[Mark M]

What type of metal stock are you using as a blanking plate? Or was it a customed fabricated piece?

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Show us pics and locations whenever you come around

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by Mark M

What type of metal stock are you using as a blanking plate? Or was it a customed fabricated piece?

From what I had read having a blank on the intake side was much less thermal stress than on the exhaust side. I had some 1mm thick steel plate on hand, was easy to work with, and so I used that. Mild steel has a melting point of +2500 F which should be enough to keep it from melting open...

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by Puerto Rican 335d

Show us pics and locations whenever you come around

pic back on post #109.

[Hoooper]

Yeah if you get melting of that steel you'll have melting of your turbos and just about everything else as well.

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by TDIwyse

So far running with the EGR blanking plate is producing the exact type of operating condition response I was hoping for... Car's reported mpg's are better than the remap by itself (which was better than stock) when the EGR was still opening. Will be doing some long holiday driving coming up and will do hand calculated confirmation on this.

If they can get the remap to not set a code with the simple blanking plate I'd be happy this setup.

Did 730 mls over the last two days driving out to and back from Omaha almost all at 70-75mph on interstate. Had a 15-20 mph head/cross wind on the way out with temps 15-22 F, and a 10-15mph head/cross wind on the way back (f'ing head wind both ways) with temps a bit warmer at 25-35 F. Car returned hand calculated 41.6mpg and 42.8mpg respectively. Quite happy with these numbers considering the conditions.

[Mark M]

Wow. Very very impressive stats. Any issues with the EGR cooler building too much heat and or risk of cracking due to the mod? How many mpg improvement do you estimate the mod is good for?

[ewodzien]

Thank you TDIWyse for your extremely informative posts! I, for one, really appreciate you "taking one for the team". It is trailblazers like you who really make this community great!

-Ed

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by Mark M

Wow. Very very impressive stats. Any issues with the EGR cooler building too much heat and or risk of cracking due to the mod? How many mpg improvement do you estimate the mod is good for?

Thanks for those kind words ewodzien.

Mark, No issues with the EGR cooler or blanking plate yet. But the engine hasn't been seeing aggressive driving except for short full fueling tests, and the weather is cold.

This car has made the same Thanksgiving trip 3 yrs in a row now with the same winter tire setup each time. Looking at my mileage spreedsheet and comparing historical weather data from www.wunderground.com for the mid-point city on this drive shows the following.

2012 - Trip out: 38.3mpg with 50-60F temps and ~15mph cross winds. Trip back: 37.8mpg with 28-32F temps and gusting 15-25mph cross/tail winds. No snow/rain either day.

2011 - Trip out: 37.4mpg with 40-60F temps and ~10mph cross winds. Trip back: 40.5mpg with 45-55F temps and ~15mph cross/tail winds. No snow/rain either day.

2012 trip had the Evolve remap. 2011 was with JBD and no remap. 2013 Ecotune with EGR blank.

There seems to be even more mpg benefits in lighter loaded conditions (like on the 55mph county roads) where the car would use extremely high rates of EGR to maintain minimum EGT's for the exhaust system components. No hand calculated data on these conditions yet.

[TDIwyse]

Ecotune says they can hard code out the particular codes that are thrown with the blocking plate so the SES light won't come on. I may send the DDE back again to give it a try. Unless someone else wants to give this a try?

[Mark M]

Did they say if that would alter the check sum function the dealers use to insure you haven't altered the software? Guessing it would. Waiting till I eventually get mine back from the dealer.

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by Mark M

Did they say if that would alter the check sum function the dealers use to insure you haven't altered the software? Guessing it would. Waiting till I eventually get mine back from the dealer.

Didn't ask and they didn't say. There has been the same "shadow code" with both the Evolve and Ecotune remaps that show up on the Bavarian Technic tool that doesn't show up on an OBD code check.

[BB_cuda]

Any word on bypass pipe from Scotland? I'm still in on a group buy. They did a 3d image on your DPF to get inlet and outlet locations, right?

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by BB_cuda

Any word on bypass pipe from Scotland? I'm still in on a group buy. They did a 3d image on your DPF to get inlet and outlet locations, right?

I don't have any more info on an ETA for the US version of the downpipe. My understanding from Stan is that he has the info he needs to make it. I'm not sure what process they used to get that info.

I have confirmed with him that he can deal with the specific codes generated when the EGR blanking plate is in place. Looking into re-sending the DDE out to get re-flashed again to fix those. If that fixes the recurring codes then I'd consider this whole adventure a success and a path to killing The Carbon Monster.

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Wohoo that sounds great

[dixy2k]

TDIwyse,
Do we need to have the ECU flashed by Evolve in case we opt for the downpipe or could it be any other tuner (Renntech for example)?


General questions...
1) Will there be a problem with the smog check after installing the downpipe?
2) How would you sell the car knowing the emissions have been tampered with?
a) disclose everything to the buyer (it makes moral sense to me)
b) have all the OEM placed back on the car?

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by dixy2k

TDIwyse,
Do we need to have the ECU flashed by Evolve in case we opt for the downpipe or could it be any other tuner (Renntech for example)?


General questions...
1) Will there be a problem with the smog check after installing the downpipe?
2) How would you sell the car knowing the emissions have been tampered with?
a) disclose everything to the buyer (it makes moral sense to me)
b) have all the OEM placed back on the car?

At this point I do not think Evolve offers a DPF delete remap for the North American 335d/X5d from my last email correspondence with them ~1-2 months ago. The only ones I'm aware of are Ecotech and the Canadian Megaspeed representative. There may be others I'm not aware of.

1.) Probably depends on what the check involves in your area. If its an OBD only check, then it's likely this shouldn't be a problem. Haven't seen any codes related to the DPF removal. Still working the EGR stuff. If there's a visual check, then seeing the DPF canister not being there might be a problem. Or, you could possibly cut open and physically remove the DPF portion and weld the cover back on and re-install. Then its visually "stock".

2.) Choose a. Even if you do b, you should also do a. If you do b, you would also need to remap the DDE back, otherwise the DPF will plug very quickly.

[dixy2k]

I probably got confused between Evolve and Ecotech.
I meant the one developing the downpipe for us.

[TDIwyse]

I meant Ecotune, not Ecotech. Was having a discussion about the Ecotech engines with someone else just before responding...

[dixy2k]

Is it possible to have the power raised too while "tuning out" the DPF?
Are they compatible with Renntech as far as the HP/TQ numbers are concerned?

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Good question Dixy will send this link to Lenny at RENNtech

[TDIwyse]

Originally Posted by dixy2k

Is it possible to have the power raised too while "tuning out" the DPF?
Are they compatible with Renntech as far as the HP/TQ numbers are concerned?

Their standard remap also raises power/tq levels. I'm seeing similar numbers as the Evolve remap gave. Both raised the "Desired Torque" commanded in the DDE to 700 Nm's from the stock levels of ~575 Nm. Previously with the Evolve remap the DDE's reported "Actual" torque couldn't get to the 700 Nm's at the higher rpm's. With the DPF removed the DDE is able to maintain the "Desired" levels longer in the rpm range. Using the simple Android Torque app for baseline measurements shows ~15-20 more hp at higher rpm's than previously measured (includes the remap some of my custom stuff). Will have to wait until next Spring to get to the track to test. And the local dyno operator has a shop full of trucks he's working on, one of which is blocking the dyno, so I haven't been able to get in there yet.