Well this is a right old mish mash of a thread, lol
To answer the original question, there's no way it's worth it to even attempt swapping a PD engine in, what with a replacement PD car being cheap anyway.
I also don't get why you're paranoid about breaking your Leon, as your engine is running sweet and people on TDIclub.com have got TDIs in N. America with literally hundreds of thousands of miles on, and they still run well, even with loads of mods on!
So don't worry about that!
The thing with modding past a remap is that it gets expensive...really fast!
You could survive on your stock clutch until about 175 BHP, depending what condition it's in, maybe less with 210K on the clock already.
You've got to ask yourself where you're going to stop, before you start!
If you say you only want a mild increase, then account for about a grand, but if you want a substantial increase in power, then you're looking at thousands.
I've priced it up and for 200-220 BHP you're looking a 5 grand minimum!
For a reliable 175 BHP you're still looking at a fair bit of dough (i.e. nozzles, turbo, IC, PD150 manifold, clutch, remap, etc.)
It's also no good saying you want a mild increase now, and then changing your mind later, as then you have to sell all the mild mods, lose money on them, and then buy the bigger parts, so this is my best suggestion, done on your current car as it is now:
1). Get it properly serviced by a specialist, given some TLC and good quality oil, new oil, fuel and air filters, etc: to modify a car, you need a good base to work from and everything needs to be in good shape, otherwise the extra stress will cause problems.
2). Have the specialist clean out the intake manifold, as it will be clogged by now, and fit an EGR blanking plate (aka. EGR delete).
3). Have a decat done on your exhaust by cutting out the CAT, or replace the exhaust with one which doesn't have a CAT.
4). Get a set of Bosio R520 nozzles, and have them balanced by this guy, he's the best:
www.dbwllc.net - ask Pete to dial them back for a VNT15 (i.e. your turbo, the GT1749V).
By getting these nozzles, you're future proofing yourself and they don't cost much more than PP764s which would be a
lower option, and not upgradable if you want to get more power later.
"Seatmann" here on Seatcupra and TDIclub is in that boat, but he got his PP764s from Pete in N. America, and is very happy with them.
"United Diesel" in the UK can calibrate and set up nozzles too, but I would trust Pete over them.
5). Contact Mark Malone at Malone Tuning in Canada, and tell him you want a tune for the above mods:
www.malonetuning.com - he's done hundreds of these cars remotely with great results, i.e. better than going local (read about him on
www.tdiclub.com )
6). Be very happy with a reliable and really sweet to drive ~160 BHP car, for around a grand!
The next stage would be to fit a bigger turbo, but if you do that, then you greatly increase the chance of needing a new clutch, which are £500-600 for a decent one, and turbos aren't cheap either; rather than getting a PD150 turbo (aka. GT1749VB), you would be much better off with the newer 3rd gen. technology of the GTB series, e.g. GTB1756VK, GTB2260VK, again costing a fair bit, but are powerful.
So it's upto you, but there are your options, as I've got a 110 ASV myself, and in the same process of upgrading.
)
