DarkX's Edition 30 DSG | Build Thread & Parts Review

[Elliott]

I need to get my act together with my breaks. This might just be the kick up the ass I needed. Been sitting on the shelf for well over a year now all because of no brackets lmao.

[DarkX]

You have the same kit Elliott?


Neuspeed rear rotors arrived today, OEM replacement. Should match well with the fronts. Installation within the week.

[xSabretoothx]

Can I ask why you went with drilled rotors?


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[DarkX]

As opposed to slotted you mean? And are you referring to the rotors that come with the Stoptech kit or the Neuspeed rotors? Or both?

[xSabretoothx]

Yes, as opposed to slotted or blank. And for both sets.

[DarkX]

Well I wouldn't go with blanks for the front kit even if I wanted to, since the StopTech ST41 BBK was available only as slotted or drilled (never seen any bbk with blanks for that matter). Between slotted and drilled, I've always been a fan of drilled rotors mainly for the looks. Then for the rears, my stock rotors were on their way out and needed a new pair, so I figured I wanted something to match with the fronts, so I had to go with drilled and I found something with very similar pattern.

[DarkX]

Brakes installed few days ago. The list includes:

- StopTech ST41 front BBK, 4piston 328x25 rotors, StopTech SS lines and Street Performance brake pads that come with the kit
- Neuspeed rear rotors OEM size and Goodridge braided brake lines
- ATE Typ200 Racing fluid


I'll start with a few installation photos..

The BBK:




Rotor vents:




StopTech SS lines:






Didn't know our OEM rear pads are ferodo's. May not be the "DS" but still ferodo's (this is before Goodridge installation):



Decided to stick with OEM pads for now because I wanted something to be as close to the fronts as possible. The pads that come with the StopTech kit are intermediate. In the future I may go with StopTech's harder compound pads and then I'll choose something similar for the rear, like ferodo DS 2500.


Neuspeed rotors and OEM pads installed:




Goodridge lines:



I'm going to post a couple more installation photos soon.


After installation photos..

This is outside the shop:



Unfortunately a couple others I took in that spot were not clear at all due to sun light, but I'm gonna take some more another time.


Here's a few more later in the day. Excuse the lower quality, this is due to insufficient light, but I think they are decent:








And this is how they look from a distance, here's where I needed a better res photo but.. next time.




Truth is I expected both the calipers and rotors to be smaller, but I think they hold their own, even behind 18's. The kit requires a minimum 17's. One other thing, the calipers are about half the weight of OEM, could be even less, front rotors are about the same weight as OEM and rear rotors are slightly lighter than OEM. Didn't put them on a scale but that's how they felt on my hands.

Next photos after the car is washed. Diamond Black can play tricks and look like the car is washed but I assure you it isn't.

[SuperSkyline89]

Looks great. You're right about the weight, I have the 355mm kit and these are the weights I measured at my mechanics shop during the install. It's so cool that something so much bigger and more powerful is also lighter, the magic of engineering.

OEM Rotors - 19 pounds
StopTech 14" Rotors - 18 pounds

OEM Calipers - 14.5 pounds
StopTech ST40 4-Piston Calipers - 8 pounds

[Das Gespenst]

That's a big reduction in unsprung weight!

[DarkX]

Originally Posted by SuperSkyline89

Looks great. You're right about the weight, I have the 355mm kit and these are the weights I measured at my mechanics shop during the install. It's so cool that something so much bigger and more powerful is also lighter, the magic of engineering.

OEM Rotors - 19 pounds
StopTech 14" Rotors - 18 pounds

OEM Calipers - 14.5 pounds
StopTech ST40 4-Piston Calipers - 8 pounds

Thanks, yeah it's incredible.. the magic of engineering indeed, I couldn't have said it better myself.

[DerekH]

superskyline your rotors are two piece. that's gonna make them considerably lighter than darkx's rotors.

