Right, i know loads of people ask about tuning the 1.8 20v turbos but I'll ask anyway. I want to fit a bigger, side mount intercooler to directly replace the standard one. Can i do this before remapping or will the engine suffer by not being tuned with it, say if i do the intercooler a couple of months before any ECU work? Does that make sense?

It would be interesting to see what the difference in performance is when you fit the intercooler (which I assume you will be purchasing before the remap) as it would be more difficult to see the difference once its remapped....(if that makes sense?)

Me to. It clearly makes sense to do the hardware before the software but i read somewhere where a guy lost power by fitting a big front mount.

Wouldn't say that you'd lose any power, more a case of having more turbo lag until the pressure builds up.

 That's what i wanted to know. It'll be alright for a bit like that though, right? No engine management problems etc? It's not like I'm lookin at crazy big intercooler, just 2" thicker available from popular online auction site. Is it even worth doing if I'm not going for a big tuning mission? I'm not looking for 400+....Just cranking it up a bit.

It will be fine. It's only when you start fitting turbos, cams, injectors etc you need to do the remap at the same time