New MS3 owner, have some questions regarding KR and LTFT

Hello!
I recently purchased a 2013 MS3 with 76k miles on the clock. The previous owner claimed to have done a full Cobb stage 1+ on the car, but upon further inspection, I noticed the turbo inlet pipe was stock and the airbox shroud was not installed. It does have the rear motor mount, the cone filter and pipe, and the HPFP internals installed. He would have done this about 3 years ago I believe. Was the Cobb stage 1+ a different package at the time (did not include the inlet pipe and airbox at the time?)

Regarding KR, I changed the gauges on the access port to monitor some things I wanted to monitor, and noticed that when feathering the clutch into 1st or 2nd gear, my KR will peak into the 2.5-3 range. The KR remains dead 0.0 on a WOT pull. This is relatively inconsistent; it will range anywhere from .5 to 3.0 at peak. Could this possibly be ghost knock due to vibrations from the rear motor mount being stiffer? Or is this something to worry about?

Regarding LTFT, I noticed that at Idle it generally stays around +8.5 and peaking at +9.5, but during a WOT pull it is 0.0 flat. Could this be caused by the Cobb stage 1+ tune being applied without the inlet pipe being installed? Or should I be worried about a vacuum leak and smoke test my intake?

Given the inlet pipe is not installed, would it be possible to safely load basemap on the car and see if the problem values go away, or would I be risking boost creep due to the Cobb cone filter and pipe?

Also, I have one step colder NGK Iridium spark plugs on the way that I will gap to .026 to see if that resolves the KR Issue. If it does, Ill update the thread.

Sorry if I sound like an idiot, I'm young and this is my first forced induction car, learning a lot but still a lot to learn haha.

 

Return the colder plugs you don't need them. You only care about wot kr anything else is just the ecu trying to be as lean as possible

Are you using an ots cobb map? If so you need a etune ASAP as those maps are garbage

 

@Easter Bunny Yes, the current map is ots Cobb. I'm planning to use this as my daily and honestly don't really care about having any performance gains over stock. Would I be better off just returning to stock base map? And would it be safe to do so with the Cobb cone filter and intake pipe? (turbo inlet is stock). Also is the LTFT at idle anything to be concerned about? I own a smoke tester, so it wouldn't be a hassle to just smoke test it.

 

You can't run a stock tune because the cobb intake is the only stock sized one that throws a cel on stock tune for gen 2

Honestly just get an etune and tell them you want something very safe

 

Okay, super good to know. What I'll probably do is get Cobb's airbox (so I'm not just sucking warm engine bay air in) and then smoke test just to make sure I don't have a vac leak. I'll return the NGK iridium 6510s and pick up some 6509s or OEMs. I'll look into an etune, any suggestions for who I should go to? Thanks man!

 

I wouldn't bother with the airbox

Pull a plug and see what they look like you can probably just regap them to 0.027 and be fine

Get a tune from freektune or purple drank

 

Gap should be 0.027"
Ngk 6509 is good
Go with freektune or purple drank. Justin / will are top tier.
Ive been freektuned for over 100k and 9 years now still driving beautifully, heck even a freektune ots map would go a long way as he will actually do 1-2 revisions to make sure MAF cal is done for you. Speaking from experience it is amazing the feel of that over stock or Cobb maps

 

Gotcha guys, good to know. I'll pick up some NGK 6509s and reach out to freektune shortly. I appreciate all the help and support, you guys just taught me a lot!