Project IS38 Wagon by Unitronic - Part Three

Time has finally come to see how much power our Alltrack makes now that we’ve installed the IS38 Turbo and supporting Unitronic Hardware in part two of the series. In this third and final installment of the IS38 Wagon series, we’ll flash the vehicle with the help of our UniConnect+ Cable and Performance Software, dyno test it with our very own MAHA chassis dynamometer and give your our impressions of the vehicle now that it has received all of its power upgrades.

WHAT SOFTWARE IS REQUIRED AND HOW IS THE VEHICLE FLASHED?

Now that our Hardware upgrades are complete, it’s time to hook up our UniCONNECT+ Cable to the Alltrack via the OBD-2 port and flash it with our Stage 2+ ECU Software for maximum power and Stage 2 TCU Software for increased clutch clamping pressure, quicker gear changes with optimized shift points, increased launch control RPM and an overall more responsive driving experience.

Along with upgrading your Performance Software from the comfort of your own home, this cable also allows you to flash your vehicle back to stock as needed, perform diagnostics and new for 2021, we’re introducing a high speed data logging feature for today’s most popular VAG vehicles.

Now it’s easier than ever to stay on top of your vehicle’s key metrics and gain insight about its true performance while recording a multitude of data including; ignition timing, timing correction, boost, air/fuel ratio, camshaft timing, wheel speed, and much more. Once you’ve collected your data it can be analyzed within the UniCONECT+ suite or even shared with one of our technicians for additional feedback.

Unitronic’s facilities feature very sophisticated tools and equipment which allow us to engineer the finest automotive performance products on the market. One of these tools is our MAHA Chassis Dynamometer, which gives us the ability to conduct extensive research, development, testing, and validation of our Performance Software and Hardware products completely in-house. This dyno sits inside a state of the art, environmentally controlled cell which allows us to dial in specific conditions to assure reliability of our performance products anywhere in the world.

As expected, the Alltrack performed very well on the dyno achieving our published Stage 2+ IS38 power figures along the way. Ambient temperature was set to 72°F (22°C) and we performed 3 pulls which averaged between 353-348HP. Given the current winter grade 93 octane fuel in the car, we did see a bit of timing correction but the ECU showed its ability to correct such. Additionally, our Stage 2+ Software allows us to safely run up to E20 to further correct this if needed.

All this additional power is achieved through an increase in boost pressure, optimized ignition timing, camshaft timing and much more now that our turbo and hardware upgrades are complete. As you can see there’s plenty of usable power starting at 2500RPM but the turbo really comes to life above 3000RPM maintaining peak torque all the way to 5000RPM while horsepower climbs all the way to redline.

Power delivery is smooth and linear and on the street there’s a drastic increase in acceleration, passing power and top end power especially compared to the stock 170HP / 199LB-FT figures. With these upgrades, low 4 second 0-60 times and mid 12 second quarter mile passes are achievable with DSG equipped vehicles depending on setup.

For now we’ve achieved our goal of creating an OEM+ inspired sleeper and do justice to one of the last wagons we may see from VW in North America. We’re excited to push the car a bit harder in the spring where it will see some track time. Check back on www.getunitronic.com/news and follow @unitronic on social media for more product updates. If you've got a similar build project in mind for your car, see what Unitronic products are available for you here.