tuning options for a3 quattro?

[ak_quattro454]

Hi there, ive just joined today.
I recently bought an audi a3 1.8t quattro and need some help.
The car has come wiv rs4 rims and an s3 kit, so its looks gr8 but the engine is standard 180bhp.
I want to increase the power, any recommendations on what to do first?

And has ne1 heard about or used turbosmart dump valves? because ive heard they are fully adjustable. So u choose if you want to vent air back into the engine or if u want it blowed out. givin the wooossssssshhhhh sound.

 

[QUATTRO_REP]

Get a remap done, easyiest way to gain at least 30BHP and ***** loads of torque. i had mine done to the TDI quattro and the difference is amazing! u wont be dissapointed! as for the dump valves i aint sure sorry.

 

[Wicked666]

drill your airbox (from below) and it will make the DV more audible

 

[ak_quattro454]

thanks for that

So how much is it roughly for a remap?
im located in west london, just near heathrow airport.

Does anyone know any places where i can get my car remapped in the southeast area of england?

 

[Timbo]

Fontain in Iver aren't far from you and are a Revo dealer. Should be roughly £500 for a revo remap - check their website.

The 1.8T engine doesn't especially like an atmospheric dump valve as it confuses the ECU - the air dumped to atmosphere has already been measured by the MAF sensor so is assumed to be in the system. There's nothing wrong with the standard Bosch valve other than it will need replacing from time to time, and it's not shiny.

 

[ak_quattro454]

ive contacted fontain, they said 27bhp increase for £470

a mate of mine was telling about 40 bhp increases, for around £500. is this true,

about the dump valve, with this turbosmart one i can do no harm to the engine if i set it to vent air back in to the engine all the time.
Its just that a friend is giving one to me for £80, whereas they are
normally selling for £240 in this country.

 

[DPM]

We've currently got 10% off all remaps and we also do a deal if bought at the same time as a DV!

More info on it here...

http://www.dpmautostyling.co.uk/cat...ct_info&cPath=1151_1171_1176&products_id=2939

 

[markyp2002]

lets save you some money here mate, as was said before, just drill the bottom half of the air box in multiple places to give u the recirculating DV sound, ive done it to mine and it sounds great

the original bosch DV does the job fine.

before you have it remapped if u plan to do any other modifications (exhaust, induction kit etc) have these done first makes a difference on ur read out, or at least so ive been informed. :thumbsup:

 

[Timbo]

ive contacted fontain, they said 27bhp increase for £470

a mate of mine was telling about 40 bhp increases, for around £500. is this true,

AmD (Bicester, not too far from you), Jabba, Star and others will do a remap which they tweak on a rolling road which might eke out a bit more power... whether they'll get much more with no other mods is open to debate. Fontain don't have a RR so may be being conservative with the claimed figures. Or others may be exaggerating!

about the dump valve, with this turbosmart one i can do no harm to the engine if i set it to vent air back in to the engine all the time.
Its just that a friend is giving one to me for £80, whereas they are normally selling for £240 in this country.

Dump valves don't have any effect on performance unless they're broken. £80 seems to be about the going rate for an aftermarket one. The only advantages I can see is that they're shiny (if you're into showing the car) and they can be rebuilt when they shart leaking (presuming this Turbosmart one can be). My car's done just over 100K miles and is on its second Bosch DV - so it's cost ~£25 in DVs over 100K miles so far - cheaper than an aftermarket one.

£240 seems an awful lot of money for a DV!

 

[garratt83]

Sounding dumb

What does the DV do?

Is it that sound you hear on some cars after they've sped off?

