Ceres_mining_co’s Tiguan build

[Ceres_mining_co]

Hi guys,

I bought my Tig 1 ½ years ago from a 2^nd hand dealer, I was previously driving a barina (belonged to the missus – I swear!) so the Tig was a huge step up in terms of refinement, quality, space and most important of all, the driving experience.

The 125TSI had a great kick to it and I loved the DSG transmission instantly (except for potting around in 1^st and 2^nd – still does my head in specially at roundabouts).

At the time, I had no idea about the Tigs running gear, what sold me in was the interior trim, the drive and that panoramic sun roof. Once I got home, I started doing some research which is when I stumbled across this forum and realized what I had under the bonnet. Fair to say I was itching to get started on some modifications.

Well, the time has now come so I will be documenting my progress as I go along. Before I jump in I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone that has shared their Tig knowledge on this forum, in particular the cracking Tig build threads by Tigger73, Team V and Ramees. I spent countless hours up late at night poring over every detail and weighing up all my options for the build.

Here she is in all her glory:





Original spec of my Tiguan:

· MY11 125TSI 4Motion
· DSG (DQ500)
· Cream leather trim with electric + heated front seats
· Comfort package + Panoramic sunroof
· Tyre pressure sensor
· MDI / Bluetooth
· 18” New York alloy wheels

Mods / accessories (completed)

· APR Stage 1 tune
· Golf R / S3 intercooler


Upcoming mods / accessories

· USP Motorsports tear duct CAI
· High flow turbo outlet pipe
· High flow throttle pipe
· CTS Turbo 3” DP
· APR Stage 2 tune
· ELM327 OBD2 Wifi diagnostics dongle
· Torque app
· Updated badging

Wish list:

· RNS510 head unit
· Gen 2 style tail lights or tinting OEM lights
· Reversing camera
· Steering wheel with paddle shifts
· DSG Tune

[Ceres_mining_co]

APR Stage 1 tune

After doing a whole bunch of research on the "best" first upgrade for my Tiguan, I realised all roads led me to the same place - a stage 1 ECU tune. A friend of mine did an APR stage 1 tune to his Mk6 GolfR (which was insane by the way) and I heard nothing but good things about them, so I rang up my local APR dealer BWA Auto (Seven Hills) to suss out what was needed and booked her in that day.

The process itself was super easy, I drove her in, waited 30 minutes and that was it. Having the 125TSI model, the increase in torque was very noticeable. Honestly it was like I'd picked up the keys to a completely new car!

Not only did it kick a lot harder off the line, I found myself enjoying this fat new torque curve which made the car so much more enjoyable to drive. In previous situations where I would've had to drop down a few gears and really wring the power out of the engine (i.e. going up hills or with a full passenger load) I found that I could now take advantage of the extra torque across a wider part of the rev range.

Overall, I would highly recommend the APR stage 1 tune. It cost me just over $1k (they had a 10% sale) which is not cheap, but in my opinion that was some serious bang for buck and has completely transformed my Tig from a comfortable family SUV into a great little sleeper.

Also wanted to give a big shout out to the guys at BWA Auto , Tim was super professional and he's great to deal with. I've asked him about a million stupid questions in relation to my stage 2 tune and he's been great.

[Ceres_mining_co]

Golf R / S3 Intercooler upgrade

In order to get the stage 2 tune, I need to get the airflow side of things sorted so I started by looking at intercooler options. The GolfR / S3 option seemed like a no brainer for a cost effective option so I managed to source a GolfR unit for $100 (Thank you Bug_racer) and luckily one of my friends is a mechanic so $100 and a lunch took care of the labour.

Apologies in advance for the crappy pictures, I wanted to take more but I didn't want to interrupt my mate too much.

This is the GolfR unit:



Here is a comparison between the Tiguan unit (top) and Golf R unit (bottom). As you can see the core from the R unit is slightly thicker:



Here are a few photos of the Tig with the bumper and various other bits off to get to the stock cooler:





As per the threads that are already floating around on this upgrade, we used the stock hoses but we had to (very carefully) saw off the metal ends that would have gone into the stock intercooler and then fit the exposed rubber hose around the R unit with clamps. The hose on the turbo outlet side is a little bit too long and it's slightly kinked so I'll be trimming it when I install the high flow turbo outlet pipe.

After watching my mate do it, I could probably do the job myself if I had say, 2 days (maybe 3?). Would I want to? Ah, no. Let's just say I'm glad he helped me out because to be fair I'm not super confident when it comes to pulling off bumpers etc etc.

