B6 S4 - Tiptronic to manual swap

[Atomic Avant]

I can't even give away my auto. Lol

[Rol-co]

I can't even give away my auto. Lol

Maybe you should send it to europe :)

https://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/s...r=false&vc=Car

[Dondbg]

I learned how to drive on a manual car and my first car was manual and after that was all auto - sick of it - and have driven this donor manual V8 and it is amazing !!!

[Atomic Avant]

I learned how to drive on a manual car and my first car was manual and after that was all auto - sick of it - and have driven this donor manual V8 and it is amazing !!!

Same. I haven't driven a manual in years now. Plus I haven't had the pleasure of driving an B6/B7 6speed yet. I look forward to driving it when I get home.

[VinnysS4]

I can't even give away my auto. Lol

Same. It’s free, come pick it up. Nobody wants it LOL. Surprisingly considering how expensive they are new to replace.


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[Dondbg]

I have two of them - just waiting for them to be sold

[Rol-co]

All b6?
What is normal value for an S4 b7 ? Avant/sedan/cabrio, last one is realy going crazy and some people buying as an investment.

https://www.autoscout24.nl/lst/audi/s4/bt_cabrio

[Dondbg]

All b6?
What is normal value for an S4 b7 ? Avant/sedan/cabrio, last one is realy going crazy and some people buying as an investment.

https://www.autoscout24.nl/lst/audi/s4/bt_cabrio

B6 which should same for the B7.
Just sold it 2005 B7 with 160k km for $8.7k

[Dondbg]

Ran the clutch switch wire, and swapped the paddles assembly





Looks good with three pedals

Passing the clutch master cylinder line is way easier with the brake booster loose.

Removing the driver seat and accelerator pedal made the assembly swap easy, there are four bolts holding the assembly plus you will need to disconnect the brake pedal from the brake booster and this is where I started

[Dondbg]

Repaired the engine wiring harness, replaced coils connectors, injectors and few other ones with broken taps
The coil and injector ones were so brittle literally you can smash them with your fingers, genuine are ridiculously expensive so I searched EBay and aliexpress and ordered two kits, one was perfect match all 8 for $20 versus $26 each!

Here is the link for anyone needs to replace his

https://www.ebay.com/itm/8pc-Ignitio....m46890.l49292





Same for the injectors, I had to smash the old connectors to be able to pull the terminals, as soon you try to pry anything it breaks,, bought all 8 from Aliexpress, were not direct fit had to shave a bit of the plastic so the connectors will snap in to the guide, won’t complain for the price I paid for them



Smashed it lol

[Atomic Avant]

looks good! and nice score on the new connectors.

The last thing that needs to be done to my swap is the reverse lights need to be wired. I just can't find the write up on how it was done. (I have way too many tabs open)

[Dondbg]

Ran new wires for the Air pump since the ones in the engine harness were fried crispy !

I connected the ground to the same ground used for the alternator and starter



Used heat insulation on the positive And routed it partially via the harness then direct to the ECU box




Cut one of these and was able to push the wire

[Dondbg]

looks good! and nice score on the new connectors.

The last thing that needs to be done to my swap is the reverse lights need to be wired. I just can't find the write up on how it was done. (I have way too many tabs open)

Thanks man.

Here is the reverse light wires, green , red with blue stripe



Will see if I can find where they pop at the other side and report back.

Still lots of “tabs” myself, Have pulled the heads today, will decarbon, replace valve stems.




“Ignore the red arrows”

[Echohunter]

A guy after my heart with the level of detail of the write up and all the pics! . . .. . .but seriously . . ..has nobody else noticed the carpeted garage floor?????

[Rol-co]

A guy after my heart with the level of detail of the write up and all the pics! . . .. . .but seriously . . ..has nobody else noticed the carpeted garage floor?????

What do you mean with garage? It's his living room!

[Dondbg]

A guy after my heart with the level of detail of the write up and all the pics! . . .. . .but seriously . . ..has nobody else noticed the carpeted garage floor?????

What do you mean with garage? It's his living room!

LOL!

In NZ it is a thing to carpet the garage - got the house with it and was planning to rip it off but thought to abuse it before I do so.

After spending long time with I kinda started to like it, it’s some sort of heavy duty nylon, comfy to sit and when you slide on when going under the car and oil / liquids spills won’t spread but it bead and can easily wiped, plus the garage is warm.

Down side is very hard to roll heavy stuff like a car on dollies and loaded engine crane .....

Epoxy is the way to go...

[Dondbg]

Looks like I have one bent valve, before pulling the engine I got pretty good numbers from compression and leak down, but when I was removing the TQ I rotated the engine in the opposite direction by mistake and since I have two missing guides the engine jumped time further and one piston rested on this valve, I was thinking piece of a guide stuck it self somewhere and jammed the engine movement and I was applying a bit of force trying to turn it up until I had a look and realised it actually skipped time.

