VW K03 turbo?
 

Hi im a newb to homemadeturbo.com and its pretty cool tons of info that im going to use very soon. right now im getting all the pieces in need to do my own turbo and i have a friend that has a K03 turbo from his 2000 golf 1.8t. its in good shape and i think that im gonna buy it from him but i dont know if it will bolt up to an hf manifold or not. does anyone know anything about this turbo? when it was in his golf it spooled fast and pulled hard. it would only hold around 1 bar but im only going to run 10 psi or less. anyways i am just curious if anyone has had any experience with this turbo. thanxz

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

No turbo will bolt directly to the HF manifold, an adapter plate will be needed, (fabricated) I have only looked at those turbos, never tried them.. but they are small enough, and will probabaly work just fine on a d-series, what you need to find out next is what the internal wastegate is set at (without factory boost solinoid controllers)

Jeff

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

im not sure what the wastgate is set at and frankly im not sure if the 1.8t uses one or if it is electronic.i say this because my buddy put an ARD chip in his golf in order to raise the boost from the stock 8PSI to 1 bar. so im thinkin that its electronicly controlled, but if im wrong what should i look for on the turbo itslelf in order to see if it has an internal wastegate? im sure that the factory setting will work okay since his car was at 7-8 psi stock.. thanxz for the reply!

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

it has an internal wastegate.
My neighbour just bought one..it looks really small though.
looks more like a thin Donut. It's really really small...smaller than a T25.
I was really surprised.

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

the one that my buddy has in his golf isnt that small, he replaced it with a t3\t4 and the k03 wasnt that much smaller than the new turbo, im really wondering if it would be a good turbo or if i should just go with the t25 or something. the car is going to be built more for drag racing than anything. my buddy put down 284 hp and 312 tq to the wheels before he upgraded the turbo, (that was at 1.0 bar)

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

Sounds good, its worth a shot!

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

hmmm could be your buddy's K03 has bigger A/R's.
Use the K03 then, cause if it's almost as big as the T3/T4 than it deffinately is bigger than a T25.
Good luck with your setup

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

hey thanxz for your input i will give it a shot why not right?! im not sure how big the k03 is compared to teh t25 because i havent seen a t25 thats why i was wondering if anyone had come across both of them or if they had knowledge if one was a better turbo than the other..anywyas thanxz for the input i appreciate it!

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

The K03 is a fair bit smaller than a t25.

Used a K03 on my 1.4 8v, spools pretty fast, and pulls strong in the mid range.

My wastegate was set at .3 bar that 4.5 psi when i installed the turbo, far as i know it hadn't been modified.

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

I looked a long time at buying an audi 1.8t and i must say that the KO3 is one tiny turbo(tech in it dates back to the 70's) although that is not the reason i did not get one. The 1.8T is only 150hp stock and at a full 14psi the 1.8t is less than 200hp. Most 1.8t ppl upgrade to a t3/t4 gt30 or a KO4 right away. Judging from he K03 numbers is has to be tiny plus when you see one in person you will probably see what i am talking about. I am pretty sure the K03 runs out of breath as people say at about 5500 rpms when it is cranked up to 14psi. The ko3 does not lat as long a this boost pressure but at 14psi it puts out okay power..but i suggest you get a bigger turbo.

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

yeah, I have some 1.8t buddies,
one with a TOTALLY maxed out one, he says it comes
with 10psi stock(but i duno what the ecu does with that).
and he was running like 19psi.
definetely ran out of breath ,but spooled quick.

and that car is FAST AS FUKK,
it was on a jetta, and both the jetta and golf are heavy ass ------- cars, his was a high 13/low14 car(kicked the crap out of a new ITR with all the boltons).

they run 14's stock,
I think this turbo would kick butt on a dseries

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

I would go with a bigger turbo on a D-series though.
But you can go with it if you ain't got much money.
I like a bigger turbo so you don't have to boost that much to get to the 200 hp range

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

okay well i got some more info on the turbo and its a ko3 sport. im not sure of trim levels yet (does it say on the turbo itself what the trim levels are?) and the guy will sell me the k03 and his 310 injectors and all the oil lines and all teh crap with the turbo and some other misc. stuff he has for 150 bones. he also has the old manifold so that i can have a template for a flange. i think that its a smokin deal so i think im gonna do it.

oh yea about how fast it was, the guy had a 00' golf 1.8t and he ran 12.1 @ 117 with the stock ko3 (he upgraded shortly after) he was running 1 bar constant with peaks around 1.5 bar. at 2700 rpm it would break the tires loose in 1st and keep em spinnin all the way till 4rth. his car had mad balls.

