A3 TDI (AHF) power upgrades, input and advice appreciated.

Hi there,

I am a returnee to this forum! Although it has been a great amount of time since I had my AFN A4 TDI. Back then I had installed bigger .216 nozzles and had a remap and was quite pleased to move things from 105 to 155 bhp with 222 ft/lb torque.

I now have a 99 A3 8L with a AHF engine, tbh when I first go the car I wasn't thinking about modifying it as it does do 55mpg...But I wouldn't be posting here if that was still the case

Some background on the car; it runs perfectly and is now on 192k miles. After tracing down a few niggles when I first got it, it is making it's stock figure of 110bhp (or ballpark, tested with a phone app using weight and drag co-efficient and gear box loss but not telling the app what engine I had). Also the car has had the cambelt, water pump, pulleys and tensioners replaced.

Thank you for bearing with the boring bit above but I thought some of it may help.

Upgrade wise I would really like to get the car in the 200bhp area, although I am on some what of a budget and do not want to drop thousands into the car due to it's cost I do not mind spending the "right" amount.
My plan to achieve 200bhp would be as follows:
- Upgrade to Bosch .216 nozzles.
- Install a larger SMIC (I understand the larger core will help with ducting) or go the FMIC route, the benefit of the SMIC for me is stealth and using stock piping for the most part.
- Put a hyrbid turbo like this on http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Garrett-G...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20da5bd6fe
-Custom map to take advantage of the above.

Based on that can anyone think of any improvements? I was wondering if the .216 nozzles would be a bit limited?

Also is it necessary for me to do the hammer mod if I am getting a remap? If I remember right I think my pump is meant to be good up to 220bhp.

Thanks in advance

Lewis

Get some .240 nozzles

http://www.project-power.co.uk/

You'll need them and the PD150 turbo, GT1749VB then mapping but that turbo you listed should do it too from what I've read, you'll need a clutch too though.

Front mount would probably be better too, you could get the S3 type which is hidden behind the bumper anyway.

Thanks Seatman.

Should I get enough flow from my cars 10mm pump? Or will the hammer mod help this?

Also should of mentioned some of the side part projects that I'll be fitting some special gauges once I have designed and figured them out, I'll be fitting a 2 line character display boost gauge that can show a few other bits. Want to integrate it into the centre console where I have unused buttons. Hopefully can make this happen with in the next few months depending on time and other non performance related work I get done on the car.

I have an ALH 90 bhp 10mm pump, I fitted gt1749vb .230 injectors(darkside developments) PD150 inlet manifold(breakers yard) braided oil feed for turbo
and VR6 clutch,EGR delete(darkside developments) I am still running standard
intercooler and my car managed 154 BHP 310 torque, if I had bigger intercooler
it would of been 200BHP give or take a few! the non PD engine give bigger torque
for the BHP figure plus not as expensive when replacing parts. Darkside developments
re mapped my car and its unbelievable and see's many faster cars off from the lights.yes hammer mod will help if needed.

I think 10mm pump is good for 200bhp and 11mm 220 bhp depending on turbo etc..
if im wrong im sure someone will reply swiftly.

You will need an 11mm pump for a good 200hp and would be pushing it to do the same using a 10mm unit as your smoke output with be quite a bit higher!

10mm plus .216s which are from the 5 banger transporter 151hp so remapped will support a good 176hp with out too much smoke...................with R520s or .240s and vnt1749vb pd 150hp turbo yes!! Around the 200hp but yes!! you will need the 11mm pump for more reliability and drivability along with the fmic and 1.75" inlet pipe work with the 2.5" from turbo back.

If you don't do most or all these mods and possibly a couple more on top like an uprated clutch etc you will not keep the power you've paid for through heat soak and clutch slip...................You could also go with a vnt20 and move up to around 230hp but your now starting to push the head / gasket and may need some raceware head bolts/studs along with a fuel cooler to keep the sensor inside your injection pump happy.

Thanks Mojo kind of lets me know where I am thinking is mostly right, although there is a thin line between where to push the mods.

Appears my budget will need to increase a bit and it's a shame that I need to go the FMIC route, but nothing a can of paint can't help to hide.

Are there any of the mods I can do with out the remap and still benefit from? Just wondering if I could add the nozzles with out a map and see the benefit whilst saving up for the hyrbid and custom map.

I'd definitely want low smoke as I do not want to be billowing out huge black smoke clouds.

Also for an 11mm pump would it be the 11mm rotor head? And if so what is the process like to swap em?

yes you could go down the road of swapping the plunger / cam plus stiffer springs and then have it setup via a diesel shop or let them do the whole job.............Or you could save yourself the job / expense and just buy an 11mm pump.

