Well....cleaning is done, and engine is reassembled. My many thanks to the people on the various Audi forums who have helped me and encouraged me on as well as the master tech from my local dealership who jumped in mid-project and came to my home to lend me a hand. No doubt, he had the expertise and some special tools to make it easier.
Crank tool, for instance, to manually close the valves that were open. He also guided me in the use of my own air compressor to aid in some of the work. The valves and intake ports were spotless. It was fun and we both had a good time.
I replaced the manifold gaskets with new ones, and I do recommend this. The old ones had some carbon staining that is pretty near impossible to remove without damaging the gasket.
I did not diassemble the manifold itself. Looking in with a boroscope, the intake runners were very clean until the end. I soaked the manifold flaps in solvent-drenched gauze an let it sit for 48 hours to remove the carbon from them. Worked pretty well. There was still a fine smooth carbon coating on some of the flaps, but it won't affect or impede airflow on bit. Most impotantly, I was able to remove the deposits from pivot points for the flaps so there will be no chance of flaps sticking, although given the spring force on the flaps, I doubt this would happen even with farily severe carbon build up.
If you do this at home, TAKE PICS of the engine as you begin to disassemble, so you can see how everything goes back. I can not emphasize this enough!!!
Also, label all hoses, harnesses, and put all hardware in baggies with labels as to where they go
The manifold also has an unused capped port in the rear just past the throttle body. I am going to use this port and connect a short piece of hose to use as an access port for induction cleaning. In this way I will not have to keep removing the intake, and I will be able to keep a better vacuum seal to pull the cleaner through. When not in use, the hose will be capped off.
Finally, and this straight from my tech's mouth......he told me that there is no way that when you get this work done at the dealership that they have the time to put into this job, the way we did. The clean out isn't nearly as thorough. There is just too much other work to be done, and especially if this is warranty work, they will do the minimal to get you by, and put everything back.
If you have the space and the tools, it is good deal to pay your tech directly to help you at your home. It will cost you far less than dealer labor rates, and you can still pay him a good bit more than he earns doing this at work. You can work together, have fun, learn about your car, and properly take the time to be super meticulous. While he and I were working, he told me soooo much about the car that I wouldn't have otherwise known.
I still have a fair bit of reassembly to do, and I actually think I may be able to put some things back in way that works better than the way it came from the factory.
Good luck to everyone with their carbon. You all have it.
Some info and pics I posted on QW:
http://forums.quattroworld.com/rs4b7/msgs/23770.phtml
http://forums.quattroworld.com/rs4b7/msgs/23564.phtml
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Originally Posted by NoTec
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