[KingDevinator]

My partner and I recently picked up a 2014 8AT 2.0t and we've been plotting out a build sheet.
I'm familiar with working on motorcycles but they're much less complex especially given the turbo which I'm brand new to playing around with.

My main concern are the small things we might not be aware of that you'd need to ensure a healthy engine for the lifetime of the car. I could list the exact parts we plan on using if you're at all curious but I'll save the details for now. We plan on doing a full tbe (02 housing all the way back, high flow cat with our DP), ported bk1 intake manifold, TCU tune, k&n drop in filter, and a stuffed turbo & custom tune.

We're not interested in building the engine at the moment, thankfully we just had a brand new replacement under warranty so we get a nice fresh start for the mods. So what should we do to make sure everything stays as fresh as possible? Any small bit of knowledge goes a long way.

If there's anything you guys would like to share to make sure we don't screw up our genny it would be absolutely appreciated!

 

[BK1Bennettae]

My partner and I recently picked up a 2014 8AT 2.0t and we've been plotting out a build sheet.
I'm familiar with working on motorcycles but they're much less complex especially given the turbo which I'm brand new to playing around with.

My main concern are the small things we might not be aware of that you'd need to ensure a healthy engine for the lifetime of the car. I could list the exact parts we plan on using if you're at all curious but I'll save the details for now. We plan on doing a full tbe (02 housing all the way back, high flow cat with our DP), TCU tune, drop in filter, and a stuffed turbo & custom tune.

We're not interested in building the engine at the moment, thankfully we just had a brand new replacement under warranty so we get a nice fresh start for the mods. So what should we do to make sure everything stays as fresh as possible? We already plan on doing some little things like installing a catch can, but some things we just aren't sure on, like colder spark plugs or how to keep the tune safe.

Anything you guys would like to share to make sure we don't screw up our genny would be absolutely appreciated, and sorry for being a rambling newb!!

If you are going with a stuffed turbo I would suggest an actual intake system for the best flow possible, as well as an upgraded intercooler depending on how much power you intend to make

 

[KingDevinator]

If you are going with a stuffed turbo I would suggest an actual intake system for the best flow possible, as well as an upgraded intercooler depending on how much power you intend to make

From all the information I've seen an intercooler upgrade isn't necessary for anything under ~400whp. And we've since found a reputable intake brand on sale so we intend to pick that up! Thanks for the input, and if I'm misunderstanding the intercooler setup for the bk2 then please feel free to correct me.

 

[BK1Bennettae]

From all the information I've seen an intercooler upgrade isn't necessary for anything under ~400whp. And we've since found a reputable intake brand on sale so we intend to pick that up! Thanks for the input, and if I'm misunderstanding the intercooler setup for the bk2 then please feel free to correct me.

If you are building a BK1 then yes, you do need a better intercooler because the stock one is pretty much maxed out already. If you're not going too crazy I'd suggest just getting a BK2 intercooler but it's not a bad idea to go for an aftermarket one either

 

[KingDevinator]

If you are building a BK1 then yes, you do need a better intercooler because the stock one is pretty much maxed out already. If you're not going too crazy I'd suggest just getting a BK2 intercooler but it's not a bad idea to go for an aftermarket one either

We are on the bk2 platform. 2014 2.0.

 

[BK1Bennettae]

We are on the bk2 platform. 2014 2.0.

Your stock intercooler should be fine

 

[JOutterbridge]

My partner and I recently picked up a 2014 8AT 2.0t and we've been plotting out a build sheet.
I'm familiar with working on motorcycles but they're much less complex especially given the turbo which I'm brand new to playing around with.

My main concern are the small things we might not be aware of that you'd need to ensure a healthy engine for the lifetime of the car. I could list the exact parts we plan on using if you're at all curious but I'll save the details for now. We plan on doing a full tbe (02 housing all the way back, high flow cat with our DP), TCU tune, injen CAI, and a stuffed turbo & custom tune.

We're not interested in building the engine at the moment, thankfully we just had a brand new replacement under warranty so we get a nice fresh start for the mods. So what should we do to make sure everything stays as fresh as possible? We already plan on doing some little things like installing a catch can, but some things we just aren't sure on, like colder spark plugs, if an aftermarket BOV is worth it for anything other than noise, or how to keep the tune safe.

