Preformance tuning, where to stop?

I need more help...
Now that I have got alloys and suspension sorted, I have enough money saved for a full miltek decat exaust come january and will be driving up to enfield for a performance remap and buy a vwr pannel filter to complete the stage 2.
I dont think I want to stop there though and i know that what ever i do breaks and clutch will need upgrading too but I would like peoples opinion when it comes to:

performance fuel injectors

carbon fibre pannels (this seems fairy expensive and fairly pointless?)

performance Cold air feed (heatsheilded/possibly forced/more carbon fibre)

short shift gears

bigger turbo/ engine bored

performance pistons?

Im now considering doing a night course in mechanics at collage... honestly does the modding bug ever go away?

In a word... NO!

leave it mate, u'll just sacrifice the reliability,
just get a panel filter (which is EXACTLY the same as any other fancy carbon airbox! i.e CDA kit etc), exhaust and a remap and maybe a bigger intercooler - that'll do just fine

u'll wreck ur car otherwise fella!

injectors - leave it its not worth it! - u'll fook up ur emissions control systems and probably wreck ur cat and allsorts!

carbon fibre panels are pointless - mk5's are really heavy and it wont make any diffewrence (unless ur gonna race it !)

maybe a short shifter kit if u really have to - but be carefull - some kits maybe short but they do make it feel a bit 'notchy'

reboring the engine will be FAR too expensive for the result u will get out of it and u will hardly feel any differencein ur diesel

and u wont need performance pistons - because the horsepower ur gonna gain wont be enought to smash up ur original pistons (unless ur aiming for silly horsepower!!)

i know its only my opinion........but hope this helps bud

cheers fitzy, much appreciated... its why i posted it fella

Remember the rules of all this 'more power' fun. You can only ever have two of the three things; Money, power, reliability. If you want power and reliability you will have no money.

The platform you started with has a series of tried and tested mods, you might find some new ones but it is most likely the gains will be smaller. With each mod you take the car away from the original design and this might have other undesired effects.

Thinking simply about how an engine makes power, it takes in fuel and air, explodes and expands, then the gas needs to get out. Check the air in is sufficient, cool and clean. All my reading has highlighted that a panel filter is more than good enough. A full Turbo back exhaust certainly rewards the driver.

Injectors will put in more fuel, are you current injectors actually at their limit?
I have been advised to replace my injectors for Audi S3 ones but at least they are still VAG.

A big bore kit would displace more CC but will be very expensive, do you really want a Golf or would you prefer something that had more BHP to start with? Cheaper to think about this now.

Bigger turbo means you will need to consider injectors and fuel pressure regulator (FPR), not hard to fit but really should be done with a remap or you will be washing your cylinders with petrol that will damage the seals.

Your pistons can handle a fair bit more, how much are you thinking about?

As for weight saving panels, the best place to save weight is on the wheels. It is un-sprung mass that gets moved about with every bump. We also want the wheels to be on the ground and getting that power down so check that the wheels and suspension are up for the job, check your tyres and good and grippy. You might find you get the best rewards with 15's that look stupid, do you really want to go that far?

PS: I have a bigger turbo waiting to be fitted, along with a new clutch and flywheel from other VAG cars. To run them sensibly I need the larger injectors and FPR. Then I need to stop the car with more efficient brakes (not really bigger but better at getting rid of heat). That then means I need wheels that fit over these brakes, light wheels that are very expensive. I should have bought an Evo to start with.....

Cheers cali. that helps, im looking for as much bhp/torque that i can safely get from a mk5 without changing cars...
ive always wanted a golf and the one i've got suits me down to a tee

Ive now discovered my first major issue. having been on the phone with miltek for the past hour about a decat exaust inc. downpipe etc... maybe you could help?

Supposedly a miltek decat exaust on my diesel will still let it pass on emisions and a 'smoke test' for an mot/service
After thinking about it, I phoned miltek back to equire how they could garantee it would pass... the gentlemen on the phone said that on all the diesel cars the exaust was tested on passed an mot/service without needing a cat but could not garantee me 100% that my own car would pass these tests....
my major issue now is weather i can justify spending £500+ on putting a decat sports exaust on the car and then have it fail an mot/service when it comes round to it?
can you lot help me?

Come to me for a m.o.t that my advise to u mate and i will give u ring tomorrow about tyres
been really busy at work sorry

Andy has you covered on that one.
Also Miltek are a big name in Golf exhausts at the moment, I have a turbo back exhaust on my MKIV and it really freed up the turbo. There is no noise on the Golf forums about these being a problem on the MKIV and MKV's but do some digging and searching to double check.
My build thread shows me fitting mine with the help from a forum member who really knew what he was doing and my brother in crime who can spanner like few I know. It was not a hard job once I committed to cutting the old exhaust off.

Yea some good advice there fitz! dont forget its your daily! its gta a lil nippy already hasnt it?

yeah, but if i can go faster, why not?

If want a car for sheer speed, and like your shape golf, it would say gti or r32 on the back

It's my understanding that induction Kits are gash on these!

dashworth wrote:

yeah, but if i can go faster, why not?

......cause your gonna start having problems like twisted drive shafts cause of all that torque. Only gotta see the problems PVW had with their MK5 and they only put a tuning box on it.

Fitzy speaks alot of sense(for once lol!) your just gonna waste money on internal engine stuff... a remap and filter would prob see a big difference... checkout TDIsport.co.uk lots of diesel stuff and advice on there.