Dyno day fun with the local VW FB group. One of the guys found a dyno in an unsuspecting place a bit out of town but the custom fab/muscle car guys were great – they were impressed with the power the smaller turbo cars put down. We were told that the Dynojet fwd dyno was typically a “heart breaker” and conservative and I’d say based on the other cars there/stated power numbers of those car this is accurate. About 80 degrees or so in the shop and about 550’ msl. We each got 2 runs. Coolest was a '71 Beatle that impressively put down about ~120whp on a built engine and lost some people some money betting. Biggest power I saw was a GTI with custom EQT tune and Vortex standard turbo in with various fueling/bolt-ons - about 380whp complete with big flames. FBO S3 put down 320whp on an EQT stage 2 93 tune (had an issue where it shifted when it wasn't supposed to do this is low) and the R put down 340 on an EQT stage 1 E30 tune with no hardware except an intake. The MK8 GTI with a JB4 piggyback tune did 270whp and 350wtq which shocked everyone – he was having some issues with the traction control/dyno mode/speed limiter. Finally, a big-block 454 ’65 Chevy did it and sounded/smelled amazing!
My IS38 FBO Unitronic GSW running E22? 293/292 which is in-line with the tuners stated crank numbers when you back out drivetrain loss and jives with recent drag racing-derived power figures calc’ing it just shy of 300 in hotter weather. I’ve calc’d anywhere from 290s-340s from ¼ trap speed and weight data in varying temps.
If you ever do this keep in mind these numbers are “what they are” and likely won’t match what the tuner or other folks that have dyno’d have done, it’s dyno-specific and really is there as a tool to show how tunes/mods are impacting the car. The one fellow with a high-powered GTI thought he would be over 400 and was a bit disappointed but he was the highest power car of the day while I was there. If you look at the numbers above relative to one another (which is the only way you can really use them), I’m about ~50 less than an EQT tuned R and ~100 less than the bigger power GTI which is pretty impressive for the 1.8 wagon and is about right/jives with what other similar cars online in terms of relative power numbers.
I logged it during one of the runs and the log looks perfect. No KR. Timing/boost/IAT/lamda/etc. values all where they should be.
If you dyno on a fwd dyno with the Haldex awd cars – do yourself a favor and unplug the Haldex unit. It’s under the backseat, left/driver side…remove the rubber grommet then remove the plastic cover (yank hard!) then remove the plug from it’s bracket and unclip/unplug it. You’ll get a bunch of codes you’ll need to clear. I also ran mine in dyno mode – key on/wait for dash lights to turn off/turn on hazards/push gas pedal 5x (think ‘80s Nintendo cheat codes). An S3 that didn’t do this had the r. wheel chirp at one point so high-pucker moment!
To bring in the oil/BITOG bit - this is with HPL Euro PCMO formula 5W40 that has about 4K miles on it and has honestly been beat the death - ~40 1/4+1/8 mile drag runs in the summer heat, 3x dyno pulls, and a trip to GA with tons of "full send" mountain hooning. Will be a good test of how bad ass HPL oil is!!!
Video of one of my dyno runs on my channel here:
My IS38 FBO Unitronic GSW running E22? 293/292 which is in-line with the tuners stated crank numbers when you back out drivetrain loss and jives with recent drag racing-derived power figures calc’ing it just shy of 300 in hotter weather. I’ve calc’d anywhere from 290s-340s from ¼ trap speed and weight data in varying temps.
If you ever do this keep in mind these numbers are “what they are” and likely won’t match what the tuner or other folks that have dyno’d have done, it’s dyno-specific and really is there as a tool to show how tunes/mods are impacting the car. The one fellow with a high-powered GTI thought he would be over 400 and was a bit disappointed but he was the highest power car of the day while I was there. If you look at the numbers above relative to one another (which is the only way you can really use them), I’m about ~50 less than an EQT tuned R and ~100 less than the bigger power GTI which is pretty impressive for the 1.8 wagon and is about right/jives with what other similar cars online in terms of relative power numbers.
I logged it during one of the runs and the log looks perfect. No KR. Timing/boost/IAT/lamda/etc. values all where they should be.
If you dyno on a fwd dyno with the Haldex awd cars – do yourself a favor and unplug the Haldex unit. It’s under the backseat, left/driver side…remove the rubber grommet then remove the plastic cover (yank hard!) then remove the plug from it’s bracket and unclip/unplug it. You’ll get a bunch of codes you’ll need to clear. I also ran mine in dyno mode – key on/wait for dash lights to turn off/turn on hazards/push gas pedal 5x (think ‘80s Nintendo cheat codes). An S3 that didn’t do this had the r. wheel chirp at one point so high-pucker moment!
To bring in the oil/BITOG bit - this is with HPL Euro PCMO formula 5W40 that has about 4K miles on it and has honestly been beat the death - ~40 1/4+1/8 mile drag runs in the summer heat, 3x dyno pulls, and a trip to GA with tons of "full send" mountain hooning. Will be a good test of how bad ass HPL oil is!!!
Video of one of my dyno runs on my channel here:
Last edited: