What did you do to your Polo today?

[h100vw]

Rolled up the coast to catch up with bulletfast. He took a test ride to MCA for some softer rear springs, which I just fitted, hoping for a touch better ride commuting. Will refit the stiff ones for track time fun. Only takes 10 minutes with 2 trolley jacks.

Gavin

[Dugle]

Complete brake service, machine discs, new Penrite brake fluid and pads.
Not sure on the pads though, I asked for pads that didn't leave black shyt on my rims, they suggested Remsa but they look like the dirty black Ferodo pads I removed, will know for sure after a week of driving.
I also had trouble with the rear calipers, turns out you need to "push" the caliper piston in, as you screw.

[sambb]

Used my night shift hours to build one of these:

AutoSpeed - The Audi's DIY Boost Control - Part 1
AutoSpeed - The Audi's DIY Boost Control - Part 2

My phase 1 car has been running with a dump pipe for a while meaning that I've had excessive boost ramps and would have had some scrary overboost if I hadn't used some N75 bypasses.
I'd tried both air bleeds and ball and spring pressure relief valves in parrallel with the N75 to clip the overboost. They worked well at this but had no way of tempering the overly steep boost curve. The best solution was to run a restriction in the line between the N75 and the TIP. Some WRX's do this - it limits how much pressure can be bleed away from the wastegate when the N75 is in its 'ON' state and does this across the whole boost curve. Only problem from what I could feel is that it causes pressure to be trapped against the wastegate on gearchanges ie trapped pressure that can hold the wastegate open a little has to pass through a restriction and can't dump as quickly. It was bad on the 2nd to 3rd gear change - slow to respool.
Anyway I did the autospeed mod and the result is amazing. I haven't even gotten to adjusting the boost ramp up yet. Its spot on with the relief valve set near minimum break over. This gives a less aggressive ramp up that means you can nail the throttle out of corners rather than having full boost at 1/4 throttle and mm by mm throttle twitch. It gives you alot more confidence to get on the throttle earlier without breaking traction. As far as peak boost goes, with the pressure regulator set to 20psi it hits it and holds it with no overshoot at all and flat lines the boost nicely in 3rd. At red line its still holding 15psi. With the non-return valve fitted the boost response between gearchanges is way better than any N75 variation I had previously and it allows you to feather the throttle without loosing the boost level you were just at. I have a 7psi spring in the actuator and I can';t believe how seamlessly its controlling boost from 7psi all the way up to 20psi. Makes some nice pneumatic whoosing sounds when you get off the gas too in addition to the recirc valve. Its behaved the same way from 32 degrees down to 22 degrees. Not sure what effect it will have on traction control now that the N75 isn't plumbed.
I'm going to change the wastegate actuator spring from 7psi to a 12psi when I get a desire to skin my knuckles and I'm betting that between 12psi and the 20psi peak i'll be able to get away with just the pressure regulator although I may loose the less ballstic ramp up that I'm liking now.
anyway - have a read. works great. transformed my car into something completely different.

[SuperChimps]

That's a pretty cool DIY job! - waayy beyond my technical expertise (or lack of!). But is the stage 1/dump pipe combo really that bad? I just finally saved the dollars to get a dump pipe fitted, but now I'm a little concerned. I'd love a bit more oomph, but don't really want to be flying into wheel spins with every touch of the throttle. Gavin mentioned it could be a bit full on too.

Used my night shift hours to build one of these:

AutoSpeed - The Audi's DIY Boost Control - Part 1
AutoSpeed - The Audi's DIY Boost Control - Part 2

My phase 1 car has been running with a dump pipe for a while meaning that I've had excessive boost ramps and would have had some scrary overboost if I hadn't used some N75 bypasses.
.

[sambb]

Maybe not with a 2.5in (talk to loius19 - he ran phase 1 with a 2.5in dump + cat for a bit), but with my 3in it would have gone off the gauge if I hadn't lifted off seeing that the needle was flying toward 22+psi with no sign of stopping. There's absolutely nothing in phase 1 that is to blame. Its doing its job perfectly - its telling the N75 to pulse away regulating boost as its designed to, its just doesn't know that someone took off the restrictive stock dump. The N75 won't be kicking in soon enough or staying on for long enough to get enough air into the wastegate actuator and so it will overboost.
Talk to Gav about phase 2 which is designed around the faster spool when a dump is fitted.
If you intend on running phase 1 + dump and want the easiest/cheapest boost control solution then look no further than this:

AutoSpeed - Thirty Dollar Boost Control

Its a pressure relief and pressure regulator all in one. Its just that the ramp up/pressure relief side of things is set by the spring rate and so is not adjustable. I have one and have used it as a standalone and it was brilliant - just a little too off/on. I also used it in parallel with the N75 as a boost limiting bypass. Either would get you by no probs until you can afford phase 2 if $$$ is the problem.

See how you go with the stock N75 after you get the dump. You may be lucky, but be very very careful and don't even think of driving it that way without a boost gauge fitted.

[SuperChimps]

Yeah I was going to go the 2.5, just because I've heard 3in can be a little loud. Thanks for the link and the info. Looks like I've got to do some boost gauge research now. Not super keen on those vent ones cos I love my air-con too much.. but maybe something in a single din cubby would be possible. Cheers again

[sambb]

You car will go great on phase 1 but yeah get the gauge sorted. It saved my engine. It might feel like there's a huge list of little bits and pieces that you need when you start to play with our little turbos, but unless your going nuts you'll still get HP per $ better than the atmo boys. I allegedly raced a mk5 R32 that sounded like a V8 yesterday and had him in every gear to the top of third. All I have is a front pipe, some wastegate mods, phase 1 and some boost control mods. I bet he'd spent a hell of a lot more than me.

