Honestly probably cheapest way to get a engine is getting a car through auction and stealing the engine. By me they had a s6 on iaai about a month ago with a buy it now for 1300 with about 70k miles run and drive and not that bad front end damage.
And confirming I can put in any 5.2 right? There is all the talk about an 07 vs 08. Audi put a '11 in back in the day so I think this car can accept any short block?
Ill probably buy the shipped engine so I dont have to deal with two engine pulls. Still rather sell it off as whole leaning
To my knowledge I believe you can. That engine i brought was from a s6 and I put it into a s8. You put so much work into that car. That car is literally your baby. If you didnt do as much work as you did id say fuck it.