If you went with say just a mild nozzle / fuel increase you should be able to control it quite easily with your right foot and progressively put your foot down other wise you will get excessive smoke output , And if you went for anything larger you would really have to manage the throttle well as there could well be heavy shudder in a could of areas of the rev range.

With the older w/g system you could put in a boost controller to raise the boost pressure and to get more response at lower rpms to try and combat the shudder/smoke output.

You could also look into utilising the audi tt 225hp twin/side intercooler setup if you don't want to go with the fmic ........just a note of the mods to do / you could do. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=178184&highlight=audi+tt+side+mount+intercooler+a4

So basically manually raising fuel quantities with the hammer mod and boost with a controller and kind of temporarily side stepping a remap....could that work anyway with a hammer mod and standard nozzles?

For the 11mm pump to do a full swap is a simple process, or rather is there much post calibration needed? Looks like a cambelt off job, also not sure where I would track a 11mm pump down.

It actually amazes me that there are so many routes that I can go down. Although it would feel odd to upgrade then hold off flooring things to avoid smoke so kind of leads towards holding back to do mods together.

Layerz said:

So basically manually raising fuel quantities with the hammer mod and boost with a controller and kind of temporarily side stepping a remap....could that work anyway with a hammer mod and standard nozzles?

For the 11mm pump to do a full swap is a simple process, or rather is there much post calibration needed? Looks like a cambelt off job, also not sure where I would track a 11mm pump down.

It actually amazes me that there are so many routes that I can go down. Although it would feel odd to upgrade then hold off flooring things to avoid smoke so kind of leads towards holding back to do mods together.

Click to expand...

What you say is correct to a point and only because diesels act differently to there petrol counterparts in that if you throw extra / excessive fuel down a petrol engines neck it will cool the charge and lower the efficiency and power and have the opposite effect on a diesel engine..............but what you must remember in both cases is that the remap / live tune is king!!

What is holding you back is your budget and it always amazes me that people automatically think that because it happens to be a dirty old diesel engine and not some form of sports car / saloon , That tuning a diesel car is going to be cheap which is based on the cost effectiveness of a first stage remap or some higher flower injectors / nozzles which is not the case.

Yea, my budget is a bit limited but also gauging my install time period as I can install some mods now, but the turbo and live map will be last (kind of why I wondered on the hammer boost and boost controller to see some short term benefit from an the intercooler upgrade and nozzles before the live map).

You've helped to give me some good context and thinking points about the route to upgrades.

Can I ask who you have used, or who is reputable for live maps with in the UK? I have been in contact with PD performance who can do the standard stage 1, but with the above being more specific I was wondering who specifically could map it well and to avoid smoke (a previous issue I had).

Come the time when you need a live tune / mapping session doing just let me know when your at that stage with your tune! As there are a couple of companies that I would recommend.

Just checking, although a hybrid would be ideal, what Turbos/Manifolds bolt straight onto the engine, also trying to remember if my engine is ALH or AHF.

It appears I could get a 130 PD turbo or GT150 Turbo for reasonable prices. Just wondering if with the supporting mods how they would compare with a hybrid.

You would need the 11mm or 12mm pump to compare with a remapped pd150 = vnt17/49vb turbo but it should be around the 200hp / 220hp mk depending on which turbo / nozzles and other mods................but a hybrid vnt17 or used vnt20 would do it with some headroom.

Heh think the cost difference would be huge, I think I can get a pd150 or the pd130 turbo for £100-150 with the manifold. I'd be happy to fit this

I'm guessing a 17/20 hybrid is going to set me back £700+ ignoring the one I listed higher up.

11-12mm pump not sure...one price and sure I'd need to garage to fit it as it's my daily car, I'm guessing it's a 3-4 hour book time swap.

Again thanks for your replies as I'm still understanding the options, but I was surprised to see that I could pick up a PD turbo for the prices I am seeing.

If you take a look at your pump / bosch p/n the 6th digit for a 10mm is 0 and 1 for the 11mm pump and so on.

Sorry I meant not quite sure where/how to go about picking one up as ebay isn't throwing much up.

A donor engine is sounding like one route to canibalise bits.

Your local diesel shop should at least turn your 10mm into an 11mm for you with a more aggressive cam profile and stiffer springs..........pm sent

Layerz said:

Sorry I meant not quite sure where/how to go about picking one up as ebay isn't throwing much up.

A donor engine is sounding like one route to canibalise bits.

Click to expand...

Hens teeth

Anyone got a part number for an 11mm?

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

414.........

OK so a good couple months down the road and a new engine later!

I have PP764's ready to go in, and looking at the new turbo route.

Can anyone confirm the VNT17 code? I think it is GT1749VA

Also should any manifold from a PD turbo fit onto a AHF? I'm seeing a lot of turbo's on ebay with a manifold from a PD130/150 on them and wanted to confirm if they would fit.