dpcrzr

I'm looking to put down some power (hopefully around 400/400, probably a little less) but i don't want to get mod crazy yet, mostly because i'm in college and need to spend the money on more important things, like food and beer. Anyways, i was just wondering how much i could get out of my engine before i would have to start replacing the stock parts (tranny, etc...) on my 02 Z28 A4.
Thanks for any input.

P.S. I'm going for a head/cam package and have a cold air intake,lid,and catback if that makes any difference

camarodave98

iTrader: (2)

i wouldnt say there is a certain power limit, but if your doing 400 rwhp, you will deffinately need to beef up your suspension. aka your rear end. Your transmission should not have problems for 400 hp. But you will see as you start modding, you will replace alot of stock parts along the way, especially with cam and heads install.

'Trust'

iTrader: (24)

Im in the same boat you are, as far as college and not going crazy, my car is decent for me right now, but im working to wards a H/C/N2O setup for this coming summer on a new forged 346, as far as suspension its listed in my sig and should be sufficiant for your application, with the addition of after market LCA's which arent listed, make sure to get subframes, and if you lower it w/400 at the wheels you may want to look into different shocks, but if you dont you'll be alright w/the stock set up as far as that goes, since your an automatic your rearend will be just fine w/400rwhp, and the tranny should hold it too, but you'll want a converter, so at least while your in it do a converter/cooler/shiftkit and that should do it for the mods other than motor, a torque arm and poly urethane bushings might help out too for the stuff you dont replace, but not totally needed

lsevenl

iTrader: (5)

I did all the go-fast mods first, but now my drivetrain is suffering. I am at 440/400 and my rear end will not hold up much more. The clutch is going as well. I just ordered a textralia clutch and 9'' along with some suspension goodies. Basically once you start hitting 400+ the motor is no longer the limiting factor to how fast you go. The weak link becomes the rest of the car.

darrensls1

If you're not wanting to go mod crazy then this isn't the place for you If you're on a budget then this definately isn't the car for you

First off, you need to get a stall and LT headers before heads/cam. Unless you plan on a real baby cam setup, the stock torque converter will hinder performance and the stock manifolds will limit the cams HP gains. Here are a few things you would need,

3500-4000 stall torque converter $500-1000
Tranny cooler $50
LT headers with ORY $500-1000
Heads & Cam Package $2000-5000
Drag Radials $260
Dyno-tune $300-500

And those numbers do NOT include labor. With an A4 you'd be surprised at how far the 10 bolt can go. Just make sure you preload the drivetrain before hard launches and you should be fine.

What you might consider is getting a bang for the buck torque converter (TCI or Fuddle), Pacesetter coated LT headers with ORY and a 100 shot of N20. That'll keep costs down but net a similair ET (when spraying). Or even a cam only setup since the majority of the heads/cam package is spent on heads.

Good Luck

black01_WS6

iTrader: (13)

you will end up spending a lot of money on things that you never thought would go out. there are a lot of things that go into putting things into a car. once you get around 400 rwhp you have to start replacing everything that is involved with that part. by making one part of the car stronger other parts become the weak parts and more likely to break. not not saying don't mod but don't expect everything to go perfectly.

LiquidFire350

iTrader: (8)

its hard to say, some people have broken rears at stock power levels, others have gone low 11s on the 10 bolt

my thoughts are if its DD then beef up before you break it, if you have a second car as a DD, go ***** out untill you break somthing, then fix that

dpcrzr

thanks derrensls1, but i'm not broke. when i say budget i meant like under 10 grand a year if i dont' have any unexpected expenses. I just don't want to have to throw in an exurbanite amount of money to keep the car on the road. I wouldn't have it on the track or anything, i'm just looking to blow away a few cobra's