Zingrox's B8 A4 Build

[Zingrox]

Hey, Audizine. I've been working on a project in the background for a little bit here, and now I figured I'd show where I'm at.

I picked up this 2010 A4 with a seized engine



The body of it was immaculate, so I got to talking to the guy and cracked a deal. Upon seeing this, the gears immediately started turning and I decided to see if it was possible to do what I wanted to do. What did I want to do? Stick a 4.2 V8 from the S5 into it of course! To be frank, I would have loved to throw the 4.0 TT in there, but it's not quite in my price range :(

So one ebay find later, and there she was



What a beaut.
Now those of you who have ever done anything like this, I'm sure youre asking "why didnt you buy a donor car? It would be much easier." And you're completely right, I agree, in fact during the planning stages that was the plan! Unfortunately for me, I'm an absolute goon who completely forgot about the option even existing and bought an engine.

So out comes ol betsy, I did my best to restore life but she was bound up tight. Still have it if anyone needs any non internal parts, or a working automatic transmission





After a few mount changes and some hardline replacement, the time was encroaching "stuff the thing in there" time. So I did a quick run-through on the engine, oil change, and a carbon clean



It was getting rough in there, so I'm very pleased I did it. I tip my hat to any of you animals who did it while the engine was in the car, I was driving myself nuts with it completely out! Well, now that that's done, here we go



Get er lined up, and



Badda bing badda boom, she's in. Jokes on me, I take it out and place it back in two more times as the project continues. Well, I changed the engine and will need to change the transmission. If I'm building a car, why not make it a manual? So I am.






It feels right, I am very excited. But what is all this to hook to? This unit of course! Thanks American Auto! So I go to hook johnnies up, and what do I see? Wait, that's not a stud... that's a broken bolt! 3 of em at that! Oh boy, here we go guys. So I spent a few days on and off drilling, chiseling and twisting these little guys out. I guess I didn't take any pictures, because I only have one after I managed to twist a bolt out without it breaking on me. Pro tip: Hammer a cheap spline socket on the end, big enough it actually goes on but small enough the teeth cut into threads and grip it. Pardon my french here, it had been a long day




Tap size for these larger upper bolts is M12 x 1.75 for any of you unfortunate enough to need one. After cutting a rather large pile of collective material out of it all, she was done and my threads are as clean as a bucket of soap. So I made a maneuver and fandangled my engine and transmission into becoming buddies.




Ft. USP motorsports stainless clutch line there. I don't have a review yet, but it saved me a lot of headache so far and I'm pleased. Great build quality, too. Anyhow, I'm also currently doing some recoding on the car with the Ross-Tech VCDS Hex V2 and their forum has been very helpful to me. While doing that, I'm also building custom headlights. The b8.0 lights arent very luxurious, but the inner design is gorgeous for an LED array



That grey/silver swoop in there caught my eye immediately, and I intend to make flowing signals and a DRL on that. In addition to various things for my own amusement, like changing colors and having rainbow effects of course.

Later today I will have the engine and transmission in, hooked up, and possibly ready to go. With a few changes, and if I actually put the 3rd pedal and replace the brake, she may just want to give us a rumble.

Ill keep you all updated!

Also, a quick thanks to JHM for helping me make my choice on my future suspension wants, and a couple things on a supercharger :)

Instagram: _audster (new, Ill make some posts)

[Zingrox]

Boy, I hope these images work cause they're not showing up just yet

Bingo

[A4 Centaur]

DAMN!!!

[BeerBrent]

Impressive!
Looking forward to seeing the final results.

[Spawne32]

if your able to get those turn signals working, make sure you post up a how too

[Zingrox]

I'll make sure to include a write-up for the headlights when they're done. I'm using a microcontroller with addressable LEDs so I can control each one individually, allowing me to change color, patterns, and brightness as much as I please. The coding is in C++ which isn't too hard to figure out, I have it almost done now after screwing around from scratch on rainy days after work. When it's finished, I hope to have it all enclosed besides another relay (micro controller can't put out enough to power both sets of lights). I'll update on those when I get them going, and errorless

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[bakedziti]

Love that this type of thread has been cropping up more frequently lately. Very nice work!

I'm waiting on a 4.2 or a 4.0tt to go into an allroad/b8 avant.

[BrewDude]

Here I was thinking this would be another run of the mill A4 thread for an 8 year old car. Blah blah blah...boring.

Boy was I wrong! Hats off to you for going outside the box.

[Zingrox]

Here I was thinking this would be another run of the mill A4 thread for an 8 year old car. Blah blah blah...boring.

Boy was I wrong! Hats off to you for going outside the box.

Thank you, I actually named the thread the way I did for that effect

[JeriQo]

i love this thread already!
looking forward to more updates!

[A4 Centaur]

Great build thus far! Any worries or concerns for emissions requirements?

[Perry01]

This looks like a great build thread. I’m looking forward to reading more.

I have the same 350 HP 4.2 FSI in my Touareg (with ECU tune and some other JHM hardware) and it is an amazing engine. Jeremy Clarkson claims “it is one of the greatest engines ever made”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t4B3bxJzNvE

Good luck with your build.

[lettuce]

You magnificent bastard.

[_magic_marco]

Whoa

[AUDIMAN33]

God Bless you, this is gonna be crazy

[Zingrox]

Great build thus far! Any worries or concerns for emissions requirements?

Thanks! I've done it all myself so far. I'm not too concerned, at least not for my area. I did, however, go catless for cost and a little bit of power gains. This could pose a slight issue but I know I can get past that anyway. They don't do anything wild, no real tests, just basically look to see if you have a catalytic converter and send you on your way

[Project Quattro]

Here I was thinking this would be another run of the mill A4 thread for an 8 year old car. Blah blah blah...boring.

Boy was I wrong! Hats off to you for going outside the box.

My thoughts exactly. OP, nicely done and good luck.

I'd recommend an ecode conversion rather than modifying the stock headlights, though... keep it stock-looking and blow people's minds when they hear it. That's my 2 cents.


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[Nano909]

My day has just been made. Thank you for this.

[Zingrox]

I'd recommend an ecode conversion rather than modifying the stock headlights, though... keep it stock-looking and blow people's minds when they hear it. That's my 2 cents.

I debated putting the a4 badge back on (was debadged before purchase) but sticking the v8 lettering on the sides. Anyone knowing a tad about audi would scoff at this a4 acting like it has a v8! Still thinking about that. As for the headlights, I wanted to try my hand at doing what I had imagined because I haven't done so before. Figured it'd be neat. They will look stock when off if that helps you any :)

[Perry01]

Are you seriously looking into the JHM supercharger kit? I have been tempted.

[Marko S]

Madness. I love it!

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[Zingrox]

Are you seriously looking into the JHM supercharger kit? I have been tempted.

Yes, in fact I was looking to do rods/cylinders/rings and the rest supporting to go beyond what stock internals do. I talked to Jake here in our forum about it, speculating what could be made without annihilating the block. Would be an absolute dream to be able to, however I just don't have the funds right now. I like the JHM kit, though, because its power can scale with the engine if I were to actually build it. That and I just like JHM anyway

With this comes an update: she's in, now to plug it all up

20180531_215747.jpeg

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[Project Quattro]

I debated putting the a4 badge back on (was debadged before purchase) but sticking the v8 lettering on the sides. Anyone knowing a tad about audi would scoff at this a4 acting like it has a v8! Still thinking about that. As for the headlights, I wanted to try my hand at doing what I had imagined because I haven't done so before. Figured it'd be neat. They will look stock when off if that helps you any :)

Fair enough, I respect your vision. Do it up man.

Personally I'm just all about stealth. I saw a guy around here the other day with an E63S AMG wagon badged as an E350 and that guy is my new spirit animal.


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[Zodiam]

Jesus christ i want this, now i wanna put the 4.2 TDI from the A8 in my B8...

You should put both A4 and 2.0T badges on it, lol.

[Zingrox]

Jesus christ i want this, now i wanna put the 4.2 TDI from the A8 in my B8...

You should put both A4 and 2.0T badges on it, lol.

People would wonder what kind of exhaust this 4 cylinder has haha. Catless + muffler delete is the basic plan now. With some lighter weight parts, the exhaust and a tune w/93 it should be a pretty fair powered car, too. Fun to rip around in. Down the line I will do suspension and such, but running and driving is my goal right now.

Currently wrestling the new pedals in, I'll bleed the clutch and all that, and she should be good. If my recoding on the ECU is accepted, it might just start for me. In which case it's "throw it all together as fast as humanly possible and take it for a rip" time

[Zingrox]

I've run into some issues with the manual conversion and the ECU. Apparently the ECU, upon seeing any issue with any module I have, will entirely cut communication to it and not reinstate it again. This includes my entire transmission 🙄 so now I'll have to go about wiping the module and long coding a lot of things before putting it back in together. Unfortunately, wiping an ecu isn't as easy as it sounds, and requires Audi Germany to send you the ECU files (immobilizer included) through a secure connection, that not even the dealership can do themselves. So it's an ordeal to say the least
I'll get past it, no project would be good without some difficulties I guess. Plus, it has helped me learn quite a bit about all this

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[Perry01]

Would an ECU from the donor vehicle or another S5 with a MT work?

[dandy]

People would wonder what kind of exhaust this 4 cylinder has haha. Catless + muffler delete is the basic plan now. With some lighter weight parts, the exhaust and a tune w/93 it should be a pretty fair powered car, too. Fun to rip around in. Down the line I will do suspension and such, but running and driving is my goal right now.

Currently wrestling the new pedals in, I'll bleed the clutch and all that, and she should be good. If my recoding on the ECU is accepted, it might just start for me. In which case it's "throw it all together as fast as humanly possible and take it for a rip" time

This build is insanely awesome.

Test pipe and no mufflers is going to be ridiculous. I think the v8 badge is the way to go, as it will be a hilarious experience for anybody with a knowledge of the platform and cars in general.

