300hp ALH Daily Driver Build

[tdicaddy01]

Some of you may have seen my dsg swap thread, but I figured I’d start a new thread now that I’ve had some drive time on my ALH build and have dyno results on it.

I’ll put the details of what my setup is and my dyno results in this thread. I’ve done about 30k miles on this swap with 3k miles on the new turbo setup.

Chassis:
-2003 Jetta wagon originally with ALH and 01m 4 speed auto and broke timing belt.
-stock dq250 from a 2014 tdi sportwagon swapped in. Gearbox and flywheel had 83k miles on them, now have around 115k
-stock suspension and brakes
-gti 17” aristo wheels
-other random gti and gli bits, gli seats, steering wheel and black headliner swap
-golf front clip swap and shorty rear bumper
-bfi stage 1 mk4 drivetrain mounts

Engine:
-original ALH with broken timing belt. Took head off and replaced valves and valve stem seals. Also installed ahu inner valve springs for big boost. New stock cam and lifters
-maxspeeding rods and new rod bearings
-reused rings and pistons (110k miles)
-arp head studs and 3notch head gasket
- head is not ported, stock cam, stock pistons and compression ratio. No mods done to the block either.
-stock ecu with custom dual map sensor setup and all tuning done by tekmektronics (@BustedBolts)

Fuel:
-.300 full flow modified injectors by Jarod March
-stock 11mm injector pump
-100gph electric lift pump
-1/2” draw straw installed in the tank thru the stock sending unit
-1/2” fuel lines from draw straw to ip.
-fuel pressure regulator and cat fuel filter
-fuel pressure gauges on the pump case and regulator.

Air:
-custom compound turbo setup. With LP turbo replacing the factory airbox
-gtx3582r clone as LP
-gtc1549vz as HP
-38mm insterstage wastegate (ecu controlled)
-electric actuator for hp turbo. No more n75 valve
-2.5” intercooler piping
-big FMIC with custom crash bar
-3” downpipe to 3.5” duramax exhaust with side exit under rear driver door.
-4bar LP map sensor +6bar main map sensor
-modified pd150 intake manifold

Control:
-edc15 with tuning and mods done by tekmektronics
-stock dsg mechatronics with tuning done by tekmektronics and cs optimizations
-emp+ boost gauge on pillar
-egt gauge
-afr gauge with 02sensor mounted in downpipe

The whole compound turbo setup was built by Nick at precision welding and custom fab in Vine grove KY. He did an amazing job on welding everything and putting it together.

Overall I’m super happy with car and how it drives. I’ve been consistently getting 40+ mpg daily driving. I drove from Nashville TN to Lyons IN for the schied diesel event, pulled on the dyno and drove home with ac on and cruise set at 80mph most of the time on the freeway and still got 43mpg hand calculated.
This car has so much torque there’s no need to downshift to pass and throttle response is amazing.

A few things to note about the dyno, the dyno was only calibrated to 4000rpm so I don’t feel like I got max power recorded. My redline is 6200rpm in manual mode and I feel my max power is around 4800-5000rpm so I’m disappointed that didn’t get recorded. Also the dyno was recording wheel numbers so I’m making roughly 320hp and 540ftlbs at the crank.
I knew this car was making some juice since I’ve pulled a lot of stuff I’ve ran up on including a tuned lbz, and tuned 335d, 5.0 mustang and others. Here’s a link to the dyno pull video and dyno chart:

 

[tdicaddy01]

IMG_2049.jpeg

• tdicaddy01
• Aug 25, 2024

 

[Freakoboost1]

Wouldn’t a compound setup get you easily high 300’s and maybe even over the 400 mark at the wheels?

 

[tdicaddy01]

Wouldn’t a compound setup get you easily high 300’s and maybe even over the 400 mark at the wheels?

Yes, we have this one tuned fairly cool since it’s a daily driver also we are currently at the limit of the LP turbo. It’s at the point now where I need to add a gate to it before we add any more fuel to keep it from over boosting (currently at 50psi). I rarely see over 1000f egt and the most I’ve ever seen was 1400egt.
I’m in the process of building a much hotter car with bigger compounds, 2.0 pd power, dsg with launch control and 4motion (mk4 r32 Tdi swap)

 

[adjat84th]

Nice dude!
A 100-200 time would be interesting with the DSG

 

[[486]]

It’s at the point now where I need to add a gate to it before we add any more fuel to keep it from over boosting (currently at 50psi). I rarely see over 1000f egt and the most I’ve ever seen was 1400egt.

50 ain't terrible, I was running 55 for a while and really, more air is never a bad thing

Your HP might start hating life though, these little tiny guys just ain't built with enough thrust bearing capacity to swallow "densified" air
Unless is that guy a ball bearing one?
The plain bearing ones sure don't, both gt12-25 frame size and td04.
ETA: oh and it ain't just pressure ratio, when choke-flowing at very low PR when the interstage gate is wide open your shaft speed will go insane just the same

When you do run outta fuel, the finer filters do act as quite a restriction unless you've got a lot of lift pump pressure and the regulator on the IP side of the filter, with the p4601hp carter pump and no regulator I had to shy away from the 10 micron ones, went back to something in the "stock-ish" 25 micron range and got my top-end smoke back.

