Boost pin

Boost pin on ebay very cheap
I email seller to ask if they are hardened,to which he reply no but they are made from stainless 303 which is very hard .
Does any one know if that's the case.

Stainless is soft compared to a properly hardened steel

I thought that was the case,but they are cheap so was hoping they would be ok.
Still only for a few more pounds I can buy one that is hardened.

I fitted a boost pin from ebay the £12.99 one.
Looks well made.
The results are very good, more pull through the gears,well worth doing.

Stainless 303 is el cheapo "stainless".

It corrodes and is relatively soft.

In other words, its made of shit material, will score and probably seize.

Mild steel corrodes
£12.99 with postage IS cheap
But then I could have paid £55 for a boost pin made out of what ?

spencer1885 said:

Mild steel corrodes
£12.99 with postage IS cheap
But then I could have paid £55 for a boost pin made out of what ?

Click to expand...

Hardened steel which won't score and last far longer possibly?

spencer1885 said:

Mild steel corrodes
£12.99 with postage IS cheap
But then I could have paid £55 for a boost pin made out of what ?

Click to expand...

303 corrodes, and badly at that.

stainless steel does not mean does not corrode.
Its also soft as hell, making it really easy to machine, doesnt wear the lathe tool and you can do batches really quickly. The fuel pin will wear a groove in that pretty quick.

Items used in this sort of situation should be case hardened and should be made of 1.4401 or 1.4404. Technically the 316 or 316L is no longer used due to european harmonisation of terminology, but in reality no one really knows the euro codes so have stuck to old school terms.

At £12.99 I can replace if it does wear lets say after a year or two
All boost pins for sale are made from mild steel or stainless
I've not see any for sale made out of stainless that is any harder than the pin I bought
Mild steel or stainless it's your choice
I can say it's a very easy and quick way to give a tdi a power boost.

case hardening makes the outer few microns extremely resilient to wear, which is what makes the difference.

Those cheap **** ones are not case hardened. There are several threads around cheap boost pins. Also good arguments to say just stick with the original as it does everything you need it too anyway.

£18 buys a hardened steel pin as oppose to the none harden stainless steel pins
The grade of stainless steel the boost pins for sale are made from is still harder than the mild steel unhardened pins plus the grades of stainless used to make the pins is still more corrosion resistant than mild steel.
So you can make your own mind up what you want and how much to spend.
The standard pin even at it's most aggressive position can not compete with the replacement pins
For only £12.99 my tdi pulls really well with out clouds of black smoke, you can't argue with results like that.

hi , was thinking of fitting a boost pin were do you purchace harden ones from ? , is fitting a boost pin better than doing a tweek of the orig pin ?

Just turn the fuel up.

spencer1885 said:

Boost pin on ebay very cheap
I email seller to ask if they are hardened,to which he reply no but they are made from stainless 303 which is very hard .
Does any one know if that's the case.

Click to expand...

Get the Timber Trail one. The cheap ones are just slightly the wrong size.

henrytilly said:

hi , was thinking of fitting a boost pin were do you purchace harden ones from ? , is fitting a boost pin better than doing a tweek of the orig pin ?

Click to expand...

Boost pin is a better way of getting more power than just turning up the fuel screw,which will result in over fueling at lower rev's.
I fitted a cheap boost pin and it fitted perfectly.£12 99 ebay special.

ive just fitted the timber trail boost pin..... but since owning the 90 when i get to 70ish mph its like hitting a brick wall. I thought the boost pin may resolve this but it hasn't im still hitting that wall........
does any one else suffer with this ??
cheers dave

The boost pin from timber trail states that it only improves un-tuned engines, if your was tuned already then it is no use, they will take it back. I did the same with the 300Tdi as I was not aware it had been tuned by the previous owner

looks like it has never been played with. still got the collar on the fuel screw, no signs that the cap has been removed to adjust the off boost fuel screw and the original pin only had one mark on it. so doesnt look like it has been tampered with

Should be OK then