AJL...what to spend £1K on making it faster?

[Rfmacaskill]

Looking for some of your thoughts and suggestions re what to spend £1K on in terms of making my TQS a bit nippier.

It's a 2001 Saloon with 116K on the clock with the 180bhp AJL engine. I use it every day and have just changed all 4 tyres today to the new Goodyear F1 Ass3...they are very good coming from a mid range winter set of tyres.

For the record I've carried out the following work within the last 18 months:

• Replaced all front control arms - Can't recall make but it was circa £500+ for the kit and not a cheap eBay knockoff.
• New springs - Eibach ProKit
• Upgraded front brakes to 312mm - Brembo disks & pads
• Upgraded all brake lines to braided hoses - helperformance
• Replaced timing belt and water pump - OEM
• Replaced clutch in last 3 months - OEM
• Replaced all transmission mounts - OEM

Everything else is standard inc the ECU which I understand CANNOT be flashed but needs a physical chip to be soldered into the ECU. From what I've read a ECU Chip to this engine will give me no more than 190-200 at best as the stock turbo is puny.

What about a slightly bigger turbo which would fit into the existing setup? Ideally I don't want to have to upgrade all the other axillary parts i.e. FMIC, Exhaust, sparks if I can get away with it. I know not doing these items will in effect strangle the performance but I'm happy to pick away at these items as funds & time allow.

What would £1K get me in terms of making her a bit nippier? I'm not looking for a monster...220+bhp and I'd be a happy bunny.

So...what's your thoughts?

 

[Broken Byzan]

might get close with a bex turbo AND a decent map. But its kinda a pre requisite that you have a decent exhaust, bigger injectors and a fmic as the standard unit isnt good enough for what you have IMHO

 

[aragorn]

The simplest thing you can do is find a K03-073 from a 190ps B6 A4 and bolt it on.

Then get it tuned (probably means getting an A3 AGU ECU)

With a decent exhaust and intercooler, you'll probably see 230hp.

The issue is if you tune it without the exhaust and cooler, then you'll very likely have to go back and have the car re-tuned once the supporting mods are done. So its better to try and sort those up front if you can.

 

[aragorn]

and yeh, bigger injectors are probably required, but C20LET ones are plenty big enough and cheap as chips.

Bear in mind, Audi fitted a twin intercooler setup on the B6 190hp cars as standard, so they clearly recognised the single puny cooler we have isnt good enough.

 

[aragorn]

The problem with this approach, is that the BEX/-073 turbo is fairly rare used and 800quid new...

Another option would be to use the K03-TFSI turbo from the B7 A4 2.0. However it needs an adaptor plate to fit the cylinder head, and will need some exhaust tweaks as it doesnt fit the stock cat. The advantage being you can pick these turbos up in decent used condition for a few hundred pounds, and they're good for well over 250hp.

 

[EvilSnow]

I know someone that's got a adapter plate for sale...

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Browett1982]

Who makes the adaptor plates please

 

[aragorn]

beach buggy turbos