Speedy G

Hey guys, I'm looking to redo the entire sound system, including a sub in the back. I have a black 2002 octavia elegance with a T3 turbo. The only thing missing is the stereo. The stocker is just terrible. The radio switches stations on its own, feature which can't be disabled, the speakers are terrible and there's barely any undistorted volume with 0 bass. From the writeups I've read here, the fronts are 6.5" or 16.5cm and the rears are 13cm or 5 1/4". The fronts should be slim or I'll have to cut the protective plastic and rewaterproof the door. What size are the stock tweaters? There's writeups about removing the rears, but are the fronts placed ok? I'm interested in quality, not db SPL. I've seen people talking about the following which are supposed to fit: Focals 165V slim MB Quart RUA 216 Pioneer TS-1785 alpine sxe-1725s Depending on the fronts I'll probably mount the same brand & level of quality on the back but coaxial and 13cm. As far as the HU, I was thinking alpine iDA-X001 or hopefully something that would either match the dash green or blue to match my turbo controler. I also hate flashy HUs and would prefer something black and simple. It should have all the current tech stuff like either a usb port in the front to read a portable drive or an mp3 of some sort, and a bluetooth interface to work with my phone would be cool, but the alpine adaptor is too expensive. The subwoofer doesn't have to be rap guy loud, but I should be able to feel it a little bit, and just sound great. I was thinking of the infinity basslink since it fits in the space in the back left of the trunk and I already have power available back there. If I buy the basslink, I wouln't get an amp, since I think 45W max power should be plenty for mids and highs. Comments? Does the system sound ok for a quality system? Thanks in advance, Speedy G P.S. I killed a brand new 330i with an M package a few hours ago, gotta love the octy!

I've actually heard there are no progressive kits for our cars. I might be wrong, but I've heard they just look like they're progressive, but once they're fitted,the coil evens out. Also, I have to deal with Colombian roads, which I'm sure, are worse than the ones in Romania. I have the Neuspeed Sofsport (not so low) coils meant for a Golf GTI 1.8T and adjustable koni yellows. I'm pretty happy with the setup and braking stability improved by a zillion times. The car feels extremely stable, so much so that once I mistook 4th for 3rd gear while doing some tests, and I didn't notice I was doing 210kph until I looked down at the speedometer. I thought I was going maybe 150. Speedy G

Sure, but it depends how much power you want. 250bhp (280 ft lbs of torque) You could go with a K04 for USD1000, 440ml/min injectors for USD200 and a 3.25 inch inner diameter MAF housing from ATP, and no chip. USD50 for manual boost controller. 300bhp-350bhp www.atpturbo.com get the Stage II setup with a GT28R turbo or a GT28RS turbo for USD2000, 440ml/min injectors for 200, a 3.25 inch MAF housing from ATP for 150 and USD140 for a walbro inline fuel pump, 50 bucks for manual boost controller. Up to 400bhp with a T3/T4E 50 trim for 2500 using ATP manifold, downpipe, high-flow cat and the rest of the stuff for 550. You'll also need an LSD which goes for 800 bucks. Speedy G

Hi I have an AGU with somewhere around 250-280bhp. The ~192hp limit is due to the smaller k03 turbo. The vRS has a larger K03 often called a K03s. For that reason I highly doubt you'll be able to get more than 200hp on the stock turbo. I used a boost controller to try to get more power, but the turbo would just not make it above 1.2 bar in the mid-range and somwhere around .8 bar at redline, although I'm not sure about the redline numbers. After that, I changed the turbo and put in the T3 super 60 I have now. The injectors couldn't really handle even .9bar to redline. The point is that when the injectors get maxed out and hit 100% duty cycle, the engine hits limp mode (even if you have a boost controller), cuts fuel and boost goes down to .4 bar. I think the injectors were pretty well matched to the original turbo, they're 240cc/min @ 3 bar in case anyone cares. The vRS has at least 270cc/min injectors. I'm now running Bosch 440cc/min injectors and 1.4 bar of boost to redline, but I'm at 2700m of altitude so I'm not getting the horsepower numbers I'd like (350hp). You could increase the MAF housing to 2.5 inches inner diameter and changed the fuel pressure regulator to 4 bar. That could get you maybe 230hp, but you'd need a new turbo to get there. Good Luck! Speedy G

