Anyone still running a Driver Motorsport K04 tune right now?

[Perpetuus]

Curious because I was running their K04 tune before, had some drivability issues and went over to Unitronic.

However, I am pretty sure I fixed the drivability issues and I miss the extra power and rev hang delete. (It felt like it had at least 50 more hp and torque)

Wondering how it’s holding up for people still running their tune.

 

[ROH ECHT]

I only ran mine with the DM tune from 2014 to 2016.
The DM K04+ tune seemed to have more top end power...say, above 100 to 110 mph. But it never did beat my 1/4mi ET of my GIAC HO K04 tune. For this reason I never did put it on a dyno to see how much more power it actually made. As I planned to dyno it, once I knew it was noticeably faster.

Also, I had to rebuild my engine in 2016 because it had started smoking heavily from the exhaust. I decided to rebuild the head. But once the head was removed, we decided to pop out the pistons due to excess oil in the combustion chambers. Pistons 3 and 4 had rings stuck in their grooves. So the pistons, and all rings and rod bearings were also replaced. This is when I decided to stop running the DM K04+ tune. That, the inability to beat the old tune in a 1/4mi, and DM had shut their doors.

This is what I found when the head was removed...chambers 3 and 4 soaked in oil;
(May not have been 100% the DM tune's fault...or that it boosted to 28 psi...but why risk it any further.)

 

[Perpetuus]

I only ran mine with the DM tune from 2014 to 2016.
The DM K04+ tune seemed to have more top end power...say, above 100 to 110 mph. But it never did beat my 1/4mi ET of my GIAC HO K04 tune. For this reason I never did put it on a dyno to see how much more power it actually made. As I planned to dyno it, once I knew it was noticeably faster.

Also, I had to rebuild my engine in 2016 because it had started smoking heavily from the exhaust. I decided to rebuild the head. But once the head was removed, we decided to pop out the pistons due to excess oil in the combustion chambers. Pistons 3 and 4 had rings stuck in their grooves. So the pistons, and all rings and rod bearings were also replaced. This is when I decided to stop running the DM K04+ tune. That, the inability to beat the old tune in a 1/4mi, and DM had shut their doors.

This is what I found when the head was removed...chambers 3 and 4 soaked in oil;
(May not have been 100% the DM tune's fault...or that it boosted to 28 psi...but why risk it any further.)

Yeah, I guess the DM tune was pretty aggressive with the boost. To be honest, I got way more wheelspin with it than anything else I ran. The drivability suffered because of it, but the power output was really there.

Were the cylinder walls damaged too from the piston rings being in that condition?

Are you still on K04 now, or have you moved onto something different?

 

[ROH ECHT]

Yeah, I guess the DM tune was pretty aggressive with the boost.

Were the cylinder walls damaged too from the piston rings being in that condition?

Are you still on K04 now, or have you moved onto something different?

Yeah, the boost was what I initially had to deal with after loading the DM K04+ tune. Mine was boosting over 30 psi. Likely due to the Forge WGA. But Bronson said it should peak near 28 psi. I adjusted the WGA preload until it only peaked near 26 psi.

The cylinder walls were fine at the time of the rebuild....and I still run the K04. Just swapped in a new K04 in 2021.

 

[Perpetuus]

Yeah, the boost was what I initially had to deal with after loading the DM K04+ tune. Mine was boosting over 30 psi. Likely due to the Forge WGA. But Bronson said it should peak near 28 psi. I adjusted the WGA preload until it only peaked near 26 psi.

The cylinder walls were fine at the time of the rebuild....and I still run the K04. Just swapped in a new K04 in 2021.

Wait, another K04? Was it shaft play or something else?

I have been trying to figure out how to get the car to pull more at the higher revs. As you know, the K04 torque curve is still really peaky. It just feels like it pulls strong up through the midrange and then nothing.

I am questioning a few things, like whether I should go back to a stock PCV instead of the catch can, and it’s worthwhile to swap the BSH throttle body pipe back in (running the OEM pipe right now because the BSH fitted poorly before).

 

[ROH ECHT]

1) Wait, another K04? Was it shaft play or something else?

2) I have been trying to figure out how to get the car to pull more at the higher revs. As you know, the K04 torque curve is still really peaky. It just feels like it pulls strong up through the midrange and then nothing.

3) I am questioning a few things, like whether I should go back to a stock PCV instead of the catch can, and it’s worthwhile to swap the BSH throttle body pipe back in (running the OEM pipe right now because the BSH fitted poorly before).

1) It was blowing a bit of smoke. Shaft play, once the turbo was removed there seemed to be minimal movement(???). But I plan on having it rebuilt (maybe)...because I bought the new K04 from FCP Euro, so it has a lifetime warranty so long as they are in business.

2) Only way to get high-end power is to re-tune it and swap some torque for HP. A custom tuner should be able to do so. You can try a United Motorsport dealer or see if you have a local custom VAG tuner.

3) My recommendation, regarding the 'PCV vs delete' is always; a) Leave the PCV when you are daily driving it, and it isn't yet a race car. Solely for the benefit of crankcase vacuum when driving in vacuum.
b) Go on and delete the PCV when you have assigned it to track use only, because you are driving it mostly in boost and it would have no benefit from vacuum; for not being driven in vacuum. When boost is present, the vacuum source is shut-off to the crankcase.

You can see, using pause, both take ten seconds to reach 100. The difference comes from 100 to 120. Obviously this isn't 100% accurate, but I know the DM never beat the GIAC in the 1/4 mile.
This is my GIAC tune:

This is my DM tune: