Audi S3 8L (2003) Tuning

[Lbhenry97]

Hi Guys/Girls,

I'm soon on route to buying a 2003 Audi S3 8L w/K04 turbo NOT K03 or K03s.
Now i have looked across the web for many forums on tuning this car and they are all full of argumentative people who are no help to me.

Im looking information on parts up to meet stage 2 requirements and looking to spend around £3000 on parts and maps.

Can anyone point me on the right direction on what i need to know. Would like 310-370bhp. Is that achievable with stock internals?

Any help will be much appreciated, thanks

[Witchfinder]

This is the old 1.8T, right? This seems to suggest that you're going to be limited by the rods:

http://r-techperformance.co.uk/vag/1-8t-20v-tuning...

I recall on Briskoda.net, there was one guy who was running an Octavia vRS with 400 BHP (same engine, he had the K04 turbo added), but he'd spent about £15k to get it to that level if I recall correctly.

[Lbhenry97]

Yes 2003, and the link helps probs the only website i haven't seen. Thanks!

[aka_kerrly]

Lbhenry97 said:

Hi Guys/Girls,

I'm soon on route to buying a 2003 Audi S3 8L w/K04

Im looking information on parts up to meet stage 2 requirements and looking to spend around £3000 on parts and maps.

What on earth is all this stage 1 stage 2 stuff about?

If you have 3k to play with I'd ditch the Ko4 and get a Garrett GT series turbo with badger5 manifold/downpipe and remap.

[Lbhenry97]

aka_kerrly said:

What on earth is all this stage 1 stage 2 stuff about?

If you have 3k to play with I'd ditch the Ko4 and get a Garrett GT series turbo with badger5 manifold/downpipe and remap.

I dunno you tell me that is what i was asking :/ what about internals will anything have to be changed?

Seems like 3K on one specific area of the engine is narrow minded haha

Thanks anyway...

[ubbs]

Back in the day an oettinger chip (ecu cracked open and new eprom soldered in) from rsd was enough for me, tuv approved and came with a written warranty

[Fluffsri]

Is that the BAM engine? IIRC with this engine is the internal are forged items.

[sam4191]

Hi,

I've owned my 2000 APY S3 for 5 years now, so have done a fair bit of research into the tuning side of things. Mine is 342bhp (according to dyno run last week). For stage 2, I'd be happy to see 280-290bhp. I'm not 100% on what you 'need' for stage 2 (Front mount intercooler & exhaust I think)

The stock Ko4, if in good condition, have seen 300bhp - this seems to be rare. For anything above 300bhp, you'd be looking for a Hybrid Ko4 (cheaper option 300-350bhp) or big turbo build (£5k+). The general consensus on rods is 300bhp/300lbft Maximum on stock. Although, there have been failures on stock cars, but people have run 300bhp on stock rods- bearing in mind that they are all getting on a bit now, I'd say do it for piece of mind - an engine failure will be more expensive and inconvenient. If you can do the work yourself, like I did, you'll save yourself lots of money. The rod install alone is around £1200.

My engine mods are:
Beachbuggy Turbos k418T Hybrid ko4 (£930)
Relentless 3" downpipe with decat (£300)
Relentless Pro 4 exhaust manifold (£300)
Forged con rods (£350) + Piston rings, headset, etc
Bosch 550cc injectors (£250)
3" Turbo intake pipe (£130)
Honda S2000 Air Filter (yes, Honda S2000)
Front Mount Intercooler (£210)
Silicon hoses (£150)
Custom 'Badger5' remap (£390)

As you can see - £3000 there. That's without a cat-back exhaust (recommended) (£500), suspension mods and quite possibly braking mods. (easily another £1000 there)

I hope that helps, makes sense and I haven't waffled too much!

Also, don't buy into the rumors that the BAM is the better engine. Mechanically, it's Identical to the APY and AMK. I won't go into all the differences now. lol.

I tend to use Audi-Sport for info, but can be a minefield!

[SuperchargedVR6]

This man /\ knows his onions, so you came to the right place!

Lbhenry97 said:

Now i have looked across the web for many forums on tuning this car and they are all full of argumentative people who are no help to me.

Stay away from facebook groups then as they're even worse Some of the childish comments and misinformation is hilarious.

My mate built a 1.8T some years back with forged pistons and rods and a GT28RS turbo (aka 'Disco Potato') and that thing was immense. It was running around 350hp but the way it pulled made a K04 feel a bit breathless. I think that was around the £3K mark to achieve.

[xjay1337]

I would just do intake (R-tech do a kit), 3 inch decat exhaust, intercooler, renew coils, plugs, pickup pipe, Forge 007p dv spring and go to R-tech for £285.

That will get you 280bhp or so for under £1k.

Getting the extra to get into the mid 300bhp range costs a lot more and isn't hugely noticeably unless you are doing loads of high speed pulls.

[SuperchargedVR6]

aka_kerrly said:

Lbhenry97 said:

Hi Guys/Girls,

I'm soon on route to buying a 2003 Audi S3 8L w/K04

Im looking information on parts up to meet stage 2 requirements and looking to spend around £3000 on parts and maps.

What on earth is all this stage 1 stage 2 stuff about?

Tuner lingo for "You can only have this much boost until you've replaced parts X, Y and Z"

It's more prevalent in TFSI tuning circles because exhaust restrictions can cause exhaust valve float at high boost, so tuners won't waste their time dialling in 1.7 bar of boost if you're running the stock downpipe, for instance. That's "Stage 2" lol

I hate it too. A map is a map as far as I'm concerned, but I can see why they use that language.

[xjay1337]

Stages are easy ways of defining modifications to the car

Stage 1 - stock aside from software
Stage 2 - exhaust, intake, intercooler etc
Stage 2 + - same as above with HPFP upgrade


You think it's confusing, try being into diesel tuning. In America tuning the 2.0 CR VW engines they call it Stage 3, Stage 3.5...3.6... etc.. pathetic.

[aka_kerrly]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

aka_kerrly said:

Lbhenry97 said:

Hi Guys/Girls,

I'm soon on route to buying a 2003 Audi S3 8L w/K04

Im looking information on parts up to meet stage 2 requirements and looking to spend around £3000 on parts and maps.

What on earth is all this stage 1 stage 2 stuff about?

Tuner lingo for "You can only have this much boost until you've replaced parts X, Y and Z"

Ah very much the case hence one tuner says you NEED XYZ where as another tuner will say "it's OK on part ABC" knowing full well it's not their car and the chances are when you break it you go back to them to fix it.

Personally I'd still go straight to a Garrett GT if I wanted over 300hp, I don't see the point in spending a fortune on parts to try and get a KO4 to it's breaking point. From what I have seen it's only one of two tuners that insist you can get a true 300hp from a KO4, most reliable dynos suggest 280hp is the limit.

[Lbhenry97]

Thanks for all the comments, really helped!

Im looking at an 2003 S3,w/53K miles on it... 90Miles away from me, hopefully going to see it at the end of this week.

Cheers all

[AJB88]

R-Tech are known as the 1.8T and 2.0TFSI tuning masters of UK.