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Integrated Engineering's "Project EA888.3: Red Baron GLI" Build Thread

sales@IE

Ready to race!

For more photos of Project EA888.3: Red Baron GLI events and development, along with a full write-up and more information visit our blog and build page: http://blog.intengineering.com/project-ea888-red-baron-gli/

Mission Statement

Take a 2013 Jetta GLI and develop it into a weekend warrior that is equally at home on the road course, on the street, or at a car show. During the course of this, MK5/6 bolt on improvements for suspension, braking, and cooling will be tested and new products developed. This car also features the new EA888.3 TSI engine, and we will be developing that engine up to moderate power levels including possibly a turbocharger upgrade.

Key Aspects:

Whenever practical, products used on this vehicle will become available to the VW/Audi aftermarket community
As many IE products as possible will be developed, however we must strategically pick which products we will pursue to make the most of our available development resources
Car needs to perform equally well on the street, highway, and race track
Needs to look good
Develop important products that people will care about and improve their driving/ownership experience



Running List Of Modifications
(coming soon)

Track Day 1


Initial Impressions

Project Red Baron started off when we spotted the new 3rd Generation TSI engine in the 2013.5 Jetta GLI's. For some curious quirk of VW/Audi reasoning, this split year special came equipped with the next generation engine which will serve as the workhorse 2.0L for the next body style of VW and Audi cars. We ran out and bought one immediately so we could get our hands on that engine. After we got it home, we quickly realized we were going to have to do something with the other 2500 pounds of steel and aluminum VW so generously included in that purchase. A bit of quick brainstorming, and we decided that this car should be a weekend warrior, equally happy on the street or at the road course. Project Red Baron also needs to look good around town or at a car show, so this build really will be a balancing act.


We are lucky enough to have the beautiful Miller Motorsports Park less than 40 minutes from our facility. You could not ask for a better crucible to test parts. There is just something about a big, fast road course out in the middle of a 100 degree desert that beats up on parts like nothing else. This project will proceed in stages, with street and track testing to evaluate the modifications along the way.


The obvious starting point was to see what the car is like totally stock. We put a few hundred miles on it on the street- even took it up some canyon roads for a picnic. The first thing which is obvious is that the new engine is excellent. Turbo lag is further reduced from even the TSI gen 2 engines, yet this engine sports a larger turbocharger and makes more power. It feels like it pulls hard through the mid range and only drops off slightly up top. Obviously, at OE boost levels it does not tear the tires off the tarmac, but it is very respectable. The rest of the car is pretty good on the street, the suspension is a little soft and the rock hard OE tires struggle for grip even with stock power levels. Push it into a corner hard and the front end will still slide first, but the under steer is less pronounced then in VW's of the past. That could be partially due to the 20 pounds or so saved over the front wheels from that new Gen 3 TSI engine. Overall though, the car is pretty well composed all around. That weighed heavily on our decision to keep the level of modifications moderate on this car and ensure that it remains very drivable on the street.


With some initial impressions on the street taken care of, and a solid 300 miles on the odometer, we packed up and headed out to a track day at Miller Motorsports Park. Expectations were pretty low and prophecies of wrecked tires and murdered brakes circulated on the ride out. In fact, we even caught a bit of grief from the tech inspectors for bringing out a lowly Jetta. However, about 3 turns in I was pleasantly surprised with the level of mechanical grip available. This car is predictable, better balanced then any older FWD VW I have driven, and a lot less terrible then I expected. We managed to stick it out behind some far more track worthy cars, and generally tested the hell out of this stock setup. That revealed a few issues.


First and foremost, the stock suspension is far too soft for road course use. The body roll becomes pronounced when the car is driven right to the limit, rolling the OE tires over onto their out most edges. This is keeping the grip levels down significantly and causing lots of tire wear. The brakes took about one hard lap to boil and then were spongy and very scary for the rest of the day. Inspection revealed that the rotors were wearing unevenly and even had some grooves in them, probably from the pads breaking down. Clearly, this car needs some real performance brake pads and a large quantity of air ducted to the front brakes as soon as possible!


As an experienced race driver, none of those things were particularly news to me though. In fact, I would have been extremely surprised if that hadn't happened. What was a shock though, was the cooling system issues on this car. As soon as we pushed it hard, the water temperature quickly started climbing. I relented and started short shifting and lifting early on the straights when temperatures exceeded 240 degrees! It's basically unheard of for a totally stock car to do this. In the next session, I ran the heat on full blast and that helped a bit, but oil temps were still over 275 degrees. This thing clearly has some major thermal issues that need to be addressed. We will come up with a fix if we need to, but most likely VW will actually be doing some sort of recall or retrofit to these- clearly they didn't test ANYTHING before they started shipping them. Ours will even overheat if it is held at full throttle for a long time on the freeway. Sad.

That left us with plenty of ideas for what to improve upon.

Development Phase 1
Our first round of modifications will address the basic suspension issues with a set of KW V3 coilovers. A set of Integrated Engineering front camber plates will allow us to put proper camber on the sticky Toyo R888′s DOT-R’s we are going to put on the car. These are the most aggressive tires I would dare daily drive on. We ordered them with full tread so that they can be driven in the rain- for a while at least. A set of beautiful VMR V718′s was also obtained- these will hold our improved rubber and also make the car look great! Not holding our breath for VW to come help us with the cooling issue, we will begin looking into alternative cooling methods. We ordered an OE Auxiliary radiator from an R32, we can modify it as necessary and go from here. We need to tackle these cooling issues so that we can increase the power output safely in the future. A set of Hawk HP Plus front pads will round out the initial round of modifications, and we are hurrying to develop a prototype set of brake ducts for the front brakes. Those modifications combined should give us a much more capable car for the next round of testing. We will update again soon after the parts make there way onto the car. -6/12/2013








For more photos of Project EA888.3: Red Baron GLI events and development, along with a full write-up and more information visit our blog and build page: http://blog.intengineering.com/project-ea888-red-baron-gli/
 
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jettaglis

Go Kart Champion
I'm intrested if your going to utilize dual port injection.
 

maxtdi

Go Kart Champion
This thing clearly has some major thermal issues that need to be addressed. We will come up with a fix if we need to, but most likely VW will actually be doing some sort of recall or retrofit to these- clearly they didn't test ANYTHING before they started shipping them. Ours will even overheat if it is held at full throttle for a long time on the freeway. Sad.

