My minor modding thread

[S3AMJ]

Good effort Tuffty! Your proper cracking on epic results, Alex has been informing me on my build too which is moving at quick time.

I see you’ve got that very nice BOV on there…… looks like it was meant to be mate finished off the engine bay very nicely if I do say so myself!!


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[<tuffty/>]

finished off the engine bay very nicely if I do say so myself!!

...apart from you won't see it once the battery cover is back on LOL

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

...apart from you won't see it once the battery cover is back on LOL

I wouldn’t expect anything less mate OEM++ and all that joking aside your car is going to sound epic! VR6 big GT35 spooling up and that BOV…… winner


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[<tuffty/>]

So on to what proved to be the trickier part of the downpipe... the wastegate pipe work... this was a bit of a challenge mostly due to space... or more space where the wastegate pipework seems to want to go naturally....

I had removed the driveshaft for better access plus I needed to change an outer CV boot anyway but it was proving quite difficult to get room to work so I just marked up the hotside and DP positions and took the whole lot over to the bench to work on it out of the engine bay... much easier...

This allowed me to position the pipework much easier and gave me a few more options so it ended up like this..

Refitted everything back in the bay to check clearances...

Looking good... so removed it all, marked up the hole I needed to cut out in the DP for the wastegate pipe and that should all be welded up by Alex for tomorrow so I can wrap it in heat wrap

Not many jobs left now... had a bunch of parts turn up today... mostly hoses... so I have all the coolant hoses sorted except for the hard pipe feed from the expansion bottle... that won't fit in its original place so I am making up a new one...

This will run closer to the head rather than on the back of the heatshield over the NA manifolds...

Only other thing I need to do is the oil drain... I am waiting on a flexi hose to arrive so I can make it... not sure when it will come though is the issue so I may have to come up with a plan B... hopefully it will arrive tomorrow and I can get that done too... then Friday should be mostly assembly and fluids ready for a start

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Looks like the DP turned out very well! You weren’t far off where you thought the wastegate pipe would end up what do you plan on wrapping the DP up with? Always curious on what peoples thoughts are of the wrap you can get, I assume there are better ones than ones that generally fall off after a few heat cycles.

I only ask because I’ll be wrapping my DP, well some of it that is….. 3.5” doesn’t leave you any room for any form of wrapping


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[<tuffty/>]

Looks like the DP turned out very well! You weren’t far off where you thought the wastegate pipe would end up what do you plan on wrapping the DP up with? Always curious on what peoples thoughts are of the wrap you can get, I assume there are better ones than ones that generally fall off after a few heat cycles.

I only ask because I’ll be wrapping my DP, well some of it that is….. 3.5” doesn’t leave you any room for any form of wrapping


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I just use relatively cheap titanium stuff... this is what I bought this time around...

20M Titanium Exhaust Heat Wrap Manifold Downpipe High Temp Bandage Tape Roll 701233013163 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 20M Titanium Exhaust Heat Wrap Manifold Downpipe High Temp Bandage Tape Roll at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

I used this on my mani and DP for the 20v... lasted decently enough although arguably due for a re-wrap before the rod went... I have found they are all much of a muchness tbh... the really cheap white stuff seems to fall apart in weeks but not had any real issues with the titanium stuff

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

I just use relatively cheap titanium stuff... this is what I bought this time around...

20M Titanium Exhaust Heat Wrap Manifold Downpipe High Temp Bandage Tape Roll 701233013163 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 20M Titanium Exhaust Heat Wrap Manifold Downpipe High Temp Bandage Tape Roll at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

I used this on my mani and DP for the 20v... lasted decently enough although arguably due for a re-wrap before the rod went... I have found they are all much of a muchness tbh... the really cheap white stuff seems to fall apart in weeks but not had any real issues with the titanium stuff

Cheers mate, I’ll put that in the basket for the moment. I’ll be doing my wastegate pipe and the top half of my DP in wrap I think. Areas which are “easiest” to replace when I need to.


