Money burning a hole in my pocket!

[marc1]

Hi MikeFish,

Thanks for the reply what benefit does the stage 2 manifold provide?

Mwoar powaaaa!

From their website:

STAGE 2 MANIFOLD

Flaps removed from manifold, ported runners, ported trumpets, Flap shaft is locked and more porting with step removed in runners. Not inc fitting and on exchange

* This cannot run on a stock map and has to be remapped to stage2

my 2p... a stage 2 manifold has never been shown individually to add any power, the amount of power gained i recon would be less than 5bhp so would never show on a dyno. i think if you want to extract as much power as you can then go for it (i did stage 2 manifold and dont regret it) just dont expect too much, its more a case of every little helps.

Just to play devils advocate, IMO the stage 2 isn't worth the lack of drivability you get on part throttle.

Health check, carbon clean (ask them not to remove the tumble flaps despite their advice), CAF into a standard airbox with highflow filter and stick with that. Remap it if you must. Should be able to get all that for £2k.

another 2p.....i cant say my car was any worse on part throttle after the stage2 manifold was done, i have drove 50,000 miles on a stage2 manifold and loved every mile. sure it was a bit lumpy from cold but once warm it was sweet.

Can you tell me more about the lumpiness / driveability in day to day mundane duties? I.e. Not 'on it' enjoying the car, as intended?

[RossDagley]

Can you tell me more about the lumpiness / driveability in day to day mundane duties? I.e. Not 'on it' enjoying the car, as intended?

Snatchy throttle, jerkiness pulling away from roundabouts/lights, (10x worse when cold). Not a stutter as such, more a loss of granularity of feel. Throttle becomes more 'lightswitch' than variable. Maybe I'm being over critical - but even the wife noticed it when driving that it was more erratic when just using part/small throttle. She found it harder to drive.

Both my c6 (remapped) and b8 (stock) didn't/dont suffer from this (and nor did my b7 before the remap) so I can only put it down to the map. I even took it back to MRC after the first map and had Doug dial down the throttle aggressiveness as when I first got it I found it horrible. After he did, it went from horrible to 'livable'. But was anything but OEM feeling.

[MikeFish]

Can you tell me more about the lumpiness / driveability in day to day mundane duties? I.e. Not 'on it' enjoying the car, as intended?

Snatchy throttle, jerkiness pulling away from roundabouts/lights, (10x worse when cold). Not a stutter as such, more a loss of granularity of feel. Throttle becomes more 'lightswitch' than variable. Maybe I'm being over critical - but even the wife noticed it when driving that it was more erratic when just using part/small throttle. She found it harder to drive.

Both my c6 (remapped) and b8 (stock) didn't/dont suffer from this (and nor did my b7 before the remap) so I can only put it down to the map. I even took it back to MRC after the first map and had Doug dial down the throttle aggressiveness as when I first got it I found it horrible. After he did, it went from horrible to 'livable'. But was anything but OEM feeling.

Was that in just sport mode or both?

[marc1]

Cheers Ross. Do you think the manifold work you had done had anything to do with it, hence your recommendations to avoid?

[MikeFish]

Cheers Ross. Do you think the manifold work you had done had anything to do with it, hence your recommendations to avoid?

I was thinking the same, hence why i asked if it was in both modes. If it started when he had the remap done and was only in sport mode I think it might be the remap rather than the manifold causing the jerkiness.

[RossDagley]

It was in both, but sport mode was much worse. This was the initial map (state 2) that MRC did. When I complained to Ben/Doug about it they dialled it back a notch, but like I say it was never OEM.

I'm not saying "don't do it" I'm saying "I'm fussy and like a smooth throttle response and good idle/cold start behaviour". I can't be exact as to what part of the work they did gave the 'issue' - I think it's likely the tumble flap removal though as that makes sense - but all I'm saying is for the gains overall, I'm not sure it's worth it unless you use the car flat-out more than you use it for cruising about / pottering around town.

I hop ethat's clear. I'm not knocking the map or manifold work - just saying there's an offset of drivability vs power.

[marc1]

Good honest review there Ross. I'm sure most appreciate the rounded view over mixed driving styles. Often I think we base our opinions on how things feel when giving it the beans. In reality those occasions become rarer these days.

Just imagine everyone's response if you'd said you'd been to AMD, people would tell you that's what you should expect, haha.

I wonder if the low speed driveability is anything to do with the torque no longer being limited in 1stto 3rd gearing hence why Audi limited originally. Just a theory...

[MikeFish]

Ross, if it happened in both modes then yes the tumble flaps are the most likely culprit.

And Marc, I'm pretty sure there is a very good explantion on here (possibly by Petrol Dave) explaining the effects of what will happen if you remove tumble flaps and I'm prety sure it is exactly what Ross has described.

[MikeFish]

2 of the discussions I was thinking about are here:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=111608

and:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=113909&p=722549

Not as clear cut an explanation as I thought though (maybe it was in a different thread).

However, the power gains are from the modified manifold not from the removal of the tumble flaps so could you not fit a stage 2 manifold and leave the tumble flaps in if concerned more about drivability than reliabilty?

[marc1]

Good man

[RS4JAMO]

Thanks for the insight everyone. I have booked it in at MRC for a health check and the review from there with Doug.

[marc1]

Let us know how you get on and what route you choose to take.

[Lukes3]

Thanks for the insight everyone. I have booked it in at MRC for a health check and the review from there with Doug.

This week was the First Time i have been to mrc, with in 15 mins doug was out chatting to us, asking about the car an helping out,
You wont be disappointed
Let us know how u get on

[PetrolDave]

And Marc, I'm pretty sure there is a very good explantion on here (possibly by Petrol Dave) explaining the effects of what will happen if you remove tumble flaps and I'm prety sure it is exactly what Ross has described.

The job of the tumble flaps is to direct the air going into the cylinders at part throttle openings through only 1 inlet valve, as that's offset from the centre of the cylinder that will generate more swirl and hence richer "spots" within the lean mixture. Those will act as starting points for the burn when the spark plug "fires" and hence make for a more thorough and more even burn of a mixture that really should be too weak to burn properly.

So without the tumble flaps you've got a more homogeneous mixture that's really too weak and hence burns slowly and incompletely - which will cause poorer drivability on part throttle.

The effect should be more noticeable with engine SW 0090 which implements a more "lean burn" strategy, why is why mpg is approx 10% better with 0090 than 0080.

[marc1]

Dave, anyway to find out which version ( 0090 or 0080) the car is running other than taking it to the dealer?