91 octance low torque tune, and if you ever want to get an intake or an exhaust, it has to be an APR product.

But, maintaining the warranty on the drivetrain is a nice feature.

 

Yeah, and I'm totally ok with that personally. To each their own but for me, keeping the 6/72 warranty intact is a pretty huge incentive.

Next step for me is to acquire some new summer wheels. I HATE the englishtown wheels that come on the 18 R's. Those mofos at VW even brought back the Pretorias as an option for the 19's.

 

Get some Rotiform, you non-oem mofo!

 

Morgan ... who do you plan on getting your tune through? I've only heard good things about Frank Mabo.

 

I was thinking of getting Neuspeed, Konig Oversteers, or just OE Pretorias.

 

LAP3 seems like its leading tuner in KDM with good results and happy customers. It's based in Korea and has a shop in VA near you. I'd recommend their FB page, it is interesting, especially new Stinger and G70 3.3TT pushing 450-480whp with just bolt ons

 

I'd stick with OEM...
that's my new bag...the best looking oem wheel for the brand that fits.

 

And for under $300... you can't buy them used for under $1200



Most likely Moose Tune. Mabo has a somewhat shakey relationship with the MK7 community. Some love him, most hate him. He finds a lot of power, but he also blows motors and turbos.

I've been eyeing the Neuspeed wheels. They're pretty light, and they look good. The stock Englishtowns are ~25 (!!!) pounds each.

They're so heavy though... And most OE VW wheels aren't that strong.

 

Okay then the answer is usually RPF1 then.
I am still partial to Regamasters and Weds TC105N...and of course Advan but I closed that chapter in my life

 

RPF1 are too soft for daily, bends way too easily, unless you have super smooth roads that would worry me