So today I ordered a new lower bumper grill, should be here wednesday and eliminate the small amount of deformation caused by my splitter experiment.
I ALSO FINALLY ORDERED A TURBO! Now after researching for over a year since even before I bought the car I felt pretty confident that for me, the best bet was the APR DTR6054. Now before you start booing and throwing beer cans, allow me to explain my thought process which was a mix of cost and performance goals (on 93 octane).
So in the end I was between 3 turbos, OE IS38+, APR DTR, and EQT Vortex Standard. Long story short I determined that 400whp was enough to make this thing feel properly fast. An Is38 needs E85 to get there, and while it would still be fast ~360whp or so on 93octane, a ride in a stage 2 Golf R left a little to be desired for me in terms of how fast it felt. Maybe it was DSG & 4mo making things no drama, but I was afraid to go that route and be disappointed with no route to go. The Vortex is obviously great, but it was looking like it would cost me about $1k more than the DTR to get started (hpfp is required with that turbo according to EQT) which was a hard pill to swallow when, for the same cost as the OE IS38, the DTR could make the power I wanted with room on the table for fueling upgrades and a dp if I decided I wanted a little more juice down the road. Keep in mind, I don't want to build an engine so much past 450whp wouldn't be in the cards for me irrespective of turbo. Also I was able to purchase the DTR through FCP Euro, so lifetime warranty!
Excited to finally take a big step toward making some power!
And for those wondering how this setup is going to do on track with temps, I plan to run a lower boost map to try and manage that the best I can. My track map will probably make a decent bit less power, but hopefully run much cooler.