Hello, new member here. I live in an area surrounded by chevy and ford guys and there are very few vw/audi guys around. What I am looking for is advice on what setups work best for my 97 A4 1.8T as far as performance work. Right now I have a bone stock car aside from the H&R coilovers, 19" wheels, and GIAC stage 1 ecu tune. I know that my engine is an AEB but when I want to order parts it asks for the block # ? Where can I find this? It appears my car has no map sensor. Is this a problem from a performance tuning standpoint? I want to build a nice reliable daily driver in the 500hp range if that's possible. I just someone who has been here before to get me started in the right direction and can give tips or pointers on what to do or not do. I know I'm going to need a big a** front mount intercooler, and big turbo but I'm looking for advice on weather or not to stroke it to a 2 liter or leave as 1.8 Money isn't an issue but I don't want to waste money on parts that aren't the best for what I'm trying to do. The other hurtle is that my car is an automatic. I am all for finding a donor 5 speed and doing a swap but I have a local rebuilder that can build an auto for my car and guarantee it hold up to 700+ HP. Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

Lots of people will give you advice but the only guy I know of making 500+ hp is mike-2ptzero. Throw him a pm-here's his page:
AudiForums.com - View Profile: Mike-2ptzero
I don't know where he is at on power, but I can almost guarentee it won't be too pleasant as a dd. it will also cost a crap ton of money, you'll need to do a 2.0 stroker, rods, crankshaft (I can't remember if it's good to 400whp or 700), manual tranny would be much better, huge turbo/fmic, custom tune/intake/lots of weight reduction, huge brakes, bigger wheels to fit brakes, exhaust, icm delete, etc. and that's just to get started. But definitely throw mike a pm

 

No MAP sensor isn't really a "problem", but it will definitely limit your tuning options unless you go standalone.

I'm not sure what you mean by "block #", maybe the serial number stamped on the engine block? I'm not sure why that would matter, the engine code and maybe the last 6 digits of your VIN number should be more than sufficient for ordering parts.

To make 500hp you're going to need more turbo than would be street-able on stock displacement. That means 2.0L stroker. The other issue you're going to run into with that motor and running a 2.0L crank is the intermediate shaft. The AEB has a shaft-driven oil pump, the drive shaft for which will need to be machined to clear the rotating assembly. Finding a machine shop that will do this might be tough to do, not a lot of shops are willing to try it.

As for the trans, automatic + 700hp = blowed up tranny. Your best option would be to find a donor car and do a 5-speed swap. Feel free to PM me or Mike if you have any other questions.

 

Ok, see that's exactly what I wanted to know. So should I look for a donor 5 speed car with something other then an aeb? If so, what years will work? What engine, awm etc ? Originally I said that I wanted to build a reliable daily driver but what I meant was something that was docile enough to be driven on the street easily. I'm in my work van all day every day so this car only gets driven on the weekend. I appreciate the input I've gotten so far. I'm going to start searching out a donor stick car. I'll report back with what I find.

 

If you can find a complete donor car with a good driveline, you could swap the whole motor and ECU to get some more tuning options. It's doable but isn't exactly an easy swap. You'll need the complete motor, trans, engine accessories, ECU, and a complete wiring harness from the dash forward. AWM/ATW engines don't have the intermediate shaft to worry about, you get an internal water pump and variable valve timing.

It's easy enough to make these cars reliable if you have a fat wallet, just don't use shitty parts and replace the stuff that's known to break: timing belt, control arms, mounts, etc. The problem with daily driving a car with 500hp is that to make that much power you're going to need a huge turbo. And turbos that huge don't make boost until 4-5k RPM. So that means you're going to have to build a high compression motor to get you around town until you can spin up the turbo

 

atw engines do have an intermediate shaft. its 058 block.

my advice is stick with the aeb motor. find a donor car, swap over driveline components while you build the engine. what you need to do is check out build threads on audizine. there are plenty of them. allocate a night to reading through a few of them.

in my opinion, building an 06a (awm engine code) block would be better. there is far more aftermarket support for them. basically, companies like integrated engineering make parts for the 06a blocks only. but running an 06a block in an aeb is a different story, and really would only be worth it if you ran the awm ecu as well (wideband 02 sensor, map sensor). the problem is running an awm ecu would require different awm harness, sensors, throttle body,cluster, among other things. it can be done and has been done, but it would be much easier to just keep the 058 block.

its obviously up to you if you want to pursue running an awm motor, but it would take a lot more money and much more time.

 

Thanks for the clarification! OP, listen to this character. He's much more knowledgeable about built B5 motors than I am.

 

really flattering

really op, your best option is sticking with your aeb engine, unless you want to devote the kind of time and money it would take to run an awm engine, which at that point you might as well swap in something different that offers more performance. 10/20v 5 cylinders, vr6's in multiple forms (r32 engine comes to mind), 2.7tt, s6/8 4.2 v8. more cylinders = more better

 

Thanks for all the input guys. Right now my head is spinning from all the options I have available. Lol
I was actually looking on integrated's website and would almost rather pull the trigger on their built stroker short block but you're saying they don't offer one for my car? What's the difference between the block # as opposed to the 3 letters on the head. For example 06a or 058. I read that my aeb head is good because it has bigger ports and or valves. Should I stock with this head or just use something else. I'm just so confused with all of things that need to be done to Stoke my engine so I would almost rather just buy one already done.

 

058= old block design, with the intermediate shaft. the only audi motor this side if the world is the AEB and ATW engine, so yours
06a= new block design. internal water pump, no intermediate shaft. this block design covers all other vw/audi 1.8t's of certain years

You are correct that the AEB cylinder head has larger ports. it is popular with guys getting a bigger turbo. I run the aeb head on my 06a block

as for acquiring an engine, i'd would just browse classifieds sections on vwvortex and audizine. if you aren't completely pent up in a stroker, check this guy out. if you are serious and strike up a conversation with him, let him know I sent you.
COMPLETE PART OUT BIG BUILD/TURBO A4 - The Audizine Classifieds