It's been a few days, and I just found this particuliar forum.

So I'll formely introduce myself.

I own a 1996 Volkswagen Passat variant TDI.

Her name is The Black Variant of Death:


She has Bilstein TC's, Neuspeed Sport coils, 28mm sway bar, MFA cluster, Bosch 205's, 8.5 litres winshield washer tank, Optima red top battery, Evry mod and aftermarket stereo as upgrades by me.

My goal with this car is to create a vehicule capable to rival an Insight fuel consumption while having as much torque as a Cummings.

Some of my buddies on the dark side have tuned their TDI to produce north of 300 lb-ft of torque.

One guys is now around 400 lb-ft in a 1.9TDI (exact same engine as I have).

My guess is that 500 lb-ft is reachable.

I'm a Mechanical Engineering Tech, so everything is possible!

 

Hi Rammstein:

___I never asked but did you chip your TDI? That is if one was available for your particular MY? I have read of nice increases in performance of course and without a loss in fuel economy. I have a few more questions afterwards if you did “chip her” because the TDI forum(s) mainly speak volumes of the performance attributes called “speed and acceleration” and not much on the one I am interested in called “fuel economy”.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

No I haven't chipped it.

I have driven chipped TDI's.

Very nice.

You have to know that there is about 5-6 chips and other options to increase power.

You wanna know about fuel economy with chip?

Well, here a completly true statement applying to all diesels:

For every increase in Torque, you will see an increase in fuel economy if you drive the same.

If you press more, the mods usually will give either more boost or more fuel or both.

With a chip you're also affecting timing.

If your timing is retarded you'll get less fuel economy.

If your timing is advanced, you'll get better than average fuel economy.

 

So, with a timing advance as much as possible and a chip, some people have seen 70 mpg+++ in normal driving.

In normal driving I mean just driving under 70 mph with the cruise on.

The thing is, a chip is not the only performance (and therefore economy) mod you can make.

If you look at my mods, you'll see "Bosch 205's".

These are new injectors I installed.

The injectors on TDI's are different than on older VW diesel.

We have a 5 holes injector as the old diesel have 1 hole.

The mist produced by ours is finer, so injection is more precise.

A manual Passat (96-97)or Jetta TDI (97.5-99.5, old body) come with 184 micrometer size holes in the nozzle of the injector.

I changed those by the Bosch 205's complete injectors, which have 205 micrometer holes in the nozzle.

Stock it comes with 90 hp and 149 lb-ft at the wheel (European vehicules are measured at the wheel and not at the flyweel).

After putting the injectors I put TBVOD on the dyno and got 100 hp and 185 lb-ft of torque.

The injectors cost me 320CAD.

Good money vs performance increase.

I'll separate each item, so it's easier to read.

 

Hi Rammstein:

___Yes, that is exactly what I was looking for … You do know where 70 mpg on a 25 gallon tank will take you, don’t you?

___In regards to timing advance, the non SI diesel is already detonating very near TDC, right? Too much advance and the piston, rods, or crank shatter I would assume so that sounds like a non-starter. What are the chipped TDI’s doing differently then the tune from the factory to prevent this?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Also you can see Evrymod in my list.

An Evrymod is like a tuning box at a simpler level.

It's a resistance on the fuel pump.

You can choose to make it vary with a potentiometer.

You can also choose to have an on/off switch.

I have both.

Here's what it looks like:





So what it does is make the computer (ECU) think that the accelerator (the diesel pedal) is at a different place than it is really and the ECU compensate by giving more fuel.

Example:
If the pedal is half way, the ECU sees it as being at 3/4 of the travel, so it gives more fuel.

When I turn the potentiometer all the way one way, it gives me a "boost" and lots of smoke (unburned diesel).

Very usefull for tailgaters or case of road rage.

I guess I'm around 110 hp and 210+ lb-ft of torque with it on.

 

Yes, I know where 70mpg will take me: 1700 miles club.

I usually do 1 mod a year so I can see if it makes a difference or not.

If you mod your car all the way in a short period of time and something goes wrong, what is it?

Hard to diagnose.

It's my mod philosophy.

What do you mean by non SI diesels?

To answer your question about the chip, it simply controls the engine.

It can advance the timing a little bit or retard it depending on the software.

It can give more fuel at different predetermined moments or not.

It can give more boost (up to a certain level) or less, or cut it to 4-5 pounds in order to protect the engine (called limp mode).

Some chips are smoother than others.

Upsolute for example will give you a big "kick in the back" right at 1900 rpm (peak torque).

It's nice but undesirable.

This "kick" is hard on the engine, tranny, but mostly the clutch.

Older TDI's like mine have stronger clutches, but the new TDI's have clutches with max torque ratings of only 200 lb-ft.

Only a chip will bring the torque at around 210++lb-ft of torque.

So it means a VR6 or custom (my preference) clutch.

Mine should be good up to 250 lb-ft.

There is now new chip tuner that have "finer", more advance chip softwares.

It makes the cars drive like a stock vehicule with a stronger motor.

Everything is as smooth as stock.

1 chip tuner makes complete ECU convertion too.

He gets the most torque out of these engines: 1 member dyno'ed his TDI at 129 hp and 298 lb-ft (he also had the same injectors as I do).

I was there when he dyno'ed it.

2 mods and almost 300 lb-ft of torque! :o

 

Other mods you can do to increase torque, therefore economy:

-Bigger fuel pump;
-Even bigger injectors;
-Larger intercooler (I working on my own, super efficient intercooler, the "Super E-cooler".

On top of a fuel enrichment mod (Tuning box or Evrymod) and a chip, you've created a monster!! :ph34r:

If Cummings are able to triple their stock torque ratings, a 1.9 TDI is also able to!

 

It's also important to get a boost gauge (so you don't destroy that thing going some 100 000 rpm...) and an Exhaust Gas Temperature monitor (pyrometer).

Lots of fuel mods will make the temperature rise in each cylinder, and the exhaust gas can become very hot.

A water spray in the exhaust is something I'll do too (it lowers EGT).

 

You can ask any question diesel related, there's no dumb questions.

The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask!