I wouldn't mind a straight exhaust on my 06', but I'm worried it would mess it up or make it throw a code. I hear the TDIs are sensitive to any time of upgrades/tuning.

I have boost and egt in my '04 jetta and boost does go higher than 10psi (bone stock) and egt's will rise over 1100 (ahead of turbo)if you are trailering and trying to go too fast!! ( I wont say how I know that.) Bully-Dog gauges and a real nice pod that fits perfectly on the steering column.

Nice. Welcome BTW :c:

Have a look at VDO gauges- they look like the factory ones- (because they are made by VDO:w2:)
The TDI's have already a water to oil cooler, but thermal capacity isn't that great- especially on the Autobahn.
Most of my friends have an added oil cooler.
I don't know if you need one in the US- due to the speed limit.

Don't worry about your EGT's as long as you don't go higher than 1200°. Up to 1250° wear is accelerated. Above 1300° is asking for trouble in no time.
But you won't reach that during normal duty.
To avoid such high EGT's install a Forge intercooler as one of the first countermeasures. Every degree you drop the intake temp, you decresae exhaust temperature in the same amount.
have look at the VDO guages::pca1:
VDO Instrumente / VDO Zusatzinstrumente - Viewline, Vision, International, Ocean Line von ezt-autoteile dem Tuningshop

Be careful with tuning an TDI with DPF. EGT's will increase real quick with chip tuning and cause difficulties! A good tuner will tell you in advance that increasing hp is limited 10 t0 20hp below a non DPF TDI.

Speaking of egt. is it possible to program teh scanguageII to display that? or am i better off getting a guage at some point

Egt's are not displayed by a Scan guage II.
You need an extra sensor+ gauge for that.

I don't know anyone running an EGT setup over here in germany. It seems that it is not neccessary.
But most do run a bigger intercooler and an added oil cooler.

I know a guy pretty well with a '00 or so TDI. First time I drove it I was waiting for the turbo to cool off . . . . It would never go below 600F + so I just shut it off. He told me when I returned from my errand that it does idle real hot.
After installing a pyro in my Cummins, I would definitely recommend everyone run one! Stock mine can get real hot pulling. In fact, now that I added 60 HP tips I no longer have any trouble with this big toy hauler on the hills except for HEAT!! So now I slow down on the hills because it is getting so hot. I never would have guessed it but the last two days we have been running the Smarty on 4 and somewhat aggressive in the settings, has actually helped. I have been pulling hills a bit harder and not getting so hot. The reason I mention this is that this flies in the face of all I thought I knew about diesels. With these tips it didn't smoke any more until I put the Smarty back on at this setting. Now I can have the turbo spun up hard and any extra throttle at any RPM will cause a big dark cloud!! I would have thought it would have made it hotter pulling hard with that much extra fuel. Oh, as a side benefit, I think all of this has helped economy too! We are really hoping and trying to break into 10 MPG or even more!! (I figured you TDI guys might appreciate those kind of numbers!!) (Hey, I have done a lot of work in the last month and it has helped a bit: When we bought the toy hauler home from Oregon, we only got 6!! I was unpleasantly shocked. I didn't know that was possible out of a Cummins!) :argh:

I run a set of these sticks My title
in an 01 Jetta TDI with an auto to manual conversion, Every mod (from TDIclub.com) and a mufflerectomy. I'm glad that I installed these guages My title
because the EGT could really get away from you quick. I can do a full throttle run from 0-100 or so before I need to let off because of the EGT, so that really shouldn't be an issue for most pepole. But where one can get into trouble is long hills. I live in the Rockey Mouontains in Montana where 3 mile long 6% grades are common and I like to drive about 9 MPH above the limit. The car makes so much torque that I never need to down shift to climb hills, but the EGT will sneek up on you. Where I really have to watch it is when passing on those long up hill climbs. With out an EGT guage, I probably would have had to rebuild an engine.

Oh, I forgot, the guages match the factory guages perfectly and come with a great pod that fits right on top of the steering colum for a factory looking install. Good stuff.

nice !

Sounds like a sweet ride... how come its not in your sig..hehe