[A4] Do you want to

[Phil Yee]

I always wanted my A4 chip on a socket, mainly for purposes of troubleshooting when a problem came up.  I recently ordered a handful of parts for this modification.  Here's how it went.  On the ECU, I de-soldered the performance chip (I understand some earlier A4's come with sockets already).  I soldered header sockets (a strip of female plugs with surface mount feet) onto the ECU board.  Then I changed the legs on the performance chip, so that the chip would have "fresh" legs (never solder).  My chip was a small pcb with a few components on there that already used header pins to attach to the ECU.  The performance chip was now ready to install into the header socket.  With the stock chip, I used some more "fresh" legs, and assembled them thru bare pcb (Vector board, .050 spacing), and voila stock chip on a pcb that fits into the socket.  Now I can switch back and forth easy as pie.  I just thought some others might be interested in this modification.  Sweet freedom for less 
than $15.

Disclaimer: Proceed at your own risk.  If you do not know how to solder SMT (surface mount technology) then I would not recommend that you try this.  I did this to my 2001 car, and if your 2005 $40k car dies, you're on your own.  If you ruin your $500 chip, or your $900 ECU, then you're on your own too.  If you don't solder properly, you're on your own.  You assume all responsibility.  Good luck.

Parts from DigiKey
V1140-ND - PC Board .05 Space FR4 4.0x6.5
ED1150-ND - Conn Socket .207 50pos .050 SMT
ED8250-ND - Conn Strip Header 50pos .050

-Phil

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