I think going with the ecm flash was the best HP gain possible for the money. What is the next best thing? What HP /TQ gain can I expect from a cat delete and a more free flowing muffler?

 

If I'm reading this right, you are now chipped with GIAC, and I ASSUME you have the 1.8T. The next thing you NEED if you haven't done so already is a new DV to help hold your new boost. You can expect to feel a decent increase in power if you install a test pipe and a cat back exhaust. You need to do the whole system, not just the muffler. Expect to pay some good money for a decent cat back (I love my NeuSpeed, which was about 850 shipped), which you can install yourself with help from a buddy, or you could get lucky and find a decent muff shop that can set you up without raping you for a custom exhaust.

Once you have a decent exhaust system in, then the next step is upgrading the turbo to something bigger, but this starts to get rather expensive, because then you need to start upgrading a lot of supporting mods as well, like injectors, FMIC, ect, ect. Trust me, once you start, the bug will bite you, and you'll constantly be looking for the next upgrade!

 

hes right.. test pipe and catback has def added pop to the car.. i went in order of exhaust.. then chip.. then test pipe.. exhaust alone added a little more giddyup but nothing drastic.. KnN adds to the sound.. then the chip which obviously as you know makes it another car.. and with the test pipe youre gunna see faster harder spools, a little more downlow torque and a little more noise (which i wasnt a fan of at first but grew to love) my turbo is in semi-dooshbag mode so its off an on with how well it runs.. but when the new one goes in, im sure ill be very satisfied with the power output and throttle response.. but yea outside of all this stuff youre looking at a turbo upgrade from k04 up to the big 3071s and ****.. alot of money down that road tho..

 

what turbo did you end up getting?

 

Thanks for all the great info.

I am thinking of ordering a universal high flow cat of of ebay and welding the flanges on my self to save some money. Perhaps ill wait on the exhaust till the OE stuff starts rusting out. ( live in WI, it will rust out)

The crapy thing i am noticing with the giac flash is a misfire at high boost and low rpms...

I installed Denso double platinum plugs and gapped them to .28 to see if it would solve it. nope... Could increasing the gap prevent misfire?

 

Any CEL? If so, pull the codes, figure out which cylinder is misfiring, then swap some coil packs around to see if you might need a new one.

If you have to pass emissions, then the HFC is your best bet, if no emissions, the get the test pipe (with anti foulers).

If you can weld stuff yourself pretty well, you might be able to build yourself a good custom exhaust and only need to buy the muffler itself... good luck.

 

No cel. Usualy ill get one or two jerks from the misfire during low rpm high boost.
I guess ill just have to wait for a cel...

 

Leave your plugs gapped to .028, that's what a chipped car needs. It does sound like a coil pack might be starting to go out, but hard to say without a CEL. You might be able to pull a code anyway if you have a scanner, or go to any big box auto parts store and ask them to scan it. You might find a hidden code that hasn't tripped the CEL yet.

 

I think ill stick a scanner on it and watch the live stream to see if it pics up the random misfire on the counter... even if its not enough to trip a code it might point me at a cylinder... Thanks for all the great replies!