K03 to K04 upgrade - Options and thoughts

[ljc19630]

Morning guys,
Had my GTi since Feb. Got it via my Son who works for Audi as a PX for silly money and it's in great condition, with only 1 previous owner and FVWSH etc. I wasn't looking at a 2nd car, as have (or had) an 801hp CLS63 AMG-S. Unfortunately, that was stolen last Friday evening from my drive, and unlikely to be recovered. Fortunately, I'm fully insured and also have GAP cover, so will at least get back the 45k I paid for the car.

OK so on to why I am posting. I love my GTi, if I'm honest, apart from the mental noise my CLS63 made with a full de-cat and straight through t exhaust, the GTi is more fun to drive, as most, if not all of the power can be used. It's running a Revo STG2, so goes pretty well. However, I am considering upping the power. I've seen the great vids from TR Hamza with his K03 to K04 upgrade, and am considering this. I did a reccy last night based on gathering all the parts needed myself, and it totaled just over £1600. I have guesstimated on the biggest cost items, like K04 Turbo, S3 Injectors and also the S3 I/C, but the rest I searched online for an approximate price. I wouldn't look to do the work myself as albeit I'm pretty competent I'd need to get my sons pal (works for Audi) to do the work or even R-Tech, but to be honest my son's pal would easily do this. So that cost would need to be added. Let's say £500 as a guesstimate. I'd then need to take it to R-Tech to get the mapping done as well as injector clean, intake/valve clean etc. That I believe would be around £700 as think R-Tech have an offer on ATM. So total approximate price for upgrading existing engine would be circa £2800. My engine has done 131k, so quite high, but runs very very well

The other option I have is to purchase a fairly low mileage (70k) Fully complete BYD engine. There are a couple on eBay and one in particular that I have been investigating. Granted its priced at £2300, but I am sure I can haggle this down. This would then mean I get a stronger engine with almost half the mileage of my existing engine, can easily get my sons pal to install, and then take to R-Tech for mapping and intake/valve clean. Let's assume £1800 for the engine (fully complete with all ancillaries) a day to take my engine out and a day to put back in using my son's pal. I have asked him to give me a price, but let's assume £600. Mapping and intake/valve clean at R-tech £700. Total £3100. £300 dearer but I then have my engine to sell on. Ideally want a BYD lump, as I know that it can be tuned up and not have any issues with internals etc, and i can upgrade DSG clutches if needed.What you all think??

[muff1991]

Hey Louie,
Sad news to hear about the Merc mate!! I have seen you mention that car maybe once or twice.. so the love for it must have been high 

as for the build.. i think you've already answered your own question there ! My cousin done the K04 conversion (I had quite an involvement in this, so fairly clued up) and at 200k after its life has been very hard.. it was no surprise that after a few k miles of having a K04 (370hp) something had let go - one of his cylinders dropped compression! He then decided to get a BYD and transfer all the ancillaries over etc. His car now runs great and had no problems at all.

The K04 conversion is in the pipe line for me too (maybe next year) but for now i want to sort a few more bits, take it to Stage 2+ and see how i go with that.

So you've seen videos and read up on this stuff.. you'll know what it seems like, and my opinion on the K04 - What an Animal!!! just pulls and pulls. He has claimed to have stinked a huge amount of top cars and no doubt upset a lot of people (people who have paid a lot more for there car). These when done well are very fast mate.

good luck with the decision you make, either way.. once done you'll be very pleased with it.

[ljc19630]

Hey bud,
Yeah gutted mate, but at least we were our and they didn't break into the house. Plus no one was hurt. Sad as it is, its just a car, and i'm just getting on with life mate. Cant be holding on to if's and maybe's and luckily i have GAP cover so will get the full amount i paid back

OK so your reply eludes to me getting the BYD engine, which is my preferred route, One thing I have been asked is if the ECU & wiring loom form that BYD engine will be the same as what i have now? I'd of thought that there shouldn't be any difference???

[ljc19630]

OK so done more research on this. I can simply use my ECU/Loom and run the BYD engine until it goes to R-Tech for mapping etc.
Will need to get an S3-8P I/C( circa £150) VIS HPFP internals (circa £260) RS4 Fuel Rail Pressure Valve (Circa £50) which can all be fitted at R-Tech. I've worked out this option to be around £3.4k, as opposed to a K03 to K04 conversion being £2.2k. However, I still will have my excellent condition and fully VW serviced BWA complete engine to sell. What's that worth as a complete engine with all ancillaries?

