Where do I start when upgrading my 2004 tdi Jetta. - TDI Engine -General Info - VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source.

• Where do I start when upgrading my 2004 tdi Jetta. by Eastcoasterlocal56 on 06 Mar, 2015 05:42
• I'm new to owning a 2004 tdi Jetta. I'm looking for input on upgrades. Where to start is my problem. ECU upgrade,exhaust and cold air intake are my first steps but after that I'm lost.
• #1 by theman53 on 06 Mar, 2015 08:44
• If you have an 01M trans the next step would be doing a manual swap.
  
  If you are a real mechanic and not a plug and play guy rip the head off and port it.
• #2 by burn_your_money on 06 Mar, 2015 10:34
• The first step is maintenance. Make sure everything is caught up and in proper working order.
  
  Next, you need to come up with a plan for what you want your car to be. How much more power do you need/want. If you are looking for say under a 30hp gain, then it probably doesn't matter what order you do things in. Injectors, ECU and maybe a turbo. If you are going big, start with the cheapest and safest (don't put huge injectors in until you have a big enough turbo, intercooler etc). An upgraded intercooler won't do you much on a stock engine but if it prepares the way to safely run bigger injectors etc then it should be first.
  
  If you are going all out then your first step is to pull the motor and start doing some internal upgrades.
• #3 by Eastcoasterlocal56 on 06 Mar, 2015 17:56
• The Jetta is going in for a stage 1 tune in a couple weeks. I'm still learning about tdi's and how the engine runs. An EGR delete sounds good also. New injectors are def on the list. I'm looking for 150-175whp. I'm a welder/fabricator and have access to a machine shop at work. I'm looking for guidence along the way of this build. As of now I'm doing ECU,cold air,exhaust and gauges. Once this is done I will move onto the next 2-3 new upgrades. I realize this isn't going to be cheap but this is going to be my build.
• #4 by vanbcguy on 09 Mar, 2015 21:19
• Leave the air intake system alone, the current factory air intake is a very good cold air intake complete with ram effect and a massively oversized filter.  Spend your money elsewhere, there's no gains from messing with the airbox.  It's a very well engineered design that you probably aren't going to beat.  It'll happily supply enough air for your power goals and then some.
  
  Your HP goals will require an upgraded turbo and decently large injectors.  I wouldn't spend the money on the Stage 1 tune to be honest, it's not going to do anything for your eventual goals.  The most economical way to get there will be to do the injectors, turbo and tune all at once, if you do it in steps you're going to be paying for a tune, change the injectors, pay for a tune, change the turbo, pay for a tune... you get my drift.  Some of the vendors (KermaTDI for instance) will re-tune for free if you buy a custom tune from them when you buy additional parts from them, that'd be the only exception to that rule I'm aware of.  That costs a bunch more than a canned 'stage 1' tune, but if you buy yourself a set of injectors and a custom tune, then the turbo later, etc it'll be cheaper in the long run.
  
  Don't go small on the injectors when you do eventually get them.  There's not a lot of reason to run anything below R520s if you have a custom tune.  Your tuner can dial back the fuel until you have the airflow to support it, again avoiding buying slightly upgraded injectors, getting tuned, getting the turbo, getting tuned, etc... Just buy the R520s you know you're going to want for your power goals and be done with it.
  
  EGR delete is optional but will help keep the intake clean.  There's some tradeoffs including increased warmup time, something to be aware of if you live somewhere cold.  There's no power gains associated with an EGR delete, just an increase in NOx emissions, a slight decrease in fuel mileage and increased warmup times BUT no more cleaning carbon out of the intake manifold.
  
  EGT gauge would be an excellent investment.  A Scangauge is also extremely useful as you can set it up to show you whatever values you might want that the ECU knows about - boost, coolant temperature, intake air temperature, airflow, whatever.  The only other gauge would be oil pressure, as the ECU only gets a binary "yes there is pressure / no there is not" signal from the engine.
  
