TQS track car project - extremely slow progress

Was a bit bored today, so took her for a drive.
Had a bit of fun in the snow as well :)
Summer tires suck :no:
Took some pics as well.






 
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I am a bit fed up looking for an exhaust company that has good reviews and their exhausts last few years, without rusting or welds falling off. From my research, the only place worth going to is Meercat in scotland, 275 miles one way! Exhaust Uk, powerflow and longlife have hit and miss reviews and most of them sound like a chaved up corsa. Don't want to spend few hundred quid on an exhaust which will be rubbish. Also, if it's too noisy, I will have to say good bye to half of UK trackdays.

Do you guys have an experience with any decent place around Yorkshire?

I am pretty much set on a 3" cat back to have it ready for gt30 in future, but if I can't find anything decent I will go with milltek non res and it will have to do. What are your thoughts? Worth the hustle of going custom and risking it with quality/noise?
 
2.75" with 3" decat/cat and downpipe will be enough for GT30.

Maybe try speak to milltek see if they will do the TQS system in 3" ??

Or your other option is find a 3" S4 milltek system and have the down pipe and mid section made up ??
 
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I talked to milltek and they won't do custom exhaust for tqs, as that's not something they would sell other than one. Talked to awesomegti, and they can supply the back box from 3" S4 milltek system. For about £340! Missed one 3"system on SRS last month!
 
Speak to Phil at the Powerflow branch in Stafford. You won't find a better welder in the country
 
Got this reply from Tony banks today. All in £660 but longlife doesn't have good opinions. Not sure if the price is for cat back because answer is confusing a bit.

THERES NO PROBLEM WITH THAT SYSTEM WE CAN CUSTOM BUILD AND PERFECTLY FIT AN EXHAUST FROM THE CATALIST TO THE REAR OF THE VEHICLE IN 3 INCH WITH DE-CAT OR SPORTS CAT, OUR BOOK PRICE FOR THIS IS £ 549 INCLUDING FITTING AND A LIFETIME, NO QUIBBLE GUARANTEE. 0% FINANCE NOW AVAILABLE OVER 12,24 AND 36 MONTHS

OUR SYSTEMS ARE HANDBUILT FROM AIRCRAFT QUALITY T304 BRITISH STAINLESS STEEL OF 2mm GAUGE WALL THICKNESS UNLIKE OUR COMPETITORS THAT USE LOWER GRADE 409 STAINLESS STEEL FROM CHINA AND KOREA. WE ASSEMBLE ON SITE USING ONLY T.I.G. WELDERS AND ONLY USE T316 STAINLESS WELDING RODS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY.

OUR EXHAUSTS ARE FULL FREE FLOW WITH TUNED PIPES AND NO RESTRICTIONS OR CHAMBERS. THIS WILL GIVE YOU AN INCREASE OF AROUND 15% BHP, 10% MPG AND YOU WILL HAVE AROUND 20% MORE TORQUE AT BOTTOM END REVS. I.E. THE CAR WILL ACCELERATE SMOOTHER AND FASTER.

WE GIVE AN HONEST LIFETIME WARRANTY , NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND IT IS TRANSFERABLE TO THE NEXT PERSON OR THE NEXT OWNER. WE BELIEVE THAT THIS IS THE BEST GUARANTEE IN THE BUSINESS.

THE EXHAUST COMES WITH A CHOICE OF 15 POLISHED STAINLESS STEEL TAILPIPES FROM OUTWARD ROLL TO INWARD ROLL, 2 INCH TO 5 INCH BORE ROUND, OVAL, SQUARE AND SLASH CUT TAILPIPES . WE ALSO HAVE ANOTHER 87 DIFFERENT DESIGNER TAILPIPES TO CHOOSE FROM. WE TAILOR MAKE THE EXHAUST TO YOUR VEHICLE AND TO YOUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.

WE TAILOR MAKE THE EXHAUST TO YOUR VEHICLE AND TO YOUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS,THIS TAKES AROUND 3 HOURS . WE HAVE COURTESY CARS AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO USE WHILST WE ATTEND TO YOURS , THESE ARE FREE BUT YOU MUST RESERVE ONE WHEN YOU BOOK IN.

YOU CAN CHOOSE FROM STANDARD SOUND (QUIET AS A MOUSE)TO MID MILD SPORT (HEARING THE ENGINE ON ACCELERATION) TO MID SPORTS NOTE (ASTON MARTIN V8 ACOUTICS) OR HEAVY SPORTS (TVR GRIFFITH SOUND ) ONLY FOR A CERTAIN FEW PEOPLE. ILL TRY TO EMAIL U SOME PICS BUT PLEASE RING ME SO I CAN FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED FOR YOUR CAR. THANKYOU

PRICES SUBJECT TO V.A.T.
 