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

it is a small turbo but that is a sweet deal i would definantly take that deal. This must be a special kO3 cause i did tons of research on the 1.8t and a 1 bar KO3 turbo still gave about 215hp http://www.goapr.com/VW/products/ecu...e_golf18t.html. I am not sure how a golf can run a 12.1 with those kind of hp numbers. I assume even with many other upgrades ther is no way he got over 250 unless by spikes to 1.5 bar you mean almost always ran 1.5. And just to let you know i would not run the ko3 at over 14psi(1bar) because even at 1 bar the turbo gets alot of wear(not my opinion has been posted many places) above that it will not last long. If he really ran those numbers at the track i would be more than suprised but i would love to know how he did it if he is telling the truth. Must have gutted his car turned it up to 1.5 bar or more and put on slicks even then 12.1 is real tough and hard to believe as APR's golf only ran 12.6 with a turbo upgrade!!! (stage 3 turbo )
http://www.goapr.com/VW/products/pics_video_tvs3.html#

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

good deal ... take it man.
And have fun boosting..

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

okay well this is what i know about my buddys car, its a 00' golf 1.8t, stock k03, FMIC, 2.5 intercooler piping, (all piping from the turbo to the intake) greddy BOV, 1 bar chip (not sure of the manufacturer, i think abt?) apex afc, 3 in downpipe, 3 in exhaust, (open exhuast at the track) 26x10x15 slicks, 75 shot NX. on the dyno with no nitrous it put down 284 hp. i have seen the dyno sheet and it was on a dynojet. i have also seen the time slips off 12.1 i think he may have run a 12.0. he is a member of several vw boards and allways has the fastest 1.8t. there are 2 other 1.8ts in my town that have copied his setup and run deep 13's..(oh yea i live in boise idaho and the track is 2300ft above sea level.) i will try and get some of his dyno and time slips from him to post! ;)

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

wow i am super impressed ..only people i have seen lay down those numbers is people with gt30 turbos that puy down like 300. I did not realize that he had Nitrous. 284 at the wheels with a ko3 at 1 bar is unreal. APR(Audi performance racing) is one of the industry leaders in Audis and their 1bar ko3 only puts out 215 at the wheels. He must have real nice custom work done and maybe he has tuned it perfect. I am super impressed really makes me wish i could have convinced my dad that audi's aren't bad(he got some notion they were not reliable). I cant believe he didnt upgrade to the ko4 right away.

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

The audi A3 hatchbacks look really nice.
A bit big and heavy though, but they're nice.
Have them in quattro version to.
They're expensive though

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

yea the car was way fast, and he did upgrade fast. he blew the tranny with only 3k on the car and the at 6k he put the new turbo on, t3\t4 and new injectors , 450's, and new clutch flywheel, and LSD. he hasnt had the car running very well for the last few months but he has been running down like 13 check engine codes. the golf didnt like the stage three upgrade that he did. he has it runnning decent now and he took it to the track a couple weeks ago and ran a 12.7 turbo only (no NOS) but after that weekend the car is smoking and cylinder one is way down on compression..time to replace the head gasket.
i was very supprised at how fast it is also...and so were many vettes, firebirds (Ws6's), cobras and one slow viper!

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

lol ...man i wish i could have seen the face on the viper guy or anybody with a fast car out at the track when a golf had a 12 sec. pass!!! I mean that must have been priceless..as for the owner of the golf i bet he felt all his time and effort tuning was more than worth it!!

Re:VW K03 turbo?
 

Yeah 1.8t`s rock. Just imagine the new R-32