Intake waste of money?

[Shoduchi]

I couldn't find one with the same pipe work. Nice!

[pudding]

Yeah I'm in the UK!

I already have a custom dyno map, so will probably just get it tweaked accordingly 

VWR's own ECU remaps sound intriguing though, but will probably be around £1000 I reckon!

Custom Dyno map by whom?

The VWR Maps/Software will almost certainly be written by one of the well known tuning companies! Probably Revo or the likes.

Stealth Racing.  He'll be able to map a TTE no problem 

That's weird about VWR remaps dating back to 2011. Maybe they used to resell other people's work but I get the impression it's all their own work this time around and isn't available yet. Just says "coming soon" on their website.

They've used wording like 'from scratch' using OEM mapping strategies with factory component protection etc etc. If that's true then it means they bought a 'virgin' ECU (i.e no software on it) from VW and started from the beginning. Highly unlikely!
The factory mapping is done by a huge team of Bosch calibration engineers, so again, I can't see them having access to that kind of resource.

We'll have to see, but I'm interested if their claims are true!

[pudding]

Awesome have got a sale on the VWR intakes at the moment if anyone's interested.

[Shoduchi]

Awesome have got a sale on the VWR intakes at the moment if anyone's interested.

The sale is even better than what I got on the Black Friday.

I got a VWR intake for K04 for £369.20 and now it's £354.24.

[pudding]

Awesome have got a sale on the VWR intakes at the moment if anyone's interested.

The sale is even better than what I got on the Black Friday.

I got a VWR intake for K04 for £369.20 and now it's £354.24.

Oh dear!  I very nearly clicked 'Add to basket' but I need to sort some other things out first!

[bonelorry]

Tempted to buy a VWR Intake today and sell the Revo 

[Shoduchi]

Tempted to buy a VWR Intake today and sell the Revo 

You won't get a better performance from it, just less noise. If that's what you're looking for like me, I'm sure you can sell your Revo easily since it's one of the best.

[pudding]

The only thing that puts me off the VWR is people (inc a review on Awesome's site) mentioning it breaks off a plastic coolant elbow if you're not careful, and it also rubs on other engine parts.  It also lacks a flexible coupling to stop the engine movement from jerking it around and banging on things.  A straight bit of silicon has practically zero give in it, hence why OEMs always used kinked coolant hoses or flex couplings.

If / when I get one (based on Shoduchi's upcoming review  ) I will be getting something like this to attach between the grille snorkel and the airbox.  Or maybe use the existing OEM flexible coupling if it's possible.

[bonelorry]

Tempted to buy a VWR Intake today and sell the Revo 

You won't get a better performance from it, just less noise. If that's what you're looking for like me, I'm sure you can sell your Revo easily since it's one of the best.

Changed my mind, The additional cost will pay for 2 x Michelin PS4's. I was being silly 

[pudding]

Tempted to buy a VWR Intake today and sell the Revo 

You won't get a better performance from it, just less noise. If that's what you're looking for like me, I'm sure you can sell your Revo easily since it's one of the best.

Changed my mind, The additional cost will pay for 2 x Michelin PS4's. I was being silly 

I'd rank tyres slightly ahead of an intake on the priority front    Good choice of rubber too 

[bonelorry]

Tempted to buy a VWR Intake today and sell the Revo 

You won't get a better performance from it, just less noise. If that's what you're looking for like me, I'm sure you can sell your Revo easily since it's one of the best.

Changed my mind, The additional cost will pay for 2 x Michelin PS4's. I was being silly 

I'd rank tyres slightly ahead of an intake on the priority front    Good choice of rubber too 

There is nothing wrong with the Revo at all, Just saw the offer on the VWR and half considered it but would be totally bonkers of me to do it.

[grey golfster]

Changed my mind, The additional cost will pay for 2 x Michelin PS4's. I was being silly 

I've got a VWR intake (Yes - it did break the coolant elbow thingy/bit during a hooning) it suits me/my style/use well, but was expensive, and you would hope for better!

...as well as Four PS 4's ...

My car still looks like sh1t compared to yours tho Boney   

[Shoduchi]

Went today to get the car tested on the dyno again after fitting the VWR intake and the Go Fast Bits lightweight crank pulley.

Now it measured 355,6 CV and 337 lbft, so about +20 CV and the same torque compared to last time, at 15ºC of ambient temp and 27ºC of intake temp.



The intake really made a good difference, not just on the butt dyno.

Not sure what was the contribution of the lightweight crank pulley to the final result.

[Dan_FR]

Pulley will make sod all difference except throw the engine balance out

And people say intakes are a waste of money......  As you cab tell I gave up arguing this point a few pages back

[Shoduchi]

Pulley will make sod all difference except throw the engine balance out (...)

