Tiguan IS38 and Big turbo upgrades

[Beedub]

Just Etuners. I'm still not sure if they're one and the same, they definitely talk to Gordie.
They've done at least 2 jobs on hybrid IS38's now, and they're getting some good results.

[REXman]

Does anyone know how much the costs are.. I just bought a H revision woohoo excited.

1. I read about 40 pages back people are doing the inlet hose and some other things. Can we do a definitive list of what you need to do, in addition to the DP and Turbo when doing the upgrade?
2. if I rock up to a good mechanic can they swap the turbo.. what's a fair price?
3. Should I custom or Apr tune and
4. what's a good DP.
5. Must I get the dsg box tuned.
6. Could bluefin do what APR do and offer their Golf R map.

[davman]

Rexman, all great questions, and there will be differing opinions on this, as each addition may/or may not make a difference. However here is my 2 bobs worth, coming from someone who has not done any actual modification as of yet, and is looking from a budgetary perspective- so take it with a grain of salt.

BASIC's would be DP, Turbo Inlet, Turbo, Drop in Air Filter (Perhaps air inlet modification)
If you are going with APR, then this is probably also the minimum for their tune (however they also probably recommend the turbo muffler delete).
If you are going with a custom tuner, then they can tune the car to whatever modifications you have made, and how the figures are looking. One tuner I have spoken to says he has not seen any performance benefit of putting the turbo muffler delete on, so that is obviously an optional component.
Good thing is with a custom tune, this usually includes a DSG tune for the similar price that the APR IS38 tune will be.
So in my book at the moment, a custom tuner will tune it based on what modifications you want to add based on performance or budget, whilst having the added benefit of DSG tune, and being perhaps a little bit cheaper, and allowing you to use the componentry that you want to use. APR dealers don't seem too keen to put the APR tune in, without using the APR DP - which costs about $700 more than a CTS one.

I am not sure if you can just get a good mechanic to swap the turbo, without having the tune put in at the same time. Labour costs to install DP and Turbo seem to be around the $800 mark.

So my build will be CTS DP, CTS Turbo Elbow, Drop in Air Filter, IS38 (2nd Hand), Intake Modification, Custom Tune with DSG Tune, Tuner installing the Turbo and DP. This will be costing almost bang on $5K.

[Beedub]

Hi REXman,

My 2c, go with a custom tuner. You won't be locked into a "system" like APR does, which is fine, it's like buying only Apple products, but it is costly, and sometimes there are better, cheaper alternatives.

To your questions;
1) DP and turbo is the minimum and best bang for buck when upgrading the turbo. Increasing airflow to the turbo is the next thing to do to increase HP, so look at upgraded turbo inlet (aka elbow), silicone hose from the air filter to turbo, and upgrading the air intake (either a new panel filter or a complete intake replacement). You can then look at upgrading the intercooler.

2) Any mechanic can do a swap, can't say what a fair price is sorry, I'm sure others can.

3) Up to you, but I refer to my opening statement. The consensus also seems to be that APR tunes result in power coming on quick then petering out, whereas custom tunes can see power increasing right across the rev range.

4) A good DP is one that fits. CTS make a Tiguan specific one, and APR have one that fit too. All in all I don't think any DP performs better than another when it comes to the Tiguan. In theory any DP that fits a Golf R Mk7 should fit the Tiguan.

5) You don't have to, but honestly it is well worth it, especially when swapping the turbo. The stock configuration of the DSG is all about economy, even in S mode. S mode is totally different when tuned, and even D mode feels better as gears are held a little longer and changes are much more responsive.

6) There is a bluefin tune for the Tiguan ((VW) Volkswagen Tiguan Chip tuning & VW Tiguan Tuners | Superchips Australia) which is the equivalent of a Stage 1 tune where the ECU is flashed and everything else remains stock. They offer a 30% power increase which is pretty standard for Stage 1 tunes. There's another thread on this site regarding VW being able to detect plug-n-play options like this, so if you're thinking about warranty then there's still a risk.

[dgp]

Beedub, you mention using a custom tuner.
I have been reading a lot of posts on this forum as I am buying a 162TSI Allspace but have been driving commodores for years. I am quite familiar with tuning the Holdens, am will probably tune the Tiguan.
My question though, I seem to read a lot about ARP and the like generic tunes. Are there actually tuners out there that have the capability to custom tune these VAG vehicles?
I am in Victoria if you have any recommendations.

[tigger73]

Beedub, you mention using a custom tuner.
I have been reading a lot of posts on this forum as I am buying a 162TSI Allspace but have been driving commodores for years. I am quite familiar with tuning the Holdens, am will probably tune the Tiguan.
My question though, I seem to read a lot about ARP and the like generic tunes. Are there actually tuners out there that have the capability to custom tune these VAG vehicles?
I am in Victoria if you have any recommendations.

Custom tuners in Melbourne that specialise in VW/Audi are Etuners Motorsport and Underground Performance. My car is running an Etuners Motorsport tune and Gavin (h1000vw / forum moderator) is partner in Underground Performance so you couldn't really go wrong with either option.

The off-the-shelf tunes like APR are fine too. Just they won't "guarantee" that their file will work 100% if you don't use their hardware which locks you into relatively expensive hardware options. It'll cost you more but it is guaranteed results. Though their tunes will also work with other hardware except they only test it with their own stuff. Having said that they have a lot of happy customers. I ran an APR tune on my first Tig and it would come on pretty hard and run out of puff over 5,000rpm. It worked with 3rd party hardware (DP, intercooler, intake).

