I bought a 1996 Audi A4 2.8 Quattro with 114k miles that had been in storage for 4 years. It had not been licensed or on the road for all 4 years. I paid $1,800 cash, it books for over $5k in "fair" condition. I new the transmission was on it's last leg, it needed a few things here and there... but it was a B5 for $1,800 and I've always loved B5s.

So far this only shows the starting point:
Photo Album

I'm hoping this car gets me through 3 years of law school, doesn't cost a fortune unless it's for pure joy and fun... I may not do all of what's on this list, it's just ideas right now. Some needs to be done, some is just daydreaming. After Law School, it's S5 time!

So, here we go, the BadlandZ B5 Work List. In the order of what I hope to do soonest, to what I hope to do later.

* Get current registration and get it on the road - DONE $15 gas cap and waiver agreeing to fix the impulse wheel in the transmission before November of 2010. Running Total $1,815.

* New Shoes. 4 years in storage and the tires are about to rot off the stock 16" wheels. Hand-Me-Down Factory Audi 17" wheels with tires $350 March 21st. Running Total $2,165.

* Shifter ****. Replace the pink golf ball with a stock Audi with 5-speed ****.

* Stereo. Anything. If I can find a stock cassette deck on ebay for $0.01 I'll put it in and use my cassette to iPod adaptor.

* Driver Side Headlight Washer Cover.

* Transmission. I have a first gear tick that is a CLEAR indication that something is wrong. And the impulse wheel is trashed, so I need that fixed before October of 2010 to get through emissions (I'm on a wavier right now)

* Completely debadge it other than the Audi logo on the grill and trunk lid.

* Remove the mobile phone antenna on the rear window.

* Grill. Lower and upper. The lower is missing, the upper is stock. I want sort of blacked out understated, almost invisible, but maybe a light gray tinted Audi logo.

* Seats. The stock fabric 1996 seats are nice, power, all that. But I want leather and side bolstering. Probably some interior touch up at the same time like the dash is curling up a bit in the corners.

* Basic Performance Mods.
1. Ram-air intake;
2. High flow filter;
3. MAF velocity stack in place of MAF screen;
4. Bored MAF;
5. Silicone tube in place of rubber accordion tube;
6. Replace Plenum with silicone tubes;
7. ported/shaped/polished throttle body;
8. ported intake manifold;
9. ported or big valve heads;
10. headers;
11. high flow cats;
12. high flow mufflers and/or complete exhaust system.

* Big Performance Mods.
Supercharger or Turbo or Nitrous or more than one of those.

Then maybe some cosmetic stuff, paint and body, lights and trim... but hell if I get that far in 3 years... I'll be happy it's still running.

 

Have you thought about just buying a 1.8t?

 

I don't know why I would, I had the 1.8t in a 2000 GTi. I wanted quattro. I and the price was hard to pass up on this, and it is something that runs rock solid and is drivable right now.

You know of a 1.8t that needs little work, that's drivable, for under $2k?

 

I don't know of any for sale in your area but it'll be likely much more expensive and slower to supercharge/turbo your 2.8 than modding a 1.8t

 

If you know of a 1.8t under $2k anywhere in the US or Canada, running, in good condition, I'll worry about getting it home. I also have a POS Mazda 626 I'll sell to get it, or borrow the cash and pay it back later with the Mazda sale.

I know it's lighter, and can be modded easier. But I like the sound of the old 12v V6, and the supercharger/turbo are WAY down on my list. For now I'm happy with it.

 

How I've seen it most of the time now, on the lift while I work on it:


Minutes after I got it, before I got it home;


Minutes after I got it, before I got it home;

 

damn it looks nice man, for only 1800 thats a good buy. definitely get all your maintenance stuff done first, and fix any mechanical problems you may have, before you mod it. do you know why it was stored for so long?

 

Yep, a 13 year old rich kid bought it. It threw an ODB code, and couldn't pass Arizona emmissions testing because of it. His dad past away, and his grandfather took one look at it on at trip down to AZ this winter and said "sell that thing, you will kill yourself learning to drive in a sports car, get an old Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla."

So, he was 15 years old, it had been in storage for over 4 years (dealership confirmed odometer had less than 4000 miles since last service in 2004), and he put it on CraigsList. I watched it for months. It dropped to 2200 asking, I went to look, with cash in hand got it for $1800.

I was buying a "unknown" problem. I drove it, engine has a SMALL oil leak, the transmission ticks like mad in 1st gear, and the check engine light was on. Plus it hadn't been registered or had a license plate for over 4 years. Those things had scared off all the other buyers, and I had cash in hand...

MINE! And it took less than $100 to get a license plate. It needs a new transmission eventually, that's maybe $1200 rebuild if I swap it in. And like I said, LOW book on "fair" condition was over $5k. So, I'm thinking, I can put $3000 into this and still be under book value.

 

drop a $500 used transmission in it, return it to stock (i.e. fix the shifter and other little things), then sell it for $6k and get a 1.8t quattro. theres way more performance mod-ability in that engine. ive owned both, and am much happier with my 1.8

 

If all goes as planned, this Saturday I'll be getting new shoes... 17's...