Not too long ago I found a discussion about the Intake Manifold Tuning system and how the flap actuators seize. Well one of mine was completely frozen and the housing effectively crumbled when I attempted to remove the flange. As others have found, when I spoke to Audi they said I would need to buy a $1,100 manifold. I looked locally and found several 4.2 manifolds, all of which had frozen and/or broken IMT systems. Checked with Shokan who were “very aware” of the IMT system problems.
For $300 Shokan sent me a decent manifold with working IMT “flaps”. The manifold had a bit of “wear” with the paint flaking in areas. So I removed the original paint and liked the bare look, so I covered it in clear which now has a pewter look. I’m on a budget so I didn’t have the intake media blasted, which would have been better, so I painted the areas where I had a difficult time getting the paint removed semi-gloss black, making a “feathered” transition to the natural aluminum.
I purchased the Gruven billet aluminum intake linkage rods, replaced the knock sensor under the intake, and got the specialty intake gaskets from ECS Tuning.
I have attached a few photos of the intake painted, the Gruven rods and the intake with the cover on as it would be installed.
Put it all in last night, looks great, have to do throttle adaptation tonight with VAGCOM.

Finally, I would not have know I had an IMT system problem if not just surfing the net since the car still performed okay, just not to it's full potential. I have not found a 4.2 L specific thread that would let all 4.2 owners know what to look for in their car such as the secondary hose degredation, the IMT system and other issues. Is there one I missed?