Newbie looking for pd150 tuning improvements

[Charlieboy FR+]

Hi all...just joined and new to Seat's. I have just bought a red 2006 55 plate seat leon fr plus and im looking for a bit more poke.I know the norm with turbo motors but not with this car.I was thinking a remap (A.M.D ?) and panel filter to start with (best filter?).This car has the cupra r looks but not the brakes or power lol well not yet.How easy/hard is it to fit the brembos anything needed over than the calipers ?.Any help would be great ?.

 

[Lee_EP82]

Alright mate, just wondering if you bought the 1 from high wycombe off autotrader with 94k odd miles on it?

 

[Charlieboy FR+]

Fr

Yes it was. Do u no the car?

 

[Putrid]

yeah some guy did a cut and shut thread about the car on here not so long ago lol


first things first give the car a full service if it hasn't had one recently that includes things like changing the gearbox oil, replacing coolant etc I mentioned these things because they often get overlooked during a service and are very important to the welfare of your car, especially if you want to tune.

due to the large amounts of torque generated by tuning a pd150 , i hope your clutch is in good order as they are known to slip due to putting large amounts of torque on an old clutch, which will cost upwards of £500 for a new one fitted. just a word of warning before you start tuning.

I'd stick to a standard panel filter (upgraded ones in my opinion are just not worth the money for the tiny gain) and a re-map off a reputable tuning company. should see you at around 180bhp. I'd stick with the normal disks and pads too they will be able to cope with an extra 30bhp as long if there is plenty of life in them. I wouldn't bother doing any/many more mods because you can pick up a decent lcr for £3.5k which is probably cheaper than what you paid for your diesel with all the tuning bits already on it.

you say you want it to go and stop like an lcr but in reality you should have bought one in the first place because it will cost you thousands of pounds in labour and mods to get it to go and stop like an lcr on top of what you have already paid for the car so works out a lot more expensive in the long run. also if you wan't to sell your car in the future you will never recuperate your money you have spent on it. sorry to mention but it just leaves me scratching my head when somebody goes out and buys a 150bhp car then wants to throw a bucket load of money at it to make it go like a 225bhp car when they are about the same price to buy secondhand with similar mileage.

 

[dholdi]

I wouldn't bother doing any/many more mods because you can pick up a decent lcr for £3.5k which is probably cheaper than what you paid for your diesel with all the tuning bits already on it.

Lcr's are cheaper for a reason, and I like them a lot, but they cost a fortune in fuel, tax and insurance just for starters.

you say you want it to go and stop like an lcr but in reality you should have bought one in the first place because it will cost you thousands of pounds in labour and mods to get it to go and stop like an lcr on top of what you have already paid for the car so works out a lot more expensive in the long run. also if you wan't to sell your car in the future you will never recuperate your money you have spent on it. sorry to mention but it just leaves me scratching my head when somebody goes out and buys a 150bhp car then wants to throw a bucket load of money at it to make it go like a 225bhp car when they are about the same price to buy secondhand with similar mileage.

???????

£150 for remap
£400 for brakes

£0 to fit yourself.

1 st Result = go almost as well as an Lcr and stop just as well.

2 nd Result = you can pay for these mods with what you save in tax and fuel in a very short time.

3 rd result = this is specific to me, take the brembos off and stick them on the project in the garage

 

[Putrid]

1st result,
you are £500-1000 out of pocket at the very least least by the time you have bought a more expensive diesel model , then you are another at least £500 out of pocket by the time you have fitted uprated brakes and a remap and you are still slower and worse off handling than an LCR. also not as good looking,smaller alloys, not as nice interior and the sound of a diesel. all for £1500 more

2nd result,
when his clutch starts slipping due to the added torque the £100 per year less tax will be soon evaporated, insurance won't be much more on an lcr by the time you have declared your mods and the insurance company work out it is nearly as fast as an lcr. with the fuel i'll agree that a diesel uses less but 35mpg is attainable on a long run in an lcr which isn't the end of the world.

3rd result

It just seems more logical with lcr prices so low at the moment to go out and buy a lcr than to buy a diesel a which is more expensive in the first place then to throw a heap of money at it trying to get it to go and stop like an lcr. just except to pay a bit more in fuel, tax and insurance for a better car apart from fuel economy( but the OP doesn't seem to mind throwing £100s on brakes remaps and panel filters so i can't really see him caring about having to spend a bit more on fuel)

think with prices so low on lcr's I recon i could go out and buy a decent lcr then remap it to around 260bhp for cheaper than you can buy a standard 150tdi on a similar mileage and plate. also when the car comes for sale you you'll never recuperate all the money spent on doing a diesel up but you have half a chance by just remapping a petrol.

