ok i get that the 2.8 is a piece of crap but why? im looking around and i see that a few guys are super-charging them with some decent results. most everyone on here just chops them up to being crap because of the 1.8. im new to german cars but im not dumb either. i grew up in the machine shops of michigan and was a jet engine mechanic for the past couple years. why cant a 2.8 handle supercharging? i get the fact that you would need a stand alone engine management system because otherwise your running the knock sensors to hell and back limits wise. i hear most people say that the internals cants handle the pressure. hahaha so dumb question here but i have 2 of these motors what internals are we talking about the crank and pistons? where can i get better? if i have to machine them myself i will. i have extreme problems accepting that an engine with a full liter more displacement cant be made to take some punnishment. stock they seem like the more reliable motor anyway.

but thats just me being a dumb michigander. bottom line why cant this engine take it? i know im going to get burned for saying this but i have to figure this stuff out. where i come from ricers rule and a 4 cylinder hatch can beat you most days that still doesnt stop you from building the most bad *** v6 there is and coming back to win.

many people said that i needed a bunch of expensive tools and like a weeks time to do my timing belt. i dont get why people here think this 2.8 is so hard to work with. it took me an afternoon and a 99 cent white out marker. the tools would have cost me almost a hundred dollars. what happened to working with what youve got? its how german cars got to be where they are in standing in the first place.

 

people aren't really saying that it can't be done...... they are saying that not too many aftermarket companies make them........... there is the pes system, but iirc it is for the 30v not the 12v....... some of the guys have thrown juice on them


if you have tools build it and they will come.... but problem is, you will have a one off type set-up... and will have no one to tune it.........

gl w/ the build

 

It's not that the 2.8 (30v though...12v can only be slow) can't be made into a quick car, it's that it costs a lot more to get there. The supercharger is absolutely an option and makes for an awesome car...but it's a $5000 set-up if you buy new (and if you have a tip, that'll need upgrading, too).

 

Yep - the 2.8 can take it no problem, but due to the high buy-in price, most don't go that route. At least with the 1.8T, you can step your way up to a fast car by doing a mod here, a mod there, and before too long, the car will haul. With the 2.8, the mods are kind of all or nothing - you do the supercharger and then you're fast. But you have to do the whole supercharger kit at once, so you have to lay out the large pile of cash all at once instead of being able to break it up into smaller bites and laying out less money at a time.

I'm not sure who is saying that the 2.8 can't handle the blower - it can. Where failures seem to come in is when guys are using the overdrive pulley for it (the 2.9" pulley that jacks up the boost) - that seems to go beyond what the car can take on factory internals. But the common wisdom I've read over the last year and a half says that a 2.8 with the blower (using its standard pulley) will take a stock S4 in a drag race, granting the launches and shifting are equal between drivers. I imagine someone will chime in, saying "yeah but put a chip in the S4 and you'll waste the blown A4". No sh*t. Not the point of the discussion.

You can successfully and reliably supercharge the 2.8, but you have to respect the boundaries set by the strength of its internals. Go beyond that, and it's going to be the same result in any car (boom!).