Guide to performance tuning the 1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi (EA113) engine from VAG

"VAG 2.0TFSi Tuning"

When the 1.8T was retired the VAG engineers developed a direct injection engine offering more power, greater economy and emissions figures and produced the 2.0 TFSi or EA113.

The EA113 was later replaced with the EA888 engine which came as a 1.8 or 2.0 liter version.

The direct injection allows the engine to run higher compression, and adds greatly to the efficiency and design of the block.

We see factory power outputs ranging from 197bhp to 265bhp with the S3 and TT getting the more powerful versions.

The engine was managed by the proven Bosch Motronic MED 9.1 ECU

We provide a guide to EA113 tuning and show the ultimate upgrades. VAG EA113s really good project cars and with a few sensible motorsport enhancements you can maximise your driving pleasure.

We rely on our visitors to pass on tips and tell us about their projects and what worked on their car, and this article is the culmination of the feedback we have received. First let us look at the history and specs of this engine and then consider which tuning modifications work best on it.

History of the 1.8 TFSi / 2.0 TFSi EA113 Engine

The 2.0TFsi used a BorgWarner K03 turbocharger (this was upgraded to a K04 on 227bhp versions upwards and makes a logical upgrade path for the KO3 engines)

• 168 bhp at 4,300 rpm; 280nm 207 lbft at 1,800–4,200 rpm
  BPJ
  Audi A6 [C6], VW Tiguan
• 182 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 270nm 199 lbft at 1,800–5,000 rpm
  BWA
  2005 SEAT León
• 197 bhp at 5,100–6,000 rpm; 280nm 207 lbft at 1,700–5,000 rpm
  AXX, BWA, BWE, BPY [North America]
  Audi A4 [B7], Audi A3 [8P], 2006 Audi TT, VW Passat [B6], VW Golf Mk5 GTI, VW Jetta Mk5 GLI, SEAT León FR Mk2, SEAT Altea, SEAT Toledo Mk3, SEAT Exeo, Škoda Octavia [1Z] vRS
• 217 bhp at 5,900 rpm; 300nm 221 lbft at 2,200–4,800 rpm
  BUL
  2005 Audi A4 [B7] DTM Edition
• 217 bhp at 4,500–6,300 rpm; 350nm 258 lbft at 2,500–4,400 rpm
  CDL
  Volkswagen Polo R WRC
• 227 bhp at 5,500 rpm; 300nm 221 lbft at 2,250–5,200 rpm
  BYD
  VW Golf Mk5 GTI Edition 30, Pirelli Edition
• 232 bhp at 5,500 rpm; 300nm 221 lbft at 2,200–5,200 rpm
  CDL
  Volkswagen Golf MKVI GTI Edition 35
• 237 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 300nm 221 lbft at 2,200–5,500 rpm
  BWJ
  SEAT León Cupra, SEAT León Cupra Mk2 facelift
• 252 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 330nm 243 lbft at 2,400–5,200 rpm
  CDL
  Audi S3 [8P], Golf R [Australia, Japan, Middle-East and North America]
• 261 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 350nm 258 lbft at 2,500–5,000 rpm
  BHZ
  Audi S3 [8P]
• 261 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 350nm 258 lbft at 2,500–5,000 rpm
  CDL
  Scirocco R
• 261 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 350nm 258 lbft at 2,300–5,200 rpm
  CDLA
  Audi S3 [8P], Audi TTS, SEAT León Cupra R Mk2 facelift, VW Scirocco R
• 267 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 350nm 258 lbft at 2,500–5,000 rpm
  CDLF
  Golf R [Europe]
• 268 bhp at 6,000 rpm; 350nm 258 lbft at 2,500–5,000 rpm
  CDLB
  Audi TTS [Europe]

What are the most effective tuning mods on the 1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi EA113

The ultimate parts on an engine are in our opinion the ones that give the best value for money.

We won't be swayed by popular EA113 parts, they need to be cost effective.

Altering your EA113 camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine engines power. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the engines power accordingly.

Fast road camshafts usually raise the bhp and torque through the rpm band, you might lose a little low down power but the top end will be higher.

Motorsport and race camshafts, raise the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

In a car used daily you need to match your engines power to your cars usage.

I'd be surprised if anyone has found a Competition cam to be a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute so stick with a mild fast road cam.

Different 1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi engines respond better to extreme cam durations so view each engine as unique.

The engine timing and fuelling also have an effect on the bhp gains you'll get.

A longer valve duration can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

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Modifying to Stage 1:

 Sports exhaust manifold, Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Panel air filters.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam.

