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Street Touring Hatchback (STH) discussion/setup

JackRabbitSLIM

Go Kart Champion
Location
OHIO
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
Have you verified that the return hose from the catchcan is actually wet with oil? If it is, I agree with above, either replace or upgrade the PCV. Even if it's not a permanent change its good to know you have found the source of your issue. That seems like a lot of oil...but I'm not that familiar with how common it is in these cars.

Is everyone on here having issues like this on their cars?
 

Gvazquez

Go Kart Champion
Location
North Carolina
What about the oil causing detonation?

I hear a distinct clicking during when the ECU pulls power that I thought might be rubbing, but now I’m not sure.

I’ve heard detonation before when I had a Subaru. Sounded like sand rattling in a tin can. This is different. Maybe it’s traction control limiting the power?
I doubt oil is causing detonation. Pull your plugs and check to see if they're covered in oil. More than likely, that sound you're hearing could be detonation from running lean since you're tracking with low fuel level. The fuel tank design in these cars is notorious for fuel starvation at high g forces. The AWD tanks arent as bad for this because of the saddle tank design and transfer pump.
 

xXDavidCXx

Autocross Champion
Location
AZ
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
Have you verified that the return hose from the catchcan is actually wet with oil? If it is, I agree with above, either replace or upgrade the PCV. Even if it's not a permanent change its good to know you have found the source of your issue. That seems like a lot of oil...but I'm not that familiar with how common it is in these cars.

Is everyone on here having issues like this on their cars?
That’s a really good question.

The return line is not as discolored as the feed line, to the catch can.

I guess if enough oil is getting to the engine to cause combustion issues, then the return line would have evidence of oil.

I‘ve ordered the 10oz can to see if the extra capacity will help.

Interesting note for today’s runs.

Since we lost so much oil, I checked the dipstick and found the oil at the bottom of the fill line.

And, we only emptied about 1-2 oz for 8 runs.

Additionally, we did’t experience any degraded acceleration or loss of power.

And Finally....the 650 springs are awesome!!

The car finally feels right and I can toss the car into an offset and wiggle the rear around the cones. Allegedly I hit some.

I was .2 from 2nd and .8 from first yesterday.

Today I took the lead by .5 sec

The results are not final, but by my calculation, I should take 2nd place for both days.

It feels so good to finally have a setup that I can work with.
 

JackRabbitSLIM

Go Kart Champion
Location
OHIO
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
Congrats on getting the car to come around. Post up some video or still pictures if they are available.

Since we lost so much oil, I checked the dipstick and found the oil at the bottom of the fill line.

Additionally, we did’t experience any degraded acceleration or loss of power.
I'm assuming you added some oil after seeing it that low. Maybe your power was being cut because the oil pickup was dry or the oil level sensor thought it was dry. Both are on the right-ish side of the oil pan, so turning right would make it worse.
 

bfury5

Autocross Champion
Location
CT
And Finally....the 650 springs are awesome!!

750lb are calling your name next!

I finished my event today in a class of 1 locally, but was dicing with some proper STS cars for the day. (not sure where I finished in the PAX, haven't seen official results yet). Car feels really great as-is. I still get some slight hesitation on turn in, so I'm going to do some runs next weekend with the front sway bar disconnected to see if it's a roll stiffness issue, and if not I'll try some slight toe out to help with direction change.

Other than that, my new calipers and pads added a LOT of bias to the front brakes, and that combined with the relatively low dive since adding the coilovers means the rear brakes aren't doing enough work. Planning to order new pads for the rear (to match the front) to help with the bias issue.
 

xXDavidCXx

Autocross Champion
Location
AZ
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
Congrats on getting the car to come around. Post up some video or still pictures if they are available.


I'm assuming you added some oil after seeing it that low. Maybe your power was being cut because the oil pickup was dry or the oil level sensor thought it was dry. Both are on the right-ish side of the oil pan, so turning right would make it worse.
Nope, no oil on hand, and was curious if I would get more oil in the catch can, which we barely got any over 8 runs.

I don't think being 1/2 to 1 quart low affects the oil pickup.

However, no hesitation issues today, with low oil.
 

theDoktor

Go Kart Champion
Location
Buffalo, NY area
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport
My flyer run


That thing is hooking up! Nice!
I liked the camera position on the Day 2 video better than Day 1- it told a much better story of what the course looked like. What are you using for your camera?
I really miss concrete runways...
 

xXDavidCXx

Autocross Champion
Location
AZ
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE DSG
That thing is hooking up! Nice!
I liked the camera position on the Day 2 video better than Day 1- it told a much better story of what the course looked like. What are you using for your camera?
I really miss concrete runways...
I have a Hero HD, Hero 3 silver and Hero 7 Silver.

