Forge K04 wastegate actuator fitted

[Hurdy]

The New Forge K04 wastegate actuator went in today and what a nightmare it was to get on. There is very little room to work in on the ED30 and due to this the intercooler downpipe, R/H side driveshaft, coolant expansion bottle, intake and engine mounts all had to be dropped off/taken off to get at it. Fiddly ain't the word for it. This is a PITA job. Thanks to Steve Jr and Craig at Statllers for pouring blood and sweat to get it on.

Why did I fit it?
Basically the OEM actuator has a weaker spring and mechanism than the Forge item and when under full load the OEM actuator can "bleed" air pressure away from the impeller on the turbo reducing ultimate power handling capability. So, this job is partly eradicating a weakness and partly a tuning modification

link to Forge website...
http://www.forgemotorsport.co.uk/content.asp?inc=search

The good thing is that the car feels more immediate in the midrange and smoother. Backside dyno can feel a difference, but when you have a large amount of power anyway it is really hard to tell for sure whether it is the road conditions that have improved recently or the true pull of the car. I'll be taking the car onto the dyno next week and use the same dyno all the time, so should get some comparative runs for you all. The run will also show boost pressure. I'll get the graphs overlaid too for direct comparison.

Here's a linky to the golfmkv forum thread where they tested it.

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106245

[Janner_Sy]

i looked at that a while back. alot of people seemed to think that you would need mapping to utilise it, or was that all scaremongering.

[Poppa Dom]

Depends what you mean by the extent of mapping. Revo is the only mapping that really suits this development due to the end user being able to adjust boost/timing/fuelling accordingly.

[KRL]

Thats right, in the US REVO users were able to take much better advantage of this that others.

Nice mod Hurdy, I was wondering when somebody on here was going to get the wastegate actuator.  I think you will end up quite liking this mod 

[john_o]

woohoo , are you the first in the uk John ?
nice mod, that from what Ive read really makes a huge difference.
(it seems that many of us run with some leakage as a matter of course!)

I cant wait to see your overlaid graphs , on your car they could be quite an eye opener... 

a mod for the truly dedicated 

[gazbutS3]

nice 1 John, can't help but think I'm gonna wish I hadn't read this though

[Phil Mcavity]

Another Seed Planted nicely Mr Hurditch

[RedRobin]

....

It sounds like this mod is what might be described as 'Deep Level'.

I'm glad to see our intrepid explorer Master Hurdy has taken the plunge as I don't entirely trust many of the posts across the pond. I need to catch up and read what they have to say anyway.

So, how many hours labour to install was it, John?

[RedRobin]

....

Very important note from Forge: The car must have a HPFP installed before fitting their wastegate actuator mod.

[RedRobin]

....

A very good description from the US forum of what it does on a modded car : -

"Due to the greater amount of exhaust gases that flow from cylinders into exhaust manifold the stock spring of the actuator is too weak to hold the raise in pressure through the exhaust manifold. The wastegate prematurely cracks open and lets gases bypass the turbine, net result is a little lag and power loss. With the actuator from Forge, the proper spring (which firmer than stock) allows the wastegate to hold higher pressure in the manifold, but at the same let the ECU and N75 value control the boost level for any given engine load and throttle position."

I think Forge offer a K03 version but need to confirm. Wastegate Actuator plus HPFP could be on the list for 2010.

[KRL]

Yes they do offer a K03 version.  In fact it has been around for a while longer than the K04.

Check these threads for more info:
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89839&highlight=wastegate+actuator

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80971&highlight=wastegate+actuator

Be warned - the threads contain the usual handbags that we have come to expect on the American forums.

[Janner_Sy]

as the yanks would say thats "sick".

looking forward to the overlaid graphs. i presuming the spring in the stock actuator will get weaker with age as well,

i think there could be some good potential gains here.

Depends what you mean by the extent of mapping. Revo is the only mapping that really suits this development due to the end user being able to adjust boost/timing/fuelling accordingly.

i must admit power and delivery wise im really happy with my current map, but there are so many excellent features that REVO have. most importantly adjustability.

being able to fiddle with your settings to easily utilse other mods to their max potential, and also having the possibility of making the map more agrressive for track days or less aggressive for snow/rain etc is a real positive.

somrtimes i do wish i had gone for REVO for that pure reason

[RedRobin]

i must admit power and delivery wise im really happy with my current map, but there are so many excellent features that REVO have. most importantly adjustability.

being able to fiddle with your settings to easily utilse other mods to their max potential, and also having the possibility of making the map more agrressive for track days or less aggressive for snow/rain etc is a real positive.

somrtimes i do wish i had gone for REVO for that pure reason

....Don't let Ben hear you say that! When I saw him recently he kept banging on about when am I going to change from Revo. It got to the point where I ignored his question.

I spent a lot of time researching before choosing Revo and I'm not saying it's the only good one out there but, as you rightly point out, the ability to adjust according to your hardware mods as they change is invaluable.

[Hurdy]

A few answers to questions.

The actuator hasn't been fully "dialled in" with the REVO software yet. We measured the OEM bracket mounting point to nut point distance and took that as a start point, marked up the threaded rod with tippex and then turned on the pressure another few turns. The actuator is working well at this point, but I'm sure that there will be more to come when logs are done and the length altered to more/less distance.

The actuator took about 4hrs to fit, but it may be done quicker now we know what is involved as we swore profusely  "experimented" with different ways to see which one was best.

Another Seed Planted nicely Mr Hurditch

I try my best

woohoo , are you the first in the uk John ?

Possibly, although there may have been some UK testers out there.

My butt dyno may have been right. I did a quick 0-100 test and my previous best was a 11.1 and today I managed 10.8 in similar conditions.

[micky 32]

I have heard rumours that you can adjust the OEM actuator that will do the same thing, can't say it's true or not though