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Track day - intakes

SouthFL_Mk7.5

Autocross Champion
Location
South Florida
Car(s)
2019 GTI S
Guys, out of curiosity, what intake setups are you running on your track day/ race MK7’s?
Closed or open? Anyone tried both and have had issues with heat soak on the open setups versus the closed? I know this topic has been around forever but curious to read of your experiences.

I use a closed setup consisting of an 034 front air Plenum feeding air to the Stock bottom air box with an oiled panel filter topped with an Autotech lid, connected by the 034 silicone pipe to an 034 TIP.

I’d say the setup runs cool during daily based on watching IAT’s. And, it manages to keep me on track with Map1 overboost for 20-30min sessions (if using 98 Octane).

An intercooler upgrade is my next big mod and is a much larger priority than fiddling with intake setups, but my 15 year old wants to know if open setups do ok at the track because he likes the sound of them! What can I say? I’m interested too.
 

SouthFL_Mk7.5

Autocross Champion
Location
South Florida
Car(s)
2019 GTI S
The intake is not going to impact much related to IAT at the track. You will need actual cooling mods, triple pass radiator and IC upgrades.

/thread

I mentioned IC upgrade as my next mod and understand its importance compared to the relative insignificance of the intake setup. But curious nevertheless as to what guys are using.
 
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GTIfan99

Autocross Champion
Location
FL
I ran a Neuspeed filter on a stick for about 4 years and 50+ track days. I did not experience any issues with heat soak.

As someone who has lived in both San Francisco and Florida, the cooling requirements might be different. I don't know, maybe after 30 minutes it doesn't matter, but 90 degree and 90% humidity in Florida is a worse case scenario. That being said, xXDavidCXx is right, the intake isn't going to make a difference one way or the other on track. You need oil cooler, maybe triple pass radiator or try something like Evans or Water Wetter, IC and even some hood vents. I'm going to head to the GRM forums and see if anyone there has experience with Evans cooling fluid and if there's any downside to using it, like water pump damage, etc..... Because I want to autocross and track, I can't do vents unless I buy a hood out of a junk yard and swap them, but that seems like a lot of work. If they ever fix XSA's pax I might consider it.

And cooling requirements are track dependent too. FIRM is hard on my car, brakes, oil and coolant get really, really hot. Daytona, not so much. Sebring, somewhere in the middle. So what tracks are you running OP?

And loving the new Cayman. You going to detail your build here or on the Porsche forums?
 
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SouthFL_Mk7.5

Autocross Champion
Location
South Florida
Car(s)
2019 GTI S
^
For now running only at Homestead. Will return to Sebring later ‘21.
Homestead is a bit tougher on brakes than Sebring from my experience. For heat buildup- a bit tougher too.

Walking around through paddocks I’ve een VW/Audi guys using IE and APR intakes - probably because they’re the more known brands and they’ve probably subscribed to their tuning. Speaking of APR - that new open intake of theirs has the biggest open cone filter I’ve seen come to market.
 

GTIfan99

Autocross Champion
Location
FL
^
For now running only at Homestead. Will return to Sebring later ‘21.
Homestead is a bit tougher on brakes than Sebring from my experience. For heat buildup- a bit tougher too.

Walking around through paddocks I’ve een VW/Audi guys using IE and APR intakes - probably because they’re the more known brands and they’ve probably subscribed to their tuning. Speaking of APR - that new open intake of theirs has the biggest open cone filter I’ve seen come to market.

I was never an APR hater until I started to read their threads on these forums. Always combative with customers and gimmicky marketing. I learned all wheels are hub centric if you try hard enough from Arin. lol. I won't buy anymore APR products, because you just don't know what you'll get. The springs ended up being almost double the drop they claimed and increased the rake over factory. I need accurate information from the vendors I buy from, not marketing hype.

As far as intakes, with the stock turbo, is there really a difference in actual power? I doubt it. I've seen flow testing of all the different intakes and it all looks really impressive, but I don't think it translates to gains unless you're big turbo and appropriate mods from intake to exhaust tip to increase flow.
 

Cliff

Drag Racing Champion
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Car(s)
2015 Cayman GTS
As someone who has lived in both San Francisco and Florida, the cooling requirements might be different. I don't know, maybe after 30 minutes it doesn't matter, but 90 degree and 90% humidity in Florida is a worse case scenario. That being said, xXDavidCXx is right, the intake isn't going to make a difference one way or the other on track. You need oil cooler, maybe triple pass radiator or try something like Evans or Water Wetter, IC and even some hood vents. I'm going to head to the GRM forums and see if anyone there has experience with Evans cooling fluid and if there's any downside to using it, like water pump damage, etc..... Because I want to autocross and track, I can't do vents unless I buy a hood out of a junk yard and swap them, but that seems like a lot of work. If they ever fix XSA's pax I might consider it.

And cooling requirements are track dependent too. FIRM is hard on my car, brakes, oil and coolant get really, really hot. Daytona, not so much. Sebring, somewhere in the middle. So what tracks are you running OP?

It gets hot here, but not humid. My last 2 events saw temps in the mid-upper 90's.

And loving the new Cayman. You going to detail your build here or on the Porsche forums?

I don't want to send this thread too far off track so I responded here: https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/cliffs-grey-hare.366763/post-7548903
 

victorofhavoc

Autocross Champion
Location
Kansas City
I used the stock intake for a year with zero issues. Snow grate and TIP helped with some throttle response, felt no difference with afe dry filter. I then changed to the 034 p34 intake and iat jumped like mad. One lap and car was running HOT. I wrapped it in silver reflective tape and that helped IAT pretty dramatically but I noticed my water temps tend to creep more after a few laps and I still pull timing after 4 or 5 laps. I thought this was due to more time on throttle, but looking at my more recent track data disputes that. I took the 034 off and plan was to go to the track this year and see if water temps come down again. I suspect they will, but instead I bought a racecar and have been taking that out. I plan to use the gti as an autox toy and street car at this point, but I will try to take it back to a track event at some point.

I also have an oil cooler, hood louvres, turbo wrap, dp wrap, and was using water wetter with 50:50. Ideally you want water wetter and distilled water (deionized water if you can get your hands on it), but that requires more frequent coolant flushes. If you want better overall cooling performance you should wrap your turbo, downpipe, use distilled water + ww, tape up any place air could go other than the cooling stack from the front grill (see "front bumper" section here: https://professionalawesome.com/diy-downforce/), add louvres if you can, and get an oil cooler. If that doesn't do it (and it really should at that point unless you're pushing a ton of power or turbo is way outside of operating range), then I would look at radiator swap, condenser removal, relocating cooling, and more coolant volume.

The big thing to keep in mind is that as you build heat, it has to go somewhere, and if it can't escape the engine bay it will go other places (like your block, intake, and everywhere else). This is also true on localized areas like your cooling stack. If you increase intercooler size then air may be more restricted and not as much would flow over the radiator. The heat builds there and won't cool engine as well. Most of the time the iat reduction of an intercooler offsets the reduction in flow, but it's possible to oversize. Also, since various aftermarket intercooler and radiators are different shapes, sizes, and fitments you can negatively impact overall airflow across the entire cooling stack with mismatched parts, too large a separation between the stack, or part of the cooling stack being too cool while another is too hot.
 

SouthFL_Mk7.5

Autocross Champion
Location
South Florida
Car(s)
2019 GTI S
^
interesting to read that the P34 intake created this jump in IAT, as it uses the stock air box and panel filter (much like my Autotech). This is the type of information I’m fishing for! Thanks for chiming in!
 

victorofhavoc

Autocross Champion
Location
Kansas City
^
interesting to read that the P34 intake created this jump in IAT, as it uses the stock air box and panel filter (much like my Autotech). This is the type of information I’m fishing for! Thanks for chiming in!
Yeah I thought it would be a simple enough change that it shouldn't affect anything but the design is also similar yet very different from the stock airbox. Shape wise it's all the same but they chose to block off a portion in the rear which in theory should only change air volume. The Sai hose also doesn't clip as well to it.

We'll see how it does next year back to stock box, but if this helps my theory on why would be around possible knock i haven't detected yet (not enough logging) due to the Uni tune hating the p34, which would cause eventual timing retardation and excessive heat as it knocks. More testing is needed for sure :).
 

Gvazquez

Go Kart Champion
Location
North Carolina
Custom 3.5 inch intake here
 

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