Tuning 1.8T VAG engine

[Donald16985]

Hi. I wanna know what the best way is to tune my passat 1.8T. I'm only looking for around 200-230 BHP. I dont want nothing too mad or silly as its a daily driver and done 75k. I would like to keep the reliability and wouldnt want to go for a stage 1 or 2 map. Or is that just a myth and you dont really lose that reliability?
I thought about going for a K04 turbo and mapping it like the TT's. hopefully giving me around 220.
OR intercooler, and sport cat and exhaust. Also hopefully giving me about 200.
Please help! Cheers.

 

[pgarner]

ok stage 1 map is generally a generic map stage 2 is normally a custom with stage 3 being different turbo and remap.

whats the power of the passat 150 (normally up to 03) or 170bhp ( post 03 but not all models are ) ?


if its the 150 engine, a remap will give you around 190bhp on a generic.
a 170 im not sure about but for my 180 most show around 205-215bhp
this will cost you around £400-500 inc vat (some list their price without vat as ive found out)
plus most time the remap dont really make much of a difference until your around the 3k rev mark.

a k04 turbo upgrade along with a remap will give you around 270bhp but bear in mind that the K04 has bigger internals so has more lag along with needs most of the plumbing changed.

If youve got the 150bhp version it might also be worthwhile looking at the K03s turbo, which is a mid way between the 03 and 04. this is fitted to the 180 bora, golf and octavia vrs along with a couple of versions of the TT

sports cats and exhaust will only give you around 15bhp include a modified intake and you might see 20bhp, but this will cost you around £600 for exhaust and cat.

im looking at roughly the same target as you around the 220bhp mark with around 250ftlb.
its also worthwhile uprating the diverter valve as the standard rubber one starts to struggle with the increase in boost. normally splitting leaving you no boost at all.
Alot have also said about fitting the TT N75 valve as this holds the boost better (n75 valve controls the wastegate) but ust as many have said that it causes the boost to spike and makes the car go into limp mode.

 

[pgarner]

Sorry didnt relise this was your first post
so hello and welcome to torque cars

 

[Donald16985]

Thanks. Yea only had the car a few weeks but love it already.
I believe its the 150bhp as it dosent feel fast enough to be a 170bhp. If i were to fit a K03s turbo would it just bolt straight on or need plumbing etc changing like the K04? and does a remap really make much difference to reliability?
And why is it good news that winter is on the way!?

 

[pgarner]

Swapping the K03 to K03s on transverse engines, in most cases, is direct swap as its only the internals that are slightly different. unfortunately i'm not so sure about longitudinal setup thats used in the passat. at a guess id say if you can get the turbo outof a 170 setup it should swap right over as i think it used the k03s. youll still not get the full gain out of it until its remapped

theres not much difference between mine and the older 150bhp engine, 8 seconds for mine, compared to 8.2 for the 150. its more the 6 speed box that makes the difference putting the power down as the revs are different.


as long as the cars serviced regularly and your sensible with the car, not booting it from cold etc, then theres nothing to worry about reliability as long as you use a decent tuning firm ( AMD REVO custom-code (normally mentioned as CC) or jabbasport are all supposed to be very good for vag ).

Just for some knowledge the longitudinal 1.8t is more prone to a sludge build up in the oil. change it regularly ( i do mine every 5-6k miles) and use fully synthetic oil

 

[pgarner]

If you ook under the boot carpet you should have a sticker telling you the power figure. If its 111Kw its the 150 bhp version
126ish id 170bhp

 

[obi_waynne]

Hi Donald and wlecome to TorqueCars - yay another VAG 1.8T owner. We're slowly taking over the world. (I think HDi_fun needs to promote diesels more cos we are winning with our 1.8T members)

PG has beat me to the tips and advice and is on the ball as usual. Theres not a lot else I can add