ALH Build Help

[Vladtdi]

Hello everyone. I am having a dilemma about what route I would want to take with building my 2003 Jetta ALH as this would be my first time rebuilding a motor.

Let me start by telling you what I would be using the car for:

It would be my daily driver, some light towing from time to time, driving to vacation spots, bike rack and roof rack hauling snowboards and other things. And of course lay some power down when I need it.

My ALH is currently pushing a bit over 300k miles.

I would love to maintain a really good MPG, push anywhere between 200-300 WHP and still be a reliable ALH for another 300k+ miles.

I am eyeing 2 turbos. A GTB2060 and a GTB2260. I am not sure which variant of those two I should go with so id like to hear your input. The VLKR with ceramic ball bearings and water cooling seems good.

What internal modification do you guys suggest I do/do I need some of these things?

I am was planning to do this if I go with either turbo:

Engine block rebuild - Includes Hone bore, Main seals, all bearings (what else do I need)
Headstuds - either ARP or cut 12.9 bolts
Rods - H beam (not sure what company to go with)
Pistons - ? (I'd like some with oil squirters)
Cam - ?
Polished stock crank - (maybe there are other options like upgrading crank?)
Ported Cylinder head - (I heard Frank 06 does some work on that)
Valve springs - ?
Pd150 intake
Catch Can (for performance obviously ;p)
FMIC ( I think I have an ebay one)
Steel bottom oil pan

What else would I need? Is this overkill?

I have the O2J 5 speed, what clutch should I go with? Can the gearbox handle the HP and TQ I will be pushing?

Any and all advice and recommendations I would love!

 

[greengeeker]

What's your budget?

 

[jmodge]

Another route to consider, look up BHW/ALH hybrid. It might turn out cheaper and easier if you can find a good BHW at a reasonable price. It would save you from buying pistons and rods plus the cost of machine work. The headwork, turbo, timing belt, gaskets you would be paying for anyway. You would possibly have the cost of a balance shaft delete and oil pump, depending what you found, verses rods, pistons, etc.

 

[Mastertrim]

Right, whats your budget and how soon do you want to get it done? Doing the work your self, minus machine work?

I was looking to do the same, I have the same car and have been researching since February, maybe before that. Plus, I already have a parts car with alot of parts I can use and I have a shop, do all the work myself, minus machining. Just got off phone with Frank and he's pretty booked up. Also, parts suppliers are short on parts, can be hard to find stuff.

300hp is not going to be reliable, not going into details here. I'm doing a 180-190 build and not doing the lower end due to not being able to find pistons. That'll be a later build.

Engine block rebuild - Includes Hone bore, Main seals, all bearings (what else do I need). You'll need it bored out I'm sure..
Headstuds - either ARP or cut 12.9 bolts. Either one will work
Rods - H beam (not sure what company to go with) Not sure
Pistons - ? (I'd like some with oil squirters) Good luck finding
Cam - ? Colt Stage 2 or Frank
Polished stock crank - (maybe there are other options like upgrading crank?) Crank should be fine, no need to polish.
Ported Cylinder head - (I heard Frank 06 does some work on that) Frank. Like I stated, pretty booked up.
Valve springs - ? Yes and lifters
Pd150 intake Sure
Catch Can (for performance obviously ;p) Why not
FMIC ( I think I have an ebay one) Ok, 27x7x2 and you shouldnt have to cut support
Steel bottom oil pan Good plan
Prob a South bend Endurance 2, balanced flywheel
Custom Tune.
Nozzles, Frank can do those too. Bosio can have problems out of the box and some companies well, have high opinions of themselves.
Cant speak for the Turbos you picked out, don't have enough knowledge to say either way.
You'll be way north of $5000 for all this plus some. Gaskets, o-rings, hoses, belts, fluids, Gauges, tires, brakes, suspension it goes on and on and on! Lol!

What I've learned is the more you talk with people the more opinions you'll get! Good Luck!

 

[Vladtdi]

What's your budget?

I would like to keep it under $4k

Another route to consider, look up BHW/ALH hybrid. It might turn out cheaper and easier if you can find a good BHW at a reasonable price. It would save you from buying pistons and rods plus the cost of machine work. The headwork, turbo, timing belt, gaskets you would be paying for anyway. You would possibly have the cost of a balance shaft delete and oil pump, depending what you found, verses rods, pistons, etc.

I will definitely check it out, I haven't heard of this route so I will have to do some more research on that.

Right, whats your budget and how soon do you want to get it done? Doing the work your self, minus machine work?

