LaseRed02

Posted this on the Car Lounge yesterday, hopefully I can get more support and info here!!

My 2002 S4 has about 97k on her, and I smell oil nearly every time I drive or "get on it". I know this oil to be from both my turbos, the driver's side especially. This can only mean one thing: it's time to plan for their replacements! (because this car is just too tunable to sell ).

I can think of three routes, with two of them being similar:
1. Purchase a complete kit from a company such as AWE Tuning.
2. Purchase an eliminator kit.
3. Build my own.

Since the first choice is so expensive, I'm going to opt out of it. I am not in a rush, and I may be able to save money if I can find lightly used parts like injectors, on the forums.
I know very little about eliminator kits and I'm skeptical of them as I am of any other kit. I am open to them, I just don't know much about them. The kits in mind are the Tial 605 and Tial 770R.

Building a kit seems like the best way to go if you know what you're doing. And I don't, but I would love to learn. I'll make it real easy and break down into a slightly annotated list what I don't know/would like to know. Before I do, I have to state for all the sarcastic and critical on here, I am aware that I could look all this up myself but I'm hoping that in posting here I will be given reliable information and reliable sources of it so that I don't have to start this search "in the dark", saving me a lot of time.

What I'd like to know:

What are the absolute essentials for the stage 3 upgrade/big(ger) turbo replacement from K03's?
Eliminator kits lead me to believe that all I need are the turbos. I find this difficult to fathom. What would I need to get the car running with bigger turbos on it?

I plan to drive this car every day for the next few years and I'd like something more interesting and powerful than K04s but I also want this to be "daily drivable", in less redundant terms this means fast spool. What turbos would be the best in terms of reliability, price, overall power and responsiveness(spool)?

What else should I get aside from the essentials? I already have an FMIC which I never installed, and recently AWE 2.5 downpipes and catback. I'm looking to sell the downpipes and upgrade to 3inchers for the turbos btw.

How much MUST I spend to get the car running with big(ger)? How much SHOULD I spend in order to have a build that is safe and powerful?

Before you answer I just have to clear up that I am putting this kit together knowing that my K03's could break very soon. So the kit is a "safety" and also a work in progress if the K03's do actually hold up. Also, labor is something expected to come further down the line, so I'll deal with that expense when the time comes.

I just want to know what I would need to get my car running if I hear that dreaded dentist's drill And also what to get if I don't, so I can make my affordable, reliable, and powerful, dream build.



Thank you for spending your time reading this post and I'm sure I'll find any helpful information invaluable. Happy Holidays!

donromani

My advice is to get a tried and tested kit from one of the reputable vendors (VAST, AWE, ASP, etc) as I am skeptical about both the reliability of the home-brew tunes as well as their supposed cost-savings.

Others will tell you differently, and if you know what you're doing you can probably cobble together a decent set-up out of used turbos, green giants, and do your own tuning with lemmiwinks(?). This is a tall order though, and you're more likely to end up breaking stuff and possibly blowing up your motor than if you go with a pre-configured kit.

No matter what kit you go with you should also plan on doing as much upgrading as possible to other components like mounts, intercoolers, hoses, etc. There's not really any way around buying these from vendors or waiting until they pop up in the classifieds. Expect to spend no less than 5 grand getting K04s with fueling going, and probably more like 8-10 grand realistically.

The minimum you need to get the power gains from a bigger turbo set-up is: the turbos, fueling and ECU tune. Better hoses, fuel pump, plugs, intercoolers, brakes/pads, downpipes and exhaust are also highly recommended but not absolutely required.

Flyboy

I'd advise you to spend some time considering how you drive your car, and what it is specifically you want to change. There are a lot of upgrade options and they provide tradeoffs. Have you ridden in a Stg3 or higher car? Do you have a horsepower level in mind that you are looking for? Are you willing to sacrifice the low-end for more power? Or would you rather have quick response over top end power?

cobrakiller08

I totaly agree! This is some good advise. I have a stage 3++++ car and I can definaly tell you about the trade offs.