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[Rainbird]

Won't be long now, exciting stuff

 

[<tuffty/>]

Super hero Alex finished the welding on the downpipe...

...while I worked on the cooling system....

Fabricated the hard pipe to replace the one that runs along the back of the heatshield to the expansion bottle..

...and the coolant feed to the turbo...

Then cut out the hole in the charge pipe for the dump valve...

Today was a day of fitting the turbo, taking the turbo out, fitting it again etc while I made sure everything still fitted and made sure all the coolant lines lined up, the heatshield on the transfer box actually fitted and started work on fabricated the oil drain on which I am still waiting on the flexi to arrive...

I also refitted the charge pipe to finalise the clocking of the comp housing...

Few more things to sort out... need to bead roll a joiner for the charge pipe to the FMIC pipework... remake the intake pipe as my old one (from the 20v) has an outlet for the DV (no longer needed) and is too short anyway due to the location of the turbo...

I also need to add in the turbo coolant return line and hook up the after run pump in the 'battery' area

Home stretch now... waiting on parts as always but still a bunch of little jobs to do in the meantime... heat wrap the down pipe, fit the after un pump for the turbo, plumb in the N75 valve etc then hopefully she will be up and running at the weekend... but if the flexi doesn't arrive tomorrow then I guess it will have to wait until next week (I have next week off too!)

Either way the old girl should be running very soon

...oh and Ash had his new rear subframe fitted... not to sure on the colour though

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Haha dam you! get that ****** pink thing off my car….. although it’s better than the crusty crap that came off!

You gonna paint your charge pipe Tuffty, Satin black or the OEM silver, do not touch hot sticker


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[<tuffty/>]

Haha dam you! get that ****** pink thing off my car….. although it’s better than the crusty **** that came off!

You gonna paint your charge pipe Tuffty, Satin black or the OEM silver, do not touch hot sticker


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Alex would be most upset at you critiquing his choice of colour!!

The plan was to get the charge pipe powder coated... I need to do some work on it first to flush the welds so its all smoooooooth!!... then I will either paint them silver or powder coat them silver...

The powder coat on the inlet has gone a bit sketchy so I am in two minds... teh paint/lacquer combo I have used before lasted well and was easy to maintian so I may just do that for now

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

I’ll be bringing up my wheels that are going on the car this Saturday, take a look at the silver on them! My powdercoaters do an awesome silver, well priced and pretty quick turn around if your interested!

Oh no the pink is very Alex on his Leon it’ll be pucker!

Trying to source some solid bushes no dice and CBAuto haven’t been the most……. Reliable. I’ll probably end up going black series bushes all round.


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[<tuffty/>]

Today was a day of mostly final assembling and tweaking of things....

I double wrapped the downpipe... managed to survive this without itchy arms and soaked the wrap in water to make it a bit easier to work with

I added some extra heat shielding where the wastegate runs...

...and added a little extra to the knock sensor... this is mostly covered by an extension on the exhaust gasket on that side but doesn't hurt to have some extra protection...

I am still waiting on the flexi for the oil drain fabrication so did a final mock up fitting to see if I could fit the drain with the turbo and downpipe in place... turns out I can... yes its not exactly the easiest job in the world but.. its doable so... I started final assembly

Turbo, downpipe, wastegate, oil feed, EGT and coolant lines are all in and torqued up...

Then moved on to the charge pipe...

I did discover that the charge pipe sat oddly when I actually tightened up the clips... so remade one of the joiner pipes to fix that.... I also remade the intake as my old 20v one was too short and sat at the wrong angle

I ran the turbo coolant return and have worked out where the pump will fit... I have a few bits to sort on that including the wiring and a bracket but the list is now very short indeed...

I won't be painting anything just yet as I want to get the engine running first... I also have to work out a few more brackets for things like the oil feed pipe, turbo coolant return pipe and EGT... I also need to make something to secure the charge pipe to the head to stop it moving about..

