MK2 from NA to TD

[ShoulderMan]

Alright, I have a pict here showing most everything.
the green circles are the pcv to the intake 
   The Yellow is circling the little unknown to me device.
The Red shows where I have plugged the BOV with a barb to a quick disconnect air chuck (just incase I want to air up my tires)   


Now i agree with you that stock, k14's boost at 18psi.  with the stock air box and exhaust.   both are restrictions to and from the engine.  When I went from a stock pipe to the 3" exhaust pipe on my N/A, I noticed a boost in performance,  small, but noticeable. I cant say what that would have felt like with a turbo, but I can say that changing the stock air box to that big blue filter made a night and day difference in driving the car. it all of a sudden had boost. you could hear it and feel it.
  Combined, large air filter, large exhaust, mild port and a polish on the exhaust manifold, and a polish in the intake runners, a insignificant as it may be, they all add up for something bigger. an engine that breathes in and out a lot easier. .... ie: try breathing through a straw, running 1 mile.  how are you going to make that mile if you cant get enough air to your bloodstream to convert into energy. you could walk it,  but you would have a hell of a time trying to run it.  same with an engine. its an air pump, it sucks air in, compress it and blows it out. you just need to add three legs,  air fuel and heat. the more you can stuff the more power you make.
 So having a better breathing system lets you spool quicker, cool faster, and has the potential to make much more power.

I'm not stuffing in any more fuel than i was before, I have stock boost, nothing crazy, and the cooler ambient intake air if anything should help with the power and mileage. with most of my driving on the freeway, i will be using less petal to achieve the same mph.

 I appreciate the terminology , and any other information that is given, as one cannot learn or grow with out it.

[ShoulderMan]

from the sound of everything, I was not making much boost, I only hear it when i shift through gears, or give it the gas to accelerate

[R.O.R-2.0]

my car (the turbo on it) screams at idle.. the only thing that made my car spool better was when i went from a 2" turbo intake, to a 3" turbo intake. that made it spool much easier..

i make about 20 psi at the top of shifts.

the thing on the pass side of the intake manifold, thats the overboost protector, or blow off valve (BOV) as most call it, even tho its not.

the thing on the front of the pump is an electronic timing advance for cold starting IIRC.. should just be left alone..

and there should be enough ports on the turbo intake for the crank case vent, and the hose from the BOV.. not like it matters in your case tho..

wine corks work wonders when you stuff one in the outlet side of the BOV. lol.. and looks much nicer than an air chuck.

if you only hear boost when you accelerate, thats how its supposed to be to a point.. but you need a boost gauge..

does your car burn the tires when boost comes on? in first and second i have to pedal my car, or else it just turns the tires to smoke when the boost comes on hard.

now, what valve can you hear the air going thru as the turbo spools?

the only one ive ever been able to audibly hear over normal engine racket is the BOV you marked with red. but it shouldnt make any noise since you have it blocked off..

and im gonna wager a bet and say that your fueling is backed WAY off... that would account for decent mileage, and low power and boost.

[ShoulderMan]

I do have another turbo intake, its for a t3, and has the two ports, but looks like one is used for a computer (mk3 turbo)
I try the wine cork, next time i open a bottle, thanks.
   My car couldn't burn the tires if you greased them.  I can chirp em if i rev to 3K at dump the clutch, they chirp, but thats it,.. theres no smoke or adrenaline rush,  both na and td, and nothing by 2nd gear.  I am assuming everything is stock on this car. I bought it with not running with about 220K and it now has 298K
so, when I say it feels like it takes off, ive prob. went from 50hp to 75hp. if that.it just feels so much faster than before, like it has a larger engine. its like a power wheels, in low, and the turbo is high... its still slow as snot, but it feels faster.  
 
 At idle, my car sounds stock. you cant hear the turbo spin till you give it the throttle.  Maybe I hear what i hear because before i was able to fab the whole exhaust togeather, I just used that down pipe, before the expansion peice to test the car, and then to drive it to the exhaust shop.  as soon as you steped on the pettle, you could her the turbo wine,  she will wine up and wine down.  As you increased the rpms, the boost limiter valve would open up, (I call it a valve) I could clearly hear the air slowley wooshing out untill it sounded like an air hose with out a tip. then I plugged that and now I hear the same sound, but its now coming from the turbos wastegate, and i dont hear it untill about 26-2800rpm.  where as before I would hear the boost limiter open as soon as 2200rpm.

[R.O.R-2.0]

i bet you just got a boost leak..

cause the overboost protector wont operate till about 4k rpms, or whenever the engine reaches 15 psi boost. theres no way you are opening the BOV at 2200 rpms..

are you intercooled at all? or just stock turbo setup?

the hose between the turbo and intake probably has a hole in it, and its right above the BOV, so it would sound like a leak from there..

i bet if you fix that boost leak, you will be able to burn your tires..

my engine isnt even that built up, and its still a riot to drive. gets the adrenaline going for sure..
i really dont like driving my diesel in the rain. its stupid when your driving down the road at 55, then the tires just start spinning..

