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XGC75 - One for the Road

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
So I just wrote a lengthy review of stage 1 and it got deleted as I tried to post. Fuck me.
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Synopsys: Holy fucking power bump Batman!! I was (still am) totally surprised by how much power reserves there were with this hardware configuration. I mean, Daaaaaayyuum. I used to peak at 10 PSI and hold at 8. Now I peak at 20 and hold at 18. What a difference it makes. Good lord.

There's so much more oomph down low now, too. from 2200 on I have ample passing power. Seriously, I feel no need to downshift to 4th if I want to pass down the opposing lane at 60mph. Even if it's tight. I feel like I have more power there now than I did if I had shifted to 4th stock. If you're stock and reading this, just imagine that for a second. 4th gear high-RPM pulls are now available in 5th at (2500+) low RPMs. Crazy. I now consider 6th to be a gear that "pulls". Before it was just for travelling, now I can really get on it in 6th. Be careful above 3200 RPM, too, because you'll be doing 100 before you realize.

With the increased boost there's definitely more lag. It'll spool up at the same rate as before, but now that it can dig so much deeper into boost I find that it takes longer to get to max power. It's fine in my mind though - just imagine that your boost doesn't stop at 10PSI where the car would usually hit its limit. And that's exactly what's happening anyways, yet the turbine doesn't physically spin up any faster or slower than it did before.

2nd gear now dances just like first beyond 4k RPM. Hop hoppidy hop hop go my summer tires. I didn't fully understand the need for mounts before now! The power gains don't make the gear unusable thankfully, as it's far easier to modulate the throttle here than it is in 1st. I have to rethink "powershifting" (Inb4VinDeisel) though since the clutch won't hold a full-bore shift like it would stock. I do not slip (yet) in higher gear pulls, thankfully.

In terms of the less pronounced changes, the throttle response is exactly the same, but the sensitivity has changed. I never had a problem with the throttle response in my car though as the engine would always respond immediately after I hit the pedal. What I mean by sensitivity is the power/inch of pedal travel, if you will. Now that there's more power on tap, it takes less pedal travel to achieve the same acceleration.

That brings me to other modes. Stock mode certainly sets the boost thresholds and fueling maps back to stock levels, but there are still changes to the control that aren't reverted. Stock mode pulls have the same increase in torque in the lower RPMs as I was reveling about earlier and it pulls harder in the upper RPM range. Stock mode just doesn't mean stock behavior unfortunately. I was looking forward to switching back in the future to see how far I've come but this doesn't go all the way back to normal. No big deal, honestly, considering what was received in sacrifice.

Valet mode is amusing. It'll keep you out of boost which makes the car about as quick as the run-of-the-mill golf. BUT, what I didn't realize before I took an on ramp onto the highway, is that it'll cut throttle at 40mph! Kinda scary when that happened. Fortunately I had enough wits about me to pull over and switch back.
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Took the car for an impromptu photo session this afternoon. Found a shipyard and just started trying things.









 

maisonvi

Ready to race!
Looks good man. One day when my car is actually clean I will see if you can get some shots of it for me.
 

Zillon

Go Kart Champion
What are your thoughts on the Sumitomos so far?

The wheels and tires look great on your car.
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Looks good man. One day when my car is actually clean I will see if you can get some shots of it for me.

Hell yeah man! I'm still just getting used to the automotive photography thing. I'm sure it'll be easier when theres someone else there to position the car for me :laugh:


What are your thoughts on the Sumitomos so far?

The wheels and tires look great on your car.

:w00t: thanks man! Sumi's are great. What a bargain for their performance. Not all that comfortable (coming from 215/55's), but not loud at all. Unless they're toast in 20k miles I don't know what would warrant their low price.

You got some good looking wheels there :thumbsup:

Dude I love em. Fits the character of the car so well. :thumbup:

butchered by autocorrect
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Went back to Gingerman last weekend. Given that I determine lap times based off the video I record, I didn't get around to figuring it all out until now. Here's the synopsis:

Last outing, when I was stock, I ran a 1:56.1 with ESC on.
Without ESC on I ran a 1:57.9.

