TDI120: My New Engine

Just spent an enjoyable hour reading this thread whilst sitting in the sunshine outside our caravan. I can only echo the sentiments already expressed; amazing thoroughness, great write up and, if proof was ever needed, total confirmation of Tom's status of virtuoso supreme!
Jeff (yep.....another one)
 
We are a very fortunate club indeed, to have such a talented and intelligent guy who (like us), loves his A2 and who has invested much of his valuable time, effort and no doubt money into imagining, researching, developing, building and documenting this thoroughly mind boggling improvement for the benefit of our little diesel powered aluminium companions.
He could have been into Fords or Vauxhalls :confused: lucky us.
 
Wow,what a thread!! Many superlatives have been used to describe this thread,superlatives are very often over used that's most definitely not the case in this thread,well done you!! I particularly liked reading about the Ceramic coating use and the special intercooler you have developed,these 2 things alone have given me some ideas for my C4 S6 improvements. Congrats, i've enjoyed reading and looking at the pics!!
 
Tom....Tom....Tom?..... I want my engine back! :D

In all seriousness, As I was unable to make use of the new engine in my new project at the time, then it couldn't have gone to a better person/home! However it still hurts that it had to leave me. :p

Congratulations in putting it all together and getting it all done, and done right at that!

Hope the engine goes on forever.
 
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Best write up i have possibly seen on here and that is saying something! Would love one of those intercoolers too.

Keep up the great work.

Euan

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

I was thinking that too Euan if it's a case of 'when' not if the intercooler will fail. But I'll wait till the when. :)
 
?.. Would love one of those intercoolers too.

...

they are a thing of beauty!

IMG_0546.jpg

Al
 
Incredible job Tom and incredible write up - your attention to detail, persuit of perfection and willingness to share what you have done in such a detailed way leaves me short of superlatives. Exceptional job!

Thank you so much Tom for taking the time to write such a detailed thread. By far the best thread I've read on the forum.

Wow!! Amazing write up... A new long term goal for me and the bar is set so high...

An instant classic post from a forum veteran. Absolutely fantastic. Thanks Tom.

Agree with all of the above. One of the best threads on this forum . Well done Tom. Much kudos and respect for an amazing job. With so much A2OC sewn into the very fibre of this engine rebuild it's an all round good news story. Thanks for sharing.

A fantastic, informative and inspirational thread Tom.

What a fantastic project and great write - up. It was a pleasure to play some small part in 'building the dream'

I must say that you ... did a really great job putting out the utmost from a good old 1.4TDI. Nice. Respect!

Top man. Top job. As usual. I bow to you, Sir Timmusness.

This is top drawer stuff Tom. THE best post on the forum and that is saying something. Truly amazing.

Great post, it shows what we all know on this forum, your OCDness is a truly remarkable gift. I'm as envious as your charge cooler pipes. Well done timmus.

Wow! Just...wow! I've just spent a delighted hour reading this and learning. I thought I had some idea about how the engine worked but this is another level! It looks amazing and I WANT IT!

Great work Tom and beautifully presented too.

Best write up i have possibly seen on here and that is saying something!

We are a very fortunate club indeed, to have such a talented and intelligent guy who (like us), loves his A2 and who has invested much of his valuable time, effort and no doubt money into imagining, researching, developing, building and documenting this thoroughly mind boggling improvement for the benefit of our little diesel powered aluminium companions.
He could have been into Fords or Vauxhalls :confused: lucky us.

Just spent an enjoyable hour reading this thread whilst sitting in the sunshine outside our caravan. I can only echo the sentiments already expressed; amazing thoroughness, great write up and, if proof was ever needed, total confirmation of Tom's status of virtuoso supreme!

Genius!!!!!!!

Bravo Tom! What a great write up, thanks.

Wow, what a thread!! Congrats, i've enjoyed reading and looking at the pics!!

Congratulations in putting it all together and getting it all done, and done right at that! Hope the engine goes on forever.

Thank you all very, very much for your incredibly kind compliments. I'm delighted that my project and this thread have been so well received. Having invested so much time in the write-up as well as creating the engine itself, your collective enthusiasm makes it all worthwhile.

I've written a few article-style threads for this forum in the past and no doubt I'll write many more, but I cannot see myself ever writing anything on this scale again; it's longer than the average university dissertation! However, it's never felt like work. Documenting the project and creating this thread has been an utter joy.

Warm regards to you all,

Tom
 
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Purchasing an Intercooler

The length of that inlet tract is a bit of a horror show isn't it? The price Audi paid for having the turbo around the back of the engine, I guess.

