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Acadia Celebrates 1 Year With MQB #3, Wonders If It's Time To Upgrade...

Wastegate13

Autocross Champion
Location
SoFla
My train of thought has always been that fueling is not the place to skimp or save money. I got lucky and found a prebuilt 450 unit for a good deal.
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
My train of thought has always been that fueling is not the place to skimp or save money. I got lucky and found a prebuilt 450 unit for a good deal.

Don't get me wrong. It's not a skimping or saving money thing. If I was about that life, I wouldn't have gone with a Vortex, or paid for a second pro-tune just because I was impatient. Which ended up backfiring anyway, since the one that is supposed to have the better turnaround time has gone radio silent for over a week... I've got that John Hammond attitude...

jurassic-park-spared-no-expense.gif


(which might be a bad example, since he did spare expenses on paying his developers which ended up causing everyone to die...)

It's more of a 'not wanting to mess with a critical system that can have catastrophic results if you mess something up' kinda thing. I'm still very much a hobby DIY enthusiast, learning from the forums and YouTube as I go. I watch a YouTube video and either go "Yep, I could do that", or "Nah, that looks like a little too much". Watched a bunch of IS38 install videos, and went "Looks doable, let's go!". When my buddy brought up changing his clutch in my garage, watched some clutch install videos, decided it would probably be a bit much, and veto'd that plan.

Could I install a 450 in my bucket, or a new bucket if I bought a spare? Probably. But if I mess up, shit could go seriously bad. Installing a drop in unit looks much less in depth, and much less to mess up. So if I did do it (which again, you've all pushed me towards "I'll think about it"), it would 100% be a drop in, pre-built unit. But still not too keen on going through the process of ripping out my back seat and digging into the gas tank...
 

CaptainRatty

Autocross Champion
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
Don't get me wrong. It's not a skimping or saving money thing. If I was about that life, I wouldn't have gone with a Vortex, or paid for a second pro-tune just because I was impatient. Which ended up backfiring anyway, since the one that is supposed to have the better turnaround time has gone radio silent for over a week... I've got that John Hammond attitude...

View attachment 229789

(which might be a bad example, since he did spare expenses on paying his developers which ended up causing everyone to die...)

It's more of a 'not wanting to mess with a critical system that can have catastrophic results if you mess something up' kinda thing. I'm still very much a hobby DIY enthusiast, learning from the forums and YouTube as I go. I watch a YouTube video and either go "Yep, I could do that", or "Nah, that looks like a little too much". Watched a bunch of IS38 install videos, and went "Looks doable, let's go!". When my buddy brought up changing his clutch in my garage, watched some clutch install videos, decided it would probably be a bit much, and veto'd that plan.

Could I install a 450 in my bucket, or a new bucket if I bought a spare? Probably. But if I mess up, shit could go seriously bad. Installing a drop in unit looks much less in depth, and much less to mess up. So if I did do it (which again, you've all pushed me towards "I'll think about it"), it would 100% be a drop in, pre-built unit. But still not too keen on going through the process of ripping out my back seat and digging into the gas tank...
Tough choice, but if you were going to do it, wouldn't now be the time while you're still in the process of tuning?
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
Tough choice, but if you were going to do it, wouldn't now be the time while you're still in the process of tuning?

Gotta ration out the power bumps. It's why it's a bad idea to go from stock to stage 57. Getting additional power has exponential costs, and rapid diminishing returns. Right now, I can enjoy the Vortex power, and when the high of that wears off in a bit, throw on a LPFP and get the tune adjusted for that additional power! Always chasing that dragon...
 

CaptainRatty

Autocross Champion
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
Gotta ration out the power bumps. It's why it's a bad idea to go from stock to stage 57. Getting additional power has exponential costs, and rapid diminishing returns. Right now, I can enjoy the Vortex power, and when the high of that wears off in a bit, throw on a LPFP and get the tune adjusted for that additional power! Always chasing that dragon...
Yes I totally agree. You might want to check with Nick on what cost if any would be associated with adjusting the tune to accommodate the LPFP at a later date. From what I understand, that’s at the tuners discretion.
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
Yes I totally agree. You might want to check with Nick on what cost if any would be associated with adjusting the tune to accommodate the LPFP at a later date. From what I understand, that’s at the tuners discretion.

