mckpat's 2008 R32 Turbo and other adventures

[mckpat03]

Another hood dump update. I ripped the car to and from Carlisle yesterday (one hour each way through the mountains north of Carlisle) and I actually arrived home with nothing on the hood and windshield. However, below are pictures of what it looked like Thursday evening after ripping around for a few miles. It kind of blends in with the pollen and dust that was covering the car, too.

I believe these tunes from United Motorsport are self adjusting and that maybe it just needed a bit of driving to get to where it needed to be after I lowered the boost temporarily. It's tuned for up to 15psi but I believe it adjusts to whatever is going on. I'm just on wastegate right now (6-7psi) after removing the electronic boost controller. Regardless, I'm going to keep an eye on it. We'll see what happens once I get it back on higher boost.

In other news, I cleaned up the vacuum line mess on Friday. Post #14 above shows all the old crap that was teed together. It was mainly evap crap plus an extra line or two for the electronic boost controller. I just yanked it all out. No longer are there tees all over the place combining vacuum lines and instead I ran dedicated boost gauge and diverter valve lines. Otherwise, I cleaned it up and just enjoyed it for the weekend.

As mentioned above, ripped down through the mountains to Carlisle for All Ford Nats on Saturday with 15psi88 and our friend with a 2017 Mustang GT. The Mustang has full ARH exhaust - long tubes, off-road X, and cat back - and it absolutely screams. It's so loud and rowdy when beating on it, in a good way, and really mild around town. Can't say enough good things about his car.

file-1 by Pat, on Flickr
file by Pat, on Flickr
file-2 by Pat, on Flickr
IMG_6198 by Pat, on Flickr
IMG_6199 by Pat, on Flickr
IMG_6200 by Pat, on Flickr
IMG_6214 by Pat, on Flickr
IMG_6220 by Pat, on Flickr

[Foolinaround]

Engine bay looks so much cleaner!

Self adjusting tunes? Interesting. I've never really heard of that before.

[mckpat03]

Yeah, I'm not really familiar with it myself. I saw it in a discussion thread about the tuner over on vwvortex, but it was about an N/A tune. I'm not 100% sure if that's actually the kind of tune that's on it or not. However, if it is, I think the idea is similar, or the same as, the self tuning EFI computers that are out there (FAST, Holley, MSD, Edelbrock, etc). It may very well be a specific hard tune, though, I'm not sure. I think the tuner's forced induction tunes on these cars specifies injector size and MAF housing, so it might just be a normal tune. At some point I'd like to swap fuel pump and injectors and add boost and get it retuned, anyway.

[Foolinaround]

I'm inclined to think its standard, but might just be a junky tune? Getting it on some rollers are really gonna be the only way to tell.

I also feel the need to mod my GTI now,thanks

[mckpat03]

So after a bit more driving, it seems to only spit things out the dump if it's not fully hot and up to temp, so it must just be some moisture coming out.

Anyway, I took the muffler off and cut the case open for 15psi88 to hopefully make louder. We came up with an idea but it didn't work nearly as well as we had hoped. It's definitely louder and sounds better than before, but it's still not as loud as I want it. I'm just going to have to be happy with it for now. The band clamp on the Milltek setup right before the muffler was basically one big ball of rust. We didn't have the right tools to do what was desired, so in the muffler, so he used the welder as a torch to cut the pipes inside. It was a really sloppy and ugly rework of the exhaust lol. Oh well, big thanks to 15psi88 for more help with this thing.


IMG_6222 by Pat, on Flickr
IMG_6224 by Pat, on Flickr
exhaust 6 by Pat, on Flickr
exhaust 2 by Pat, on Flickr
exhaust 3 by Pat, on Flickr
exhaust 5 by Pat, on Flickr

Fake low and a dirty lens:
IMG_6226 by Pat, on Flickr

[Foolinaround]

in4 exhaust vids.

[blue91lx]

Dude we did the same thing to my brothers E30 'machine gun' muffler- rerouted all of the piping inside the muffler and welded the case back together.

This thing is looking good!

[mckpat03]

Did a few more things to the car and put off doing a few other things. I shifted my priority to getting the front end done because I'm sick of looking at the banged up hood and the lack of washer covers in the bumper. Still need to reroute some of the coolant lines, but I'm going to wait a bit to do that yet.

Anyway, I put more spring in the wastegate. It was at 6-7 lbs and now is at 12lbs. I think a boost controller got delivered today, so I'll be able to hook that up and get it cranked to 15-16lbs and hopefully just enjoy it for the summer.

