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Review - Shuenk TSI K03+ Turbo - Dyno

Allchokedup

Autocross Champion
Science!
Please keep us posted on here. Very interested in what you come up with. Who's ko4 tune are you running?
 

WalkerT

Go Kart Champion
Integrated Engineering
 

zebrad

New member
My stock turbo is on its way out, I have the lovely wastegate rattle, throwing codes & I’m losing boost all over the place. I want to buy this turbo, but I have an OEM tune. Is it safe to use this turbo on a completely stock car? The only “mods” I have is a resonator delete. I want to go stage 2 in the spring, but I need to save a bit first and winter is coming up soon & here in canada our winters are awful, so there is really no point in adding a tune at the moment.
 

Mk6Autobahn

Autocross Champion
My stock turbo is on its way out, I have the lovely wastegate rattle, throwing codes & I’m losing boost all over the place. I want to buy this turbo, but I have an OEM tune. Is it safe to use this turbo on a completely stock car? The only “mods” I have is a resonator delete. I want to go stage 2 in the spring, but I need to save a bit first and winter is coming up soon & here in canada our winters are awful, so there is really no point in adding a tune at the moment.
It's been asked on page 6 already.

If I have no mods will this turbo work with the oem tune? I want to go stage 2 in the future and have been looking at the integrated engineering power package that includes an intake, downpipe, intercooler, and stage 2 software. It seems also that if I get this turbo il get more out of the stage 2 tune? Sorry if I’m not making sense I don’t know much about this and trying to learn and figure some things out.
No it needs a tune. I mean it will technically work but without the increase in boost not worth it.

Yes this turbo allows you to get more out of a stage 2 tune If the tune allows for more demand out of the turbo. IE seems to be one of those tunes.
 

zebrad

New member
I’m curious, does this turbo make any spool noise? The stock IHI turbos have a muffler so you can’t really hear spool noises so I’m curious if this one has that same muffler or it completely removed.
 

WalkerT

Go Kart Champion
It is removed from the k03+ and no just like with those bs muffler deletes you don’t hear more spool. The small chambers that a muffler delete removes do not improve flow or increase an audible spool noise. If you can’t tell I am not a fan of those things.
 

WalkerT

Go Kart Champion
My stock turbo is on its way out, I have the lovely wastegate rattle, throwing codes & I’m losing boost all over the place. I want to buy this turbo, but I have an OEM tune. Is it safe to use this turbo on a completely stock car? The only “mods” I have is a resonator delete. I want to go stage 2 in the spring, but I need to save a bit first and winter is coming up soon & here in canada our winters are awful, so there is really no point in adding a tune at the moment.

It does not require a tune to swap this out with your OEM IHI. If you do plan on upgrading to a stg2 later then you will make a lot more power than you ever could with the stock turbo. I know two people that are currently running the K03+ on a stock car.
 

zebrad

New member
Thank you for the info Travis, how long did it take for your K03+ to arrive to you from when you paid? I want to get my turbo swapped out sooner than later. Also I live in Canada.
 

WalkerT

Go Kart Champion
Thank you for the info Travis, how long did it take for your K03+ to arrive to you from when you paid? I want to get my turbo swapped out sooner than later. Also I live in Canada.

It will depend on Shuenk. Mine arrived in two weeks.
 

Vic_MKVI

Go Kart Newbie
Super interested in this. Also, @WalkerT does the ko3+ turbo mess with the 02 sensor? I know the k04 is limited to two.
This would be a sweet option for CBFA engines out here in CA.
 

WalkerT

Go Kart Champion
Super interested in this. Also, @WalkerT does the ko3+ turbo mess with the 02 sensor? I know the k04 is limited to two.
This would be a sweet option for CBFA engines out here in CA.

Well the K03+ is more a BW than an IHI in how it is designed. The K03 is a design that came prior to the CBFA engine so where the IHI turbine design has a variant that incorporates the third O2 sensor in the housing, as you can see in my pics, the K03 was never designed that way. The K03+ has a K04 turbine housing so like a standard K03 or K04 it cant be used on a CBFA unless you tune out the primary (first) O2 or you run it in the down pipe but there would be issues in the way it reads AF and temps. Again needing tuning.

So it can be done but it is not just a bolt on and go for the CBFA because you will loss the first o2 location.

Update: If you have an aftermarket DP then on a CBFA you just move the turbo o2 sensor to the first bung. Good to go.
 
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yee_ti

New member
Hey boys and girls, bumping this thread because (after shipping delays and unfortunately many financial delays), the boys and i got my shuenk K03+ on this weekend.
Took us about 11 hours, 7-8 hours if you dont count breaks and part store runs in the process haha.

