Gears and headers went on my wife's 2000 A4 today. I told her it should trim 30 seconds off her drive to work. She wasn't amused...

I drove to Dyno-tech Engineering today in Ft. Wayne. Got there at 8am and they started to work replacing my stock diff with 4.10s. I brought along my LG long tubes that arrived earlier in the week and had them installed too.

I am impressed with DTE. I spent the day there waiting for my car. Phil had promised he would get it done today. It took a little bit longer than Phil anticipated but Jeremy, Tim and Phil stayed untill almost 10pm. I had time during the day to observe and talk to all 3 and concluded its a great operation. Phil knows what he's doing and he has a couple of young men working for him that enjoy their work and are dedicated. They do good workand there were some very interesting cars there.

I would definitely do business with them again. As a matter of fact I ordered another set of 4.10s for my 2001 MN6 and plan to go back in 3 weeks.

Now for the bad news.... Phil says I have to be good and can't punch it for 300 miles. Can't wait but even driving it easy on the way home I could tell its going to be a lot more responsive.

With the gears I hit about 2600rpm at 70mph. Driving 70mph there with the stock 3.15s, stock headers and OEM plugs in outside temperatures in the 18-20F range I averaged 26.2mpg. The return trip with the 4.10s, LG longtubes, and NGK TR55 IX plugs in 23-28F temps I averaged 24.2mpg.

A tip for those of you that are getting LG longtubes, if your car is pre 2002 make sure you get a new airtube with the shipment. LG Motorsports forgot to send it with the headers and I didn't know any better at the time and DTE didn't catch the problem until the old system was off and laying on the floor. Phone calls determined the nearest tube that would work from GM was in North Carolina. DTE solved the problem and moved the connection tube on the header so the old air tube would work but it caused $50 extra work. LG Motorsports agreed to reimburse me this extra cost but if you know to look for it you may save everyone some trouble.

:auto:

 

:thumbs: :party: :hurray:

 

Congrats! :cheers: :thumbs:

 

Wow I am struggling with decision of going to 3.42 or 3.73 and you made the leap to 4.10. Did you do a TC? How did it feel going back any suggestions?

 

Good to hear your positive comments about the 4.10's so far.
I'll be installing the same in a couple of weeks. :thumbs:

 

:lolg: Does your wife have a twin?? Cause that's the same response I'd expect from mine. lol

I struggled between 3.73 and 3.90 (I was to worried 4.10 would be to high for daily driving). I decided that 3.73's might be a bit easier on my EMT (I know, run craps :p: ), and I can tell you I am 100% satisfied. Great streetability, and they can chirp the tires banging into 2nd & 3rd at WOT. (Just a quick, loud chirp with Traction Control on or off - shouldn't hurt the 1/4 whenever I get a chance to do it :))

 

I had 3.15s and had heard the step up to 3.42s was insignificant. I sought advice from the forum and most thought 4.10s were too steep for an A4 but perfect for the MN6. I do not plan on major engine modifications as 4.10s with major power adds would be a traction problem. I don't do the track thing and thus was only concerned about how fun the car is to drive. I looked at how much the increased rpm might add in gas mileage and decided that was a price I was willing to pay to maximize my fun. I'm not concerned about losing a few mph on the top end so I didn't even look to see if I would rev limit my top speed. I'll never get the car anywhere close to that unless I have to outrun a bad guy in a Mustang someday. I think the 4.10s will be fun. I may have to learn to drive it because with all that torque magnified it might be pretty easy to break them loose at full power. Talk to Phil at DTE. He's a great guy and deals with a lot of customers' C5s. He told me after he test drove it for 15 or 20 minutes that they had sent out a lot of 4.10s to customers but that was the first time they had actually done the install on an A4 and the first time he got to drive one. His words were "4.10s are the way to go on the A4".

I'm from the school "that if a little is good then a lot must be better" so I knew if I didn't go all the way to 4.10s I would have felt I left something behind.

Good luck in your choice. After I get a couple hundred more miles on it and get to kick it a few times I'll let folks know how they feel.

 

Congrats, you WILL love the new mods. I did the break-in proceedure then kept it at 50 and below for the first 300 miles (yes, very difficult to do).
No drips, no runs out of the rear end. I put Amsoils Gear Lube in about a month ago....the good stuff (IMO).

And the headers with Stingers......Yeah Baby!!!
:party:

 

I wish you lived closer so I could hear your stingers with the LG longtubes. I was thinking about putting the LGs on my '01 that already has stingers. The LGs really opened up the Corsa Tiger Sharks under throttle and if they do the same for the stingers they might go too loud. I love my stingers and wish they were a little louder but I don't want a drone at cruise. I need to find someone with this combo in the Indy area.

I just put 300 miles on the gears and put my foot in it a little. I'll have to learn what I can do. Haven't put it to the floor yet from a start but I suspect it'll just make a lot of smoke and exhaust noise.

 

what is the break in procedure?

 

Congrats!! I have 3.73's & SS-3600 on the floor WAITING. :cry