 

[Leon2012]

- A good remap will see the best bang for buck

- You will probably need a new clutch

- Forget uprated panel filters

- Brembos are for show and track use - you will improve your braking a lot by putting some Ferodo DS2500 front pads on - they will stop as good or better than standard pads on Brembos.

 

[Leon2012]

By the way Putrid, the price of LCRs has bottomed out so much because of this economic climate and the price of insurance nowadays....hardly anyone wants the extra expense of the insurance, fuel, road tax, etc, and you will struggle to sell it, especially as time goes on they're getting older, and the average guy on an average wage who wants a fast car would choose a Mk2 or something other than an LCR. They're getting dated now and only wanted by real SEAT enthusiast petrol heads.

And those SEAT LCR enthusiasts are p1ssed off because every Chav, **** and Harry is buying them now because they're so cheap, just to abuse them and run them into the ground, and that ruins the image of them too.

Whereas diesels have great torque, are much cheaper to run and general people want them, not just specialist enthusiasts, so they would sell easier than a petrol LCR in the future. By selling any mods done to a diesel separately, you will easily get your money back at 2nd hand rates, therefore not losing anything like you're saying.

 

[JamesL]

yeah some guy did a cut and shut thread about the car on here not so long ago lol

Have you got a link to this please?

 

[n11tht]

Lcr's are cheaper for a reason, and I like them a lot, but they cost a fortune in fuel, tax and insurance just for starters.



???????

£150 for remap
£400 for brakes

£0 to fit yourself.

1 st Result = go almost as well as an Lcr and stop just as well.

2 nd Result = you can pay for these mods with what you save in tax and fuel in a very short time.

3 rd result = this is specific to me, take the brembos off and stick them on the project in the garage

£400 for brakes? brembo callipers will cost you that alone, you then need the carriers and new pads and discs. your £400 is gonna be more like £700-800.

remap will get you to about 190bhp still 35 less than an lcr. whatever way you look at it 35 bhp is a lot.

 

[Charlieboy FR+]

Cheers for reply - I bought it as I wanted a tdi as the car is a everyday car and the mrs will be driving it . I could of got a LCR but then u got high tax insurance costs petrol etc and tdi hold there money well coz of current economics. It's gona b a long project I'm not rushing with it throwing loads of money at it. It cracks me up when guys buy loads of bits and rr it and they push 280bhp and another guy will get a few well selected items that work well together and they push the same power with half the cost I used to c it with ST all the time.i done a bit of research last night on a thread where a guy tried lots of mods the rr it after each one to c what gains u get from what. The tdi responded well to just a map and removing the back box and replacing it with a 2.5 inch pipe and cupra r tailpipe.he got 190bhp on standard air. Box so that's we're illstart. He got a 6.8 bhp increase in removing the back box alone and very easy cheap to do.im gona try and send it to a.m.d to get a full service and rr it standard to get a hood idea of what I'm getting each time ps car on 94.5 k clutch feels new and please tell me u were joking about cut n shut

 

[Charlieboy FR+]

£400 for brakes? brembo callipers will cost you that alone, you then need the carriers and new pads and discs. your £400 is gonna be more like £700-800.

remap will get you to about 190bhp still 35 less than an lcr. whatever way you look at it 35 bhp is a lot.

Just a Quicky . My St Tdci was 75 bhp Down on my couisins St3.we raced on a private road and literally only differance was after 130mph up2 that he wasn't going anywhere I reckon a 190bhp fr will give a standard LCR a good run for its money all day long just on tourque alone. I am a newbie but bhp verses tourque is a old argument.the only thing I notice between a t petrol and tdi is u only have half the power band of a petrol and you fly through the gears like you're on a dirt bike compared to a sports bike but hey I will still return 35 mpg when u thrash a LCR ure lucky if u get 20 mpg

 

[mk4 cupra]

Glad to see more people buying tdi,s. some people on hear just don't like the good old tractor engines they don't see what they can be when tuned right. I'll admit the petrol engine always has higher abiltys to be tuned but my self I would never go back to owning a petrol due to I like the torque dilivery on the desial engines as standerd let alone when tuned.

Welcome to the site mate keep us all update with ur progress there's quite a few people who know a lot about tuning the desial engine so there is some people who will send u in good direction

 

[Andrewcupra TDI]

make a readers ride to map your progress

and also look at other peoples readers rides to get ideas , one that springs to mind is JonJays diesel before he sold it , also devon mikey boy i think among many who had high powered dervs

welcome to the diesel club

i for one am really struggling to consider buying another petrol after mine , even with the problems ive had / have now

best bang for buck IMO is exhaust decat with a non standard back box (where most the restriction is ) or even no box (mufflerectomy is what they refer it as ) if you can stick the extra bit of noise of the tractor lol

air filter there are different opinions , i had a green panel filter but then changed it for a carbonio
can get a tailored map to tame the torque spike not to kill your clutch or if funds allow get an uprated clutch then a full blown map

depends on what you want to achieve and what your willing to spend

when i first bought mine i was like ye i want the fastest diesel around , dont care what it costs etc

but 3-4 years in im stuggling to see the need to spend anymore money on it due to other hobbies ive taken up etc )

so at the moment my mod plans are on hold and will stick with what ive bought and fit them and see how it goes

was also in two minds of selling up for something else , but cant give in to giving it up !! its a nice car when clean and not doing my head in lol

