Hey guys,

I keep hearing about [non-Audi] tuners removing their A/C unit to gain horsepower. this is neither new or unheard of.

But I've never heard of an Audi tuner removing the A/C compressor unit to gain HP.

Is it possible? Has anyone done it? What could be the possible side effects when it comes to reliability?

[I'm planning to get a B7 A4 this summa... and convert my B5 strictrly to a race track machine....so it won't be my daily driver.]

Any suggestions would be nice.

 

i am also interested in this i dont mind driving with the windows open to bad if there is a noticable pwer gain

 

It doesn't give much more hp. Something like 5-10hp at most and I'm being generous. Not really worth it if it's you daily driver. Plus, on the highway, you get better gas mileage with the a/c on full blast then driving with the windows down. Not worth it unless you're building a track car.

 

I wouldn't recommend doing that. Like brzlnut said the gas mileage is better and considering that you will be driving it daily that will help the car last longer. Personally, I wouldn't want to sacrifice comfort for speed.

 

I have heard guys doing that but the gains are minimal up to a max of 20HP and that is a max varying on what kind of setup you run and how well your car is tuned. I have heard guys getting around the 500HP mark on the B5 A4's but the investment into those kind of cars is far beyond my ideals i guess you can say. You can almost purchase the R8 for how much these guys have invested. but they have money to burn. Your best turn around for HP is a BT, chip, intake, intercooler and a new DV obviously, as well as exhaust with possibly a reputable tune might get you around the 300+ HP mark. That is with supporting mods to handle that power, and new shocks, sway bars etc. I am not gonna list everything but a good fat $10 000 minimum if you do the work yourself. With that said JUST BUY AN S4

 

Well...that's what I thought.....

It's okay to get the base model A4 quattro and add a

chip, bigger turbo, intake, injectors, brakes, Stage # clutch, Dv, Exhaust, suspension, short shifter, etc .....and if the cosmetics are changed, it gets more and more expensive.

by the time it's all said and done, I bet you that same money that bought all the mods and that's excluding labour to do the mods (if you don't do them yourself) will probably be enough for an S4...which already has all the goodies, factory installed and reliable, WITH warranty.

What's more...a highly tuned A4 may use as much gas, perhaps more than the 4.2 V8 or the 2.7twinT engines.

HOWEVER.............

There is no fun in getting an already tuned Audi. [from my perspective]
The real gearheads (and I am one) like to work on their own cars as a hobby.
This is the real fun part....installing a mod and then rewarding yourself with a nice drive to test it out. one can see exactly how much the car is improved with each mod.
That's the fun for me.
Not only that...but I can choose what mods go in the car to suit my personal preference. I can make my car as fast as I want.
That's the beauty of the aftermarket industry..... no 2 modded cars are alike.
If everybody had an S4 then it wouldn't be as much fun .....would it?

 

I shopped for an S4 and test drove 7 of them. All B5s as I can't afford a new one. The problem with buying a used S4 is that they've all, or at least for the most part been driven like a race car.

Going bigger turbo with custom programming shouldn't cost more than $5000 and I'm including labor and all the extra bits and parts that always come with modding a car. So compare the two, 01 S4 go for approx $20 000 and I bought my 01 A4 1.8T for $11 000+$5 000=$16 000. Still $4K to play with and get more goodies!!!Plus doing mods is exciting. This is for the GT28RS 300HP at the wheels upgrade. You can always upgrade to a K-04 for much less. It won't give you 300Hp at the wheels but it will go a lot faster then a K-03s.