This outing I didn't use ESC at all since the two-stage ESC button mod (via vag-com) makes it so easy and with the 100-octane, 330ft-lb torque tune the ESC kicking in was so harsh that it actually upset my line coming out of a corner. No Bueno.

So without ESC, I did a 1:54.1. That's an improvement of 3.8 sec. To be honest, I was hoping for more, but I realized on the track how desperately I need help getting traction to the road. That means mounts, a bunch of bushings/collars and an LSD.

Here are all of the day's times. An asterisk (*) indicates traffic encountered during the lap.

Session 1
Lap 1 1:57.2
Lap2 1:55.5
Lap3* 1:55.8
Lap4 1:56.7
Lap5* 1:57.1
Lap6* 1:55.6
Lap7 1:56.8

Session 2
Lap1* 1:56.4
Lap2* 1:54.7
Lap3 1:54.3
Lap4 1:56.2
Lap5 1:55.9
Lap6* 1:56.6
Lap7 1:54.8

Session 3
Lap1 1:56.4
Lap2 1:54.9
Lap3 1:55.0
Lap4 1:57.4
Lap5 1:55.3
Lap6* 1:54.1
Lap7* 1:56.1

Mods for future reference:
APR /STAGE//1/
GO//S3IC//UNIBRACE UB//TSW NURBURGRINGS//SUMITOMO HTRZ-III
SHOW//35TH EDITION BUMPER//COLOR-MATCHED VALANCE//BOLD-SPORT HOUSINGS//MORIMOTO 4300k HID KIT


Video on the way.
 
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XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Are they heavier, giving you better Front/Rear weight balance? :rolleyes:

Lol nope. If anything they're lighter. They get a ton of attention though. Two high school girls called me out at an intersection the night I installed them. They liked the car, wanted to know what it is (it's a VW GTI. It's not like I'm badgeless or something :laugh:). Today I caught the guy behind me taking a picture with his phone. Seriously, LED tails are an effective way to get your car some attention. Depo tails are great for $385.
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
:cry: Also, I have clutch slip :( :( :( :(

Such a disappointing finding. It's not very bad, but I can definitely feel the car scaling back the power just a little bit to make sure the RPM's don't run away. So I don't think there's much more than a 200 RPM differential across the input/output shaft. It's not terrible but certainly not awsome as I plan to use the DMFW in the new setup.

Speaking of which, I'm thinking either the FX-300 or FX-350 disk and pressure plate. I'd really like to have the comfort and longevity of stock with the grab of a stronger clutch system, but at the same time I track the car. I also plan to do k04 someday.

:23:
 

XGC75

Go Kart Champion
Damn this clutch slip is bad. Slipping in 3rd, 4th and 5th from 3k rpms sometimes. The slip differential is getting bad, too. Sometimes I perceive up to 500rpm difference.

I've learned how to deal with it though. It's mostly due to the extreme torque when I overboost. So if I modulate the throttle to keep out of that extra 3psi of boost hit momentarily when slamming the throttle I won't slip. I doubt it even makes me much slower, since I can get full throttle after modulating the overboost.

Still on the fence about a CM300 w/o flywheel (~$800, organic for comfort and life), CM350 w/o flywheel (~$800, feramic pucks for track and grab) or just the Southbend Stage 3 disk ($400, feramic full-face). Not sure I'm going k04 anytime soon, and even then all options purport to hold k04 power.

butchered by autocorrect
 

maisonvi

Ready to race!
Damn this clutch slip is bad. Slipping in 3rd, 4th and 5th from 3k rpms sometimes. The slip differential is getting bad, too. Sometimes I perceive up to 500rpm difference.

I've learned how to deal with it though. It's mostly due to the extreme torque when I overboost. So if I modulate the throttle to keep out of that extra 3psi of boost hit momentarily when slamming the throttle I won't slip. I doubt it even makes me much slower, since I can get full throttle after modulating the overboost.

Still on the fence about a CM300 w/o flywheel (~$800, organic for comfort and life), CM350 w/o flywheel (~$800, feramic pucks for track and grab) or just the Southbend Stage 3 disk ($400, feramic full-face). Not sure I'm going k04 anytime soon, and even then all options purport to hold k04 power.

butchered by autocorrect


That sucks man. Let me know when you are installing the clutch and I will try and lend a hand.
 
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