ALH upgrade options

Yourbuddysatin

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2016
Location
Pennsylvania
TDI
2013 Jetta tdi
I went to a local shop and had them make 2.5 stainless from the stainless down pipe back. My car doesn’t smoke much unless I’m at WOT for a long period of time and even at that it’s not too much. Now if I dial my IQ down it will some a little more. As for my truck....oh boy it smokes in performance mode......

My golf I’m in the middle of building on the other hand will probably smoke like a chimney.
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
Smoke just means its not getting enough air. If its not smoking then its running correctly.
WAIT WUT? On a stock car or a lightly tuned or decent tune build sure. On a big power, no your just strait up wrong. Running 32PSI and when it’s at full boost, not much smoke at all. While you are right about not getting enough air, it also is the factor of the engine RPM, Volume, Time it has to mix. In a nut shell only 70 some% of all diesels is burnt up in a healthy nonsmoking engine on a light or stock tune. This is why more boosts always means more power but that only goes up to about 78-80%. The reason is the time the fuel has to spread out and get enough 02 around the fuel molecule. I don’t care if you run 200PSI in a test chamber; you will never burn 100% of the fuel. Even in laboratories, you can’t burn most fuels 100%. You need 100% pure o2 to be introduced. This is why NOS works well with diesels.

I get what you’re saying but I have never seen power made from ANY builder that did not smoke like a MOFO. Darksides 1/4 drag TDI even smokes crazy and is about the fastest 1.9 TDI on the planet. Are you saying that this cars engine is not working correctly because I think it is? After all they dumped about 20K into the engine alone
 

turbocharged798

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2009
Location
Ellenville, NY
TDI
99.5 black ALH Jetta;09 Gasser Jetta
I think because its a drag car and they didn't bother to map the boost vs fueling correctly. Just dump in fuel and let the turbo clean up the smoke when it gets on boost. I don't really agree doing it that way but it works for an offroad application and insures you are getting max power from that boost level. Fuel makes power, boost makes the fuel burn.

This is generally bad practice for street engines because of the smoke issue. There is a reason why a stock ECU has a smoke map in it that takes in MAF and adjusts the fueling accordingly. A properly setup tdi can make 180+HP and smoke very minimally. It also helps keep the VNT clear and rings happy to. Good nozzles help a LOT as well.

I just don't agree with making lots of smoke in a street application. Gives diesel a bad rap and wastes fuel.
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
totally agree with what you said there turbocharged798. The fun part is that a big pile of soot is less harmful to the environment and animal and plant life than the fumes of a new car. Its just carbon. Smoke is like a sound system, cool when your 16 and when you get into your late 30's your like, my head hurts and i cant breath, this sucks! All my other cars are every quiet and maintained properly but i think thats what attracts me to my tdi. the smoke is still fun but only on the track and at shows and what not. On the road its just annoying but it does keep the tailgaters off my ars. For a while i put a blowoff valve on the intake side post turbo and had it electronically switched. I did this so i could black out the sky behind me if i wanted but i had no power as i had no boost. Took that off as it was more of a PITA to clean the oil off and it was cheep china crap that could not handle the 32psi i now ran. I still miss those smoke rings though. that was awesome.
 