Also, when I bought it, the previous owner told me it just had the stock fuel pump. This scared me, but I kind of ignored it thinking who could be so senseless. I had a look at the pump last week and confirmed it was stock and immediately ordered a new pump. Got the new pump installed this weekend and all is well. AFR look good at 12lbs and all seems fine.

Lastly, I started addressing the gauges inside. It had cheap dull red VDO gauges when I bought it. I thought they were ugly. A couple companies make gauges that match the factory VW blue R gauges. I got a matching boost gauge and got it installed last week and I love the change.

Oh and changed out the oil and filter, too.

Plowing ahead, here are some pictures and a ****ty sound clip taken with my cell phone camera and the windows down. I'll get some better clips with my external mic at some point.

IMG_6269 by Pat, on Flickr
file-1 by Pat, on Flickr
file-3 by Pat, on Flickr
file-2 by Pat, on Flickr
file-5 by Pat, on Flickr
file-6 by Pat, on Flickr

It's been so long that I forget if we can embed Youtube videos or not, lol.
https://youtu.be/VVr-jcBSbxE

[Foolinaround]

No liquimoly? Peasant.

[mckpat03]

Lol, pretty much. I can only imagine the cries of horror I'd get if I posted that on any of the VW forums. Pennsylvania's finest green oil FTW! haha. Half the price of any of the "european" oils and better protection.

[Foolinaround]

I did a brief stint paired with a euro specialist before I joined. He swore by it and his jetta had 270k and didn't burn any oil so I use it for my mk7. Plus ecs has a nice kit that comes with a new drain plug and filter.

[mckpat03]

Not much to update with, lately, as I've been trying to let my money recover a little bit, lol. Still trying to get the boost figured out, still need to reroute the coolant reservoir lines, and still need to get the hood fixed/painted. As long as I'm not too lazy, I'll have the coolant lines done this weekend. If all goes to plan, I should be getting the hood fixed and painted next week. Still kind of concerned about the AFRs with the drop in pump I bought, too. Will probably have to get an 044 and be done with it. One of the most pressing issues that I've started to notice is that the front subframe is loose/squeaky/klunky, which is a common problem (not just the R32, but all MKV, MKVI, etc). Going to have to get the collar/bolt kit that fixes the subframe in place.

Otherwise, I've just been doing stupid stuff. The tail lights were way too dark. I wet sanded and polished them and I still think they're too dark. I sanded a little extra around the center clear looking light which is actually an amber turn signal to hopefully make it more visible. I think the left is lighter than the right, which seems obvious in the pictures but less so in person. All of the pictures pretty much suck at displaying the lights.

Originally they were basically black.
IMG_6214 by Pat, on Flickr

Then, the other week, I tried sanding and polishing just the center where the turn signal is. It was okay, but I still hated that the rest was essentially black.
IMG_6273 by Pat, on Flickr

And then I sanded and polished the entirety of the lights. It's better, and good enough for now, but I still don't like it.
IMG_6361 by Pat, on Flickr

[Foolinaround]

"I tinted my tail lights so they work less"

I never understood that train of thought.

[mckpat03]

Finally getting around to fixing the hood with the help of 15psi88 moderating the process and our buddy Shawn doing the work.

20049028_2000999050121484_1614420124_o by Pat, on Flickr

[mckpat03]

More potato pictures of the hood in process.

19911946_2001383750083014_230208709_o by Pat, on Flickr
20048949_2001383756749680_379342330_o by Pat, on Flickr

[DaveSTi]

Fun build project you have going! Total sucker for VW's, so good luck and enjoy!

[mckpat03]

Originally Posted by DaveSTi

Fun build project you have going! Total sucker for VW's, so good luck and enjoy!

Thanks! I appreciate the support!

Having skilled craftsmen for close friends is great sometimes. My buddy knocked out the bodywork and paint on the hood and headlight washer covers in no time. I picked it up yesterday once I got off work.

Untitled by Pat, on Flickr

[DaveSTi]

That looks incredible!

[blue91lx]

Wow- that looks incredible! Lend me your body work friends please.

[mckpat03]

Last night, I finally rerouted the coolant lines that were over the turbo. I might end up messing with it more because I don't love how it turned out, but at least they're not hanging over the turbo anymore. I, very quickly, made a new heat shield for over the turbo last night, as well.

Old hoses over turbo and old heat shield that I cut up to fit the waste gate dump.
IMG_6198 by Pat, on Flickr

And the new setup. At the very least, I'm glad those hoses are elsewhere.
Untitled by Pat, on Flickr