Vanbcguy's M-TDI Build

[bbob203]

Going to be a doozy and a way to knock the socks off the mtdi naysayers.

[vanbcguy]

Going to be a doozy and a way to knock the socks off the mtdi naysayers.

Yeah I'm sure excited!! 

I keep flipping between "what the hell am I doing here" and "oh man this is going to rock".  The bill for this build is frigging nuts for a 20 year old economy car, but really all I'd be doing otherwise is buying some other used VW that needed a bunch of maintenance and I'd undoubtedly end up spending just as much.  The 1.8T wagon I got for my wife has had over $3K in maintenance expenses since we got it earlier this year, so really just as much $$,$$$ spent there.  It IS a damn nice car though.

Thinking once I have all my bits and pieces I gotta lay everything out on the floor and try to take one big picture... Not sure I'd have room though, I've already got boxes stacked on top of each other.

[vanbcguy]

Went and picked everything up!!

Couple crappy things.... The "unused" cam I bought is a complete piece of junk. Rust on a couple lobes, gouges and scratches all over, one lobe has so much texture it looks like a piece of leather. I didn't pay much for it but I always hate wasting money, even more so when someone obviously either knowingly ripped me off or is too stupid to breathe without someone telling them how.

The other crappy thing is my clutch wasn't ready yet. I ordered it nearly a month ago through BoraParts. It's a DC Stage 3. The story is the dude who runs DC was in the hospital so they are way behind. The crappy part is the complete lack of communication. I had to call to find out what was up with my order after it didn't ship for weeks. I emailed after 2 weeks, no reply, called after 3 weeks. Told them I was going to the states specifically to pick up stuff so I needed it in time or I'd loose my customs exemption for it. Said I'd drive out to the warehouse to pick it up so they wouldn't need to ship it a second time, save them some money. Was told I'd be contacted if any issues came up. So I wasn't too pleased when I drove 40 minutes each way on my vacation just to find out it wasn't there yet. Sigh. Aaron said he'd make it right and he'd contact me - I'm thinking I'm going to have to stay on top of him though as the communication has been pretty crappy thus far.

Other than that - big pile of parts!! Can't wait to get started.

[vanbcguy]

Much progress...

Head is on, turbo is mounted, turbo oil lines are in, alternator mounted, lots of work done on my turbo controller...

[vanbcguy]

Turbo controller is alive and running, it is now actively able to control the "N75" valves I'm using for the LDA and turbo.

Added the EGT gauge too. Set it up so the LCD will change its back light from green to red if EGTs go over my setpoint. Haven't done anything beyond that yet though. I THINK I want to hide boost from the LDA when EGTs get too high so the pump will back off fueling.

I have another pressure sensor coming too. I want to be able to at least log exhaust manifold pressure if not have it influence the VNT position as well.

Doesn't look like I'm going to be able to use the SD card data logger board I got. This little Arduino is doing too much already and the SD library makes the sketch too big for the Arduino's memory. But I should still be able to write out to the serial port easily enough, just means I'll have to bring a laptop for logging. I was hoping for a toggle switch - wrote up most of the code before I discovered it wouldn't fit. D'oh!

I will of course be soldering everything up permanently once I have it all working.

[vanbcguy]

Swapped all the 02J shifter parts over in to the Polo shifter box I got so I can use the 02J shifter in my Mk3 body without hacking anything up.  I can REALLY see why this is such a popular swap - the 02J style shifter is quite elegant in its design.  The 02A shifter seems like a bunch of crap thrown together in comparison.



Fiddling with my boost control solenoids still, had to adjust the control frequency down to closer to 30 Hz.  The arduino doesn't have very many available frequencies - 30 Hz / 122 Hz / 245 Hz / 400+ and then up from there.  122 Hz gave a tiny range from "fully closed" to "fully open".  30 Hz seems to do a good job.  I've been testing a solenoid at about an 85% duty cycle for the past hour and a half, it seems to get up to around 65C and stay there so I think this should be a decent frequency for it.  From my reading most solenoids should be rated to a minimum of 130C.  Yes, I'm using my EGT probe to measure the internal temperature of the solenoid. 

[dieselherb1]

Are you using a gt2056v turbo? If so which did you use and which flange did you use?

[theman53]

Great, how much to build me one for just the vane control for my Jeep TDI project?

[vanbcguy]

Are you using a gt2056v turbo? If so which did you use and which flange did you use?

GTB1756VK - a little bit smaller, but not much.  Should be good to a bit over 200 HP / 31 PSI.  Mine is a VW/Audi OEM turbo I bought as a rebuild.

I'm using a 2005 Passat TDI exhaust manifold with an adapter sold by the same guy I got the turbo from.  Darkside Developments sells the same stuff more or less, I got mine through X-MAN on TDIClub.  The '05 Passat manifold mounts the turbo in such a way that it clears the Mk3 engine mount easily, though I may have a little bit of firewall interference, we will have to see.

Great, how much to build me one for just the vane control for my Jeep TDI project?

Have to see if it all works properly or not first!!  Only way I'd consider selling them would be if I got boards made up, the prototype board stuff is OK for a personal project but it wouldn't be any good for a commercial product. 

[vanbcguy]

Should be getting my cam today!! Going with a Colt Stage II.  Once I get that I can get quite a bit more done - without the cam I can't put on the timing belt, which means no timing cover, which means no serp belt...

My clutch issues with Boraparts are still unresolved.  I'm getting right p$$$ed off now to be honest.  It's the total lack of communication that's getting me.  Called them again right after boxing day, was told that Aaron was "too busy" to take my call (too busy to deal with a customer who has been waiting over a month for a product with multiple missed "we'll call you"s) and to email him, he'd reply right away.  Email sent, nothing.  So today I'm going to call again, get my refund.  If not then I'll do a chargeback through my ccard.  It's a little tricky though as I've gotten a few bits from the order, just not the clutch.

So to all of you out there looking for clutches, do NOT buy DC Clutch.  I've been waiting over 6 weeks now since ordering my DC Stage III clutch from Boraparts without getting squat.  At this point I don't even want the thing - a rushed assembly by a company that is too backed up to maintain their volume sold by a retailer who can't be bothered to keep the customer in the loop, sounds AWESOME eh?  I'm sure warranty issues would be dealt with promptly too.

Mainly I've been working on the VNT computer lately.  Still mostly software changes right now - I have the basic "control the VNT based on TPS and RPM" stuff sorted, I have the EGT and EMP sensors being read along with some processing.  I'm about half way through changing the LDA map over from a pressure-based map to an EGT-based map instead.  The idea is the computer will be able to back off the fuel to keep EGTs below my setpoint (at least if there is boost present at the time).  Should be fun!

[vanbcguy]

Colt Stage 2...

[theman53]

Specs please

[vanbcguy]

Specs please

I was asked not to post them online, but I'll send you a PM.

[bbob203]

Specs please

I was asked not to post them online, but I'll send you a PM.

How does this cam improve performance?

[theman53]

with most performance gains the more air you can get into and out of the cylinder the potential for it to run better is there. The cam will do both.