B5 A4 New Member Guide/FAQ! Answers to the most commonly asked questions!

[StreetUrchin]

the 2001 model year has the ko3s(sport) so there for the GIAC-X chip with the ko3s will only be slightly less powered than the ko4 on basic GIAC programming.

This is what I misunderstood, my apologies.

[sean1.8t]

...

[AudiGuy666]

wow..

[1 ate T]

no that's not it(i don't think). but i asked about making yours a sticky in another thread and this is what ripple had to say about it:

Naa I was jokin. No worries

Plus I agree with Ripple... I started the thread with no intention of people arguing about opinions.

[RYAN1.8]

This is what I like about this site; someone who took the time to break it down. It was well done, especially for new guys like me.

[bellofello]

2.8 link still not added? It's the 7 (maybee 8) page thread titled, "2.8 after market parts". Pretty much every mod available for the 2.8 is on there.

[Rosati]

First Timers:

PM me for a crash course/writeup on how to remove the Engine Head, you wont find much info on the procedure, besides the bentley

[sean1.8t]

2.8 link still not added? It's the 7 (maybee 8) page thread titled, "2.8 after market parts". Pretty much every mod available for the 2.8 is on there.

i tried but im unable to edit the original post now.. im compiling a few new things as well as some links to some more popular and helpfull threads and going to get one of the admin's to edit them in

[bellofello]

ahh ic, thanks. I've just been noticing a LOT of "which 2.8 exhaust should I get?" threads around, and I think all(most of em anyways) of the vids are on that thread

[Hassmeister]

Forgot Techtonics for high flow cat, down pipe and exhaust. Quality stuff too and they have been in business longer than any you mentioned here.

[kermac]

Appreciative comments from Down Under

Sorry if this duplicates a previous message. I'm new to AudiZine and I think my earlier reply to Sean's post went spinning off into the ether.

This is a great post - succinct, accurate and - like a Tom Clancy novel - a rattling good read. Full of good information for the novice and the old hand alike (I'm somewhere in between).

My only comment - not by way of correction but in order to raise other possibilities for the keen B5er - is to mention that if you want to upgrade your intercooler, the front mount is only one way to go. Aussie-spec B5s may be different to yours, but we have a very restrictive front bar which only permits either a very small (H X W) FMIC or a very thin one. Either way, a lot of the air flow is diverted by the front bumper and the whole thing is less than ideal.

One way around it is to replace the front bar with one off an S4 or an RS4. This adds at least $1,500-US to your investment, and - unlike most other performance mods you might bolt onto your B5 - is one you are unlikely to be able to recoup when you sell the car.

The alternative is to upgrade your side mount, or better still, to duplicate it on the other side. I know the battle still rages on the value of double side mounts - but think about it: in spite of the fact that installing a front mount would be a cheap and easy way of extracting (or rather sustaining) more power from a stock turbo engine, Audi has chosen not to do this on a roadgoing car since the S2 of the early 90s.

Why is this? Is it because they don't like FMICs? Or has their R&D shown them that DSMICs work better? Actually, as this link will tell you

http://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/589324.phtml

their intercooler research was undertaken by Bosch at an undisclosed cost, but estimated in the millions of something (Euros? Kroner? Pesos?).

This post from AudiWorld may not convince you that the DSMIC route is any better than bolting on a big FMIC. You may even prefer the look of the front mount, and that may be high on your list of priorities.

But if there's any truth in the tale, it's certainly worth considering.

Apologies for long-winded post. I think it's to do with my Irish ancestry........

[onemoremile]

If you have a facelift A4 (years 1999.5 through 2001) then the S4 bumper should bolt right up to your stock bumper shocks. If you have an earlier A4 then you'll either need the bumper shocks from an S4 or a later A4. These are available from the dealer for about $90 each or on eBay for about $60-100 shipped for the pair. Check the forum classifieds first.

The following prices are dealership list and the price for parts sold to a body shop. Your prices may be better or worse depending on your relationship with your parts guys.

8D0-807-103-J-GRU.....S4 Bumper.........list 592.24....net 503.40
8D0-807-683-G-3FZ.....Grill..................list 46.90......net 39.87
8D0-807-345-L-GRU.....Grill..................list 59.85......net 50.87
8D0-807-346-L-GRU.....Grill..................list 59.85......net 50.87
8D0-807-283-A...........Guide................list 9.92.......net 8.43

subtotals.....list 768.76.....net 653.44


That last one (Guide) is the piece that attaches to the car that the sides of the bumper snap into. It is a price for one and won't be necessary for most of you.

An interesting note is that they list difference part numbers for the US and Canadian S4 bumper shocks. This is probably due to their different impact requirements.

[onemoremile]

This is on a 1999.5 A4 Avant 1.8t AEB

Yup, tis true. It didn't cost anything and didn't take long. I followed the S4 keyless antenna thread and took pics of my own. The stereo on the piano gave up it's cheapie wire radio antenna for the benefit of fine automobile modification.

Antenna reception was previously spotty at the end of my driveway which is only about 20 feet long. I could arm or disarm but couldn't maintain a solid enough signal to put the windows up. I had to be within 10 feet to work the windows. After adding the antenna I tried it across the street and it worked perfectly. I walked a house over and it still works. At the point it stopped working reliably it was about 75 feet away. It would do the windows from about 60 feet. Range will be best from the rear since that is where the antenna is. I'll play with front reception tomorrow at work.

The wire pulled down and about 4" stripped off the black striped cover.



Spliced the wires and heat shrink wrapped the joint.



Location of the dangling wire.





The wire routing around to the rear bumper support.


Here the wire is shown tucked up and around the rear bumper support. I looped it through the little openings in the bumper and zip tied the end in place.

[sean1.8t]

i hope the n00bs are using this still. 'tis my legacy to the B5ers..

funny thing is, when i get on the zine these days i always go to the B5 section first. then the B6 section. i just love this place

[onemoremile]

I'm adding Brett's old alignment post.

After a new rear wheel bearing and also seeing some inner tire wear on my front tires, I decided it would be a good idea to get my suspension aligned.

I don't live close to an Audi dealership so, that wasn't going to work out but, I have had some success with a local Firestone shop. Bear in mind, I'm only doing and alignment with them, no parts or intense labor required.

For anyone who hasn't been involved with aligning the A4 or it's quadra-link suspension, it's a bit of a tricky task. You have the 4 control arms on each side in the front and no actual camber adjustment points. The idea with the quadra-link setup is that the design creates a "virtual steering axis". It helps reduce torque steer and bump steer.

As I noted before, there are no individual camber adjustment point in the front of the car. There is however, adjustment to the entire camber setting in the front by sliding the engine cradle from left to right. What this does is even out your camber between both side in uniform increments. You subtract X degrees from one side and add X degrees to the other. This process requires you to remove the belly cover and then loosen 8 large bolts on the subframe:



Then once you have loosened these bolts, you are supposed to attach a special tool on to bolts 3 & 4.



This tools allows you to slowly push the engine cradle sideways in small increments. I ended up having the shop use a very large prybar. The desired result was achieved.

In terms on toe adjustment, unladen toe is adjusted by simply adjusting the lock nuts on the tie rods ends however, this car has a follow up toe value called "raised toe". In order to check for the "raised toe" you must install an adapter on the front suspension that will create a slight lift. This slight lift must be used when checking the unladen toe first. Once you have placed the unladen toe in spec while using the adapter (rough adjustment), you must then use the adapter to raise the suspension even higher (60mm) to see what the toe looks like during rebound instances. Your alignment software should be new enough to calcualte the difference between unladen toe and raised toe to see if it is within the factory spec (ie. 0.15 degrees +- 0.12 degrees on AWD cars). If the computer shows that this spec is out of range, you must adjust a nut that is located on the end of the tie rod (B):



Before you adjust the nut, be sure to loosen the tie rod end from the wheel bearing housing via the horizontal nut (A). Once you have adjusted the nut, tighten (A) back to 45NM and then you can tighten (B) down to 7NM (62 In/Lbs). Then you must re-check the toe difference between unladen and raised to see whether you adjustment helped.

For the rear of the car, you have two adjustment points, toe and camber. There is a larger cam bolt/nut setup on the hinge point of the lower control arm and the wheel bearing housing. The bolt/nut has a travel that moves 180 degrees (rotates 90 degrees to the left or the right) this will adjust the rear camber. I had trouble with this because my car is lowered (H&R sport/Bilsteins). I ended up with -1.24 degrees of camber (tops of tires slightly tilted towards inside of wheel well). I'm guessing the lowered suspension caused this.

The rear toe is adjusted via the rear track link that goes from the rear of the wheel bearing housing to the subframe. Once again you have the cam bolt/nut combo. Even if the car is lowered you should still be able to get in spec on this one.

