Hi,

my PD140 06 Sport is finally showing signs of the turbo failing - I've had very minor issues with momentary loss of power (feels like a misfire) ever since I bought it 4 years ago, but a couple of weeks ago I had a complete loss of boost on the motorway and I had to shut down the engine and fire her back up before the situation was resolved.

I believe this is symptomatic of the vanes sticking on the turbo and overboosting, so the ECU then cuts all boost - I'm currently driving it very, very carefully and avoiding all unneccessary use of the go pedal.

So, having had the car for 4 years and feeling it's getting a little tired, I thought I might use this opportunity to stick a bigger turbo / remap / better suspension & brakes / EGR delete on it. It's done 88k miles now, but in all other areas the car has been great.

So first question is:

Do I bother, or just cut losses and buy a VRS instead ? I reckon I'd be looking at £2.5 to £3k for the mods (I think I'll need a new DMF or the southbend silent SMF conversion kit as I'm looking at around 230 bhp after the mods) - is it worth spending that on a 7 year old car ?

Secondly, I've already bought the 312mm brake conversion bits and will be getting them fitted asap (even if I don't upgrade turbo, for the price of them better brakes are always a good idea). If I do upgrade power, I'd also like to sort the suspension on the car pre-turbo - any advice ? I don't want coilovers as this is a daily drive and I don't want my fillings loosened thanks. I've been looking at dpmperformance and their springs and shocks kits - are the AP kits any good ?

Lastly, I've more or less decided on the Darkside budget turbo kit (GTB1756V - I know I'll need a new intercooler as well) - has anyone else had this done and were you pleased with the results, or should I steer clear ?

Thanks for any input - I know I'm asking for a lot of info, but this is my first foray into modding diesels.

Ta,

Jake

Darkside I would recommend. I have their EGR delete kit and it's the best out there, far better quality than the other offering available from elsewhere.

For the 'is it worth it' question, that's difficult for anyone else to answer. As an upgrade I'd say go for it and stick with the PD140, unless you were budgeting on a vRS with the CR engine.

Suspension - if you're going for uprated power I'd certainly recommend something better. You could look at a Bilstein kit for example, the B12 may be suitable for your requirements.

Whereabouts are you based?

Wow, that's a coincidence - I'm in altrincham, so I'm guessing not too far from you going by your sig.

Re: the suspension kit - my only reservation is that I don't want to go too stiff - once had a race modified XR2 that was quick and great round the twisty bits, but flippin awful on day to day roads; you could literally feel when you drove over a line painted on the road, never mind a speed bump. Also, given that I'm not going to be doing any trackdays and the bilsteins are twice the price of the AP's, are they worth the extra - are they adjustables ?

Also, sorry to badger with questions, but does anyone have any recommedations for re-bushing ? I think mione have had it, and the only decent aftermarket ones I know of are powerflex, but is there anything out there that's as good but cheaper ?

Ta,

Jake

Yes, I'm pretty close

I'll drop you a PM.

Bushes I need to do imminently myself, looks like I'll be going for Superpro myself.

Cheers,

Steve

im not too far either. im 55/40 drop on h and r cup kit with whiteline arbs. I like it, as do the missus and our toddlers. If you come down then we can take a drive..

as for darkside, i plan on using them in the near future for a 2260vk conversion, and some....

Hi,

I also have a Sport PD 140 but changed my turbo for a refurbished one after only 38k as it sounded like a police siren, I wish I'd gone for a hybrid turbo instead coz this one isn't perfect either. The car has just done 65k now and I'm in the process of upgrading the dmf, brakes and bushes as it's showing signs of wear being a 55 reg and 8 years old in September.

Would you happen to know the bush size needed for the anti roll bar front and back? I have new drop links and want to do them all at the same time.

Cheers.

If you want to change the turbo but don't want to upgrade, I used "Turbo Technics" for mine and it is on the car now for nearly 300,000kms. They do a exchange/recon service with a 2 year warranty. They say that they modify the vanes very slightly to stop them seizing and judging by the mileage on my turbo......I believe them.

