Your friendly neighborhood forum modder is here back for another semi-DIY. Got in as one of the first orders for this new intake and figured Id play Guinea Pig for you guys and let you know how it is.
First thing I have to say is, the box is very pretty lol(see first pic). Its like seeing one if the best packaged Christmas gifts. Presentation well done ECS!
Upon opening the box(unfortunately no picture), you will find everything really well protected with bubble wrap. Each individual piece is wrapped. Dont forget to look through the box to find the little screws and nuts bag at the bottom. However, this is where I have a big complaint. I dont know if it was because I was the first order and they rushed it, but there were NO instructions in the box. I dont mind this per se because I had already read through the PDF instructions on their site while waiting for the intake to arrive. But this is unacceptable IMHO.
Moving on, pretty much after the first couple steps of removing the shroud I found the remains of a nice mud wasp nest(second pic). Now, this isnt the first one I found in my car. The first baseball sized nest was found the first time I took apart the intake system(remember that post?). Anyway, Ive pretty much taken everything apart by now so I think thats the last of it(I hope).
I would like to think Im pretty technical and my abilities are on par with most shop workers. Ive done everything short of disassemble an entire engine and transmission. That being said, I could not for the life of me get the turbo intake tube off for almost a half hour(see third pic). That sucker was a fighter and making me break a sweat. Best thing I could suggest is get a small flathead under there and keep prying it up until it gives.
After all that it was smooth sailing. The only other piece of advice I would probably give is when installing the vent tube on the 90 degree bend. It was tough to get off in the first place, tougher to get on. Dab a little spit on it(ahh, the natural lubricant) and it will slide over much easier. It will dry without issue.
Overall it took me about an hour and twenty minutes to install. This included the almost half hour trying to remove that one stupid piece. If you are technically inclined this should be a nice challenge. If you arent, it will be worth challenging your abilities.
Oh, and the other awesome thing I have discovered about the A4?!? If you drop anything down to the floor, theres tons of room to reach down around the engine to get it. Im saying this from experience from this install.
And thats it, looks really nice and the materials are top notch. I havent driven it yet or even started it. Ill report back tomorrow with that but I wanted to get this up here now for your viewing pleasure.
EDIT: Ok, finally took my first drive with it today. I did some slow speed acceleration, WOT acceleration, and some cruising around. On the first part, the slow speed acceleration, you will hear the intake a lot. Actually, this is pretty much the only time you will hear the intake, when driving around town. If the windows are closed and the radio is off, you will hear the car breathing with every tap of the pedal. This is funny because at WOT, you dont hear the intake at all. That is, until you release the pedal and the car sounds like you have a BOV with a big "WOOOSHHH" of air being released. With the windows down you hear it a lot more. People around you can definitely hear it. You can keep goosing the throttle making the turbo kick in and then it shuts and you get the BOV effect. Cruising at a steady pace you wont hear it at all, and depending on how loud you listen to the radio you might not hear it that way either. So, performance wise, I feel like there was definitely a little less lag when starting off the line. Maybe because I heard the car sucking the air in I was focused on that and it gave me the impression the car was moving quicker than it was. Not sure. But when I was on the highway and I mashed the pedal down, the engine definitely sounded more aggressive than normal, not like the weak typical 4cyl I had complained about previously. Anyway, Im happy and with the weather getting crispy out now Im sure my car is more happy too. Ill try to get around to putting up some sound clips if I get enough requests.
EDIT 2: Heres a quick soundclip https://youtu.be/1w1v2hMT4Z0
EDIT 3: Heres a second soundclip under load https://youtu.be/FO1x9txKgbA
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Originally Posted by ECS Tuning-Audi
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