What did you do to your Polo today?

[SuperChimps]

Yeah I was going to go the 2.5, just because I've heard 3in can be a little loud. Thanks for the link and the info. Looks like I've got to do some boost gauge research now. Not super keen on those vent ones cos I love my air-con too much.. but maybe something in a single din cubby would be possible. Cheers again

[sambb]

You car will go great on phase 1 but yeah get the gauge sorted. It saved my engine. It might feel like there's a huge list of little bits and pieces that you need when you start to play with our little turbos, but unless your going nuts you'll still get HP per $ better than the atmo boys. I allegedly raced a mk5 R32 that sounded like a V8 yesterday and had him in every gear to the top of third. All I have is a front pipe, some wastegate mods, phase 1 and some boost control mods. I bet he'd spent a hell of a lot more than me.

[louis19]

Yeah I was going to go the 2.5, just because I've heard 3in can be a little loud. Thanks for the link and the info. Looks like I've got to do some boost gauge research now. Not super keen on those vent ones cos I love my air-con too much.. but maybe something in a single din cubby would be possible. Cheers again

Sambb is right, I'm are running a 2.5" Downpipe and a 200 Cell cat without a 02 spacer. The day after I got the exhaust work done, I saw Gav for the Phase 2 tune so didn't have a great deal of time with it with the stock ECU tune, but I did test out to see if it would overboost or boost spike by giving it a heap a fair few times. It felt pretty safe, definitely spooled earlier but didn't spike or overboost at all and no CEL's came up in that time either. In saying that if you were planning on keeping it stock or with a phase 1 tune for a long period of time I'd recommend getting an 02 spacer like some of the guys and Sambb have done to prevent any CEL's.

Noise wise, I think the 2.5" is a good compromise, no droning on the highway, great noise over 3000rpm and anything under that sounds relatively stock. Next to no difference at idle except a nice little bit of a burble noise, all of which fitted into the category of what I was after.

Hope that helps!

[SuperChimps]

Sweet, thanks Louis and Sam. Louis, your 'test drive' results sound pretty promising safety wise - that's got me reassured now. I'll still look into the boost gauge etc and baby it until then. Sadly I can't hit Gav up for a phase 2 because I went with one of the competition (I didn't know of anything else at the time!), but I think there's a software upgrade I can get to ignore any CELs.

Looking forward to it now

Also - my browser just froze, so apologies if I'm double posting

[louis19]

Sweet, thanks Louis and Sam. Louis, your 'test drive' results sound pretty promising safety wise - that's got me reassured now. I'll still look into the boost gauge etc and baby it until then. Sadly I can't hit Gav up for a phase 2 because I went with one of the competition (I didn't know of anything else at the time!), but I think there's a software upgrade I can get to ignore any CELs.

Looking forward to it now

Also - my browser just froze, so apologies if I'm double posting

No worries, bare in mind my ECU was STOCK when I first tested for overboosting and for CEL's so yours may be slightly more inclined to do either one if its already stage 1. Even stock I noticed it spooled earlier and did have a bit more oomph but nothing major being stock, stage 1 may notice more of a change with just the downpipe and cat due to already running more boost. The boost gauge is also a great idea.

My previous Red Polo was Stage 1 but I never got round to the Downpipe and Cat on it then sold it and have Gone Phase 2 on my new Silver one

[sambb]

Oh Ok I thought you already had phase 1 in it Louis19. Yeah that's a good point then. The stock tune would have only been requesting 10psi or whatever stock is, so would have been less likely to overboost than my phase 1 which wanted 19ish psi so you still might want to be careful Superchimps.
Superchimps let us know what tune you have. Your right that with some of them they can just tick off the cat efficiency error at no great additional cost. Guys on here will be able to advise you. If its not a cheap and easy tune to cater for your dump though you may be forced to run on your existing tune for a while so you might want to factor in an o2 sensor spacer when the dump goes on like Louis19 said. You may need to get those bits organised before the exhaust work starts.
Also you're not locked into a certain brand once a base tune is in. I know that Noone went from APR stage 1 to CC phase 2 for example. Keep us in the loop with what your thinking.

[SuperChimps]

It's an Apr stage 1. I'd already booked the exhaust place in, but I can reschedule if needs be. I'd just assumed the only downside would be a CEL from the higher flow which could more or less be ignored until a software update wrote it out.
Heeding the warnings I will definitely do the gauge and a boost controller.. was just sort of hoping I could take it easy and get those sorted after. Would the o2 spacer be something the exhaust place could supply easily? Or are they very vehicle specific? Sorry for the noob questions

[louis19]

It's an Apr stage 1. I'd already booked the exhaust place in, but I can reschedule if needs be. I'd just assumed the only downside would be a CEL from the higher flow which could more or less be ignored until a software update wrote it out.
Heeding the warnings I will definitely do the gauge and a boost controller.. was just sort of hoping I could take it easy and get those sorted after. Would the o2 spacer be something the exhaust place could supply easily? Or are they very vehicle specific? Sorry for the noob questions

O2 Sensor spacer - $34.95 : Dub Addiction

That's the spacer you need and the one Sambb is running. Hopefully it doesn't CEL anyways but can't say for sure it 100% won't.

Also as mentioned above, when the time comes and you sent to go stage 2, you can go to Gav with custom code, my Red one was Harding Performance (Apr) and had the intention of going to Gav with it until I got the silver one.

[SuperChimps]

Cool, thanks Louis19. I'll let you guys know how it goes

[sambb]

Yeah its a good idea to get the gauge so you can see whats going on. Don't jump the gun on boost control though - if your APR then you might not need it. I think APR requests less peak boost than CC phase 1 so you might be ok. Just make sure the car doesn't get 'test driven' by the workshop without them knowing that it may overboost.
Other than that you might want to order the turbo to downpipe gasket off VW so its ready to go. Took a couple of days for mine to arrive and you don't want your car stuck on the hoist waiting for bits.
If you end up needing to run some form of MBC with the N75 to help stop overboosting jump back on here or PM me and i'll flick you some links on how to plumb them in.