How much boost can I run on stock turbo and be reliable?

[rallydiesel]

I am looking to do some of the cheapy mods such as governor, max fuel screw increase, LDA adjust, close off BOV and get a manual boost controller.

How much boost can a 1.6 TD run and still be reliable and not grenade anything? At what point do you need to go with the steel headgasket and ARP, etc studs? Would an EGT be mandatory with the above mods?

Thanks for any help.

[SMOKEYDUB]

20 - 23 psi woul be reliable without upgrades

[jtanguay]

i bury my 20 psi gauge at times...  it's not like i'm trying to kill my motor or anything but i do have a TDI going in there soon!  

i don't have an IC.. just a pump from andy2.  full fueling till 4500 rpm, although the gov mod kinda screws up the lower rpm's i find...

if you want to keep your motor for a while, get an IC and EGT gauge. I guarantee that you will be happy you got it!  i've driven both intercooled and non, and can honestly say that intercooled makes a huge difference.

in the mean time, just watch the black smoke out the tail pipe.. too much is not good.  you can do short bursts, but only about 4-5 seconds or so.