So most reviews I've seen of the Eurocode's HFIP and inlet hose are usually from members that have already installed other performance mods. Those reviews tend to speculate that there are "probably" some performance benefits due to reduced turbulence in the induction/cooling systems, but nobody has been willing to dyno a before and after... And for good reason, these mods don't substantially change the performance characteristics of the engine. That being said, I've slowly been acquiring bolt ons, and figured I'd throw in my two cents to give a different perspective on the two aforementioned parts, since they were the first ones to my door.
Inlet Hose: First off, IF there was any sound increase, it was only minimal, and hardly noticeable. Anybody thinking about this mod simply for an enhanced/more aggressive turbo or air intake sound, don't even consider it... That being said, the hose itself is made well. Nothing dramatically outstanding, but it looks like it can do what it's meant to do. Honestly, looking at the OEM vs Eurocode's, I still think the OEM build quality is better. It actually made me second guess the purchase, but what the hell, it was on sale for $49, so in the name of "breathability", I figured there are no real drawbacks since the interior of the hose is smooth, where as there are 2 or 3 large ridges on the interior of the OEM hose. But this made me think about WHY Audi actually put them there in the first place. They could have simply used a one piece, smooth tube, but opted to install the one they did for a reason... From what I can see, there is a good deal of travel on the air intake box, and during normal operating temperatures and driving conditions, the ridges in the tube provide a bit of additional flexibility to make sure the inlet hose doesn't slip off if the intake box is jarred around. Keep in mind, this is only my assumption, so if anybody has any other ideas, please be my guest... But I digress, after a bit of wrangling with the stock hose, I pulled it out, installed the new one, clamped both ends and started the car. I felt nothing different on ignition. Let the car warm up and took it for a spin. Did I feel anything? MAYBE there was some additional smoothness when shifting between gears, but nothing at all dramatic. I would say overall, if I didn't know it was there, I wouldn't notice it AT ALL. So like others here have mentioned before, this would not be a candidate for a "first mod".
HIgh Flow Intercooler Pipe: My initial thoughts on this piece after unboxing it, it's made well, and VERY light. Keep in mind that you won't be gaining any tremendous weight savings, but the pipe is light nonetheless. I found the Eurocode install sheet which was actually a write up by another audiziner, reviewed it and did a cursory review of all the spaces I would need to get into. After jacking up the car on the widow maker, I pulled the wheel off, un-torxed/unclipped the fender liner and rolled it back. I figured this would be a relatively quick and trouble free install, so I didn't bother getting out the jack stands (though I should've... Especially since I almost had my foot taken off when one of those bastards broke on me while I was working on the brakes on my Forester about a decade ago). At any rate, I took note of the angles for the three 10mm nuts/washers, and didn't have any way to get to that tricky lone nut closer to the front end. I did, however, notice that the sound box can simply be pushed out of the clips, toward the front of the car, and out of the way. This gave me enough clearance to loosen all the bolts and subsequently get the pipe out. Everything else on the install sheet is pretty much dead on, so I'll spare you the play by play... So after getting the pipe installed, and everything back together, I started the car and let it warm up. After getting up to temp, I hit the throttle to listen for the whoosh... It was a BIT more noticeable, but nothing dramatic. So I took her for a drive to see if there was any noticeable performance benefit. At the time, it was rush hour in the city, so it was perfect driving conditions to find out if the car was spooling quicker and getting up to speed in each gear. I paid close attention to my typical shift points as this mod wasn't necessarily meant to improve my WOT runs... Long story short, yes, it certainly improves turbo spooling due to 1) elimination of sound box (which was smaller than I thought it'd be) and, 2) elimination of hoses leading to sound box. Was this dramatic enough to warrant the cost, even for $100??? Debatable... I'll need more miles on it before I can say one way or the other, but I'm not unhappy with it. In fact, in comparison, it's surprising that Audi would have even considered the addition of the sound box in lieu of a straight through pipe for the minor trade off. The additional hoses, clamps, sound box only increases production cost and decrease turbo response... If anyone can think of a benefit of delaying the spool time, I'd like to hear it. Overall, with this mod, I was pleased, and would say that this could be added at anytime to address the slower turbo spool.
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Originally Posted by B8Phil
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