Turning a A3 2.0tdi into a track car - HELP

[E5 FUL]

Got a 2006 A3 Sport 2.0tdi 140pd (now with 202bhp).

Basically want to turn it into a track car, before you ask I don't wanna get an S3/A3 2.0T as I love turning up to track days in a diesel and I see it as a challenge

Few questions...

1. Air filter:
Currently got the green cotton air filter, is there a better one? Is the APR carbon fibre worth the money? Will the green filter cause MAF problems because of the oil?

2. Anti-roll bars:
Are they worth it?

3. Clutch:
Recently got it remapped to 202bhp and more importantly 379FtLb torque!
Not expecting the clutch to last long, when it goes which one to go for?? Only on stage 1 now, would like a clutch that will be able to handle stage 2 for if/when i get there.

4. Turbo:
Not expecting turbo to last that long, so which one to go for? Hybrid or not?

5. Intercooler:
Worth upgrading this? Guessing not now with the standard turbo but if I get a better turbo would it be worth upgrading it then?

6. Exhaust:
I THINK mine is the non-DPF??? (2006 140PD) So can't remove that. Heard some people talking about doing another simple fix to the exhaust to gain more power, removing something? Apaz it's something that you need for an MOT??
Again with exhaust love the idea of a miltek but heard its not worth it for a diesel, so anything else I could do? Turbo back with a hybrid turbo etc...

7. Suspension:
Want the car to handle well without being tooooo harsh on road (prefer handling over comfort though!) and want it to be low but not excessively low as it's gonna scrape it's nose all over the shop. Are coilovers best option??

8. Silicone hoses:
Worth it in a diesel??

9. Seats:
Now here is an important one, think seats are gonna be my next purchase. I use this car a lot, often drive from Liverpool to Devon/London so it's gotta be comfy. But then I want it to be light, I've got a 3 door but wouldn't rule out getting non-reclining to save weight/money. Basically want a budget priced Recaro/Sparco/Corbeau. Was looking at the Monaco sports/Pole positions??

10. Spoilers:
Got the sport model so it's got the tiny spoiler on, will a bigger one actually make any difference whatsoever?

Anyways if you could contribute to any of my 10 points that would be greatly appreciated
Or if you know of something I'm missing?

Cheersssss

 

[E5 FUL]

11. Wheel spacers:
Does putting bigger spacers on front than rear help with understeer? Does using spacers help at all??

 

[Techen]

A track... diesel? Not as crazy as the things I've seen on a racetrack I guess. But in terms of mods... There isn't really much else you can do? You've already remapped it and as far as I know that's the only thing worth doing in a diesel, More MPG than speed really?

Too add, With all those mods done you could have bought a 2.0T and have the diesel car to tow it to the racetrack

 

[LEE69]

Recently got it remapped to 202bhp and more importantly 379FtLb torque!

Who mapped that?? I'd be getting a second opinion

 

[E5 FUL]

Got it remapped by riverside racing up in Liverpool. They are revo specialists, so I said I wanted revo stage 1 done, they said it'd go to about 180bhp. Turned up and they said, oh sorry we don't have the Revo software but we can do our own map which is almost identical to the revo one. So I was expecting 175-185bhp and yeah it came out at 202bhp. Wanted the revo as I've heard you get fairly equal power across the rev range. I'll upload a pic in a sec of the dyno results and please let me know what you think. I don't know much at all about dynos/remaps but from what I can see it's the opposite of equal power across the revs!

If I say I'm not happy with it and I'd like the revo one instead, anyone from previous experience know what the chances of them agreeing are?

 

[E5 FUL]

It was meant to be 140 as standard as was actually 157bhp. Is this common or is this evidence that the dyno results are a bit dodgy?

 

[Keram]

I made ~150hp and 350Nm (~260ftlb) stock and that's even high, but your is even more!
And I have made 205hp with hybrid turbo and you have this with stock =D that's ridiculous, how much boost is it running?

 

[DJ_26]

It was meant to be 140 as standard as was actually 157bhp. Is this common or is this evidence that the dyno results are a bit dodgy?

It could mean that either the dyno figures are out or you have a very healthy engine. When I put my standard 2.0TDI PD140 on the dyno, it supposedly made 149.5bhp.