[ShoulderMan]

Ill have to go out side and check it for a leak,  ...edit( i checked out in the driveway, but heard nothing or felt nothing leaking around the hose from the turbo to the intake. I didnt hear the wastegate blow, but reving the engine in netural doesesnt put much load on the engine.)
 but even then, i have the boost protector blocked off.
Im all stock. no intercooler the little black elbow goes right to the intake from the turbo.
 That would have to be a massive hole too loose so much boost,

 what turbo do you have on yours?  and are you at stock fuel settings, or are yours turned up?  

[8v-of-fury]

I wish to call b.s on some of R.o.R's information.

You claim to be able to unleash your tires at 55mph in the rain on a boosted 1.5? (I assume your talking bout the VNT 1.5) No way unless your running 8 year old tires that have been worn completely flat..(No tread). When I drove my TDI donor for the month of september I had some pretty worn all seasons on there and even it would have no hope in hell at spinning the tires at 55mph.. And it has a lot more torque than even a built 1.6..

You also claim that when your boost sets I that you can roast your wheels? Dry pavement? First gear from a rolling start? Or dumping the clutch on a 4k rpm start? Lol a lotta inaccuracies here. :p
To the OP, if the car feels faster and you can get the same if not better mileage all the power to you I think it will be pretty close, like within a mpg or two..

[R.O.R-2.0]

Jeremy:

ok, when it just rained over 1" in less than 24 hours, yea, you can FRY the tires off going down the road how ever fast you feel like it.. its called hydro-planing.. and i still got my burnt down VNT 1.6 in my rabbit. it got well...

i have the tires off my GTI on my rabbit.. my GTI never hydro-planed this bad.. if you are on the gas at all when you hit a puddle, it burns out and makes the speedo jump big time..

another reason why your TDI couldnt burn out that good is because of weight.. my car weighs about 1700#, your car weighs in at around 3000# i imagine.. could be wrong, but its still not light like a rabbit..

and yes Jeremy, if i shift 2nd, and 3rd just right, i can keep my tires burning on dry pavement right on by 55 mph.. i have not yet mastered the 4th gear burn out tho..

yes, let the clutch out at idle, floor it, wait for boost to pick up, then start shifting until it grabs traction.. just idling along in first or second gear, usually when it boosts hard, it burns the tires, or tries to..

Shoulderman:

you cant really check for boost leaks without having boost at the engine.. and in your driveway in neutral aint gonna make much boost..

i have a VNT17 turbo off a 2001 TDI, on a 1.6D, with a cranked up n/a fuel pump. my car gets BAD mileage if im in the boost too long, or having too much fun.

if i were you tho, i would look at getting a boost gauge to see what your real numbers are?

and pull off the boost hose and check it over hard..

it doesnt take a very big hole to make a big boost leak. usually cant even stick your pinky thru them, and they basically cripple your engine till you fix them.

[8v-of-fury]

Hydroplaning and spinning tires on wet pavement are two completely different things :p. My bone stock 1.6n/a can roast tires too then if that's the criteria lol.

Also what year is your rabbit? Doesn't matter its only got a very very weak ring in the trans that allows what is known as a "one wheel peel". Very easy to bust one tire loose on wet pavement.. But roasting past 55?? I am doubtful.. But would love to be proven wrong . I don't think weight of the cars has much to do with a FWD take off.. Mk3 would maybe have 50lbs on a rabbit for over the axle weight on a take off?? Not much to really matter..

Kev, love ya man

[R.O.R-2.0]

Hydroplaning and spinning tires on wet pavement are two completely different things :p. My bone stock 1.6n/a can roast tires too then if that's the criteria lol.

Also what year is your rabbit? Doesn't matter its only got a very very weak ring in the trans that allows what is known as a "one wheel peel". Very easy to bust one tire loose on wet pavement.. But roasting past 55?? I am doubtful.. But would love to be proven wrong . I don't think weight of the cars has much to do with a FWD take off.. Mk3 would maybe have 50lbs on a rabbit for over the axle weight on a take off?? Not much to really matter..