Not long now

<tuffty/>

 

[<tuffty/>]

This weekend has been mostly doing the fiddly bits and making stuff fit up right... I needed to wire up the turbo afterrun pump and make a bracket to hang the oil feed, turbo coolant return and EGT probe wiring off...

The oil feed filter needs a 45 deg fitting which is on order to get a better run without bending the pipe too much...

After run pump is switched off the original feed that has now been connected to the VR's after run pump... this means that it will work off its own power at the same time as it always did when on the 20v...

I modded the bracket I made to support the battery cover and airbox to mount the after run pump... and also fitted the EGT probe black box to one of the fixings...

And that is the cooling system done and dusted... to recap what I did to get the turbo coolant side of things working.... I picked up the coolant feed from the hose going from the back of the head to the heater matrix...

...this was a 16mm to 13mm 90 degree silicon elbow that then connected to a fabricated stainless hard pipe to a banjo on the turbo...

The return is a stainless pipe welded to a stainless flexi...

This is routed to the nose of the after run pump and the outlet of the after run pump connects to the plastic hose union going to the top of the rad... (this is much the same as the S3 does it)

There is a hard pipe that runs from the other heater matrix hose (outlet) to the expansion bottle... this is bolted to the heat shield... but as someone has fitted a hoofing great turbo there then another solution was required... so I made a hard pipe from 16mm OD stainless tube and a 45 degree elbow....

...this is connected to the heater matrix hose using a 16mm 90 deg silicon hose...

And thats about that!... (and don't worry... a new air filter is on its way as I didn't realise how bad my old had got! )

...and of course the OEM++ look

The oil drain flexi still hasn't arrived so as a plan B I am going to look at repurposing an OE oil drain... this actually was my original plan but Alex mentioned he had order 500mm versions of the lines they usually use on customer builds so was hanging on for one as they are a really good flexi..

That said, OE drains aren't prone to fail although I have had one modded one go on me once but think that was more down to it being too tight a bend that cracked to PTFE inside...

Either way it will get the engine side of the build done and should the flexi fail later down the line its no drama to mod it for the other flexi as I will grab one anyway

N75 is connected up too but this will be unrouted in IECU for now while I start building the VE table for the actuator pressure...

Back at it tomorrow... who knows, it may even get started

<tuffty/>

 

[Rainbird]

Solid progress and write up as always. Excitement is building, properly stoked for you!

 

[<tuffty/>]

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

View attachment 241830

So we are gonna get it making whoosh noises today then


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[<tuffty/>]

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Hell yes! Actually stayed up waiting in anticipation for this….. well done mate


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[hydro s3]

The sound is amazing well done mate

 

[<tuffty/>]

Thanks all... been a fairly intense week... my arms and hands look like they have been mauled by a hundred cats and my feet feel like I am walking on gravel bare foot... but... its been worth it....

Yesterday started off fine... not knowing when the flexi would turn up I turned to plan Z... use the flexi from an OE drain I had...

After quite a lot of faffing about Franken Drain was brought to life!!!...

Happy with myself I went to grab some lunch and as I finished that a delivery arrived...

Well fark a duck!!!... so oil drain v2 or the 'proper one' was quickly knocked up...

Ah well... at least its done properly and I am happy now

All that was left was fluids...

My 'luck' continued with the battery being mostly flat so had to jump pack the battery to turn it over... turned it over using Ignitrons little feature that turns off ignition and injectors to allow you to turn the car over without it starting to build up oil pressure...

After allowing the engine to turn over for some time the pressure had still not built so checked the turbo oil feed to see if oil was getting that far and it wasn't... this was a worry as now I could not recall fitting the oil pump driven shaft when I buttoned up the sump sooooo....

I drained the fresh (expensive) oil out and dropped the sump to check... thankfully I had but I had to check...

Refitted the sump, refilled the oil and turned it over for a bit longer and slowly but surely the pressure came up... at 2 bar I took my foot off the accelerator (part of the ignitron no start actuation) and she fired up straight away...

