Has anyone here upgraded to PD150 injectors on their TDI? What would be the potential for HP and torque? Right now, I'm on a Stage 4 tune with a VNT17, but a little more power (and even a little more smoke) would be welcome. I'm also told that the injectors don't last forever (around 200-250K), so I'm sure they'll have to be replaced before I hit 300K anyways.
I had PD150 injectors in my 05 ATD PD JWagen. I also had Rocketchip Stage 3 tuning with 3-bar MAP, VNT-17/22 turbo, and PD150 intake manifold. The clutch was a South Bend Stage 3 (renamed to Stage 2 Endurance a few years ago) and rated to hold 425 ft-lbs*.
Note that I mentioned ATD PD instead of BEW PD. TDIclub guru
mrchill did an ATD PD engine swap and installed all upgrades except for the PD150 upgrade in one shot after a rogue timing belt took out my BEW PD engine in 2009. The ATD PD engine is aka the PD100 in Europe and is what the BEW PD engine was derived from for the USA. Aside from a few internal differences they are the exact same engine and makes a good swap option for a BEW PD application. A few BEW-specific parts had to be swapped over to the ATD to make it a plug and play swap. The whole job was expensive but the car was real hoot to drive afterwards. I put 90k miles on it with the ATD PD engine and then later sold it to
mrchill after breaking the clutch from too much torque a year after the PD150 upgrade. At the time (2009-2014) I probably had the one and only documented ATD PD engine swap in a BEW PD application in the USA.
The PD150 injectors came at a later date (late 2012) as part of traveling down that dangerous slippery slope when it comes to modding.
After the PD150 injector upgrade, the car was scary fast! I had to be careful with it because it was easy to break the front tires loose and real easy to totally bury a Prius in "Prius Repellent" as I quickly leave 'em behind.
I also had a pyrometer and boost gauge installed to keep an eye on EGTs and boost. I did get to dyno the car once after the PD150 upgrade and it made around 180 HP and 305 ft-lbs at the wheels.
And still getting at least 40 MPG while haulin' ar$e on the highway came as a bonus.
I managed to crack the windshield due to twisting the body from enjoying the weapons-grade torque. The front end of the car was essentially trying to pull away from the rest of the car and starting to bend the body at the windshield. It made a large horizontal crack on the passenger side. The amount of HP and TQ it could put to the wheels was such I needed to consider upgrading the rest of the car to safely handle the torque. I estimate the 0-60 time was in the 4 second range and was largely traction limited. One time I demo'd the car's capabilities to a coworker on clean dry pavement while rolling in 2nd gear at 2000 RPM and then punched it and it spun the front tires and redlined the engine. I grabbed 3rd gear and the tires hooked up and we took off like a rocket. The amount of Prius Repellent produced would have buried any traffic behind us.
In 2014 and after 90k miles on the ATD PD engine (TB was changed at 80k on the ATD, Torsion value set at 0.0) I managed to break the SBC 3 clutch after a year of enjoying the weapons-grade torque from the PD150 upgrade. The clutch wasn't slipping and the friction material was OK but it eventually sheared the disc away from the hub. It became a 2-piece clutch setup. At this point I decided I was done sinking any more money into this car at 160k miles and I had already moved away from VW TDIs to BMW Advanced Diesel with my 535d. I sold the car (w/broken clutch) to
mrchill and it's now one of his many project cars.
If you're hungry for some serious weapons-grade torque then go for a PD150 injector upgrade. Be forewarned that you may need to upgrade the rest of the car to safely handle the torque. Too much torque is almost enough!
Have fun!
* = The units of torque are in ft-lbs, lb-ft, or Nm. Torque is NOT in feet per pounds (ft/lbs) or in pounds per foot (lb/ft), i.e., feet divided by pounds or pounds divided by feet. While feet per pounds (ft/lbs) and pounds per foot (lb/ft) are valid units, they are NOT the units of torque at all. Although grammatically correct, ft/lbs and lb/ft are technically wrong when describing torque and each describe something physically different from torque.