[louis19]

Yeah I was going to go the 2.5, just because I've heard 3in can be a little loud. Thanks for the link and the info. Looks like I've got to do some boost gauge research now. Not super keen on those vent ones cos I love my air-con too much.. but maybe something in a single din cubby would be possible. Cheers again

Sambb is right, I'm are running a 2.5" Downpipe and a 200 Cell cat without a 02 spacer. The day after I got the exhaust work done, I saw Gav for the Phase 2 tune so didn't have a great deal of time with it with the stock ECU tune, but I did test out to see if it would overboost or boost spike by giving it a heap a fair few times. It felt pretty safe, definitely spooled earlier but didn't spike or overboost at all and no CEL's came up in that time either. In saying that if you were planning on keeping it stock or with a phase 1 tune for a long period of time I'd recommend getting an 02 spacer like some of the guys and Sambb have done to prevent any CEL's.

Noise wise, I think the 2.5" is a good compromise, no droning on the highway, great noise over 3000rpm and anything under that sounds relatively stock. Next to no difference at idle except a nice little bit of a burble noise, all of which fitted into the category of what I was after.

Hope that helps!

[SuperChimps]

Sweet, thanks Louis and Sam. Louis, your 'test drive' results sound pretty promising safety wise - that's got me reassured now. I'll still look into the boost gauge etc and baby it until then. Sadly I can't hit Gav up for a phase 2 because I went with one of the competition (I didn't know of anything else at the time!), but I think there's a software upgrade I can get to ignore any CELs.

Looking forward to it now

Also - my browser just froze, so apologies if I'm double posting

[louis19]

Sweet, thanks Louis and Sam. Louis, your 'test drive' results sound pretty promising safety wise - that's got me reassured now. I'll still look into the boost gauge etc and baby it until then. Sadly I can't hit Gav up for a phase 2 because I went with one of the competition (I didn't know of anything else at the time!), but I think there's a software upgrade I can get to ignore any CELs.

Looking forward to it now

Also - my browser just froze, so apologies if I'm double posting

No worries, bare in mind my ECU was STOCK when I first tested for overboosting and for CEL's so yours may be slightly more inclined to do either one if its already stage 1. Even stock I noticed it spooled earlier and did have a bit more oomph but nothing major being stock, stage 1 may notice more of a change with just the downpipe and cat due to already running more boost. The boost gauge is also a great idea.

My previous Red Polo was Stage 1 but I never got round to the Downpipe and Cat on it then sold it and have Gone Phase 2 on my new Silver one

[sambb]

Oh Ok I thought you already had phase 1 in it Louis19. Yeah that's a good point then. The stock tune would have only been requesting 10psi or whatever stock is, so would have been less likely to overboost than my phase 1 which wanted 19ish psi so you still might want to be careful Superchimps.
Superchimps let us know what tune you have. Your right that with some of them they can just tick off the cat efficiency error at no great additional cost. Guys on here will be able to advise you. If its not a cheap and easy tune to cater for your dump though you may be forced to run on your existing tune for a while so you might want to factor in an o2 sensor spacer when the dump goes on like Louis19 said. You may need to get those bits organised before the exhaust work starts.
Also you're not locked into a certain brand once a base tune is in. I know that Noone went from APR stage 1 to CC phase 2 for example. Keep us in the loop with what your thinking.

[SuperChimps]

It's an Apr stage 1. I'd already booked the exhaust place in, but I can reschedule if needs be. I'd just assumed the only downside would be a CEL from the higher flow which could more or less be ignored until a software update wrote it out.
Heeding the warnings I will definitely do the gauge and a boost controller.. was just sort of hoping I could take it easy and get those sorted after. Would the o2 spacer be something the exhaust place could supply easily? Or are they very vehicle specific? Sorry for the noob questions

[louis19]

It's an Apr stage 1. I'd already booked the exhaust place in, but I can reschedule if needs be. I'd just assumed the only downside would be a CEL from the higher flow which could more or less be ignored until a software update wrote it out.
Heeding the warnings I will definitely do the gauge and a boost controller.. was just sort of hoping I could take it easy and get those sorted after. Would the o2 spacer be something the exhaust place could supply easily? Or are they very vehicle specific? Sorry for the noob questions

O2 Sensor spacer - $34.95 : Dub Addiction

That's the spacer you need and the one Sambb is running. Hopefully it doesn't CEL anyways but can't say for sure it 100% won't.

Also as mentioned above, when the time comes and you sent to go stage 2, you can go to Gav with custom code, my Red one was Harding Performance (Apr) and had the intention of going to Gav with it until I got the silver one.

[SuperChimps]

Cool, thanks Louis19. I'll let you guys know how it goes

[sambb]

Yeah its a good idea to get the gauge so you can see whats going on. Don't jump the gun on boost control though - if your APR then you might not need it. I think APR requests less peak boost than CC phase 1 so you might be ok. Just make sure the car doesn't get 'test driven' by the workshop without them knowing that it may overboost.
Other than that you might want to order the turbo to downpipe gasket off VW so its ready to go. Took a couple of days for mine to arrive and you don't want your car stuck on the hoist waiting for bits.
If you end up needing to run some form of MBC with the N75 to help stop overboosting jump back on here or PM me and i'll flick you some links on how to plumb them in.