zeriak

WShade is my hero! I want a turbo for my car
Oh btw, can you tell us which turbo you are using, if I read the page on the BEGI website right, it's the T03 which has been used in older Saab 95 turbos.

WShade

Turbo is a T03. T28 housing w/ T03 turbine for increased throttle response. Non-ball bearing (ball bearing = lot of $$$$$). BEGI is making a custom two guage pod for the pillar now, boost gauge is zip tied for now (can you say EGT gauge). Other upgrades will be added as they are available. ECU not available as of yet which prevents turning the boost up but we do plan to install secondary fuel pump just as a safe guard (thats just me). Stock injectors flow fine with the limited boost we are running now. I plan to put my turbo timer and boost controller in the empty space like Huey when the time comes. Sorry Carlos I almost forgot you ..... The package is very streetable (w/ 8 psi). Most of the time I dont touch the boost. I can drive the car as if it did not have the turbo (with a close eye on the boost guage) and down low out of the hole it is stock w/ normal throttle pressure. The only way to reach full boost is with full throttle which is almost impossible in 1st, tire break loose at 2500 like a switch and you are instantly on the rev limiter (which is really cool!), power shift into 2nd and tires let go again w/ no lag, 3rd comes quickly and .... sorry I go carried away. As you can tell it is a 5 speed.

Huey

What Carlos described of the GTI is exactly what I thought as well. Way too soft a throttle response. Forget about blipping the throttle, you'll have to stomp on the gas & wait for the revs to climb, but when they do, watch out. I think that could also be a function of the throttle by wires as the only other car that I drove with throttle by wire was an E46 BMW 323ci. It wasn't as bad though. I'd be totally happy if it felt just like stock until the boost kicks in, although, it would be nice to lighten the flywheel while the clutch is being replaced just to make it a little quicker. Anybody who's ever seen a small 4 cyclinder with independant throttle bodies will know what I'm talking about. I have just one more question, (for now ) does the kit come with any sort of blowoff or diverter valve for releasing the boost off throttle? If you don't power shift, will you have to wait a split second for the turbine to spin up & build boost again? So many questions, so little money!

WShade

It does have a blowoff valve (http://www.flyinmiata.com/store/prod...tem=2&mitem=34) same one the miata guys use. The bov blows back into the intake tube before the turbo and after the mass air meter (in between turbo and mass air) to keep the boost up. Virtually no lag between shifts.

Carlos

The throttle by wire is defenitely part of the problem on the GTI now that I think of it. Just to test this I remember pushing on the accelerator in neutral very slowly until the revs started to rise, and I remember that you could move the pedal probably a half an inch to an inch without getting any sort of rev rise. So then one has to give the thing a bootful to move off a stoplight at anything other than a grandma rate, and you get fullboost a short time after that lighting up the tires (more true on the tiptronic, than on the stick).

Anyway, Im glad to hear this turbo at least lets you keep a normal amount of torque off idle.

BTW, WShade, what kind of gas mileage have you been getting since the turbo?

Eric F

I still haven't gotten a response from them, so, does anyone else that is in contact with them know if this kit will work on the 1.8L Proteges. From the pictures my first concern would be interference with the 1.8L's coil packs at the front of the engine. That could be pretty easily resolved though, so I'm more curious about the rest of the exhaust/intake piping.

WShade

Carlos,

When I first got the car back I was only getting 18 mpg w/ a check engine light. We forgot to plug the secondary o2 sensor back in (can you say RUNNING RICH!) That damn obd2. After double checking all the connections the average mpg is 25-27 and the check engine light went out :-). Fuel mixture is perfect across the entire rev band.

Eric F,

I will see Corky in a few weeks to check on my guage pod. I will ask for you.

Eric F

Richard, wouldn't the fact that the Audi/VW 1.8T engine was designed as a turbo motor make it likely that it has lower compression like you mentioned? Wouldn't that be the major contributor to poor off boost throttle response? An electronically controlled throttle wouldn't seem to be inherently bad to me. Only if it wasn't calibrated correctly, and had too much 'slack' as someone else mentioned. Of course, that can happen with a throttle cable as well.

Huey

One would tend to think that the GTI would have lower compression because of the fact that it was built up for forced induction but it doesn't. It actually has a 9.5:1 compression compared to our 9.1:1.

Eric F

Interesting, that must be how it makes peak torque before 2000 RPM. I still don't see why an electronic throttle would inherently be slow to respond. I would think it could be made to respond quicker than the tradition cable?

Huey

Yeah, it doesn't really make sense but I think it's just how it's programmed in the software. In theory, it should be faster & probably can be faster. Still not sure if that's the cause of the slow response anyways.

Carlos

On the GTI, it might not be a matter of slow to respond throttle, but maybe the throttle has too big of a dead zone. You know, kind of like on a joystick on a computer game where you can set the amount of travel before a response is registered...
Well, maybe thats the same kind of thing happening with the GTI, either by design or poor calibration , who knows?

As far as the previous posts describing how throttle response (generically speaking) is not really affected at low RPM's... I was under the impression (dont ask me why) that turbo's could slow down throttle response in low RPM's because of the restriction the turbine wheel has sitting in the exhaust stream. Obviously's WShades reports fortunately dont bear this out, but theoretically speaking, is my "exhaust restriction" theory really ever an issue as it relates to low RPM response? Just curious.

zeriak

Hey WShade,
Is that a BEGI fuel regulator I see in the pictures of your engine bay?

Eric F

Good points. I would think the pedal should have some adjustments that could reduce any 'dead zone' though?

As for the turbo being an exhaust restriction, that could have some effect, but it shouldn't be enough to be very noticable.

zeriak

Hey everyone,
I was just wondering what kind of maintainence would be required of a protege with a turbo? I know you have to warm up for about two minutes before you take off and cool down for about 2 minutes after you park, but what other preventive maintenence would you have to do?

Thanks.