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There is something that caught my eyes. I was currently running a Superchips tune called Bluefin. Till now I didn’t have any issues with the tune, but I needed more. I came across two tuning brands, APR and REVO. These were the tuner brands with the biggest following. APR is more set on selling kits and running there tunes with there kits. REVO’s model was a bit different. You could do your own setup. Run the tune that suites your setup and change the settings of the software to suit what you have.
As it would be a waste to just go from one tuner Stage 2 to another I decided I wanted to go to REVO STAGE 2+. The difference between the tunes is that stage 2 plus runs a higher boost in the lower to mid-range region. This is the region where you would find max torque. With the REVO stage 2 tune, you can get up to 199kW and 403Nm Torque if you have all the required equipment fitted. The REVO stage 2+ will give you up to 206kW and 423Nm.
So what did I need to go REVO Stage 2+
As the Golf 5 GTI already had a stage 2 tune on it I already had most of the requirements. The only part that I was short was the High-Pressure fuel pump. Is the pump a must, yes it is. Up to stage 2 tunes, the fuel pressure at lower to mid-range is high but not that high. With a stage 2+ tune, the pressure will reach 130 Bar. With a stage 2 tune, you will already sit on the limit of what the pump can supply.
You will find that with some stage 2 tunes you will run into fuel\boost cuts. I have instances that that has happened to me. The High-pressure fuel pump is a mechanical pump that is driven off the cam. The higher the engine speed the more volume it can deliver which means it can do higher pressures.
The standard pump cannot reach the 130 bar at the lower to mid-range region. The only way to get the pressures up is to run an upgraded High-Pressure Fuel Pump or commonly known as HPFP. There is a lot of pumps out there but the is only 2 I would recommend, the Autotech and the APR pump. The Autotech is the cheaper option of the two as that is only the internals of the pump and you could replace it yourself.
Installing the Autotech fuel pump
I did the Autotech fuel pump install on a Saturday morning, it went fairly quickly. There is a step by step installation with the pump but the internet is also full of step by step instructions. The most common advice is to try not to touch the ground shaft with your bare hands. It could cause issues as the oils on your hands could cause the shaft to rust. The shaft is precision ground to the housing and there is no seal the shaft. It makes a mechanical seal because of the high pressures. If the shaft should start to rust from hand oil contamination it could cause the pump to seize.
Just fitting the uprated pump will not affect your fuel pressure. The fuel pressure is controlled by the ECU. You have to run the stage 2+ tune to benefit from the pump. I drove around for a few days before I could take the car in for the tune. I was very excited to go REVO tune on the car. This would open up a few possibilities for me.
Going to get the REVO stage 2+ tune installed
I got the tuner’s shop and he loaded the software on the car. He took the car for a drive so that they could run logs and see where to put the settings. He started off with lower settings. The first time he put his foot down and the boost came in the car started splattering. This was weird. They came back and changed out the spark plugs and coil packs. The Golf kept on splattering. They fitted my coil packs and spark plugs back on the car. The tuner put the tune back to standard as this was a function the tune had. The car ran fine. As soon as you enable performance settings the car would splatter.
The only problem that the tuner could think of is that one of my standard injectors was faulty. Under the higher fuel pressure, it would leak and cause the car to splatter. My options were to get a new set of injectors for the car and come back for them to put the stage 2+ tune back on the car.
So what now?
The tuner loaded a standard Golf 5 GTI tune on the golf so that I would not sit with the splatter issue. I had to go think about what I want to do. I didn’t want to waste money on a new set of standard injectors. Buying a second-hand set was also out of the question as these injectors could potentially have the same issue.
I was looking forward to running the REVO stage 2+ tune and now I was back to standard. What should I do?
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