ff_whiz

Little background, 2003 A4 coupe w/ roughly 90k miles. Currently has cold air intake and corsa cat back exhaust. My inner little boy with the 50th anniversary poster came out when choosing my first mods. Im wanting to have a streetable, weekend driver with some kick if i want it. Which i think 430ish horsepower will satisfy those needs (for now). So to get there i've been reading on a few common ways to get at least close. Was wondering if anyone had any input or complications they encountered. I think a tune will be necessary with any more mods i do.
-heads/cam
-rear gears/stall convert
-intake manifold/throttle body/fuel rails
-i dont plan on going forced induction anytime

Smoken1

Cam yea, your gonna need that
Rear gears and stall, yes move up to 3.42's at least
Intake, no need to change that you already have the LS6 one
As for FI you will soon enuf when you get bored of this

gimp

430 wheel? Yes, heads and cam. Your cold air intake probably ain't, depends what you installed. You may need a better flowing exhaust as well. Stock intake manifold and TB are fine for now but you may decide to upgrade both for more NA horsepower.

Millennium FRC

430 at the wheels through an auto........

1) PRC head and cam package $2,400ish
2) FAST intake manifold $900ish
3) long tube headers, X-pipe, no cats $300-$1,500ish
4) 32 lb injectors $300ish
5) torque converter $1000ish
6) used 3.42 diff $500ish

.........you're already in the $6,000 ballpark.........get an A&A Vortech Ti-trim supercharger kit. For roughly the same money and a lot less headaches, you'll make more power.

grantv

430 crank or at the wheels?

gimp

As someone with a supercharged C5 - for 430 horsepower, I would much rather stay NA than go supercharger. Unless your plans are to go big, you will incur fewer headaches with the supercharger. They add a lot of load to a system; unless you plan to drive it on the street and only hit power once in a blue moon, they'll want supporting mods.

DetroitPlac

430 is a lot for a 5.7L auto car. If you absolutely must hit that number to the wheels, you're looking at a relatively large cam, which will probably sacrifice low end and drivability.

Supercharging is the way to go to hit that number.

Millennium FRC

By your own description of what you want, I really don't think going naturally aspirated is what you're looking for. 430 at the wheels through an auto with stock cubic inches will not be a mild combo. It will be loud and somewhat obnoxious and pi$$ off all your neighbors unless you do stock type mufflers and put some electronic cutouts on it to keep it tame while in the neighborhood. A centrifugal supercharger set up (which I have also had) will drive exactly like stock and sound stock (in your case it will sound exactly as your car does now with corsas) until you get on it and has the potential to make a lot more power.

If you want a loud, mean sounding car that shakes with a rough idle, go naturally aspirated. If you want a car that's faster with stock manners and sound, do the centrifugal supercharger kit. If you want fun for the best bang for your buck, do a manual 3.42 diff and a nitrous kit.

Time for a C-5

Not sure why 430 is so magical?? A nice set of heads, mildish cam, long tubes and a 3.42 gear will completely change your car. The dyno may only say 400 or so but that's 100 more than you have now and your car will drive nice and be reliable.

A super charger will take it up a few more notches if you really need the power...especially if you also do a full exhaust. You should still consider shoring up the valve train going FI. No need for the gear in this situation...maybe if you have the 2.73. Good reliability with this option too.

JHrinsin

With an A4 you may also want to think about more cubic inches as well to reach that goal, then you will also have to beef up the A4 also well. I would also suggest minimum of 36 lbs injectors.

cv67

Copy Mamos 346 recipe youll be real happy and have a true "driver". Or Sc and call it a day
Love a strong NA motor but honestly if you do the SC I htink youll be happier. Hard to beat boost

JHrinsin

Tony's n/a combos are some of the best out there and are very hard to beat for both power, width of the torque curve and drive-ability.

ASRoff

...my personal recipe would be something like this........ Heads at a minimum should be ported 243 heads......e.040 or .036 cometic gaskets to get the quench right... cam motion cam with duration in the the 22x 114LSA no more than 600 lift...….. good lifters...……. good pushrods.(stable valvetrain) ...….fast 102 intake …...Pfadt tri y headers in 1 7/8...…. progrear timing chain...….... Improved racing crank scraper. electric water pump …...….GZ motorsports vacuum pump. …….electric steering or electric power steering pump...…… a light stall converter 2800 ish?...… CF tore tube shaft.... eaton Trac-aide diff

Thoughts on this combo. the cam is mild and with a 114LSA the "lope" should be smooth enough for a light stall. the tri Y headers are for torque production..... the rest of the stuff doendt really make more power... it just frees it up. the crank scraper pulls oil wrapped around the crank away. the Electric water pump….. and electric steering obviously bring power back from not turning accessory's. the ProGear timing chain is full roller with pin oilers. (good place to reduce friction) the vacuum pump doesent do much at idle but at readline its usually worth as much as 15-30hp (according to Kurt Urban) and last the eaton diff is 6 lbs lighter than a standard diff (and no damn bevel washers) the CF shaft is worth 2 more lbs of rotating mass.

Summary: with Drivability being a concern, the cam picked is relatively mild. because of this... you have to "gain power back" thru accessory and drivetrain parasitic loss.... anyways, best of luck and let us know which way you go.