NEVER EVER TURN THR ENGINE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION

[All_Black_A4]

Bugger. That kinda sucks.
Something tells me you've got a few spare valves lying around

I spent the past 2 days drilling out a flywheel bolt that decided it wanted to strip itself. I managed to remove 7 without any issue but the last one decided it was going to put up a fight.
2 days and $100 worth of drill bits later and I won

There was no way I was going to let that JHM LWFW go to waste

[Dondbg]

Ya it sucks I got really pissed at myself as I was planning to throw in the new timing kit and done / drive the damn thing finally.

I have two other running engines but don’t want to crack them open just for one valve. And can’t find a used one either. Options buy new from dealer or buy 4 aftermarket which equals the price of one from the dealer.

Have removed all valves and that’s the only one damaged



Tip for first timers (like me) it helps to gently tap the spring hat as it’s stuck and will make the removal very easy, I used short 1/2 inch extension like so and hit it with a hammer, again very gentle tap.




And this type spring compressor is really good

[Dondbg]

Removed the valve stem seals



This pliers makes pulling them way way easier versus nose pliers and safer simply grab the seal, twist and gently pull.



I might send the heads to get them cleaned or I’ll do it myself, and probably going to cost the same.

[Dondbg]

Examined the valves again and I have discovered I have 4 more slightly bent, cleaning pistons showed marks for the valves touching them which appears to be OK





With all that I decided to pull the head from the other engine with higher mileage 230k km, full of carbon deposits, so now I either going to use the original head and borrow valves from this one or just use the whole head, I’ll take both to the machine shop and will let them decide for me.

Even engine with perfect timing I see valves marks on the pistons, looks like it is a normal thing with the BBKs

Edit: see post below from Alex - this is machining marks.

[AlexB6S4]

The first picture IS a valve impact. The second picture is just machining marks.

Edit: That first picture is strange as that is not where the upper intake valve is positioned. It is a little higher. That may have been an impact during disassembly if the caps and crank were not locked into position.


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[Dondbg]

The first picture IS a valve impact. The second picture is just machining marks.

Edit: That first picture is strange as that is not where the upper intake valve is positioned. It is a little higher. That may have been an impact during disassembly if the caps and crank were not locked into position.


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You are correct.

The first picture belongs to an engine that jumped time due to missing Centre upper and lower plastic guides (missing as it smashed in to bits, no guide left), both cams in both banks were like 30 degrees off when crack on TDC, engine was running but slightly rough, when I was removing the torque converter and rotating the engine by mistake and in a rush I rotated it using the TQ and in the opposite direction so it skipped more teeth and jammed itself so i had to remove the cams and was able to rotate and undo the remaining TQ bolts.
Three cylinders 3,7&8 got the centre intake valve bent and others slightly bent from running the engine with messed up timing note compression and leakdown before disassembly were 175 psi on all cylinders with almost zero leak (with the messed up timing)



I reckon I damaged the centre intake valves above by trying to force rotate by hand thinking a piece of a guide jammed the engine.

In your experience, from forcing rotating the engine while hitting the valves could cause damage to anything else beside the bend valves ?

[AlexB6S4]

You probably did nothing that the engine did not do itself spinning MUCH faster than you can hand crank it. At a minimum your valves and guides are shot if no valve heads broke off. Possible additional failures are a hammered valve seat (which would cause the heads to be trash since no one presses in new seats) and bearing contact with journals (con rod & main). Whenever internals make contact, I would suggest a FULL disassembly and inspection.

[Dondbg]

Destination : machine shop
2 pairs of heads so they can pick for me which is better, block to eyeball the walls just because I can take it, flywheel to resurface and intake manifold cover to get sand blasted

[Dondbg]

Machine shop calls me up after they picked the best head pair to use and all my exhaust guides are shot (oval shaped) .
Have agreed with them to press new ones in addition to grinding all the valves and valve seats followed by vacuum testing.

I have the option he said to keep using them but I choose not to, I’m already there might as well do it right.

[Pnflds]

... I’m already there might as well do it right.

Amen Brother.

[VinnysS4]

You will know it was done right


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[Atomic Avant]

Machine shop calls me up after they picked the best head pair to use and all my exhaust guides are shot (oval shaped) .
Have agreed with them to press new ones in addition to grinding all the valves and valve seats followed by vacuum testing.

I have the option he said to keep using them but I choose not to, I’m already there might as well do it right.

Very nice!!

I just got my car back from the shop with the 6 speed installed.

God how I have missed a manual gearbox.

[Dondbg]

Very nice!!

I just got my car back from the shop with the 6 speed installed.

God how I have missed a manual gearbox.

Nice !!!

I can’t wait to put it back together and drive it finally......

[Dondbg]

Got them back finally ...





During this time cleaned the injectors, long chain of hoses, and I used tyre stem valve at the injector side and it worked well.



Cleaned PCV components and all it’s plumbing it was full of sludge




sanded, painted and baked the IM






















Still didn’t find all the pieces of the two smashed guides so dropped the pan and bingo !