I would probably look at getting the downpipe made up at the same time.

I do not think that is a bad price, I am sure there are cheaper places but if they do a decent job and give you a warrenty its worth paying a bit more.

People getting finance to get an exhaust, would have never thought places did that! Imagine paying up for an stainless exhaust for 3 years.
 
Well, I'm not sure how it works to be honest. Longlife exhausts have pretty bad reviews. Tony Banks has good reviews but his exhausts are longlife?
I'm not sure if I will risk spending more money on custom exhaust than for milltek, even though it is 3". In the reply they say they can build exhaust from cat-back and later that with decat or sports cat. Seems a bit strange they would charge the same for both.

If I get a decat, I would probably need a remap as well, which on k03 is a waste of money IMO. Money I would rather spend on rear suspension at the moment.
 
Ah yes I was thinking the cat was in the centrepipe after working on another car!

Your best plan is to just get a 3" S4 system and get the front section made up after you pull off the Y pipe. Can get them for about £150-£200 second hand and they fit perfectly.

I then got a pipe made up from the turbo so its 3" all the way to the middlebox for about £250.
 
I think it is the best option really. All the 3" milltek systems sell for around £350 on srs. But even with that, it might be cheaper and safer option than getting all custom job. Do you have a resonated or non res system?
 
The problem is "longlife" are a franchise, as are powerflow etc. That means that the quality of the finished product depends entirely on the bloke doing the work. Some places are good, some arent. So simply taking a review on "longlife" as gospel isnt any use unless it happens to be exactly the same branch that your going to use.

Which is why you hear folk saying longlife is crap but other folk saying its good.
 
audi upgrades
If they are franchised, don't they get steel from one place?
If it's T304, does it matter where they get it from?
 
And a quote from jpexhaust in Macclesfield. £720. I was hoping for it to be cheaper than milltek. Not sure if it's worth messing about with custom.

We can manufacture a stainless steel 3” CAT back exhaust system for your Audi A4 for a cost of about £600.00 + VAT, depending on style of tail pipes. The exhaust will be made from 16 gauge grade 304 stainless steel and when fitted will carry a guarantee for as long as you own the vehicle, subject to standard road usage. We would need the vehicle for a day to complete the work.
 
I keep saying it but the big problem with most of these custom systems is the fact the bends in the pipework are compression bends and not mandrel bends and the boxes are just what they have on the shelf. If you want a decent custom system speak to the people at Hayward and Scott. These guys REALLY understand that an exhaust is a bit more complex than nailing some silencers to some bent pipe and lobbing it under the car.
 
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I have a non-res milltek on mine. Cat back (i want to decat it this summer too).

I only really do short journeys in it, so it's not bad. But if it was a motorway cruncher I think I'd have sold the car a long time ago ha!
 
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Most decent places will do mandrel bends if you ask. The local boy that made the S4 system fit my 1.8T did everything with mandrel bends because thats what i asked for.

I guess its a fair sign of how good a place is, if they "cant" do it in mandrels then walk away.

I find these prices quite excessive tbh, compared with what my local guy charged me for the various bits i've had done. I think the companies that have got a name for themselves charge the earth just because they can.

I also get the feeling the price increases when you tell them its an Audi, if i could be ***** i'd phone some of these places and ask for a price for a 1.2 corsa and see what they say :p I know its been a few years, but i never saw anyone quoting anything like 600quid for an exhaust back when i had the vauxhalls.

Infact a quick google finds this which goes some way to confirm my thoughts:

http://www.vxronline.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?180264-Tony-Banks-catback-exhaust
 
Buy a 3" decat and standard TQS res or non res Milltek, personally think 3" will be to loud !

You'll be pleased when its on and popping !!
 
audi upgrades
I think that's what I will do. If custom was cheaper I would go for it, but I can get milltek with no risk and fit it myself when it gets a bit warmer. Awesome sells 034 motorsport decat pipe for £140. Is it normal price? Also, does it bring a cel on and needs a remap?
 
No CEL on the older ECU's in the TQS. It wont care if you remove the cat.

I bought my last decat on ebay for about 40 quid.
 
That's very nice! Decided then. Milltek and decat it is. Now just need a bit higher temperatures outside. Oh and it would be nice to have my rotator cuff heal after tearing it last week and being unable to move my arm :(
 
Mine has the resonator and is full 3" all the way turbo back. It's really quiet, friends were surprised when they saw how fat the pipe is as you hardly notice it inside the car. When you have the car idling you can hear the tone is deeper but was late 20s when I got this exhaust so did not want it loud.
I had a straight through 2.75" system to a universal backbox years ago but tired of it after a couple of years and went back to the standard system after a while. I even had the straight through with an RS4 backbox which was quiet enough but the tailpipes sat too low as the bumper is not as deep.
 
