Exhausting question

[Brett Dikeman]

At 12:25 PM +0000 8/16/02, Ben Gibby wrote:
>Just sitting here contemplating what I can do to the Car. One thing I can do
>is change the exhaust. I need to find out if the turbo needs a minimum back
>pressure to work properly and if the system is split down stream of the
>turbo for engineering reasons or for packageing reasons. My thought is that
>the turbo needs free flowing air and back pressure is bad.


The system on our cars is very well designed; people have mentioned
backpressure on the order of a few pounds at most(and I mean the low
end of "few"), which is probably perfect, knowing those silly Germans.

As Chris pointed out to me, the exact same system is used on the V8
quattro, which is a 240-250hp car, a car where a restrictive exhaust
system would really hurt performance.  Chris said he's heard the
system is fine for over 300-350hp.

Now by golly the system sounds awesome on the V8, much moreso than
the 200q20v(though the 200 does sound pretty nice too.)...I'd say
that it would be a far more enjoyable use of money to buy a chip.

Here's my humble opinion: test exhaust backpressure, see if its
reasonable, maybe pull the cats and have a look to make sure they're
not clogged up if you're feeling bored :-)...and as long as the
system's working OK, buy a chip :-)

Paul Levano changed to a Stebro and, far as I know, the only change
has been the 20-30lb in weight reduction(roughly) because apparently
the Stebro was lighter.  I believe he did the Stebro because the OEM
system needed replacement anyway.  I know Peter Schulz put a Stromung
on one of his wagons for the same reason(and he could get the
Stromung cheaper than he could an OEM exhaust.)

Some other suggestions:
-bank the money for possible future...uh...surprises :-)
-2nd set of rims+snows for upcoming winter(if you live in a place
that gets snow of course)
-up to date on all your maintenance?  Air/fuel filters?  Coolant
change?(I just finished doing mine late this evening, holy cow was
the system crapped up)  Brake/clutch bled?  Etc?

Please tell me you're not completely 100% current and functional.  A
few of us might have to come and visit and fix that :-)

B
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