Back during Waterfest I met up with Scott@USRT and Tom from AP Tuning and we discussed hooking a Snow Performance water alcohol injection system to my car.

As it is I was pushing the Stage 3 pretty hard, and I wanted to lower the intake temps and save some strain on the engine while still gaining power. This was accomplished by getting a dual nozzle stage 2 MAF controlled kit, and running it with a 60 nozzle at the throttle body, and a 225 nozzle post IC.

What this did for the car was allow the use of the APR 100 octane map using only 93 octane gas. It put down 307 ftlbs and 285 whp with a nicer smoother curve than when we hit 275 with the 93 octane program @ 24PSI. The power didn't taper off towards redline either which was a big improvement.

The difference was noticable with more power in the mid to high end, no timing drop at all according to the logs, and 2nd gear breaks free up top now. Which it doesn't do with my tires on the 93 program...

Here are two pics (huge original resolution, sorry) 1 2 of the setup, which was installed where the stock intercooler was. Note that the 5.5L eurospec windshield washer fluid tank is being used to hold the water/alcohol and it sits right over the pump for a really compact install.

Big props go to Scott@USRT and Tom@AP Tuning!

So a few months ago my APR exhaust broke. Bad weld fell apart after 25k miles. They gave me a new one no questions asked. Talk about customer service! I paid extra and went with the 3" exhaust. It's not loud at all compared to other 3" exhausts, it sounds awesome in fact.

Between that and the EVO VFLOW intake I gained ~20/20 on the dyno at low to mid range and the high end was much smoother and didn't fall off as sharply as my previous dynos.

Of course I left the charts at AP Tuning so I can't post them but you can take my word for it.

I didn't realize the left table of contents looked like ish in Firefox. Problem solved.

I just installed a $30 DIY PCV Catch Can. It looks ok, is easy to dump the contents out and is cheap. I took the car out for a test drive with it and it didn't have any "catch" (too early) but it sure did smell like oil and gas vapors. So it works. :)

Why do this? The default system dumps all the PCV contents into the intake and it's a mess, it really spits a lot of crap into the system that I'd rather just dump out!

Check the howto here.

So I replaced the Injen 2.5" CAI with the new EVO MS V-Flow system.

First thoughts are that I love it. Not as loud as the CAI, the turbo sounds better and the spool seems to be more smooth as if it's not straining to get the air it wants.

Hope to have some dyno number up in the next month to see if it helped with power at all.

I would recommend this to anyone though over a CAI. No hydrolock chance and the filter is easy to change.

After a few minor adjustments we were able to make 276 HP and 302 ft/lbs.


Click here for my dyno graph!

I'm pretty happy with these numbers, especially since they were done on pump gas.

Just when you thought it was long forgotten....

Last weekend I went to AP Tuning and hit their new Dyno up.

The car put down a respectable 264 HP and 274 ft/lbs on pump gas.

Makes me feel a little better about the money spent on the thing!

With 43k miles on the Jetta it was also time to do some maintenance. Not as much fun to spend money on as go fast parts but it's either that or it blows up....

I've been lazy but the DIY Grounding kit howto is finally here!

The 1.8t compressor map plotting tool on the table of contents to your left has been updated a ton.

I now include two blank compressor maps (GT25R and GT28R) as well as GT25R, GT28R and KKK KO3 compressor maps with example plots on them that show common PSI goals of Mk4 VW enthusiasts.

Also the worksheet was updated with more info, example data and a conversion cell for KKK metric style compressor maps. It is a lot easier to understand now. :)

There is a text doc with some info in the zip file as well. Now you can see just how hard we all push those poor little stock turbos!

You can also get the file here.

I hope this helps you understand more about our cars and the turbo's we use on them.

Please note that if you know what you're doing you can easily modify this to do the calculations for other engines too. Just change the displacement, IC drop, etc etc....

The website went down for a bit! Sorry if you were looking for help on your DIY projects, and I hope you successfully completed them anyway. :)

But, as you can see, I am back online now.

Stop reading, it's a waste of time. Just go buy one and thank me later. I don't think I'll ever be able to drive my car enough again. 59 hours straight won't be enough... Simply put, the APR Stage 3 is gods gift to Mk4 1.8t's. The power delivery is smooth as hell, but sooooooooooooooo strong and watching 22 PSI at redline is.. *shudder* nothing short of awesome....

As usual thanks to the crew at AP Tuning for doing such a great job, this car totally rocks now! :)

After getting sick of the horrible shifting my car had I ran a search on "shitty shifting" on the tex. Of course "shitty" wasn't found but there were some good posts on making the shifting better for Mk4's. I did the first stage about a month ago and then yesterday went up to AP Tuning to get a Turn 2 tranny mount installed along with a few other things.

It is unbelievable how much better the shifting is now. Very firm, no more side to side play, and at high RPM's it doesn't feel like I'm going to snap the shifter off trying to slide it into gear.

I really recommend everyone at least do the cable catch mod, and the Turn 2 mount is totally worth it.

Step one and some Turn 2 info are in the howto here and there is still some more work to be done, so the howto will be updated at some point.