 

[markyp2002]

erm, ill take a blind one at this. as far as im aware a DV releases turbo pressure at a certain PSI but also makes the wooshy sound lol

 

[garratt83]

'wooshy' love it

 

[Herby1]

DV also loses power that you cant feel!!!!! Not really good for the engine, or it may depend on what you buy really. defintiely good for the sound...brrrrrrrrr Tiiiissshhhhhhhhh

 

[Timbo]

When you take your foot off the throttle pedal the throttle plate shuts in the throttle body. As the turbo is still rotating this would create a lot of pressure between the compressor blades and the throttle plate if the compressed air didn't have anywhere else to go. This pressure would stall the turbo, which is (a) very bad for it, and (b) could make the power delivery extremely laggy as the turbo would take longer to spool up again like on early turbo cars.

So, the DV opens when you take your foot off the throttle and releases the pressure into the inlet system between the MAF and the compressor side of the turbo. It's not governed by preset PSI - it's opened by pressure differential. The blow off valve on some older 80s turbo hot hatches etc. was just held by a spring so opened at a predetermined PSI.

DV also loses power that you cant feel!!!!! Not really good for the engine, or it may depend on what you buy really. defintiely good for the sound...brrrrrrrrr Tiiiissshhhhhhhhh

Errrrm, what?!?

They'll lose power when they're broken and can't stop the pressure being released to the inlet side (or atmos).

The psssshhht!! sound you get coming out of RS Turbos and the like is because they dump their excess charge to atmosphere rather than the inlet side of the turbo. Also, they don't all meter their air so don't care whether they lose some.

 

[ak_quattro454]

thanks for the help.
i am going to stick with the standard bosch one for now, but probably add an induction kit before i go to get it remapped

Drilling the airbox?
Is that perfectly safe and it wont damage anything will it?
How hard is that to do, how many holes are needed?
does it really make a diffrence in sound???

 

[markyp2002]

its a piece of **** mate.

just remove the filter pipe coming from the engine to the air box, pull out your airbox (check for screws etc that need undoing, its pretty straight forward)

empty the box, take ur drill and drill about 15-20 small holes, 4-5mm should be efficient, drill into the front of the bottom half of the air box, so its not visible once the box is back in the car. Stick it all back in the car. switch her on, rev quickly and let go

listen to it, youll cum in ur pants ;D

 

[ak_quattro454]

thats sounds gr8, how long have you had it on your car?
i thought recirculating DV dnt make no noise, so are you saying its going to sound like a blow off valve????

Is £450 - 500 the standard price everone is paying for there remaps, im abit a short on cash and wanted to add some other stuff (induction kit,maybe exhaust) before i remap it.

Any other suggestions or is AMD the best at £500???

 

[buckas]

it's a shame i associate dump valves with chavvy escorts and scoobies, otherwise i'd might have bought one

 

[Timbo]

Is £450 - 500 the standard price everone is paying for there remaps, im abit a short on cash and wanted to add some other stuff (induction kit,maybe exhaust) before i remap it.

Some of the Revo maps are slightly cheaper I think, but yes that's about what you'll pay for a remap. Don't forget to budget for the extra insurance cost as well.

Any other suggestions or is AMD the best at £500???

There isn't really a "best" remap. AMD are well known as a reputable VAG specialist so are as safe a choice as you'll find. Otherwise I'd choose on the basis of distance just in case anything does go wrong (not that it's likely to).

 

[markyp2002]

revo remaps have 3 stages, stage 1 (recommended for prettymuch standard car) works at around £400, these are probably the most commonly found ones as they have so many people around the country supplying!

but from what ive read AmD seem to be the best!

 

[Ess_Three]

lets save you some money here mate, as was said before, just drill the bottom half of the air box in multiple places to give u the recirculating DV sound, ive done it to mine and it sounds great

And now for some proper advice...
DON'T drill your airbox.
The enginebay of a 1.8T car runs hotter than anything else I've come accross and the last thing you want is an engine drawing in HOT air.
It'll make it sluggish as hell in traffic or on a hot day.

If you re-map...the engine bay gets even hotter, drawing in even hotter air.
Not a good idea.

If you want to modify the airbox, de-restrict is and run a cold air feed to it...but don't drill it.
You can open up the wing feed, or even run a duct from the front of the car.
But don't drill.