That is indeed the case. As you can clearly see in this write-up, the 1.4 TDI (and its 1.9-litre bigger brother) has both the inlet manifold and exhaust manifold at the back of the engine. As such, with the intercooler mounted at the front, there's no choice but to have a really long inlet tract. The left-hand-drive version of the A2 has a somewhat shorter inlet tract, but the engine bay layout of the right-hand-drive A2 results in a lot of pipework. This only adds to the case for thermal insulation beyond the intercooler and not further increasing upper deck volume by fitting the Forge intercooler. Having poked around in the engine bays of many VAG TDIs, long inlet tracts seem to be quite a common thing.

Hope ... you start offering hose kits and intercoolers (aftercoolers actually) to club members

Graham, you are absolutely right (when aren't you!?). Technically speaking, the A2's intercooler is actually an aftercooler as there's no secondary compression stage. However, it seems the term 'intercooler' has just become a generic term for charge air cooler.

I particularly liked reading about the ceramic coating use and the special intercooler you have developed!

The intercooler and pipework make a lot of sense for starters!

Would love one of those intercoolers too.

I was thinking that too Euan if it's a case of 'when' not if the intercooler will fail. But I'll wait till the when.

Is the intercooler going to be produced in any numbers for purchase by members?

Yes! The intercooler is most definitely going to be produced for purchase. I'm hoping to start a thread on this topic within the next few days (edit: intercooler ordering thread can be found here: www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?33015). As Dave (Special Edition) says, they make sense. Given that the Audi intercooler is very poorly built, my intercooler design really is suitable for every A2 TDI, whether you want the additional performance they offer or just want rock-solid reliability. Audi intercoolers are expensive and will soon no longer be available, so a solution to this problem was needed, not just for my TDI120 but for all diesel A2s.

As Murdo says, it is a case of 'when' your intercooler fails rather than 'if'. You can be as sure of the intercooler in your A2 TDI failing as you can be of paying tax. At some point in the distant future, the all-alloy intercooler may hopefully be available 'on demand', but in the short-to-medium term, they'll have to be ordered in larger batches. As such, if you want one now or don't want to risk your intercooler dying in between batch manufacturing runs, get your name down! Keep an eye on the forum for further details.

Cheers,

Tom

See here to order an intercooler: www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?33015
 
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My intercooler is burst at the moment with intent on fixing it next month. With your new version this puts me in a dilemma. I either drive my car like my with awful performance for longer or buy one now knowing i will need one of these later.

Have you any rough idea of time frame for these tom ?

Euan

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
Purchasing Silicone Hoses

Where is everyone getting these silicone hoses from?

I'll also be posting a thread about these at some point in the near future, though they are available immediately for right-hand-drive A2s. These are not made in batches, so can be ordered as and when desired. At present (June 2017), a four-hose kit is available for the AMF engine (meaning that rubber hoses in the boost path are completely replaced). For the BHC engine, a three-hose kit is available and for the ATL engine, a two-hose kit is available. I hope that, within the not-too-distant future, a complete four-hose kit is available for all variants of the 1.4 TDI.
Silicone hoses are available in green, blue, red, yellow, pink, purple, orange, black and white. At present, a four-hose kit for the AMF engine costs £140.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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Hi Tom,
Put me on the list, please:

1х IC
1x black hose kit (set of four?), BHC, LHD
Ceramic coating would nice to have as well. I don't have idea, though, whether these parts or service will be available...
 
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... well, I like to think so anyway!

I went for blue ...

Al

View attachment 29627

they are a thing of beauty!

View attachment 29649

Al

As you can see, Al has indeed been an early adopter. The first small batch of intercoolers was distributed some time ago, meaning a few units have collectively done thousands of miles. Al also has a set of silicone hoses and a ceramic-coated pipe. I somehow expect the remaining components of the TDI120 will find their way into his A2 in due course!

Cheers,

Tom
 
I will also be putting my name on the list for the intercooler and for the hoses in black for a Tdi 90 (As and when they become available). :)
 
After the changes to the turbo did you get the core rebalanced?

Absolutely! Given that the turbo was completely dismantled and every piece either restored, renewed or modified, rebalancing was essential.

Also, as you did my map, you said the egr was now redundant. Can i remove the valve as you did and block the holes?

Yes and no. Given that you have the AMF engine, you cannot remove the EGR valve without also removing the anti-shudder valve. The anti-shudder valve is an essential component, which is why the combined EGR/anti-shudder valve was modified by Graham as shown in post 9.

You can blank off the EGR output on the exhaust manifold and black off the EGR input on the underside of the EGR valve, but doing this alone doesn't serve any real purpose as the obstruction in the boost piping would still be present. Unless you're going to remove the obstruction presented by the EGR valve, a remap that keeps the EGR valve permanently shut does just as good a job as blanking plates.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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