Initial & Essential Upgrades.

[cavekidd]

Hey fam.

I want to make a thread for myself and every B5 owner looking to have a strong, long lasting, fun car.

I want everyone to contribute on the initial and most essential upgrades you've gotta do as soon as you purchase your new B5 A4.

I have a 98 1.8t quattro.

What are the best things to upgrade to maintain and strengthen the engine?
Coil packs?
Clean the engine internally? Replace head gasket, clean pistons etc?
Better fuel injectors?
Sway bars?
Better Turbo?
stainless steel braided break lines?
hoses?
valves?
coolant?
coolers?
ETCCCCC!!

List them all! .. according to importance & benefit of course :D

Thanks yall!

[Bordom]

If staying relatively stock:

1. Maintenance (any and all)

2. Tune

3. Fsi conversion

4. Coilovers

5. Wheels (4+5 can be reversed)

6. Any performance upgrades can be done while doing maintenance at the same time

Everything graciously mispelled by Android

[Davdraco1]

Maintenance should be the first 5 things in the list. These cars are great if taken care of. Tune is prolly the best bang for your buck on these cars.

[nemick]

Hey fam.

I want to make a thread for myself and every B5 owner looking to have a strong, long lasting, fun car.

I want everyone to contribute on the initial and most essential upgrades you've gotta do as soon as you purchase your new B5 A4.

I have a 98 1.8t quattro.

What are the best things to upgrade to maintain and strengthen the engine?
Coil packs?
Clean the engine internally? Replace head gasket, clean pistons etc?
Better fuel injectors?
Sway bars?
Better Turbo?
stainless steel braided break lines?
hoses?
valves?
coolant?
coolers?
ETCCCCC!!

List them all! .. according to importance & benefit of course :D

Thanks yall!

If it were me, and looking only at maintenance issues before upgrades, I would suggest the following;

1. Replace the timing belt, water pump, thermostat and various idlers and rollers unless you KNOW that this has been done recently.

2. Change the engine oil & filter.

3. Check coolant level and look for leaks.

4. Inspect the front axles for torn boots and?or worn CV's.

5. Replace the trans fluid (No Flush).

6. Replace the diff oil.

7. Check brake fluid level and condition, replace if necessary.

8. Check center drive shaft support. Replace if necessary.

9. Buy a real VCDS dongle.

As far as upgrades are concerned, this will vary depending on the age of the engine and whether a person has manual or tip transmission. I did the following on my '01 tip

1. Borla exhaust.
2. Giac Tune
3. Bilstein shocks and H&R lowering springs
4. S4 rear sway bar
5. S4 Replica wheels
6. 710N valve

Currently at about 215000 miles and counting.

Thanks

[LA4]

Snub mount is one of my favorite mods in terms of making a difference in how the car shifts/drives.

ECS has them on sale for $30 right now.

[Davdraco1]

speaking of mounts, i went and did 034 street density motor and trans mounts when i did my clutch and what a world of difference it made in the car. i would highly highly recommend them. i know they are as much as a tune from kompresd but the car just felt so much tighter when shifting and accelerating.

[LA4]

speaking of mounts, i went and did 034 street density motor and trans mounts when i did my clutch and what a world of difference it made in the car. i would highly highly recommend them. i know they are as much as a tune from kompresd but the car just felt so much tighter when shifting and accelerating.

You don't by chance have a rear diff mount installed? Looking for reviews on what kind of a difference it makes. ECS has theirs on sale (looks to be very similar to the Apikol one) but even at $125 it's pricey.

[Davdraco1]

i dont but that was next on the list of upgrades before i sheared the timing gear at the crank. i did buy rear diff carrier mounts that i was going to install but was too excited to get the clutch installed i never did them. still have them laying around somewhere actually. but, i went from most likely factory mounts with 150k miles on them to street density mounts and like i said, world of difference. and as far as price, the engine mounts were 90$ each, 125$ for it doesnt seem crazy. i would prolly have picked it up if the car still ran.