 

[Muttley]

My Toledo TDI 150 Sport looks just like any other Toledo apart from the very small all-red TDI, and I like it that way. It's more or less a stealth Cupra, so all the driving fun without the thief-magnet bling.

You've got a good handle on the differences between petrol and diesel performance, but you've hit one of my hot buttons, power vs torque. There's several long rants I've posted on here about this misapprehension, so I'll spare you the boring bits and summarise.

• Power(bhp)=Torque(lb-ft) x rpm/5252
• Spec-sheet power is delivered at highest sustainable rpm: 4000 for our 150BHP TDI's, 6000 for the 225 BHP petrol.
• Diesel's can't be made to deliver more power by increasing rpm, the fuel burn is slower and you start chucking out smoke with minimal gains above 4000 rpm. Petrol engines can be made to deliver useful power to over 20,000 rpm with sufficient engineering.
• At 2000 rpm the LCR delivers 80 BHp, the TDI is pushing out 90BHp. It's real power, delivered because the TDI has more torque at 2000 rpm than the LCR does.
• You can say that this is because the TDI delivers a bigger bang at lower revs, no throttling, bigger compression ratio.

The best initial tuning step is a remap, which will give you significant gains in power for a modest outlay.

Braking is easy to upgrade by changing disks from 288 to 312 and changing the caliper hangars to match. Calipers are the same for both disc sizes. Brembo's would take some more effort, and would need some care over wheel choice.

Air filter changes have been found to do very little by way of performance changes. They have been thought to be the culprit in some turbo compressor wheel damage, but that's not proven.

 

[Lee_EP82]

HAHA pure brilliance on the cut and shut

If id have told you that the night you bought it, it may have been on my drive now lol, i was planning to go and buy that last night off the seller.

To be honest he wasnt sure if it had a new clutch in its life, but if thats on its 1st clutch since new im guessing its been well looked after so you got yourself a keeper i want it!

 

[Charlieboy FR+]

Lol funny bugger u got me proper worried was gona go home and start having a look .. It was pure coincidense I came across it as ideas looking at the mk5 golf gttdi buy a friend (d.k) said it was a good car and at a good price so thought I'd give it a looke as I've looked at loads of sheds already :-( I got there with my 2x mechanic friends and we couldn't fault it Wich was a bugger coz I had. Itching to haggle on other than the service is due so nocked him down £100 and bought it.YOu could tell instantly she was well kept it was serviced 3x a year an literally has 1 scratch and a cracked spotlight cover so I was really impressed( mrs wasn't happy it was 500 over budget but hey u can't please every1. Just a reply to a few of the threads I'm not looking to be the quickest tdi I just fancy more poke I've just come from a tuned 330 some people may remember it from last year at amd on the rr day and I have gsxr 750 and when I get in the fr after eing out on the bike it feels like a 1.1. Lol

 

[Charlieboy FR+]

Yeah thanks for the advise. This is a everyday car the mrs will be in it more than me with the kids so it must be kept sensible but a friend has a very nice LCR and he's done some very nice touches and has given me ideas. Check out the carbon beast she's a stunner.but I have always played with cars n bikes.ive been looking around and this sight is full of Insparation.from what I've read and the advise I've. Web given I'm gona start with a service and rr at A.M.D to get a idea of it standard.i will do the muflrectomy that sounds good. Then save for a clutch and map.powerwise I'll probaly leave it there other than changing the intercoller pipework .ill then move on to the outside and custom make some badges to get rid of the manky s and do a few personal touches.I have red on eBay about egr delete pipe is this worth doing ? What gains will I get? I am pretty mechanical how easy/hard is it to do?

 

[cupra.al]

Braking is easy to upgrade by changing disks from 288 to 312 and changing the caliper hangars to match. Calipers are the same for both disc sizes..

i did not know that,thats well handy information and there was me thinking ill have to upgrade the calipers will have to get myself some new hangers and 312mm discs thanks for the info.

to the op hope your enjoying your new car buddy.

 

[4937Liam]

I dont regret buying my FR+ over a LCR at all - once mapped with a full exhaust system (decat) you can be running a healthy 195bhp with bags of torque too. I still love booting it off a roundabouts covering everyone behind me in black smoke

Liam.