My nugget + mods done

[Nikogti]

I will update as I go on and replace stuff but so far in the past 3 months the bellow has been done.. This is my fun daily nick named the nugget by my son.. he loves this car more than my audi S3 lol

I bought it all stock besides the last owner got a stage1 from UGP.
The first week of owning it I got 15% tints done then A full service including the gearbox then the rocker cover gasket leak was fixed. Then upgraded the TIP and air filter then decat down pipe custom.. it was originally for a mk4 gti the local exhaust shop cut and welded the top section to fit for just $50 👍

Then got a side mount intercooler and cut some plastics out of the fog light cover for more air and a few silcone hoses to fit the polo originally the side mount intercooler was for a mk4 gti..

Then done the audi tt in guard side vent mod and installed the arm rest and new gear boot cover.
Then rear wiper delete.
Then air control dials on dash replaced.
Boost gauge in vent.
Boost on board sticker for fun lol I do it to all my turbo cars.
Weather shield with gti stickers on it.
That stupid satellite antenna had to go for a short one.
Short shifter set to shortest throw back..
N249 delete.
Ecu changed over to stage 2 with pops & bangs, 2 step at 3500rpm. No lift shift and full deletes.

Next mod..
Sort all boost leaks. Ford ba xr8 bonnet bump scoop with vent.
Reverse cam.
Roof racks or Towbar.
Intercooler fan to be installed with switch.
Engine rods and bigger turbo next year.

[Nikogti]

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[Nikogti]

My smoke machine arrived and I sorted 2 small leaks and I removed the restrictive flap on the intake pipe but might upgrade the whole pipe to a pd160 if one comes up cheap

[sambb]

Nice work mate. You certainly got stuck in. Hey RE the fog light facia in front of the IC, if you run a stanley knife around the inside lips of the louvres you can really open it up to flow more air. Careful though I stuck a Stanley knife into my stomach doing this!! And yeah the pipe to the airbox you've fab'd is really restrictive and you can feel a difference there when you do it, seat of the pants. Nice going plumbing the Mk4 IC to match the Polo set up. If you break into the washer bottle pipe/circuit to feed a Commodore VT VDO rear wiper pump you can set up a boost actuated spray nozzle that keeps the IC wet when you are up it and is surprisingly good at keeping temps down.

[Nikogti]

Yeah I did the fog light mod I cut it all back pics above but I love that idea of the water spray hack also but I bought a small slim 7in fan to connect behind the SMIC i might run the water and the fan lol The side mount was fun to do lol but it's holding up well since I upgraded all the clamps and no leaks so I'm happy.

I might copy your intake mod that you did on your car cause the pd160 is way to pricey I found one on ebay for 50 but got sold straight away.

I booked the nugget in for 5 power runs on the dyno in 3 weeks it's a b'day gift so cant wait to see what it's got but can't expect much from it lol

[sambb]

That’s exactly the setup I had mate. A fan mounted on the back of the core and water spray under boost.
Stock turbos make a tone of heat. That’s why water sprays, IC fans and especially water/meth injection let them run more consistently. Like what Simon experienced on the track and what you will probably see on the dyno is more and more timing pull as temps climb. Make sure the IC inlet gets some of the air flow from the dyno fan!

[Nikogti]

Hey Sam did you have the SMIC fan running at all times? I was planning to hack the fan to run off the rear demister button so I can turn it on and off. If not I'll let it run at all times?
Thanks for tips mate I'll make sure i have my fan installed before i hit the dyno and tell the guy to aim the fan to the smic

[Nikogti]

Got A 2.5 inch exhaust cat back installed today by rapid exhaust in fairy meadows they did a mad job and sounds so nice now

Set up now is 3" down pipe decat into 2.5 inch cat back and one rear muffler no resonator and still sounds nice and quiet but sounds fantastic on WOT

[sambb]

Hi buddy. My SMIC fan ran off a cheap thermostat controller that was programmable. It has a small thermocouple that fit inside the fins on the back face (hotter) side of the IC core. Core temp isnt a reflection of actual airtemp but what I did was set it up for worse case scenario by basically idling the car to get the IC to slowly heat soak. I didnt care too much what the thermocouple was reading but got the fan to switch on when the front face of the IC could be felt to be warming up a tad. I then would go for a soft drive down a hill with some air flow and keep pulling over until the core was cooler and set the fan to switch off at that point.
I wired it with a main switch so the whole thing could be disabled, and then a fan over ride so that the SMIC fan could be forced to run continually eg at hillclimbs, hot day, giving it loud pedal action. etc It was worried to constant power so that even after parking up and turning the car off the fan would continue till the core was cool. That way when you get back into the car the SMIC wasn't toast as you drove off. It definitely worked - you could park up and if standing by the wheel arch you could feel the really hot air being rejected out the guard vent from the core. My stg 2 at the time was flowing enough air to be 230hp or there abouts and it didn't have a spec of timing pull so I do think temps were under control...…...but I was spraying a boost actuated water spray onto the IC as well.