[cavekidd]

If staying relatively stock:

1. Maintenance (any and all)

2. Tune

3. Fsi conversion

4. Coilovers

5. Wheels (4+5 can be reversed)

6. Any performance upgrades can be done while doing maintenance at the same time

Everything graciously mispelled by Android

First 3? Spot on!

Not sure what you mean by the 4+5 reverse

[cavekidd]

Maintenance should be the first 5 things in the list. These cars are great if taken care of. Tune is prolly the best bang for your buck on these cars.

You're right, but what kind of tune?

[cavekidd]

If it were me, and looking only at maintenance issues before upgrades, I would suggest the following;

1. Replace the timing belt, water pump, thermostat and various idlers and rollers unless you KNOW that this has been done recently.

2. Change the engine oil & filter.

3. Check coolant level and look for leaks.

4. Inspect the front axles for torn boots and?or worn CV's.

5. Replace the trans fluid (No Flush).

6. Replace the diff oil.

7. Check brake fluid level and condition, replace if necessary.

8. Check center drive shaft support. Replace if necessary.

9. Buy a real VCDS dongle.

As far as upgrades are concerned, this will vary depending on the age of the engine and whether a person has manual or tip transmission. I did the following on my '01 tip

1. Borla exhaust.
2. Giac Tune
3. Bilstein shocks and H&R lowering springs
4. S4 rear sway bar
5. S4 Replica wheels
6. 710N valve

Currently at about 215000 miles and counting.

Thanks

You are very accurate!

& that's pretty nice yo, the best of luck to you and your car. Share a picture if you don't mind

[cavekidd]

Snub mount is one of my favorite mods in terms of making a difference in how the car shifts/drives.

ECS has them on sale for $30 right now.

You're right, those and the rear sway bars.

Yep, ECS is having some alright deals on some parts.

[cavekidd]

speaking of mounts, i went and did 034 street density motor and trans mounts when i did my clutch and what a world of difference it made in the car. i would highly highly recommend them. i know they are as much as a tune from kompresd but the car just felt so much tighter when shifting and accelerating.

Yea man, its true. Lots of reviews on mounts and their differences they make. Glad you're enjoying it

[nemick]

You don't by chance have a rear diff mount installed? Looking for reviews on what kind of a difference it makes. ECS has theirs on sale (looks to be very similar to the Apikol one) but even at $125 it's pricey.

I am currently chasing a drive line problem and installed the Ecs diff mount last night. It didn't fix my particular issue, but man, it sure made a very noticeable difference. I found that the whole car felt much more solid and very smooth. This is on a tip, mind you, so not sure what it would do on a manual. I can honestly say that it is one of the better upgrades that I have done. Car suddenly feels like new going down the road. Like all things, I guess you don't realize over time how things are deteriorating. For a 20 minute fix, the mount made my car feel almost new again.

[nemick]

You're right, but what kind of tune?

I just went with the GIAC stage 1 tune. No point in me going any further because of the tip being a weak link

[Bordom]

First 3? Spot on!

Not sure what you mean by the 4+5 reverse

You can do wheels or coilovers one before the other. That's what I was trying to convey

Everything graciously mispelled by Android

[Davdraco1]

I would contact kompresd for a tune. 250$ shipped to your door. My car ran better with that then it did stock. Don't pay for uni or apr tunes. Just not worth the money.

[19birel]

I just upgraded my front brake line to braided stainless steel unit from Stop-Tech this past weekend and while the difference was noticeable, I wouldn't have done it if my stock lined didn't need replacing. They're cheap enough though, mine were <$40.

Maintenance is always number 1, I also refreshed most of my front end (sway bar end links, tie rods, upper control arms) and the difference was night and day, the car felt much tighter and more precise than before.

As far as cleaning the carbon off the pistons goes, I did mine, but only because I had to get my head rebuilt anyways so I already had it apart. I wouldn't say its a necessity though.

My next mod will probably be a new head unit (sound system) because I realized that the stock, non-bose setup is much worse than I thought and I'll get some speakers too. After that I'll get a tune a couple other things here and there.