See car idling at stoplight traffic - "What a douchebag, badged his a4 with a v8 badge. Maybe even worse than an s4 badge."

Car throttles - "jesus christ that thing sounds like a monster"

Car is a quarter mile down the road before anybody else even starts to move - "ummmmm. . .yeah" googles a4 v8 and finds this thread

[A4 Centaur]

^ Haha! You are right! What a awesome thought!

[Zingrox]

Would an ECU from the donor vehicle or another S5 with a MT work?

That is what I am currently using, actually. These ecu's however are setup so they can only be used with their own exact car setup and nothing else. This includes everything from instrument cluster to the window motors (no joke). Everything is module based, and it will refuse to communicate with anything it has an issue with. I'm working on changing that currently, but otherwise it wont even pay attention to my entire transmission control unit because it doesn't like it. Entirely wiping it, or "virginizing" it is what I hope to do, and I've gotten in contact with some pretty experienced and knowledgeable people about it. It would think that the trim levels of the car as is should be the way it should be, and run entirely like OEM with immo and all.

The build is gonna happen, whether the dang ecu wants to dance or not! I did just get my rear diff in, unfortunately not sports diff. That requires a whole gaggle of additional parts and wiring, since it is electrically actuated. Ill just have to manage without it. I also told the car that it isn't getting washed until it drives itself out of my garage, so right now its absolutely filthy. Might motivate it a little.

Thanks everyone for the support, I'm really happy you all like it and I like the suggestions thus far!

[Zingrox]

This build is insanely awesome.

Test pipe and no mufflers is going to be ridiculous. I think the v8 badge is the way to go, as it will be a hilarious experience for anybody with a knowledge of the platform and cars in general.

See car idling at stoplight traffic - "What a douchebag, badged his a4 with a v8 badge. Maybe even worse than an s4 badge."

Car throttles - "jesus christ that thing sounds like a monster"

Car is a quarter mile down the road before anybody else even starts to move - "ummmmm. . .yeah" googles a4 v8 and finds this thread

Thanks man, those where my thoughts exactly. Everyone has heard of those guys, little do they know it's the real deal this time. Also thought about messing with s5 badges, since theyre normally coupes and this isn't a fastback anyway it would drive Audi people up a wall. I'll have to do something like this, probably the v8 badges, it's too good to pass up.

[Zingrox]

Update for anyone who pays attention to the thread!

Car is ready for me to do the ECU. I attempted a few manual codes but it seems I'll have to go another route, which a shop I've gotten in contact with says they can do (OEM recoding to the cars own parameters and modules).

Very excited. Plenty of work to do still, but it will soon run and drive for me. Sorry for no updates, lost track of time on progress and only passively posted to the forum.

Instagram post of this same picture: https://www.instagram.com/p/BoPDrseF...=1mdi7skx7xaer

For those of you, like me, who hate when build threads post every picture to Instagram and you have to open links to see them:

IMG_20180927_115247_761.jpeg

[shaunm82]

This is awesome!! I really didn't expect this type of build when I hopped in here, like a few others have said haha. Great work, and great progress so far! Can't wait for the next update!

[blgilles]

So cool! So does the V8 bolt into the engine compartment without needing to weld custom stuff?

[Zingrox]

So cool! So does the V8 bolt into the engine compartment without needing to weld custom stuff?

No custom modification so far. The s4/S5 sub frame is the same, so the 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder engine cradle are all the same piece just different holes on it.

[A4 Centaur]

Keep up the great work!

[JeZeus]

No custom modification so far. The s4/S5 sub frame is the same, so the 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder engine cradle are all the same piece just different holes on it.

Well I'm glad there is someone else as crazy as I am. I plan on swapping an 4.2L FSI V8 that was pulled from a 2007 A8 (I'm pretty sure it's the same engine as what's in the S5). The only issue I couldn't figure out while I've been planning the build is what to do with the ECU situation.

[Zingrox]

Well I'm glad there is someone else as crazy as I am. I plan on swapping an 4.2L FSI V8 that was pulled from a 2007 A8 (I'm pretty sure it's the same engine as what's in the S5). The only issue I couldn't figure out while I've been planning the build is what to do with the ECU situation.

What version ECU does it have?

[JeZeus]

What version ECU does it have?

I only have the engine so far (kind of doing it backwards compared to what you did, engine first then used car). I got the engine for very cheap as it has issues with bank 1 and the previous owner just purchased another engine rather than fixing it. I'm going to be pulling it apart and rebuilding it over the next year. I might actually look into supercharging it as some of the pulleys and such will need to be replaced anyways, and I'll have the time to save for it. I doubt I'll rebuild any of the bottom end though, as that can get costly (and I don't even know of any performance bottom end parts for the engine). There are a couple of b8 Audi A4s around my area for sale with high milage/bad engines. I'll only be looking at ones with AWD and manual transmissions, but I won't be purchasing one untill around next year at this time.

[Zingrox]

Mini update,
I have a little something or another for the project so it can hold the power 20190117_115346.jpeg