These are the best 3 options. When looking at building a motor and for a second forget about building an audi motor. Let’s say you took a 302 ford block 100% all stock and you wanted to build the motor properly it’s going to take 2 or 3 months and that motor is like pitting legos together you can order off the shelf parts. Take any motor that has sleeves in it already and do a rebuild with a sleeve repair your looking at 3 to 4 months. Now look at our motors where they are brittle and need sleeves and nothing is uniform ask 65vetteC6 you can’t order bearings for your motor ahead of time you can’t order pistons ahead of time it’s a very difficult thing to do. But when it’s done it’s better then stock ever was and it’s better then even the rs4 motor and it’s brand now zero miles it’s a new heart for the car that won’t eat oil and can take abuse. It is something that I would day is well worth the wait. If you were going to even think of keeping the car for a long time a jhm built motor would be in your future. These cars are something special and you have lots of great parts. It just might be worth the wait. I know the thought of it sucks but I would think about what you get in the end
Those options are tough
Don’t sell it as is because you won’t get much for it.
2.7 will take a year and as 65 said you would end up with a 250 hp v6 in a4000 lb wagon. Aka Honda accord performance.
Want a stage 3 2.7t? that’s $10 grand done right, and you have to sell your 4.2 parts, but they’re not worth much used so it’s probably 7500 net in mods. Want to sell it with an engine swap? That will be interesting. Not to mention the fact that it is not emissions compliant in many places and won’t pass.
Personally I sold my b7 s4. So you know my thinking in the platform. However you have the ultimate B67…an avant. If I had an avant, I would have kept it and supercharged like Axel and gone jhm built at the first sign of motor trouble. Something that could make it an ‘another 10 years’ car.
Not sure what the budget is here. But I would contact jhm about the cost and timeline of going built, and ask it if they can go nitrous + built (tuning might be all new as I don’t think any other b7 has done this)
You likely already know, but if your block is vented, JHM may not be able to use your current block and would need to purchase another block to be built.
Tough decision indeed! I’m biased as I love the V8 and one of the reasons I purchased B6 S4, so my vote is for the built motor. It makes sense especially if you’re thinking of keeping your car for a while.
I don’t think I’ve heard of this yet. What do you mean vented?
Hahahaha vented like a block window…
Which I’m pretty sure he blew a hole in the front of the block.
great feedback from all… thanks guys
People keep thinking i was considering a straight 2.7tt swap… i was looking at a stroker 3liter with a big turbo… prob putting out a lot more than 250hp… haha
But that aside, i am in agreement that a V6 swap is not the way to go.
I dont mind waiting for a built motor… i just dont want $15k and 6 months turning into $30k and 15months (random numbers im throwing out)… so i am waiting to sort expectations out on those fronts and then move forward.
On the option of selling it… My logic is to look at it as if i were to go out and try to replicate my car from scratch… if one were to go buy a decent 08’ S4 Avant, and throw the mods in it that i have, they would be looking at spending $20-28k on the car depending on millage, and another $13k in parts alone (excluding N2O setup). So lets call that $35k min spend and thats assuming you are installing everything your self. Alternatively, you buy mine for say $20k… a motor for $4k, and spend $3k having a shop instal the motor and throw the headers on and intake manifold etc… everything else is ready to go.
So you spent $27k to get the $35k setup… not bad, right? And again thats being generous… i have a lot more than $13k into the car.
Im just thinking out loud…
Am i way off? 
Dibs on the discounted nitrous kit 
Personally would like to see you put your car back together better than ever. It is a clean and classy sleeper avant. Hopefully jhm can come up with a reasonable solution to make it better than before and you can take that route. I might be in the minority, but i think it is going to be difficult getting what you might consider a fair price for a blown engine vehicle as is. Seems most looking for that are looking for one on the very cheap.
Curious if you have been given any insight as to what caused the engine to give?
Yea its not easy to sell a project for someone else to finish at a top dollar price like that. I think youd be hard pressed to get 12K as it sits tbh.
Haha, yeah that’s that I meant. A little JB Weld and it’ll be all good…I kid
Although you can probably find a trashed (non vented) BHF block for ~$500.
I see your point… but my numbers arent out of line in terms of looking at what somebody would have to spend if they wanted to build out a recent S4 Avant… But yes, i know that people are always looking to steal and low-ball their way into a project like this, and i would certainly be expecting to get bent over for it…
@Happy2b5… no i have not figured out exactly what happened yet.
Theres actually a guy in PA trying to sell 2 complete (non running to my knowledge) BHF’s for $400 I think. That guy that bought like 4 different engines before selling the car for a huge loss. ???
I think i saw that… they were pretty beat up, and bone stock… one was a rolling chassis, but was missing some parts, and needed an engine… the other was just a parts car.
I like to think mine is a bit better off than those… geesh
No I was talking about these motors, http://www.audizine.com/forum/classifieds.php?listing=audi-s4-v8-engines-2-bhf-143217
And this is the rollercoaster of ownership this guy let himself go through
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/574664-Anyone-know-of-a-good-S4-engine-for-sale
LOL I don’t know how I didn’t catch that FML I think I’m reading too much into posts…
lol @ vented block.
Gotta agree with ya here.
If you want to be done with the car and sell it, then you need to buy the used motor, install it, pull off all the JHM parts during the process to sell and call it a day. No one pays for a non-running project car. If you want to keep it and make it really serious, then JHM built motor and bigger N02 jets would be crazy to see!
Fyi, I sold my 05.5 S4 ~18 months ago for $25k and I was ecstatic to get that. Sedan vs avant, and older etc, but that had basically every bolt on JHM part made (inc. Stage 1 S/C) as well as DTM body Kit, ie ~$18k in JHM stuff and $5-10k in other aesthetic/preventative maintenance items. If I had a blown motor in it, personally I couldn’t even dream of hitting the teens price wise. People just don’t pay a premium for aftermarket performance cars, plan on 10 cents to the dollar when it comes time to sell. But we don’t mod our cars looking at it as an investment. Just tryin to give a perspective as we haven’t seen too many of the JHM modified cars go to market.
If you sell your car with a dead engine you will get 7 thousand dollars. That’s because it’s an avant. Otherwise you’d get 5000.
DSgray if it makes you feel any better I will better saki’s guess, Ill do 7K but ill throw in another tree fiddy to sweeten the deal. But really, I bought my avant with a crap motor for almost half of that…
Wow… i read through that whole thread… wtf
That guy has the patience of a saint… and then no patience what so ever… cant believe he traded it for Honda after all that!
Sooo… after a great deal of consideration and time, i have decided to replace my a engine with a used block. Somebody hoping for a JHM built motor will thank me for getting them onto the list!
Engine is out of a 06’ S4 with about 80k miles. I found it at a place called Central Auto Parts in Denver. Great place to deal with by the way!
So that arrived at the shop i use today. I also ordered the re-designed headers from JHM. I plan to continue running nitrous (im not a quitter!) and i feel like the new design will work better with it… less restrictive at higher RPM’s. I decided to go catless with this set, so will be interesting to see the comparison between long-tube catted and mid-length catless.
I also ordered the Aux oil cooler and auto trans cooler as well.
Ill update again once the car starts getting worked on. Hoping to have her back on the road by mid June.