oil pan is off! the TLDR is that you’ll need a few flathead screwdrivers and a rubber mallet
JHM LW crank pulley on order - to get to the WP/t-stat you need to remove the alternator, which means removing the belt, so may as well do it.
finally pulled all my pics (so far) off of my camera, so I’ll do a picture dump with instructions in the next week or so.
Great updates keep em comming. YES on the oil pan be very very very careful. If you even bend the pan lip a little you can see oil leak issues later.
The water pump and thermostat is on the drivers side of the engine… no removal of the alternator required
i guess with the core off it’s unnecessary. the bentley manual calls for those steps (but also doesn’t pull the core).
crank pulley is off and JHM LW pulley going on tomorrow night. bolts are 10mm triple-squares. don’t buy the Lisle master set. it’s made from cheap steel - the leading edges of my 10mm drive all yielded (deformed) appreciably under reasonably low torque (maybe 40 ft-lbs?). not sure what a better set is, but i wouldn’t spend the money to replace my Lisle set with another one.
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i guess with the core off it’s unnecessary. the bentley manual calls for those steps (but also doesn’t pull the core).
crank pulley is off and JHM LW pulley going on tomorrow night. bolts are 10mm triple-squares. don’t buy the Lisle master set. it’s made from cheap steel - the leading edges of my 10mm drive all yielded (deformed) appreciably under reasonably low torque (maybe 40 ft-lbs?). not sure what a better set is, but i wouldn’t spend the money to replace my Lisle set with another one.
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I use a “titan” brand that is sold in the canadian version of harbour freight. It’s an impact triple square set and have never had an issue. They also work amazing in removing stripped allan bolts lol, just smash them in!
home depot carries a few options:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sunex-3-8-in-Drive-Stubby-Triple-Square-Impact-Bit-SUN3640/301357098
WOW that totally shouldn’t have happened. Like murph linked look at Home depot or there is sears if you have one by you.
LW pulley is on, and 29 bolts later, so is the oil pan!
the manual says to lay the bead and install within 5 minutes. good luck, unless you have the car on a lift or the engine on a stand. i tried my best and used my drill (on the lowest torque-limit setting) to try and speed things up. here’s hoping it holds!
a little planning does help with the oil pan - there are 29x 10mm bolts holding that thing to the block. i cleaned all of my bolts, then put anti-seize on all of them before anything else. then i put down the bead on the pan (the little squeeze thing is a PITA and hurts like hell after a bit), and used 2 bolts just to get the pan on the block and got them finger tight. then i continued to add more bolts and adjusted the pan as needed to get all the bolt holes aligned. so the bottom end of my block is probably a little messier than a factory install, to say the least ;D ;D ;D
Haha. Squeezing that tube is a b!t*h! Worst thing about the job.
On getting the pan on quickly, I had my son help me. Had the car on jack stands so we could both lie under there comfortably. We rehearsed it with the pan dry, then laid out the bolts and split them up between us. Used a speed wrench to get them on quickly. Got the pan on cleanly and properly torqued in less than 10 minutes. It was a race though!
Will try the 2man approach! Checked my oil pan tonight, and it was very obvious I did not get a good seal. Time to save $100 worth of oil and try again 
Ahhhh how frustrating.
Here is what I do. It works like a charm. Take out one of the oil pan bolts. Got to homedepot or a hardware store. Get studs with the same thread pattern. I suggest 4.
Pull the pan and all of the bolts. Then put in the 4 threaded studs. These will act as a pilot line up for putting the pan back on. It will make your life about 50x easier. install the studs in the front middle side middle and back middle. This way the pan will lineup with the studs and it won’t move while you put in bolts. Not only that but you can push the pan on flush to the block plate and not worry about the sealent getting disturbed.
IMHO this is the perfict way to do this. Once you have the other 25 bolts in unscrew the studs and replace them with the last 4 bolts.
Also I wouldn’t leave the sealent in a beeded pattern. I would partially smooth it down to control the squish path. Make a good attempt to get sealent around each bolt hole. That usually is where the oil creep starts.
Simple, but brilliant!!!
seriously. that’s like a gamechanger for a solo oil pan job.
btw, the bolts are M6x1.0 if you need to buy threaded rod
2nd install of the oil pan tonight - had 10x 4" studs (…a little overkill). i’d recommend no more than 2.5" studs, as the front coolant pipe gets in the way if the studs are too long.
anyway, install was EASY. wow, what a difference that made! i also used a thicker bead this time, so i hope that helps make a better seal.
great suggestion, justincredible 
Great work so glad this helped. 4" yes that’s a big big jump. the 2.5" studs would be perfect. I think the ones I made are just over 2" the 2" is exposed the rest is threaded into the head.
pretty sure i am not up $hit creek without a paddle as of today.
to get to the water pump proper, the front coolant pipe has to come off (https://parts.audiusa.com/p/Audi_2008_S6-Base/Center-pipe-Engine-Coolant-Pipe--52-LITER-FEED-Center-pipe/48004162/07L121481H.html. i was working on the bolt on the back side of the pipe when it stripped out. as best i can tell it’s a goner.
here’s the front coolant pipe. the stripped bolt is the one in the back of the pipe (cabin side)
http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/988515984.jpg
any ideas on how to rescue this one? the area is horrendously inaccessible.
I had the torx socket strip out on that one too. What I did was grab a quality torx bit the next size up. It had a lot sharper edges. If you look around carefully, you can get a straight shot at that bolt with an extension and the torx bit at its end. Then I took a ball peen hammer and gently tapped it in to get it to bite. It worked.
Edit: can’t remember but you might have to move the wiring loom a bit
I know it’s a little late, however u can change out the water pump without removing the coolant pipe. Remove the two? Supports on the front of block and it gives you a little movement with the pipe. I started down the path your on, and looked for other options after trying to access that back bolt. Good luck, tapping in a larger torx should work.
Great idea! You are the Man!
I just did this solo a few weeks back, very tricky to get it aligned without disturbing your bead, thankfully, mines in and not leaking!
will give this a shot. in the meantime i have a t35 and 4.5mm hex on order - both a t40 and 5mm hex seem to be too big.
at this rate, i might finish the top side of the engine before the bottom ;D
triple squares work well too. just need to hammer it in.