So I am about to get some more stuff done to the car, i got about $2k to play around with, and I was just WONDERING what kinda gains I would get if I were to start modding this thing for performance... Here it goes...

STOCK 30V 2.8L- 190HP 208TRQ

GIAC 30V CHIP - 200HP 218TQ - $300

SHORT RAM INTAKE W/ K&N - 203HP 220TQ - $100 after shipping and k&n replacement of ebay filter

UNORTHODOX UNDERDRIVE PULLEY - 207HP 224TQ - $180 shipped + install ($80)

CUSTOM 2.5" CAT BACK EXHAUST W/ MAGNAFLOW - 211HP 229TQ - $300

CUSTOM FABRICATED HEADERS - 217HP 232TQ- $650


TOTAL GAINS = +27HP +24TQ = $1530



If you ask me, its not worth it.... you will gain about .5 of a second in the quarter mile, which will net you about a 14.6-14.8 (stock bmw 330ci speed)

Sure you will be a little bit faster, but I would much rather spend $1500 on a nice set of wheels, or a nice suspension setup, or sway bars, or even a nice sound system, or a navigation system....

It averages out to about $56 for each single horsepower you gain, which in the car modding world, thats kinda pathetic lol...

Just thought I would throw out a guide with the mods and the ACTUAL EXPECTED GAINS, i've been modding cars long enough, and I know that when your dealing with a naturally aspirated motor, it hardly responds to mods at all.

The only mod that would be worth the money is the GIAC chip, and the Unorthodox Pulley. Possibly even the cat back exhaust, but with those three things you will only knock off a realistic .3 of a second in the quarter mile.

If you really want performance out of a 2.8l, the best bang for the buck is a 75 shot of nitrous... spend about $750 for about 75hp and 50lbs of torque.... nitrous can be reliable if your not stupid with it, and everything is run properly. With a quality setup of nitrous you can probably pull off a high 13 second pass, and a mildly experienced driver will be runnin low 14's all day long, which will have you running with 350z's, WRX's, mildly modded DSM's, RX8's, and plenty of other "poor mans sportscars"

In the end, I decided to spend my money on a rear sway bar set, new sideskirts, chrome mirror caps, and the lltek lower grille inserts, which I believe will make my car way more fun and appealing than 27 horsepower would....

- Tim

 

N/A is just harder and more expensive to make power. Nice car though.

 

Very nice car, sounds like your doing the "smart" thing there... Smarter then putting the money into the engine thats for sure... I have been considering putting the M3 spoiler on my car (black Audi just the same as yours)... I like it a lot, just worried about color matching it...

SMo'

 

Most paint supply shops (where you buy your paint, not necessarily places that DO auto painting) can computer scan one of your panels (ie, gas door) to get the exact color match, so that sun fade is taken into account, and then brew up a perfect color match for the paint. Saves money on trying to blend the spoiler's paint into the decklid.

 

Have to agree with you on this - most of the time, unless the car's design is terrible, you aren't going to make much power out of breathing and electronic mods. A wet shot or aftermarket forced-induction is about the only way to go. Kinda makes me laugh when Civic/Integra owners spend $600-700 on a catback and gain 3hp from it It's gonna be the same thing for Audi as for most other OEMs that make boosted and NA versions of their cars - mod the boosted cars for power/speed, mod the NA cars for style/handling. Like you said, a few of the mods are worth doing (in my opinion, even for a 1hp gain, an intake is worth it just for the over-time cost savings of not continually buying air filters), but overall, make it look/sound/handle/stop better and leave it at that.

 

Whatever happened to your super charger ambitions?

 

You never know, maybe at some point it'll happen, but I have to think smart about it, since I have a mortgage and two kids. I may get a wild hair at some point and just go for it, but it'll have to be some sort of a deal, like the one recently on eBay or something, not retail - it's just too much money to legitimately put into the car right now. We'll see though...

 

I was talking to ateurv8, but thats cools-haha

 

haha. one thing you have to concider ateurv8 is that the power gains arnt liniar necessarially. if a short ram intake gives you 5 hp and exaust gives you 10 alone, then together you may get 18-20 psi. one helps the other. and is you really want power out of a NA engine without a super, tear that sdob apart and rebuilds it with good stuff. it seams most people on this forum dont realize the power you can get from a NA engine by building it properly. if you can do teh work yourself, you save a crapp loads in money. it is kinds expencive but i would rather have a 200 hp na engine with amazing throttly response and a broad powerband than a 350 hp turbod car that only has that...a turbo. there is a lot more to a fast car than a lot of power. if you have a broader powerband but less HP, you can run faster than a short powerband but slightly more peak hp. and they sound soo nice with an agressive cam...high compression pisons and rings...headers...**drool**

 

Oy... dont get me depressed... but honestly I just sat down and looked at the whole situation one day and realized if i want that type of power than nitrous would be a way cheaper way to go, and plus when i had a good amount of money saved up to put towards the supercharger, I was in best buy one day and my emotions got the best of me and I decided to get the $2000 eclipse avn5500 navi/dvd/cd/mp3 along with $1000 of dynamat so my car didnt rattle anymore, lol. So ever since than I never had the motivation to save up another $3000... right now I got about $2k to play with but still,its not anywhere near $5000. My goal of a S/C audi just began to get smaller and smaller with passing time.