Well after sooooooo much debating, reading, banging my head against the wall, haha. I finally decided to swap in a 6-speed transmission. The torque converter is going out in the Tiptronic transmission, so after adding up all the cost of a new torque converter, me personally rebuilding the transmission, and me personally rebuilding the valve body in the transmission, I decided that it would cost about the same amount of money to do a complete 6-speed swap. Then I can even pull the rear differential, rear axles, Driveline, front axles, downpipes and crossmember and part those out to help lessen the dent on my wallet. I pulled the trigger today and ordered a 6-speed swap kit from Wolf Auto Parts. It looks to have everything included with the kit, including the rear differential that I noticed they don't include and some of their swap kits. I'm also going to do the timing kit while the engine is out, and I'm going to weld up some custom catless downpipes and maybe an exhaust to go along with it. One of my buddies at work is a custom metal fabricator and is on board and ready to make me any parts that I need that I cannot make myself. I have been seeing the value of S4's slowly dropping over the last year and it kind of scares me. So now I'm kind of stuck with this car and hope to be driving it for another hundred thousand miles and at that time I'll pass it on to another enthusiast! Stay tuned for more to come!
Vinny