Black Haze Workshops downpipe? *Updated*

90_zeros

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 21, 2019
Location
Alabama
TDI
2013 Golf TDI
Ok, complete update. Took me a few days to install because we've had non stop rain for the last week. Most times I could only work 20 minutes before the rain would start again :rolleyes:. Anyway...

Install was like any other, and technically simpler than RT install since DPF mounts are not reused.

Btw, in a moment of...genius... I decided to make it as hard as possible on myself and not remove ANY sensors from the DPF, not even the primary O2, nor did I pull the axle or drop the subframe. I only had to unbolt the pendulum mount from the engine/trans to get enough room. That being said, I found the only REAL snag in getting it out to be the AC lines. I did all this on a loaded suspension as well, so the axle is DEFINITELY not the issue with this install.

So I finally got it all in, and I wrapped the DP down to the flex joint with DEI titanium wrap. Tuning was done by Martin at MRtuning, and he's a pleasure to work with. He made me a custom tune to my specification and it runs great. Very smooth and powerful. To those of you worrying about losing your primary O2 with this DP, I wouldn't worry about it. I've not witnessed any smoke, and the smell is very mild. I only smell it in reverse.

For the moment, I have this downpipe mated to the factory muffler, and the sound is great if not underwhelming. There is very little change in noise level inside the cabin, and the exhaust note from outside the car is much deeper. No more pissed off bees in the muffler. I'm currently searching for a GTI catback and plan to go that route in the future.

Anyway, that's the full review. Wanted to let you all know it's a solid product, and I really want to thank Mathieu at BHW and Martin at MRtuning again for their fine work, value, and customer service.

fooling with emissions is illegal, and you shouldn't do it except for off road or maintenance purposes :whistle:
 
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VW_Factor

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Location
Leesburg, Georgia
TDI
2003 Jetta, 2009 Jetta, 2020 Passat R-Line Gasser
About how long did Martin take to get your tune back to you?

I sent my factory file 23rd of November, and it's been radio silence since. Worried a bit, as neither blackhaze or mrtuning are answering their emails or phones.
 

VW_Factor

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Location
Leesburg, Georgia
TDI
2003 Jetta, 2009 Jetta, 2020 Passat R-Line Gasser
Was able to reach BlackHaze this morning. Informed that tuning is "usually" 1 to 3 days after sending.

He will contact MR Tuning to remind them.

Just happy with communication, its a crazy world and everyone is busy.
 

Kiarny

New member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Location
Acworth, GA
TDI
2012 Golf
Was able to reach BlackHaze this morning. Informed that tuning is "usually" 1 to 3 days after sending.

He will contact MR Tuning to remind them.

Just happy with communication, its a crazy world and everyone is busy.
VW_Factor-

Did you ever get your tune back? I emailed my stock tune on November 23 and have still not received anything back. Over the weekend I made all the changes to the hardware so now I cannot even start the car. I am hopeful that all will come through but I am getting nervous.
 

VW_Factor

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Location
Leesburg, Georgia
TDI
2003 Jetta, 2009 Jetta, 2020 Passat R-Line Gasser
VW_Factor-

Did you ever get your tune back? I emailed my stock tune on November 23 and have still not received anything back. Over the weekend I made all the changes to the hardware so now I cannot even start the car. I am hopeful that all will come through but I am getting nervous.
In fact, I did get my tune back on December 2nd.

The PowerGate still doesn't have its "templates" for its icons and such, so still difficult to use. However using other Youtube videos, figured out what the "white squares" were supposed to be navigation arrows.

Programming was successfully flashed to the ECU over the following weekend along with doing the hardware portion.

Very happy with the end results.

Not so happy about the lack of communication or ease of use. I had to make a Facebook account to get into contact with either company in the end, as it appears emails are not checked as often. So I very much understand the frustration. BlackHaze still responds quickly enough from a business standpoint, however MR Tuning seems to be lacking in that area.

The Blackhaze kit is freaking amazing and I would certainly purchase it again. I'm familiar with MR Tuning from the truck world and most of that crowd is very happy with their results. So this "package" setup seemed like a no brainer to me. If I had to do this again, I would do the Blackhaze kit and find another tuner. I certainly can't say if MR Tuning is still on vacation (no email auto response about vacation either), if the holidays have them swamped with work, etc. Just shooting a few emails with questions or updates and those emails being ignored left a very bad impression on me.

Even further, emailed MR Tuning asking about further mods or options (paid work of course) the next week after the work was done. Those emails as well have been ignored.

You've been waiting a significant amount of time, as I sent my factory calibration out on Nov 22nd (maybe the 23rd). I'd continue to bother MR Tuning until you get some communication. I do suggest their Facebook at this point. You've waited longer than I was willing too without communication. I was about 3 days away from packaging everything back up and just doing a chargeback on my card/paypal (purely from a lack of comms standpoint). I was also thinking about holidays and how they might affect work schedules. (I'm unsure about the holidays in French Canada land).
 
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Kiarny

New member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Location
Acworth, GA
TDI
2012 Golf
In fact, I did get my tune back on December 2nd.

The PowerGate still doesn't have its "templates" for its icons and such, so still difficult to use. However using other Youtube videos, figured out what the "white squares" were supposed to be navigation arrows.

