onlyaudis

I posted this over at AZ, and thought I'd post it here as well.

When I bought my 2002 A4 Quattro 1.8T Tiptronic, the car didn't have much power off the line, or anywhere else for that matter. My wife drives an 03 TT FWD that was much faster than my 500 pound heavier, 10 HP less A4. That TT pulls surprisingly hard off the line, has great hill climbing ability, and is a lot of fun on on ramps. So my goal was to mod the A4 to where it was as fast as the TT, but to keep in mind its main use is as a family car 4 door sedan.(no loud exhausts, no low rider, no 19 inch wheels, no smog issues,keep the gas mileage up, etc)

So I started spending a lot of times searching the boards archives for info on how to go about making my car be what Audi should have done from the start

First thing I did on the car was a minor brake upgrade, re-did the front end and shocks all around, and caught up on maintenance including a timing belt job. Also installed a boost gauge so I could see the affect of the changes to come.

Then I did a pretty aggressive Revo stage 1 tune with a TIP, performance DV, FMIC, and bigger downpipe. The fMIC and downpipe were done a few weeks after the Revo, and made a huge difference in the overall power level, and the delivery of the power and torque was quicker and smoother.

Funny thing happened a couple of days ago. Took the wife's TT down to get gas for her, and it didn't feel so fast anymore! I realized my car now has more torque at the bottom end, pulls just as hard in the mid range as the TT, if not harder.

Its funny how your senses get used to a performance gain after a short while, and it becomes the new baseline. If I drove my old 97 Quattro 2.8 now, it would probably feel like it had the hand brake on.

I was still considering getting some 380 injectors, and maybe 034's HF cat, but I think I may stick to my initial plan of making the A4 like our TT and quit while I am ahead. This goes contrary to all the advise on the boards, which prompt people to mod until you run out of money, but my thinking is no matter how fast your car is, you get used to it after a while , and want to make it faster. They had an RS6 in a the tuner shop I go to, and they just put a two stage meth injection system on it because the guy wanted more power!

At some point, the side affects aren't worth the trouble, and I think I may be at that point. I find i want to still ring more power out of that little 1.8T, and its hard to stop once you get in the mod head space. Keep thinking, just one more mod, and then I am done with it. It reminds me of in the movies where the thief promises one last job and then he is going to get out. That last job never becomes the last job, and then he finally ends up getting caught.

SemiProQuattro

it really comes down to being happy!!!

you'll know when you get there,.... or when you start losing reliablity.

that sux.

Midgy

its all a matter of preference man

onlyaudis

The consensus at the AZ forum is I might as well do the TT 386 injectors and $50 Revo stage 2 upgrade because I am set up for it already. Guys claim to have run the stage 1+/stage 2 software for 4 or 5 years already with no major problems if they have upgraded their coil packs and DV, and especially if they did the supporting mods like i have. So I think I will go ahead and get the TT injectors and do the Revo stage 2 and then stop there. No really, this time I mean it. Last job and then I am out!

Nice thing is if for some reason I don't like that set up, they can pretty much put the car back exactly to the way it is now in less than 1 hour, and i could sell the injectors at one of the forums.

gregoriousd

It seems like you're pretty satisfied at this point!! I remember a while back you were discussing pros/cons concerning whether or not the larger injectors were really worth it- I guess so. What kind of Hp/Tourque are you showing with your mods? I've done my research and all of the well known tuners are in my area, only a matter of determining the best customer service at this stage. One thing that might be the tipping point is which could best serve a BT down the line?? I've read a bit about how the tip's don't handle them well, but then of course there's always someone out there that says they've been running it for years and its all butter.

What are your thoughts on that? I'd like to set my car up so that if someday (God forbid) my lil K03 blows I can replace with a GT product.

Also, I'm at 70k miles on my '04 avant (no warranty)- should I throw down for a new timing belt before its too late??

onlyaudis

You should at least have both the belt and water pump checked. My pump was starting to leak at 67,000, so I did the full timing belt service at that point. If it is starting to leak, (signs of dried antifreeze around on the outside by the impeller) the pump can go bad and can seize up and throw the belt.

I talked with a bunch of tuners, and the consensus was the Tip could handle up to 300 foot pounds of torque as long as it wasn't driven really hard, like in a racing type of situation. At a certain point, the "D" setting may start to shift funny, but "S" and tip mode still usually work fine. I can only run 91 gas here in California, so even with the injectors and stage 2, am probably going to only be at 220 HP 250 Torque at most. Like I said, if I have stage 2 done, and car starts to shift like crap, I'll just undo it and then that will be it. At least then I will know first hand whether i could have run stage 2 or not!

Guys who are running the big turbos on the Tip cars have had the tranny beefed up with a stronger torque converter. There are a few Euro performance transmission places that offer that service. The parts were about $1500 if I remember correctly, plus of course the tranny needs to be out of the car and labor for the entire process will likely be more than the cost of the parts. It apparently raises the limits of what the Tip can handle by about 100HP. Above that, you need a full racing Tip that cost about $6500 !! There is a guy at AZ who runs that set up, so if you search there, you should find some of his posts.

Papachristou

i changed my TB at 77k and it was perfect! as was the water pump.

i would do the injectors and reflash. after that, get a FMIC then exhaust. i am pretty happy with mine but i want much more now. think about what you want at the end of the day and go for it