[dgp]

Thanks tigger73, I would prefer a custom tune so will definitely keep this in mind.

[REXman]

Davman and Veedub... Thanks very much. Great info and exactly what I was after. So I had a look at the goods advised and I think they looked like some good quality parts.
So have now ordered:
IS38
CTS inlet
CTS DP

Looking at getting a custom tune I've decided. Getting quotes now.

Also got some 2 quotes on fitment of turbo and dp. Varied a lot. $900 is where I'm at so far.

Decided against the APR thing. Too expensive for what you get in my eyes. My last car had an APR HPFP and INTERCOOLER. Nice stuff but so are some of the alternatives. For example the stock cooler should be fine up to 400hp especially when my car is just going to drive around normally with the occasional traffic light GP. Maybe a quarter mile run etc.. if i tracked it different story.

The shop I called said if I didn't get the intercooler I couldn't get the APR tune for the turbo upgrade. So no go for me going APR, going custom.

[Boosted_GP]

Out of interest what are you guys doing for drone when fitting DP (catted or catless) with the Oem or golf R rear silencer?

I am in the process of getting all the bits to fit a catless DP and with this it will remove the center resonator off the car.

Don’t want a drony car at all. (Allspace 4motion)


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[Beedub]

My car is booked in for the 12th August. Getting excited now. The Mrs thinks it's going in for a Stage 1 tune and lowering.
I've had all the stuff below sitting in a mates garage as I've been buying them.

Mods to be made:
TTE475 turbo swap
Racingline R600 Intake, Silicone hose, and High Flow Inlet
Pod Filter replacement for the foam filter of the R600
CTS Downpipe with High Flow CAT and CEL eliminator
Racingline Uprated Lower Engine Mount (aka dogbone)
Wagner Competition Intercooler Kit
Racingline Oil Catch Tank & PCV Replacement
Racingline Oil Cooler Kit
Autotech High Volume Fuel Pump Upgrade Kit
RS3 Ignition Coil Packs
NGK R7437-9 Spark Plugs
Eibach Pro-Kit Performance Springs
PTP Lava Turbo Blanket

Labour and tune will be done by Etuners in Sydney, along with DSG tune to match.
It's going to be a 3 day exercise.

[Melbourne_Tiggy]

My car is booked in for the 12th August. Getting excited now. The Mrs thinks it's going in for a Stage 1 tune and lowering.
I've had all the stuff below sitting in a mates garage as I've been buying them.

Mods to be made:
TTE475 turbo swap
Racingline R600 Intake, Silicone hose, and High Flow Inlet
Pod Filter replacement for the foam filter of the R600
CTS Downpipe with High Flow CAT and CEL eliminator
Racingline Uprated Lower Engine Mount (aka dogbone)
Wagner Competition Intercooler Kit
Racingline Oil Catch Tank & PCV Replacement
Racingline Oil Cooler Kit
Autotech High Volume Fuel Pump Upgrade Kit
RS3 Ignition Coil Packs
NGK R7437-9 Spark Plugs
Eibach Pro-Kit Performance Springs
PTP Lava Turbo Blanket

Labour and tune will be done by Etuners in Sydney, along with DSG tune to match.
It's going to be a 3 day exercise.

Impressive hardware list mate! Fingers crossed Etuners can get some good power out of the TTE475.

[Beedub]

Thanks. They've got the car for 3 days so they should have enough time to play with it.

[INASNT]

My car is booked in for the 12th August. Getting excited now. The Mrs thinks it's going in for a Stage 1 tune and lowering.
I've had all the stuff below sitting in a mates garage as I've been buying them.

Mods to be made:
TTE475 turbo swap
Racingline R600 Intake, Silicone hose, and High Flow Inlet
Pod Filter replacement for the foam filter of the R600
CTS Downpipe with High Flow CAT and CEL eliminator
Racingline Uprated Lower Engine Mount (aka dogbone)
Wagner Competition Intercooler Kit
Racingline Oil Catch Tank & PCV Replacement
Racingline Oil Cooler Kit
Autotech High Volume Fuel Pump Upgrade Kit
RS3 Ignition Coil Packs
NGK R7437-9 Spark Plugs
Eibach Pro-Kit Performance Springs
PTP Lava Turbo Blanket

Labour and tune will be done by Etuners in Sydney, along with DSG tune to match.
It's going to be a 3 day exercise.

Lol at the wife thinking its just going in for stage 1..

We have all told little white lies like that..

[REXman]

That's an awesome list and you must ecstatic! The Tiguan will be such a different beast with all that stuff given how good even just a stage 1 is on these cars.

As for the wife.. I'm lucky, I can just ask. ��

Question a few get the RS3 coils.. what's this do? Cleaner burn? Why do we need it?

[Melbourne_Tiggy]

That's an awesome list and you must ecstatic! The Tiguan will be such a different beast with all that stuff given how good even just a stage 1 is on these cars.

As for the wife.. I'm lucky, I can just ask. ��

Question a few get the RS3 coils.. what's this do? Cleaner burn? Why do we need it?

There was feedback from the GTI guys that there was a smoother drive and less rough idle after RS3 coils were used. However, electrical testing was done by a US performance company that did not find any performance benefit from changing from OEM to RS3 coils. I just did it at the same time as my spark plugs, just in case. After 12 months, things are still peachy. I’d recommend doing colder plugs if you are tuned/IS38 swapped over the coils though.