Rich's Quick Reference Upgrade/Mod Guide for n00bs

[shorterthanrich]

Depends on how you want to go about your modding...I agree that it's a good idea to go stage 3 off the bat if you know you will someday and your car is already in good condition. Mainly because you will probably end up spending Stage 3 money anyway after a couple years of maintaining the car. If you don't, then to me the little things that make the car feel "right" are most important to do first. Those being things like the JHM shifter (if you also can not stand the stock one), pedals, rear sway bar and tranny/engine mounts all make a huge difference in how the car feels to drive. And since I love driving, it makes sense to do those things first. Stage 1 and 2 are pointless to me because I know I'm going to upgrade the turbos someday and the car is plenty fast in stock form anyway. I'd do the things I mentioned above and also take care of known reliability issues like the DV's and TBB. A coilover setup is also a good idea but I would recommend doing a lot of research and getting the right one first and only one time when you need it. Lots of people just want to have a lowered look and spend money on different setups that mostly suck instead of just doing it right once. Finally, always make sure your tires and brakes are up to par with whatever other performance upgrades you do first. It's just silly to add a lot of power and not have the grip or ability to stop reliably. Great post overall and if anything else, I'd just add that ASP has a lot of good products that you should know about since you're out East...cheaper but basically same DTS as AWE for example. Also the EFU boost gauge for people who want their interior to look OEM/clean....

FYI, my car is basically stock powerwise but I am never passed by anyone unless I let them (or I'm purposely testing my car's straight line acceleration against a car that is clearly more powerful). I have H-Sport sway bars with only the rear installed on stiff setting (front to go in w/ C/O's), Upgraded OEM replacement brakes (DBA slotted rotors, G-Stop SS lines, Hawk HPS pads, Motul fluid), 710N's, APR Bi-Pipe, JHM SS, Autovation pedals, RS4 shift knob, ASP street series tranny/differential/DTS, 034 Snub and Stern motor mounts waiting to go in, Southbend Stage 3 OFE clutch and that's about it. Oh, I have ceramic tint on all glass including windshield to protect from heat and prying eyes. Car feels completely different (better) than stock and as I said, my car hangs with everything I've gone up against so far, especially on twisty roads. This leads to one of the most important mods...

Driving School.

I'll leave it at that for now.

Updated a bit based on this. Thanks for the info - good suggestions. If you're still dissatisfied, remind me.

[GramCracker]

i'm gonna print the OP out and read it while im on the shitter

[Slave IV]

Haha, no dissatisfaction at all. You did a great job and I'm just trying to help out. Here's some more:
The OEM DV that most should use is the 710N or 110. The advantage of this over the aftermarket ones is it's been proven to work as well as any other with no maintenance. The other ones need to be lubed regularly and performance drops significantly when not. More info on th OEM DV's here: http://www.hoppenmotorsport.com/BoschBypass.htm

Also, since you posted some turbo kit prices, I thought it would be nice to post this newest kit out: EPL's Tial 605's. A direct bolt on application that competes with RS6's for a bit less. Read the EPL post here: http://forums.quattroworld.com/s4/msgs/43691.phtml

I'll add more as I think of it...and thanks again for starting this.

[SOCALMX101]

Wow i wish that i had this when i first got the S. Sticky for sure. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

[TWiST]

Great writeup man I vote for Sticky for surez!

[S4tranquility]

Good work. I read the first bit and will have to get to the rest later. I always tell people that step 1 is to upgrade the TBB, DVs, and F-hose before they do anything else. Also, BTW, f-hoses are on many 2001s, too.

[FlaS4]

^More videos

[Slave IV]

Just to add for brakes: Alcon (Stasis) has very good kits and AP Racing might be the best deal if you want a quality aftermarket setup. Any BBK should be paired with larger rear too and it seems like the 300mm from B6/7 S4's is perfect for most applications. You may want to look into RS4 rear which uses 312mm rotors with the same calipers but hard to source in the U.S. I also wanted to mention for all the ballers that Brembo makes a GTR kit that is basically a racing brake system for all for corners tuned specifically for our car. Alcon has a similar setup. The JHM Cayanne w/ B7 rear seems like the best bang for the buck right now though. When the time comes for me, I may just splurge and get the Brembo GTR's.

Clutch: One issue some people come across with clutches that use OEM RS4 or S4 pressure plates is the SAC mechanism often fails and then you need a new clutch whether it is worn or not. The ones listed in the OP will bypass this issue. Just wanted to mention that Southbend just recently released all stages of their clutches with the option to replace SAC with a Sachs cover instead. This used to only be available for stage 5+ clutches from them. My friend just got one and it works great. Softer pedal effort with tons more grip.

