midlifecrisis

This weekend had a local indy replace my slipping stock clutch with an RS4 unit (stock resurfaced flywheel). Since he had the trans out of the way, he installed my Milltek downpipes that go with the catback I already put last year.

The clutch is a revelation. Engages much lower and has a really well defined engagement point. This alone makes the car much more responsive off the line.

The downpipes, in concert with the catback and the old GIAC x- are Amazing. Much quicker spool up, and the dreaded throttle cut (91 octane) is pretty much gone. The sound is the same up to about 4000 rpm, then I get a really nice muted scream out of the engine. I've read that that the downpipes / cats add ~7% HP, and I believe it.

The terror part came in when I got the car back from the shop and I put the chip in (old style soldered in pin headers). Cranked it and no ignition. Everything else O.K. Checked fuses O.K. Cables yada, yada, O.K. Stock chip back in, nothing. No communication with VAG-COM. Oh c**p= fried ECU? Started checking the ECU guts with a magnifying glass and found one whole line of header pins were breaking off (hairline cracks, not visible without magnification). Resoldered and all was well. Time to change shorts.

Moral: For the old style chips, be gentle with those soldered in pins. Check them if you have a no-start problem and/or no communication with VAG tool. Better yet, take the thing out and get direct port.

03 2.7t 6mt, Silver, Platinum, Cold, Giac-x, Milltek turbo-back, H-sports.

bizmonq

Was it slipping yet? Glad to see you figured out the ECU problem without too much drama.

midlifecrisis

60k - 40 of that chipped

midlifecrisis

It was only slipping due to extra boost from the chip - tech said I still had good disk material.