They also do Hybrids.

I had a CR Turbo stage 2 Hybrid on my 2.0 PD 140 for about a year before I got rid of it, never gave any trouble and was a lot cheaper than some of the other turbo refurb comapnies

B12 kit is stiff, but not harsh.

Darkside are good, so no worries there.

I would do an EGR delete now and remove the EGR cooler, at the same time do the Mr Muscle trick for cleaning the turbo out, it works and at least you can use full throttle for a while until you get the mods done.

Look at Whiteline for RARB and Anti lift kit as well as the better shocks and springs or coilovers you are thinking of.

I have B12s on mine and the 18s are going on this weekend, if you meet up with Wardy let me know and you can see what the ride is like in mine, I can get to Stockport way at a weekend.

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You will not be disappointed with Darkside or their GTB1756 turbo.

The only work I have had done at Darkside was a clutch/flywheel refit (after problems with a local outfit), and they were really excellent. I dealt with Scott, and he was very straightforward and kept the pricing down as much as he could. I would use them again, even though it is a round trip of about 400 miles.

Thanks for all the advice everyone - it's all much appreciated. One little thing to add though - just bought 312mm discs and calliper carriers to upgrade the front brakes and having spoken to Scott at Darkside, it sounds like the rears are as easy to upgrade as it's another disc swap with new carriers and I can still use my existing callipers. Can anyone confirm this and if so what size disc should I be looking for - is it 286mm because that seems to only be used by Skoda ?

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Not sure on the rears, not using the existing calliper anyway. Have heard people upgrading to S3 rears on the vRS though, which are 312mm rear I believe

Never looked into upgraded rears as I think the 312mm fronts with decent discs, pads and fluid work well enough. Rears don't seem to be setup to do all that much of the braking IMO.

Aye, that's what I thought too - certainly any brake upgrade I've ever done on previous cars I've just left the rears as standard as the brake bias always seems to be heavily weighted in favour of the fronts. That said new EBC discs & redstuff pads for the front were so reasonable I'm still thinking about upgraded rears for when the current ones need replacing.

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Darkside I would recommend. I have their EGR delete kit and it's the best out there, far better quality than the other offering available from elsewhere.

The quality is great, but on the PD170 I've found it leaves the ASV sitting in a slightly different position that makes it pretty much impossible to change the oil filter. I keep meaning to have a word with them about that.

Interesting. I've never spotted any issues with fitment on the BKD. You got a photo to illustrate, out of interest?

Fits my BKD fine as well, ASV exactly where it was before.

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You got a photo to illustrate, out of interest?

Will take one

fitted it backwards?

They fitted it. I guess they could have put it on 120degrees out if the ASV wiring / plumbing allowed. Not had time to investigate.

I forgot to mention that when I spoke to Darkside about a couple of things (thats what sparked off the old grey matter about rear brake upgrades), they said that they said they wouldn't be able to fit me in for the budget turbo kit until early July (!!!).

I'm not sure that the poor girl will last that long, even with my current pensioner-like use of the go pedal.

So, either I do the Mr Muscle trick to try and get a few more weeks out of the turbo OR I buy the component bits from Darkside and get my local grease monkey to fit them, but the car won't be properly mapped for the turbo or EGR delete; will it still run, just not with the extra power ? If so, would someone else be able to map it for me as well as Darkside would, or should I just try and hold out until July and get them to do it ?

Decisions decisions !!

Ta all,

Jake

Will they sell you the budget kit without them fitting and mapping?

You could always get Ben at Shark Performance to do the map for you.

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err, yeah - good point. Just checked and the budget kit is only for fitting by darkside, you can't buy the constituent bits. Guess I'll need to keep the old girl pottering on until then.

Thanks,

Jake

Better late than never. Here are the pics showing the problem of the Darkside EGR delete blocking access to the oil filter on my PD170...

Looking at the pics compared to standard pics it doesn't look much different but I'm pretty sure the ASV is sat differently than it was.