[ba] trip to advanced tuning products (ATP MFG)...

[robert weinberg]

hi all,

being atp is less than a mile from my work, i decided
to drop by an have a chat. real nice guys. actually,
i've dealt with them in the past as they dynoed my
taurus SHO.

one guy recently sold his S4 and bought an EVO. real
sweet ride, i'm not much for the boy racer looks
though. he had some interesting insight into the 2.7T
engine.

he said it not so much "if" the K03 turbos will blow
as it is "when" they will give up the ghost. he went
into the back and brought one out. really dinky little
thing! he said his car was stock at 25k, then he did a
bunch of exhaust and intake work, then chipped it.
went like stink, but the turbos blew at 40k. so, only
15k of fun :-(

i asked, in his estimation, if i left the car stock,
can the turbos live a happy life. he said he would not
be overly confident they would make it over 100k. so,
buying an A6 2.7T with nearly 80k on the clock, could
prove to be disheartening, especially when the dealer
wants $10k to replace the turbos. of course, his word
is NOT gospel. he's a real mellow cat. no attitude,
just his opinion.

we then got to talking about upgrades. he said the K04
turbo is definitely better, and should live a far
longer life, but in the grand scheme of things, KKK
turbos are well below the abilities of garret turbos.
why audi/porsche/VW rely on KKK is beyond many. other
than they are german.

he said for the $5,000 for a K04 upgrade kit, might as
blow $8,000 and get the ultimate - the sportec kit
with garret GT25 ballbearing turbos. they have been 
testing at 600 HP at 24 psi. now we're talking!

i was there for over an hour. i didn't want to waste
any more of their time, but everyone seemed jazzed to
talk shop, so i stuck around ;-) he said he dynoed his
stock S4 at 180 wheel HP. he was pretty dissapointed,
considering it's a 30V DOHC V6 with 9 lbs. of boost.
not bragging, but for comparison, my SHO put down 211
front wheel HP on the same dyno. that's a 3.0 DOHC
yamaha V6 with a larger maf, y-pipe and billet
underdrive pullies. of course, we are talking lots
more drivetrain loss with the quattro.

i asked what's up with the 180 wheel HP and 9 lbs of
boost. he said, as we already know, that the K03 is
just plain too small. they hit a wall at 5500 rpm.

so, i don't know, it's starting to sound like maybe i
should just buy a 1997+ BMW 540i 6 speed. either that
or buy an A6 with upgraded turbos OR an A6 with BLOWN
turbos wholesale - then immediately throw on the
sportec kit. i would never run 24 psi, but 15 should
do quite nicely ;-)

what do you guys think?

see ya,
Robby

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