Where to now? POWERRR

[s4mmie]

After new-car shopping and coming up empty handed and very underwhelmed by what's on the market at the moment, I've decided the Polo will be my last performance hurrah before I settle down and buy an SUV to cart the dogs and the kids around.

So this begs the question, where can I take the 1.8T's performance?

Ant's been pushing the limits of the K03 on the 1.8T, a few are running K04's and getting good numbers.
From what I gather, there's a few limitations to work with...
1. Is it the gearbox or the rods? are only safe for around 400Nm of torque... sad face.
2. Grip! Trying to get enough rubber under those skinny little guards and getting them to hook up.


I want grunt. Lots of grunt. I'm thinking a K04 would be a good start. So now, how do we choose a K04? APR do a bolt on kit for the 1.8T good for 180kw/388Nm. I've heard good things about JBS, not so much about the Frankenturbos, or go a custom hybrid route?

I'm concerned about picking good hardware and having a competent tuner available to tune the combo. From observing other builds, I would like to try Custom Code for these future mods. Obviously if I went the APR kit, I get the tune for free but APR tunes seems to be more conservative (nothing wrong with that) than the Custom Code, as seen at our recent dyno day.

JBS hybrids coupled with CC seems to get good reviews... solid 300+Hp and 400+Nm torquies.

[gavs]

Have you checked out LOBA Motorsport for turbos? That's about the depth of my knowledge engine wise. Re grip, you need to get the front stiffened up enough to transmit the power to the road without the flexing from all the rubbers. Take a look at what Eddy has done to his from en and then look at another brace underneath tying everything back the the chassis more rigidly.

Then you can look at tyres, the WRX STI used to to run (I think) Michelin semi slicks which were good enough for daily use. Maybe look into them for the grip you are after.

[Buller_Scott]

Regarding grip, I found that my koni adjustables had my front tyres screeching from 1st-2nd gear under hard acceleration, when set on 4/5 clicks of stiffness. However, no such issue when on full soft - obviously, they were hooking up much more effectively, which means that TOO much stiffness can be counter productive when playing with damping settings, if you're chasing outright grip (in my case, not for red light grand prix, but rather for ultimate cornering ability).

As for tyres, I found that my Federal 595 RS-R's were awesome - plenty predictable on the limit, with ooooooodles of turn in. They do need to be run at pretty high pressures though - my hot temps were around 40.5psi in the fronts, if i recall correctly. They were cheap, too, from Option1Garage, up your way.

[Stuwey]

Tyres will only help 'so' much. Get a diff.

[VWindahouse]

Hey mate, if you can hold off about 3 weeks or so I can let you know how a custom ball bearing turbo with CC stage III works out with Dyno and 1/4 mile figures to add weight to your decision In the mean time come for a spin in the Devil.

As for the APR K04, well you were there and saw the results first hand at the recent dyno day. I can tell you from spending hours on VWvortex that the Frankenturbos will make about 20-50 more HP atw depending on tune and supporting mods than a stock standard k04. More with E85.

The JBS is the next level in development. Jump on both sites to see the differences. And then the custom turbo coming for me incorporates ceramic ball bearing innovation coupled with the JBS format.

I know I'm eventually up for a gear set upgrade and I may as well will do a wavetrac diff while I'm there but that's cool by me because I know if I jump ship now into another car I will just be tipping a heap of cash into the garbage disposal.

Hope this helps

[Njay]

Hey mate, if you can hold off about 3 weeks or so I can let you know how a custom ball bearing turbo with CC stage III works out with Dyno and 1/4 mile figures to add weight to your decision

You bastard what turbo?

[kaanage]

Regarding grip, I found that my koni adjustables had my front tyres screeching from 1st-2nd gear under hard acceleration, when set on 4/5 clicks of stiffness. However, no such issue when on full soft - obviously, they were hooking up much more effectively, which means that TOO much stiffness can be counter productive when playing with damping settings,

gavs was talking about chassis stiffness. Besides Eddy's little blue girl, the other car to look at would be jasonc23 - his Winton lap times have plummetted since fitting the front and rear Ultra Racing under braces.

I agree with Stuwey, though - without AWD, the best solution is an LSD or TBD.

[VWindahouse]

You bastard what turbo?

It's from a very innovative turbo company in Australia called Billet Turbo. Will be a first of its kind

[Njay]

It's from a very innovative turbo company in Australia called Billet Turbo. Will be a first of its kind

Ah yes the ball bearing k04 was gonna see how mine handles the Frankenturbo and think about that a little down the track

[philthy]

After new-car shopping and coming up empty handed and very underwhelmed by what's on the market at the moment

Just curious, what did you look at? I'm fairly sure I'll be trading my polo in on a MY11/12 WRX in the next year or so... AWD, wide track, ~ 200 awkw without much effort.. (**** interior tho).