swampyankee
Wholenote
Fakin' it 'til I'm makin' it since 1956
Posts: 713
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Post by swampyankee on Jan 27, 2020 11:16:18 GMT -5
Being a long-time watercooled VW fan, I started my search for a cheap commuter car amongst older-but-still-serviceable VW models. I was thinking Mk4 (early 2000's) VW GTI or Jetta GLI, but most of the sportier models have been pretty much thrashed by boy-racers. I looked at a couple New Beetle Turbo S's, which are essentially GTI's but overlooked by the boy-racer community. But my wife nixed it saying she couldn't stand to see me driving a Beetle. Knowing the Volkswagen-Audi Group used the same platform for both Audis and VWs, I found that the early Audi TT was really running on a GTI platform, and the Quattro was basically a Rabbit R32 with the VW 1.8T out of the Mk4 GTI instead of the VR6. the TT is a love it or hate it styled car that I always found strngely attractive, so I searched and found a decent example - a 180 hp, 5 speed version. I sent it to my local VW mechanic/tuner guy who went through it for me. The P.O. had eliminated the catalytic converter, which was problematic for passing inspection, especially since it displayed a check engine light due to no signal from the deleted post-cat O2 sensor. But my mechanic/tuner has a solution. He knows how to re-map the computer to fake out the sensor input. They call it "stage 1 tune" in VW circles. The side-benefit is, I gain more turbo boost which increased HP from 180 to probably 230 or so (the mechanic thinks closer to 250). When I test-drove it after mods, my mechanic asked me what I thought and I told him, it takes off like Tuco after a hit of Heisenburg's blue meth! I drove it to work for the first time this morning and it's got some serious passing power! I need to resist the urge to put my foot in it!
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Post by FlyonNylon on Jan 27, 2020 21:53:32 GMT -5
Nice! Those early TTs are great looking cars. I've had quite a few friends with VW turbos over the past 20 years and generally have good experiences.
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Post by K4 on Jan 28, 2020 8:51:15 GMT -5
Well don't advertise shops that still turn off check engine lights.
Major No No
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swampyankee
Wholenote
Fakin' it 'til I'm makin' it since 1956
Posts: 713
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Post by swampyankee on Jan 28, 2020 9:02:40 GMT -5
Well don't advertise shops that still turn off check engine lights. Major No No Yeah, it's kind of an outlaw thing, and something I wouldn't promote openly for the guy. They who know, know. As I understand his process, it doesn't completely cancel the CEL's, but just allow a bit more deviation from factory specs. Heck, VW did that themselves with the TDI's!
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 28, 2020 12:15:43 GMT -5
By removing the cat and re-flashing the controller, you're canceling the fault trip signal from the downstream O2 sensor.
But how does it pass the emissions test conducted by your state's department of motor vee-hick-cullz? They do just a teensy bit more than look for an idiot light.
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swampyankee
Wholenote
Fakin' it 'til I'm makin' it since 1956
Posts: 713
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Post by swampyankee on Jan 28, 2020 17:21:22 GMT -5
By removing the cat and re-flashing the controller, you're canceling the fault trip signal from the downstream O2 sensor. But how does it pass the emissions test conducted by your state's department of motor vee-hick-cullz? They do just a teensy bit more than look for an idiot light. Exactly. But the car is 18 years old and no longer needs to be sniffed. As long as the OBD check shows no faults it passes. As I see it, it's the modern equivalent of plugging all the EGR plumbing like we used to do to carburretted cars.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 28, 2020 17:23:45 GMT -5
Ohhh that works!
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Post by K4 on Jan 28, 2020 21:12:00 GMT -5
I use HP tuning software. It allows me to turn off any CEL fault. If the car gets plugged into an inspection scanner all shows as good.
My State voted to use a reformulated gas and dropped the inspections.
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