 

[tdicaddy01]

50 ain't terrible, I was running 55 for a while and really, more air is never a bad thing

Your HP might start hating life though, these little tiny guys just ain't built with enough thrust bearing capacity to swallow "densified" air
Unless is that guy a ball bearing one?
The plain bearing ones sure don't, both gt12-25 frame size and td04.
ETA: oh and it ain't just pressure ratio, when choke-flowing at very low PR when the interstage gate is wide open your shaft speed will go insane just the same

When you do run outta fuel, the finer filters do act as quite a restriction unless you've got a lot of lift pump pressure and the regulator on the IP side of the filter, with the p4601hp carter pump and no regulator I had to shy away from the 10 micron ones, went back to something in the "stock-ish" 25 micron range and got my top-end smoke back.

I’d imagine my hp turbo will be the first to leave the chat, I did a new core when we did the compounds. It does 95% of the work anyway when I’m driving normally. As far as fuel goes, my ip case pressure is staying pretty close to 100psi, im running a Holley 12170 lift pump and aside from being noisy it seems to be keeping up nicely.
I honestly doubt I’ll add a gate to my lp turbo so I don’t think we’re going to push any more fuel thru it. I’m pretty out of room in my engine bay, if we do add a gate it will have to exhaust under the engine bay rather than tie back into the downpipe.

 

[tdicaddy01]

Nice dude!
A 100-200 time would be interesting with the DSG

I plan to make a 100-200 run, I just got draggy. I can’t launch worth anything I just spin.

 

[bigsexyTDI]

Sofa King Awesome

 

[Freakoboost1]

I’d imagine my hp turbo will be the first to leave the chat, I did a new core when we did the compounds. It does 95% of the work anyway when I’m driving normally. As far as fuel goes, my ip case pressure is staying pretty close to 100psi, im running a Holley 12170 lift pump and aside from being noisy it seems to be keeping up nicely.
I honestly doubt I’ll add a gate to my lp turbo so I don’t think we’re going to push any more fuel thru it. I’m pretty out of room in my engine bay, if we do add a gate it will have to exhaust under the engine bay rather than tie back into the downpipe.

How are you able to measure IP case pressure?

 

[MrCypherr]

Saw this video on one of the facebook TDI groups. Love the ALH build.

 

[aztecducky]

Engine:
-original ALH with broken timing belt. Took head off and replaced valves and valve stem seals. Also installed ahu inner valve springs for big boost. New stock cam and lifters
-maxspeeding rods and new rod bearings
-reused rings and pistons (110k miles)
-arp head studs and 3notch head gasket
- head is not ported, stock cam, stock pistons and compression ratio. No mods done to the block either.
-stock ecu with custom dual map sensor setup and all tuning done by tekmektronics (@BustedBolts)

So you're telling me that an essentially stock ALH long block, with just rods, valve springs, and head studs can make this kind of power??? That's incredible! I was getting worried that I was going to be approaching the limit of an ALH block/pistons/rods when I pull the trigger on a GTD1756 turbo and an aggressive tune. I already have ARP head studs, 11mm pump, nozzles, FMIC, etc.
I guess I'll get some rods, maybe a different, bigger turbo, and boost it to the moon! Are the extra valve springs necessary if I'm going to be keeping it under 5k RPM?

 

[tdicaddy01]

So you're telling me that an essentially stock ALH long block, with just rods, valve springs, and head studs can make this kind of power??? That's incredible! I was getting worried that I was going to be approaching the limit of an ALH block/pistons/rods when I pull the trigger on a GTD1756 turbo and an aggressive tune. I already have ARP head studs, 11mm pump, nozzles, FMIC, etc.
I guess I'll get some rods, maybe a different, bigger turbo, and boost it to the moon! Are the extra valve springs necessary if I'm going to be keeping it under 5k RPM?

Yeah I’d definitely get some rods for it, and as far as valve springs go , I’d definitely upgrade them. I have another ALH Jetta that’s 6speed manual swapped with a gtb2056vl turbo. I only did rods and head studs on it and I float the stock valves around 33psi if I get on it when it’s not quite warmed up.

 

[[486]]

I only did rods and head studs on it and I float the stock valves around 33psi if I get on it when it’s not quite warmed up.

you can reduce this by opening the vanes earlier, as the valves float earlier when emp>>>imp
it's compounded by how the lifters also pump up with excessively high cold oil pressure, known issue since the hydraulic lifters showed up in 1.6 motors

 

[aztecducky]

I float the stock valves around 33psi if I get on it when it’s not quite warmed up.

Interesting, I've never even considered valve float due to boost pressure but it makes sense.