Most noticeable thing was how quiet the exhaust was now... the turbo acting as a silencer of course.... ran the engine up to temp topping up the coolant along the way only to find that the turbo after run pump wasn't working... B*gger!... that was a job for the following day as its was now 10pm at the unit and I was pretty fried...

So todays first task was to check the engine bay over to check for leaks... nothing... nada... zip... nothing... pretty happy with that but tbh I haven't changed loads and the engine has been in for two years now so shouldn't have been much that could go wrong

Next task was to sort the pump... I didn't fancy driving the car without this working so out came the multimeter and I gave it a damn good probing... the fix in the end was simple as the VR after run was working fine and I thought that the wire I had ready should have been fine but for whatever reason it wasn't and so I just retapped off the feed I know was working to power the relay and bob's yer muscle... working pump

I then turned my attention to the heatshield over the manifold... took some measurements and used some Cardboard Aided Design to get to this...

Just need to clean it up and paint it

One thing I was concerned about was whether or not I would get boost creep from this manifold... its a bit of an unknown and previous experience has taught me that its a real possibility... that in itself would be a downer if the creep was serious enough to take me close or god forbid over the 1bar of boost I was aiming for...

So I paid a quick visit to Mexico and did a third gear run to see what was what..

0.5bar flat (give or take a kpa or 2)... happy days and given I have a 7psi spring thats bob on

Obviously the VE map is a mile out so need to address that before I give the old girl the beans again... getting over 20% additive in places so need to reign that in...

Timing map will need a bit of attention if I intent to up the boost I suspect but I can deal with that once the initial VE is sorted...

EGT's were surprisingly good given the probe is in the hotside (as per OE K04) and the air temp delta was also nice...

However as the outside temps increased later this afternoon to 27deg ambient the poor old girl was showing signs of getting a little warm... coolant temps were around 98deg while loaded up up hill... this is compared to a typical 88/90 I used to see when NA... I suspect I may need to look into a CFS rad at some point as the VR is quite well known for running a tad warm

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

All very very promising mate! itching to see what 1 bar will yield you!


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[<tuffty/>]

Heat shield done

<tuffty/>

 

[Bluepower]

Sooo pretty, and she sounds really nice!!
question: that ribbled coolant hose, which is that??

 

[Ian W]

Wow, brilliant work on that and the sound is something else

 

[<tuffty/>]

Sooo pretty, and she sounds really nice!!
question: that ribbled coolant hose, which is that??

Its Forge Mega Flex hose

<tuffty/>

 

[<tuffty/>]

For the past couple of days I have been in Mexico pretending to be a 'tuna'!...

VE map is in a happy place now for actuator pressure and trims are looking good...

Next up.... N75 controlled boost

<tuffty/>

 

[<tuffty/>]

So while I was in 'Mexico' it seemed rude not to enable the N75 and build the boost map

First iteration was to get to 180kpa or 0.8bar/12.6psi from my actuator pressure of 0.5bar/7.25psi....

Set the 'P' of the PID control to 0.1 from the map file wizard settings to give a bit tighter control...

Then set the limp mode over boost threshold to 185kpa

...and finally as an added safety I set the over boost throttle limit to 30% at 200kpa in the egas throttle modifiers

On to the boost map... top line is 180kpa with vertical interpolation down to 130kpa

integrator min was set at zero across the map

....and integrator max set at 30 tops (interpolated vertically back down of course)

Turns out 30% imax wasn't enough

...so after some tweaking imax at 60% did the job nicely...... obviously 0.8bar wasn't really enough sooooo....

Changed the specified boost to 190kpa (0.9bar/13psi) up to 5000rpm (this is where torque looked like it was stating to drop off...) and then 200kpa (1bar/14.5psi) to redline...

Updated imax to suit...

I also upped the limp mode values to 210kpa and the egas overboost limit to 205kpa (after I had obviously done my first run at 190/200kpa and hit limp mode!!... DOH!!)

And this was of course pretty close to where I wanted the tune to be boost wise and torque wise...

Top end is still dropping off to just under 200kpa so I have another map to try later with a few tweaks to imax higher up the rev range...

