Subject vehicle is 2006 A4 B7, 2.0T FSI, Quattro, 6MT, 101K miles, bone stock. Timing belt and water pump replaced recently. New OEM diverter valve (piston type) just installed.

I'm not looking for massive power gains, I'd like to keep my A4 relatively sleeper and comfortable, and I don't want to ruin the drivability, I'm just looking for relatively inexpensive mods that make proven power.

I've done some searches and I found various threads that often have contradictory info about the effectiveness of the various mods. I didn't find any kind of definitive or community consensus upgrade path, but it seems stage-1 chips are most often recommended, and APR seems to be pretty common for stage-1 chips.

Is there any value to eliminating the cat with a test pipe on this platform? I see some people doing a TP or a HFC, but I didn't come across any dynos to determine how effective they are. Does a Stage-1 APR chip with a TP make any more power than the OEM exhaust setup?

Are there other power mods worth considering, investing in?

 

Hmmm! No suggestions.

I'm likely going to start with a 3" test pipe. JHM seems to make a decent one - if you have one can you share your thoughts on performance, sound, fitment?

Continuing with exhaust, it appears JHM has 3" to two 2.5" Y pipe. From there I guess an S4 cat-back dual would make a nice setup.

With the above exhaust it seems a stage-2 ECU/Chip would be a decent combination without upgrading fuel or turbo. Any feedback or thoughts on this kind of setup would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

Opening up your exhaust will prolly give you the biggest bang for your buck. I think you can reprogram what you have with a rosstech vagcom connection prolly run you $500 but the line will quickly pay for itself in trouble shooting any wv, audi porsche you will ever own. I use mine all the time on my audi and my sons too!! It reads and resets all trouble and warning codes and goes in every area of your cars computer and allows you to play with your settings.

 

Bang for your buck would be chip, then exhaust. Chip runs about $600 where an exhaust system (Cat back) is going to be $1000 plus another $200 if you want the down pipe. With the chip they say you gain about 50 hp. I would guess an exhaust alone gives maybe 10 to 12 hp. Combined you would get a greater gain.

From what I have read it seems most go chip first as you do not have to change anything else. I want to put exhaust on my car. More for a better sound than increased performance.

 

I chipped my A6 (and upgraded the DVs and TBB) and it made a huge difference in performance. I never did anything with the exhaust until I had to replace the cats at 180k, and then I went with the front cat delete to let the turbos breath easier. But at that point I rarely run it hard anymore so it probably does not matter. On the other hand, I have 235k on oem turbos. So, I'd go with a chip first and then, if you have money to burn, an exhaust. But biggest bang for the buck payback is the chip.

 

Combined chip and exhaust, call it $1800. Say 3" into 2.5" to dual mufflers. What should one expect in terms of output with say a JHM stage 2 tune?

 

I don't know anything about the JHM Stage 2 tune so I have no clue regarding performance gains.