Quick impression of the turbo, makes the stock k03 look like a little bitch, the turbo is yuge, chonky even. Depending on your bushing wear and softness, we had to unbolt the dogbone and let the motor hang to actually fit the thing, YMMV. The car sounds way different, very manly growl like a golf r with a tune and a downpipe, rather than a whiny 4 cylinder turbo, and running (legacy as of recent) APR stage 2 software on 91 octane nets about 260whp on the butt dyno. I have a CTS turbo outlet pipe, CTS turbo blowoff valve kit (ive blown 2 piston diverter valves, they cant handle more than like 14 psi, do yourself a favor), beluga racing 3" catless downpipe, beluga racing 2.5" catback exhaust, and pretty much everything else you can bolt on, except the stock airbox with a K&N panel filter.

The power band is extremely smooth, there is no on-off torque like the stock k03, and WalkerT's wastegate load numbers confirm my suspicion/gut feeling that theres about 60whp left on the table from how my car currently sits. The wastegate seriously doesnt even flutter. Stock k03 wastegates are loud as hell fluttering away to save their own lives, but feels smooth and like light work for the k03+ on stage 2 tunes.

The stock airbox could now be a bottleneck to the car, i will get an intake soon enough, but the stock airbox is fine for anything the stock turbo is going to request, power-wise. I have a snow performance stage 2 meth kit installed, meth is not currently hooked up and may never be with the throttle body location, who knows lol. But the boost gauge/meth controller is tapped at the manifold disconnect that is commonly used, and shows 22 psi peak, tapering and holding 13 psi all the way to redline in 4th gear, where arriving at redline immediately cuts boost requests down to 9psi or so. Once again YMMV depending on your software, and APR is now legacy as their new shareholding company removed their non-emissions compliant products from the market a few months ago.

Next steps for the car are an actual intake, and i am weighing options when it comes to tuning, as it seems like WalkerT has generated enough interest for the turbo that integrated engineering has taken a peak at this thread if i remember correctly reading through it. One possibility is finding a used accessport and seeing where dyno tuning can take us, my goals are 300whp in the most reliable way possible, as arizona ambient air temps get around 120-130 in the heat of summer. I also have a stock evo 9 intercooler that a buddy of mine pushed about 700hp through, so ill get it mocked up and mounted after an intake and see how it feels, as the stock intercooler is also now a possible bottleneck to the car, we shall see.

All in all, great product, can recommend 100%. Cleans up the rear of the motor and looks much nicer sitting back there than the k03. Definite performance potential, and with some testing, could even give an actual tangible reason to bolt things up to the car, that before only netted about 5 crank horsepower or so, resulting in the best power to performance bargain so far.
 

WalkerT

Go Kart Champion
Next steps for the car are an actual intake, and i am weighing options when it comes to tuning, as it seems like WalkerT has generated enough interest for the turbo that integrated engineering has taken a peak at this thread if i remember correctly reading through it. One possibility is finding a used accessport and seeing where dyno tuning can take us, my goals are 300whp in the most reliable way possible, as arizona ambient air temps get around 120-130 in the heat of summer. I also have a stock evo 9 intercooler that a buddy of mine pushed about 700hp through, so ill get it mocked up and mounted after an intake and see how it feels, as the stock intercooler is also now a possible bottleneck to the car, we shall see.

Yeet_ti watch the pressure drop when putting an intercooler on. An IC with a core size that is too big will actually hurt performance because you will loose boost across the IC. Try and get one that is designed for our platform. With the summer temps here in Texas the intercooler is a big benefit I noticed a large difference in my summer performance.
 

yee_ti

New member
Seems like my friends have convinced me to go down the slippery slope of power lmao. I cant find any definitive answers on this, because everyone in every thread ever either echochambers without any real information and hard evidence, or they just go back and forth on the topic.

Looks like ill be getting an accessport and running e30, im already aware of how our cars handle fueling and It seems that e30 is the magic number. I have been on 91 octane stage 2 for a long time now, with no issues. So why is it that some people say that DSG tunes are required for more than stock torque? APR (who my current tune is through) a few years back made some forum posts involving the point that the ECU being able to tell the TCU that it is not actually under a torque overload condition - will affect how the DSG reacts to a large amount of torque. I am just trying to solve some major headscratching going on right now lol because even though I haven't had any problems with my particular tranny, trying to figure out what supporting mods I will need for ethanol is a nightmare lol

Almost ALL the threads that have deafening echochambers about TCU tuning being a requirement for anything more than stock torque, are almost 10 years old at this point, with other threads sharing conflicting information being much much newer.

So assuming that APR has figured out how to get the ECU to communicate with the DSG TCU that there is no torque overload conditioning required, any reputable VW tuner should know the same thing, right??

I don't mind shelling out the extra few hundred bucks for a DSG tune if it really truly is *required* for trying to reach power goals of 300whp or more with the safety of the drivetrain in consideration. With that being said, are the cobb accessport DSG tunes any good? Or would I be better served to grab an APR DSG tune before going down the ole ethanol road
 
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