I recently bought a 98.5 2.8 for my wife and (understandably I think you'll all agree) fell in love with it myself. Since she won't let me drive it more than once a week (and only after I spend 3 hours detailing it) I came to the fairly simple conclusion that I must get my own. I had originally thought the logical choice for me would be to get a 1.8t 5 speed, do a 240 hp conversion and be done with it. Then I would have my toy also and we'd both be happy. But now I am seriously considering the PES route and must start gathering data all over again.<br> Now I hate to say this because I love this site and think Jason's a great guy even though I haven't actually met him, but wasn't there a serious conflict of interest with the A4.org founder and editor (Jason) who has been accepting advertising money from PES for months doing the actual review of the product he has been indirectly promoting? I guess I would have liked to hear some downside to the install-- it couldn't be perfect could it?<br> I guess I need to wait until the "unbiased" review comes out in "Road and Track" and "Turbo".<br> Don't get me wrong, I'll probably be one of the first to have this mod done. Just call me the<p>Worried Parent.

Research deeper...

There IS other brands? Perhaps there ARE other brands, but I have not found them. Tell me about your deeper research (and grammar training while you are at it.)

I found the following in the archives and just cut and pasted for your info:<p><br>All, <p>This is the response regarding the 30v 2.8 Supercharger Kit from the group in Switerland.<p>Damon, you first!!!!!<p>The kit is for the 30v engine...<br>attached you'll find a curve of the power and torqueour exact address is:<p>z-engineeringzythüslistrasse <br>28165 schleinikon (near Baden)<br>TEL. (01) 875 0593 FAX (01) 856 1928<p>E-mail: z-engineering@swissonline.ch <br>http://www.swissonline.ch/z-engineering<p>Engine, performance and supercharger:<br>With the supercharger of Z-Engineering the power of the engine will increase of 40%. The supercharger loads the air to a pressure of 0.5 bar. Both, power and torque, are brought to a high level, so that driving the car is fun! So,<br>before you spend a lot of money with chiptuning or re-camming your engine, let the idea of a supercharger go through your mind! A supercharger has many advantages over a turbocharger:<br>-> The supercharger is always active and provides a gradual delivery of power from low down in the rev range <br>-> The supercharger has no turbo-lag!<p>The Z-Engineering superchargerkit:<br>The superchargerkit is genious because it needs no more modfications at the car or the engine! The whole kit fitts into the original car (with or<br>without Air-conditioning)! The supercharger should be fitted by a mechanic or a person knowing much about mechanical work and the car. It needs a day to fit the whole kit and all needed parts are included in the kit (air ducts made of carbon fibre, oil pipes for supercharger cooling, mounting bracket,etc.)<p>Durability and every-day use:<br>Our testcar (1995 VW Vr6) has been pushed for over 100'000 miles now and the whole car shows absolutely no weakness!<br>Price of the superchargerkit and delivery <br>(for example VW VR6 enginekit):<br>No matter where you live, you can have one of our dreamkits! We deliver our superchargerkits all over the world!Price of the whole kit:<br>VW VR6: 6‘800 Swiss francs or 4100 US$.<br>Audi A4, 2.8l 8600 Swiss francs or 5700 US$.<br>We accept VISA, a bank account or cash.<p>greetings<br>Mirco Calzolari, Z-Engineering<p>

OK, I am obviously somewhat biased due to the positive experience I have had with PES; but still, I'd have big problems ordering a kit shipped from Switzerland with no knowledge of a single person in the states who has installed it on an A4.<p>In fact, it seems they discuss a VR6 kit mostly. The European cars do not have OBDII, which means that they will not likely work on US spec cars (unless there is a specific North American kit which offers completely different software).<p>Also, it appears that this kit requires an oil supply to cool the supercharger, meaning it will require a much more involved install. The Eaton unit in the PES kit is self-lubricated, and really is a direct bolt-in.<p>I am not saying that this is a good or bad kit, but I would certainly be skeptical of bolting anything on my engine without hearing some real-world experiences of this kit on a US spec (OBDII) car. I saw how much effort PES went through in order to create an OBDII compliant kit.<p>Also, beware of supercharger vendors offering "universal" kits. You'd be asking for trouble. For example, some of the supercharger kits for the Mustangs come with 3 pieces (unit, bracket, and intake hose). This type of universal kit would be disastrous on the A4. Apparently, the Mustang fuel injection and electronics are fairly adaptable to large increases in air flow. The A4 is not. A 40% increase in power in the 30v means that the injectors are working at their very limits, which can be dangerous.<p>Mike (a big fan of the PES kit...for a REASON)

The software could be trouble...but regarding the fuel issue: they probably go the route that many pony-car kits take. They use a FMU (fuel management unit) that cuts off return fuel to the tank (remember fuel is pumped to the injectors & what is not used is returned to the tank). If you cut off the return, you jack up the fuel pressure (almost 85 psi on my last vehicle). The FMU has a pressure sensing set up, so when you're in boost, it cuts the return accordingly. At Wide Open Throttle, all computers on stock cars go a bit rich (OBD II allows this) to be on the safe side...basically the regs allow it cuz you're not at WOT all the time, unless you're Schumacher! The FMU, however, usually puts you really, really rich at WOT. Jacking up the pressure to double normal operating pressure rams waaaay more fuel through the injectors than they are designed for. I've never heard of anyone having trouble with 'em, but that Ricci guy claims it can cause lasting damage. I'm inclined to believe him there. <p>Anyway, the FMU is a big kludge, not very accurate, and really unacceptable on a car of the A4's caliber. <p>steve