Looking for a 4.2 belt driven motor (time sensitive)

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

The short: Going into a 2000 C5 A6 and need it within a week.

Location: Central TX (Austin/Round Rock)

The long: A close friend of mine purchased the car from CA with low mileage and drove it to TX where it now resides. All seemed well until the #8 rod bearing started to take a walk so he ordered a used motor as well as a 6 speed trans for a swap. However, soon after, he received a job offer out of state he couldn’t pass up so now time is of the essence. After the used motor came in a few quick checks revealed a fubar cam tensioner (no telling what else) so he called the company for a refund. He’s now between a rock and a hard place having to source another motor or give up his project car since shipping it to his new location was not an option (for him).

The other fallback option is sourcing some parts for a bottom end rebuild, time permitting.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you for reading.

#2

Car-part.com has about a hundred to choose from. These motors are pretty bombproof, so there should be lots of solid ones out there. The cars that they are installed in (A6 and A8) generally get written off and parted out well before the engine is anywhere near end of life. My S6 is at 345,000 km, and still going strong.

I know of one guy on Audizine that got his hands on a relatively low mileage S6 engine. He wanted to install it in an Allroad, which I didnt think was a good idea (too much work, especially when you can pickup an S6 for cheap that is alot nicer)

If you want, let me know and Ill contact him for you, to see if he wants to sell it. I think he is in Florida.

If you go with the S6 engine, it has a different intake manifold and TBs, that you will have to account for. And, the ECU is 7.1 instead of 7.1.1. Anyway, JHM can help you out with a tune if you go that route.

If it were me, I would take the S6/S8 engine in a second over the stock 4.2 (I actually did, in a previous project car). But, that all depends on what your goals are.

Good Luck!

#3

Sorry, just re-read your post.

A 2000 A6 4.2 with a blown engine is a parts car (i.e. worth $500-$1000). Why is he trying so hard to get it on the road when he obviously has other things on his plate right now? Just sell it off to a guy who will part it out, and move on. Or pay for shipping to the new location and deal with it there.

Unless you can pickup a solid, guaranteed engine locally for dirt cheap, I don’t see the logic behind trying to make everything happen within a week. Especially since it sounds like he is strapped for cash.

#4

Thanks for the reply. I suppose this could be a knee-jerk reaction to get it going, but I know he really likes the body lines of the car and was looking for a way to keep it since he hasn’t had it long and it was a clean, low miler.

Another option came up to get it going for $4K from a shop owner (not sure what that includes) and then have the car shipped up.

I figured I’d help him out by poking around to see if anything was available. I’ll take your advice on the car-parts.com and let him know. I can’t remember where he sourced his used motor, but I checked it out and saw 3 motors in the Houston area so it might be something.

He has a nice daily so maybe he’ll just part with the A6 and start something else up when he gets to his new place. Thanks again.

#5

Holy crap, $4k to get a 2000 A6 4.2 back on the road? No man, no.

Anyway, up to him. But he would be WAY better off just finding one with a blown transmission for $1000, and then spending the $4000 on a 6speed swap. Or just buy one of the many cars out there that are running for $3000-$4000.

What happens if he spends four grand on it, and then the transmission goes the next month? Believe me, it can happen, and has happened to me on my 2000, 2001, 2002 S6, 2003 RS6.

#6

4000 is a lot of money. I know CV has a short block he isn’t using right now. I can link him to this thread. Will a short block work or are you looking for something quicker.

#7

Yeah we arent sure what the 4K inludes but at minimum is getting a replacement motor/rebuild , install and the auto to 6spd transmission swap.

I got his timeline a little skewed. He’s starting the job just after Halloween but he’s not permanently moving out of state until end of year. So he’s got a little more time as he will be flying back on the weekends to get everything finalized.

A short block may just work out. However, he just so happened to see a 4.2 sitting in the neighborhood today and the owner may want to part with it.

He really likes the widebody.

#8

OK, that is definitely more reasonable then, if it includes the 6speed swap.

I spent a totally unreasonable amount of money over the years on the C5 widebody cars myself, so I certainly understand where he is coming from. It took me about 5-6 years of C5 ownership before I finally lost interest in the line. They are incredible cars for the price you can get them for nowadays.

I wish I had kept my 2000 A6 4.2 project car. I would have loved to gut it, put some proper tires on it, and take it to the track for some laps. Unfortunately, my driveway space limits how many cars I can own at a time.

Now I am wasting all my hard earned cash on a C6 S6. If it’s not one Audi sucking me dry, its another. LOL

#9

I had a similar predicament when a shop said my 2003 v6 passat needed a new engine. He said it needed 2 new chain tensioners, and the parts and labor cost more than a new engine, which in turn costs more than the car is worth. So I towed it home, stuck it in the garage, bought another car, and I’m just working on the passat in my free time at my own leisure. I figure I can probably fix it myself for $1000 and a while bunch of weekend time, I’d rather do that than part it out for $1000. I just want to have it running again so that I can do work on my S6 and still be able to make it to work, plus I honestly just like my passat for some reason. Weird, I know. Anyways, my point is that if he loves the car, maybe the best decision is to buy something else, then he can have all the time in the world to fix up his baby.

#10

Quick update:

I bought the car from him, ordered a motor (w/58K) from Shokan and we put it back together. Once I get some things squared away a build thread will ensue. Here are a couple pics for starters:


http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/danny_atx/Project_A6_V8/A6_1.jpg


http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/danny_atx/Project_A6_V8/A6_2.jpg

#11

Holy cow! Nice car!!!

You didn’t mention anything about the RS6 front end conversion. That is worth big $$$$$ and looks amazing.

The car also looks like it is lowered and has an exhaust. You scored !!!

Looking forward to the build thread

#12

Thanks man! The cat back exhaust piping is stock with aftermarket mufflers/tips so I definitely have plans to replace it.

#13

If you need any ideas for performance upgrades, then check out my build thread on my old silver 2000 A6 4.2. On the performance side, I took it about as far as I could go, aside from headers or a supercharger kit.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/470167-2000-A6-4-2-Project-Mayhem

#14

Will do, thanks

#15

You might as well just bring all the data from there over here and update it here with what you learned.

Please do. Car looks great.

#16

Yeah, good idea. Ill pull over the critical info from that thread when I have the time. For me, the whole thing was one big, long, learning experience on how to mod an NA Audi.

I felt bad selling the car after all the money and time I poured into it, but without going through that project, I would have no idea what to do with the v10 project.