audi#8

I am looking for feedback from anyone who has had their ECU flashed with GIACs new Flash Loader for their A6 2.7T (mine is a 2002) and the GIAC TipTronic chip. Do you feel that these upgrades have been worth the costs? Did you also upgrade diverter valves? Any suggestions as I am about to do these upgrades? Thank you!!

tekguy

I had my car flashed about 2 weeks ago and it's by far the most bang for the buck mod on the 2.7t engine. It virtually lights the car up at high rpms and puts the engine to a more optimal setting for spirited driving. The car is not only noticably faster, it's way faster. Went off the line with a g35 4 door from 0 - 80 mph on an empty strip of road outside of town last week. I put the car in s mode and took off. It didn't shift a second before 7300 rpms and once it did, i was about a car ahead of the g35 at 40mph, and a commanding lead at 80 when i let off. I could not have run that stock. I have stock 710b's (DV's) and stock transmission (no tip chip). I seem to be fine using tip mode which I always use anyways. I will probably get the tranny recoded via vag tool once i find a bro that has one. Although the car seems to hold 1st if you put it in s mode and floor it. Only downside is that you find yourself driving too fast too often and gas milage has gone to 15.3 average (280 a tank). But i drive alot in intercity's and i drive the car pretty hard aswell. As far as the flashloader,I am yet to use it, I probably will only be setting my car to stock when it visits the stealer. I am sure it works though and the instructions i got seem really simple (plug and play style). I will probably stick with a stock dv and tbb. Which are the two concerns going chiped from stock. I figure as long as i check them both occasionally and make sure the tbb is not torn or tweaked it should be ok. I figure you can tell when they go out by noises or a loss of power. If you have the money to spend apr bipipe is the way to go. I think ecs has a package with 2 007 dv's for like 5 to 6 bills, if you can afford that it would be a worth while upgrade to support the extra boost that your chip is putting out. hope that imput helps you out bro :-)

audi#8

Great feedback, thank you. Is recoding the tranny an alternative to the GIAC tiptronic chip? What can I expect by recoding the tranny? Do you think the stock 007 dv's are preferable to Baileys (my tuner, AWE uses only this dv). I don't think I'll be doing the bipipe now, just the ITC air filter. thanks again, I'll let you know how it all works out.

tekguy

It holds 1st gear instead of doing an autoshift from 1st to second. It also sets the tranny at a sport setting which prepairs it better for higher torque settings. It's recommended that the tranny be recoded or chiped after chipping/tuning a car. The advantage of the tip chip is that it also reduces the timing between shifts in tip mode. So their is only a minor delay instead of the stock method which tends to take a second to engage. With the right timing the stock tranny shifting can be optimized.
Baileys seem to be popular dv's but supposedly hyperboost dv's are the most advanced and servicable dv out there. The technology on these dv's is said to be a step ahead of the traditional aftermarket dv. If I was to spend the money I would probably get those from stramosphere. But at around 300 or more for a pair I would rather stick with the stock ones that seem to get the job done quite well. I saw a bailey's dv at my local tuning shop, they were significantly bigger than stock and probably would require some minor modifications to fit them under the engine cover. You may even have to run with out a cover to fit this part in? As far a the air filter goes, do some searches and see what you can learn from this forum. They don't seem to be that popular around here and our maf sensors do not seem to work well with some aftermarket intake products. Best of luck

Potomac-Greg

Recoding transmission is NOT the same as tip chip.

ScottCNelson

I have the GIAC, APR bipipe and stromosphere DVs on my car. The valve on the driver's side does interfere with the cover at the dipstick. I was able to solve this by swapping out the DZUS fastner. Others have hack-sawed the area around the dipstick. I did the APR and DV installs myself. The most difficult part was getting the headlights out. I'm not very handy, so I should think anyone can do it. Instead of the flashloader, I have the VAGCOM --GIAC provides a free flash switching program that works with it. Might not be as convienient as hooking up the dedicated loader and pressing a button, but I don't intend to change programs except for dealer visits. The cost of the VAGCOM is not much more than the flashloader and then you have the VAG and all it's capabiity. Of course, this assumes you have a laptop...Overall, I'm quite satisfied with these mods -- I don't intend do anything else.

audi#8

great feedback, thank you.