Let the tinkering begin...

[gregozedobe]

OK I've changed my view of sports vans after this e-mail from my Bro.

Well, it does have a few things going for it.....................

Mid-engined
Light
Simple
Unique
Great power to weight ratio
Cheap
ABSOLUTELY BONKERS CRAZY !!!!!!!!!!

I would never have the balls to really nail the accelerator in something as scary as that (I like to remain alive and uninjured).

[DaveMack]

Would indeed be a scary beast ... specially as the vehicle 'crumple-zone' is basically your knees.

Dave

[Greg Roles]

OK, back to the real stuff....

Put my stock airbox back on for my 15k service, without the MAF grid and it's been running fine. Still, even gridless, the responsiveness has dropped, especially off boost. The lag is definately longer, and you spend more time in the "dead zone". Once on boost it feels pretty much the same, which you'd expect with a turbo on boost.

It's not really any quieter per say, just that now the typical diesel rattle ( without engine covers ) is very obvious, whereas before with the pod the induction hiss kinda drowned that out when you're up it.

So for anyone considering a pod upgrade, it's an easy 10 min swap back to stock, so long as you don't modify the factory fit points too drastically.

I AM looking forward to getting my pod back on though!

[comfortline]

So Greg, how's the tinkering going?

Loved the thred so far, sorta thinking about whether my 2.0 comfortline needs a new intercooler, and inlet syste,

Cheers

David

[Greg Roles]

Mate she's stalled, thanks to the last few months of work being dead, and my income dropping to survival. Fraid it's been bills, food and repayments, and not much left over for fun! I'm sure I'm not alone, so I hardly feel hard done by...

Nah it's been OK, but certainly tighter than usual. I'm sniffing around jobwise, and suprisingly there's a lot on offer currently in my industry, and some nice pay advances out there, so 2009 is looking up.

Scored a smoking hot girlie since the start of this thread too, so that's definately been a distraction. I apologize for being tempted by the awesome tidy flesh at my disposal.....what were we talking about?

I've chatted to Plazmaman, whom alongside PWR seem to be right up there and on the ball with W2A intercoolers. All I need is a core and I'm ready to go.
I've been asking around about the idea of using the stock Air intercooler as the water radiator for a W2A core, and from what I can find, it may be a great way to go. I'm keen to get on with it, but doing my research too, for as relatively safe a more efficient intercooler would be, I'm sure if something goes bang, my warranty will be very much affected with such an obvious mod.

Over Christmas I plan to get a few things finished up, so will have some more to post.

Actually come to think of it, I have tinkered here and there, but it's been stereo stuff I'm afraid. Certainly sounds nice!

[Preen59]

Plazmaman get their cores from NASA. They are the ducks guts as far as that stuff goes. They also used to be (not sure now) the only people that could make certain types of aluminium mandrel bends.

They're the sh*t basically.

[comfortline]

Good to see things are rolling along, if slowly. Can totally understand the distractions that a new woman can bring.


Try it after 10 years and the car wins everytime.

OOOO should I say that..... (looks over shoulder)

[Greg Roles]

OK, finally spent a day drilling holes in perfectly good stuff. Put in the senders for oil temp, oil pressure and my boost gauge. Spent a lot of time researching and thninking up what my next round of stuff to do is, and it did take some time to work out where to fit the senders. Worked out where all the sensors, actuators and the operating parameters of the DPF, EGR and turbo are.

Boost sender is in the manifold itself post EGR / throttle flap, so at it's theoretical lowest point. Early days, and I haven't read the meter instructions yet, but a quick blat was peaking at about 23psi. The good news is I can get other sender units from Speedhut, so I'll aim to put one in between the turbo and the intercooler in my new pipework for comparison.

Drilled and tapped the holes with the vacuum cleaner running!



Oil temp, amazing how long it takes to heat up compared to water, but I admit the sender is WAY up high ( not keen to drill the alloy sump! )



Don't drill this end people, my bad! Oil vapor separator right there on this end, despite pouring over all my Erwin info for a good hour...seemed a good spot...

[Greg Roles]

This was by in FAR the scariest hole to drill, right in the side of the beautiful cast alloy oil filter housing. After long deliberation, and pulling the cooler off the bottom ( messy ! ) there was very little other choice to get real pressure. I wasn't prepared to mess with the turbo oil line, the only external oil line available. I want the oil to get to the turbo ASAP!

End result looks quite neat once back together. Only problem is the devcron I glued the thread in with hadn't quite set, so upon getting back from a quick meter test lap, I noticed I had poured about half a litre down the underside of my car through the leak! Damn it! Job for the morning....

[Transporter]

Greg,
I know it is to late know but did you think about installing oil pressure and temperature senders by using T-piece at the original oil pressure switch location. (Oil pressure switch thread is M10x1mm) This is where I'm going to install by-pass oil filter (after 3 years). Wherever you would plum it in the oil pressure line the reading would be the same (the law of physics).
I think that your oil temperature sender is in less than ideal location, it should be more in contact with the oil. The top of the rocker cover has only contact with the splashed oil and mass of the cover takes long time to warm up (made of plastics).
If you need to fill up the hole in that AL oil filter housing and other materials try JB Weld epoxy.

Some quick link I googled for you and other tinkerers

http://www.steamengine.com.au/ic/faq/pittedbore.html

[MultiplexMan]

I have used sump plugs with the T sender integrated in them. A clean solution with no extra drilling...

I am currently using the same for gearbox and engine oil - different vehicle.

P senders - T pieces and sandwich plates (if you have the room).

You really want to make sure that absolutely no swarf gets left in any of your pipe work.

[Greg Roles]

Swarf free, I was very careful don't worry!

OEM Temp sender T-piece sounds like a good idea in hindsight, but hey, it worked out and as you point out too late!

Man, I nutted it out for ages but didn't think of that! Oh well at least she's leak free now.

I agree on the tappet cover, and will probably blank it off, have brass blanks for that very purpose. Will use the T-piece idea for the temp sender thanks!

[peedman]

Hi mate, nice write up so far. You should check out 42draft designs from the US for gauge solutions as they have stuff like those t-pieces and drain plugs with the sender to fit as well. Keep it up!

[Greg Roles]

Yeah yeah NOW you tell me.....

I promise to get on here and ask next time before I reach for the drill bits..... EDIT : Perhaps....

Still there is a sick joy in molesting a new car I have to admit.

[Greg Roles]

Well the car has been going well despite a few new holes, but the oil temp sender is indeed too high, as it only actually reads any sort of temp on heatsoak after shutdown. I'll relocate it to a dedicated sump plug as advised above! The pressure sender is working perfectly, and I'm getting good readings...more piece of mind more than anything. Again I think I'll heed beter advice and get a t-piece. I don't like the idea of hard thread on a big bell into nice alloy. Bit precarious!

The boost pressure at the end of the manifold is indeed maxing out at about 23psi. On hard acceleration it spikes up to the 23, then quickly drops to just over 20psi as the vanes obviously compensate and control the boost.

What IS very interesting is watching the boost that is virtually ALWAYS happening, and I'm seeing 3-4psi down hills at 60k with no throttle. There is almost always some boost present with no throttle, regardless of speed, so that intercooler is always working!

Anyone wanting to get a boost gauge for their TDI will be fine with an easy to find 0-30psi version if you take pressure from the manifold. My 0-60psi is a little overkill really....for now!