banditoamigo

The wife is giving me an early father's day present in time for a May driving event: $5K to spend on upgrading the "daddywagon" into a performance machine!

I already have H-Sports, a DTS and a short shifter. And I've searched the forums and followed (with much interest) your exploits in search of ultimate performance. I've searched allroadfaq (thanks again Uber!), but haven't gotten a true consensus as to the best thinking from those who've been there... so I ask you. If you had $5k to spend, what would you pursue for best bang for the buck?

Here's my thoughts so far:

- Chip
- K04 upgrade
- Downpipes
- Exhaust (not too loud)
- Fueling
- Brake upgrade in front
- snub mount
- TB replacement (while I'm in there -- only 50K on the odo, but the car's 6 years old, so may as well do it now)
- Don't think I need a clutch, but welcome your thoughts

I know you can burn up cash quick on any of the above, but hoping your real-world experience can guide me toward or away from the best-value options for each listed. I already have a very reasonable tuner who will put together a custom program for me based on what I can put together, so I'm not too worried about that part... but I'm hoping you can help turn this thread into a "master list" of the best bang-for-the-buck mods you can make on a limited budget.

Thanks guys!

Tenacious auDi

Where are you located? I would find a good local shop as a first step...

Rally_nutcase_1982

K04 will run around 8-10K so that's over budget; start off with a BBK for the front and stainless steel lines all around, should be about 2K.

From there you could go with a nice fueling kit (pump, 60lbs injectors, MAF all for around 1.5K).

Now you'll need to find a good tuner for the Software and also remember the smaller parts like Samco TB and other hoses that should be replaced.

With a conservative tuning you would still get a nice kick out of your K03's......but start saving funds for K04s ;-)

The other route would be 3" DP's and a full exhaust which might run around 3.2K + BBK.

banditoamigo

There's at least three options that friends in my local Audi club have had very good results from.

Here's the price list of what I'm considering so far:

K04 turbos and inlet pipe: $2700
EPL K04 Fueling kit for 2.7T: $2099
Chip: $400

Sound in-line with your spends?

Another question I just remembered to add: Do allroads benefit that much from IC upgrades, or should I skip to save the cash for brakes?

With K04 and fueling my budget's already blown, even without considering installation, but want to catalog everything so we have the definitive "expert guide" for others.

gragravar

1) TB replacement - after 6 years it is probably time.
2) Brakes
3) Chip

then if you have anything left over work on exhaust and then downpipes.

the cheap way to do both of those is to find a used RS6 exhaust from someone with an RS6 upgrading theirs, and for downpipes, get some piggy pipes from Vast. the downpipe wont be expensive if you do the piggies, but the install might be, those are a pain to get to.

good luck man.

as for the rest of your list, you dont need the fueling until you do the K04s and you also dont likely need the clutch until then either. K04's plus fueling, plus software for that, plus the clutch is going to probably double that budget of yours.

gragravar

wouldnt it be best to wait on that until he can flow more air to match the higher level of fueling?

gragravar

once you flow more air in with big turbos, you need to get it out and will need downpipes and exhaust.

Intercooler upgrade will help once you run the boost from the K04s and maybe a little with a chip, but that wouldnt be my first concern.

Brakes are needed really badly on the allroad so move that up on your list, and go with a chip to get a little faster.

Oh, and for a very nice S4 up there with most of these upgrades already done, search our Wagongotya. Matt is a really good guy who can probably let you see some of these first hand and can share his experiences in building up the 2.7T.

skidmark

Brakes are plain BLING! There isn't a brake kit out there which will improve braking torque by more then 10 to 15%. Tires will make a MUCH BIGGER improvement and better brake pads.

Not knocking other guys but you are clearly on a budget, don't waste it on stupid ****. Piggies and different mufflers(turbo-straight through pipe) on stock exhaust pipe would be a cheap improvement which will match almost all aftermarket exhausts while keeping exhaust tone at an acceptable level.


Save money for bigger turbos and clutch afterwards if you want more performance cus 5k isn't going to get you there unless you are doing the mechanical work yourself.

Suburbia4

If you haven't already, get in touch with him and JJ...

banditoamigo

Chip price was as quoted by JJ -- and yes, Matt and Jordan are both stand-up guys who are very knowledgable. Matt's mods are WAY out of my range for now though :-)

Thanks for the input guys, keep the thoughts coming! I hope to post consensus on the allroadfaq.

For brakes, is it best bang/buck to just go for stainless lines and upgraded pads, to do an S8 upgrade, or to go BBK/stoptech/etc?

I can vouch that the brakes need some help, as I completely toasted my fronts the first time I went to Road America.