[sambb]

Alright I need a super super honest appraisal of the gains made by the addition of the catback to your existing dump pipe. I'm running 3in, 200 cell cat, into a stock back section with stock resonator but no muffler.
Its my guess that the back section will add nothing other than top end if you already have the front pipe done. Is that what you've found or is the gain negligable? and if yes are we talking a solid substantial gain or something you really have to think past placebo effect to even identify.
I only have enough money to ) get my golf mk6 turbo on or b) improve what I currently have by getting a cat back. So don't want to spend the money in the wrong spot.

[Nikogti]

Hi Sam, I did heaps of research and tbh if you look up 1.8t 2.5" vs 3" catback exhaust. You will see heaps of links and dyno sheets for audi & vw with 1.8t's

And the 2.5" cat back is fine for up to 400hp but if you go 3" cat back its more for sound & that's it. But it's been proven on A big turbo set up that a 3" cat back is way more beneficial and way better. The 2.5" on the dyno showed proven power throughout the rev range & the 3" cat back showed low end power lost but gained more top end power

And 2.5 is perfect for our engines.. I wanted my car quiet as and tbh the set up I have now is perfect but my pops and bangs make ppl duck for cover now. I had a lady jump on her kids fearing its a drive by that's how bad it is.

Once this virus passes I'll be taking my car to eastern creek for a quarter mile time against my cousin mk5 gti he's going stage 2 also (same tuner) & I see you're in NSW so come down if you're free on that week that we do go, I'll update you.

My car boost guage is only reading -30 for the past 2 weeks with no leaks so I'm thinking my boost gauge is cactus.

But yes after the 2.5" exhaust catback was installed the car runs 100x better becuase the tuner said your car must have a 2.5 or 3" exhaust to benifit from the tune and honestly I'm breaking traction in second gear once on boost and heaps now too, it's really bad. I've ordered A new set of 4 tyres and will get them done soon at tempe tyres for sticky falken ze914 tyres I just hope I'm not over boosting cause 2nd gear on boost it's spinning heaps. My eml327 app is saying I'm boosting to 28psi and it read 50psi boost spike and I call BS on that so I will see once I get a new boost gauge installed & what it's actually boosting.


With the fan I've seen online ppl in the mr2 clubs are letting the fans run at all time while the car is on if they're boosted above stock so I'm thinking of having my fan on at all times and will run a water spray set up to keep temps down if i race, track etc

[sambb]

yeah running the fan constantly wont hurt. Those small fans can be pretty intrusive with the noise though but by the sound of it you wont be hearing it over the exhaust anyway.
I forgot you said you were running de-cat so I understand it must be really popping and banging for sure.
Ok so from what you are saying the cat back + dump is markedly more powerful than standard back section + dump. And from what you are saying the difference is felt from boost onset all the way through, not just up top. Correct?

PS - yep your gauge is cactus. Plumbed to the plenum with a proper reducer tee piece is the way to go. But yeah 50psi is impossible. It just cant push that much air and back pressure in the exhaust will stop it going much above 30 psi anyway.

[Nikogti]

Yes with no cat it's popping heaps but with the new exhaust cat back it has mad a massive difference 100% and I stand by that but how long it will last because of the pops and bangs I won't know because basically the rear muffler is just restricting the sound coming out.. But throughout the rev range it has improved heaps and it feels more free flowing with my foot down.

The standard cat back felt like it was chocking while on WOT.

[sambb]

cool. thanks mate. I'll have to weigh up which way to go.

[Nikogti]

All good Sam and I forgot to say but I remember now that the best set up was 2.75" cat back exhaust and I think apr proved that plus both milltek and apr sell 2.75 cat back set ups.
I say 2.5" is perfect for up to 400-500hp
No need to go 3" unless you want it more louder.
Exhaust chart attached