It was doing this 2-3 days before the intercooler. And I hardly would call the cobb stg3 OTS tune ( the one Made 204whp on ) "aggressive".
3 things changed on the same day.
#1 cobb drop in filter installed.
#2 ngk plugs installed.
#3 filled up with gas that night.
I can take back #1 and #2.
I've never seen knock like this though. I've seen false knock from the loose motor mount, I've seen knock from too much boost, I've seen knock from too much timing. I've since knock when shifting.
I've never seen knock from 2800-3600 when a wot load is applied and boost is still just coming on. And this with a cobb OTS tune, ZERO has been touched in it. Not the cooler size, not the tire size, not the timing, not the wastegate map, not the cam phasing, not the fuel desired, not the throttle tables. Its the OTS tune 1000% the way cobb has it. I leave it in my access port because everytime i get frustrated with being a "learner" at trying to tune the car, I can always just re-flash the OtS tune and the car runs great, does +6.00 on all cylinders and i don't have to watch a thing. It maybe a little shorter on power, but its always been perfectly reliable and awesome. But even on that tune, I'm getting ugly timing corrections ( at 50% ETC at some points because the load tables are "cobb stock". ).
I did forget to change the cooler size in my newest modded tune though, lol.
Hopefully a couple of gallons of Eth with fix it tomorrow. If it doesn't, I'll be doing a compression check and oil filter inspection.
There is also a "800lbs gorilla". I have a CV boot that broke months ago at the track. It made noise and slung grease everywhere for a while. The grease has pretty much been all gone for a while. Its a little noisey at times, but its been worse in the past. Maybe now that its really down to "metal on metal" its hitting the frequency G-spot and I can't hear it ( essp with this loud ace turbo, lol ).