[DarkX]

Originally Posted by DerekH

superskyline your rotors are two piece. that's gonna make them considerably lighter than darkx's rotors.

That is also true if they are two piece, I know mine are one piece. But even so, they are much, much lighter than stock I mean you don't just tell the difference, it's mind blowing just holding the parts on your hands. I expected this more or less but I didn't think they would actually feel that lighter.

edit: I'm referring to the kit as a whole.. Sorry if I act so surprised and excited it's my first BBK.

[SuperSkyline89]

Originally Posted by DerekH

superskyline your rotors are two piece. that's gonna make them considerably lighter than darkx's rotors.

Oh ya, completely missed that part

Originally Posted by DarkX

That is also true if they are two piece, I know mine are one piece. But even so, they are much, much lighter than stock I mean you don't just tell the difference, it's mind blowing just holding the parts on your hands. I expected this more or less but I didn't think they would actually feel that lighter.

edit: I'm referring to the kit as a whole.. Sorry if I act so surprised and excited it's my first BBK.

I say if new parts don't make you feel like that it was a waste of money. I could hardly control myself when I unboxed my wheels and brakes.

[DarkX]

Ordered EuroJet 3" TBE + 200cell cat. Going to see if I like the sound it makes with the resonator installed, if not it will be removed. That and stage 2, which won't be charged. Estimating 345-350 hp with the stock hpfp/ic and I will continue with aggressive settings as I have the whole 4 years I've been stage 1. Will just have to see how much my hpfp and ic can take, since stage 2 is much different than stage 1. According to other setups I have seen and after talking with Revo, the stock pump is good for about 355 hp.

[quicksilver6945]

as i already told you in greece your car is amazing....keep up the good job!!!

[DarkX]

Thanks man, watch this space, good things are gonna happen soon. If it wasn't for lots of setbacks that happened mainly in 2014 and had nothing to do with the car, I would've completed my project by last Summer. When I was finally ready to make the next step, I had to cancel my TBE order because it was taking forever, and good thing I did because I found out it was never processed, after nearly 2 months. Don't know and don't care whose fault it was (ordered it off a local dealer), only thing that matters is I'm very happy with my custom TBE choice, good quality, sounds great, got my Autotech HPFP too, now waiting to install my IC for which I'm leaning towards APR (thanks for your help btw) and I'll post all the latest updates.

[DarkX]

So here's my latest updates...

November 2015
- Custom 3" TBE by Exhaustflow, non-resonated, small rear-silencer and twin 3.15" tail pipe, with 200 cell 5.11" HJS cat rated for 600 hp
- Autotech HPFP
- NGK BKR8EIX iridium spark plugs
- Stage 2+ (still light settings due to stock IC)

Then I went a little lower on my current coilover, right now there is no wheel gap up front, and about half a finger for the rears. I will take more pics when I can.

This month
- APR IC
- Tune tweak, timing advance etc.


The Exhaust:

Out with the old...




New parts, dp:




Cat, before and after assembly:






Here's more parts, a few of them missing as they were built during the install, but you can see them in the install pics.




And in with the new...




















Autotech HPFP:



I also changed my spark plugs with NGK BKR8EIX iridium, 1 degree colder than my previous ones (BKR7EIX)


APR IC:











I love how it looks behind the grill btw. I also noticed I forgot to take a pic of the silicon hoses that came with the kit, so I'm gonna have to do that when the car is due for an oil change, that will be pretty soon.


This is a short video I made with my phone right after the TBE and HPFP install, right before the IC, where you can have a small idea of how it sounds. Of course in reality it sounds much better than that, I will try to make another video from outside as well. It's very loud, to the point of avoiding to apply any throttle when there's a cop around, it's a cop magnet. I really like it though, it's the exhaust tone I always wanted. Only downside is when I'm on a trip, anything above 2k rpms it starts to become a pain so what I do is just make a couple more stops than I used to and I'm good. Anything below 2k rpms it's convenient enough, but imagine taking a trip at 50 mph, dunno about you but that won't work for me lol. So I just make more stops like I said and it's all good. I can always install a resonator, or switch to a larger rear silencer, but for now the pros outweigh the cons.




