I've you've got the funds, go for a Peron. Decent gains over S3/R and ideal for k04.
Standard IC is a bit crap for anything over 300bhp imo. Even the S3/R IC will be a big help.
Although he did get 345 BHP presumably with the standard IC.
Nice motor, and great numbers. I was wanting to aim for around the 350 BHP mark, but if all I need is a decat (mine has APR induction and Miltek Cat-Back already) and I can get around 340 bhp, I'd be chuffed as a chuffed fellow.
Loving the look of yours though. Must be a lot of hard graft in making it shine so well. What products do you use? My other cars are all greys and black, so kind of bought my polishes to line up more with them. So interested to hear if there are any recommendations for red cars, or if I should just fire on with what I have.
Yeah you can achieve good figures on the dyno with the standard IC, but it's far from ideal. There's a whole heap of benefits to getting the charge temperature down, as well as achieving better flow. I've just been out in my k03 Stage 2 (270bhp) with standard IC and you can really tell that it's holding back in hotter ambient temps. I will be upgrading to either an S3/mk6 R IC, or a Peron/Airtec, depending whether I stick with the k03 or go k04/k03 hybrid respectively.
As for red... mine's Tornado Red, and I get good results with Autoglym Super Resin Polish (two coats if I can) followed by Autoglym HD Wax. As long as your paintwork is in decent condition it's really quite easy to get a nice glossy finish, and the HD Wax does a good job of protecting that finish for a good few months. Much easier than black, that's for sure! Mine does need a good machine polish at some point, as there's still room for improvement. I'll carry on with the Autoglym polish and wax once this is done.