I especially loved this part...
 

NYCSuits

Go Kart Champion
This should be good...looking forward to this progressing
 

Merkle

Banned
Sub'd

:thumbsup: Good luck guys really looking forward to seeing how this unwinds.
 

sales@IE

Ready to race!
Thanks guys! We have some great ideas in the works already! Many of the products we develop for this will also be for the chassis, so many good things will come out of this project for all Mk6/7 platforms.
 

sales@IE

Ready to race!
Development Phase 1

See all the photos, plus the full development of Project EA888.3: Red Baron GLI HERE

Parts used in Development Phase 1
IE MK5/MK6 Camber Plates……………………………. IESUUB1
KW Variant 3 Coilovers…………………………………. 35280068
Porterfield R4S brake pads (FRONT)………………… AP1107R4S
Porterfield R4S brake pads (REAR)………………….. AP340R4S
ATE Blue racing brake fluid……………………………. FLUIDS-BRAKE-ATEBLUE​


Our last flogging of our Project Red Baron GLI gave us some real insight to the cars true capabilities and weaknesses. The car was clearly lacking in grip, caused by a combination of rock solid OEM tires and soft suspension that allowed excessive body roll. The car also suffered from OE brakes which are greatly under specified for the weight of this vehicle. On the street they were always spongy, on the track they bordered on dangerous.

So, we set out looking for modifications which would improve these trouble areas. Not wanting to ruin the car as a street car, each modification is carefully chosen to improve the performance of the car on the track or the street. We also want to make sure the car looks right, coming off as a tastefully modified German street bruiser.

First thing, it was clear that the OE springs and shocks had to go. They were unceremoniously ripped out of the car and replaced with a set of KW Variant 3 coilovers. We set them up in the center of their damping and rebound adjustments as a starting point, and set the ride height moderately low. A set of Integrated Engineering MK5 / MK6 chassis camber plates connects the front struts to the body in a solid, adjustable fashion which will let us dial in the ever so important front camber at a later date.










The wheels and tires were a key component to determining the functionality of the car. We wanted something reasonably priced, that would look at home either at the track or on the boulevard. It was important that they be of good quality, as we absolutely do not want any wheel failures out at the race track. With those aspects in mind, we chose a set of VMR V718 wheels, in 18 x 8.5. We decided to make this car really stick to the ground by wrapping them in a set of marginally road legal Toyo R888 DOT-R compound tires, which are basically the closest thing to a street legal racing slick you can get. They do have some tread so they will handle moderate weather ok, and the 100 tread wear rating means that we can easily drive the car in the mountains or to and from the track without burning them up too quickly. As our technician Jake installed those parts, we also decided to bleed the brakes with some Ate blue racing brake fluid and install a set of Porterfield R4S sport brake pads. We felt this would provide an intermediate brake upgrade without serious expenditure of cash.








With the car sitting right and glued to the ground, we took the opportunity to chew up some of Utah's famous canyons and mountain passes. It was immediately apparent that the cars handling has been transformed. The KW Variant 3 coilovers are quite firm, providing excellent road feel and very little body roll. They strike that balance of a useable street coilover which can also perform out on the track with some serious G forces. The car will now easily reel in far superior super cars in the turns, aided by the incredible stick of the Toyo DOT-R tires. The Integrated Engineering camber plates provided a great increase in steering and road feel. The tires really communicate what they are doing directly to the drivers hands- the muted feel of the OE setup is mostly gone now.

Overall, we are very happy with the way this first round of modifications has transformed this car. It went from a grocery getter to a car that everyone in the shop wants to borrow. It's truly fun to drive in the curves now and the chassis really feels ready for more power, as the grip levels have gone up immensely. The car really transmits road feel right into your fingertips and this gives a level of driving excitement which was sorely lacking before. We will be sure to report back with our findings out at the road course as soon as we can get it out there!











Next up, Track Day 2!
 

Coogles

Go Kart Newbie
Sub'd. Love the project and how it's being documented thus far.

The cooling issues are certainly troubling. Has this been seen on other MK6 GTIs or Jettas, or has this only been the 2013.5 GLI with the EA888.3 TSI?
 

sales@IE

Ready to race!
Sub'd. Love the project and how it's being documented thus far.

The cooling issues are certainly troubling. Has this been seen on other MK6 GTIs or Jettas, or has this only been the 2013.5 GLI with the EA888.3 TSI?

As far as we can tell, its just on the 2013 EA888.3 engines. It looks to us that when VAG gets this engine into the MK7/B9 and newer chassis it will have been addressed.
 

Zillon

Go Kart Champion
Very interesting in regards to the cooling issues on the EA888.3.

Also looking for a writeup on how the Porterfield pads work out on the car.
 

sales@IE

Ready to race!
Very interesting in regards to the cooling issues on the EA888.3.

Also looking for a writeup on how the Porterfield pads work out on the car.

Coming soon, we just got back from the track. I'll get some photos ready and have our lead engineer Pete write up his report.
 
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