My S2 tuning project

**Lee** · 19 March 2005, 19:09

Angus has a nice setup on his RS2: AAH on here. He did 361bhp at a recent rolling road day. To get your to that spec you would need everything on your list except for the RS2 MAF (not necessary). Make sure you get a decent downpipe, ideally 3" with a single rear box (or 2 boxes if you prefer). The 044 Bosch motorsport pump is a cracking choice too and it is easily up to the job.

For turbos it is hard to beat the stock RS2 one for all round driveability. The MD147 is also quite a good choice. Don't just slap on a big turbo as there is a bit more to turbo selection than that as you need to look at the compressor maps and maybe some turbine mods to ensure the car suits your aspirations. I guess you want something driveable with low down grunt that pulls hard to the redline. If yes then consider the MD147 or RS2 pretty hard to beat. Some of those Garret units are really sexy in the flesh but you got to match them right or you will be peed off with the results.

Consider dropping the CR and flowing the head if you have budget to spare...it all helps!

Finally welcome to the Forum. Any questions, fire away. Angus's car was awesome IMHO and a very well sorted conversion all told.

**Lee** · 19 March 2005, 19:13

Forgot to ask...3B or ABY? You will need slightly different mods for both to get the same results.

And before you go for the mods, make sure your car is in fine health with new fuel filter and no boost leaks. THese cars are getting old now!

Sort the chassis out too with some decent suspension and brakes or you will end up in a wall on the first day with big power!!!!

**audiman** · 19 March 2005, 19:21

Agree with you there Lee. Angus' car was awesome on the road. Producing IMHO nearly 390bhp with the correct cooling. That turbo is a K26/27 with #6 hotside. An RS2 turbo will produce nearly the same power, but with a lot more torque and lower down. Johnnyboys car is a 3B with RS2 conversion. That was custom mapped by Mihnea (MRC Tuning) and was producing 340BHP (I think) and 590Nm IIRC And that car feels very fast on the road. I was given a ride with Johnny and his bird in the car and it was even fast then!!!

7A cams are cheaper and easier to obtain.

I dont personally like the garret turbos. I have never had one on my car, so its not really a technical aguement. Ppl say that the RS2 turbo is laggy, but i find it very responsive and the car is easy to drive.

**Hesky** · 19 March 2005, 20:40

Thanks for the warm welcome and help lee and audiman, my car is a healthy ABY with the individual coil packs hope this ignition system will keep up. I will have a look for Angus car, 360bhp+ and 4WD must be amazing

It took me a while to wipe the grin off my face when driving my standard S2 I swear it feels more than 230 anyway!
I donâ€™t have the MAF unit yet so I can cross this of my list for the moment then. I'm yet to find out a source for a large bore downpipe, I guess I could fabricate one but the tap offs for the wastegate, lambda sensor and the flanges would make for a rather complex bit of pipe work, are there any aftermarket ones available? oh and can I use the standard s2 wastegate aloft the RS2 EM?
I can understand your turbo recommendations lee, like audiman says heâ€™s never found any problems with the RS2 turbos, and this is more important than theoretical turbo perfection, I simply want it to perform well on the road where it counts. I just asked as my friend says theses kkk/garrett hybrids are really good value for what are very modern turbo designs. The K26/T04E Hybrid can be had for $700 recon and thereâ€™s a few people running them on this forum but I just cant find recon RS2 turbos for that sort of money or at least close.
I've heard alot about this Mihnea chap, I live in the UK would I have to catch the eurotunnel to get it remaped by him?
I think I have a lot of learning to get on with, like you said its not a simple case of plonking on a big turbo and getting extra horses.

Thanks once again for all your help!

Cheers
Hesky

**Lee** · 19 March 2005, 20:54

Mihnea is now based in the UK and we are soon opening a new workshop with a rolling road to follow.

RS2 and S2 wastegates are identical so your stock one will bolt up to the EM nicely.

ABY means you can stick with the stock fuel pressure regulator.

If you are making a custom downpipe make sure you get the lambda port and somewhere to stick an EGT probe for measuring the exhaust gas temps during mapping. We use the standard CO sniffer pipe location that is in the flange on the standard downpipe. Getting those port on a custom downpipe is dead easy as all you do is cut a hole and weld a nut in place of the right thread dimensions.

