Just got my car and thinking about putting some work and maybe a little money into it. I love the way the engine sounds but is there an intake that sounds good? The exhaust sounds really good too so I think I'll leave that alone.

Also it should be pulling cold air directly out of the fender so it's actually pretty good.

:-P

check the ball joints, tie rods, shocks/ springs, motor mounts, tranny mounts. All these parts usually need replaced on a higher mileage Audi, and make the ride a whole lot better once they are.

After you get all the neglected maintenance done, ID start with the suspension. You can get an addco rear sway bar for around 130$. This will reduce body roll. You can upgrade the front sway bar by switching to a stock 4kq bar, then there are the headlights.

As for the motor, you can't do much without dropping a chunk of change. You can get a 272 cam witch will give you a boost at higher revs. These run around 150 used, 250 new. There is no aftermarket intake, you can drill out the bottom of the airbox though.

R/r all the old vacumn lines as well. But do these one at a time... there's a real tangle of them... it's dirty back there behind the motor, so it's a daylight job, not a night job....

Absolutely, first thing is to get everything sorted out, and running well. It's a testament as to how well these cars are built, that they can have so many little things wrong with them, and still be 'ok' to drive around.

Suspension may be a bit sloppy, motor may not be making best power, but still gets you around OK.

But when you fix everything as it should be..
Suspension is tight, and handles great. Motor runs well, and is relativly quick.

Then, after you get all that sorted, relay the headlights, and be always on the lookout for either h1 or the h1/h4 headlight assemblies.

One of the *BEST* mods you can do. Makes the car WAY safer for when you do any other mods.



Also, an easy trick to get a BIT more power is advance the timing a bit, from factory spec..
(See link below)

Actually, it's probably a good idea to read all of Huw's page.
http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi

Lots of good information there....<ul><li><a href="http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/timing.htm">Huw's Timing Advance tips</a></li></ul>

the suspension is actually great. It has Vogtland springs and handles very well. So far the motor seems great too. No complaints from me in those areas. I'm going to attempt the headlight relay mod either today or tomorrow. I can't handle how dim the lights are. I work at night so everyday I have to drive at night. Looking into some fogs too. The previous owner already has wires run for some fogs. Just need to install a set I think.

Mine only had 86k on it when I got it but the first thing it needed was to tighten it up by replacing the steering and suspension bushings - and I've had to replace some of those again now that I'm at 150k. Then I took it to my first event. People told me it looked like it was going to roll over going thru the slalom course - so next was suspension. That included H&amp;R springs, an Addco rear bar and a 4kq front bar. By the time I had been to several events my driving was getting a little more aggressive (you can really punish these cars on the track) and I was developing a little softness in the brake pedal periodically (I was already using high-temp fluid and Metalmaster pads) so it was drilled and slotted rotors to dissipate the heat. Somewhere in there I put in a 272 cam, a K&amp;N air filter, a ported and polished throttle body and a new exhaust with the cat emptied. I still need the euro headlights and would like to replace the head with a shaved, ported and polished one. But that's kind of the order: get the car running well; learn to drive it well and then start with the suspension and brakes moving to increasing the horsepower later. I think you'll find that most of the cars here have real similar mods - and I don't know that there's much more you can do short of adding a turbo. . .

I did the cam and throttle body along with the exhaust and K&amp;N air filter all at the same time - and noticed a huge difference - especially in the 3500 to 5500 range!