2004 Beetle Upgrades

hello everyone, sorry im pretty new to these little diesels. I have a 04 beetle all stock with the 1.9tdi and a 5spd. a few questions.

1. if I bump up the power at all, do I need a new clutch?

2. whats the most hp or mods I can do and not loose the reliability? I bought to car to keep from putting miles on my 2018 ram mega cab dually

3. what is the motor / body style of this year? I see all kinds of names ahl or vkIII or whatever im so lost lol.

4. what best programmer, website for parts in the usa? I live in texas.

5. when modding like bigger turbo, injectors etc, do these cars need better internals or headstuds? ie: forged pistons, rods cranks etc?

Answers

1. No and yes, Depend on the upgrades and condition of the existing clutch.
2. Figure out your power goal and you will have to do supporting mods to sustain reliability.
3.alh is the engine code but in a 04 better I would think is a pump deuse, mk4 platform is what an 04 better would be on.
4. We use tunes not programmers like trucks have. Malone kerma rocketchip to name a few.
5. Headstuds can’t hurt even a stock engine in my opinion. Tdis can take a good bit of power upgrades with stock internals.

Figure out what power you are looking to make then one of the tuners above will tell you what you need to get to your goal. Hope that helps.

Just guessing that a US beetle from 04 possibly has a BEW PD engine, but there are a number of variations.
I am sure that it isn't an ALH, though.

I would like to be somewhere I would think in the 200hp range. I have a 1200+rwhp diesel truck, a stock diesel truck, a tuned eco diesel half ton and about 600rwhp 01 diesel that I tow with.

I don't want to lose the reliability of this little bug. but I know when modding you lose some.

what is a good website to look at for the parts for such? like injectors, nozzels, turbos, tuners, clutch upgrades etc?

do they make bigger injection pumps? or run dual pumps? my 06 has 1-85% over cp3 and another stock cp3.

sorry for all the newb questions, I just want to make sure I know what motor and injectrs, injection pump I have so I don't buy the wrong parts.

will the stock fuel / lift pump work with 200hp or do they offer an aftermarket lift pump?

Get in contact with a tuner and they will guide you to whatever mods you will need for the goal of 200hp. Be prepared to drop some cash for that kind of a gain.

that's what im asking, what tuners? do they have a website or something I can look thru parts?

cash im not too worried about, these things are wayyyyy cheaper then the 130k I have my 06 that runs low 10's on 35s making 100+ lbs of boost

I stated them above already.

Malonetuning.com
Kermatdi.com
Rocketchip.com

Everything must be bigger in Texas.

And don't forget TDTuning.com, Mike is a well known tuner for years around here. IIRC, PD motors are expensive to hot rod past a certain point, HP wise. With just a tune the PD motor will make 157 whp, and 269 ft. lb. of wheel torque; this is a huge jump in power up from stock; to get above this you need nozzles and a larger turbo.

Rookie mistake - "I need to make xxxHP". Each car and engine is different.

I would say you can make a serious improvement with just a tune (see post #7 and #8).

Beyond that on a PD a turbo is probably next. After that you start doing supporting upgrades like bigger/better I/C and plumbing. From there you move up to swapping intakes and injectors to support more air and fuel flow (so you can run bigger turbo and tunes).

I don't think transfer pump or lift pump are restricting you until this point.

I did a RC 1 (2?) on my PD Golf and hit EGT limits and air temperature limits only when pulling a couple thousand lbs up a long hill during summer. Software only, no hardware, and it was plenty fast and needed an upgraded clutch. Lasted about 150k miles before accident totaled the car.

Start with making sure it's running it's best first, then maybe start with an aggressive tune and see how much more you want.

Jason

Looking forward to see what you do with the Beetle!

I was shooting 200hp out there as a number. I wont drop a ton of money into this as ive already built several diesel hotrods

do the make a similar size turbo, that isn't a variable vane? I keep getting the p0234 overboost code, and id just like to get rid of all the variations of vacuum hoses, n75 regulator etc.

are head studs required to run just a tune?

the only reason I would like some extra power, is the car is a turd in 4th and 5th gear. if the hill is remotely steep the car will loose a few mph.

I do realize a tune will make 34-50hp with is a huge jump compared to the 100hp stock it makes. ive done the exhaust already, now id like to tear all the egr crap off so I don't have to clean the intake constantly.

sorry for the semi dumb questions but do they come with a factory intercooler? if so where is it located?

I did ARP head studs in my ALH as I have the boost turned up and didn't want to be concerned with the head leaking pressure or fluids. I am not to sure about BEW engine that you should have in the 2004.

The intercooler is a side mounted unit in front of the passenger front wheel. I drilled a bunch of holes in my plastic fender liner to encourage better airflow and got a larger custom side mount unit installed.

I have dyno numbers of 160hp and 310 torque after all the things I did. The car moves very well even when towing the RV trailer. You can get close to these numbers with much less work and should enjoy to boost in power!

That’s what I’d like to do enjoy a fun little car

The VNT works great for drive ability, not so much for max power. But a good tune and get rid of that KP39 turbo (for maybe a 17/22 hybrid?) should make you grin.

BTW - I had such issue with wheel spin I ran 18" GTI wheels to help traction in 1st & 2nd gear. But I hear ya - little more of a dog up in 5th. But then I had no issue pulling my Camper up marked grades in 5th and holding speed. It's about 2000lbs and see PB_NB for idea of size.

