A few thoughts about my recent mods............. <long>
06-19-2002, 06:27 PM
#1
A few thoughts about my recent mods............. <long>
First off, I wanna thank the guys at NGP, they did a great job even under the circumstances and put together the package that I asked for. They do great work and I am glad that there is now an APR dealer here in the area.
A few thoughts about the Stg 3. I have a feeling that I am REALLY going to get in trouble with this car because the tendency to want to get *into it* is just too great. God forbid someone even looks at me like they want to race, I may just have to lay a smack down. The power delivery is SO COMPLETELY linear, there is no *rush* of sudden power that throws you back in the seat, it just pulls through all of the gears like nobody's business. I know this is not quantifiable info but trust me when I tell you, this car is now deceivingly fast and there are going to be some unhappy drivers in alot more *exotic* cars that will be scratching their heads wondering what happened. Marcus has said this and I have to agree 100%, the car now feels like it looks, there is no doubt in my mind that Audi should have done this in the 1st place....my TT is now complete in regards to power (at least until next week) =oP The power comes on at a very nice 3Kish RPM and pulls all the way to the redline, although I think I have been shifting a tad to early since the RPM's get there so quick and until I am real comfortable with it, I dont want to bounce it off the rev limiter.
The exhaust....
Last night I posted some video/audio of my new exhaust in which I decided within 30 sec of hearing it that I did not like it...<b>AT ALL!</b> For those that had seen my other exhaust, you know that it was 100% a straight thru muffler, pretty much the same as a straight pipe. I know the factory setup had a resonater but I had NO IDEA how effeective that little bugger was. I now know that is a big part of the system being quieted down and as soon as Dave gets back from vacation, I will be going back and have a muffler/resonater of some sort put on the car. I am actually embarassed by the way it sounds, it is just 100% obnoxious.
The tranny bits......
Now, every car I have every owned has been a FWDer in various degrees of power. My Cabrio being the most powerful of the lot (250 whp) I have only had the opportunity to change a clutch in one of my cars, my 89 Cabriolet went to 180K miles on the original clutch and it had no signs of slipping, I just did an engine transplant and it was only logical to change out the clutch since the motor was out of the car. The VR6 Cabrio had the stock VR6 clutch and no other work done to the tranny. This brings me to the TT. Like I said, I have never played around with tranny stuff so I really did not know what to expect from all of the changes. I ended up with the following as part of the upgrade.
Clutchnet clutch
VR6 240mm pressure plate
Autotech lightened flywheel
Quaife differential
Keep in mind that the clutch is not broken in yet (supposed to be 1k miles)
The clutch does not feel any different from stock in terms of pedal feel, it is as easy as the stock to push in etc. There is something with this setup that I need to get used to....I know that smooth launches are possible because I have had them since the car has been back, but I cant seem to get it everytime. Sometimes I feel like there is an on/off switch on the clutch and it is difficult to *feather*. I have really not decided as to whether this is the newness of the clutch and it not broken in yet, or is it because of the lightened flywheel? Is it me just needing to get used to the new driving style? Not sure but I need to give it some time to figure these things out. I will say that the clutch, once engaged is a monster and holds every bit of power....SWEEEET!
Now, this may sound funny, but I am almost as impressed with my next mod as I am with the Stg 3 and most of you with the quattro wont be interested so FWDers read on. Alot of talk was bounced around on whether the FWD can really handle this kind of power without out it being completely torque steer happy and all over the road. I am happy to report that short of racing in the rain, I would put this FWD TT on the line next to any quattro guy out there, this is not me being cocky, it is just me telling you that this differential, in combination with the smooth linear power from the turbo, transformed this car into a clawing beast. Unfortunately last night when I picked up the car, the streets were still wet from the rain we had and I gotta tell you, I was mighty impressed with the setup. With the APR chip and the K03 turbo, I could get the ASR to light in 1-3 gears, usually making me switch it off. Yesterday on my 1st test drive, I ran the car through its paces and started to get more aggressive, I realized that I am rowing though 1st- 3rd and not only am I not spinning the wheels, the ASR is not interfering...WOW, is this differential amazing. I am completely 100% sold on getting a differential, and if I ever own another FWD car, I would probably do this before I were to do anything else.....it is that good!
