Intercooler DIY followup [Archive] - RS6.com

svir

November 16th, 2011, 04:51

I just wanted to share my experience with the diy intercoolers for our cars, but before I go on yapping, I would like to thank Audi-RS6 and skyegtb. If it wasn’t for their detailed diy guides, I would probably be still under the car cursing…

Now I could truthfully say that it wasn’t that difficult to do, but 4 days ago, I would have told you otherwise. Getting access to the intercoolers was the easy part, getting them out was another story. The F****** clamps holding the hoses to the small radiator behind theintecooler were somehow turned in such angle that I spent few hours under the car cursing at whoever did this to me :lovl:
Also the darn plastic behind the intercooler, which I believe is redirecting air to cool the brakes, was how I should put this nicely, PITA to not only remove, but to also put back in.

Once I had the intercoolers removed, degreased,washed and prepped to JB Welding, my dad decided to join my misery with his never ending wisdom.

Promptly promoting himself to the general of the operation, he embarked on the task of cleaning the fins on the intercooler where leaks showed. I left him unattended for only 2 minutes while I went to grabs us drinks, but it was just enough for him to make holes from top to bottom…immediately a heated argument burst out…. 5 minutes later we are back to best of friends’ status….. no more drilling for him.

Two uneventful days of testing for leaks and JB Weld followed…

Finally today comes and we are ready to get the task done. After going over my game plan, he was quite bothered by fact that I asked him politely if it would be OK for me to do all of the work while he only verbally displayed his skills…

So I decided to redeem myself and asked him to help me with putting these dreadful plastic pieces that attach on the back of the intercooler and the intercooler back in place. Several heated arguments later….we are on no speaking terms… but the team work is still going…. THERE IS NO I IN TEAM
Immediately after we had successfully finished the passenger side, a quick high five followed… I am now promoted to best of friends status again. Few relapses later, the driver side is in. WOO HOOOOO we are almost done, I can see the final stretch….

Hoses in, clamps tightened, bolts tightened it is time for me to bring the headlights, but then a debate breaks out as if we had nothing better to do. My father wins the debate with a very good point, if you headlight bulb burns out, you don’t take off the bumper to change it. Fair is fair, headlight do not go in before the bumper. At this point, I am tired of our working relationship and go against my better judgment to make a point. I bolt the bumper up with the headlights out and quickly jump in the 300SD and leave to go to store to pick up some refreshments; in the meantime, I left him to ponder on how to now install the lights based on his debate winning point.

I arrive sometime later to find him with a smirk on his face. For the first time in my existence, he admits that he was wrong, sort of; he blamed the idiot who went against humanity and designed it backwards….

20 minutes later the babe is all dressed up and I start her up to preform bleeding on the cooling system. All seems normal, so I went ahead and bolted back the wheels and put her down, so we could go out and play.At this point I wasn’t expecting the gains to be that significant, but they were. I was all smiled and shaky knees due to the adrenaline rush… which reminded me why I purchased the car. That feeling was just priceless.

So to be a nice sport and show my appreciation to my dad, I took him for a quick ride, during which he was yelling half the time to stop, so he could get out, but the other half he spent asking me to sell the RS :lovl:

All in all, if you are considering talking the job yourself, I say go for it, you have nothing to fear. Also, if you are from around the Tampa Bay area and need help, don't hesitate to ask, I promise I'll bring my dad....