Mines straight through all the way to the back box when i get bored of it i will probably cut the back box open gut it and weld it lol

I even removed the perforated insert in the centre link pipe just to cut any restriction out.





I got my decat from THS for around £120

 
No mate. Just a fiberglass one.
 
I bought it damaged for few quid and repaired it with fiberglass and filler. Quality is like any other fiberglass bumper. Rubbish but doesn't look bad.
 
Is it worth buying do you think now you have it?
I was thinking of the Rieger RS4 front in ABS but they're way too expensive for a Bumper as opposed to the fibreglass reps
 
I bought it because I didn't want to pay for s4 bumper and nothing else clears my fmic. I wouldn't buy it new for £160, unless I had no choice. Dietrich makes decent fiberglass ones for around £200. Rieger imo looks weird and is too low. My car is a track car so I'm not bothered if it cracks in future. Will fix it back up again.
 
I have a bit of an update which I will post on Saturday.

Just as a teaser, a question. Remembering that it is a track car and goal is 400bhp, weight is important. Keep 1.8T or swap a 2.7TT ? :)
 
Why do you think you need 400hp? If i recall, you've not even had it out on track yet?

I've taken a very practical view with mine. Plenty of folk run things like Clio 172/182's and they're great little track cars. A stripped out B5 needs about 220hp to match a 172 in terms of power/weight.

Putting 400hp in there just means you end up sinking thousands of pounds upgrading everything, and also every track day ends up costing twice as much due to fuel/brakes etc. Not only that, the more you've spent on the car, the more risk there is when it fails. If you've got a stock motor in there with a mild hybrid putting out 240hp, you'll have just as much fun, but if you do grenade it, your out a few hundred quid rather than 7 grand on a build 2.0 stroker with a GT30.

Maybe your happy to pour thousands into it, personally i'd prefer to spend that money on actually using the car, and improving my driving skills.
 
You have a point here but the more often you go to the track, the quicker you get bored with 200bhp. Especially that I had few similarly powerful cars before. I don't want to go through the route of hybrid and then spend more money on the same components again, when i decide it isn't enough. Maybe 350 bhp will be enough. Maybe eliminator will be enough. Maybe in a yearstime there will be another option.Don't know yet as power increase is not on my list this year. What I know is that at the moment I do have an option of swapping 2.7tt instead, which has better power delivery than 1.8t, but is more complicated to work on, more expensive if it goes bang and heavier.
 
If you don't go too mental with the 2.7TT you should see 320-330bhp with just a map and maybe an exhaust. Mine's running 307bhp without a map. Will be much quicker than a 1.8T and still be reliable. For 400bhp you are talking K04s and uprated intercoolers amongst other things which will run into the thousands.
 
I reckon even an A4 with 400bhp would struggle to keep up with a 172 around knockhill.

Apart from along the straight. My friend with his cup was so much faster than M3s and Modified Focus RSs on the road there and on the track.

People posted up later asking if the Clio was supercharged, its standard bar eibach springs and a rear arb. He was a British Carting champ and used to race Minis so I think that will be part of it.
 
Well thats what i mean about being able to drive and improving your trackcraft.

If your going to chase power, X power is never enough, and you will continue wanting more and more until your wallet runs out. If you accept a particular power figure and just stick with it, you stop chasing more and learn to enjoy what you have.

If i were to tune a 1.8T for track use, i'd probably use a TFSI turbo, mapped to a smooth and safe 300ish, on a bone stock motor.

Slicks and suspension tuning will do more for your lap time than adding power will.
 
Aragorn, I absolutely agree with you that for the track, suspension is more important than power.
That's why instead of throwing a BAT on, I started with suspension and brakes. I still have a lot to do, especially with the rear. Last year I have run out of time because of more issues with the car than expected, but this year I am planning to hit the track as often as cash and free time let's me. It will show me where TQS needs more work, but I can tell you already that rear suspension bushes and brakes are pretty shocking, and are first on the to do list.

My first mod when it comes to power, will be forged engine. With 140k miles on it, I don't want to risk anything more than stock power.
The question I am asking now though, not looking at power, would you prefer a 1.8t or a 2.7tt for your track car?
Taking in to account weight, power delivery, cost of maintenance etc.
I think I am still closer to keeping 1.8t because it is cheaper and A4 is a nose heavy car already.
 
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