What to do next ?

[miniturhero]

Hi guys need some advice and knowledge from your good selves, I have a s3 that is pretty standard but I think it may have been remapped as it boosts high and it revs high too , I want to know what sort of bhp I can achieve without changing the internals ie pistons crankshaft etc I don't mind changing injectors . My next step is front mount intercooler but want the most I can get out the engine without stripping it down.

Thank you in advance

 

[miniturhero]

Also what do I do to achieve the max bhp without changing the internals

 

[TomoUK]

I think it's around the 300-320 mark not a 100% sure but I guess it's how far you want to push it... You will need a TIP and exhaust system but anything else you do is only going to help

 

[miniturhero]

Sorry to sound really dumb but what does TIP mean ? Lol

 

[TomoUK]

Turbo intake pipe an intake pipe basically

 

[Adam P]

Miniturhero,

My first bit of advice would be for you to get the car on a rolling road. This will allow you to check the air to fuel ratios and make sure the car has not been remapped by a monkey! It sounds like you have an aggressive remap from your description, which will feel great when driving but not necessarily the best for the car as others will tell you. Its better to have prolonged power throughout the rev range rather than short bursts then tailing off. I would say 280 would be your SAFE limit without changing internals. That power figure is top end stage 2, mods such as, 80mm badger 5 tip and filter, front mount inter-cooler, down-pipe, decat (turbo back exhaust) high flow manifold all paired up with a good remap from a reputable tuner such as badger 5 or Rtec.

Baring in mind i have just finished rebuilding a new engine with uprated internals as i threw a rod through my block i cannot stress how important having the car mapped properly is.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Std bottom end and std K04 you are not really going to be getting more than 280hp anyway... a few good examples venture into the 280 -290 mark but generally thats with all the bolt on mods available...

On std rods you are going to be looking at a map that won't bring the boost in too heavily and won't be running too much boost/timing to keep the torque in a rod friendly zone especially on an S3 where it just grips and can't spin torque onset away as wheel spin

The basic essentials to get the engine in a fit state are Badger 5 TIP, FMIC (big thread in the FAQ sticky on this), 3" downpipe... make sure the charge system is leak free, turbo and engine in good condition and you should net good results...

<tuffty/>

 

[miniturhero]

Cheers everyone you have all helped massively ! I will defiantly be spending some money lol want to get my s3 looking new again so will be doing a good few bits to it over the corse of the year I will make a thread on the process I make if anyone is interested lol thanks again guys !!!!!

 

[TomoUK]

I'm sure there's a guy who's gone BT without doing his rods yet and I'm sure that he's over 300bhp but to be safe he turned the torque down? And what's the safe torque area for a reference?

 

[<tuffty/>]

I'm sure there's a guy who's gone BT without doing his rods yet and I'm sure that he's over 300bhp but to be safe he turned the torque down? And what's the safe torque area for a reference?

Yeah, everyone seems to know someone that has done that sadly... doesn't make it right though... and its torque not power that breaks rods...

The problem is age and mileage... a brand spanking new engine would probably handle high torque levels... our cars are now at least 10-11 years old and most have done over 100k miles... fatigue is the killer and there is no figure that can be said to be safe as its hugely subjective....

As a general rule of thumb rolling in boost and keeping the torque to 260ish ftlbs is typical... thats 60ftlbs up on a std S3... anyone that is happy to run BT power on std rods is setting themselves up for a fall... whats the point of going BT if all you are going to do is turn it down due to fear of lunching the engine... the fact that he has acknowledged this suggests he knows its wrong...

I have heard of completely std engine throwing a rod before now... it is one of the 1.8t's Achilles heels...

<tuffty/>

 

[TomoUK]

Yeah I know it's torque not power that's why I said 300+bhp but was running low boost and had low torque. I was simply answering the question miniturhero asked which was about bhp. Yeah I didn't mention anything about torque which I should have. Just tried to cover myself by saying he was running BT with low boost I think his rough figures were between 300-320 bhp and 250-270 ftlbs depending which map he was using and was running it low until he had internals done. I should have '' the yet or made it more obvious sorry I think his turbo went and instead of replacing for std he uprated as was going to do internals soon anyway.