New member intro - NJ/Philly/Delaware

[mtxsho93]

Hello- my name is Ian. I'm in S. Jersey. I've been driving my 93 Taurus SHO for ~ 10 years now. It's become too much of a project car to be a comfortable daily driver so I decided to find something newer and nicer. The plan now is to keep the SHO around for HPDE's. With it's wilwood brakes, Quaife ATB, coilovers and cammed 3.2 it will do well enough to keep my satisfied.

Last week I picked up a 2002 Ming Blue A6, 2.7T w/sport package and the 6 speed. I'm still learning a lot about the car. I am eagerly awaiting the Bentley manual to find out more. As for now, I believe the car is stock with the exception of 18" BBS LM rims. The car sits pretty low but I'm unsure if it has the Audi sport springs or an aftermarket set. I'm trying to avoid modding this car too much (yeah right) but I suspect that I'm going to chip it.

I'd love to meet up with other owners in the area!

Here are some pictures from the online ad (credit to www.eimports4less.com) as well as one driveway shot:







Ian

[AudiXS4X01]

it definitely looks lowered...great looking car though!

[wofman]

I'd say aftermarket on suspension from looks of it. Nice pick-up.

You'll be shocked to learn that I like the color and the spoiler (we are only two I know of using that OEM-Euro) as well as the lip on the rims.

How many miles? Welcome! (check regional forums as well: Northeast-MidAtlantic and Northeast-Tristate)

wofman

[melmac]

welcome to zine!

don't know how far King Of Prussia, PA is from you, but theres a local meet there at 7pm ET on weds.

[FrankA6]

same color as mine, looks good man, are they fake or real bbs? the valve steam looks to be in the right place for a real set?

[djez016]

thats cool im in delaware close by but i seen that car on craigslist well one that looks like it

[djez016]

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/830253334.html

[VJ's A6]

Welcome to AZ. Nice pick up.. Any mods planned??

[Stampy]

nice

[audirs]

looks great. my stock sport suspension sat just like that. it may not be aftermarket

[CALL AAA]

Are you 1993MTXSHO on SHO Forum? If so, you forgot to mention the fact that your SHO is actually your 6th one.
Your A6 is beautiful! Nice find!

[LA_AudiTR]

nice pic up! i love the color - same color as my stage 3+ B6!!! definitely very rare as far as the audi colors go - and its also eye catching!!!

and if it came with the BBS LMs, very nice pic up in deed!!!

[wofman]

I had a couple SHOs -- late'80's, early '90's. I liked 'em, torque was great once rolling, high rev engine was fun. No comparison to A6, though. Quattro blows it away (but get the chip asap).

[mtxsho93]

Thanks for all of the kind words! I'll try to address everything in one response.

Wofman - The car had ~87K on it when I picked it up last week. I've only driven it a few hundred miles since. It seems to have been fairly well maintained but the interior could use a good cleaning. It's been my experience that grey plastics don't tend to hold up well. There's not much I can do about that but I'm going to try to clean up the leather when I get a chance. By the way, I just poked my head underneath the back of the car; it has red struts and eibach springs. How can I determine if they are the Eibach/Audi sport springs or aftermarket Eibachs? Is my spoiler unique? I assumed that it came with the car as part of the sport package. I really do like it though.

melmac- KoP isn't too far from me; maybe 45 minutes. However, I'm going to be moving into our new house that day so I won't be able to make it out. I might be able to make something in the future though.

FrankA6 - I suspect that these are real LM's but how can I be sure? They do appear to be 2 piece rims. I think that someone has actually had them apart before too. Unfortunately the previous owner didn't meet a curb he didn't like. I'm going to spend some time sanding and polishing out the curb rash after we move. I know that I can clean it up but it's a shame that such nice rims were curbed on all 4 sides. Unfortunately one rim has a slight bend in the lip. :( The Wheel Collision Center in Bath, PA could probably clean it up. They fixed up one of my ASA rims on my SHO and did a great job with it. I just hate the drive up there! Right now it's not giving me problems. The 235/40/18 Pilot Sports that are on them look absolutely stretched across the rim. I think that 245's would have been a better choice. One of the tires must have nailed a curb pretty hard. I just noticed that its sidewall is shedding some rubber. Ouch.

djez016 - nice car on craigslist but this is not the same one. I was wondering if anyone in the community would recognize mine. I suspect that that PO was an enthusiast. It was originally leased in NJ, purchased from the lease company and then moved to MD with the owner. It ended up in PA where I bought it and brought it back home to NJ.

