S4 is a great car.


It's also an over priced Volkswagen.

 

 

Agreed... Im at 273whp before hondata tune and def way less that $5k in performance mods lmao

 

Hey, even if you're 04-06 5AT, Gerzand showed you can make 280 at the wheels no problem, also less than or near 5K in performance mods. PnP intake path, full exhaust chain, cams and you're good to go.

 

In the same way that the TL is an overpriced Honda, except much less potent I guess.

 

Fixed

 

Its amazing what snow tires will do vs summer tires. There must have been no turns in the coarse because a fwd TL would be off track on the first turn

 

I don't know of any VW that even comes close to the performance of a B8 S4. It shares no underpinnings with any VW. I hate to say it, but a 3G TL is more of an overpriced Honda than an S4 is an overpriced VW.

 

Such an underrated car from factory. Always luv'd the s4's, wish they weren't so expensive, esp when things break.

 

Yup no turns, and there wasn't any snow on the course It was on Road America's Kart Track.

Link to track ->Elkhart Lake's Road America, Inc.

Here's the video:

 

1. Why would someone install a SC and leave everything else stock?

2. Your bone stock car made 240hp and a SC only added 10-30hp for other members? Something does not compute.

 

If you already bought a TL, for, say, 10-14k, and now you dump 10-12k to SC it, why not take that 20-26k investment and put it towards a much more potent and much more mod friendly platform? I like my TL, but cranking more power out of it is a futile act.

Straight out of the box, the S4 comes with AWD and more power than the TL does. The turbo'd stock S4s can have crazy power pulled from them by doing nothing more than an ecu reflash, for about 3k. Gaining 82lbft and 112hp in 10 minutes of work sounds pretty awesome to me. It then keeps up with RS4s. And reliability is not hampered, believe it or not. The interior materials and refinement are top notch. I thought my TL was great until I sat in an S4. I immediately understood why they cost what they do. It's a nice place to be.

Granted, audi's reliability is shit, but again, no one is saying he has to go with an audi. There are plenty of other potent platforms out there and this was just one example given by another member.

 

Edit: although audi is known for shit reliability, I've been hearing more and more that their cars are improving. You'll find a bunch of members on here who've had good experiences with Audis built after 2008-2009. Maybe they are improving, but the negative stigma associated with their name will stick around for awhile, like hyundai's previous horrendous reputation from the 80s/90s.

 

This is another inherent problem with modding the TL for big power. It's fwd limits it right off the bat. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always been told that it's horsepower that spins the tires. Torque is what launches you forward.

Would make sense, if you look at like the dodge 3500 putting down 800lbft of torque- that thing is built to move shit forward, not spin tires.

It would be stupid to drive with VSA on if you're looking to move- I always turn it off on either my fwd or RWD car when I want to get going in a jiffy. With fwd, you just have to learn to feather the throttle more.

 

Only for the person that doesnt know how to drive.

 

1. Why would someone? I have no idea, other than expense of the blower. Go read the OPs first question - full bult on vs supercharger with no support mods

I answered him based on what he asked which was "no support mods".

2. My car made 240whp bone stock - yes. SC cars on this forum in the past have RARELY cracked 290whp, and most had "supporting mods". I think Comptech even claims a 40HP gain or so.

Which part does not compute? My car's dyno or the SC results? You must think someone is lying. I'll make you question my results even more then - the car has 230K.

Have you ever driven a diesel with 800 ft lbs of torque? They will indeed spin the tires all day long.

 

Get a XLR8 exhuast and call it a day.... it will sound right without the power, there very little torque on this car anyway. XLR8 sounds amazing though.

 

I don't doubt your car put down 240, I just find it crazy the comptech SC is that inefficient. What I find crazier is that people even bother going that route. Granted, the torque bump would be larger than doing NA mods, but still. What a waste of money, lol. Actually, the more I think about it, I think the 240 your car put down is a little high, but I mean, it all comes down to the dyno being used, etc, etc. a lot of variables. I don't think it's THAT high though. But that's for a different argument altogether

I haven't driven the new dodge 3500s, however, I'm not surprised it can spin the tires. It still puts down good HP and there isn't a ton of weight over the back axle.

 

just a heads up. CT SC ends in 7 hours

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151674048087?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

^^

That is so tempting.

 

I'ts about a grand too expensive to be an impulse buy lol. The ad says the Buy it now price would include a hondata - but I don't see a BIN price. It shocks me that those things sell for that much.

 

The buy it now price usually goes away once someone enters a starting a bid. But yeah, I'm pretty much done modding this car. Might still do some cams at the 105k, but eh, I don't know. Kind of focusing on the next car at this point.

