"I didn't spend nearly that much on mine. Its the "delta fin" type which is supposed to be better, its a 25"x7"x3" inlet/outlet. I think I spent about 75 bucks on it. The stock one is junk (comming out of a gas engine) they are huge and look like they would work great, but I have heard they blow the ends off with boost much higher than stock."
where did you get yours?
"For oil I would run sythetic 5w-40 Rotella or Castrol. Rotella is usually cheapest of the two, Wal-mart has it by the gallon for 19.99."
I run that Rotella in my TDI. good stuff.
"Veg oil is all fine if its heated/filtered etc... I don't think you are going to get the performance from it though. It will run yes, but lots of fuel/boost and you are going to need the injectors to spray just right, and the oil even when hot is still thick compaired to diesel. Probably ok for cruising around to save some $$, but if your running the shit outa it, I would run it on diesel."
I agree. I filter and heat and use a vegoil return system rather than the "looped" system. I will be using the car for my driving job because i get paid .50 a mile, so it becomes a profit machine. when I want performance, i will switch to Diesel. hell yeah.
"9k sounds pretty steep, I don't see how you could possibly spend that much on one of these engines even with all new parts... It would have to have H-beam rods in it or something to be that costly of a build. Does it have head studs? 18lbs of boost isn't all that much, you are gonna want more boost if you want some real power! I know there is a guy on the vwdiesel.net forum that can regrind the diesel cams to a performance profile, and has done a couple d24 cams. However, it only works on the hydrolic heads according to him, which our engines didn't get while they were sold here in the states. I supppose you could stack some kind of shim under the lifter to help make up the difference of base cirle. Even with the performance profile, the gains he was advartising weren't all that exciting... Only a few % increase in power."
I agree that the guy was most likely exaggerating. he kind of does that. but he can build engines, for sure. maybe he was paying himself $150/ hour labor.
...don't know if it has H rods or head studs. How do I check to see if it has studs? what is stock? My mechanical skills are to the level of a timing belt, and then I'm out of my league. I understand the parts you're talking about, but wouldn't know how to differentiate. If I ever pull the pan, I'll look at the rods if I can.
Please give me hint on that intercooler.
Thanks,
Abe