DMan1198

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2017
Location
Slave Lake, AB
TDI
02 VW Jetta
I'm not very old, but I've aimed to run my messes as clean as possible. That's why both my trucks are fed a rather excessive amount of air for the amount of power they actually put down. I got into diesels with my 93 dodge, and as it sat before I wrecked the trans was a smallish set of compounds (which is actually the 4th turbo setup I've had on the truck) making 400ish whp that made a light haze at 50psi, and lit up reasonably quick with the afc as tight as it could be (still the afc on the old ve's only controls down to about 12psi), but it made very little preboost smoke, and I got into electronic tuning with my 12 ram that I like to run big singles on (had 4 turbos total on that one too including stock, an s467, s480, and now an s476). I have spent a ton of time trying to tune the smoke out of that truck, and have been mostly successful. I generally have to do a bit of pedalling off the line, but that truck will run a light haze with some seriously strung out injectors, and a cp3 that's struggling to keep up, and it does make right around 600whp. If I hammer on that truck from under the turbo with the converter locked it unfortunately will get pretty smoky, but when you're running a turbo that lights at 1900 or 2100rpm in a 7700lb truck that can be the nature of the beast (if I downshift, and hammer it above that it has no problem staying clean, and making its 50psi).
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
@OP
Have a look at the mods on my white car in my signature. Basic performance mods on it and it's much better than stock. Easy to do, not ridiculously expensive, reliable, palpable power. Good start for modding a car. Once you've done some basic mods like that, you can upgrade other components. Very important to ACTUALLY read through this forum. Please, don't just assume somebody will give you a full parts list with costs and links to all parts sources. Spend some time reading. There's so much info on this forum!
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
11mm and 1019's are fine with a vnt15 as long as it's tuned and qa is adjusted properly... and water/meth is completely unnecessary and a waste of money on all but the most radically modified tdi's... bigger intercooler nuff said
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
WATER injection is not a waste of time or money by any means. If you don’t have an EGT gauge than you don’t understand. When going to bigger injection, EGT can be a BIG deal on restrictive systems like stock IC and exhaust manifold and head flow. Light mod, yea your right but ask Stealth TDI if his water injection was worth it or not, he had a fairly light moded engine. I run water injection only, cost me $110 in parts and a bit of fine tuning. I get WAY more out of it as without it I get to 1,600*F EASILY, now it takes a lot of effort and I can get to the top of my power curve. I have a big IC too.
 
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turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
WATER injection is not a waste of time or money by any means. If you don’t have an EGT gauge than you don’t understand. When going to bigger injection, EGT can be a BIG deal on restrictive systems like stock IC and exhaust manifold and head flow. Light mod, yea your right but ask Stealth TDI if his water injection was worth it or not, he had a fairly light moded engine. I run water injection only, cost me $110 in parts and a bit of fine tuning. I get WAY more out of it as without it I get to 6,000*F EASILY, now it takes a lot of effort and I can get to the top of my power curve. I have a big IC too.
6000° F?? Damn son, you need a fire extinguisher not water/meth injection. :D
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
OMG lol 1600*F HAHAHA, what a typo, the beer is getting to me tonight!
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
WATER injection is not a waste of time or money by any means. If you don’t have an EGT gauge than you don’t understand. When going to bigger injection, EGT can be a BIG deal on restrictive systems like stock IC and exhaust manifold and head flow. Light mod, yea your right but ask Stealth TDI if his water injection was worth it or not, he had a fairly light moded engine. I run water injection only, cost me $110 in parts and a bit of fine tuning. I get WAY more out of it as without it I get to 1,600*F EASILY, now it takes a lot of effort and I can get to the top of my power curve. I have a big IC too.
you have tuning problems if you're seeing 1600 regularly ...i ran devil's own WM system on my westy ...now i have a big lntercooler and my cabinet space back... good riddance... btw: i run an egt gauge on my westy and my tdi converted tacoma and if i were to hit 1600 i would stop the vehicle and pop the hood to see what's wrong... the truck is tuned to near 200 chp and runs a medium sized fmic, the highest egt i see is around 1300 and that's towing another vehicle which effectively doubles the weight/drag of my truck ...my van, a 5000 lb brick, has only gone above 1200 once and that's because i blew a turbo hose ... van runs a 1z, 11mm rover pump, dlc1019's, gt2052 charger, and a huge belly mounted intercooler... also i need to add that iat's have very little effect on egt's ...high egt's are mainly a result of too much fuel, too little boost or timing is wack
 
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Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
I would only assume Nero morg has lost interest. Posted the thread and now....disappeared!!! We have all put options out but no reply from the OP.........
I didn't lose interest! I got caught up with a new job, swapped the engine into a 03 wagon, and did a few tinkering around. I'm definitely going to be in the market for a new turbo at some point, as my poor vnt15 I'm sure is on its last legs. Drove a freshly overhauled NB with a brand new vnt15 on it. It feels like it has more oompf than my car. Mines got a stage 2 Malone on it, the NB is a factory tune. Both same 11mm pumps, both DLC520's, both VNT15s.

So help me understand guys. I currently get about 37mpg with all said hardware mixed driving, and I drive it hard. I'd like to keep similar fuel eco, but would definitely like more power. What are the gains/differences between a VNT17, and a VNT17/22? I don't plan to go FMIC, I'd like to keep my EGR for faster warm-ups, and I already got rid of the feline.
 
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