Mr. wReckless A5

Well, dooms day was approaching, and I carefully reversed my car into a strangers garage.

Milltek lovers close your eyes, the slaughter is about to begin. The cutting and fitting process wasn't as tedious as I thought, though with a limit amount of proper tools the angle grinder was used with so so cuts. No bother as the welder was really good at Tig-filling the blanks.

Fitting the whole malarky after was a fairly easy process, no thanks to my primitive jig, though the Varex muffler in itself is quite heavy so it displaces the weight of the Milltek a bit, the exhaust hanger close by had to be heated and bent. Despite this, there is a tiny rattle on idle. I left the valve open, can't say I noticed much of a change in tone or volume, which should be expected. You can all see the internal 3" tubes perforations to allow gasses to travel through a different path once the valve closes.

Tomorrow I'm off to a proper garage and hopefully they can fine adjust the exhaust while the car is up on the lift, as well as hook up the control/signal cable and fit the last power flex subframe inserts.

Enjoy some pics "hot off the press" style.

To really exhaust (lame pun) the exhaust info, the final assembly/fitting is finally complete. Quite eager and full of anticipation, there was some more exhaust hanger bending before it finally all came good and my car was rattle free, the electronics for both the KW DDC, Wlan and Varex can be seen in one photo. The Varex controller doesn't like power full time so it's hooked up to an ignition feed and the cable fed through the wheel well floor.

The grand finale, how does it sound? Well, from Milltek to Varex in open position there was a slight change in tone, not much but a Spinal Tap 11 to about 9. I thought it was too loud before so I'm ok with that. With the Varex closed there was a significant change in volume so that is a win. However I could also feel a substantial change in performance. Suppose the back pressure does change quite a bit. I can't say I'm surprised about this but wasn't expecting the difference to be this stark, though this is mostly only valid from 2000 rpm and up where the turbo really kicks in. On idle standing next to the exhaust there is of course also a noticeable difference in volume and tone. That being said, for me, this upgrade seems perfectly usable but for those looking to just quieten down their exhaust but retain performance I'd look at a different solution.

I've installed an EGT sensor, and whilst the EGT was of course higher with some revs whilst the Varex was closed it wasn't going crazy, so I'm fairly happy that with modest and sensible use it's a safe fit. The main purpose was to get a more "MOT friendly" car with regards to volume and it's 10/10 on that point. I'll probably not really drive with the valve closed much except for in and out of the garage in any case.

Whilst I was under there, I took some miscellaneous pictures of various bushings and bush inserts. This time mostly of the differential bushings. The final 2 Powerflex bush inserts for the rear subframe were also mounted though no pics of this.

EGT bung and sensor also welded in and fitted to the downpipe. I also snapped a shot of the KW HLS pump fitted next to the battery. Final picture was just a quick and dirty snap of the old bushings still left on my mechanics trolley from a couple of months ago.

Apologies for the small pics but it is all A5oc allow in combination with me resizing them down from my phone.

Rather than editing previous posts I'll sneak in some more upgrades and photos here.

The KW control panel for the DDC dampers and HLS lift. A nice carbon fiber backing plate, though it was only supplied with 1 hole so a 2nd was drilled for the HLS button. My only gripe with the DDC button are the colours, it goes blue-purple-red but the blue and purple are really close so it can be difficult to discern the difference.

The P3 gauge is fairly well known, it is very nicely integrated to the air vent and the LEDS look very OEM. Diesel isn't supported the best but I've got a tap for boost pressure from the intake manifold. The P3 also has 2 aux inputs that can read 0-5 volt analogue signals, which leads me nicely to my next point.

For reading exhaust temperature, I wanted a suitable probe as well as a control "panel" that has that 0-5 volt analogue output to be able to communicate with the P3. US company The Sensor Connection provided that. The probe's bung was welded onto the downpipe and the control box was mounted in the glove compartment.

Finally the remote for the exhaust valve I used velcro with tape and stuck it in the small slot underneath the elbow rest.

Regards

Just a quick tease, only waited bloody 5 1/2 months for these and they've only just arrived on the right continent.. So much for Japanese efficiency :surprise:

One more update, tyre fitter is booked for tomorrow but finally, FINALLY, the wheels arrived. They look pretty dope to be honest, nice concavity, especially on the wider rear wheel. The colour seem to match the mirror and front lip pretty well too and can't wait to see these on the car tomorrow!

Will be interesting to see how the car handles with lightweight forged wheels.

Regards

A quick and (quite literal) dirty phone photo from todays swap. I can pretty much say that the wheels are f***king dope as f**k on the car. Need to tuck the rears in a tad with some camber adjustment but a quick spin revealed no rubbing at all. Feel happy about the colour too as I think it matches the front lip and mirror houses fairly well, though I admit to being surprised to find the fronts of these wheels diamond cut. It doesn't stand out and I am fat and happy.

Tomorrow is wheel alignment day and after that I feel I am running out of things to do to this car. Which is why I have bought myself a new project.

Regards

I was given this as a gift, anyone has any experience with the model?

How do people like these apples? Finally had the final alignment, car drives like the dogs bollocks, 10.5" ET 23 at the rear gets within with a bit of camber and no rub, 10" ET25 at the front with the same treatment and result. Definitely a "tuner" fitment as Volk claim themselves but it does look good IMO!

Please enjoy some HQ photos a semi-pro colleague took today:

Some more: