2017 GTi PP at VIR

[Mini7]

They are m6

 

[Gvazquez]

If you look at how buried that part is and what kind of tiny wrenches and swivels you'd need to get to the back bolt for the plate, you'll see that it's easier to pull the engine and trans than it is to go from the front, but it's not something you can do without a hoist and space to go at it for days. Going from the front is more work, but easier in a home garage. If you're throwing on that plate, might as well just do the intercooler, radiator, all hoses (replace with new oem stuff), gaskets, and anything else you may touch that's also buried.

I'm not saying it's impossible or not worth the effort, it's just a lot more effort than most people can really accomplish. I'm fairly mechanically inclined and have a good amount of experience tearing things apart, and just planning out the work and going through it in my head frustrates me with that one.

I had all the access to it when my engine was out rebuilding it. I should have done it then but I didn't have the rest of the parts at the time so I just rushed getting everything back together. If I take the intake manifold off it shouldn't be too hard to install the iabed plate hopefully.

 

[Mini7]

Verkline LCA’s

I have ordered a set of Verkline front control arms.

 

[victorofhavoc]

I actually put the louvres to good use today. 80* ambient, and oil with the racingline oil cooler + louvres didnt go above 265. Water touched 226 twice briefly under full throttle down the straight, but otherwise everything held up really well and I'm seeing a solid drop in temps with the louvres. Unfortunately my car also won't break 196 on oil on the highway this way

 

[GTIfan99]

I asked about it a few pages ago and didn't see an answer. Has anyone tried Evans waterless coolant? It's supposed to stay liquid up to 370 degrees and run at lower pressure in the system. It's supposed to solve the issue with coolant turning to vapor in the head and creating hot spots and detonation. I'm thinking about trying it out as an interim step to oil cooler and radiator.

 

[victorofhavoc]

I asked about it a few pages ago and didn't see an answer. Has anyone tried Evans waterless coolant? It's supposed to stay liquid up to 370 degrees and run at lower pressure in the system. It's supposed to solve the issue with coolant turning to vapor in the head and creating hot spots and detonation. I'm thinking about trying it out as an interim step to oil cooler and radiator.

I'm still on oem coolant, but I've seen better coolant or pure water drop the water temp by 10 degrees, easily. It's one of my next steps. With my louvres and if I can get oil down into the low 240s high 230s, I'm pretty confident water temp won't be a problem anymore, unless you have a really inefficient intercooler which blocks a lot of air to the rad, or you stack a front mount which adds a layer of poor airflow. I beat on the car yesterday to test and went for two back to back sessions of 30 and 20 mins all open track with 6 mins off track in between.

 

[GTIfan99]

I'm wondering if there's a way to increase airflow under hood without louvres, maybe something in the cowl area and clean up under hood, getting rid of any pretty plastic pieces and using a smaller battery? I'm trying to walk a tight rope of what's needed to track it, keep it streetable and keep it our of SM or Production classes for autocross.

 

[victorofhavoc]

I'm wondering if there's a way to increase airflow under hood without louvres, maybe something in the cowl area and clean up under hood, getting rid of any pretty plastic pieces and using a smaller battery? I'm trying to walk a tight rope of what's needed to track it, keep it streetable and keep it our of SM or Production classes for autocross.

Are you running your heater in between sessions to force the fans to run?

With AX you won't benefit much from airflow since you're not really getting airflow, but to answer your question, the cowl is generally high pressure and if you had more venting there you'd have air being pushed in rather than expelled. You can get better airflow in by taping off anything outside of the grill entry to direct airflow path, avoid blocking off the bypass for the intake tract that many people and aftermarket do, remove the hood liner, add lots of reflective surfaces to "cool things" like intake, cover your turbo, cover your downpipe, etc. Little things add up to make a difference.

 

[RadioFlyer]

Most motorbike track days organizations require straight water in the cooling system....we always use Red Line Water Wetter...

Snippet:
Reduces or eliminates bubbles or vapor barrier that form on hot metal surfaces to reduce coolant temperatures by up to 20°
Superior heat transfer properties compared to glycol-based antifreeze
Compatible with new or used antifreeze (including DEX-COOL® and long-life versions) to improve the heat transfer of ethylene and propylene glycol systems
Improves heat transfer and reduces cylinder head temperature

 

[Mini7]

Are you running your heater in between sessions to force the fans to run?

With AX you won't benefit much from airflow since you're not really getting airflow, but to answer your question, the cowl is generally high pressure and if you had more venting there you'd have air being pushed in rather than expelled. You can get better airflow in by taping off anything outside of the grill entry to direct airflow path, avoid blocking off the bypass for the intake tract that many people and aftermarket do, remove the hood liner, add lots of reflective surfaces to "cool things" like intake, cover your turbo, cover your downpipe, etc. Little things add up to make a difference.

During my AMS/CSF install I taped the gaps in the fan shroud to the radiator using high temp HVAC tape. Something else I noticed was that my AC coil was beat up from stone impacts. Curious as to how that is impeding air flow throw the cores. Auto-X doesn’t generate the same airflow across the cores due to the lower air speed.

I have not seen a reduction in temps with the large CSF radiator based on the dash gauge during normal highway driving. What I have noticed is a faster oil temp drop when I stop and run the car before shutting down. Running on track will be the true test.

 

[GTIfan99]

During my AMS/CSF install I taped the gaps in the fan shroud to the radiator using high temp HVAC tape. Something else I noticed was that my AC coil was beat up from stone impacts. Curious as to how that is impeding air flow throw the cores. Auto-X doesn’t generate the same airflow across the cores due to the lower air speed.

I have not seen a reduction in temps with the large CSF radiator based on the dash gauge during normal highway driving. What I have noticed is a faster oil temp drop when I stop and run the car before shutting down. Running on track will be the true test.

Can't wait to see your results. I've got Daytona at the end of July.

I think I'll try some water wetter, don't want to have to mess with Evans at this point.

I'm going to run stg 0 tune, which is a stock tune minus speed limiter. I'll do stg 1 second session and see how much more heat I'm seeing.

My biggest issue is I'm still on stock IC. Anyone think a free R intercooler is worth the effort?

 

[drrck]

Can't wait to see your results. I've got Daytona at the end of July.

I think I'll try some water wetter, don't want to have to mess with Evans at this point.

I'm going to run stg 0 tune, which is a stock tune minus speed limiter. I'll do stg 1 second session and see how much more heat I'm seeing.

My biggest issue is I'm still on stock IC. Anyone think a free R intercooler is worth the effort?

R intercooler is a marginal improvement over stock. If you're going to do the labor and take the front clip off, it's not worth doing twice IMO.

 

[Mini7]

Can't wait to see your results. I've got Daytona at the end of July.

I think I'll try some water wetter, don't want to have to mess with Evans at this point.

I'm going to run stg 0 tune, which is a stock tune minus speed limiter. I'll do stg 1 second session and see how much more heat I'm seeing.

My biggest issue is I'm still on stock IC. Anyone think a free R intercooler is worth the effort?

As you know I’ve done this job twice. You need to be patient with all the clips. Take your time. The second go round was definitely easier and faster. This time I had trouble with the fan electrical connector and the ambient air temp connector. The infamous IC mount brackets went relatively easy the second time round. 80F definitely helps make them flex better than 50F ambients. I used Humble Mechanic technique of applying pressure behind while compressing one tab at a time. They are still tricky, but that method worked for me. I did my install by placing the front crash structure into the service position using 5” bolts in the front bumper/chassis rail.

Having the additional headroom in the cooling system will help in FL. Especially on track. I’m not seeing much difference on the street. But that isn’t the true test. It’s likely going to be early fall before I head back to VIR.

Daytona is on my list. Long straights suck in the GTi as the other cars disappear into the distance.

I have a few more suspension mods I want to do. Plus shoehorning in a set of brake ducts.

 

[GTIfan99]

As you know I’ve done this job twice. You need to be patient with all the clips. Take your time. The second go round was definitely easier and faster. This time I had trouble with the fan electrical connector and the ambient air temp connector. The infamous IC mount brackets went relatively easy the second time round. 80F definitely helps make them flex better than 50F ambients. I used Humble Mechanic technique of applying pressure behind while compressing one tab at a time. They are still tricky, but that method worked for me. I did my install by placing the front crash structure into the service position using 5” bolts in the front bumper/chassis rail.

Having the additional headroom in the cooling system will help in FL. Especially on track. I’m not seeing much difference on the street. But that isn’t the true test. It’s likely going to be early fall before I head back to VIR.

Daytona is on my list. Long straights suck in the GTi as the other cars disappear into the distance.

I have a few more suspension mods I want to do. Plus shoehorning in a set of brake ducts.

You'd be surprised how well it did completely stock last fall, but it was a cool day. I was able to hang with a modded WRX and an RS, both on 200tw, me on AS. They did pull a little on the straights, but with the speed limiter gone and a little more power, it should be close. I'm hoping for a cool day, I'll be on RE71R's. I've got to wear 2 sets with 50% tread out. RS4 next time around.

 

[victorofhavoc]

As you know I’ve done this job twice. You need to be patient with all the clips. Take your time. The second go round was definitely easier and faster. This time I had trouble with the fan electrical connector and the ambient air temp connector. The infamous IC mount brackets went relatively easy the second time round. 80F definitely helps make them flex better than 50F ambients. I used Humble Mechanic technique of applying pressure behind while compressing one tab at a time. They are still tricky, but that method worked for me. I did my install by placing the front crash structure into the service position using 5” bolts in the front bumper/chassis rail.

Having the additional headroom in the cooling system will help in FL. Especially on track. I’m not seeing much difference on the street. But that isn’t the true test. It’s likely going to be early fall before I head back to VIR.

Daytona is on my list. Long straights suck in the GTi as the other cars disappear into the distance.

I have a few more suspension mods I want to do. Plus shoehorning in a set of brake ducts.

Truer words have not been spoken today... My friend's cayman gts I could get up to 131 this past weekend and my stage 2 gti could only muster about 115 on the same straight. For me the GTI was faster around the whole course by about 2-3 seconds, but down the straight the cayman walked away. It has to be aero and power delivery since power to weight is similar overall. I'm starting to experiment with shifting around 5800-6k rpm in gear 2 and 3, then letting 4 rev out. I wish the gearing was tighter, so I may try a shorter tire next time. I like the shorter tire a lot before.

You'd be surprised how well it did completely stock last fall, but it was a cool day. I was able to hang with a modded WRX and an RS, both on 200tw, me on AS. They did pull a little on the straights, but with the speed limiter gone and a little more power, it should be close. I'm hoping for a cool day, I'll be on RE71R's. I've got to wear 2 sets with 50% tread out. RS4 next time around.

I've been on the yoko a052 for 12 sessions and they have maybe 6 more session left (max). They're crazy fast the first 6-7 laps before they overheat, but that speed comes at a price... Next set I'm looking at R888R, RS4, 615k+, or just going to a RR. All the latest 200TW have been too autox focused and they just burn up on track with any heat.