How about giving you Dynamik a new lease of life? I bought my A4 Avant Dynamik back in 2011 and it has been a great car, but I started to hanker after a bit more power and I find the standard setup runs out of puff at the higher end of the rev range. The Dynamik has always felt a bit of a lamb in wolfs clothing, so I wanted to give it some teeth. I got my toes wet in the tuning market by purchasing a RaceChip Tuning Ultimate unit
http://www.racechip.com/chiptuning/audi/a4/b8/2-0-tfsi-155kw/index.php which beefs up the low and midrange by over 20%, but the standard “K03” turbo just can’t deliver at the top end. So I decided that more drastic action was going to be required to unleash more of the fantastic potential of the 2.0 TFSI valvelift engine and started to look at turbocharger upgrades. I have listed all of the part numbers used in my conversion at the bottom of the post.
My tuning ethos was to try and use standard Audi stuff if possible and to keep the car as stock looking as possible, although when you start messing about with upgrading turbo’s there are quite a few things that you also have to change to release the power. At this point I must thank the guys at
JBS Auto Designs for their help and guidance. They told me that apart from the turbo (of which there are a few choices) I would need; a sports catalyst and full exhaust system, a decent replacement intercooler (FMIC) and a stage 3+ remap. I looked at the APR tuning K04 conversion but figured out for slightly less money I could get the LOBA LO380L turbo, which is a drop in replacement fettled Borg Warner K04 and a Custom-Code stage 3+ remap which had the promise of a little more horse power and torque than the standard K04 used by APR. With the valvelift engine there is no requirement to change the high pressure fuel pump and injectors, although the injectors are probably the limiting factor for achieving maximum power with the LOBA turbo. For the exhaust, as there was a possibility to buy a top quality British system, I went for a complete Miltek turbo back setup.
I figured I’d also need some big brakes to stop this beast, so as Audi RS4 B8 brakes (“wave rotors”) are a direct fit, and a complete set maintains the front rear brake bias, I bought some from a nice Hungarian guy on eBay. Most Audi RS upgrades I’ve seen sold on eBay are based on RS5 components. This is fine on the front of the A4 but the rear disks are different and won’t fit correctly due to a different offset. Hub shims underneath can fix this but it will push the rear wheels out by approximately 5mm. I opted to pay a little more for the correct RS4 rear disks which are a drop in replacement. Another advantage of the RS4 B8 OEM brake setup is that you can maintain the electro mechanical handbrake without modification, which I was keen to do.
However, you do require wheels that will fit over the big front callipers; beware that most standard A4 wheels will not, including the A4 Dynamic wheels. After much skulking around an Audi showroom with a tape measure, I figured out that the standard ET43 19x8.5J Audi 5 Segment alloys clear the callipers without spacers. This was ideal as I could just swap over my existing 255 35 R19 tyres.
Now for the juicy bit, the power figures. This setup requires 98 RON fuel, my preferred choice for price, availability and consistency being Tesco Momentum 99 which was in the car for its tuning and dyno runs.
JBS Auto Designs used their
Custom-Code stage 3+ remap which is hand crafted to the cars particular setup. The dyno results curves below are at the wheels.
The engine now develops a max 343.3 BHP and a healthy 405.3 ft-lbs of torque. Driving at legal motorway speeds the car returns approx. 32mpg which is excellent, but is very quick when you start to push on and use the torque. Petrol consumption does go up pretty dramatically at that point J.
The exhaust is very civilised and in keeping with the relatively stealthy conversion. It is a slightly louder than stock and doesn’t suffer any interior cabin drone. There is none of the snap crackle and pop you get with a big V8 sports car which appeals to the boy racer in me, but would be tedious on a long journey.
In conclusion this is not a cheap conversion but it does exploit the capabilities of the A4 B8 2.0 TFSi platform without compromising comfort or making the car difficult to drive in any way. It’s just a no fuss go fast, stop quick, have fun family saloon setup. Yes, I could have bought an S4, but I would have still changed the brakes and my Dynamik is a reliable low mileage car which I had from new and intend to keep. A final thanks to
JBS Auto Designs who did all of the work and were so helpful during the process.
For reference, after much deliberation, Googling and typing into spreadsheets, this is specification that I finally used. Here are all the part numbers which I hope will help anyone looking for a proven configuration.
LOBA
LO380L Turbocharger
Custom-Code stage 3+ remap
Milltek Sport Exhaust Hi-Flow Sports Cat (SSXAU343)
Milltek Saloon & Avant Cat-back GT100 exhaust system (SSXAU302)
Wagner AUDI A4/A5 B8 2.0 TFSI competition intercooler kit (200001045)
Audi RS4/RS5 front discs 365x34mm (2 x 8T0615301 ), calipers (8T0615107C,8T0615108C), dust guards (8T0615311C, 8T0615312C), brake hoses (2 x 8T0611707B), front pads (8T0698151B)
Audi RS4 rear discs 330x22mm (8K0615601G), calipers with servo & carriers (8K0615403F, 8K0615404F, 8K0615425E, 8K0615426E) rear pads (4G0698451A)
Audi 5 Segment Alloys 19x8.5" ET43 (8K0601025AK1H7)