Mk6 GTI Turbo Upgrade Project Feedback
I’m planning a turbo build on my 2010 Volkswagen GTI Mk6 DSG with the EA888.1 2.0T and wanted to get your feedback on my plans.
Right now I am basic stage 2 with an ecu tune, cai, and exhaust. My hopes for the car over the course of the next year is to upgrade the turbo (skipping k04), keep engine internals stock, and push as much power as I can "safely" out of the stock internals while keeping it hopefully dailyable. I have been looking as much as I can for power limits of the stock tsi and what mods are required to push that level of power on gasoline.
Both me and my father are well into the car world and have been wanting to start a project for some time now and with the little time I have before I head off the school we had to put aside our project ideas and we figured it would be best to work on the car we already had. We have kept all the maintenance updated with no oil or coolant leaks, replaced rear main seal, timing chain, oil changes, etc.. We are both able to do all the labor luckily and are at the point in the project where we need to start making part lists and plans on what to buy and what we need. So far I have found as much as I could on the 2.0 tsi engine and other big turbo builds and seem to have a decent understanding of what it needs.
I will also point out that I don't plan on going past 400whp since that would require a built motor which I don't have money or time for but also I don't see the point of investing that much money into a fwd car and if I ever did plan on doing past that point then it would only make sense in a Golf R or other non-fwd car.
My Current mods:
* APR Stage 2 ECU tune on 93 octane
* Integrated Engineering cold air intake
* 3" Catless downpipe
* 3" Exhaust w/ Vibrant Performance Resonator + Magnaflow Straight Through Muffler
* Stock engine internals
* Stock Turbo
* Stock fueling currently
* Planning to switch to a COBB Accessport for custom tuning
Planned Parts so far:
* CTS BOSS500 turbo kit
* Cobb/ ECU + TCU Tune (Switching to Stratified?/Sneekytune?/Eurodyne?)
* ARM Competition FMIC
* LPFP upgrade
* Colder spark plugs
* R8 Coils
* 4 Bar MAP Sensor
*Dogbone insert
I understand that may be near the limit for pump gas and stock internals and from what I have seen is that the engine can handle just up to 400whp as long as the torque is limited at the low end by the tuner to prevent breaking any internals like the rods.
The CTS kit I am leaning towards because it seems to be the best bolt-on turbo kit that supports the power range and my budget in looking for and also I may be able to get a discount on it through an employee discount because I currently work in the automotive technician field.
I am currently tuned by APR and I am pretty sure my TCU doesn't have a tune but not completely sure as it was already tuned when I bought the car. I am debating switching to stratified and buying a Cobb as it seems to be the best route when upgrading a turbo and going up in power but also I hear some people go through other tuners like SneekyTune or Eurodyne and was curious if anyone else has had a similar experience as me and who they went with? I have a couple VW friends who recommend a custom tuner from BoostDynamicTuning up in SC who doesn't tune through Cobb and has a relatively fair price and says he should be able to tune it to my desired power.
I am pretty sure that I am gonna go with the ARM Comp FMIC since it seems to have a good reputation and comes as a kit so I don't have to fabricate anything like I would with the TR8C.
Fueling is one thing that I am a bit confused about because I keeping seeing things like the HPFP can withstand that level of power and then others are saying that I need and entire fueling system. Some guidance would be really helpful as I am a bit lost and I really don't want to go near methanol and I would love to just stay on 93 oct pump gas.
Other than those big things I can't really think of anything else I would need other that little things like r8 coils, pregapped colder sparkplugs, I saw the MAP sensor should be upgraded, the cts turbo mentions working with oem DV but I don't know if I should upgrade that too. Also heard the dogbone should be replaced and some recommendations on dogbone inserts would be great.
With all that said, the following questions are my biggest:
Is 400whp a safe range for my engine on 93 if possible and at what point exactly does the stock internals start to give out?
What supporting mods you consider required for this goal?, am I missing any?, and does my plan seem reasonable as I want to save as much money while still reaching a safe level of reliability?
What fueling upgrades are required to hit 400whp on 93 oct?
What tuner do you guys recommend as I am leaning torwards stratified but also maybe a local reputable custom tuner who can put it on a dyno and tune it in person.
What do people regret doing on their big-turbo Mk6? Do you have an recommendations or tips from your experience?