 

[SootySport]

Ah, track derv motor, I had a mk4 Golf and Fabia VRS as track cars before, so I'll agree with you, torque helps a lot.
1. Use a standard paper air filter but change it more often.
2. Stiffer ARB's, yes, use an adjustable version such as Neuspeed or Whiteline, you can get the handling just So with a bit of tweaking.
3. A solid flywheel will handle more torque if you go further with the tuning. Helix is my fave although expect rough idle and a bit of noise. Helix and Sachs do uprated clutches, also research others on what torque they can handle. I could also suggest fitting a diff lock/LSD to improve traction coming out of corners, lots of torque makes the inner wheel spin with a standard slippy diff.
4. Lots of turbos available and too many to advise on, ask a tuner about that.
5. You should upgrade the i/c first, the SEAT Leon version is a favourite and more flow than the Forge versions which would be my 2nd. choice.
6. Millteks will fit well but don't get a noisy one or you'll fail track noise tests.
7. Don't go overboard with lowering the car, that will ruin the handling. Again many choices of set ups so stick with the good brands, Bilstein, Koni etc. You'll also need shortened droplinks to match the drop. 15 or 17inch wheels are best for the track and they have the best range of tyres if you are thinking of an extra set of wheels with trackday tyres.
8. Never bothered with Silicone hoses, offer nothing for performance, standard rubber jobs last longer but your old ones may need changing due to their age.
9. Carbon, GRP and Gel seats are very light and comfortable would you believe, providing you try them out for fit first. Lateral support stops you sliding sideways when cornering.
10. Spoilers? no not really, any benefit of downforce will be lost by adding extra weight. They only come into their own at speeds over 90mph. Spend money elsewhere.

I'll add another point, 11. Weight saving, this is where you can shave an awful lot of weight from an A3, start with the rear seats, I'll leave the rest to your imagination and what you could do without. Don't forget, the more weight the comes of the car the higher the ride height will be, so consider this when choosing suspension parts.
Don't forget, you may have a potentially ready to break oil pump, so check if yours is one of the known affected ones and get that done first, above everything else. Hopefully you can do all the work yourself, and will save you hundreds ££££'s.

For more research, have a look on seatcupra.net Golfmk-iv.net & a great website for tdi tuning is tdiclub.com

 

[SootySport]

It could mean that either the dyno figures are out or you have a very healthy engine. When I put my standard 2.0TDI PD140 on the dyno, it supposedly made 149.5bhp.

It's not unusual for VAG dervs to have an higher output than originally claimed. This all started when the PD engines arrived. The Golf PD130 was around 145 bhp in reality and after it had been run in. DERV's on the whole take 15,000 miles to be run in properly and make optimum power.

 

[Paul @ Unit 9 Remaps]

Make the handling the best you can with all the mods, all the weight saving you can and maybe a diff will be a good start, with some decent tyres it will be transformed

 

[DJ_26]

Make the handling the best you can with all the mods, all the weight saving you can and maybe a diff will be a good start, with some decent tyres it will be transformed

Definitely lose weight, the A3 is such a heavy car, more so with a diesel engine and even more if you have a DSG gearbox. I suppose losing weight from the front of the car can help too, might improve the weight distribution too.

 

[DJ_26]

It's not unusual for VAG dervs to have an higher output than originally claimed. This all started when the PD engines arrived. The Golf PD130 was around 145 bhp in reality and after it had been run in. DERV's on the whole take 15,000 miles to be run in properly and make optimum power.

Yeah I've heard about this before. But it is a shame that it's let down by cylinder heads that can crack (BKD) and "chocolate" turbos. Let's hope the OP doesn't suffer from these (or anyone for that matter!).

 

[adamss24]

It's not unusual for VAG dervs to have an higher output than originally claimed. This all started when the PD engines arrived. The Golf PD130 was around 145 bhp....

It's called lotery dyno ! Basically it's a feel good factor induced by the outfit that flashed the map...the gt1749vc strugles with anything over 200 Bhp and i would not run it higher boost than 1.7 bar...i am doing a turbo conversion for a forum member on a pd170 audi a3 quattro and i have fitted a gtb2260vk turbo on a log style manifold, 3" downpipe, 4 bar map sensor, s3 style intercooler and much more...

 

[LEE69]

 

[adamss24]

Yep, the turbo fitted on thr 140 Bhp models strugle with anything over 180 Bhp, they are called kp 39 and suck ! Later 170 bhp were fitted with bv43 and have small trim compressors but some 170 Bhp were fitted with gtb1749vc.
Early CR engines came fitted with a newer version of bv43 (yellow tag) which had a billet compressor wheel, high temperature inconel turbine and VNT mechanism and were less prone to fail altough they are much less reliable compared with the garret turbochargers.
Basically i would fit either a gtb1756vk or a gtb2056vk or gtb2056vl - this has a water cooled CHRA and it's from volvo- cheap to buy, reliable and it's the best journal turbo you can fit on 1.9 and 2.0 tdi engines. Personally i reckon the gtb2260vk is too big of a turbo and moves the torque/ bhp high up the rev range.
If you really like fabrication and want the best transient response then look no further than the gtb2060vklr, it features a ball bearing, water cooled CHRA and has very, very good spool characteristics yet able to support 250 Bhp in stock form but i had customers that pushed to over 300 Bhp with reasonable EGT- they don't last long though so we settled for gtb2260vklr...