Today we begin disassembly and installation of the VF manifold and GT28RS turbo.

The work is pretty straightforward and thankfully there's a decent amount of room between the turbo, downpipe and the engine firewall.

Looking at the pics below, you can see the difference in size between the two turbos. The GT28RS is hardly a big turbo (it's best suited for smaller engines and with the 60mm compressor it will max out at about 360 crank horsepower [chp]). It's only when it's compared to the original puny K03 that it looks so mighty. Why has VW chosen such a tiny OE turbo? From their perspective (seeking 200-chp and zero turbo lag) it does its job and does it well. VW is well aware of the K03's lack of headroom and in fact they have larger turbos to use in their higher hp 2.0TFSI applications (S3, TT-S, 30AE GTI, etc.)

VF has chosen the GT28 turbo with 60mm compressor for its quick spool and efficient boost curve, and it is extremely well suited to this application. For those looking for even more power, the VF/GIAC RS/R kit will soon be available and that kit forgoes the 2860's 60mm compressor for the 71mm compressor found in the 2860's larger brother, the GT2871. In addition to the larger turbo, the RS/R kit comes with upgraded rods and pistons and is good for enough boost to yield approximately 400-chp.

Now that the bigger turbo is installed on the GLI, next up is installing the new fuel injectors, fuel pump, and whatever else time permits.