I was looking to do the same, I have the same car and have been researching since February, maybe before that. Plus, I already have a parts car with alot of parts I can use and I have a shop, do all the work myself, minus machining. Just got off phone with Frank and he's pretty booked up. Also, parts suppliers are short on parts, can be hard to find stuff.

300hp is not going to be reliable, not going into details here. I'm doing a 180-190 build and not doing the lower end due to not being able to find pistons. That'll be a later build.

Engine block rebuild - Includes Hone bore, Main seals, all bearings (what else do I need). You'll need it bored out I'm sure..
Headstuds - either ARP or cut 12.9 bolts. Either one will work
Rods - H beam (not sure what company to go with) Not sure
Pistons - ? (I'd like some with oil squirters) Good luck finding
Cam - ? Colt Stage 2 or Frank
Polished stock crank - (maybe there are other options like upgrading crank?) Crank should be fine, no need to polish.
Ported Cylinder head - (I heard Frank 06 does some work on that) Frank. Like I stated, pretty booked up.
Valve springs - ? Yes and lifters
Pd150 intake Sure
Catch Can (for performance obviously ;p) Why not
FMIC ( I think I have an ebay one) Ok, 27x7x2 and you shouldnt have to cut support
Steel bottom oil pan Good plan
Prob a South bend Endurance 2, balanced flywheel
Custom Tune.
Nozzles, Frank can do those too. Bosio can have problems out of the box and some companies well, have high opinions of themselves.
Cant speak for the Turbos you picked out, don't have enough knowledge to say either way.
You'll be way north of $5000 for all this plus some. Gaskets, o-rings, hoses, belts, fluids, Gauges, tires, brakes, suspension it goes on and on and on! Lol!

What I've learned is the more you talk with people the more opinions you'll get! Good Luck!

I would like to take at least a month, max 2 months for this project as I would like to get rid of my current daily driver and enjoy this VW for the summer. Budget would be under $4k.

I forgot to mention that I already have:
.260 injectors might upgrade to .300 depending on the turbo I'm planning to get
pd150 intake
catch can
FMIC
Tires
Steel bottom pan

I am not including that in my budget since I already have them.

 

[Mastertrim]

Well, if under 4k and under 2 months is the goal, think you'll have to stick to the topend and lower your hp goal. A local machine shop can go through your cyl head and you can buy all the parts needed on Idparts (cheaper then most), if needed. Kerma has a Colt for 400. They also have a AMC cyl head with stock cam for $870 (cheapest anywhere ive seen, unless you go with bare head), maybe they would sell you their colt instead of the stock cam, then you can just bolt it on after some mild porting to match intake and exhaust manifolds. With all the rest of the parts and a tune you should be under 4k with yourself doing the work. With a good custom tune you should be ok not bending a rod. Talk with tuners as they are the ones that will need to know what you have to recommend the proper setup.

 

[greengeeker]

I would like to keep it under $4k

You'll need to trim back your build to align with your budget.

edit: mastertrim beat me to it.

 

[Vladtdi]

Well, if under 4k and under 2 months is the goal, think you'll have to stick to the topend and lower your hp goal. A local machine shop can go through your cyl head and you can buy all the parts needed on Idparts (cheaper then most), if needed. Kerma has a Colt for 400. They also have a AMC cyl head with stock cam for $870 (cheapest anywhere ive seen, unless you go with bare head), maybe they would sell you their colt instead of the stock cam, then you can just bolt it on after some mild porting to match intake and exhaust manifolds. With all the rest of the parts and a tune you should be under 4k with yourself doing the work. With a good custom tune you should be ok not bending a rod. Talk with tuners as they are the ones that will need to know what you have to recommend the proper setup.

Understood. You also said 300hp isnt going to reliable so I think ill go with 200whp and id be pretty happy with that. GTB2060 sounds good with me.

If I go with this power level what would be needed? Do I still need pistons? rods? Headstuds? Machined Head? Upgrade BHW oil cooler? ETC...

You'll need to trim back your build to align with your budget.

edit: mastertrim beat me to it.

I gotcha. I think I'm going to dial it a back as I missed what Mastertrim said about 300whp wont be reliable. I do want to keep this car for awhile!

 

[turbocharged798]

For $4K a VNT17, clutch, nozzles and a tune will pretty much burn that up.

 

[greengeeker]

For $4K a VNT17, clutch, nozzles and a tune will pretty much burn that up.

Agreed. And will remain reliable, even with stock long block.