[ThirdStrike]

OMG please sticky this

i'm gonna print the OP out and read it while im on the shitter

LMAO

[oneohone]

Info looks good. Ebay side mounds should be on the list.

[hoosierchemist]

i'm gonna print the OP out and read it while im on the shitter

that's what an iphone is for

[mpower1]

I think this information is great.Good job on the writeup,and thanks.One thing i would like to see is more information about is maintenance.A lot of people say all the time these cars need constant repairs,but once you go stg 3 what else is there to repair? I guess my question is,what post stg 3 repairs are there?

[Quattrocket]

Can I run a blowoff valve on my S4>

[lukeag25]

Rock on! Good stuff

[Slow4]

You suck! You got your S4 for free! I hate you!

[therox182]

sticky for sure!!!

[zx6r1033]

Why are you guys so intent on making this a sticky? Sure it is good information, but apparently you all have forgotten one very important thing about all of this: FNG's DON'T read stickies. Or search. Or anything else meaningful. The only people who truly appreciate the work put into this post are the guys who have been around a while now.

[shorterthanrich]

Good work. I read the first bit and will have to get to the rest later. I always tell people that step 1 is to upgrade the TBB, DVs, and F-hose before they do anything else. Also, BTW, f-hoses are on many 2001s, too.

Noted, thanks.

Info looks good. Ebay side mounds should be on the list.

link me to where someone proved that they work well and easily. I remember a thread talking about doing it, but I don't remember the outcome. It seemed they'd be better than RS4, but not as good as AWE or something, right?

I think this information is great.Good job on the writeup,and thanks.One thing i would like to see is more information about is maintenance.A lot of people say all the time these cars need constant repairs,but once you go stg 3 what else is there to repair? I guess my question is,what post stg 3 repairs are there?

I see where you're coming from, but that's not what this thread is about. That's an entirely different topic, but one that wouldn't hurt to write up.

Can I run a blowoff valve on my S4>

I will add a part saying NO, DO NOT RUN A BLOW OFF VALVE. I will say that it's not impossible to do, but it is stupid and our car's are not set up for it.

You suck! You got your S4 for free! I hate you!

It's true, it's pretty unfair.

Why are you guys so intent on making this a sticky? Sure it is good information, but apparently you all have forgotten one very important thing about all of this: FNG's DON'T read stickies. Or search. Or anything else meaningful. The only people who truly appreciate the work put into this post are the guys who have been around a while now.

The man has a point. Newbs hardly even read the FAQs at all...hell, I hardly read them. However, an FAQ is more broad than saying "upgrade guide," so we might have a little more luck with it. I also think this will be a good resource to just link people strait to when they ask a question that's been covered here.



And to the other posts I haven't responded to: This weekend/when I'm bored at work next week I will update the OP some more with suggestions and other improvements. Thanks for all of the good ideas.

[Slow4]

Theres a site that USE to be around that has ALL this covered and gave tons of useful information but I think something happened to hit. I've got more links on my home laptop that you can add to your links.

http://www.s4biturbo.com

[Slow4]

It's true, it's pretty unfair.

I still get to hate!

[Slow4]

More links from my favorites:

http://homepage.mac.com/edyjun1/S4/index.htm (this one helped me a lot)

http://www.audidiy.com/
http://www.audiworld.com/tech/ext.html

http://www.vaglinks.com/VAGLinks.asp

http://www.audiworld.com/model/s4/01/specs.shtml
http://s4wiki.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.nogaroblue.com/8638/8762.html

[Slave IV]

After giving the car a nice test in some canyons today, I'd say the 4:1 center differential mod is a must at some point if you want to do any kind of serious twisty driving. Rear differential too...Otherwise car felt pretty balanced and brakes were good all day until the end where they just started to show signs of fading on one corner. Temps hit a little over 250 but it was around 90 degrees out. My next mod may be one of the following:
Intercoolers - ER's
Oil Cooler - Either Vast or Avalon
Center Diff - Look into doing myself but probably JHM
Brakes - I think I may hold off on this...

[shorterthanrich]

Updated. Unfortunately, I am out of room in the post. So if I am to add more info, I'll have to add it here and link to it.

Looks good, though.

[1997gtx]

This is great info - thanks for taking the time to put this together.

For those that want this a sticky, i'd remind you all that we do have an already stickied B5 S4 FAQ and a great general FAQ and DIY section as well.

Any suggestions on how to incorporate this information into the current FAQ?

Thanks~
--Adam

[smacked1]

quick bump i was looking for this thread =P

[shorterthanrich]

This is great info - thanks for taking the time to put this together.

For those that want this a sticky, i'd remind you all that we do have an already stickied B5 S4 FAQ and a great general FAQ and DIY section as well.