Kev, love ya man

i dont care what you say, a lighter car will have less traction taking off..

and call BS all you want. i will give you a ride in it some day..

my rabbits an 84, had a 4A trans with conical washers (VWs ghetto locker). but it has a GC tranny now. it does one tire fryers sometimes. but if your hard on the boost, it doesnt care theres a differential there, it starts burning the other one anyways..

and when i mean i can roast them off at 55.. after you quit hydroplaning, do your tires KEEP spinning once you hit pavement, or does your car jerk, and hook right back up? if i leave my pedal down, i can keep it going on pavement thats not a pond.

im not trying to start things jeremy, but you telling me things about my car is like me telling you that you DO NOT own a TDI powered VW.

if you dont believe me, then dont believe me. cause im sure were far enough apart that we will never get to drive/ride in each others cars..

and yes, if i pull out at the mini mart intersection, and grab 2nd pretty hard, then grab third when its at about 20 psi boost, yea, the tires keep going from spinning in second..

this car burns out easier than any other low hp car ive ever driven in my life. its like driving on greased tires, basically everywhere..

heres the down and dirty:

my car doesnt give a damn if its wet out or dry, it will still burn out.. its just how much effort it takes.

i can still hold 2nd gear till 55 on a dry highway.

To OP:

sorry for the huge thread jack..

[ShoulderMan]

Alright, just to let you know, I have finally went through a tank of fuel, I got 600 this tank, with a combined city/hwy mileage of 42.857.  With that said, compared to the n/a driving only 55mph and shifting at 1800-2200rpms with 80% freeway, and 20% city driving 45psi in the tires, and stripped down to the nitty gritty, was giving me 55mpg.
     The Turbo version has been avg. 65mph with about 50/50 city/hwy,  shifting as high as 3200rpm and running about 2600rpm. I have 2 leaks, a small drip at the water separator, and one at the injection pump, I can see the injection pump drip as she idles, and the w/f separator after shes been parked. I also just noticed all my tires were at 26psi, I have approx 200 extra lbs in the rear of the car and no longer have a front bumper (just the metal bar) Because of the cooler weather, I start and idle the car in the morning (3-7am hours) for about 5-20 minutes every day before i take off.
  I will be taking a trip to Vegas in the car soon, which will give me a good indication of the hwy mpg ill be getting, Though, I can for see that ill get better mileage coming back than I will going up. The question is, is do I complete the round trip on one tank, or fill up in Vegas before I leave, and then compare each way.

 Over all not too bad, considering my first tank was 500 miles, I gained 100 miles on this tank, If i can gain another 100 miles, (700mpt) that will get me to 50mpg.(with leaks morning warm-ups and the extra weight)  Shift sooner and keep it under 65, seems like it should be do-able. fix the leaks and drop the weight, and 800 miles per tank will make me happy.

[8v-of-fury]

I think the extr weight and tires down to 26psi alone is almost enough to account for that huge drop.... Low tires are the devil!

Seems like your well on your way to good mileage with this one I am very happy to see what kind of mileage you receive!

[Powered by Spearco]

Sorry for the high jack, and for the BS. But there is no such thing as any US MK4 golf or Jetta or even Passat that came with a VNT17. The stamping on the turbo might say GT17, but its a VNT15. Sorry Kevin.

[R.O.R-2.0]

Sorry for the high jack, and for the BS. But there is no such thing as any US MK4 golf or Jetta or even Passat that came with a VNT17. The stamping on the turbo might say GT17, but its a VNT15. Sorry Kevin.

GT17VNT...

is that still a VNT15?

how come people talk about having a vnt 15 or vnt 17 on there cars?

i dont get it? how can it be something that it is not, when its clearly stamped right on the turbo?

the 15 was off a 90hp car, and the 17 was off a 110hp car?

or have i been fed lines of BS since i started reading about these turbos?

mines off an ALH equipped 2001 Jetta TDI..

idk josh, whatever you say man, not gonna argue.

[theman53]

I think the only 15s that had 15 stamped on them was the beetle. The 1749v is what is now called a vnt15...they are one and the same. The 1749va is just slightly bigger than the v. The 1749vb is "the" vnt17.
I guess the way it goes is GT1749v = Garret turbocharger, 17 is used to describe the hotside frame size, 49 is the intake wheel size in mm at the biggest part, and the v designates that it is a variable nozzle turbine
In my search for a VNT I found this knowledge. I have never actually held a VNT in my hands yet, but I think I know what I am somewhat looking for.
Garrett designated turbos           intake Bore                     Exhaust Bore

GT 1749 V (GT15)                             1.326"                                 1.441"

GT 1749 VA                                        1.390"                                 1.467"

GT 1749 VB (THE"17)                      1.459"                                 1.505"

GT 2052 V(The "20)                          1.550***                              1.550***

GT 2252 V                                           1.550 ***                                  ***

GT 2356                                              1. 587                                   1.605

GT 2552 V                                 to many sizes to list               1.550 to 1.700

*** These sizes vary in different series within that particular family group. Example, there are over 100 variations of the VNT 20 alone. The sizes shown here are of the most common sizes that are used in turbos manufactured for use in VW applications.