A4QuattroV6

Hey, I've had a1998 A4 2.8 quattro sedan for almost 4 years and at 206,000 miles, its randomly running rough and the trans is lifting rpm's then slamming from 2nd to 3rd. My father, a used car dealer, recently bought a 2001 S4 hit moderately in the front end. He typically deals in cheap family cars from the U.S. and Japan. He quickly realized that due to the rarity and expense of parts that there was little $ to be made. And myself unable to diagnose my A4's growing issues and having a birthday coming up we decided to replace the S4 front end with my A4 parts and it will be my new car. It will be hard to say goodbye to the A4. I will likely just keep it and sit in it from time to time. The other downside, it's an automatic. It's free, but its an auto. My questions are as follows:

1 - Can I swap in a manual? What other models with manuals will plug and play?
2 - If I can't or just don't wanna deal with it, can I just swap out the diff from the autos 3.511 to the manuals 4.111? And is the final drive ratio made from 1 differential or all 3?
3 - I see that unlike the A4, the S4 mod lists are endless. How does each "stage" effect not just reliability, but durability?
4 - Common problems to watch for.

Thanks for any answers. Looking forward to coming to the dark side.

Flyboy

This should get you about 98% of the way there. <a href="http://wiki.quattroworld.com/index.php/Tip_to_6spd_Conversion">6spd swap</a>

It doesn't cover everything but it along with a few forum posts from others who have done it should help.

bgc5034

Once upon a time I too debated switching from a automatic to manual, to be blunt - its not worth it. Sell the automatic and buy a manual you will save a huge pain in the ***, it is more than just the transmission to change..

As for the mods - there is quiet a combination of things you can do to build it the way you want it.. but the main idea I've always seen is you don't want over 350awhp unless you plan to reinforce the internals of the engine and several other peices.. It just won't be reliable in the long run.. That being said you can throw turbos (k04's), a tune, exhaust, maybe a slightly bigger fueling system and have a reliable yet pretty quick car.

Flyboy

It is a bit of work but if you enjoy taking on projects with the car it is a worthwhile swap.

OP, <a href="http://audis4parts.com/audi-s4-tip-to-6-speed-transmission-conversion-swap-kit/">these guys</a> sell a kit for doing just this kind of thing and I'm pretty sure they'd answer questions that you have. Since you'd be getting the S4 for nothing you'd be able to put the savings into the job. All that said, it is easier just to purchase a 6spd, but that would cost around $6,000 for a decent one. When it's all said and done the 6spd swap may not end up being much of a cost savings versus buying a 6spd, but I also valued the knowledge and experience gained in doing the job.