OK, so my eyes are crossed and my fingers hurt, so I am done for now...Any questions =D
A few thoughts about the Stg 3. I have a feeling that I am REALLY going to get in trouble with this car because the tendency to want to get *into it* is just too great. God forbid someone even looks at me like they want to race, I may just have to lay a smack down. The power delivery is SO COMPLETELY linear, there is no *rush* of sudden power that throws you back in the seat, it just pulls through all of the gears like nobody's business. I know this is not quantifiable info but trust me when I tell you, this car is now deceivingly fast and there are going to be some unhappy drivers in alot more *exotic* cars that will be scratching their heads wondering what happened. Marcus has said this and I have to agree 100%, the car now feels like it looks, there is no doubt in my mind that Audi should have done this in the 1st place....my TT is now complete in regards to power (at least until next week) =oP The power comes on at a very nice 3Kish RPM and pulls all the way to the redline, although I think I have been shifting a tad to early since the RPM's get there so quick and until I am real comfortable with it, I dont want to bounce it off the rev limiter.
The exhaust....
Last night I posted some video/audio of my new exhaust in which I decided within 30 sec of hearing it that I did not like it...<b>AT ALL!</b> For those that had seen my other exhaust, you know that it was 100% a straight thru muffler, pretty much the same as a straight pipe. I know the factory setup had a resonater but I had NO IDEA how effeective that little bugger was. I now know that is a big part of the system being quieted down and as soon as Dave gets back from vacation, I will be going back and have a muffler/resonater of some sort put on the car. I am actually embarassed by the way it sounds, it is just 100% obnoxious.
The tranny bits......
Now, every car I have every owned has been a FWDer in various degrees of power. My Cabrio being the most powerful of the lot (250 whp) I have only had the opportunity to change a clutch in one of my cars, my 89 Cabriolet went to 180K miles on the original clutch and it had no signs of slipping, I just did an engine transplant and it was only logical to change out the clutch since the motor was out of the car. The VR6 Cabrio had the stock VR6 clutch and no other work done to the tranny. This brings me to the TT. Like I said, I have never played around with tranny stuff so I really did not know what to expect from all of the changes. I ended up with the following as part of the upgrade.
Clutchnet clutch
VR6 240mm pressure plate
Autotech lightened flywheel
Quaife differential
Keep in mind that the clutch is not broken in yet (supposed to be 1k miles)
The clutch does not feel any different from stock in terms of pedal feel, it is as easy as the stock to push in etc. There is something with this setup that I need to get used to....I know that smooth launches are possible because I have had them since the car has been back, but I cant seem to get it everytime. Sometimes I feel like there is an on/off switch on the clutch and it is difficult to *feather*. I have really not decided as to whether this is the newness of the clutch and it not broken in yet, or is it because of the lightened flywheel? Is it me just needing to get used to the new driving style? Not sure but I need to give it some time to figure these things out. I will say that the clutch, once engaged is a monster and holds every bit of power....SWEEEET!
Now, this may sound funny, but I am almost as impressed with my next mod as I am with the Stg 3 and most of you with the quattro wont be interested so FWDers read on. Alot of talk was bounced around on whether the FWD can really handle this kind of power without out it being completely torque steer happy and all over the road. I am happy to report that short of racing in the rain, I would put this FWD TT on the line next to any quattro guy out there, this is not me being cocky, it is just me telling you that this differential, in combination with the smooth linear power from the turbo, transformed this car into a clawing beast. Unfortunately last night when I picked up the car, the streets were still wet from the rain we had and I gotta tell you, I was mighty impressed with the setup. With the APR chip and the K03 turbo, I could get the ASR to light in 1-3 gears, usually making me switch it off. Yesterday on my 1st test drive, I ran the car through its paces and started to get more aggressive, I realized that I am rowing though 1st- 3rd and not only am I not spinning the wheels, the ASR is not interfering...WOW, is this differential amazing. I am completely 100% sold on getting a differential, and if I ever own another FWD car, I would probably do this before I were to do anything else.....it is that good!
OK, so my eyes are crossed and my fingers hurt, so I am done for now...Any questions =D
