Project Hyper Miler Jetta MKIV TDI Part 4, Upgrading the Turbo with Garrett

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Now we’re on to the final dyno run. Let’s see what she will do!

Here you can see the difference the fuel system adjustments made to the tune. We picked up 11.2 HP and 32.9FTLB just with that.

Here you can see all of the runs together. We went from 76.5 to 127.4HP and from 134.3 to 235.4FTLB! This is a huge increase from where we started!

What a difference all of this has made! The cars driving manners are completely transformed, not entirely surprising when you consider that we almost doubled both the Hp and the Tq. What’s most surprising to us is how much smoother the car runs, how much less vibration there is when you’re driving it, and how much easier it revs. All of this without rolling coal!

Before these mods, the car would never ever get loose on you. It just wasn’t fast enough, and the suspension and tire setup was so good that it just always stuck in the turns. The best you could do in the area of wheelspin was to pray for rain. Now it will spin the tires from a roll in 1st, and will spin the inside tire going around corners in 2nd and 3rd. It even demonstrated a little bit of lift-off oversteer the other day! It’s still really over-tired, but it’s way more fun.

In 4th and 5th, it will easily make passes at speeds where the black and whites start getting cranky. It’s been a long time since I’ve driven a sporty 4cyl car, but I’ve driven a smattering of Civics and RSXs, and it seems to be about that fast. It’s way more fun to drive… It’s actually fun to drive! Hard to believe for an 18 year old car that left the factory with the sole intention of being easy on the wallet at the pump.

In the department of efficiency, we’ve run about 3 tanks of fuel through it since the last bit of work, and we’re getting 38MPG, which is right about the same. The MPG number is a bit on the lower side, but we chalk that up to the fact that each tire is 2.0” wider than stock. It will take a few more tanks to see if the average goes.

In all upgrading the turbo to the Garrett GT1649V with the injector nozzles and ECU tune from Kerma TDI has given us the best of both worlds, close to twice the power and torque from stock with nearly no penalty to the cars strongest attribute, its amazing fuel economy.  In the world of modifications, this is a rare case of having your cake and getting to eat it too!  These parts have converted the car from an econobox yawner to something that is actually fun to drive.  These pieces are a tremendous bang for the buck and a must have if you own one of these vehicles.

Want to read more about this Project Car?

Sources

Turbo by Garrett

Kerma TDI