I've been putting this off for a while... my introduction/build

[michael66899]

well, i'm an idiot.

just found the problem. i forgot to cap the vacuum port on the under side of the intake manifold when i deleted the EVAP system. i was sitting there staring at the engine while it was idling, and it sort of dawned on me that it might not be capped. so i reached under there to feel if it was still open, and it instantly sucked my finger to it, and the idle smoothed out.

only problem now is that my clutch isn't working now... it's back to staying at the floor. i'm going to double check the fittings for the slave, and bleed it out again.

Finally!! That's awesome man but the clutch issue is a real bummer that's really weird. The car looks awesome though those pics of it in the driveway are so sick, really makes me want to delete my lower trim.. If you get the clutch fixed bring it by I'll be in the garage all day rebuilding the tranny in the silver car, no fun.

[Gumby]

how about a lil 4/20 update

i honestly haven't worked on my car in almost a month and a half. i sort of lost interest for a while, because i ran into a few problems all at once that i thought were more serious then they really were. but i got home from graveyard this morning, and decided today was the day i finally try to get my car roadworthy.

all i've done since my last update is roll and pull my front fenders, and toss some 5mm spacers on them.

so the "serious" issues i was having were:

1. brakes felt extremely spongy, and barely worked.
2. clutch peddle wouldn't fully return once it was pressed in.
3. battery wasn't charging
4. the car kept blowing brake light bulbs randomly.
5. kept blowing intercooler pipes off, because the clamps were too big.
6. probably 40% of the bulbs on/in the car were burnt out.

i actually worked on the charging issue yesterday. i pulled the alternator off my spare engine, and had it tested, turns out it was good. so i went ahead, and slapped it on.

the clutch issue turned out to be just a loose fitting on the slave line. no big deal.

after a little digging i discovered my brake issue was actually that my drivers side front axle bolt wasn't tightened down all the way. what i'm guessing is that when i was driving the rotor was moving laterally and pushing the pistons out in the caliper. so when i would press in the brake peddle it would take a lot of peddle travel to get any braking power consequently giving me the spongy brake peddle. after i tightened down the axle bolt i had a nice stiff peddle.

so, first thing this morning when i was waiting for stores to open, i actually did a little project i've been wanting to do for a while. i have a few sets of stock HIDs from various Audis I've upgraded the headlights in. so, i retrofitted a set into my Depos. it actually fit really well, and turned out pretty clean.



and tossed in some yellow high beam bulbs while i was in there.



i didn't take any pictures while i was working on it, but i had JUST enough room to mount the larger a6 ballast on the underside of the housing.



a while back I picked up an s4 cluster super cheap, so i slapped in some chrome rings and installed it. i'm super stoked, it cleaned up the interior a lot.



so, as long as i've been messing with this front mount one of my biggest gripes about it i've had is the POS clamps my piping kit came with. i could never get them tight enough, because they were too big for the size pipe. the other thing that pissed me off about them, was even though the bands were stainless, the hardware isn't so they rusted.

you can see how the left bolt is as tight as you can get it, but i was still blowing off pipes when i got into ANY boost.



so i ran down to our local Parker store and picked up a bunch of fully stainless T-bolts with a smaller diameter range.





hopefully that'll be the last time i have to worry about these.



i finally got my bumper support notched out to clear my core, mounted back in my bumper, and painted it black until i can get it painted.







and it was finally time to take it for a REAL drive. up until now all i've been able to do is move it around my driveway, and limp it down the block as long as i kept it out of boost. i took it for a good twenty mile cruise around the lake i live on, and all i can say is WOW. i freakin love this car!

the Vogland coilovers feel amazing, they're super plush feeling just cruising around, but they control the body roll extremely well if you chuck it into a corner hard. the combination of the JHM shifter, USP metal Slave, fx-300, and the 034 drivetrain mounts make for some phenomenal feeling shifts.

i'm super excited to start driving this every day, and start moding it more, but as of right i couldn't be happier with it.

[Turbwhistle]

Doesn't it feel slow compared to the AR?


You car looks just like alex's. I am jelly.

[Gumby]

it's ungodly slow! the allroad is stage 2+ and over 450lbs lighter then stock, it's a rocket compared to this thing. haha

but i still love it

[Turbwhistle]

Handles like a champ? If a4's weren't so damn slow, i would love mine, but they are. At least your's looks spot on.

[NeedingAnAudi]

Doesn't it feel slow compared to the AR?


You car looks just like alex's. I am jelly.

Alex's? If you mean me than nah. Gumby has skirts and depos, two sets of items I haven't yet obtained. And his looks better because of it.

Gumby are you going to lower it anymore? I feel like it needs just a half inch all around

[Gumby]

i actually think i'm gonna have to raise it some :\

today was the first time i've left my driveway with the bumper on and it scraped BAD. my driveway is ridiculously steep. but i'll be moving within a month, so we'll see.

as of right now it's absolutely out of the question for me. the last thing i wanna do is smash an oil pan on a $5500 engine. an aluminum skid plate is at the top of my list of things to get right now.

[NeedingAnAudi]

i actually think i'm gonna have to raise it some :\

today was the first time i've left my driveway with the bumper on and it scraped BAD. my driveway is ridiculously steep. but i'll be moving within a month, so we'll see.

as of right now it's absolutely out of the question for me. the last thing i wanna do is smash an oil pan on a $5500 engine. an aluminum skid plate is at the top of my list of things to get right now.