This is from a log I made 2 days ago, at stage 2+ with the TBE, HPFP, the APR IC and everything.



What I would like to point out is the IAT's. What you're seeing here is a massive drop compared to the stock IC. I used to have around 55C (131F) on a single pull throughout 3rd and 4th gear, and now it won't go above 16C (61F). Granted, what you're seeing here are 2 different runs, with a 3 minute break in between, enough time for temps to drop back down to 11C (52F), but even after 5-6 consecutive runs I never saw more than 20C (68F). Ambient temps during the runs, around 7C (44F), both runs 3rd gear 60-112 mph.

As a result of that massive IAT drop, the car is considerably stronger already, because right now it's running timing at 100%. I could easily feel that when I smoked the entire 3rd. Of course I still spun 3rd even before the IC and even at stage 1, but not the entire 3rd and also I never actually smoked my tires all the way up to top of 3rd, that was pretty sweet considering these last runs were on a far better pavement. 4th felt considerably stronger too.

Now I'm going to increase timing even further and run another log, except next time I'm not gonna do it alone because I won't be able to be looking at the screen during the runs. So far I didn't have to because it was all within the safe zone, marginally safe but still safe, but now I'm getting into a little risk, so someone is gonna have to let me know before something happens. But obviously, and looking at that log I just showed you, there is room for more timing.

After that is done, I'll post up my next log and dyno. I estimate 370 hp, and that won't be the end of it, but I'll probably keep it like that for a little while. My highest goal is 400 hp but that will be with w/m, not sure when.

Next month I'm getting a boost gauge installed and later full mounts.

[xSabretoothx]

You expect to get 370 hp from that set-up without meth? I wish you luck, but I don't think you will hit that.

[avenali312]

Sounds really, really awesome!

[DarkX]

Originally Posted by xSabretoothx

You expect to get 370 hp from that set-up without meth? I wish you luck, but I don't think you will hit that.

Well I'm running 9-6-9 on stage 2+ and 100oct RON at the moment and I'm going to attempt 9-7-9, hopefully with that I'll hit 370. If I was on custom tune I would bet you anything I would hit it and without w/m, it's a pretty standard number over here. But even on a ready-to-go tune such as Revo, I think with these settings it'll do the trick, or will be pretty close anyway. It's not like I'll be disappointed if I hit 365 to be honest.

Btw I've already gained around 3 cars in 50-130 mph roll compared to stage 1 that dyno'ed 322 hp, which is confirmed after several runs against the same car. I don't know how that translates to hp but I can't help but assume if I gain another car on 9-7-9 for a total of 4 cars, then 370 should be right around the corner. Anyway guess we're just gonna have to wait and see, thanks though.

Originally Posted by avenali312

Sounds really, really awesome!

Thanks, I'm excited

[DarkX]

Stage 2+ setting 9-6-9 (boost-timing-fueling) with the APR IC:



366 hp already from 6400 rpm (mind you I shift at 6800 when racing) and with such a power graph, I'm easily above 370 right now. Turns out my butt dyno was right, these 4 cars gain compared to stage 1 is a 50 hp increase. That being said, I'm not going to increase timing because for one, I pretty much got what I wanted, second, I can always get a DSG tune that pushes redline to over 7000 rpm and it doesn't take much to realize what that will mean power-wise. So I see no reason why I should go 9-7-9 and get out of the safe zone, especially when such a setting requires absolutely flawless 100 octane RON, anything short of that there will be cf everywhere. But 9-6-9 is strong and flexible enough, still requires 100 oct but no biggy if it's 99.5

Next I'm getting a boost gauge, later full mounts and DSG tune.



MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

[xSabretoothx]

Congratulations, but I'm a little confused by your dyno sheet. Is it saying you are 295 to the wheels?


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