As for the performance side of things, no surprise that there weren't any noticeable gains in terms of outright power, however I did notice the Tig was able to stay on boost for longer periods of time. It could be me, but it almost feels as though the Tig is staying on boost more willingly across the rev range.

All in all, a not-too-shabby outcome for $200, now on to the intake and the remaining turbo pipes.

[tigger73]

Nice work!

Looking forward to watching the progress on this one.

[Ceres_mining_co]

Nice work!

Looking forward to watching the progress on this one.

Thank you! Very keen for stage 2...

[Ceres_mining_co]

My high flow turbo outlet pipe and throttle pipe have arrived:



I'll wait for my CAI to arrive and install them together.

[DannyBoy]

Nice build. Just to note that Torque and the ELM dongle show unreliable values for PSI and such. Have you considered getting a dedicated boost gauge or something like a Polar FIS+ to show more info on your MFD?

Be careful with the para sunroof, if you park under trees the drain tubes WILL GET CLOGGED. I've had both rear drain plugs clog and had to clear them out. You can access the two rear ones right behind the wheel liner on both rear wheels. Thankfully you don't have to completely remove the liner to get access, just a few screws and you can bend it out of the way.

Let us know how the golf r mods work and if they're worth it

[Ceres_mining_co]

Nice build. Just to note that Torque and the ELM dongle show unreliable values for PSI and such. Have you considered getting a dedicated boost gauge or something like a Polar FIS+ to show more info on your MFD?

Be careful with the para sunroof, if you park under trees the drain tubes WILL GET CLOGGED. I've had both rear drain plugs clog and had to clear them out. You can access the two rear ones right behind the wheel liner on both rear wheels. Thankfully you don't have to completely remove the liner to get access, just a few screws and you can bend it out of the way.

Let us know how the golf r mods work and if they're worth it

Thanks mate, I'm definitely keen to get the Polar FIS (or even the P3 vent gauge as it's fairly discreet) once I sort out the other upgrades, in the meantime I'll use the OBD dongle and my spare samsung S4 as a cost effective option that I can mount on the steering column (will post photos once the setup is complete).

I'm curious to know why torque shows unreliable figures as they all read out of the OBDII port, do you have any insight as to what could be causing that?

Damn I had no idea the sunroof even had a drain tube I just grabbed 120,000km service report from last week and it looks like they cleaned the drains, I'll make sure I keep an eye on that as half of my car sits under a tree in my driveway.

The golf R intercooler is definitely worth it, specially at the price I paid. The car is is able to sustain boost for longer periods of time and has a much shorter "recovery" time after periods of spirited driving. The real test will come when summer rolls around and heat soak becomes a bigger issue.

[Ceres_mining_co]

Some goodies arrived in the mail today:





For those of you that are interested, I purchased this unit:

CTS Turbo Tiguan & Q3 Downpipe

I ordered it from Dub Addiction who are the Australian distributor, it worked out to be just about the same cost as ordering it direct from CTS.

[DannyBoy]

Thanks mate, I'm definitely keen to get the Polar FIS (or even the P3 vent gauge as it's fairly discreet) once I sort out the other upgrades, in the meantime I'll use the OBD dongle and my spare samsung S4 as a cost effective option that I can mount on the steering column (will post photos once the setup is complete).

I'm curious to know why torque shows unreliable figures as they all read out of the OBDII port, do you have any insight as to what could be causing that?

Damn I had no idea the sunroof even had a drain tube I just grabbed 120,000km service report from last week and it looks like they cleaned the drains, I'll make sure I keep an eye on that as half of my car sits under a tree in my driveway.

The golf R intercooler is definitely worth it, specially at the price I paid. The car is is able to sustain boost for longer periods of time and has a much shorter "recovery" time after periods of spirited driving. The real test will come when summer rolls around and heat soak becomes a bigger issue.

OBD doesn't provide a real reading of boost, you'd need something like a ross-tech cable with VCDS to an accurate reading. My Torque app uses MAF to calculate boost and sometimes shows 30+ psi when it's max is 20psi. So I don't 100% count on that for accurate results.

I've had my sunroof drains "cleaned" at VW service for it to still be leaking water into my trunk. I went under the car and pulled the flap/valve and it was completely clogged full of dirt. The way VW designed our drains is that there is no seal around the drain connections, and if it does fill with water, it will leak into the interior of your car. Also it drains water even when the sunroof is closed, German engineering haha.

Usually you can tell your drain(s) are clogged when your windows are foggy after its been raining.

I saw your post about the hood latch, and noticed you pulled apart the front of the car. It could be possible you didn't re-attach it properly and it came undone? Can't find much online about how you can manually release it for a tiguan, might need something long to shove in there to pop the latch. Good luck with that!