Boosting on a Budget- 19birel's MK7.5 Build

[Ezekiel81923]

Bummer that I missed you, I thought you were going Fri-Sat. I was there pretty much all day Sunday (though I didn't bring my car).

Definitely some great cars there. You're right, Pottstown does regular "Pottstown Nights" car shows and they tend to be a lot of classic american muscle but there is a strong euro and JDM following in the area, and in particular the areas surrounding Pottstown. That R34 was down some back road in a gravel lot on Sunday, kinda crazy. The RS6s at the Unitronic booth were also wild.

My co-worker had is Underground Racing Huracan there and another guy I know was showing his MK7 but the stars of the show were the MK1 and MK2 builds that littered the 7 blocks of High Street. There was also a parade of R34s going down Hanover street when I arrived Sunday morning, I did not mind that either.

Glad you got up to the Pagoda and drove Skyline Dr, definitely some sweet roads around here!

 

[19birel]

Bummer that I missed you, I thought you were going Fri-Sat. I was there pretty much all day Sunday (though I didn't bring my car).

Definitely some great cars there. You're right, Pottstown does regular "Pottstown Nights" car shows and they tend to be a lot of classic american muscle but there is a strong euro and JDM following in the area, and in particular the areas surrounding Pottstown. That R34 was down some back road in a gravel lot on Sunday, kinda crazy. The RS6s at the Unitronic booth were also wild.

My co-worker had is Underground Racing Huracan there and another guy I know was showing his MK7 but the stars of the show were the MK1 and MK2 builds that littered the 7 blocks of High Street. There was also a parade of R34s going down Hanover street when I arrived Sunday morning, I did not mind that either.

Glad you got up to the Pagoda and drove Skyline Dr, definitely some sweet roads around here!

Yeah the original plan was Fri-Sat, but then I got held up with work Friday and figured it would be better to just leave Saturday morning (which honestly worked out for the best bc I'm glad I got to experience show day).

The underground Huracan was sweet! I was also drooling over the MK1s, my dad had a Rabbit when I was little so I've always had a soft spot for them. The show definitely lived up to the hype!

 

[19birel]

Got a CEL the other day with the code below, second time now for cat inefficiency and ~1,200 miles since it last appeared. I'm thinking this is linked to the occasional start up smoke puff I've seen that I believe to be PCV related. I think the play is to retrofit the MK8 setup, see what happens and then go from there


Another observation I have made is related to the poor boost recovery I was experiencing on my 3-4 shift that was killing my 60-130 time. The intitial thought was that I wasn't shifting quickly enough, but more rapid shifts weren't solving the problem. I then went to do a pull one day and as I was driving casually executed a brisk but not terribly aggressive 3-4shift and the bogging sensation vanished.

I've tried this a few times now and it seems the stock engine/trans mounts are too weak and hte excessive movement of the engine is causing the ecu to read something that warrants the poor recovery as a protective measure. Now that boost szn is approaching, perhaps I'll break the Dragy back out to see if I can beat my previous PR with a slower shift, but we shall see.

 

[scrllock]

Got a CEL the other day with the code below, second time now for cat inefficiency and ~1,200 miles since it last appeared. I'm thinking this is linked to the occasional start up smoke puff I've seen that I believe to be PCV related. I think the play is to retrofit the MK8 setup, see what happens and then go from there


Another observation I have made is related to the poor boost recovery I was experiencing on my 3-4 shift that was killing my 60-130 time. The intitial thought was that I wasn't shifting quickly enough, but more rapid shifts weren't solving the problem. I then went to do a pull one day and as I was driving casually executed a brisk but not terribly aggressive 3-4shift and the bogging sensation vanished.

I've tried this a few times now and it seems the stock engine/trans mounts are too weak and hte excessive movement of the engine is causing the ecu to read something that warrants the poor recovery as a protective measure. Now that boost szn is approaching, perhaps I'll break the Dragy back out to see if I can beat my previous PR with a slower shift, but we shall see.

Oil consumption is the #1 reason your cat might be dying early. You have one of those Cobb downpipes right?

 

[Nineeightyone]

I've tried this a few times now and it seems the stock engine/trans mounts are too weak and hte excessive movement of the engine is causing the ecu to read something that warrants the poor recovery as a protective measure. Now that boost szn is approaching, perhaps I'll break the Dragy back wallet out to see if I can beat my previous PR with a slower shift buy the BFI mounts and live like a king, but we shall see.

ftfy

 

[19birel]

Oil consumption is the #1 reason your cat might be dying early. You have one of those Cobb downpipes right?

Yeah it's a Cobb DP with GESI catalyst. Interestingly (and encouragingly) the dipstick hasn't moved and I'm 2,500miles into this oil. When my A4's PCV starting letting go it began consuming it at a noticeable rate. This is making me think that perhaps post drive, oil vapors are maybe getting trapped in the valve or lines, pooling up, and getting dumped into the engine at start up and burning off.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should get the BMS catch can (retains stock PCV) and see if it captures anything. If it does, I can use it to quantify any improvements made from changes to the PCV system.

ftfy

Hahaha my heart wants the BFI mounts but my wallet doesn't I was thinking of trying the CTS ones and crossing my fingers they do the job at their palatable price point of $200 haha

 

[swcrow]

Yeah it's a Cobb DP with GESI catalyst. Interestingly (and encouragingly) the dipstick hasn't moved and I'm 2,500miles into this oil. When my A4's PCV starting letting go it began consuming it at a noticeable rate. This is making me think that perhaps post drive, oil vapors are maybe getting trapped in the valve or lines, pooling up, and getting dumped into the engine at start up and burning off.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should get the BMS catch can (retains stock PCV) and see if it captures anything. If it does, I can use it to quantify any improvements made from changes to the PCV system.


