I just bought the car new two months ago and am dissapointed with the engine performance. Just feel like a 340HP V8 should be faster off the line. How can I get better without hurting the engine long term?

That should improve your off the line performance! If you bought the car without driving it, then it serves you right!

Before doing ANYTHING wait until you reach 10k on the odo
First: start with I/E/DP's
Second: APR chip
Third: a 5 angle valve job $348, but $2,600 to get the engine R&R'd, $2,000 for cams (i didn't do this) and a 9lb clutch $1,200...get that HEAVY flywheel clutch combo OUT of the CAR...wow this really eats up some perforamnce.

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/85119/image_231.jpg"></center><p>

I just reached 10K miles on by '06 B7. Eventually I'm planning on an APR Supercharger (due to be released in June), but not until the car is out of warranty. For now I'm going to redo the exhaust and chip.

albeit in a car that weighs 1000 lb less muahahahahaah!

it,s not a race car.trade it in for an E46 M3 like i did. good luck

These cars are the overall package. Go buy a used Cobra or Vette go do donuts all day.

The crapy compression on YouTube sucks, if it catches your eye though you can download the full version on my website at
http://www.brittcrowell.com/2005/A8%20Dexter%20to%20lake%205x%20with%20audio.avi
You need the Divx codec and its about 30MB

Britt

BTW my A8 will do 1/4 in:
14.49sec @ 101.8mph 0-60 6.12sec
after tranny recode and fixing my intake leak<ul><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vIXFxaWwHk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vIXFxaWwHk</a</li></ul>

I know that I'm going to get a beating for this newbie question...but here goes... I've got an 07 A6 4.2 s-line on order and am interested in giving it a bit more. Your 3 phase plan sounds great but it's also a little greek to me. Could you possibly give a little more detail and your gut feel for the performance improvement? I'd greatly appreciate it.

What is I/E/DPs? I assume exhaust and downpipes. APR claims a 25hp/35lb-ft of improvment. For roughly $2500, it seems like a great investment.

I understand the chip improvments. GIACs chips probably going to run $1K after install and get me 10hp at best. DO you have a recommendation on vendor?

now on to the third phase and here's where you lost me....

What's a valve job get me? Better seating? What's the benefit? $348 seems cheap for ripping the head off.

Ditto on the R&amp;R...absolutely no clue what this is...(I did say that I was a newbie)

Any recommendations on the cam and/or timing?

I've heard the lightweight clutch was a good to do. How about the rear differential? Any benefit to adding a limited slip differential? I know it's not an engine discussion but...

Sorry for the long post but any reply would be very useful.

I/E/Dp is Intake, Exhaust, and down pipes it's usually the first step in performing your basic performance upgrades; (BPU) from there is a chip. APR is about $500 you want to call them to find a local distro.

Once you've done all the above you can focus on doing the light weight mods..I've removed the spare tire and bought a super light odyssey battery. Since I had to do engine work I'm doing the head work. But I would recommend some light wheels, suspension, and brakes which for me personally I have experienced to be the biggest bang for my buck, BUT they cost the BIGGEST BUCKS. Something like a 17x7 Velox PG-Rev10 that are 11.5lbs per wheel, with lighter suspension and brakes make a huge difference in ALL depts. acceleration, handling, stopping and of course weight.

Timing is handled by the chip, now the cam was the only item I changed my mind on because after installing the cam the ECU would need to be tuned and you're opening a whole new can of worms. better to say on the path than blaze a new one. (none of the chip manuf. have a program for the cam) The piston and valve paths "interfere" with one another (known are an "interference head") so having a cam that had a longer lift or duration may cause a catastrophic engine failure when the chip advances the timing.

I'm having trouble finding the lighter clutch flywheel...when I got it over to the shop the stock unit was completly different from what they thought. So i'm exploring other options. as for a rear limited diff...I would probably not do anything with it unless you've done everything else (including a supercharger) and you're really tracking the car and you can get any speed out of the corners.

I'm not as confident as yourself when it comes to that type of engine work.