The last item to mention here is the order for adjusting each of these items. You should move in this order:

1. front camber
2. front toe
3. rear camber
4. rear toe

Always change camber before toe. camber will have a slight effect of the pull against the tie rods/track links.

I wasn't able to perform the raised toe testing and wish I could have. I can only recommend that you use an Audi dealer to perform your best possible alignment. I still have to replace my front control arms (clunking) and then I will go see an Audi dealer to get the suspension dead on center.

Hope this helps some of you.

[onemoremile]

Rosati's excellent head removal writeup.

http://audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154741

[biketsai]

I just did the remote extension thing.
Do you think there is anything that would extend the range ALOT?
my friend has these 2 little antennas in his truck for his Viper alarm that can be locked all the way from school

[loustylez]

addition to the FAQ per suggestion of good 'ole jimbo.

for any A4 2.8 owners, there's a thread that has a wealth of knowledge about available upgrades, suspension settings, spark plug reommendations and down the list. frankly, it's probably the most resourceful thread i've seen for just 2.8 info. you could consider it a 2.8 faq. hopefully there's enough keywords in that sentence to get picked up on a search ;)

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ight=2.8+parts

#edit: and apparently this was added a year ago. oh well.

[TKoze]

I did some research and found out for myself.
www.homelink.com will explain how to program the system for those who need help like I did.

[onemoremile]

Audi's Driving School primer.

http://www.audiclubna.org/forms/Greybook-0206.pdf

[BeatjunkieXL]

this thread is phukn amazing, and will probably refer to this for the rest of my cars life... thanks for the awesome write up

[nyca4tq]

This FNG read it and got alot of answers..Thanks. I agree with the person that said, "the only stupid question is the one not asked." We dont all have lots of time to read all the pertinent info. Be patient. I bet those people who flame nooobs for not searching didnt always know everything....

My .02, Im going back to spectator couch now.

[A3toB5]

whats the difference between facelift and pre facelift ?

[black99.5a4]

face lift cars have 1 piece head lights, different fenders, different bumpers that have the fog lights in the bottom of the bumpers, also depending year of pre facelift car, they have the red/amber and white tails where as facelift cars all have red and white tails. Facelift cars also have retangle side markers, where as pre facelift cars are square.

facelift cars also got a new interior, looks a lot of the same, but the pieces are actually quite different, on certain things. biggest change is where the radio is, you get the cup holder and not the row of ugly buttons. there might be more but that is the most noticeable.

rear bumpers are also different, pre facelift wont fit a facelift from what i've read.

[sean1.8t]

haha, i got a negative rep for my original post

alright who was it?

[Anthony]

You deserve props for this thread.

[sean1.8t]

ah thanks man!

props from the man himself. i am very flattered

and you deserve props for this site... well, more than you already have

[a4mafia(Red)]

sweet dude. props.....maybe add something about spool times on the different turbos?
its hard to find them online.

[sean1.8t]

here's a decent one that was made on vortex awhile back. it lacks a few of the more popular turbo's. but you get the idea.

and boost threshold/ramp will always depend on supporting mods such as exhaust/intake and exhaust manifold/fmic/etc.. as well as elevation.



if any mods[jim] wants to move this info into the original post go right ahead

hell, the whole turbo and tuning section should get revised. maybe i'll do that here in the near future

[a4mafia(Red)]

SICK!!!!!!

[A4-Achtung]

What's the difference between 2001 and 2001.5? How can I tell which one I have?

[96QUATTRO]

very intersting section to read,such a great forum to read
thanks again

[Bihlajamw]

Look at the manufacturing date when you open the driver door theres a sticker. I read on another site that the 2001.5 was anything built after October 2000 for the B5 S4 im not 100% sure they were accurate but that was also the only reference ive found. I'm at 05 2001 its that at the very end of the production period.

[Bihlajamw]

here's a decent one that was made on vortex awhile back. it lacks a few of the more popular turbo's. but you get the idea.

and boost threshold/ramp will always depend on supporting mods such as exhaust/intake and exhaust manifold/fmic/etc.. as well as elevation.



if any mods[jim] wants to move this info into the original post go right ahead

hell, the whole turbo and tuning section should get revised. maybe i'll do that here in the near future

Will a Stock K03 turbo with 3 inch down pipe and 3 inch exhaust be able to push 15 psi with just a tune and be a good daily drive?