Well, the car has been running great overall... With the weather getting nicer, I decided to take on the challenge of changing the air filter. It went pretty well, but that job totally lives up to all the hype about what a PITA it is. Removing my charging post was the biggest problem -- one of the screws was hopelessly rusted, and after patiently trying a couple of things, I snapped and dremeled the little &^#$& out.

On the heels of that success, I was pretty bummed when (again, enjoying the nice spring sunshine) my passenger rear window went down and wouldn't come back up again. Sigh. I started by checking the switches, then traced the wires. Three guesses. Broken wire in the driver's door hinge. So, I rolled the window back up, but I'm going to have a big electrical R&R job soon. Aside from the one that is broken, at least three others have cracked insulation exposing the wire, and two more show signs of a half-assed repair job by PO. :( BTW, I've seen the pix of this job that some of you have posted (Will Ng?) and it looks like it sucks. I think I'll wait for warmer weather...

Anyway, that's it. Thought I'd check in.

late :: nick

Before changing the air filter, I put my hand down by the intake with the car running. It was barely pulling any air... Not surprisingly, when the filter came out, it looked like it had been dredged up from the bottom of a river. Completely packed with dirt.

I'm totally not trying to stir up the old filter debate, but I went with a RamAir filter (called RamFX now in the US) instead of K&N. They only sell on eBay in the US, and I sniped it for $15 new. They bragged on their website about supplying the Skip Barber schools with filters, and through a long friend-of-a-friend kind of story, I checked it out. They're whole selling point is good air flow, but sustained performance while "dirty" and better filtration than K&N. The Skip Barber contact said that checked out from what he saw... No noticeable drop-off in performance, and when they clean the RamAirs, a lot more stuff comes out than when cleaning K&Ns. So, I have no way of comparing from personal experience, but it sounded good to me.

Anyway, now there is strong suction at the intake horn. Before, I always hit 1.3 bar, but only sometimes 1.4 (and usually only when really ragging it or on the highway in 4th or 5th). Now, it's hitting 1.4 in every gear, every time (and by 3k rpm in 1st). Nice!!

I could have finished the whole job a lot sooner than I did (probably 4 hours total), but I wanted to make sure I did it right, plus I was experimenting with techniques for next time, plus it was nice to explore around in there with stuff removed.

late :: nick

so you can have a huge smile when your hit 1.8-1.9 bar of boost.

I had quite a few bad wires and failed PO's crimped repairs. So, I decided the only way to put this out of mind in the future was to replace all wires.
Depending on how much other stuff you can find to fix while everything is dismantled (ie. switch bulbs and LEDs, lock heaters, crackling Bose speaker),
it should take a better part of an afternoon. Just make sure it's pleasant outside, have a tall glass of iced tea handy and your favorite tunes playing, and the job goes pretty quickly.
The only warning is that Audi used the same color-coding for two wires that carry +12V. They are both RED/blue. One is of smaller gauge which is constant 12V, for the doorlock circuit. The other is switched 12V for the windows, and is slightly thicker.

Thanks, man. That's just the sort of thing that would spoil my afternoon...

I'm not looking forward to the job, but I feel better now that I have had the door all apart to replace the lock cylinder ring. (Did that outside just before Christmas -- COLD!!) At least I know what to expect in there. Anyway, looks more like detail work than anything... Your pix are super helpful...

late :: nick