The HD is garbage, even though it records at 1080p, allegedly, but it won’t die.

I shot day 2 above car with the Hero 7 in 4K, and I agree, great view and great quality.
 

JackRabbitSLIM

Go Kart Champion
Location
OHIO
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
I finished my event today in a class of 1 locally, but was dicing with some proper STS cars for the day. (not sure where I finished in the PAX, haven't seen official results yet). Car feels really great as-is. I still get some slight hesitation on turn in, so I'm going to do some runs next weekend with the front sway bar disconnected to see if it's a roll stiffness issue, and if not I'll try some slight toe out to help with direction change.
You're way up there in PAX, nice driving dude.

Disconnecting the front bar is going to make your turn in feel even more sloppy. Toe out in the front is a good idea, but match (if not exceed) it in the rear. A couple pages back you said you took the advice of some more experienced FWD drivers? Was is the Kuehls? Ask Brian what he suggests for front and rear toe...
 

bfury5

Autocross Champion
Location
CT
You're way up there in PAX, nice driving dude.

Disconnecting the front bar is going to make your turn in feel even more sloppy. Toe out in the front is a good idea, but match (if not exceed) it in the rear. A couple pages back you said you took the advice of some more experienced FWD drivers? Was is the Kuehls? Ask Brian what he suggests for front and rear toe...
My thought behind disconnecting the front bar was to make the drastic change and just feel the results. I already run my front dampers pretty soft compared to the rear. If disconnecting makes it measurably worse, then I have my quick answer there.

I've had Brian's advice on some of my other setup changes, but the toe change was actually from another seasoned FWD guy in the region. My plan of attack for this week is to get the rear brakes changed and get some toe-out in the front. I have an event Saturday that has morning and afternoon sessions (last week we just had one), so I'll plan to run the new setup as-is for the morning and if the toe change didn't help, I'll disconnect the sway bar for the afternoon to see the difference.

In general though, the suspension feels about 95% great. The last 5% will probably a while, but that's the fun. My car is still very under-built (at least as far as the rules go), so I'm hoping this is a good foundation moving forward.
 

pseudorealityx

Go Kart Champion
Location
Decatur, GA
Car(s)
2017 GTI SE
I'm confused by the desire to have sharper turn-in, but then running the front struts "relatively" soft. What's up with that?
 

JackRabbitSLIM

Go Kart Champion
Location
OHIO
Car(s)
MK7 GTI
My thought behind disconnecting the front bar was to make the drastic change and just feel the results. I already run my front dampers pretty soft compared to the rear. If disconnecting makes it measurably worse, then I have my quick answer there.
Heard that, nothing wrong with drastic changes that's how you learn.

I just want someone to toe out the rear :cry:
 

bfury5

Autocross Champion
Location
CT
I'm confused by the desire to have sharper turn-in, but then running the front struts "relatively" soft. What's up with that?
When the front end is stiff it gives up pretty quickly, and just understeers. It's only soft relative to the rear, which helps with rotation. However, my issue isn't with rotation (if it was, I would increase rear spring or toe-out the back). The issue is with initial bite of the front end. Once I hit steady-state grip it's on rails, and I think toe-out in the front will clean up turn-in.

Heard that, nothing wrong with drastic changes that's how you learn.

I just want someone to toe out the rear :cry:
I get pretty good rotation out of the car as-is, and I'm hoping if I can nail down the front end then it'll rotate even better. I might get there eventually, but I'm even hesitant to toe-out the front because tire wear will be awful at my camber level. My daily tires life is going to come to a short end.
 

theDoktor

Go Kart Champion
Location
Buffalo, NY area
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport
I get pretty good rotation out of the car as-is, and I'm hoping if I can nail down the front end then it'll rotate even better. I might get there eventually, but I'm even hesitant to toe-out the front because tire wear will be awful at my camber level.

What toe & camber are you running in the front now? I've run 1/8" out (or the angular equivalent) on my FWD daily drivers for decades without any tire wear issues. I'll increase this as needed at an event. Of course, running mostly in Street or Stock classes, I was pretty limited on what I could get for camber. Typically, I'd start at -0.5 degrees negative, even for my DD uses.
 
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