Any suggestions on how to incorporate this information into the current FAQ?

Thanks~
--Adam

The current FAQ is good, but I think the problem is that it's a bit overwhelming...

[1997gtx]

The current FAQ is good, but I think the problem is that it's a bit overwhelming...

Agreed - so lets all work together to edit/condense/separate it up.

Perhaps a large post with links out to to sub-sections? Or something similar?

I'm open to any and all ideas.
--Adam

[shorterthanrich]

Agreed - so lets all work together to edit/condense/separate it up.

Perhaps a large post with links out to to sub-sections? Or something similar?

I'm open to any and all ideas.
--Adam

If I get another day with a lot of time, I think that's a good idea.

On some other forums that I'm on, there's basically a "So youre new" thread or a general information thread that links out to all of the different informational thread.

So one thread that links to: Maintenance, Thinking about buying an S4?, Upgrade guide for newbs, etc, etc, etc.

[shorterthanrich]

Edited to remove cx racing SMICs since they suck.

[RubiRock]

great post!
i'm picking my 01 s4 up tomorrow, so this was a good read.
i found it a bit more to the point that the current faq.

[tdimpreza]

STicky +1

[smacked1]

Started to ad links. Feel free to send me your favorite informational resources for modding.

I'd love to do a thread on all the shit that breaks/where to get it to replace it, also. There are some that cover it already, though, so if I did one it would have to be VERY comprehensive.

that would be awesome

[KNaudi]

here's a list to start ya off:
-k03 turbos
-1st/2nd gear synchros and shift collar
-Power steering pump
-Axels/CV Boots
-Control Arms
-Aux coolant pump
-Various vac lines that wear with age
-02 sensors
-Coolant temp sensor

these are just what I've experienced. Enjoy.

[jibberjive]

Wow, awesome that you took the time to write that. Just a few of the details could be a little more accurately defined, but awesome nonetheless. When I get a second I'll make a couple suggestions and a couple of links, but a couple things that I saw off the top of my head: The current GIAC X (not R or race program) doesn't request 20psi (as far as I know, unless it's recently changed), JHM isn't mentioned in tuners, and I'm pretty sure EPL does remote tuning as well all over the country in the areas where they have a dealer, not just in the northeast.

This is good though!

[shorterthanrich]

Wow, awesome that you took the time to write that. Just a few of the details could be a little more accurately defined, but awesome nonetheless. When I get a second I'll make a couple suggestions and a couple of links, but a couple things that I saw off the top of my head: The current GIAC X (not R or race program) doesn't request 20psi (as far as I know, unless it's recently changed), JHM isn't mentioned in tuners, and I'm pretty sure EPL does remote tuning as well all over the country in the areas where they have a dealer, not just in the northeast.

This is good though!

Thanks! I was talking to some folks and they mentioned GIAC X was going to 20psi these days, but I should really do a fact check on that.

I found out a few days ago that EPL does remote, too, and meant to edit that. Will do.

Looking forward to your links and updates.

[00s4slvr]

STICKY!!!

[bigern45]

great post man.. lots of time an effort and forethought.. the info on dv's (dont know if its been covered) is a little misleading. the reason its needed is because this is a MAF sensor'ed car. so the air that is registered coming in has to be used. the ECU uses that info to dictate injector pulse width, fuel trim and such. once the air goes past the maf it has to be used, diverted air means less air coming in the maf housing. so it all equals out. not sure if either system(maf systems or the aforementioned subie non-maf system) works better, but the maf system does seem more precise. but its not wasted boost. if the maf reads air coming in and then when you let off the throttle and say half of it shoots off into the atmosphere (bov) then half the air that the ecu is making adjustments for is gone, hence a super rich condition. when air is diverted back into the system then no more air is needed to pass through the maf, so no more fuel adjustments are needed.. i kinda confused myself but i hope it was beneficial. to much reading on a monday..

[klhbeetle]

If I get another day with a lot of time, I think that's a good idea.

On some other forums that I'm on, there's basically a "So youre new" thread or a general information thread that links out to all of the different informational thread.

So one thread that links to: Maintenance, Thinking about buying an S4?, Upgrade guide for newbs, etc, etc, etc.

Sticky! I was wondering when someone would take the time to do something like this. The old car site I frequented had a VERY in-depth guide, much like what you've started. It was very useful and well organized and if you (and the mods) are looking for a format this may or may not be a direction to take it:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533787

Unabomber had a lot of free time on his hands, no reason to go this deep.

[Caddy7]

good job man!!

I really hope this gets stickied!

[1997gtx]

Again, i'm okay with combining this into our current FAQ, but we'd all need to work together to determine the best format.

I would personally suggest an intro post with sub-sections/links to other parts.
--Adam