GTI TURBO. Oil cooler. Intercooler

[Bilkob]

Firstly thanks to C-GAT crankcase breather cleaned out, car still cuts out when hot, etc........

A couple of questions,
Has anyone ever fitted an after market oil cooler to a GTI Turbo 1 , or seen/heard if it's possible?
Also, is it remotely possible to fit an intercooler to a T1?????? or far easier to fit all the T2 bits?

[wurlycorner]

There is already an oil cooler in T1. Its a sandwich type cooler, behind the oil filter, using engine coolant to cool the oil. The sump is also finned to aid cooling (but yes, the oil does run at a good temp when you are hussling along on boost...)

I always found the engine ran both cooler and more fuel efficiently at 80mph, than 70mph - because it would sit at 80 off boost, but was on boost at 70. Obviously that solution has other drawbacks though

What are you trying to achieve with an intercooler? If it's to try and cure an overheating / cutting out when hot problem, then all that would achieve is masking the true cause of the fault - because the T1 is designed to operate normally, without one.

If it's just about trying to achieve better performance than oem, then may be worth a go. Should be possible to fit an aftermarket cooler, but might not be straight forward. The T2 uses a different turbo to the T1, which may include the outlet being in a different position, to aid connection to intercooler plumbing. T1 setup might make that a pain..? (don't know, haven't compared them back-back, although I could do on Saturday morning if you would like, since I have one of each sat in front of one another at my barn )

[Bilkob]

Yes, I'd forgotten about the oil/water 'heater ...!
It just feels that it gets a bit hot and flustered after a long run
Re the intercooler, was just wondering if anyone has done this on a T1. I love mine so much now, the grunt is addictive and would like more!

[wurlycorner]

I'm thinking you really won't notice much improvement (if any) power wise just by fitting an intercooler on a cx.
It's a pretty simple/crude beast tbh. You can increase boost a bit without it having problems with running lean. That can be achieved just by stripping the wastegate and inserting a washer behind the spring (that was part of the maikonics mod).

Neil Hotham definitely the expert in GTi Turbo tuning mods though!!!

[Bilkob]

Has anyone done the wastegate washer mod? What thickness washer?

[wurlycorner]

I recall it being discussed yonks ago in cx-l, but sadly there is no archive online of those posts I think?nn Not sure if you can search the google groups site? (I forget)
Failing which Neil may be able to advise.

You can always start very thin and slowly shim it up. I think you need to invest in some gaskets though, so you can be sure of reassembling the wastegate properly (it's a VAG part).
I've always assumed it can be done with the wastegate still fitted to the car.