Hahaha my heart wants the BFI mounts but my wallet doesn't I was thinking of trying the CTS ones and crossing my fingers they do the job at their palatable price point of $200 haha

I wanted to go the BMS route as well, but when I looked at where it's located more closely, it won't fit if you have an IE intake or other similar intake from what I could see.....where it's mounted takes up too much space. Double check that before you order. It's what pushed me to a spulen v2

 

[Nineeightyone]

They do tend to do sales, I'd say save up. I've had the whole BFI kit on my wagon as well as this car, and both have been massive improvements.

 

[MrTSI]

Hahaha my heart wants the BFI mounts but my wallet doesn't I was thinking of trying the CTS ones and crossing my fingers they do the jo

Accidentally deleted my original reply

I run the CTS set. The build quality is actually quite nice; clean castings and good finish. They were a noticeable improvement over my soggy factory mounts, but not exactly a revelation, especially on their own. I noticed a much bigger difference when I added a Powerflex diesel dogbone insert. That said, even on the stock tune, there is still some driveline movement when running hard. I am very pleased with it as a daily setup, but I would definitely spring for the BFIs if I were running significantly more power, especially for harder driving scenarios.

That said, plenty of folks run CTS, 034 or even stock mounts without issues on typical stage tunes. Almost all have some sort of dogbone upgrade though, which jives with my experience. The dogbone mount insert is much more noticeable than the engine/transmission mounts, both in movement (or lack thereof) and added NVH.

 

[Nineeightyone]

Accidentally deleted my original reply

I run the CTS set. The build quality is actually quite nice; clean castings and good finish. They were a noticeable improvement over my soggy factory mounts, but not exactly a revelation, especially on their own. I noticed a much bigger difference when I added a Powerflex diesel dogbone insert. That said, even on the stock tune, there is still some driveline movement when running hard. I am very pleased with it as a daily setup, but I would definitely spring for the BFIs if I were running significantly more power, especially for harder driving scenarios.

That said, plenty of folks run CTS, 034 or even stock mounts without issues on typical stage tunes. Almost all have some sort of dogbone upgrade though, which jives with my experience. The dogbone mount insert is much more noticeable than the engine/transmission mounts, both in movement (or lack thereof) and added NVH.

Yeah, @19birel I'm super biased towards the BFI stuff. But if literally all your mounts are stock, start with the powerflex hybrid puck. Minimal loss in comfort (IMO) and a pretty easy install, and really cleans up a bunch of the slop. Oh, and since this is boosting on a budget, it's cheap :B Just need to be sure you look at which type of OEM mount you have, as there's no other basis for what cars got what style -- it's whatever the assembly guy pulled out of the bin in that moment.

 

[swcrow]

Yeah, @19birel I'm super biased towards the BFI stuff. But if literally all your mounts are stock, start with the powerflex hybrid puck. Minimal loss in comfort (IMO) and a pretty easy install, and really cleans up a bunch of the slop. Oh, and since this is boosting on a budget, it's cheap :B Just need to be sure you look at which type of OEM mount you have, as there's no other basis for what cars got what style -- it's whatever the assembly guy pulled out of the bin in that moment.

can confirm check if V1 or V2....that was a pain.

also....."pretty easy" now that we've both done it....lol

 

[Nineeightyone]

can confirm check if V1 or V2....that was a pain.

also....."pretty easy" now that we've both done it....lol

everything's intimidating the first time, but on the scale of 'jobs I've done that went really sideways' this wasn't bad at all.

 

[swcrow]

everything's intimidating the first time, but on the scale of 'jobs I've done that went really sideways' this wasn't bad at all.

truth

 

[Nineeightyone]

(I still have a mk4 subframe that has a bolt extractor snapped clean off into it, that was a job that went particularly sideways)

 

[19birel]

I wanted to go the BMS route as well, but when I looked at where it's located more closely, it won't fit if you have an IE intake or other similar intake from what I could see.....where it's mounted takes up too much space. Double check that before you order. It's what pushed me to a spulen v2

Yeah I'm not thrilled with the location, but I don't want to replace the PCV with a breather plate so I think that limits me to BMS or BFI. I'm stock intake currently but this would give me a valid excuse to splurge for the BFI one haha

Accidentally deleted my original reply

I run the CTS set. The build quality is actually quite nice; clean castings and good finish. They were a noticeable improvement over my soggy factory mounts, but not exactly a revelation, especially on their own. I noticed a much bigger difference when I added a Powerflex diesel dogbone insert. That said, even on the stock tune, there is still some driveline movement when running hard. I am very pleased with it as a daily setup, but I would definitely spring for the BFIs if I were running significantly more power, especially for harder driving scenarios.

That said, plenty of folks run CTS, 034 or even stock mounts without issues on typical stage tunes. Almost all have some sort of dogbone upgrade though, which jives with my experience. The dogbone mount insert is much more noticeable than the engine/transmission mounts, both in movement (or lack thereof) and added NVH.

That's good to hear you like the CTS ones, though it sounds like they might not cut the mustard for my setup seeing as I'm already sitting ~400hp. I have a 034 lower dogbone insert already which made a difference for sure. I wonder if upgrading the pendulum mount would help?

Yeah, @19birel I'm super biased towards the BFI stuff. But if literally all your mounts are stock, start with the powerflex hybrid puck. Minimal loss in comfort (IMO) and a pretty easy install, and really cleans up a bunch of the slop. Oh, and since this is boosting on a budget, it's cheap :B Just need to be sure you look at which type of OEM mount you have, as there's no other basis for what cars got what style -- it's whatever the assembly guy pulled out of the bin in that moment.

I already have the 034 lower dogbone insert so it sounds like I might just have to say screw it and go BFI for the engine and trans mounts haha

Oh the slippery slope!