  Like Burn said above, first step is maintenance.  Timing belt should be the very first place you spend money, if you haven't already done it.  Never trust a previous owner's statement that it was done - you never know if it really was done, if it was done did they replace the tensioner and all the rollers plus the water pump, did they replace the single-use engine mount bolts they had to remove, etc.  Considering failure of any of those parts can easily generate a several thousand $$$$ bill it's well worth doing it for piece of mind.
• #5 by Eastcoasterlocal56 on 19 Mar, 2015 19:11
• I can't do the turbo yet but I am doing the injectors and tune and exhaust now. Thanks for the help. I have a little more knowledge now. Can I buy nozzles or new injectors? Where can I get them?
• #6 by vanbcguy on 19 Mar, 2015 23:20
• Not sure where you're located...
  
  Nozzles are what you are looking for, though you would do best to have them professionally installed.  The injectors on these cars are totally mechanical and they rely on shims / spring tension to set their 'pop' pressure.  If you replace the nozzles yourself you'll likely end up with unbalanced injectors which in turn will cause havoc with your pump, as the ECU tries to balance out all the cylinders.
  
  Some businesses where you can get your injectors upgraded:
  
  Performance Diesel Injection (Ontario)
  Boraparts (Oregon)
  KermaTDI (Colorado)
  United Diesel (UK)
  
  ...plus any number of other places.  Boraparts or KermaTDI will do a 'hot swap' program where they send you new injectors with your new nozzles already fitted and you send them back your old ones, that's the easiest way to go about it.
  
  If you're going to do things in stages I'd actually recommend dealing with KermaTDI.  I'm only so so on their business practices (they really like to force suppliers in to 'exclusive' deals) but they've got tons of knowledge.  As I think I mentioned earlier if you do your tune through them they'll retune you for free when you buy additional upgrades from them.  I don't think anyone else offers anything like that.
• #7 by Eastcoasterlocal56 on 20 Mar, 2015 13:56
• Thanks so much for the help!! I have another question. What am I looking for in a turbo upgrade? Give me a couple ideas plz. I've looked at the garret  17/22 but I'm not sure what's a good turbo set up
• #8 by Eastcoasterlocal56 on 20 Mar, 2015 14:09
• I'm in Nova Scotia Canada. And 2-3 hrs from Halifax.
• #9 by vanbcguy on 20 Mar, 2015 15:40
• Start with your power goals, then work backwards to budget the supporting parts you need.  A 17/22 will handle 150+ HP but needs a tune, upgraded injectors, could use a cam, could use upgraded intercooler piping, upgraded exhaust, etc...   Otherwise you're just haphazardly throwing parts at it. 
  
• #10 by Eastcoasterlocal56 on 28 Mar, 2015 12:49
• Thanks everyone for the help. I talked to Chris at KermaTDI and we came up with a good plan. I'm starting with a QLoader and checking my cam for wear. I can still run my injectors for a bit and when I change the inj I will change the came to but my second add will be a new turbo with 3" down pipe and exhaust and a better air intake tube from the filter. Boost gauge and egt are ordered. QLoader is next week. I should have this all done by summer time. Thanks again everyone
• #11 by Eastcoasterlocal56 on 28 Mar, 2015 12:58
• I almost forgot. I will have to change out my auto for a manual. $1500 I'm told. Guess it has to be done
• #12 by vanbcguy on 28 Mar, 2015 23:25
• Yeah the auto on the 99.5-04 is pretty weak; they can barely stand up to the stock ALH power output.  Didn't realize you had one of those or I would have mentioned it...
  
  That was the last automatic that VW tried to build themselves; after the disaster that is the 01M they started outsourcing all their automatic transmissions.  The results have been much better, but all the newer automatics are much more integrated in to the ECU / CANBUS system on the car so it's not practical to swap them unfortunately.  You can do a 5 or 6 speed manual swap though and get a good mileage boost plus a much stronger transmission.  It's basically a requirement for making any significant power, especially since the 01Ms tend to fail quite spectacularly at times including fun things like locking up the front wheels so you can't even push the car out of traffic.  Yay.