S4 advice needed please.

[BHP_Hunter]

hi there, new member dipping his toe in the knowledge base that is 246.com
i'm considering buying an S4, but really only know the basics about them.
at the moment i'm gathering research and, as this place is the best place to get it, i thought i'd ask the members for some help/advice...and all is welcome.
performance cars are getting cheaper and cheaper these days, but what has really made me look again at the S4 was something i found while idly browsing the internet, namely the AWE website.
forgive me if i'm over-simplifying things, but it appears that for less than £6k you can get hold of a bunch of bolt on parts that can catapult the output upto the region of 550bhp.
i was impressed and interested in one fell swoop.
so, my questions.

is the AWE kit with its K04 turbo's et al any good?

are there better kits around that offer similar performance?

will the transmission need an upgrade too or will the stock equiptment handle the massive hike in power?

will the bottom/top end need attention or a rebuild?

from quickly flicking through these forums there appears to be quite a few members with high powered S4's so any advice of the pitfalls and/or any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
thanks for reading.

[Russ,greys4]

550 is high, but 450 ish for 6k very possible. engine will be fine running big turbos, no real probs with transmission. S4 is a very good base for big power mods.

[whisky180]

6k for 550 bhp is pretty optimistic, mrc tuning do a drive in drive out 500 bhp conversion for about £11500. if your a diy man u could do it cheaper

[nickb834]

Have a look in the downloads for the self study guide on the 2.7 BiTurbo engine.

In there you'll find out that the engine runs with forged pistons as stock, has 4 bolt bearing caps (6 on the centre) this accounts for the bomb proof bottom end reliability.

My two S4's had / have over 140k / 180k on the clock with the fragile k03's on them. The stock transmission has been shown to handle 900bhp (check audiworld for the info on the polish s4 avant used for drag racing).

MRC currently have an S4 running 550+bhp on stock (although RS4 gearbox) transmission parts.

Personally, I don't think you can beat MRC for remaps (not had one...yet! but going on reputation), Milltek for exhausts and race cats.

Nothing to worry about really except weak K03 stock turbo's (although two 100K + mile cars on stock turbos One remapped )

[BHP_Hunter]

6k for 550 bhp is pretty optimistic, mrc tuning do a drive in drive out 500 bhp conversion for about £11500. if your a diy man u could do it cheaper

so the AWE claims are bogus?
460 brake on 93 octane and 550 on race fuel (although no data given on what spec race fuel it is))

[nickb834]

6k for 550 bhp is pretty optimistic, mrc tuning do a drive in drive out 500 bhp conversion for about £11500. if your a diy man u could do it cheaper

so the AWE claims are bogus?
460 brake on 93 octane and 550 on race fuel (although no data given on what spec race fuel it is))

Wouldn't say bogus on power, just price. You can certainly get the bits for 460hp for less than 6 grand - just won't get em installed too! Are you quoting the regal price for the kit in the UK? Don't forget you'll need downpipes and upgraded intercoolers to get 460hp reliably. And all this is excluding fitting.

Don't forget 93 octane fuel is us spec, it's a combination of RON and MON, in reality it's more like 95 ron UK spec fuel. Race gas is something like 102 I think?

[BHP_Hunter]

[Wouldn't say bogus on power, just price. You can certainly get the bits for 460hp for less than 6 grand - just won't get em installed too! Are you quoting the regal price for the kit in the UK? Don't forget you'll need downpipes and upgraded intercoolers to get 460hp reliably. And all this is excluding fitting.

i was just converting the US price to pounds and adding a guesstimate of taxes liable.
i realise that labour costs would be extra but the cost of the parts is very reasonable IMHO.

Don't forget 93 octane fuel is us spec, it's a combination of RON and MON, in reality it's more like 95 ron UK spec fuel. Race gas is something like 102 I think?

you're kidding?
i thought it was a worldwide standard.
bugger.

[philipwalker]

The APR kit is good value at the moment £3995 for the turbos and the bits pictured below. Add to this the APR intercoolers similar to RS4`s.

I think Doc Al has just had a kit fitted by Awesome??

[S4TAN]

Doc Al's had this done????!!!!! Didn't think he was a 'big power' boy ...

[MarkB]

Doc Al's had this done????!!!!! Didn't think he was a 'big power' boy ...

He has been quiet for a while. Maybe he's been prescribing himself some good drugs

[S4TAN]

Maybe he's been prescribing himself some good drugs

Well he is a chemist, not sure if he works in pharmaceuticals though .... I could be wrong; he could be a major crack baron (fnaarr fnaarr kyuk chortle titter)

And you're right: he is conspicuous by his absence .... maybe he's been arrested .....

[philipwalker]

He could be a Dr in Theology?

[MCB]

Last time I was over at Awesome they mentioned that, wondering if it was someone on here - be great if it is Al.

Maybe he hasn't posted for a while as it maybe taking him a while to write his conversion dissertation (:lol:).

Come on Al spill the beans and if you don’t respond we will attack your Inbox with multiple PM's?

[S4TAN]

Maybe he hasn't posted for a while as it maybe taking him a while to write his conversion dissertation ().

OH CRAP! I hadn't thought about that! My God - it would take up terabytes of storage space for him to describe it....

C'mon - what's up Doc!?

I almost feel compelled to start a "Where's Dr-Al?" thread .... (a bit like that "Where's Wally?" game, except Dr-Al isn't a wally, of course!)

[rikrose]

My advice for BHP Hunter is to drive the car around for a few months to get used to it, before upgrading. Aside from anything else, you want to be used to the car before you change it, so you know roughly what to expect from any upgrades. Also, it gives you a chance to negotiate with your insurance company about the upgrades, which you'll need to declare anyway. (See insurance threads).

I also note that if you haven't get a lot of experience driving powerful cars, they'll sting you on insurance anyway - I've got nearly 10 years no claims under my belt (ie, never had an accident) and they still want lots of money from me because I've not owned a car with reasonable power before.