Let the Tinkering get Abominable.

[Greg Roles]

Yeah I've no interest in that hollow straight pipe sound all the jacked up 4x4's often have. I will have a NOX cat and probably 2 x partial flow DPF's, plus my Flowmaster and all the factory bends at the back, so it should be OK, and I'm sticking to 2.25" factory plumbing in the cat back.

Good to know the big GTB still spools OK, the max boost at 2600 worried me, don't want to go back to the feel my old Starion had. Nothing, nothing, nothing, WHAMMO, done.

[Greg Roles]

Had a spare arvo, so took the plunge and chopped up my cat back. Of course I ran out of Argon, so it wasn't pretty, but it came up OK. A short test drive and it seems like the typical pancake delete in a DPF car, minor deeper tone, but I'm happy it's now a bit better flowing for future mods. Big size difference in mufflers! I know it's a poor twin tip setup, but I didn't really have space for a Y, and I'm probably going to go single oval type tip anyhow, just to be different.

[gldgti]

[Mysticality]

Mysticality's ride is not laggy at all. Its quite impressive.

Its still a VGT, and as such when the vanes are closed it spools right up; that being said, the power rush that used to come at 1,400 now comes at 1,500... Is that a big deal? Not if you're quietly cruising.

it is however 'teenager in a gemini' loud.

Only when the vanes are open.

But his exhaust system has been pretty much engineered to be loud. the twin 3" straight pipe pretty much amplifies the noise I reckon.

I was trying to get as much noise out of it as possible; but as I said above, not even a DPF delete will make it sound like anything. All the noise you'll get is induction noise, unless you bin the factory mani/turbo.

Good to know the big GTB still spools OK, the max boost at 2600 worried me, don't want to go back to the feel my old Starion had. Nothing, nothing, nothing, WHAMMO, done.

Darkside Developments has a Mk2 Octavia project car with the GTB2260VK on it; they've got a dyno sheet available on the website.
I compared that with one of my own dyno sheets and the power is 1:1 until about 2k or so - where the 2260 just takes off and the 1756 just kind of flat lines.

[Greg Roles]

Great info, thanks mate. The Darkside kit isn't cheap ( quality parts never are ), so it's good to know the real world result.

I have a DSG cooler on the way, then it;s saving up for an intercooler next.

I do wonder how my DSG will hold up to that sort of torque curve though!

[Mysticality]

I do wonder how my DSG will hold up to that sort of torque curve though!

Better you, than me.
Definitely interested; goes well with the manual but as I've been driving the work DSG's recently I'm beginning to get that twinge... haha

[Greg Roles]

Talk about the Ford GT snorkle being a great fit, I thought it would work, but it went better than expected. I had to cut a closing wedge in the snorkle, and glue the rubber back together and internally sand, so not a simple DIY, but I'm very happy with the result. Drops the intake hiss a lot too from the cabin as opposed to being open in the engine bay. Has a very nice intake burble now.

[gldgti]

cool! fordparts

[Greg Roles]

Couldn't justify the bucks for a Octy VRS steering wheel when I want a new intercooler more, so I spent a lot of time researching and found a suitably close Golf 6 Steering wheel cover from redlinegoods.com. About $150 and a good four hours of careful stitching later, and I'm stoked with the result. I bought a plain black perforated cover with black thread, but there were a ton of options.

Not an easy DIY, but if you are patient not as hard as it seems. The side spokes are not properly covered as the Golf wheel is obviously different, but from a driving perspective you have to look hard to notice, and the back where the DSG paddles go feels fine even though it is only about half covered. The cover does not meet up around the wheel, but I have to say it was a gamble that worked out in my humble opinion.

[Lucas_R]

Good work on both the intake and the steering wheel Greg. It looks like your factory steering wheel was already leather bound, so did you purely want to beef it up a bit by making it thicker, or did you want the perforated look?

Intake ended up fitting really well - nothing like a good DIY custom/one-off job hey.

[Greg Roles]

Fatter and perforated mate, the stock Yeti wheel is a bit, well, petite.

[tinto]

Loving the intake & wheel work Greg.
It's OEM, just not the OEM you'd expect.
Does the intake face forward like that on the Ford?

Given what an upholsterer would charge, you've clearly got the patience of a saint to stitch like that.
Was it a take-the-wheel-off scenario or do you now have a slipped disc from sitting in the driver's seat like gollum clutching and stroking the precious?

[Greg Roles]

Hey ol' mate, it points downwards into the front passenger bumper in the Ford, I just wanted a cheap, enclosed, pod style filter with a suitable snorkle. If it flows OK for a 5.4, I reckon it'll do, and I'm happy with the induction sound now, there, but not too intrusive.

Yeah the wheel took me five episodes of Band of Brothers, so a while, but driving around today, well I'm stoked with it. I took it off, the only way to do it really.

Onto the poor DSG next, it's going to be working harder soon, time to give it some love. Please note bogan B&M cooler, hard to shake my past.

[Greg Roles]

OK I put the DSG cooler in today, it's pretty simple really, but for anyone doing it in future, realise the cooler is full of both coolant - which you can allow for - but so too some DSG oil - which I didn't - and it made a mess. It's not a lot, but enough to make a mess. I added extra DSG fluid to fill the cooler and lines, and will have to recheck the DSG oil level next few days.

I added an optional thermostat, simply because "why not".

I have not bothered to do any before and after temps, this is simply getting ready for more power, and doing those things that make sense to me. Onto the Water Meth next....

[Greg Roles]

Water Meth is almost complete, but while I was in the centre console hooking up a DIY switch and tank level LED for it, I decided the Columbus has to go, I'm over how slow it is. Back to life are the old gauges from my GT TDI....and I've my eye on a nice Alpine head unit. I did try to avoid doing another bloody stereo, but I caved in....