clutch savers?

Ben Dur

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Location
Pensacola FL
TDI
2000 VW golf tdi
so im considering getting malone tuning 1.5 which is supposed to be a clutch saver type tune

anyone have any opinions on 1 vs 1.5 vs 2

and if i was to get 1.5 now, then upgrade the clutch sometime afterwerds would getting an upgrade be prorated?

or if plannin a clutch soon anyways would i be alright just going stg2 now, prior to the clutch?


i have no cat, no muffler, fuel sender mod, and smog 216's
 

Ben Dur

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Location
Pensacola FL
TDI
2000 VW golf tdi
also my car is a 2000, built in May i believe... not sure about that (if anyone knows how to tell me that would be awesome)
from the wolfsberg factory in germany

i was told it may be the LUK clutch. but i dont really know
 

Timpackman

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
04 Jetta GLS TDI - 5spd, 2011 JSW 6spd Manual
well seeing as how the price for stage 1-3 is the same, I wouldn't imagine there would be much more $$ to upgrade, maybe just labor time?
 

TDIJetta99

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 17, 2005
Location
Port Jervis, New York, USA
TDI
03... Faster than yours =]
Just get the tune you want, and use your right foot to save the clutch.. The engine will only make as much power/torque as your right foot lets it..

As far as which clutch you have, if the weight on the shift linkage under the hood is silver you don't have a LUK clutch.. Black weight and you do..

Sometimes the newer ones hold up fine, sometimes they don't. One of my customers, Carlos, has RC4, Vnt17, PP520's and an 11mm pump all with the stock "weaker" clutch and it doesn't slip.. My LUK slipped with nozzles and no tune..
 

Ben Dur

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Location
Pensacola FL
TDI
2000 VW golf tdi
also im going with malone because this coming week theres a special on tuning and their in ATL to boot...
makes the whole process alot easier for me

what should i expect from stg2?
 

Nate242

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Location
Tigard, OR
TDI
2001 Golf GLS TDI
I emailed back and forth for a while with Mark before getting nozzles and a tune. Based on my ultimate goal of ~ 150hp here's what I did.

-Ordered PP764 nozzles (Marks recommendation for me)
-Ordered a Malone tune (direct from Mark since he was so responsive and helpful)
-Mark sent several tunes to me so I could load whichever one I wanted (in this case 1, 1.5 and 2)
-I installed the level 1 tune to tide me over till I installed the nozzles.
-I installed the nozzles and level 1.5 tune.

Here's my take on the tunes:
Level 1: holy crap, if you've not done anything else to your car performance wise it really wakes it up. Very nice. :D
Level 1.5 w/pp764: Coming from level 1, it was a small but nice change. Same torque but more HP. Pulls harder when you get up in the revs a bit. I get no noticeable smoke (thru the rear view mirror)
Level 2: Haven't tried yet, but my clutch hasn't slipped yet so maybe I should ;)

In any case I have no regrets and would definitely recommend Malone tunes. Now I just need a clutch and turbo and I'll be about there :D
 

Ben Dur

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Location
Pensacola FL
TDI
2000 VW golf tdi

yes i have seen that
but i was assuming that was with 205's

the advertised 32hp is only like 15 more than i got from the 216's
the torque figure is obviously more

but i also know that those figures are guidelines and that there are far to many combinations of modification for them to guarantee the numbers
i would assume that those are likely low estimates anyhow just to cover their own

a bad mufflerectomy, clogged cat, rusted out downpipe, different airfilter, bad fuel filter, clogged sender, lift pump, cheap injectors etc
bio fuel
cheap diesel
diesel additives

all these things add or subtract tiny bits of power.

and according to the site the required mods include injectors(unspecified) and a clutch
and they dont necessarily even suggest a straight exhaust

im not really concerned with what my power figures are, because to anyone not on this forum they are wacky and confusing anyways

250lbs of torque and only 130hp? faster than an RSX that put out over 200?
doesnt make any sense to most people

im just wondering if its going to blow my mind, or disappoint me? how much quicker will my car be?

how does it compare to RC2?
 

Ben Dur

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Location
Pensacola FL
TDI
2000 VW golf tdi
but either way.......
ive never driven or ridden in a pd so it makes no difference to me

i was just wondering if malone st2 would be worth it
but given the responses i guess i should just buy a 335d

thanks for the help guys
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
but either way.......
ive never driven or ridden in a pd so it makes no difference to me

i was just wondering if malone st2 would be worth it
but given the responses i guess i should just buy a 335d

thanks for the help guys
If you have the money to spend on a 335d, you can mod your TDI to the same performance level.
 

Ben Dur

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Location
Pensacola FL
TDI
2000 VW golf tdi
noted

any other thoughts on malone2
or comparisons with rc2 tdtuning2 unitronics2(havnt heard much about at all)
 

TDIJetta99

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 17, 2005
Location
Port Jervis, New York, USA
TDI
03... Faster than yours =]
I prefer rocketchip personally, but you won't be disappointed with either Rocketchip or Malone.. Not a huge fan of unitronics, never driven a tdtuning car..
 

Ben Dur

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Location
Pensacola FL
TDI
2000 VW golf tdi
well aside from shipping off my ecu rocketchip isnt easy for me to get programmed.
i live in FL so its quite a long drive to RC or any GTG. i havnt heard of any chip tuner this close to me ever, aside from unitronics, which is significantly more money, and has very little review.

unitronics in orlando
malone in ATL

malone 300 regular
Unitronics 400 for stage 2 (maybe they call it 1.5 or 1+)

malone special pricing $250
gas for the 600 mile round trip $40
foot long sub and a couple mountain dew $10

total $300+tax?


the drive is a hassle but i think ill get over it haha

i know the difference of +/-100 for tuning is trivial but thats the price of an custom OMI
or half the price of a DIY front mount
aside from the lack of reviews, and non-interest they show in this board (unitronics)

malone/rocketchip/vwmikel and even F1 are all on this board and they all seem to be passionate about TDI's


id love to have RC on my car, given that its the most highly reviewed. everyone seems to love RC and the customer service
but for me its a little unobtainable for me right now
and if malone2 is enough to make my clutch slip, would rc2 not do the same?
which means i wont be able to use all of it very much anyways for the time being

thanks for all the input guys
and take it easy on me, im new here =D
 
Last edited:

Joe TDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Location
Neversink, NY
TDI
03, 00, 04 MK4 sedans.... 02 MK4 Wagon
I dynoed my ALH with Sprint 520's and RC3 and got 127hp/232ft lbs.
My BEW has RC1+ and I will be dynoing that in the fall. It feels every bit as fast as the ALH did.

I can't wait to see how much power this thing makes with only a tune... The ALH was running like 18.5psi.... Just installed a boost gauge on the BEW and it's reading 20-21psi with minimal spiking and no creep.
 

TDIJetta99

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 17, 2005
Location
Port Jervis, New York, USA
TDI
03... Faster than yours =]
Rocketchip has been known to travel all over the country for TDIclub gatherings, so unless you really need it right now, he'll probably be in your area sometime in the near future..

Also, if you send him your ECU, you're only down for 3-4 days, unless he's willing to send you a loaner ECU so you have no downtime. That's what I do when I have a customer that wants to get tuned via RC.. I have several ECU's to loan out until the chipped one comes back..
 
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