Hey guys, it's been a while. I have a peloquin LSD installed on my 2002 octavia elegance. I'm running a T3 Super 60 turbo at 15psi to redline on a daily basis (22psi to redline when I'm overly hyper), but I'm at 8500ft of altitude so that's like 12psi for people at sea level. In any case, I'm running like 220whp with peak torque at 4500RPM. My tires still screach in 1st on a straight line and a good suface (both screach). The tires are Goodyear F1-Ds2 225x45 tires on 17 inch alloys. Beyond 15psi the tires squeal in 1st and screach in 2nd. I used to be one of those people that said... "LSD, that's for junkies"... well... NOT AT ALL! I love my peloquin. that's the best USD850 I ever paid USD700 + 150 bucks installation (haha, I'm in Colombia so installation was cheap!!!!). It's been said before, but without it, your car doesn't know what traction is. Also, big HP cars can easily blow up their transmisions if they DON'T upgrade their differentials. The stock differentials are known to blow up and break your tranny while drag racing. The added load due to an LSD doesn't go to the tranny. The next weakest link is the axles. Those break a lot more often than any part in the tranny does. There's people out there running more than 500hp on O2J trannies (5 speed). O2J trannies were installed on VR6 cars, and several people turboed them to more than 400hp. The newer 6 spd trannies are said to be bullet-proof. Speedy G

For turbo kits with GT series Garrett turbos, go to www.atpturbo.com. I have a T3 S60 ball bearing from them and with some minor mods to the downpipe, it's been really reliable. I run 20-22psi on a daily basis (91 US octane at 2800m altitude makes around 230hp to the wheels). Their best turbo kit is probably the GT28RS (GT25 is good for like 250hp) with the exhaust manifold, downpipe, etc. However, the kit has no software. You could get a custom remap done though, or pull a few tricks and have it work like mine on k03 software. Jabba also makes a good kit, but it's way overpriced. The GT28RS kit goes for like USD2,000, that's a LOT less than Jabba. It does require do-it-yourself mentality though. Regarding the 4x4, I think people are too conservative, but if you don't want to be a pioneer... The S4 makes a bunch of HP, but it's a heavy car. with 450hp (k04s to the limit), a 350hp Octavia will give it a hard time if traction is not that big of an issue. I've heard of people running 400whp out of a VR6 using the stock FWD trannie on the Octavia, with no real issues. That's with drag racing. Jabba, however, claims 320ft.lbs to be the limit. I'd say go for it as long as you're not drag racing, the trannie should hold up. Does anyone know what other VW has this trannie? We could look up in other forums to see what other people have found to be the limit. Also, I'm running a peloquin LSD. That thing rocks. No more tire squealing for no reason, even with my T3 at 22 psi. I'm running GY F1 DS2 tires 225x17. I can step on it full gas on a turn and the car just sticks to the ground with minor squeaks from the tires. Traction with the LSD seems to be a problem above 250whp (300bhp) and smaller turbos like the K04 or the GT28R, that spool up below 4kRPM. Speedy G

The IC piping goes forward next to the right front wheel. Depending on how much boost you're running, the pancake pipe or something behind it can make some noise. Mine is pretty loud at boost levels above 1bar (I'm runing up to 1.4 bar to redline). It could just be that. I think this noise comes from turbulence in the IC connections. Speedy G

Hmm... I wonder where I got confused with collimators... Yes the MAF measures airmass flow, not momentum, just re-read my paper. The hot wire is cooled by the collisions of the air with the hot wire, and more current is needed to heat the wire back to the specific temperature. The point is that it's still callibrated with a specific diameter MAF housing, temperature and pressure, although it self adjusts for pressure, I imagine within a specific range. So... you can still play with the MAF housing diameter as stated earlier to fool the ECU, which is what was being discussed. Speedy G

I actually just think Euro prices in general are waaayyy too high. APR for example sells the stage III kit for USD4500 in the US, but GBP4000 in the UK. That's almost USD6900!!!! Then you guys have VAT... Pay me USD2400 to buy you a kit in the US and fly to Europe and install it for you. It would definitely be worth the trip for mechanics in the East of the US. Regarding the AMD K04 kit, it sounds like a great kit for autocross. However, the GT28R kit from APR or ATP (USD2000) would do even better. I'm sure the price difference has to do with import tariffs and labour costs, but it's just sad that it's so overly expensive to get a few upgrades for your car in the UK/Euroland. Speedy G

Also, there's talk of the GT28RS on vortex. It can do 350hp with a little more lag than a GT28R. If 350hp isn't enough, a GT2871R can do 400hp with just a tad more lag. Those are all expensive turbos though, > USD1000. Speedy G

The GT28R is a good turbo, but you'll need an exhaust manifold to make real power. It has little lag and 300whp can be achieved with race fuel. I'll get your tires spinning. The GT30 is too laggy in my book, full boost by 5krpm. It can make a ton of power, but I'd go for a T3/T4E 50 trim .60A/R compressor and a stage 3 .48 A/R turbine instead. The T3/T4E can make more than 450bhp and gets full boost by 4.5krpm, sooner if you get the ball bearing option. The IHI sounds like a good option though, but jabba is expensive. I'd love to hear more about IHI turbos and how they could potentially fit our cars. They're not expensive, they're low inertia and can handle some power, but I'm wondering if the ones available for the WRX would be too laggy for our cars. That's why some research needs to be done regarding the turbine specs of the IHI turbo used in the Jabba kit. I'm really curious about IHI turbos. If anybody knows somebody at a porsche tuner, the K24 or K26 could be interesting if the hot side can be modified to a smaller A/R so that lag can be minimized. The turbine is what decides when a turbo spools up btw. Mine is a T3 super 60, the compressor maps are on the turbonetics site: http://64.225.76.178/catalog/compmaps/fig5.html I don't recommend T3 turbos though. I made a mistake with it. Although it spools up quicker than a T3/T4E 40 trim, and is about the same size flow-wise, it's not efficient beyond 17psi. The T3/T4E 40 trim is a much better option. Speedy G

A few things about injectors: 1) A 4 bar FPR makes the injectors flow more. Just like a turbo puts more pressure in the manifold thereby increasing air flow, a higher pressure FPR will make your injectors flow more. So running 590s at 4 bar you'd be increasing their flow rate to 680. Unless you want to run 680ml of flow, a 4 bar FPR is not a good idea. 680s are good for at least 410bhp. There's a good page for calculating injector flow: http://www.rceng.com/technical.htm#WORKSHEET 2) The type of injectors that you need are hi-z or high impedance injectors. Those aren't easy to find in high flow specs. I've heard of 550s but that's about it. In any case if you plan on doing getto mods like the MAF and the zener, 440s will suit you fine. There's a guy on vortex that sold me my 380s his name is Scott Williams. He's pretty much in every thread that talks about injectors. 440s run for about USD200 from him plus shipping. I'm sure he could ship them out to you. Now regarding the cheating of the ECU using a MAF housing and a zener on the MAP. If you're considering this, there's a ton of info on vortex on this topic in the 1.8t forum. I did the trick on my MAF but since I have no MAP sensor, I cannot say how it works. I suggest looking at threads on vortex by nerdhotrod and 1.8T3T04e. Both of them run about 380whp on k03 software with a T3/T4E turbo and a GT30R. Those guys really know what's going on. The zener mod is pretty easy to do, I think, and one of them can run like a couple of USD. All you have to do is buy a zener diode with the right specs at an electronic components store (plenty of those in the UK btw). The install involves hooking up the zener diode to the two wires coming out of the MAP sensor. That's the sensor on top of the stock intercooler, in other words, not a MAF. What the zener does, is limit the maximum voltage the ECU will see from the MAP sensor. That means you can run 26psi and the ECU will only see 17psi. However, the downside to this is that you'll get more ignition advance which can lead to pinging. That's why the spec of the zener is important. I do have to say that there are electronic gadgets that do the same as these getto mods and may make a cleaner install: MAF "tuning": The Apexi S-AFC is made to control fueling by altering the MAF signal. The effect is the same as the larger MAF housing, but much more adjustable and costs USD300 more than a self-fabricated piece of PVC. The Apexi can adjust your fueling by +-50%. That means you can use 50% larger injectors. If you're running anything bigger than a GT25 or a T3 60 trim, you'll need to increase the MAF housing anyway, but the apexi is useful in getting a good idle and the right A/F mix. MAP tuning: There are several products out there, usually called fuel cut defenders, FCDs or voltage clamps: http://www.splitsec.com/products/clamps.htm There's adjustable ones out there, I'm sure, you just have to look around if the MAP-zener bit seems too getto and are willing to spend the cash. Remember that non of this is necessary if you're just thinking of going with a k04 or staying stock. If you're thinking of upgrading your turbo, a MAF and injectors would do the trick until you hit limp mode, then the zener/FCD begins to be important to be able to increase boost. Also, remember that turbos with less restrictive turbines, like a T3/T4E 50 trim stage III wheel .48A/R hot side, need less boost to make more power. You may find that 230whp is enough, and that can be done within the chipped k03 boost settings, so there's no need for a zener/FCD. Good luck if you go for it! Oh, and I think 380whp can be done for less than the cost of an AMD K04 kit... not including and LSD though, which is a good idea. Speedy G

