GFB DV+ diverter valve upgrade

I've conducted a long research about the common problems of a 2.0 TFSI stock diverter valve and finally decided to upgrade it with the Australian GFB DV+ diverter valve kit.

GFB DV+ kit

This kit enhances the stock valve by adding both the performance and reliability. It has a many positive feedback’s around the world.

This video is describes its working principle.


Odometer: 47,200 km.

APR Stage II+FP

The downpipe was fitted and ECU flashed with the new Stage II+FP program.

APR downpipe

APR catalytic converter

The purpose of the specialized downpipe is to remove the stock exhaust system flow restriction, wich in turn is allowing to gain more boost from turbocharger and to produce more power and torque on the whole rev range, especially on its high section.
Catalytic convertor ensures that the level of emissions is conforms to Euro standards.

Odometer: 46,800 km

Intake air filter cleaning

It's recommended to clean air filter at least each 30K km.
I decided to clean the filter after 25K km. after performing preliminary checks at 15 and 20K km.
The clean process for the foam ITG filter, that located under the hood of VWR cold air intake is simply enough. Just followed the instructions of the filter manufacturer.
Its very important to exactly follow these instructions, if you want to keep you filter (and the engine) safe and working for a long time.

The foam filter need to be oiled with special foam air filter oil. I used this one from Castrol:

Foam Air Filter Oil

 After the cleaning and oiling, the filter was returned to its intake box.

By the way, if you want to see how to clean air foam filter by yourself, you're welcome to follow this link. Thanks to vwgolf.net.au forum member Lucas_R.

Odometer: 44,100 km.

VW Shifter Bushing Set

In order to improve gear shifting experience even further I installed VW Shifter Bushing Set, that suitable for VWR quick shifter. The shifter itself was already installed before.

42 Draft Designs "VW Shifter Bushing Set"

In a performance situation, the factory rubber bushings flex causing a delay in the gears engagement. This bushing set from 42 Draft Designs eliminate this delay and provide a precision shift free of slop or hesitation.

Bushing is settled on the side end-link: just before installing it

Shifter with end links installed

Installation process is pretty simple and straightforward. You may see the it in the following DIY video:

My feeling, that this upgrade is worth its money. Gear shifts became more sharp and clear now.

Odometer: 44,000 km.

Suspension upgrade

The time of suspension tuning is come.

I decided to improve a bit my Cupra's road behaviour. The goal was to get less body rolls, more precise response to steering wheel and as result - get a quicker cornering speed.

Eibach B12 Sportline kit and APR anti-sway bars became my choice.

The set is ready for install

Front suspension installed

 Each anti-sway bar has 3 rigidity settings that can be adjusted according to the driver requirements. I wanted to reduce a car's under-steering a little, so as an initial setup I putted a front bar to its soft setting and rear to the middle rigidity.
After testing this setup on the track I decided to leave these settings. They are perfect for the daily driver.

Rear suspension installed

Before

After

The car response to steering wheel is much more precisely now, especially in high speed cornering - it's just going to the desired direction and perform this almost without any delays. Its allowing a slight sliding inside the corners and it easily controlled with accelerator and steering wheel -  the car is continuing to advance into the right direction. Car responses to the direction change is quite fast.
Driving comfort almost not affected, comparing to the stock suspension: it's slightly shaky on bumpy road, but not so much. Also, I think that the overall car look is better now.
Now it is much more fun to drive it on winding roads. Also surprisingly, the car is very calm now in the straight line on high speed.

In conclusion:
This kit is a solid addition to the car's road grip ability. I'm more than happy with this upgrade.

Odometer: 42,500 km.

40K service

We're passed 40K km.
This is the regular oil change service, but it was done with some little additions.

Oil: Engine oil (Valvoline SynPower 5W-40, VW 502 00).
Filter: Mann HU 719/6x.

Also, the cam follower was replaced with the new one.
I'll show you comparison, that may be interesting for the 2.0 TFSI car owners. Two cam followers, that you can see in the picture below, passed 20K km.

Cam followers after 20K km.

The left one worked harder, because of HPFP upgrade. In general, the higher fuel pressure leads to the higher wear of the cam follower. The right one was installed prior to this upgrade and worked with the stock fuel pressure.

The brake fluid was changed from standard DOT4 to ATE TYP200 DOT4.

ATE TYP200 brake fluid

 Its advantage is higher boiling point, then stock fluid, that critical in the hard working conditions. Also the suggested change interval for this fluid is 3 years as opposed to only 2 years for the stock DOT4.

The brake lines was changed to stainless steel ones from HEL performance.  

HEL brake lines

This line kit eliminate that 'spongy' feeling often found with rubber hoses under extreme braking condition. 

That's all for now.

VWR Quickshift Gearchange

This is the simple modification, that will bring you another level of changing the gears. It may shorten the travel of the gear-lever by around 25% for quicker and more accurate changes.

VWR Short Shifter. The box.

The short shifter fits on top of the gearbox, replacing the stock gear selection mechanism.
It looks very similar to the stock shifter. The difference is, that now you may adjust the gear-level travel from 0% to 25% shorter than the stock shifter. This is "shift-travel" alignment is achieved by adjusting the position of bolt #3 in the picture below.

Package content

You may shorten it travel up to 25% or leave it as is in the stock. The point is, that even if you leave it "as is" before it'll give you more accurate gear change, probably because it comes with the metal sideshift plate #2 in the contrast with the stock sideshift, which comes with the shitty-plastic plate (Hey! SEAT, WTF?) as you may see in the picture below:

Stock gearbox shifter

I like this small, but very nice upgrade. Changing the gear has become more clear and fun then before.
More info about this quick-shifter: Volkswagen Racing website.

 Odometer: 33,100 km

30K service

The car is passed the next milestone: 30,000 km.

It's a service time! So what has been done?
Engine oil (Valvoline SynPower 5W-40, VW 502 00) , oil filter, cabin filter. I use the Mann filters.

Mann oil filter package

Engine air intake filter was changed at 19K km, so it was no reason to touch it now.
The spark plugs changed to it's performance version: NGK 2667 BKR7EIX

NGK BKR7EIX  iridium spark plugs

Also the coils are changed to the R8 coils: 06E905115E.

R8 coil pack

These, in pair with the NGK iridium plugs is suitable for powerful TFSI engines and capable give very stable spark especially at high engine RPM's.

PCV valve was changed to the latest (at this moment) revision: 06F129101R.

PCV valve for 2.0 TFSI

 Odometer: 30,020 km

New tires

It wasn't in my plans to change the tires now, but due to the puncture that was very close to another one on the same tire, I decided to move to the new tires set.

The Nitto Invo tyres has been choosen. They have a reasonable price and very good road performance at the dry and wet.

Nitto Invo. The page from the catalog.

Nitto Invo. Just before the install.

Nitto Invo installed on my Cupra.

And after the ride of 2000 km I would say, that they worth the money.

Odometer: 28,600 km.