stage 1
To some people, modifying the engine could be a difficult option. There are the warranty and the reliability issues. The law in each country could also be an important factor. Since I did the first mod in the engine, I would never believe that my car would reach the stage that it is now. As I’m responsible for a tuning web site, I like to test the mods and show people what could be the pros and cons of each one. The dyno runs also prove if that mod is worth or not. Most of the dyno runs I did were on the same Maha dyno. Every group of mods was divided in stages. That will also show, in my point of view, what could be a correct road map to reach the power numbers similar to what my car has today. Before you make a serious investment in some mod to drastically increase performance beyond stock, check all maintenance items to ensure that your car is in good mechanical condition. There is little point in modifying an engine which is suffering from problems. Using Vag.com can help identifying problems, plus it’s a good tool to help you understand better the TDI engine.
The first engine modification I did was a chip. For some time I was thinking between choosing a box and a chip and I think I did the right choice going to the chip. A chip is a better option than tuning box.
A chip affects more engine controls than a tuning box. A tuning box changes the amount of fuel delivered. A chip changes fuel, boost and timing and some more parameters.
The chip was made by Fernandes Motorsport, a very well known motorsport company with a lot of experience with chiptuning back on 2000. Driving the car that day was an incredible experience. I never thought the feeling would be so different than stock. the throttle response was very impressive. The next mod was a Simota air intake. This intake was designed to fit on a Honda, but with some changes, it was installed on my car. You can read some details about this intake here in this page. Most of the mods I did was tested at F3Sport in a Maha dyno. It is nice to test all the mods in the same dyno, to prove the upgrade. With this setup the power was 135hp and torque 296Nm. Back on these days I did some tests with vag.com and different air filters and MAFs.