Programming was successfully flashed to the ECU over the following weekend along with doing the hardware portion.

Very happy with the end results.

Not so happy about the lack of communication or ease of use. I had to make a Facebook account to get into contact with either company in the end, as it appears emails are not checked as often. So I very much understand the frustration. BlackHaze still responds quickly enough from a business standpoint, however MR Tuning seems to be lacking in that area.

The Blackhaze kit is freaking amazing and I would certainly purchase it again. I'm familiar with MR Tuning from the truck world and most of that crowd is very happy with their results. So this "package" setup seemed like a no brainer to me. If I had to do this again, I would do the Blackhaze kit and find another tuner. I certainly can't say if MR Tuning is still on vacation (no email auto response about vacation either), if the holidays have them swamped with work, etc. Just shooting a few emails with questions or updates and those emails being ignored left a very bad impression on me.

Even further, emailed MR Tuning asking about further mods or options (paid work of course) the next week after the work was done. Those emails as well have been ignored.

You've been waiting a significant amount of time, as I sent my factory calibration out on Nov 22nd (maybe the 23rd). I'd continue to bother MR Tuning until you get some communication. I do suggest their Facebook at this point. You've waited longer than I was willing too without communication. I was about 3 days away from packaging everything back up and just doing a chargeback on my card/paypal (purely from a lack of comms standpoint). I was also thinking about holidays and how they might affect work schedules. (I'm unsure about the holidays in French Canada land).
I am happy to report that I did get my tune done. It turns out it was my fault, I was emailing my stock file from my work email and the firewall was blocking it from being sent. I emailed MR tuning and Black Haze and neither had ever received it. As soon as I sent it from another email they both got it and had it back to me within 12 hours.

The tune works great, I have no complaints at all at this time with that!

I too had the problem with the templates, I was able to download them from Stevenson tuning - follow this link https://stevensontuning.com/powergate-3/

Yes there is some minor technical difficulties getting everything together and running with this kit, it might need some additional information provided if a newbie was going to set it all up. I would buy it again as it seems to be the best deal for the price and the downpipe looks and works fantastic!

I would also like to add that if anyone else is going to do this you might as well go ahead and completely remove the EGR cooler while you have everything apart. It really cleans up the area behind the engine and lets the air circulate better for heat removal. The only additional parts you will need is an expandable plug to put into the low pressure port of the turbo and an additional EGR blockoff plate for the end of the exhaust manifold.
 

VW_Factor

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Location
Leesburg, Georgia
TDI
2003 Jetta, 2009 Jetta, 2020 Passat R-Line Gasser
I went with the leave the EGR on the car for now, just blocked.

It ain't broke atm, so I'm not going to fix it. I do have to parts to do that in the future if needed however.

Edit : I do wonder why I'm getting radio silence from MR Tuning at this point. Very happy that you got your tune situation sorted. :)
 

Mrrogers1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Location
Omaha NEEEBRASKA
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT, 2011 Jetta TDI DSG, 2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI DSG
Did any of you only have one 1 vehicle to choose from in the tuner? I have an email (well, a few) out to Martin as I can only choose Dodge Ram in my tuner so hopefully will hear back soon for update or something. I thought about trying the template from Stevenson's page but not sure template is my issue.

My Flow Direkt hardware (ordered through MR Tuning) looks great, I've worked with A LOT of Buzzken and some Rawtek and I think the Flow Direkt is very very nice. Just hope to get some communication from Martin. I "almost" took car apart to do the DP and decided that since tuner wasn't right, I just did timing belt job on the car instead. Can't wait to get the stage 2 and DSG tune rolling on this car! :)
 

Mrrogers1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Location
Omaha NEEEBRASKA
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT, 2011 Jetta TDI DSG, 2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI DSG
Thanks! I had to get a new template file so after updating, I saw Dodge and VW. Now to wait for ECM and DSG tunes. 😎
 

Mrrogers1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Location
Omaha NEEEBRASKA
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT, 2011 Jetta TDI DSG, 2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI DSG
I have a little update here as I did order a kit from BH and am eagerly awaiting their arrival. I ran into an amazingly maddening loop of no communication then miscommunication with MRTuning directly, just like others above so figured I'd see how the BH dp kit was compared to the other vendor's have used in the past.

I'm excited really because they look great, feedback is great and the "no bracket" situation makes sense. The turbo itself is supported by the hard mount oil return so I have no worries at all given the drop in mass (even though the factory DPF was on a block mounted bracket/shelf). I'm going to ask about adding the bunge in BUT having the tune still monitor the sensor. On one of the cars that I have running the MR tune, we monitored the EGT and DPF via Scangauge II but are unable to, after the tune. I might actually plug the sensor in to see if there is "any" signal but I know for sure that the Scangauge II doesn't provide for pre-turbo EGT sensor monitoring so that's why I might want to ask for it to be added the next go round.

I can attest that the MRTuning TUNE is great, very strong stage 1 and 2, it's just too painful waiting and not hearing and then waiting more. If the tune, compared to others, was poo poo, I'd go with another but I feel working THROUGH BH for the hardware and tune should be better. The Flowdirekt hardware was nice but BH custom and 3in already appears to be MUCH nicer for the money. BH's communication is great!
 
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