Mounts
Although the 2.0T is one of VW's first four cylinder engines to use counter-rotating balancer shafts, the manufacturer is still concerned about vibration and has again used fairly soft engine mounts. We see plenty of engine movement on even moderately hard launches, so decided to install equipment.
We chose VF-Engineering's latest transmission, engine and "dogbone" (pendulum) mounts. These secure the engine more rigidly to make throttle response more immediate.
When installing the mounts, the motor must be positioned exactly as the factory intended, and only remove one mount at a time.
Note: the center Allen bolt that preloads the VF-E mounts needs to remain loose during installation. It should only be tightened once the weight of the engine is on the mount. Failure to do so could cause excessive vibration through the mounts.
Conclusions
With these simple bolt-on mods we weren't predicting huge gains but were pleased with the results. The combination of chip, exhaust and intake saw an average increase of nearly 32hp and 40 lb/ft compared to our baseline numbers, with impressive peak gains of 28hp and 58 lb/ft.
Obviously the GIAC software accounted for most of these gains, but adding the exhaust and the intake proved there's more power to be had by de-restricting the airflow. Individually the parts may not work as well as this, but in combination they're a potent package for less than $2000.
Results
Since the graph is difficult to follow we've broken it down for you. You can see from our table that the stock car produced 177hp and 190 lb/ft.
Once the GIAC software was uploaded it increased to 201 and 230, respectively. Jeff Moss did some calculations and broke this down to average gains from 2500 to 6700rpm by taking a reading every 100rpm and dividing to get an average. Doing this he found the chip gave an average increase throughout the range of 27.8hp and 34.7 lb/ft over stock.
Jeff felt the increase could've been more but there's a drop from 4000-4500rpm where the fuel pump is running at maximum. The turbo can supply more air but fuel delivery can't keep pace so power drops slightly. The power curve then declines after 4500 because the turbo is now at maximum boost and can't spin faster, suggesting a turbo upgrade and bigger fuel pump would resolve many of our issues.