Obviously BHP and Torque is IECU's calculated values which when the STFT's are 'zero' are pretty close to actual output... however I do of course need to validate all this on the dyno and do a few other tweaks to things like timing as currently I have no pull and I am not running meth either at this time...

EGT's look good considering the probe is in the hotside of the turbo (like OE K04) and the air temp deltas between ambient and manifold are good too...

The car feels blisteringly fast... although bare in mind the last time I drove a 'fast' car was some 2 years back before the rod went and an NA 3.2 vr is not a powerful engine in a heavy car like an S3...

Hopefully will be able to get the car on the dyno in the next couple of weeks to see where it all stands... but it is a joy to drive... the response from 2000rpm is very very impressive... like they say, no replacement for displacement

Using nearly 80% duty on the N75 to get 1bar of boost is actually quite a lot... if I wanted to have more boost then I would need to change the actuator spring for something stiffer but... as it stands if the engine makes 450/500hp as it is and given how fast the car feels already its not something I am that bothered about as the setup suits what I need... the injector IDC is currently at 80%.. this could rise a little depending but they a re 625cc at 3bar... so if I feel I need a bit of over head I can always fit a 4bar fpr or more likely a decent variable one and take it to 3.5bar just so I don't mess with the idle and low cruise rpm fuelling as at idle IDC is already stupidly low at 1-2%

Best I make a start on the DSG loom then

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Epic results there mate! Nice to see the car is doing exactly what your telling it to do and 1 bar boost 500bhp is just the ticket. Looking forward to seeing how it feels to be passenger in it


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[Rainbird]

Quick work there dude. Looks properly decent in those logs (to my untrained eye, at least!), can only imagine how good it feels to drive - even more so after a couple of years NA!

 

[<tuffty/>]

So this happened!....

Initial run off the back of my tuning trip in 'Mexico' netted 485hp... this was at a shade under 1bar as I needed to tweak the imax up a bit for it to achieve the 200kpa request up top...

Had a couple of runs just faffing but it was evident I was running out of spring rate in the wastegate as raising imax was having diminishing returns on boost...

For the final map I bumped specified boost up at the top end to 210kpa as I was seemingly stuck at 490 odd hp...

Boost map ended up as...

...with integrator max as...

I also noticed that the VVT was retarding the inlet cam from 5k so I zero'd that lot out too and....

Happy dayz...

So next thing to do was to fix the AWD lol... I have had the common issue of the rear wheels hopping on low speed manoeuvring and pulling the fuse 'fixes' that issue which means its typically the haldex controller at fault... I am not exactly sure what the issue is but given its a fairly simple unit that has a potted electronics board, a servo motor and a valve my money is on the servo motor... but I think I will strip my old one to have a look as tbh it would be useful to be able to repair them if at all possible...

So, one haldex controller...

After draining the oil (which looked quite dark tbh) I undid the two bolts holding the controller on and jiggled it out... this is actually a little awkward but it will come out with a bit of faffing about...

Nothing obvious other than it being 'dirty'

I had to clean up the mount face on the haldex diff as this was a little crusty...

...and decided to change the filter while the controller was out... not that its really any easier...

After that came the job of 'wrestling' the replacement controller back in!...

There are a few things to be mindful of when doing this... if you have the earlier o-ring seal type haldex then you only have to worry about the bolts falling out as a rule... however if its a metal gasket type like mine then you have to try and get the haldex in with the bolts on enough that the gasket doesn't fall off as its almost impossible to fit in once the controller is in its 'hole'... that was a fun 10 minutes I can tell you!!

Last job of the day was to fit the 45 degree -4AN fitting to the turbo oil feed filter to take the rather sharp bend out of the not too bend oil line...

Bill pulled up the dyno plot of his Mk1 TT 3.2vr and overlayed my plot on it...

A turbo certainly wakes a VR up lol...

On the way home I took a small detour to 'Mexico' just to do a log on the road now things were at a good point...

83% IDC at 500hp, 700deg EGT's, 10 degree delta on ambient vs IAT's and this is with no meth as I haven't got that plumbed in currently...

I want to dual port the wastegate as this will give me some duty cycle back and help keep the gate stable at higher RPM/manifold pressures... this should allow me to fine tune the torque curve as I would ideally like to get this as flat as possible

Still a few things to sort out like making a bracket to hold the charge pipe as that moved about quite a bit on the dyno lol... and painting things of course

Oh and the haldex appears to be working ok now... when I first drove the car out the unit it still seemed to be binding a bit but no where near as much but when I got home I reversed into my parking space with no obvious issues so hopefully that is now all sorted

<tuffty/>

 

[hydro s3]

Brilliant results mate

 

[<tuffty/>]

Bit of progress with DSG related stuff....

After a bit of deliberation I acquired a different DSG selector... this one is from a Polo 6R (2011)... this 'should' work fine and is the same as one used by a friend of mine on a DQ500 gearbox.. it being from a 7spd vs 6spd should not make any difference as all it does is tell the gearbox what drive mode to be in or in manual mode to change up or down...

My mate has retained the Polo knob and trim but its not the best fit... so I bagged an S-Line version...

The other real difference on this selector setup (other than the cable end for the box) is that the way the release button works is no longer at the side (thumb operated) but at the front... this means the slot in the selector mech faces forward and not sideways (like my earlier 8P one)

The S-Line knob is mostly metal too so feels more premium than the Polo one...

The selector trim looks like it might be easier to make fit too

Looks like I will need to trim the top and bottom off the 8L panel and make something out of that... and to that end I covered the DSG trim in tape and cut around it to create a pattern that should make trimming the 8L trim a bit easier...

I am going to wait until the selector is in before I tackle that task though as I want to be sure where the selector and trim actually sits rather than assume it will be similar to the 8L one...

Next up was to do some work on the wiring looms for the selector and box... the gearbox is a 20pin plug (1J0927320) which can be bought from Ali Express pretty cheaply... the gear selector plug (10 pin, 1K0972776) was also bought from Ali Express...

I used the wiring diagram Karl put together for his TT and just added the colours or wire I used to make it a little easier to reference

The results so far...

Selector loom....

Gearbox loom...

I have added in the extra wires for the starter inhibit relay, reverse light and speedo feed... I have not finalised the pin outs I am using on IECU yet but the starter and reverse light feeds will trigger relays accordingly and the speedo signal will go to the cluster...

I need to offer up the looms to work out lengths etc then I can finish them properly... I will then hook them up to my test harness so I can power up the gearbox and selector unit to make sure they and the loom works before installing it in the car ready for when I get around to fitting the box

Lastly I painted the intake pipework a gloss black but... the paint started to react for some reason so after a lot of faffing I stripped it all back down to bare aluminium again to start again... as I needed to drive the car I fitted it in the scotch bright finish and tbh... I kinda like it being silver rather than black...

So I think I will paint the intake, charge pipe and inlet all the same silver

<tuffty/>

 

[S3 Rav]

Looks amazing.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Thanks dude...

So as is the way of things... I have started painting stuff

Have a bit of work to do to the charge pipe before painting that too... Then need to take the inlet off and paint that too

<tuffty/>

 

[<tuffty/>]

So this month represents 13 years of owning my S3 (and updating this thread!!)

Much like its owner the old girl's body work is suffering but unlike its owner that can be fixed

This thread represents the highs and lows of my S3 ownership and hopefully helps others with their own as lets face it I have changed and fixed a fair few of the standard S3 problem areas over the years....

The evolution of the car from her OG standard form, through to the 620hp 20v rebel without a rod period and now the more grown up and laid back VR6 turbo phase

Here's to many more years (no Mr McDermott... you are not having her!) and a ****** respray

<tuffty/>

 

[<tuffty/>]

Small update on progress and ongoing 'projects'...

The charge pipe got some tabs welded on so that I could make a support bracket to hold it in place

As ali is notorious for stress fracturing from vibration I decided to use isolating bobbins to try and mitigate that...