Remaps allow a tuner to release the full potential of all the tuning parts you've done to your 1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi so it is best to leave the remap as the last mod you do on your EA113 engine.

A remap alone will push the 200bhp or 220bhp to around 240bhp and although an uprated diverter valve is recommended it

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and 15% on NASP engines, but you mileage will vary depending on the tuning parts you've done and the condition of your engine.

It is the whole point to any car tuning job to feed more fuel and air into each cylinder

Air Intake manifolds flow the air from the air cleaner and allow it to be pulled into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The size of bore and shape and rate of flow of the Air Intake manifolds can make a noticeable effect on to fuel delivery on the 1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi.

Many mass produced engine plenum chambers are needing performance upgrades, although some OEM provide fairly well optimized plenum chambers.

Big valve conversions on the EA113, doing some EA113 port enlargement and head flowing will also boost bhp, & importantly will give you a greater bhp increase on other parts.

1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi turbo upgrades - which are best?

Adding the other performance parts you should be able to hit the 280bhp mark and if you uprate the turbo to a KO4 unit you should reach around the 350bhp mark fairly easily. A bigger Garret turbo unit would be required if you want to achieve power figures around the 300-600bhp mark.

The more air to get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes massive power gains.

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your EA113

However you'll find engines will need better parts at higher power limits

Discover these limitations and fit higher quality components to utilize the power.

We see many people spending a loads of money on turbo upgrades on the EA113 only to have the car throw a rod on it's first outing after it's been enthusiastically driven.

Large capacity turbo chargers tend to experience a bottom end lag, and small turbo chargers spool up more quickly but won't have the high rpm engines power gains.

the world of turbos is always moving on and we are seeing variable vane turbos, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end performance.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and feed these at differently designed vanes in the turbocharger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there is a restriction in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on these engines when loads more air is being drawn into the engine.

We also recommend you fit an uprated non atmospheric diverter valve for mild tuning and standard cars because the original units were not that reliable.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting performance at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more challenging to setup. We have a twincharger power adding guide if you want to read more.

Fuelling for the 1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi

The stock TFSi fuel can deliver 440 to 1,600 psi of fuel pressure, which is quite impressive and it means you have plenty of headroom for tuning mods.

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so must increase the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a bhp increase.

Although high performance TFSi injectors are rare, we have discovered that GM LNF 2 Ecotoec injectors can be made to work well (with a custom wiring harness), give a better flow and help you get around 260bhp.

The cars that come with a KO4 turbo ie: RS4 TTS  S3 etc have better Bosch injectors and are also reportedly able to flow to around 500hp as long as you uprate the fuel rail pressure. The RS4 injector spray pattern is not perfect in this engine but will deliver more fuel, although the RS3 S3's etc have a similar head designs so the spray pattern is spot on.

Any change to the injectors on a TFSi will require a new map to take them into account.

It makes sense to over specify your injector capacity and fuel pump, although this is harder on the direct injection engines, but aftermarket parts makers are catching up.

You can get a port injection kit for the EA113 which will help reduce carbon build up and allow you to make more power so this would be a good upgrade path to take and allows you to reach power figures approaching 700bhp.

For serious power gains on the TFSi you are looking at an uprated fuel pump (the S3 injectors are a good upgrade option on tuned 2.0 TFSi engines

1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi Exhaust

You may need to upgrade your exhaust if the existing exhaust is actually creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the exhaust flow rate quite well even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can source this will reduce the exhaust flow rate - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Common exhaust restrictions can be traced to the emissions filters installed, so adding a freer flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the 1.8 TFSi and 2.0 TFSi

The EA113 engines are generally reliable and solid as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

High oil consumption is virtually expected on these engines but if you are topping up more than 1l per month you have an issue that needs addressing.

We have a separate page that goes into more details on the issues on the 2.0TFSi

Cam follower wear, affecting early models. You'll lose fuel pump pressure and a warning light will come on. Later versions of the EA113 had a redesigned cam lobe.

Carbon build up is an issue, not as bad as on the larger direct injection engines but we would recommend a full clean every 50000 miles or so. BG do an intake clean service at many garages  around the world or people have had a walnut shell blast or various other methods to tidy up the intakes. If you use good fuel and drive it hard (3000rpm is the sweet spot), avoiding short journey you should not have major carbon build up issues until you hit high mileages.

Diverter valves are prone to fail, so get an uprated NON ATMOSPHERIC diverter.

Regular oil changes are vital on the EA113, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.

For more information on Tuning your VAG engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss EA113 tuning options in more detail with our EA113 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased VAG tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which upgrades work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Audi, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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