This has been covered many times by those who have chosen to prove the harm it does...it will sound better at the cost of drivability and performance.


Not my idea of tuning...
Sort of de-tuning, if you like.

 

[markyp2002]

doesnt seem to have done any harm to mine just yet, and doesnt seem to be any more sluggish. additional turbo'd cars do get slower on hot days coz of the lack of cold air intake.

but, its a win/lose situation, your either lucky or ur not (but i wont speak to soon of it - just in case)

 

[Ess_Three]

doesnt seem to have done any harm to mine just yet, and doesnt seem to be any more sluggish.

Maybe the placebo effect prevents you from admitting it?

If you log the inlet temps with VAG com, or log them manually, you'll see that the temperature being drawn in are a fair bit hotter (15 degerees or so often) so it's harming performance.
That's not my opinion...it's physics.

additional turbo'd cars do get slower on hot days coz of the lack of cold air intake.

Wrong again...
I'll admit that a high ambient temperature will affect it...but on hot days turbo cars heatsoak because of the wexcess heat.
The block heatsoakes..
The head heatsoakes...
The ICs heatsoak...

If you have an efficient IC you don't get appreciably slower on a hot day...I've proved that.

A cold air inlet is a marketing spin...
Your standard A3/S3 has a cold air inlet...it takes cold air from the area under the passenger front wing.
Cold air...

A CAI won't add any power on a warm day as the ICs are weak and can't do theit job effectively...especially on a chipped car.

but, its a win/lose situation, your either lucky or ur not (but i wont speak to soon of it - just in case)

I don't believe that to be the casa.
Physics isn't selective...

Drilling your airbox takes away performance to add noise. That's de-tuning in my book.
You can add a cold air duct to the airbox if you wish, fed from the area of high pressure air behind the front bumper...you can de-restrict the airbox slightly, or fit a K&N panel filter. All of which will gain you absolutely nothing power wise as I tried it and dyno's every step.
The S3 airbox in partucular is very efficient.
I even dyno'd it with no airbox lower fitted...no gain.

So you can't get much of a gain by messing with the airbox...But you can take away performance by feeding the engine hot air.

Hot air into a hot engine with barely adequate ICs, on a chiped car = loss of performance.
Fact.
Sorry...but that's the way it is.

 

[ak_quattro454]

cheers for that all info guys, i think im going to stay away from drilling my airbox just yet!!

Ive phoned up chipped-uk in peterbourough and there are offering a rolling road re-map for £275 for my car. Special offer they sed until xmas. They predict an increase to 220 bhp for my 180bhp quattro a3.

 

[dultanur]

and just an additional note, even if you drill your airbox, DVs never make the same kind of noise BOV (Blow Off Valves-the stuff of cossies) make. you can hear your dv working if you spool up the turbo and suddenly let go the throttle in a narrow space, where the sound can rebound back to you. that sound will get a bit louder if you drill the airbox...

 

[ChriS3]

cheers for that all info guys, i think im going to stay away from drilling my airbox just yet!!

Ive phoned up chipped-uk in peterbourough and there are offering a rolling road re-map for £275 for my car. Special offer they sed until xmas. They predict an increase to 220 bhp for my 180bhp quattro a3.

If you're heading to Peterboghorror, why not go to Jabba? Not as cheap but you get what you pay for.

As for the airbox and noise, I think Ess_Three has said all the right things. If you want the noise, something like a BMC carbon airbox and a Forge DV sound great. Not as efficient as the standard airbox though.

 

[ak_quattro454]

sorry i meant to say Chipped-uk in bromsgrove, near birmingham
ive heard some good stuff about them. They providing a guarantee, and claiming an increase up to 225bhp

Jabbasport quoted me £525 for a custom remap power increase up to 210 - 220bhp, whereas chipped-uk asking for £300 for their custom rolling road remap

 

[Bran]

is it a smart idea to buy a dump valve then ?

you say its effects the ECU, is that a bad thing ?