Sounds like the Texas heat is coming into play and you need to drop intake temperatures. Maybe include larger IC sooner in your upgrade list.

Jason

You can see the trailer that we pull from the front. It is quite large and the frontal exposure is huge, it makes the car look tiny. We notice a lot of drag when pulling the trailer at ~ 65 mph. The Beetle is pretty quick even with the trailer attached but it does struggle a bit in 5th. This is due to the stage 2 cam which seems to push the power band up so the rpm/power is happier at 2,500. We would be going 75 to 80 mph which is a bit too fast for the trailer so we settle in 4th gear and ~65 mph.

I keep getting the p0234 over boost code. I’ve replaced all the vacuum lines. Guess I’ll be doing a n75 boost regulator. I can’t seem to find much in the bew beetle engine to know where the stuff is. Most all of it is jettas. I know it’s the same motor but parts are located in different areas.

Pb I live that little car of yours. Would you be willing to give me some pointers? If so you ca. Text me 830-570-9796 robert. Thank you

First off congrats on the new car and welcome to the club.

Like others have mentioned is make sure your maintenance is up to date, which it sounds like you're working on. Your New Beetle has a Pump Duese(PD) engine that has unit injectors that control the amount of fuel injected into each cylinder and your engine code is BEW. Here's some reading material if you wanna know the PD engine a little bit better.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=44072
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_injector
https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/mk4-vw-jetta-tdi-1999-5-2005-golf-new-beetle-1998-2006-buying-guide/

When looking to add more power to your TDI you need to decide which tuner you wanna go with. All but one of these tuners offer flashloaders for loading their tune onto your car. The flashloaders are nice if you are going to be upgrading your car and wanna take advantage of the new hardware. They'll be able to email you an updated tune for your car. You can then take logs of how your car is performing and you send those to your tuner to see if tweaks need to be made.
Here's the main tuners on TDIClub in alphabetical order.
https://www.kermatdi.com/
https://malonetuning.com/
http://www.rocketchip.com/ Does not offer a flashloader.
http://tdtuning.com/TD/

In no order, here are the major parts suppliers of TDI parts. Most are vendors on here.
https://www.idparts.com/index.php
https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/
https://www.cascadegerman.com/
https://www.kermatdi.com/ Yes they sell parts and offer tunes.
http://www.tunemyeuro.com/
http://www.eurotrashmotorsports.com/ They have Wastegate Turbos if you feel like making the switch.
http://www.ross-tech.com/ They make a VW/Audi specific scan tool
https://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Jetta_IV--TDI/ More so for everything else you can think of.
There are plenty more VW/Audi specific online retailors out there, but this is a good start and I'm sure you can search and find others.

If you do decide you wanna go after 200hp, then here's what you'll need IMO.
GTD1752VRK Turbo
Custom 2.5" downpipe to 3" exhaust
PD130 FMIC
PD150 Intake Manifold
PD150 Turbo Inlet Pipe, MAF and Airbox with R32 DSG snorkel
3 Bar MAP sensor
PD150 Injectors
PD150 Head Bolts
Steel Glow Plugs
EGR Delete
Custom Tune

Just be prepared to upgrade other areas of the car if get bite by the mod bug Limited Slip Diff and a good set of tires to put that power down, brakes, suspension, engine mounts, axles, etc.

I should know lol here's my car.
https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/jetta-bora-gls-1-9-8v-bew/
Then you have an extreme build with compound turbos
https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/golf-mk4-pd100-1-9-8v-bew/
Another nicely modded car to give you some ideas.
https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/jetta-bora-1-9-8v-asz/

Good luck with your build and feel free to pm me with any questions.

�������� thank you so much. Pb text me some tonight and helped out as well. I think I over shot with the 200hp lol. I’ll probably due a tuner and a turbo that isn’t a variable vane if I can find a direct bolt on replacement. I just worry about the canes clogging up and dealing with the n75 regulator.

Honestly, it sounds like the way you drive, clogging the vanes won't be a problem.

Jason

PS: turbo is the exhaust manifold on these engines.

I'm with SilverGhost - I think you're overly worried about the VNT.

My Jetta did 275k on the original turbo believe it or not and I only changed it due to the actuator going bad and had a spare turbo to swap out.

“Flogging” won’t be a problem but everything else I have is fixed vane turbo. No need for boost regulator etc. less parts involved. Hell most of my turbos are non gated. Add fuel till you make the upper side of the turbo map and psi. It’s a tuning thing. I have a truck that makes 30psi and a Truck that makes 130-140psi

the stock turbo is pretty cool in that it'll light up and take off at 2k RPM
it's choking the engine out by 3k, but everything's got its limits

your desires of more bottom end jive with nothing more than a tune and maybe a stock replacement turbo, you can go a little bigger but too much (or a reasonably sized WG turbo) and you deal with something that doesn't wake up until much later. Mine will only see 8psi on a normal drive in to work, but wind it out to the limiter and it makes 45 or so. Low end torque like that carries with it a lot of **** you gotta fix up like the clutch (where there really aren't many good options that hold more than a fresh stock replacement clutch kit) and engine internals... Quickly becomes as much a chore to drive as your fast truck.

Get a tune done, get your overboost issues figured out, then go from there.
Just richening up the smoke and torque limit maps alone make a world of difference in 4th and 5th gear freeway pep

Not to mention the lag issue that I have seen and been told is a problem with waste gate turbos. The VNT does wonders for drive ability.

Jason