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  1. Intercooler Sandwich - Performance Intercooler Kit Part 5 - Piping Production Sample and Testing

    Intercooler Sandwich - Performance Intercooler Kit Part 5 - Piping Production Sample and Testing

    When it comes to turbocharged cars, the flow of air through the system is just as important as keeping it cool. From the factory, the MK7s do get some extra attention in the performance category, especially when it comes to the GTI and Golf R, but they're never really pushed past what the VW engineers designed them for. Given the popularity of cranking up the boost on any turbo vehicle, especially the 2.0T found under the hood of most modern VWs and Audis, it's no wonder that the stock intercooler piping turns out to be a restriction.

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    Before we dive straight into how our new piping design performs, let's take a look at what it is that makes them perform. As you might recall from our last post, we went into the basics of our intercooler

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  2. Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 4 - Piping Design Plans

    Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 4 - Piping Design Plans

    Big things in small packages have long since been the idea behind the hot-hatch. Smaller, punchy engines in small bodies creating big smiles in the corners is the name of the game, and the GTI wrote the rule book. Now, 44 years later, the seventh iteration is the ideal platform for any enthusiast of fast and practical.

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    For those looking to enhance the sporty Golf even further, you might have already taken notice that we're already on the case by way of cooling the charged air running through your 2.0T. A beefier intercooler is a start, but unfortunately that air doesn't transfer into our intake manifold via osmosis. Naturally, ducting is still required.

    When it comes to designing a new intercooler

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  3. Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 3 - Design Plans

    Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 3 - Design Plans

    Bigger is better has long since been an unofficial mantra of the automotive world. To go faster or further, you have to go bigger. Either by way of more cylinders, bigger turbos, thicker sway bars, the increase in size helps quench the thirst for speed. The Golf GTI and all its subsequent variants have been showing us since 1974 that sometimes smaller can be just as good, and plenty of speed and practicality can come in a condensed package. The same can be said for our intercooler design for the latest generation of VW's compact chassis. It's not the size that matters, but rather the innovation packed inside.

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  4. Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 2 - Piping Stock Review

    Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 2 - Piping Stock Review

    When we're talking about cooling the charged air in any forced induction vehicle, the intercooler always steals the show. To be fair, it is doing a majority of the work. No matter if you're still running a stock unit or if there's an all-aluminum core seated in the front of your car, it's the star. However, the intercooler would be nothing without the back-up band, the intercooler piping. Putting in all the effort to cool off the charged air would be useless without a method to transfer it to the intake. If the stock intercooler unit had some shortcomings, the piping was bound to end up with some flaws, too.

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    The safe passage for your charged air is currently left up to the combination of plastic and rubber construction that makes up the factory piping. It might seem that we're

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  5. Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 1 - Stock Review

    Intercooler Sandwich - 2015+ VW MK7 GTI/Golf R, Audi A/S3 Intercooler R&D Part 1 - Stock Review

    The Golf GTI has been one of the most revered hot hatchbacks since its inception in the mid-1970s. While it was immediately a hit in Europe, and especially the UK, we didn't get the chance to experience Volkswagen's ingenious combination of efficiency and speed until the early 80's with the "Rabbit" GTI. The MK1's screaming 98 horsepower engine boasting Bosch's latest fuel injection technology, combined with crisp and responsive suspension, was enough to draw in a huge following. With that following came an explosion in aftermarket parts for these vehicles, from wheels to lowering kits, and just about any other trick to squeeze every drop of performance from the naturally aspirated motors equipped through the next two generations.

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  6. We Struck Oil - Catch Can R&D, Part 2: The Mock-Up

    We Struck Oil - Catch Can R&D, Part 2: The Mock-Up

    Are you a nerd for up-and-coming tech? I am. Technology is awesome. Let's just start there. It's wild to think that we are approaching the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone's first introduction (June 29, 2007, per the all-knowing Wikipedia). As we enter 2017, autonomous vehicles are gaining mainstream traction, rockets can (sort of) land themselves intact, human

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  7. We Struck Oil - Catch Can R&D, Part 1: Stock System Review

    We Struck Oil - Catch Can R&D, Part 1: Stock System Review

    Oil catch cans are a hotly debated topic, yet one fact is still irrefutable; oil blow-by will always be a real byproduct of the modern direct-injection engine. Intakes, charge pipes, and turbos all come into contact with the stuff over time. Sometimes, even newer, low mileage vehicles develop blow-by issues. With direct injection, fuel is injected directly into the cylinders, eventually resulting in carbon buildup on the valves. This was not an issue with port injection, since fuel injectors were placed in the intake manifold. The air-fuel mixture is sprayed directly on the valves, essentially cleaning them each time an injector fired.

    Carbon and oil buildup in direct-injection engines can negatively impact vital engine components and can result in an expensive fix later down the road. I can go into long, excruciatingly deep detail about the dangers of blow-by, but I've given you the basics of what you should know. For more information, I strongly suggest that you take a look

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  8. The Final Product - MK7 GTI Induction, Part 4

    The Final Product - MK7 GTI Induction, Part 4

    Great news from the Mishimoto garage! We have tested and fitted the final iteration of our airbox design for this prototype MK7 intake. We made some minor adjustments for fitment and ease of installation, but more on that later. This has been an interesting project from the start because of the uniqueness of this box design - check it out!

    Final Intake System

    Once this prototype system was ready to go, we prepared it for final fitting into the MK7. The next step is paint! The final products will be powder coated, with the intake pipe color options ranging from wrinkle black/red powdercoat or chrome polish. So the painted parts below are just for visualization purposes.

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    Prototype MK7 parts drying from paint

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  9. Dyno Testing Results - MK7 GTI Induction, Part 3

    Dyno Testing Results - MK7 GTI Induction, Part 3

    The time has come to test our prototype design for the MK7 intake. After weeks of designing and fabrication, the prototype for this VW is now ready to hit our Dynapack dynamometer so we can collect some data.

    Testing these prototype MK7 GTI parts for overall power output gains over stock is important, so that's the first thing we needed to figure out. The larger diameter piping compared to the stock system provides increased airflow that will have a direct impact on improving power output. This car did happen to come with an aftermarket stage 1 tune on it, so we tested our intake with that software upgrade.

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  10. Box and Pipe Fabrication - MK7 GTI Induction, Part 2

    Box and Pipe Fabrication - MK7 GTI Induction, Part 2

    The prototype for our MK7 GTI intake system will be unique. While designing the airbox, we needed to accommodate the factory mounting points, the battery cable routing, proper filter placement inside the box, and the stock fresh-air inlet scoop. Let's take a look at the gradual progression to a fully functioning prototype!

    We gathered some piping in our garage and tack-welded together an intake tube route. We then sorted through our air filters to locate an appropriate air filter that would fit within the constraints of the airbox we had in mind. The filter will be placed right next to the fresh-air inlet, optimizing the amount of fresh air that will pass through the pipe.

    The Piping

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    MK7 GTI intake prototype
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