OK, so I just bought a super clean well built 2000 S4. The previous owner treated the car very well and it is a solid car that runs very well. The current mods on it are as follows

ECU flash for best performance on 91 Octane
K04's with RS6 turbines
fueling kit custom tuned by Vast Performance
water/meth injection
ER intercoolers
RS4 clutch and lightened flywheel
RS4 cam
Fast Intentions widemouth downpipes and test pipes
Milltek exhuast (single)
APR bi-pipe X-1 Intake
Innovate wideband
VAST Electric Fan Kit.

4-wheel Brembo brakes
Koni coilover suspension
ASP Drivetrain Stabilizer
E-code headlights

Toyguy short shifter and RS4 air leather ****
discontinued SPP A-pillar pod w/ Defi boost gauge
Greddy turbo timer.

All new timing belt, water pump, serp belt, thermostat and complete front control upper arms

I am happy with where the car currently is at and how it performs. I am just wondering where I could go from here once I save up some more money.

So basically, what could I do with $1,000 on top of this current setup to get some more power. My goal is to be able to have a low 12 daily driver.


Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

2.8l heads but i think that would run you more than a grand.

youre fully built stage 3+, I dont think there is a cheap way to more power from there... that car has at least 10K sunk in already, you lucky bastard.

Cheapest way for more power I can think of though is to run race gas and get a custom tune for high octane (consider an e85 tune). That will probably run you around 1000$.

If you want to build a car that runs on pump gas with more power, next step is true RS6 turbos or an eliminator kit. The problem with the k04 is that the hot side is restrictive no matter what turbine your running, you probably don't have much more breath if youre already tuned up. This WILL get expensive, but you will have your goal.

Another alturnative is to try and loose weight. Replace the windows with lightweight lexan, carbon fiber hood and trunk, replace seats with carbon fiber seats, pull all the soun insulation carpet and headliner... will probably also get expensive and you might not consider the car a DD anymore.

Wow. Thanks guys! I really appreciate the input.

to jhuffman: thanks for going in depth and giving me several options. They all sound like great ideas. I was afraid that the car was already so built up that trying to build it up more would require bigger more serious/expensive mods. But yes, I am super lucky to have found such an amazing car for a great price too.

Im thinking that a racing fuel flash with 100+ octane is probably the way Im gonna go.

Again if anyone else comes along this post please feel free to tell me what you would do the car next I appreciate any advice and input.

Thanks again guys!

bigger injectors and an E-85 tune. That car should run 11's if done right.

My friends car went from 460 awhp on 93 to 540 awhp on C-16. Then we put bigger injectors and E-85 and it put down 596 awhp.

go internal, but that is more than a grand and not going to net a ton of wheel hp.... but might give more tq... tq is what you feel not hp

to be technically accurate, horsepower is derived from torque... but yea torque is what keeps you pinned in the seat.

water injection $400. and then be happy, until something brakes. lol

for one, if your goals are a low 12 second car, you should be there already. if you have a smooth shifting transmission and a good clutch. water meth def is something you could add, so as to tune more aggressively. or switch over to E85, if there are some stations close to you. and torque does keep you pinned in your seat, but hp is what keeps your car pulling to redline..so you def want a high hp car to get good quarter mile times (meant trap speeds).. and to get higher whp at/close to redline, you need for the car to breathe well, ie. a better intake/flowing exhaust.. and head work, but thats way more than 1000. maybe a set of 2.8 cams, which are more beneficial than the 2.8 heads..

Again thank you all. This is great stuff. I really appreciate all the hospitality.

By the way, the car currently does have water/meth injection

I am planning to take it to the Auto Club Speedway Street Drags on Dec 4th because I really am curious as to what it can run. After reading lots of stuff I did come to the conclusion that my car should......should.....run 12's. My only doubts of this is that the guy I bought it from said that its only running at a conservative 20psi. He said he had it at like 26-28 but 20 seemed to be the sweet spot for performance and reliability.

Is 20psi being too conservative? Whats an average psi that guys run on these motors?

I will seriously consider new cams like you pointed out bigern45. Maybe even a E85 tune because as luck has it, there just happens to be a station that is really close to me. Maybe I will even throw a Front Mount in there too

Thanks again everyone.