 

[PakProtector]

GTD1752VRK at ~$1200
Nozzles( 764's?) $500
Clutch ~$700 Southbend-something
Required exhaust work for the GTD...$500

$3000...
and then there is the tune, so yeah...nearly $4000

cheers,
Douglas

 

[Mastertrim]

Understood. You also said 300hp isnt going to reliable so I think ill go with 200whp and id be pretty happy with that. GTB2060 sounds good with me.

If I go with this power level what would be needed? Do I still need pistons? rods? Headstuds? Machined Head? Upgrade BHW oil cooler? ETC...

Agree with what others stated above. And no need for pistons, rods or oil cooler at this time. Price up your basics, call and talk with tuners see who your comfortable with and add as needed. Headstuds are cheap I'd put them in.

 

[Vladtdi]

For $4K a VNT17, clutch, nozzles and a tune will pretty much burn that up.

Agreed. And will remain reliable, even with stock long block.

GTD1752VRK at ~$1200
Nozzles( 764's?) $500
Clutch ~$700 Southbend-something
Required exhaust work for the GTD...$500

$3000...
and then there is the tune, so yeah...nearly $4000

cheers,
Douglas

Alright, the exhaust and pipe work I can do my self and wouldn’t cause me much. Let’s just put that out of the equation.

I have nozzles .260. I can always upgrade later.

Tune is covered as well.

I rather go with the gtb2060 as it cost $200 more and you can get more hp out of it. I hear it spools up pretty quickly.

I have a light weight fly wheel from ecs tuning so I’d just need the clutch and pressure plate so that should cut the cost down quite a bit.

Gtb2060vklr ~ $1400
Clutch ~ $500

I would love to hear someone talk about the gtb2060vklr and tell me what I need to build the motor up for 200whp.

If $4K is limiting me then I’ll gladly set my limit up higher.

As for porting the head I do have an extra cylinder head I might try to do it myself or have my buddy take a wack at it since he’s done it before on his 3.0 supercharger with fantastic results.

 

[greengeeker]

I would love to hear someone talk about the gtb2060vklr and tell me what I need to build the motor up for 200whp.

Bare minimum: upgraded rods and upgraded headstuds/bolts.
Going out on a limb: cam adds a little bit ~10hp and porting adds another ~10hp (with cam).

 

[adamss24]

You have decent ingredients in the mix, I would just throw a set of maxspeeding rods or AJM engine rods, sell the single mass flywheel and get dual mass- I would prefer a 6 speed gearbox instead as it will take more torque.
The 0.260 nozzles will fuel enough, budget for a 11mm pump down the line. Gtb2060vklr is a very good turbo which will make your clutch slip- get a Sachs SRE or similar able to take 500Nm without bother, then have someone map the Ecu for your specs, it would be a pretty fast motor ! As above, quality seals, pd150 bolts shortened to fit, black INA coated lifters and double valve springs on the cyl head are a must ! All that and you’ll have a nice little reaper to boot !

 

[Vladtdi]

You have decent ingredients in the mix, I would just throw a set of maxspeeding rods or AJM engine rods, sell the single mass flywheel and get dual mass- I would prefer a 6 speed gearbox instead as it will take more torque.
The 0.260 nozzles will fuel enough, budget for a 11mm pump down the line. Gtb2060vklr is a very good turbo which will make your clutch slip- get a Sachs SRE or similar able to take 500Nm without bother, then have someone map the Ecu for your specs, it would be a pretty fast motor ! As above, quality seals, pd150 bolts shortened to fit, black INA coated lifters and double valve springs on the cyl head are a must ! All that and you’ll have a nice little reaper to boot !

Should I keep the stock ALH pistons?

 

[adamss24]

Unless you open your engine i cannot Tell if you have Mahle or alcan pistons, with pd 115 rods you can use AWX/AVF pistons and they are good enough for your power goal and leaves some margin for tuning beyond your goal !

 

[dhangejr]

Get a Passat and build that engine then swap it in. You won’t need to do the internals at all… just bolt it all on an go.

The alh is a great engine , but so is he PD. Once tuned and properly deleted the PD is as simple and reliable.

The only difference is the fueling. PD uses cam rocker arms and Injectors that are pumps too. it seem complicated but the PD pumps are easier to swap than the alh IP. The timing belt job is slightly easier in the PD too.

Plus on an alh you have to buy nozzles AND an upgraded pump. With the PD it’s only one , which at the end of the day ends up being cheaper to turn the fuel WAY up in a PD.

I’m the minority when I say I like the PD better than the VE. I think the people on the other side of the pond people agree.