Anything you guys would like to share to make sure we don't screw up our genny would be absolutely appreciated, and sorry for being a rambling newb!!

400whp (450hp) you might need bigger than stock injectors or a fuel system upgrade. Also with a stuffed turbo you'll barely make that hp without higher octane fuel or meth injection. The other option is a camshaft upgrade with high revs but that's getting expensive.....

Overall if might be cheaper to get a cast manifold and proper full turbo upgrade to reach that hp without pushing everything towards the edge tuning wise.

 

[KingDevinator]

400whp (450hp) you might need bigger than stock injectors or a fuel system upgrade. Also with a stuffed turbo you'll barely make that hp without higher octane fuel or meth injection. The other option is a camshaft upgrade with high revs but that's getting expensive.....

Overall if might be cheaper to get a cast manifold and proper full turbo upgrade to reach that hp without pushing everything towards the edge tuning wise.

Thanks so much for the reply man! I see you all over the place here so I really appreciate you weighing in. We were heavily debating between stuffed vs full turbo upgrade, we assumed that keeping a smaller turbo and therefore lower power figures would be more reliable than tuning down a high performance snail, and keep daily drivability up as well with less spool time. Like I stated we really don't plan on rebuilding unless absolutely necessary so reliability is my #1 concern here, not planning on building a dyno queen. I've heard that the torque spike is what breaks these engines, so maybe my assumption is completely backwards and bigger is better, so please feel free to correct me. And just for reference we plan on using 93 for the life of the engine. I don't see us messing with meth or ethanol mixes unless I really start diving in on the research for them. Simple is better for us.

 

[JOutterbridge]

Thanks so much for the reply man! I see you all over the place here so I really appreciate you weighing in. We were heavily debating between stuffed vs full turbo upgrade, we assumed that keeping a smaller turbo and therefore lower power figures would be more reliable than tuning down a high performance snail, and keep daily drivability up as well with less spool time. Like I stated we really don't plan on rebuilding unless absolutely necessary so reliability is my #1 concern here, not planning on building a dyno queen. I've heard that the torque spike is what breaks these engines, so maybe my assumption is completely backwards and bigger is better, so please feel free to correct me. And just for reference we plan on using 93 for the life of the engine. I don't see us messing with meth or ethanol mixes unless I really start diving in on the research for them. Simple is better for us.

A bigger turbo with the correct turbine housing and tune would normally prevent the torque spike. The stock turbo and stuffed ones still easily spike at 2500 to 3k rpm to 300+ wheel torque although a tune can fix this.

If you want simple I'd get a stuffed turbo and run closer to 350 or 375 hp. 400 is more in the territory of an upgraded manifold, turbo, etc. to keep reliability intact. Any higher than that and you're risking detonation due to increased timing or boost outside of the compressor map center area.

 

[JOutterbridge]

A good video and picture of the stuffed turbo upgrade out of the box.

 

[KingDevinator]

A bigger turbo with the correct turbine housing and tune would normally prevent the torque spike. The stock turbo and stuffed ones still easily spike at 2500 to 3k rpm to 300+ wheel torque although a tune can fix this.

If you want simple I'd get a stuffed turbo and run closer to 350 or 375 hp. 400 is more in the territory of an upgraded manifold, turbo, etc. to keep reliability intact. Any higher than that and you're risking detonation due to increased timing or boost outside of the compressor map center area.

That's interesting that having a range outside of what the turbo is designed for can cause problems, this is one of those simple, little things that I was asking for because I really didn't know that was something to think about. I'll definitely have to do more research into understanding the compressor maps because that's new to me.

Is 350-370whp even realistic with a stuffed turbo on an automatic? I know we'll get a little bit of the robbed power back with a tcu tune but I haven't seen a reliable figure on how much power the 8at saps after tuning.

Sounds like we might spend a little more than we expected for a proper turbo upgrade 😅

Also if I wasn't clear before, 400 isn't our target. Something in the 330-380 range is completely acceptable and I'd gladly sacrifice 20-30tq and whp for improved longevity.

 

[KingDevinator]

A good video and picture of the stuffed turbo upgrade out of the box.

This was awesome, I hadn't seen this option yet for a drop in kit, seems like a great route to go.