[ljc19630]

Guys
Can anyone advise if the loom from my BWA unit would be compatible to use with the ED30 BYD engine?

2 units I’m looking at. One is fully complete and the other without loom/ECU but can use my ECU till mapped by R-Tech.

Cheers
Louie


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[muff1991]

Yes, i believe your loom will be sufficient. obvs you will have to do the DV wiring extension. but you know that anyway. 

[ljc19630]

Thanks, bud - Ah yes, of course, the DV moves to the front . What's the normal way of extending the wire for this?
If thats the case then i'm swaying towards the cheaper BYD engine with 62k miles, but comes without Loom, ECU, alternator & AC compressor as can use all these from my BWA unit. Thats up at £1995. The other unit is a fully complete engine with all ancillaries, but covered 75k and up for £2300+150 shipping. What you reckon? Its a punt either way but both units have been run and tested and I am told they are running fine, but neither has any service history to prove mileage, etc 

Cheers
Louie

[muff1991]

i hate making decisions like that mate, and to conveniently have no service history too puts you on your back foot!

extending the wiring for DV isn't too difficult, you can either do it yourself if you buy the plugs: male and female connectors, wires and the little kit off ebay to join it all together. or i think you can actually by the extension from somewhere.. or someone makes them or sumin. Google will help you out with this tbh, my cousin made his in the end. sounds harder than it is.

[ljc19630]

Yeah, i know mate - its a punt and not sure how i'd stand if the engine was shyte once I bought it. I'll have a think about this as TBH the mileage on the more expensive unit seems more genuine as the guy did say to me that he could make anything up about the mileage and was decent enough to say that he took the mileage from what was on the clocks, but who knows if that engine had been changed in the past etc? I may just go back to him and say i don't need the ancillaries, ECU, Loom etc and then haggle him down!!!
Re the DV relocator cable, i have found one here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153568617941.

Apart from that, i don't think i need any other cables?

[muff1991]

There you go.. i knew it! I knew i want going crazy 
yeah, haggle him.. if you don't need the extra stuff it makes sense to knock some money off rather than having it all for the sake of it.
The worst thing is, he could be telling the truth and you just don't know. For all those sh*tes who lie, it makes the genuine sellers instantly doubted by the buyer.. its not fair but that's life i guess!

[ljc19630]

Mate, you're definitely not going crazy!!! I am the one needing help and you're doing just that!!!
Yeah, you're right mate, its shame folk can't just be upfront and honest, but its the world we live in i'm afraid.
I will haggle the shyte out of him now - defo don't need the parts we discussed, and also want a discount. I'd be happy with £1700 delivered?

[bigmig95]

Hi Louie,

I did this conversion from an AXX to a BYD a few years back (my build thread goes through quite a bit of it, not too much detail though)  I sold the car in 2016 to a guy on here and the BYD is still running strong at 350bhp since it was done in May 2015.  I didn't regret the conversion as it gave the car a new lease of life.  I've ran a couple of BMW 335d's since then which are no slouches but I miss that Golf like mad.

I've got a basic Bill Of Materials available if you need one which shows gives some part numbers for replacement parts (just drop me a PM with an email on).  We did have a minor issue with the runner flap motor from the BYD which IIRC didn't work on the AXX ECU so we had to re-install the AXX runner flap motor on the BYD lump.  Incidentally I got Alex from AKS tuning to do my conversion and its been looked after by him ever since. 

The existing loom is fine and extending the DV loom is a piece of cake.

HTH

Carl

[ljc19630]

Hey Carl
Topman and thanks for the info - I'll drop you a PM now. Have you the link to your build thread? FYI my existing engine is a BWA, so not sure if that makes any difference to the runner flap issues you had?

Cheers
Louie

[bigmig95]

Click on the Blue VW badge just next to My Ride above.  There should be a few guys done BWA to BYD / CDL on here so have a good nose around I remember reading about the AXX to BYD / CDL runner flap motor compatibility issues on several threads a few years back. I think they all mechanically fit it's just the older ECU's don't like the later flap motor signals. Apologies for vagueness it's been a few years.

[muff1991]

Yeah, the manifold runner flap motors can be awkward.. it’s all down to the part number. If your motor has a letter on the end of the part number then you can replace it with the latest revision (whatever letter it is... I think it’s E) and if you just have a part number then you have to replace it with that part only and cannot fit the latest revision. Although they’re all identical in terms of fitment.


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