Added and extra strap to help with support...

I still need to make a second bracket for the other tab but as yet not had the time to work out where that will go as its a little less straight forward... but will update once I have done that..

Obviously I have now had a chance to paint the charge pipe and apply the obligatory OEM charge pipe warning label

Another 'work in progress' is the trim for the DSG gear selector lever... the 8P trim has a plated metal finish and I was struggling to get the transition sanded out so it wouldn't show through the paint so resorted to using a plastic filler..

This appears to have worked out...

The mod is still not finished as I need to secure the leather gaiter to the mounting ring (normally stapled) but even my heavy duty stapler is not really managing to get staples through the plastic mounting ring so I have some Evo Stick on its way...

One thing that reared its head now that the engine is turbo charged relates to the brakes... more specifically how the vacuum in the servo disappears quite quickly when having a spirited drive... this will potentially get worse once I go DSG and VAG actively fit electric vacuum pumps to auto's so a little research ensued and picked up this...

This was from a Mk4 Golf but they are still fitting these to more modern cars like A1's and the like... further searching about for how these are actually fitted netted a Self Study pdf (SSP 257) dedicated to the vacuum pump in question... Seems it runs in one of two modes...

Open loop... this is where the ECU guestimates the 'vacuum' available and kicks the pump in as needed...

...and closed loop... this is where the ECU actually uses a sensor to measure vacuum and will kick in the pump when required...

Both setups use manifold vacuum as well so the systems supplement each other... I plan to use closed loop control as I can use a MAP sensor to measure vacuum and then set Ignitron to switch the pump on and off as required feed from the MAP sensor (separate to the main ECU MAP sensor I should add)

The idea will be to kick the pump in when vacuum drops to around 60kpa (600mbar absolute, ambient pressure at sea level is around 990mbar) and turn it off at around 20kpa... although this change once installed and being tested... of course Ignitron being Ignitron will allow me to log the pressure and I believe also the actuation of the pump so I can fine tune this

I just need to make up a bracket, get some isolating bobbins to stop any potential for vibration through the chassis and hook it all up... that will happen when I make a start on the next 'major' project...

...fitting a CFS alloy radiator... as my coolant temps are getting a little out of control when the car is pushed... VR's do have a reputation of running hotter than most engines but I am seeing over 100deg coolant temps with the fans running and this in turn effects the oil temps so I will be fitting this rad first then looking at an oil cooler later...

Last show and tell for now is the mods to the fuel rail.... now being a big tart this is purely a cosmetic mod and serves no other purpose at all... as you can see from the previous engine bay pic the fuel hoses are looking a little 'untidy' so had planned to get some decent nylon sleeved fuel line to replace it... I just couldn't find a way to terminate the ends that would look 'right' soooo

I bagged some stainless -6AN to 1/8npt adaptors... I could have got some bung type fittings but they are a round profile and not machined for a spanner... I cut off the ends of the OE tails and cut/drilled out the fittings so they would snug over...

They just need welding on now (something Alex has done on fuel rails before so it should all work fine without spontaneously combusting)

I am using PTFE -6AN fuel hose and so need the 'special' PTFE fittings... given this is essentially to replace the fuel feed and fuel return hose in the engine bay there are some 75 quids worth of fittings required

.... although not as bad as Ash and all the stuff he has got for his fuel system lol

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Looking forward to seeing the DQ250 going into your car mate. At least it’ll be more straight forward than the DQ500!

Awesome effort with the shifter trim! Proper OEM++ right there.

Had a good look at my CAE shifter yesterday inside the car and it’s gonna be a bit of a mission to make it look anywhere near OEM.


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[<tuffty/>]

Bill has kindly given me a corner out of the crappy weather so I can do some work on the S3...

CFS radiator, vr6 PAS pipework and the fuel rail plus the vacuum pump will be going in over the next couple of weekends...

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

You got them coats of paint on that inlet manifold yet mate epic build! Looking forward to seeing it all back together and what room you’ve got left. I do have rad envy


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