The comment on the MAF being a Mass Airflow meter is correct. g/s is a mass measure, but how does it work? There's a hot wire in the sensor element that measures essentially air velocity (collisions and momentum, actually but momentum is mv, and the mass of air known..). I have a paper on hot wire MAFs if anyone's interested. The sensor element is callibrated with the MAF housing ID, the air temperature and the atmospheric pressure in the ECU to really get a mass airflow reading. So you see, if you change any of those variables, you can alter what the ECU sees as mass airflow. It's not like the MAF grabs each gulp of air, then measures it's mass, then passes it on to the turbo... In any case. The whole point of changing the MAF and the injectors is that before you could flow 270ml at maximum load. Now you can flow 440ml at maximum load which is a lot higher due to the larger turbo. What I'm saying is that since you have more air from a turbo, you can squirt more fuel to make more powe. This just moves the normal operating load of the engine (as the ECU sees it) up by 60%. What's the catch? Well RS Octavias and others with the DBW (those usually have a MAP sensor), have a MAP sensor, or more accurately a pressure sensor on top of the intercooler. If you have one of those, not only do you need to cheat ECU with the MAF but you also need to add a zener diode on the MAP so that you won't get an overboost fault code and go into limp mode. Since I don't have a MAP I didn't have to deal with that. People on vortex have made close to 400whp using this method, and running k03 chips. Speedy G

The VR6, S3, and TT 225 all have the same MAF housing diameter. I think the diesel ones also have the 2.75" inner diameter one. The S4 has a 3" internal diameter. There are several reasons to increase the diameter (1-3 assume you get software upgrades with the larger housing): I) Disclaimer: DO NOT INCREASE THE SIZE OF YOUR MAF HOUSING WITHOUT EITHER LARGER INJECTORS OR PROPER SOFTWARE, YOUR ENGINE WILL GO LEAN AND BOOM!! 1) More airflow needs bigger pipes. 2) The MAF sensor senses air velocity, the bigger the pipes the lower the velocity. Since the stock MAF sensor likes to see stock velocities in the order of 140-200g/s it's a good idea to maintain that range by increasing the size of the pipe when a larger turbo adds enough airflow. 3) Depending on the engine code, MAFs top out at different electrical maximums. My AGU one tops out around 180g/s I think, but I've heard of the newer engines topping out at like 240g/s. My MAF with a 3" housing sees only 150g/s but in reality there's 240g/s flowing (22psi to redline at 2800m altitude). 4) You can cheat the ECU into thinking there's only 150g/s of airflow, while in reality there's 240. The ECU therefore asks for less fuel, but since you added bigger injectors, the mix is still just right. This is good if you upgrade the injector flow in the same ratio as the MAF housing inner area. Like this: Assume 270ml stock injectors & 2.36" ID stock MAF 440/270=1.63 so 440s have a 63% larger injector flow (3/2)^2/(2.36/2)^2 = 2.25/1.3924 = 1.6159 so a 3"ID MAF has a 61% larger air flow area Speedy G

This post cracks me up. First, someone can't take that someone else's opinion is different, and then everyone flames him even more for having said who he works for... Whatever. K04s can be good mods but not at GBP2500. I've even heard someone put a K24/K26 compressor wheel in a modified K04 housing... not sure where, but if the desire is there to stay looking stock, there are options. It may also be a really reliable option since few stock parts are changed. Regarding the VR6 MAF housing, it's to avoid having to do remaps. In Euroland/GB you guys are lucky in that you have a Jabba or an AMD or whatever near you, but I'm a few thousand miles from the nearest real VAG tuner. So... I've come up with a solution for my fuel needs without touching the software. My AGU has no MAP sensor, so if I condition the MAF signal (the only load sensor on my car), I'll directly alter the amount of fuel being added. So I put in a 3" internal diameter MAF housing (VR6 one is 2.75" ID), using the original sensor, and increased my injector flow to 440ml/min. It's running a bit rich right now, but with my adjustable FPR I can regulate that. A VR6 MAF housing looks pretty stock and can work with 360ml injectors (good enough for 300bhp). Speeedy G