Make your own Audi S4 Avant

Avant

The word Avant, in itself, sounds so luxurious. The word, in fact, means "culturally or stylistically advanced." It's a great name then, for a vehicle that can so superbly combine all the form and functionality of a family wagon with a sense of style. The Audi S4 is already a very popular sports sedan. Now take all of that and mold it into a fantastic family wagon and you have a beautiful, functional, and very high performing grocery getter. So, what's the problem? Why won't they just take my money?! Well, unfortunately for the United States, we are not lucky enough to receive these beautiful works of automotive art. There is a 25-year import rule that was put in place to protect us from safety and emissions that might not pass our standards and tests. Blasphemy! 

Photos and full story courtesy of Jalopnik

Inspiration

For every project, abomination or automotive marvel, there is some form of inspiration. It could be a well-known race car driver like Ayrton Senna. Perhaps you just like to get creative and crazy at the same time. It is often other tuning shops who inspire us enthusiasts. That's because many tuning shops are brands and teams of people like you and me who have a serious passion for all things automotive. You can trust their research and work and be better prepared to take on a huge overhaul like this one. GMG Racing is a tuning house that currently serves as America’s premier performance tuning facility. They are also known for taking on a build similar to this one whereby they swapped all the performance components from a B8 S4 sedan into a B8 A4 Avant body. 

Photo: Audizine

>>Join the conversation about this S4 Avant conversion right here in the Audi World Forum!

Specimen

Enter an Audi enthusiast by the name of Chuck Sampson. While it's heartbreaking that we can't buy these amazing fast wagons in the United States, that didn't stop Chuck. It all started with his B8.5-generation 2014 Audi S4 sedan. It came with all the options and features of its time. His car is powered by a supercharged 3.0-liter V6, which was rated for 333 horsepower. And let's not forget the famous Quattro AWD. He opted for the dual-clutch 7-speed automatic transmission, which aided his longer commutes to and from work. To give this standard S4 a few extra bells and whistles, Chuck added an AWE track exhaust, AWE resonated downpipe, Vorsteiner VFF-102 wheels, and an EPL Stage 2 tune. 

Photo: Chuck Sampson

>>Join the conversation about this S4 Avant conversion right here in the Audi World Forum!

Donor

Chuck knew he always wanted a wagon. He has driven and owned a couple before. He always wondered what it would be like to put a sportier engine in a station wagon. He finds them "practical and not oversized like an SUV." After 3 years of daily enjoyment from his S4 Sedan, he found the perfect donor: a B8 2011 Audi A4 Avant wagon. He drove it for roughly a month before the official teardown began. 

>>Join the conversation about this S4 Avant conversion right here in the Audi World Forum!

Tear down

As one can imagine, there are several things to consider when taking on a swap as involved as this. Sure, Chuck wants to retain the amazing power plant in his current S4 sedan. But, to wire it and enjoy all the other luxury features, he needed to be extra careful in determining what's compatible and what's not. A great benefit most enthusiasts don't get to enjoy is the Hydraulic Lift systems in his garage. Having a hydraulic lift in your garage makes "light work" of moving things about like entire motors, axles, and bodies like Chuck had to. He also needed to use butcher-block tables. Creativity and ingenuity are 2 secret ingredients to keep on hand. In general, here are the steps he performed:

1. Remove the interior from the A4 Avant. 

2. Remove A4 engine and rear end. 

3. Repeat above steps for S4 Sedan. 

4. Dispose of all parts relevant to the A4 Avant.

5. Install all the S4 parts into the A4 Avant shell. 

6. Enjoy! 

Photo: Chuck Sampson

>>Join the conversation about this S4 Avant conversion right here in the Audi World Forum!

Discrepancies

Every true enthusiast knows that no one car is the same as the other. Knowing the differences is crucial in a swap like this. Chuck learned through this experience that there were differences in the trim between the 2 cars. One was a "Prestige" trim and the other was a "Premium Plus." Things like the door handles needed to be swapped in order to retain the S4's keyless entry. In this case, since the donor car was older, the harness was significantly different. Luckily, another favorable wagon of the same manufacturer saved the day. The almighty AllRoad. Chuck found a harness complete with the updated connectors and modules from a local junkyard. He still needed to splice the S4 harness into the new A4 Allroad harness to ensure use of the S4 components. 

Photo: Chuck Sampson

>>Join the conversation about this S4 Avant conversion right here in the Audi World Forum!

Reassembly

It might surprise you to know that this "build" took Chuck 3 weeks from start to finish. That is fast! Luckily, he knew his way around these cars and was already familiar with the platform. Using small plastic bags to label and store the smaller parts as well as taking photos of everything really helped. The gas tank and EVAP canister matched up easily which was great because he could still reuse his recently upgraded fuel pump from the S4. Following this was hooking up the power and ground for the S4's electric steering, the engine, the rear-end components, and the famous sport differential. While that might sound like a daunting task, Audi made some of the work easy by making clear what grommets fit where and how certain connectors were plugged in. The interior went in last in reverse order of how everything came out. Chuck used the opportunity to repaint some bits and even install some suede fabric. 

"Fun fact: only two plugs connect the engine and transmission wiring harness to the body wiring harness."

Photo: Chuck Sampson

>>Join the conversation about this S4 Avant conversion right here in the Audi World Forum!

End result

In all her glory, you're now looking at a complete, functional, fast wagon! The car started up on the first try with only a few fault codes to address. Luckily, most of them were sensor related and a lot of those were readily available from the specimen car. Chuck also made sure to add some subtle and not so subtle design cues as well. This included a "carbon fiber" RS4 replica spoiler to the hatch. While we're talking about the rear hatch, he also installed a power liftgate. This was not a standard feature on the 2011 Audi A4 Avant, but was available on the 2014 AllRoad. LEDs and a subwoofer made for great accents to the rear cargo area. The spare wheel was ditched for hidden air tanks to utilize AccuAir's Air Ride system. And lastly, the wheels were a finishing touch to make the car really stand out. 

Photo: Chuck Sampson

>>Join the conversation about this S4 Avant conversion right here in the Audi World Forum!

For help with your car's service needs, check out the how to section of AudiWorld.com.