I learned my lesson from last time and soaked all the exhaust bolts with PB Blaster for 72 hours first. More than half way done and going to finish tomorrow. Here are some teaser pics
I have always been of the philosophy that mods should complement a car and not try to adversely change the nature of it. To date all of my mods have been chosen carefully to reflect such a decision. Since this is a car driven and enjoyed by my wife as well, any degradation in drivability would be met with extreme prejudice and spousal anguish. I have chosen AWE as a tuner because I like their approach to tuning. Their goal is a complete balanced project while retaining stock or better than stock drivability. Onto to the review:
I:Components:
The 700 kit consists of the larger VTG turbos, larger intercooler cores, larger throttle body, larger intake plenum, headers, exhaust, and ECU programming. The craftsmanship of the components is top notch. Everything is at the level of factory finish or better. Fitment is perfect with no monkeying around. A friend of mine who is a master Porsche tech helped put in the plenum while I worked on the intercoolers and he made the unsolicited comment that the fitment of the pieces was remarkable. He is used to much "looser" tolerances in tuning products.
II:Installation:
If you can install your own exhaust you can do this whole kit. I actually installed and reinstalled the kit twice and total install time I would place at about 10 hours for 1 person. No specialty tools are required beyond some male and female torx sockets and some PB Blaster. All bolts and nuts are accessible by normal sized human hands. I would rate the procedure at about a 6/10 in the scale of difficulty. 1/10 as checking your tire pressure manually, and 10/10 being an engine rebuild.
Basic procedure involves
1)jack up car with supports
2)remove rear wheels
3)remove rear fender liners
4)remove tail lights and license plate
5)remove rear bumper
6)unbolt intercoolers with brackets as a unit
7)move heat shields out of the way to expose turbos
8)remove turbo hardlines and ducts
9)unbolt nuts from turbo to exhaust and header
10)remove headers
11)loosen exhaust
12)remove turbos - remove diverter valves and oil reservoir and swap onto new turbos
13)remove air box and filter
14)remove y-pipe and disconnect IAT sensor
15)remove throttle body
16)remove plenum
17)reinstallation in reverse of above
III:Impressions:
I have been a little bit hesistant to post my impressions because it is simply going to sound like an AWE sackride. However I will parlay the experience to date as openly as I can. Idle, throttle response is all indistinguishable from my stage II which was better than stock. There is no hesitation whatsoever, and no noticeable lag increase. Engine noise is unchanged as is the exhaust note. Throttle tip-in is all the same, so no new clutch techniques are needed. The only thing necessary is increased vigilance when mashing the throttle. My car was fast, especially with the race program with the stage II. I never felt any lack of power. This new package increases that intensity by 100% it seems. I am realizing that I have to look far ahead in traffic because your reaction time is going to be tested with this kind of power. I don't think that this car can be appreciated on the street at all. The boost builds so quickly that it shocks you. Full boost comes on by 2500 rpms or less it seems, but it is hard to say for sure because you don't have time to glance down at the gauge. I will get some GPS timing done soon but it does appear to be producing an appreciable jump in power from before. BTW this is all on the pump gas - I have not even tried the race mode yet!
IV: Detailed installation pics
Previous exhaust installation instructions can be seen here:
AWE exhaust installed - ******** Discussion Forums
Turbo access is easy once the intercooler is off
Turbo hardlines and ducts removal. Use female and male torx sockets to loosen 5 hardlines from the turbo. I used a small chisel or screwdriver to help lift the flanges of these lines off the turbo. There is enough flex in the lines to push them off the body. The compressor ducts unscrew from the rear (inlet) tube and unclip from the side (outlet) tube. Careful not to hurt any of the O-rings on any of the lines. AWE very thoughtfully provided all new Viton O rings but I reused the old ones. Also remove the EGT probe with a 14mm wrench
Stock header being removed. Remove this first to allow easier turbo removal. Install new header after new turbo installation. Use liberal amounts of PB blaster for 2-3 days prior to attempt. Also, Passenger side headers is very close to the oil tank - end bolt can be accessible with a 1/4" drive 13mm socket since the 3/8" drive sockets are too wide to clear.
Header removed. Exhaust ports are exposed, as is the turbine inlet of the turbo. I used carb cleaner to remove some of the carbon to ensure a clean mating surface for the new headers. The new AWE headers are perfectly matched in size to the exhaust ports ensuring uninhibited flow.
New header installed. Beautiful contours. The primaries and collector are matched in size to the head and turbo to ensure optimal flow. Good access in maintained to all mounting bolts. Do not tighten the header in place until the turbo is fitted to the lines and exhaust - you need some play here to get the turbo flanges to fit over the studs, then tighten everything down
Diverters are removed from the stock turbo. Just unfasten 3 10mm bolts. Reassemble to new turbo with a dab of blue or green loctite
Swap out the oil reservoir. Held in place with 2 torx bolts. Replace O ring with new one thoughtfully provided in kit
Intercooler fitment - old intercooler cores are smaller than the new ones. The stock cores are recessed inside the frame of the intercooler, whereas the new ones are flush. The ducts need to be trimmed with a utility knife to allow the ducts to fit flush and clamp properly. The plastic is thin so trimming is a breeze - maybe 10 minutes
Throttle body removed and stock plenum coming out
New plenum going into place
New plenum installed. Best way is to push the rubber hoses inward onto the plenum, fit it in place, the push the hoses out to place. Rotate the plenum with the throttle body flange downward to allow easier access to the vacuum hose fittings
New throttle body is significantly larger than stock
Plenum and throttle body installed. Looks completely stock
