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Half Fast’s GTI

Half fast

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Jersey City
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
Got a run in this morning with it 67 degrees outside and coolant temps peaked at 228 with oil still at 262. Another run at 73 ambient and I got the coolant temp up to 237 and oil still topped at 262. But, I want to say that the radiator helped the temps recover faster. I don’t know if I want to say that because I want it to have been worth the investment, or because that’s actually how it worked out.

As an aside, Mini7, I reached out to CSF to try to confirm fitment with the Unitronic intercooler before purchase and they were baffled that anybody had ever had fitment issues. I sent them the link to your install, and they didn’t understand why you had to make so many small adjustments to keep the hoses and stuff away. Turns out, I had pretty much the same issues. It seems you’re right that it was developed on an R (thought I saw you suggest that somewhere in that thread); Ash at CSF was on the email and said they developed the radiator on his car and here’s a link I found about that development: http://www.speedhunters.com/2019/09/solving-the-golf-rs-cooling-problem/

My father has an R so I can compare the two radiator shrouds pretty easily and they definitely fit up against the radiator differently. Perhaps the European GTIs (not built in Mexico I believe?) all use the same shroud as the R. In any event, they were very responsive and otherwise provided solid customer service which is nice. But, the shroud definitely doesn’t fit up against the radiator as they suggest it should.
 

Mini7

Autocross Champion
Location
Charlotte, NC
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport PP
I suspect the CSF radiator will recover faster based on the increased capacity.

Also spoke to the CSF guys on the fitment and emailed them my initial install attempt with the IE IC. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing something simple. I was not comfortable with the hoses touching the the fan shroud When I track on a regular basis. It would suck to rub down a hose at a track day, but I would hate if someone wrecked on the spilled coolant. Not a chance I was willing to take. The only thing I changed on the second attempt was the brand of Intercooler. I think IE makes good quality parts, but in this case the combination just didn’t work.

I posted my install so that folks are aware of the tweeks required to make this combo fit safely. Period. Nothing was super complicated but it takes patience and good preparation.

My initial thought was the shroud was different. But it may be as simple as the radiator mounting slots on the IC was off, pushing everything further back. Good quality parts but not a drop in installation in my book.
 

Mini7

Autocross Champion
Location
Charlotte, NC
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport PP
Which side are you thinking to install the Aux radiator?

Do you have a parts list? I’ve not seen anyone post an install write up.
 

Half fast

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Jersey City
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
Another consideration is that the R uses two smaller fans rather than one large fan. The support for the fan looks like it sticks out farther from the rest of the shroud in order to accommodate the larger fan. In any event, I figured I’d chime in and point out that I had the same problems. I’m sort of curious what shrouds the European GTIs have just because I’d just like to know why there is a disconnect between CSF and our experiences.

As far as the aux radiator, I haven’t seen anybody that’s done a write up so I’ll be flying blind a bit. I started to make a parts list but abandoned that until I was able to see how the CSF radiator performed. I’ll probably piece together both sides and make a decision from there. My dad’s R is a 6 speed so if I put it in the passenger side I can use his car as a reference. Once I get a chance to dig into the parts diagrams again I’ll post what I have and I’ll do a write up when I get around to the install so there’s one out there. I’m up north so there’s a decent chance this doesn’t happen until spring though.
 

Half fast

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Jersey City
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
Couple laps from this weekend. Ran the pro course (straight through from Turn 1 to Turn 2/Keyhole) which is kind of disappointing but the car is a blast. I’ve always just run 300tw summer tires and tried to make them last the entire year between track events and street driving but the car is fast enough now that I might invest in some stickier (edit: typo) tires. Never much mattered to me before when it was the difference between having the slowest car on the track or having the slowest car on the track.

 
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geokilla

Go Kart Champion
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI DSG
I watched my friend's car overheat at the track. As soon as it flashed the overheat warning, he immediately slowed down and put on his flashers. The car "cooled down" almost instantly. Granted he has a stage 2 GTI and he did go all out for a good 4 or 5 laps at DDT. I personally like to go all out for about 2 to 3 laps and then back off to about 80% to let temperatures drop a bit so I think I can avoid the CSF radiator... Don't think it works with my Magic intercooler anyways.

@Half fast What are you using to get the G force and track map up? It's pretty cool!
 

Half fast

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Jersey City
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
@Half fast What are you using to get the G force and track map up? It's pretty cool!