Already did actually, since knowledge is power!
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
So I think a decision has been made, and a line in the sand has been drawn.

Right now, no LPFP upgrade.

It's a little bit disheartening to hear it's running out of fuel up top, as I was (obviously incorrectly) under the impression that that wouldn't be the case. On pump gas, a HPFP would be all you'd need. If you wanted to run any ethanol, obviously you'd need to put more into fueling. I was expecting to be able to get the most possible out of pump gas, and would need E to go further.

At the end of the day though, the goal was never to squeeze every single bit of power out of the build. It was to put in the hardware, and get what I could safely get. If Nick has to turn down the boost to do that safely, so be it.

HOWEVER! The power goal of the build was to hit 400hp/400tq. It's a nice round number, and a good place for a FWD car to be for a daily driver. And if I'm spending $3,500 and can't even hit that, what's the point?

So what will happen from here, is when both the EQT and Sneeky tune are done, I'll get some time on the dyno and see where they land. That way I can offer those results up as a comparison for people to see. I'd imagine (and sincerely hope) it wouldn't have any problem hitting those targets. I can pat myself on the back, and have a fun, powerful daily driver. If it doesn't though, and falls below the 400/400 goal, I'd probably get the LPFP, have the tune adjusted, and go again.

You gotta draw the line somewhere, otherwise you can keep tumbling down the rabbit hole. My line is at that original 400/400 goal. I will say though. You all did a great job getting me to budge from "Absolutely not!" to "Ehh... let me think about it." :)
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
Totally get it. You best be logging the dyno runs tho...

Will if I can. When the time come, I plan on trying to reach out to @Hoon for a local dyno recommendation, as I have no idea where in the area to go.
 

CaptainRatty

Autocross Champion
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
So I think a decision has been made, and a line in the sand has been drawn.

Right now, no LPFP upgrade.

It's a little bit disheartening to hear it's running out of fuel up top, as I was (obviously incorrectly) under the impression that that wouldn't be the case. On pump gas, a HPFP would be all you'd need. If you wanted to run any ethanol, obviously you'd need to put more into fueling. I was expecting to be able to get the most possible out of pump gas, and would need E to go further.

At the end of the day though, the goal was never to squeeze every single bit of power out of the build. It was to put in the hardware, and get what I could safely get. If Nick has to turn down the boost to do that safely, so be it.

HOWEVER! The power goal of the build was to hit 400hp/400tq. It's a nice round number, and a good place for a FWD car to be for a daily driver. And if I'm spending $3,500 and can't even hit that, what's the point?

So what will happen from here, is when both the EQT and Sneeky tune are done, I'll get some time on the dyno and see where they land. That way I can offer those results up as a comparison for people to see. I'd imagine (and sincerely hope) it wouldn't have any problem hitting those targets. I can pat myself on the back, and have a fun, powerful daily driver. If it doesn't though, and falls below the 400/400 goal, I'd probably get the LPFP, have the tune adjusted, and go again.

You gotta draw the line somewhere, otherwise you can keep tumbling down the rabbit hole. My line is at that original 400/400 goal. I will say though. You all did a great job getting me to budge from "Absolutely not!" to "Ehh... let me think about it." :)
Do you have dyno numbers from before the Vortex?
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
Do you have dyno numbers from before the Vortex?

No. Would be a nice comparison, but I always thought dynoing a stage 2 car on the stock turbo was a waste of time and money.
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
Aight, some updated logs that passed over to Nick.

Log 1
Log 2
Log 3

Still no word from Sneeky. Last communication was on 10/27. Going to follow up soon. Only reason I've been this patient and haven't pestered him is because I've been getting good response from EQT and it's been keeping me busy.
 
Last edited:

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
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When you carry 27-28psi of boost from 45mph all the way to 120mph...

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Now imagine if I actually bit into the cake instead of tonguing the frosting 🤣🤣
 
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