This is the manufacturer's product information:

Best Lightweight Pulley Kit for VW Golf GTI Mk5 2.0t 04-09: The Go Fast Bits Golf mk5 crank pulley-non underdrive
GFB's lightweight non-underdrive crank pulley (part number 2012) is made from anodized aircraft-grade billet 6061-T6 aluminium and offers sharper throttle response and faster acceleration. Kit includes: crank pulley, 6 x bolts, 6 x washers (original factory belt is used).

GFB pulleys are designed to improve acceleration by reducing the rotational mass (inertia) on the crankshaft. The effect is similar to a lighter flywheel, and the engine feels more lively and willing to rev.

We know that people are sometimes concerned about possible adverse effects of lightweight pulleys, but rest assured we have done our homework! Whilst it is true that some engine types do suffer harmonic issues from lightweight pulleys, we steer clear of those. The kits we release are thoroughly application tested and do NOT cause engine damage in the short or long term.

Our products are manufactured in Australia and the company is accredited to ISO 9001, which ensures our products meet stringent quality requirements at all stages of manufacture.

GFB have Australia's best performance turbo management solutions. See more of our range at www.gfb.com.au.

This is what Rotamass states the following about their lightweight crank pulley for the 2.0 TSI engine:

There is a common misconception that the factory crank pulley is a harmonic balancer which is not the case. The Volkswagen/Audi TSI engine's rotating section is fully balanced from the factory prior to the accessory drive pulley being installed. Since our Rotamass Lightweight Crank Pulley is precision balanced by both design and manufacturing, it performs nearly identical to the factory part it replaces. With our test engine, we removed the crankshaft prior to the installation of the pulley, measured the bearings and crankshaft journals. During all of our testing there was absolutely zero signs of abnormal engine wear.

I suppose the TFSI engine works the same. The OEM part didn't look like having any damper included.

And this is more information about the GFB crank pulley but for the BRZ/FR-S engine:

WHY NO HARMONIC BALANCER?

A better name for a harmonic balancer would be "torsional dampener" since its main task is to absorb the rotational pulses inflicted on the crankshaft by the pistons. Most often it is incorporated into the crank pulley by attaching the outer belt drive ring to the inner by means of vulcanized rubber. At the right RPM, it is possible for a resonant frequency to be set up torsionally on the crankshaft. Resonant frequency occurs when the pulses of the engine correspond with the natural frequency of the crankshaft and it ancillary components. However, since factory pulleys are often comparatively heavy (reasons for this are described later) it is actually the large mass (and therefore inertia) of the factory harmonic balancer and flywheel that will help to excite this natural frequency. So by dramatically reducing the weight and inertia of the crank pulley, the natural frequency of the crankshaft is shifted and its ability to self-excite is greatly reduced. So in fact it is the harmonic balancer's own weight that necessitates the dampening, and since the weight of a GFB crank pulley is typically about 20% of the factory component it cannot supply an exciting force significant enough to damage the crankshaft.

An opinion often expressed is "if the manufacturer put it there, it must be there for a reason". However, if you look at it from the car manufacturer's point of view, casting pulleys from steel is very cheap and easy, because they can be produced in large numbers and there is no waste (as opposed to machining them from billet). But because the resulting pulley weighs significantly more than one made from aluminium alloy, it requires dampening.

Manufacturers will always build cars (even high performance cars) to suit the widest possible selection of driving scenarios and drivers, which means there are always compromises. The weight of the flywheel and pulley also affect how fast the revs drop between gear shifts, and a production car is designed to only allow the revs to drop fast enough for average shifts. If you hurry the shift the revs will be too high for the next gear, resulting in a sharp jerk as the momentum of the engine transmits through the drivetrain. Reducing the engines' inertia with a lightweight pulley kit allows faster and smoother shifting.

When looking at high performance engines such as those found in Honda VTEC equipped cars and the S2000, it is obvious that manufacturers do understand the benefits of reducing engine inertia, and have utilized lightweight pulleys to help the power output and responsiveness without the use of a harmonic balancer.

However, this is not the case for all engines, many of them do require the use of the harmonic balancer to prevent failure. Skylines with the RB20, 25 and 26 are a good example of this, which is why we don't make a pulley kit for them. The pulley kits we do make are for engines that do not rely on the balancer to any significant degree.

Are you still sure that my lightweight crank pulley which is also a balanced part has thrown my engine out of balance?

(...)And people say intakes are a waste of money......  As you cab tell I gave up arguing this point a few pages back

Now I can say for sure that this engine likes a good intake. I wasn't expecting +20 CV from the it, to be honest.