With some unseasonably warm weather today I took the S4 out to log some boost onset data with the Turbo Concepts Stage 1 turbochargers.

I did some extensive driving around beforehand and then stopped to  ship out a car part before I returned to take the reading shown above.  What is noteworthy about the chart is the intake air temperature, beginning around 100 degF.  It was warm today, but still only 66 degF, hardly like the temperature on a hot summer day.  Boost onset was a bit slow.

I drove for a while allowing the temperatures to stabilize and then took a number of additional readings, shown in the chart below as red.

It is clear that the warmer temperature is adversely affecting the initial boost rise of the Turbo Concepts turbo’s – as warm temperatures have done with all the turbochargers I have measured.

Note that one red dot  way up high, just past 2000 rpm, that’s the high temperature pull.  I’m very interested in seeing how these turbochargers perform in hot weather, but I’ll have to settle for the Turbo Concepts Stage 2H turbochargers for that effort as I plan to swap out the turbo’s in the coming weeks.

Today I also took delivery of the tools that I hoped would break the axle bolt free on my front passenger side.  As mentioned previously, my 1/2″ drive socket extension had snapped trying to get the axle bolt out.

I used the last couple of days while awaiting the arrival of a 3/4″ drive breaker bar and six-point socket to apply Kroil to the stubborn bolt.  Today the reinforcements showed up.  Upon seeing these tools my optimism rose:

My old standard breaker bar looks like a toy next to the new behemoth.

And then, ready to give it a go.

As a keen eyed observer will have noted, that’s not the position the bar would be in if trying to loosen the passenger side axle.  The picture is the victory shot after the Titan made that bolt it’s bitch.  Actually the bolt put up a good fight, but thankfully it broke free without any excitement.

Not long after Fedex stopped by with some B5 S4 goodies.

034Motorsport’s downpipes with…

Flanges for the RS6 turbine housing.

Also tucked in the box were these guys;

A pair of Audi RS6/K04 turbochargers that have been modified to fit on the 2.7T engine.

While I’m excited by the opportunity to begin evaluating RS6 size turbochargers I’m left debating if doing so now makes sense, or if I should complete my assessment of the Turbo Concepts Stage 2H.

The first order of business will be to stick these on the Flowbench and see how they compare with the RS4 turbine housings.

Finally, with all the work that is taking place on the Avant now seems like a good time to swap out the rear differential for the MFactory Helical LSD that I picked up a couple of months ago.

With that goal in mind I’ve pulled out the rear differential.