Turbo boost questions

[Benjamin Weste Pearre]

The older my car gets, the less sense it makes to chip it.  But the
temptation is always there, and the Gimp is still going strong at
180000 miles (the first 150000 were basically all on California's
salt-free highways).  Especially now that I have a shiny new throttle
switch and MM hose (thanks, all)!

1991 Audis (and beyond, I think) had an altitude sensor to make sure
they didn't overspin the turbos.  But my car's birthday was 1990,
before all that newfangled technology.  I live in Boulder, a mile
above sea level, and often drive up around 8000 feet or higher.  Am I
putting my turbo at risk?  Should I do anything special, like avoiding
prolonged WOT runs, etc?

I assume that an ECU upgrade would make matters worse (if they're bad
to begin with)?  How about just a stiffer WG spring?  Are there any
tuners whose chips are particularly [un]suited to high altitude?

Cheers :)
-Ben

--
Ben Pearre          1990 200TQA          http://hebb.mit.edu/~ben