emccauto10

i've got a 97 a4 quattro with a 2.8 v6 12v. i like it so far, its a pain in the *** to work on, all the suspension and ball joints i just had to replace. i bought it as a project and am wondering what sort of performance upgrades can i look into? i hear the compression is to high to boost it. i'm new to audi, i previously owned an integra, probably one of the easiest cars to work on. but i'm in school to be a mechanic and i want to work on audis. so i figured why not start with my own. i havn't even gotten into the engine of the car yet, just been working underneath it. i havn't done much research into the car either so i figured i'd start here. just any basic knowledge towards the car, tricks and tips. just anything you think is important drop it by. i'd like this car to be a quick reliable car, but so far its not very quik and not very reliable. i have to do a compresion check on the cylinders to, something isn't running right. i don't know if its a vacuum leak or bad rings. but i'm gunna be tearing into that anyway so anything you want to say feel free. i'd be more then appreciative. you can email me as well.

stubbs12v

Great car, I've got the same. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot that can be done to our cars power-wise. It's a shame that yours is having problems, since the 12v seems to be one of the most reliable engines Audi has made. Mine's at 160,000 miles and ticking like a clock. Hmm, a clock that shakes a bit... Mostly, for the A4s with the 12v, we're limited to suspension, braking, and visual mods. There are a few intake mods that can be done, but none individually have great impact. Search for posts by the user VAP, his name is Mance, and he's one of the major 12v gurus. He makes custom-bored throttle bodies, and has "workshops" on how to do gasket-matching and manifold smoothing, etc., if you really want to get dirty.
One of the biggest hurdles with our cars is that the ECU is made by Hitachi, and it can't be chipped. Supposedly, our engines run rather rich, and people have played around with different injectors and stuff, but it's fairly limited without access to fuel maps.
Sorry if it's a bit despressing, but I've all but given up on the quick half of quick and reliable, and am just trying to keep the second part by staying on top of routine maintenance. Good luck though, I do enjoy the car.

oh, and what kind of mileage do you get from yours? I've been tracking mine, and after a full tune-up with new plugs and filters and everything, I'm getting around 18-19 city and 28-30mpg if it's *pure* hwy at about 70-75.

emccauto10

yah i mean i love the car already and i have only driven it for a month or so, the rest of the time i've been under it haha. i fill up every friday with super, i just changed the plugs, wires and filter as well. flushed the oil and changed that, i just ran a few bottles of fuel line and injector cleanser. cause it was sitting in a guys yard for two years. i just finished all the suspension and brake work on it actually. that was pretty expensive, i am changing the tranny fluids tomorrow. i get about 450 to 500 miles on a full tank. not beating on it to bad. yah i've heard there isn't much you can do for it, so i think i'm gunna put a new engine in it next year during winter. i was wondering if the 2.7t would fit? i would love to build a boosted car. i heard the 2.8 is just a bored out version of that. sorry i don't have any exact figures for the MPG i havn't really figured them out yet. do you know of any good exhaust systems atleast? or anybody for that matter. i atleast want it to sound mean. shes going in for paint tomorrow. i can't paint worth **** haha, i can do the rest though. yah i'll try and check out those intakes. how about cams and springs? any good worth doing that? i appreciate your reply

stubbs12v

The 2.7t fits, but it's not an easy swap. The blocks are very similar, you heard right. But hey, 450 to 500 miles per tank is better than what I'm getting, so your mileage is pretty good. I don't know much about exhaust systems, haven't looked into it much. I'm just a poor college student right now, so mods are mostly pipe dreams. I haven't heard too much about cams for these engines, either. I'm sure you could have them custom made, but that's pricey. Standalone engine management would net you much larger gains than that.

JWG

Audi's 12v V6 can be modded quite well, but it takes a lot more work and money to do so--probably more than any other Audi engine as no big-name tuners ever invested the R&D to make upgrade packages for the engine due to the Hitachi ECU which one cannot modify. Fortunately, the stock ECU scales pretty well for modest air/fuel increases over stock.

If you want to get more information contact Mance Etheredge, AKA "VAP"; you can find him sometimes here but more often on the Quattroworld website (where everyone who liked the KAWF style bulletin boards migrated after AudiWorld abandoned KAWF for this abomination).

Mance's 12v can out-power just about anything of similar weight on a road course--I have not heard him give a precise number, but I believe he makes BIG HP/TQ from his little 2.8 12v. I would venture a guess well beyond 100hp/liter.

While I have done a lot of mods myself, my 12v probably make less than 230 hp. Nevertheless, the 12v has a good measure of torque which makes going uphill so much fun due to the strong pulling power.

Anyway, Good luck and enjoy the "Tao" of Audi Maintenance.