 

yeh it gone because someone bid it.

I was looking at the rotrex S/C that delete the A/C. Just need the bracket from Gerzard and custom plumping

 

I live in SC - removing A/C is NOT an option, lol. I'm still going to turbo it's just a matter of how and when. I'm pretty confident that I can build the turbo kit for less than $2500 OTD.

 

I would like to see that . I really hope that your motor doesn't pop. It been so sad for the 2 turbo build lately

 

Ive got a question for everyone. Why couldnt ypu use a 3.7 intake manifold on a j35 supercharged . The manifold upgrade for better flow than the 3.5. People say it wont work bc of the 3.7 throttle body id bigger and wont bolt up to supercharger. But if ur intercooling ur supercharger u connect ur j35 throttle body to supercharger and still use the 3.7 intake manifold. All u have to do is make a custom flange for the piping to connect the manifold from intercooler. Bc it goes cold air into supercharger back out to intercooler to intake manifold. Whats everyones take on this

 

Under boost the difference in the 3.7 im's ability flow over the 3.5 really becomes null. The single biggest issue with the comptech SC is it is really undersized for these J series motors. If it were larger it would make much more power with lower boost and air temps.

 

I believe some one had mention about possibly porting it.

 

don't tell that to King Kong Dave

I am with FamilyGuy on this one - when I look at the money spent on just porting the heads + cutting the valves, that was probably 2500 bucks of labor right there. So let's forget for the moment that I spent a bunch in cam R&D and assume you can throw $3250 at the car to get ported heads, some good knife edge 3 and 5 angle valve cuts, and a decent cam profile. Assume you do that after you've spent the money on supporting bolt-on mods. Throw in the (necessary) Flashpro at that point and you're at like, $7000 maybe in mods.

With a 6mt Hype-S that'll give you probably a gain of 65-80 hp and minimal torque. J35a8 and J32a3 will never be torquey motors. Note that I am talking about gains. Forget what the dyno puts down for a moment. That's irrelevant. What you need to be concerned with are overall gains, not what the peak WHP number is.

I made 295 whp with bolt-ons, 3.7 swap and a tune. So about 4k went into that. That's about 50 hp more than I made stock. Another 3500 to get head work, valves, and a cam and tune will show diminishing returns at this point.

I'm not saying more power can't be made, however, the knowledge in the community isn't there yet and I am convinced there is still a lot of unknown territory in terms of the cam profiles for the j35/j32. When someone gets that nailed down, I think you could realistically see this kind of bolt-on and building the top-end of the motor (heads/valves/cams) produce gains of 100 whp and hit 350 peak from a 250 whp stock baseline dyno.

So you really have to ask yourself where you draw the line on diminishing returns for $/hp ratio. That varies by individual.

I personally would never supercharge or turbocharge a TL. Supercharger is too restrictive and turbo is just too much babysitting to make it all work without blowing up. The track record on these motors is atrocious when turbocharged, if I'm not mistaken maybe even 100% failure rate on stock internals at anything more than the most minimal of peak boost targets.

My car with a built top-end, purely NA, sounded ridiculously good. Just a gorgeous naturally aspirated note. So many compliments - the J series really is a nice sounding motor when opened up properly.

As for the dude with the S4, I'm with you. Loved my built TL, still miss the motor, but I'm never looking back from my 135i. But you can't sleight people for wanting to try and make power on the TL. For the people who want to boost the car and make serious power, it's a labor of love. Gerzand, perfect example. Yungone, another perfect example.

But these are people with patience (multi-year projects), know-how, and strong desire to LEARN what they don't already know about the J-series. The other 99% of TL owners that want to mod are going to piss money left and right trying to make any real power and always fall short.

So OP, whatever you do, I think you just need to be realistic in terms of what you expect to gain from the mods you're doing. Your car will probably never be "fast". Could be quick, but how much cash are you willing to throw at it? This is not a cost-effective platform to make significant horsepower gains with.

 

Some people run the J37 throttle body with an adapter. Even then there are some compatibility issues I've heard some people run into with the electronic throttle. I haven't had much experience with these setups so I can't say what gains you would see.

P2R Throttle Body Adapter - Excelerate Performance - Japanese and European Performance Specialists!!

We also offer the J37 throttle body for $222 not including shipping.

 

still a good read

 

I'll give a SC automatic a run for its money ; )

 

depends what it's supercharged with

 

Only comptech I can run against. I'm not messing with Andys Rotrex SC kit powered ones

 

You can make about 300whp with full bolt ons plus a tune. Or if you just get a supercharger+tune you'll also net about 300whp, maybe more. You'll still spend about the same going either route. I went the supercharger route because it's more exciting.