The dude is in the air, will replace the valley pan gasket and the check valves before I assemble heads........




Getting closer

[AlexB6S4]

Lookin good!


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[Dondbg]

I’m in the process of buttoning up my engine and while I was cleaning and putting back the valves rocker arms I noticed some camshaft follower / rocker arm spacer inside are stuck and some are soft to push in / out.



Replacing the arms or the Hydraulic followers is very expensive

$25 x40 for the followers OR $308 x8 for the whole arm = no thanks

I have a spare arm decided to experiment on, sure you can pull the follower out but it will be damaged



Or you can apply compressed air and the middle lifter will pop out undamaged but you will ran out of fingers to block the holes



Good news as soon you do that you will be able to relieve the pressure by pressing this pin and it will start moving.



Putting it on a vice will decompress it without the need to pull the lifters but it makes me nervous lol as it might or will damage the surface mating with the valve.

May be if I use softer metal like aluminium instead of steel (3/4>1/4) adapter below, need to find that alu piece that fit.



Here is a short video

https://youtube.com/shorts/mOyrUqwN3Hs

I have so far seen two different opinions

1- clean and throw them back inside
2- clean, decompress them

[Dondbg]

Went down the path of decompressing them, now all are soft can be pushed by hand.



What I did is I covered the 3/4>1/4” adapter with some thick duct tape, as well as the vice itself, started pressing really slow and at some point you will hear the pressure vents and you have to stop there.





Make sure they are all lined up straight



After pressing, I used petroleum based degreaser spray to clean them, then submerged them in clean oil and gave the followers few pushes while they are inside so new oil gets sucked in



I discovered 80% of them were stuck.

[Dondbg]

While I wait for my new steam seals to arrive I decided to work on other bits. Started with the thermostat and after an hour I ended bending the taps this FUKN PITA won’t seat, used socket, zip ties .... nothing worked


I know it’s doable but I decided to pass and just grabbed a spare (looks fresh)thermostat i have that I pulled from a B7S4, date stamp says 2011 so that should do for now



Swapped the water pump unit with new one



Going through boxes full of parts to decide what to do next



Cleaned oil cooler, back on with new Orings, seals for upper, lower radiator hoses, heater core: I took the oring to the auto store and got one, you can’t buy this oring for the heater core connection from dealer.

Every bolt I torque and every oring I replace I leave a blue dot next / on as mark it is Done .

[Dondbg]

Rebuild inner CVs



Used OE as it comes with correct size clamps, KGN kit comes with generic size ones and in my experience doesn’t seal well and always you will see some grease, Anyway wanted fast job.

[Dondbg]

Installed all stem seals.



I used a heat shrink over the ends of the valves to save the seals as it might get nicked




Slide valve in



Put heat shrink sleeve



And then push / seat the valve



Used this tool

[Dondbg]

I totally forgot to check the intake manifold flap and tbh didn’t know it can seize oh well I ended up opening the intake again since I broke the flap end trying to break it free.

I BROKE IT LOL

Tried to drill it out and that failed so I butchered the flaps and pulled it out





I didn’t care much I have three manifolds, two of them are seized, and one was cracked but with working flap, managed to free the other one and the one above broke
Since my one is nicely looking in RED so I transplanted a working flap in to it.


This is how I freed the seized flap

Make sure you mark/remember the position, below is fully open, this is the position it need to be in when you will put it back



Started by loosing the flap bracket, just work it slowly and take your time



Then I started hammering it and done



Cleaned it, sanded the holes a bit where the flap seat in with 400 grit sandpaper




Greased the shaft ends, applied some silicon on the oring and motor oil in the seal then put it back together



I used some red thread lock on this bolt and Torqued it to 7nm



As for the intake cover bolts 10nm should do.



Swapped the fuel rail bolts with studs as one got ruined while torquing it, used M6 25mm studs

[Dondbg]

Started assembling the heads and finished one side





Couldn’t cont with the other side as I discovered i was sent one wrong / weird head bolt



Since 10th April I’m waiting for ECS replacement bolt to arrive, don’t want to buy a whole set.

[Dondbg]

Mounted the oil catch can, almost OE fitment

Bought a generic one from Aliexpress



Throw away the hose and clamps and in this car the best spot to mount the catch can is the empty space of the vacuum pump which from what I have seen S4’s didn’t come with one only the A6’s anyhow, here some the pictures

I used the same rubber mounts that is used with ABS module / block, (I have a donor car) and screwed them in to the can after taking measures



Screwed in the mounts


Needed something to prevent it from moving and to follow the same (design) of the vacuum pump


So I went looking for something I can use and this was best thing I found, it is the spare wheel mount, cut it to seize





And glued it to the can



Final product



Here is it seated in





And secured it with the plastic locks, from the ABS module / block







Will sort the plumbing and connect it after I start the engine and make sure all is fine without any vacuum leaks.