VJ's A6 - I'm going to try not to mod this car but we'll see. I do want to chip it. As soon as I get under it, I want to mic my sway bars to see what size they are. Does anyone know what size the sport ones should be?

Call AAA/Tony & wofman - 1993mtxsho is Nick in N. Jersey. I'm ManySHOs on SHOforum. However, my 93 SHO is sadly my 4th (and hopefully final) SHO. Wofman - my SHO will run circles around a stock SHO and will give many other cars a run for their money especially in the twisties. It's wrong wheel drive but I do have a Quaife, wider tires and coilovers which help to level the field somewhat. They make for exciting and cheap HPDE cars. They aren't the best out on the track but they can hold their own and are cheap fun. The A6 and the SHO are worlds apart though. The SHO requires brute force to drive and the A6 is all about finesse and torque. I love both for what they are. The SHO was just getting to be too much as a daily driver though.

My SHO is currently down due to a timing issue. As soon as it's back on the road, I'm taking the Audi down to replace the timing belt, water pump, swap out the DV's for the Audi TT's, change the trans fluid, oil and rear diff fluid. I assume that this car has a transfer case that will need a fluid change as well? I'm also planning on installing a boost gauge but that may wait awhile. I want to make sure I'm caught up on maintenance first.

Ian

[wofman]

Sounds like you're heading in right direction w. maintenance and chip, checking into the suspension issues, esp sways. Yep, you'll soon be breaking a slight fever, start feeling a bit flushed -- then it's new suspension, new exhaust (definitely can't have stock downpipes), a little work on the outside look ... an upgrade or two as items get replaced (clutch, brakes) ... asking around about different turbos ... start explaining to the little lady that it's really a series of investments ... Full Blown Mod Fever!

We are the only 2 with that spoiler that I know of. Most use "lip spoilers".

wofman

[Gigi]

hey, welcome to AZ. Nice find and great wheels! I own a blue A6 as well and almost just bought a 96 SHO with the Yamaha v8... glad I did not, the owner just blew the tranny last week-end! :) It was onnly a 1000$ though!
Your A6 looks real nice... The stance definitely looks like Eibach springs...
Get the chip, piggies custom exhaust, S6 blades and debadge that puppy! you're all set!
sport sways would significantly improve handling (dive and roll mostly)

[CALL AAA]

Aww, trannies are cheap. It's when you shear a cam sprocket pin that you've got some real F'n problems.

[mtxsho93]

hey, welcome to AZ. Nice find and great wheels! I own a blue A6 as well and almost just bought a 96 SHO with the Yamaha v8... glad I did not, the owner just blew the tranny last week-end! :) It was onnly a 1000$ though!
Your A6 looks real nice... The stance definitely looks like Eibach springs...
Get the chip, piggies custom exhaust, S6 blades and debadge that puppy! you're all set!
sport sways would significantly improve handling (dive and roll mostly)

Gigi - the 3rd gen SHO's with the V8 (96-99) are neat but you need to be careful if you're looking for them. If the owner never had the cams sprockets welded in place, make that a priority if you buy a used one. Check out www.v8sho.com for more info. I'd suggest buying an enthusiast owned one that has been welded and kept up on maintenance. A decent example may pop up in the classifieds on www.shoforum.com from time to time.

Ian

[wofman]

Ian - my memory was that V8 SHO was not exactly as well received as the high rev (similar power, maybe quicker?) Yamaha 6 in early generations. I had manual trans and thought the original engine was pretty neat - esp higher rev range. Car was stealth, drove nice once rolling (but not from stand still). Went back to an Edmonds review of "new" V8 then ('96):
"Did I enjoy the SHO? Yes. Do I like the SHO? Definitely. Would I buy the SHO? Maybe, if the Audi A4, BMW 328i, Cadillac Catera, Chevrolet Impala SS, Ford Contour SE, Lexus ES 300, Mazda Millenia S, Mercedes C280 Sport, Mercury Mystique LS, Nissan Maxima SE, Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, Volkswagen Passat GLX, and Volvo 850 Turbo were all sold out."

By '96 I was in a 4.6L convertible. Enough on Ford, though.

Look forward to meeting you and the new Ming Blue.