App called Harry’s Lap Timer. Just download it on your phone, mount the phone, pull up the app, and it does the rest (mostly). I think it’s like $20 but it’s still probably the cheapest track day thing I’ve bought. Sort of disappointing that the info is delayed on the Mid Ohio video. Not sure what caused that; I have video from another session that is lined up. There was quite a bit of traffic in this group and, combined with me backing out of it to let the temps recover, I don’t have much good video from the weekend. Couple laps after this I let the BRZ and Cayman back in front to get the temps under control.
 

tpellegr

Go Kart Champion
Location
Boston, MA
Car(s)
2016 GTI S 6MT
Couple laps from this weekend. Ran the pro course (straight through from Turn 1 to Turn 2/Keyhole) which is kind of disappointing but the car is a blast. I’ve always just run 300tw summer tires and tried to make them last the entire year between track events and street driving but the car is fast enough now that I might invest in some stickier (edit: typo) tires. Never much mattered to me before when it was the difference between having the slowest car on the track or having the slowest car on the track.


Wow. Fast course! Looks like a lot of fun. Nice driving!
 
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Half fast

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Jersey City
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
As my HPDE calendar starts to fill up for the summer I'm starting to think about what kinds of things I want to bolt on the car. Perhaps fortunately for my wallet, I have put like 500 miles on my car since October so it's largely been out of sight, out of mind for a while.

But, I have a clunk/pop coming from the rear suspension of the car. It's been there since I put the RSB (and perhaps before, I can't quite remember) but predates the coilovers. The rear bushings have about 100k on them, (went from driving 30k a year to 30 miles a month) so I'm figuring I'll replace those with better ones and see where that gets me. If nothing else, at least I'll get nicer stuff on the car.

Since I'm going to replace the bushings, I figure I might as well put in adjustable control arms so I can fiddle with the alignment. My question is basically whether there is any real difference between the rear control arms out there. The rear control arms range from like $100-400 and, while I'm not opposed to spending more money for better parts, I'm loathe to spend 4 times as much money for little benefit. I get the steel vs. aluminum and spherical v. rubber/poly bushings stuff, so my main question is whether there are any arms that are exceedingly good/bad.

I'm content putting in arms that come with new, stiffer, rubber bushings. I don't need to go full poly/spherical. I do drive the car on the street and, while I don't care much, my dog really hates the stiffer ride in my car and I spend more time trying to make sure she doesn't coat my car in vomit than I do on the track.
 

scrllock

Autocross Champion
Location
MI
I'm content putting in arms that come with new, stiffer, rubber bushings. I don't need to go full poly/spherical. I do drive the car on the street and, while I don't care much, my dog really hates the stiffer ride in my car and I spend more time trying to make sure she doesn't coat my car in vomit than I do on the track.
Most of the options I've seen seem kinda sketchy (megan racing, spc, hardrace) or are spherical (verkline, torque solution, godspeed, eurocode, voodoo13), or are just a bushing upgrade (ecs).

I'm looking at doing the 034 adjustable rubber rear arms with similar goals, plus superpro bushings in fresh trailing arms. Haven't bought the adjustable arms yet though since I've seen mixed reviews of their density line stuff on the e9x bmw platform.
 

Mini7

Autocross Champion
Location
Charlotte, NC
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport PP
Most of the options I've seen seem kinda sketchy (megan racing, spc, hardrace) or are spherical (verkline, torque solution, godspeed, eurocode, voodoo13), or are just a bushing upgrade (ecs).

I'm looking at doing the 034 adjustable rubber rear arms with similar goals, plus superpro bushings in fresh trailing arms. Haven't bought the adjustable arms yet though since I've seen mixed reviews of their density line stuff on the e9x bmw platform.

Do you have a link? I’m using 034 toe links. What issues are the BMW guys experiencing?

The density line is a good option if you don’t want to go full track mode with spherical bearings.
 

Half fast

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Jersey City
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
I'd also like to know what issues BMW people are having. I tried a quick search and all I found was a youtube video. The part in that video looked like it had some miles on it though; if I got that much life out of it I'd be fine.

I'll probably take the plunge on the 034 parts. Any ideas if stock (or stock replacement) bushings would fit in the arms if the bushings that came with them failed? If I at least had the option to throw superpro bushings in them I'd feel much better about it.
 

scrllock

Autocross Champion
Location
MI
Maybe they've improved since then, and maybe their suspension rubber is ok, but there are multiple forum posts out there like this: https://www.spoolstreet.com/threads/034-mounts-another-failure.5780/

I'll probably take the plunge on the 034 parts. Any ideas if stock (or stock replacement) bushings would fit in the arms if the bushings that came with them failed? If I at least had the option to throw superpro bushings in them I'd feel much better about it.
I'd be interested to know this as well, simple adjustability with superpro polymers sounds like a great middle ground.
 

Half fast

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Jersey City
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
I reached out to 034 so I'll update with what they say. If there is a question about durability, then it makes me wonder if the sketchier options wouldn't be way to go since they're like half the price.
 
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