23rd November 2005
So it's been 3 weeks since I last posted! wow. Right, what has happened...
My kenwood TV returned as I said in the last post, finally got it all installed back in the golf to find out it still wouldn't play any discs in the front loading slot. The changer was working fine though, but that wasn't good enough. I managed to get the new(ish) Alpine IVA-D310R from work inexchange for the faulty kenwood which has since gone back to our supplier for a credit. I know my 10 disc MP3 changer won't connect and I have been missing the convience of having a changer, but I'm sure I'll get alpine's offering in the form of a 6 disc MP3 changer soon. Oh well, had the 310R in there for almost 3 weeks now and I've been very impressed with it's features and ease of use on the move. Defiently better than the Kenwood 725 I had before. With the Alpine range there are so many add-ons you can get. 5.1 surround is a doddle to connect up aswell as a digital TV tuner, DAB radio, DVD changer and more.
Ok, so enough on the ICE. What's happened to the rest of the car? Since my conversion the car has run 'so so'. It's been very quick at times, but on other times it wouldn't run at all, refusing to let me put my foot to the floor. So I put that down to the map on the ECU. Also since installing the Bailey DV30 dump valve the car has hunted on idle. Again I put that down to the map meaning the fueling was off.
So after speaking to AmD in Bicester near Oxford I was told they did the original imobiliser defeat code so they would be able to remap my ECU and get the wanted 230bhp from my engine. Off we went at 6.30am on the 15th of November.
It turned out I had the wrong ECU, with the wrong management loom, the wrong MAF sensor for my engine. Also my actuator had seized so we couldn't limit my boost and the turbo was overspinning itself. not good. Before I talk about management I need a new actuator... Onto the VW dealership I was. Unfortunally they can't sell me just the actuator. I have to buy the whole turbo which comes with the actuator attached. even though you can remove the part I want with 4 bolts
ohwell. After purrusing eBay I noticed a Forge version. £115 new, but a lot lower than that at the time. After a couple of emails I bought it outright for £80. The guy only lived down the road in Newport, so offered to drop it off for me. Bargin. Unfortually after speaking to Forge and sending them some pics they confirmed I had the K04 version of their actuator and it wouldn't fit my K03S. Grrr! They did suggest I removed the broken one, separate it from it's bracket, modify said bracket and bolt the sexy new Forge one onto that bracket. Champion!
Ok, so my management... What were the options before me?
1) I could hut scrapyards, ebay and the half dozen or so forums I frequently visit and try to find the right management for my engine code AUQ. This of course would still need the imobiliser removed by AmD or alike. and then further remapped to my desired 200+ bhp.
2) Go down the route of the common standalone management such as DTA, Motec, Emerald, etc. I would loose some of the sensors on my engine such as the plagued MAF sensor on the intake and the knock sensors, but I would gain a bit more extra power at the expense of a slightly less smooth delivery. I can live with that.
After a couple of phone calls I was told I could pickup a DTA E48EXP ECU for less than I was originally quoted by AmD. A few more conversions turned up a 2nd hand ECU from a friend of a friend for £450. He's only used it for 2 or 3 months on his Rover 600 turbo, but wanted to go down a slightly different route than the DTA could provide. What's more he was only asking £450 for it. Bargin. Compared to the original price I Was told that was closer to £900. I would still need a loom to connect it to my engine, a map sensor for the DTA to read my boost levels and a proper map from somewhere such as Stealth racing.
Since my actuator was discovered seized at AmD we've had to lock the wastegate open meaning I have a lower compression engine running no boost. It's very very slow now and still gives me grief when trying to drive it 'fast'. Just to put into perspective how slow it is. It stuggled to get 100mph on the motorway and you can pretty much plant every gear everywhere and it won't throw you back in the seat or loose grip from the road. It's slower than the 8v I use to have. Compared to before when it could throw you back in the seat in 5th doing 100mph uphill.
So I need:
a new actuator - Forge one £80 (got)
a DTA ecu - 2nd hand £450 (almost got)
a map sensor - £85
a loom - £???
a map for my engine - £400.
I guessed I was looking at just over £1000 to get all this sorted. oh well. I also have my insurance renewal in a week which I will have to pay monthly to be able to afford this to get my car fixed and running spot on.