You think the stock car is good? Get yourself along to one of the meets and sample some more tasty motors! 360 brake is good but 550 to 600 Nm is even better especially if it is at 3000 rpm. You will find it hard to baat Angus' setup for a high performance car that is still ultra civilised around town.

**Lee** · 19 March 2005, 20:56

Stock ABY ignition is also well up to the job (as is the 3B one). With age some of the items need renewing such as boots/leads to ensure you have enough spark energy for the higher boost applications. The main difference I was referring to with the 3B and ABY are the Fuel pressures used.

**Hesky** · 19 March 2005, 21:33

Mihnea is now based in the UK and we are soon opening a new workshop with a rolling road to follow.

Thatâ€™s fantastic, just what we need for us audi fanatics!! I found there to be loads of uk based VW enthusiastic routed companies when I had my VR6 but not nearly enough for audi's, this is what put me off at 1st until I found this forum. I just felt the few UK audi "tuners" we had to be very unhelpful.
The best of luck to you lee!!

You think the stock car is good? Get yourself along to one of the meets and sample some more tasty motors! 360 brake is good but 550 to 600 Nm is even better especially if it is at 3000 rpm.

I donâ€™t think I need more of an incentive than that

Damn! I'm really looking forward to this project now lol

**Beetie** · 19 March 2005, 22:03

You wont beat mihneas work either, its always top stuff....

**Hesky** · 19 March 2005, 23:07

What sort of price are we looking at for a well remapped car? I mean from what Iâ€™ve read here you feel thereâ€™s no need to go full stand alone management such as motec, dta, gems etc...this can only be a good thing as the implementation of a stand alone ecu can go into 1000's and 1000's!
I guess a re-mapped chip fitted to the factory ecu would support all these mods I want to carry out as there not really to extreme I'm not really running an anti lag system or water injection.

Oh, also where can I track down an MD147 26/27 Turbo?

Cheers

**porkkis** · 19 March 2005, 23:37

I would recommend better conrods and perhaps also an engine rebuild if it has lots of miles on the clock if planning to go near or over the 550Nm barrier. In other words with anything bigger than the rs2 turbo.

**Lee** · 19 March 2005, 23:55

Remapping the standard ECU retains all of the original safety features such as knock control and timing/boost retarding under pinking. Individual cylinder injection and ingnition control is retained. Cost of a remap is a small percentage of that of a custom ECU install and not really necessary. Many people promote it as it is a simpler alternative to tuning the Motronic system and easier for the layman to tune. I know some people have told members here that it is impossible to run more than 370bhp wwith motronic but that is BS. Motronic can easily be reprogrammed to control fuelling, ignition and boost to well over 500 bhp and still retain safety protocols intended by Bosch when the ECu was first designed.

Stick with the RS2 turbo and stock bottom end in the interest of reliability. 550Nm is well proven now in these engines running stock rods. You don't want silly power do you?

**Lee** · 19 March 2005, 23:56

Custom remapping to suit an individual car owners aspirations is of the order Â£500 for the setup that you propose.

**Hesky** · 20 March 2005, 00:21

I'm planning to get the engine fully rebuilt b4 I do this with the help of a good friend, as I feel even though it runs fine right now the fact that it has 80K on the clock might be a different story when it has 330bhp.
I've considered fitting forged connecting rods and forged pistons while the engine is being rebuilt but my budget isnâ€™t going to cope unless I wait a year and save up.
I was looking at Angus's setup, and would like to do a similar setup, hence why I asked about the MD147 26/27 Turbo which he runs. If he runs 361bhp on standard internals I would have thought I would be fine with 330bhp right? I doubt its going to get close to the 400lb-ft mark.
I want to do things in steps to save spending loads at once, hopefully I will have forged internals as soon as i can part with the cash at a later date. And if the MD147 allows for extra headroom when my bottom end is able to cope with more boost, thats going to save me buying a new turbo when i want to break the 400bhp mark, where an RS2 turbo will start to run out of steam.

**porkkis** · 20 March 2005, 02:08

Well first of all 80k miles is nothing.

If you want to secure the future plans take the engine apart and fit proper conrods and steel type head gasket and new bottom end bearings and perhaps piston rings. The std pistons will do the job for you beyond the 400 mark.

If you're planning to go a lot further than 400 it will cost you.. a lot. Custom pistons with lower C/R, head studs, clutch etc etc etc

First decide what you want and these chaps here will be more than well able to tell you what your options are.

My S2 tuning project

My S2 tuning project

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