I have also had new stronger control arm bushings as well as rear shock mounts installed. Although they might not make a huge difference, I think it's worth it for the small amount of money it cost to have an upgraded suspension putting all that pressure on firmer material than the stock junk.

I wouldn't do this mod myself for two reasons though: First off you need a lift, and second of all you need a hydraulic press. Good luck with that... ;)

After a long bout with laziness the weather was just too damn nice today not to work on my car outside! I decided to finally put the rear fog light in, very easy and fun install and it only cost me like $12. It would have been less but I had to buy wire.... You can check out the howto here.

This weekend I had the APR Turboback exhaust system installed, good stuff. The car is certainly more responsive and the sound is great. Not too loud at all, sorta has that VR6 sound. On the highway it doesn't make you deaf which is nice....

Also had my engine dogbone mount replaced with AP Tuning's solid mount. No wheel hop at all, simply amazing!

Thanks as usual to the AP Tuning crew for doing a great job on the car, it is running tip top now.

The guys at AP Tuning are great, you should all go there and buy stuff. NOW DAMNIT! :)

My CEL is gone, the powergasket ended up being the problem. Basically it melted and blocked the cylinder one injector so the fuel couldn't atomize. I had looked at it once but the melting was not bad enough to really go "oh gee look at that, guess its the cause of the problem". When they cracked off the manifold this time though it was obivous.

So, once again, THANK YOU AP TUNING!

A few updates as well, pics of the burnt gasket as well as some pics of my new overboost setup. Ric sent me the real kit and I put it together so the MBC is attached to the N75 for an ultra clean look. Thanks Ric! So now I'm back to holding 20 PSI, damn I missed that!

Updated the header and table of contents because I was bored....

AP Tuning couldn't troubleshoot the CEL, but they did install the rear swaybar and 100 octane program on my APR chip. :)

They did every test possible and the engine checked out OK, which leads me to believe that the core Motronic software on the ECU is causing the issue. The new stock ECU did nothing to help the problem so I know the one that is chipped isn't to blame.

They were really cool and I recommend them to anyone in the area!

Anyway I have some new friends at the dealership that I bought the car at and they are totally down with fixing it as long as the stock ECU is in it. Rock on! I'll be dropping it off on the 29th and getting a loaner car. $5 says its a 2.ohnooo. ;)

As a lot of you over at Club18t know, I've had a CEL for the past few months and it has been horrible as the car misfires constantly. I've done all the usual replacements to no avail, of course. *grumble*

Anyway I have an appointment at AP Tuning on Friday to get this thing fixed, I have the utmost confidence in their abilities and I'm expecting to drive away without a CEL and with a new 100 octane APR program. :)

Wish me luck, this damn CEL won't go away!

Well, I finally solved the overboost limp mode (5 PSI SUCKS!!!) issue I'd been having. There is a ton of information about the story as well as how to make your car work with aftermarket N75 valves. Basically I love my N75J because it makes my ride tons smoother, but didn't like going into limp mode now that it's colder out and the PSI spikes were killing me. This kit which can be purchased from Ric over at www.boostvalve.com will solve the problem for you too! Keep your N75J or N75H while being kinder to your turbo and getting the benefits of an aftermarket N75 without all the negatives!!!! :)

Take a look in the new Maintainence/Articles section and click here or on the "How to Defeat Overboost" link.

There is also a new "friends" link for vendors and others that have helped me out.

It's been awhile so I had to buy a short throw shifter to install so I wouldn't go nuts from not modding for so long.... Thanks to Exit109GTI for the advice on the clips, even though it was easy it never helps to talk to people who have already done it!

New Autotech/AudiTT shortshifter HowTo is up.

I was going to put the W8 console and Kamei grill stuff online but I don't think the pics are good enough for it to be a quality HowTo...

Also lacking is the "dual alarm LED" HowTo because I was sick and cranky during the install and didn't take any pics past the first 10 minutes... doh.

Well, there was too much traffic on the ghetto Mindspring site I was using out of sheer laziness. You guys/gals overloaded it! :)

I registered a domain and moved it to another server and here we are....

Cleaned the car up a bit, first time since Waterfest actually. Few new shots up showing the lowered suspension.

I just put in a J valve and it was like getting chipped again. The HowTo is online of course.

It was originally just a place for me to keep track of what I've done to the car but since I get a few thousand hits a month I figure I should make it look a tad better. The new layout is easier to use and nicer to look at.

Put a list of all the mods I've done for reference.

Updated boost gauge install for Omori w/ DV line setup

Blue Alarm LED HowTo online.

Newsouth "Power Gasket" install HowTo online. Boost gauge rattle update.

Clear side marker and Forge/Samco Turbo Inlet guides online!

Neuspeed High Flow Intercooler Pipe HowTo online.

Just put the Injen CAI HowTo up.

Thanks to Little Red Wago on club18t for pointing out a problem with the Monsoon replacement HowTo.  Information can be found in the howto itself.

Installed the ForgeDV and am loving it... HowTo and info available now.

Just ordered an Injen CAI and a Forge DV. HowTo's will be posted of course.

Boost gauge howto now online.