Oh you don't have a skid yet? I love my Panzer, it's definitely saved my ass more than 20 times

[Gumby]

yeah, i wish i had one. i don't have anything on it right now, and it sorta scares the shit outta me.

[NeedingAnAudi]

You should be alright for now. I ran at 23" for about 6 months all around Chicago and all the way to D.C. and back. My neighborhood is nice but the roads in Chicago are unpredictable at best, just gotta drive on the edge staring at the road lol

[chris164935]

In this picture, does the 034 silicone hose go up to the intake manifold barbed fitting on the side that is near the coolant expansion tank?
Thanks.

P.S. Good to read that you finally got this thing running right. One day I hope I can do the same with my car.

[Turbwhistle]

Alex's? If you mean me than nah. Gumby has skirts and depos, two sets of items I haven't yet obtained. And his looks better because of it.

Gumby are you going to lower it anymore? I feel like it needs just a half inch all around

Minor things, its a low bb on merc wheels, and its clean.

[034Motorsport]

Man I wish my black S4 looked as visually attractive as your A4!

I feel your pain about the driveway too. My last house had a 1/2 mile long gnarly road and my exhaust scraped bad even at stock ride height. I would lift a wheel each time and teeter.

[jaychen]

Your car is super clean man,

It looks very tight.

Well done.

[boy412]

Cool build thread!

[Turbwhistle]

Your shit broke down today.

[Gumby]

Man I wish my black S4 looked as visually attractive as your A4!

I feel your pain about the driveway too. My last house had a 1/2 mile long gnarly road and my exhaust scraped bad even at stock ride height. I would lift a wheel each time and teeter.

thanks Max! you've been a huge help throughout this build

but honestly the paint isn't as good as it appears in most of the pictures. i need to do a full detail on the car ASAP.





update? why not?

so i finally got the car to the point where i felt comfortable enough to daily it. i managed to track down my battery charging issue to a faulty alternator. i had previously ruled it out because i had it tested by the guys at Autozone, and was told it was "good". but after a week or so of trying to find something wrong with the wiring, relays, fuses etc. i couldn't find a single thing wrong. finally i just said fuck it, and decided to replace the alternator, so i KNEW it wasn't the issue.

so i pulled the alternator AGAIN, and took it to a local electrical company and had them take a look at it. one of their techs tested the alternator, and determined it WAS faulty. so after discussing my options, i decided to have them reman it, and i must say they did an excellent job! they replaced the brushes, cleaned and painted the housing, and put on a new pulley.





so after i got it in everything seemed good to go

i drove the car to work for a few days, and it performed without a hitch. my buddy and i were planning on taking a trip down to eastern Oregon to visit our families for a week, so we decided to pack up the a4 and take it instead of my allroad. why not take a relatively untested car on a four hundred mile trip... what's the worst that could happen?

the car did great throughout the entire trip averaging over 30mpg on the freeway. oil temps never went over 220 degrees a single time throughout the entire trip even going over a mountain pass thanks to the oil cooler. overall the car was a blast to drive through the twisty mountain roads.





apparently my passenger got a little bored at some point and snapped these





we made a quick stop at the top of Steven Pass just east of the Seattle area, to check when the ski resort was scheduled to close and the mountain bike park would be open.



every skier we passed walking around looked at us like we were crazy because we were in tee shirts and shorts up there



so on the way back home we swung by Achtuning in Redmond, WA to have my car chipped. i had it flashed with an APR stage two file just to keep me entertained while i gather my BT parts.

(random picture of the Hartman wheels on display in their showroom)


i must say the chip was well worth the money! the car doesn't feel like such a fat pig, and i can actually pass someone on the freeway without having to downshift now!

the car did fine for a few days until i blew off an intercooler pipe at full boost when i was getting on the freeway after a twelve hour graveyard shift, stranding me on the side of the freeway. it wasn't too big of a deal, i just had my roommate bring me a new t-bolt clamp and a wrench. later i disassembled all my piping and added dimples around the pipes that didn't have a bead rolled in them from me cutting them. i haven't had any more issues with it since, so hopefully that'll be the LAST time i have to mess with that.



so today i finally decided to do something about the absolute lack of exhaust note from this car. i just did a simple rear muffler delete until i can get a full 3" stainless exhaust. it cost me all of $60, and sounds decent without being annoying inside the cabin.





flex pipe damn near sitting on the lift cross members. they almost wouldn't do the job because they didn't think they could get my car on the lift.



they were out of duel tips, and had to order one in for me. it should be getting installed tomorrow after it comes in. i'll post up a picture when i get it put on, and maybe try to get a sound clip up.

[NeedingAnAudi]

I need my alternator fixed up like that. Soo pretty

[Gumby]

so i found something a little interesting this morning when i went out to my car.....



holy fuuuuuuuck! did a pterodactyl take a shit on my car?!



luckily i had a brand new buffer sitting in my back seat. i did a full wash and buffed the whole thing, and got her sittin pretty again









later i had my exhaust tip welded on, and got an alignment.





i ran out of time before i could get a sound clip, because i told a buddy i would go help him do the brakes on his B7. i'll try to get something up soon.

[flynnr]

1) where did you get the rs4 style mesh for your s4 bumper?

2) how did you 'dimple' the fmic piping?

3) just an FYI - I have hit 28 psi in my car, and have never had anything blow off, and my pipes dont have the lip/buldge on the end (since i cut them) the way i achieved this was to spray hair spray on every contact point (guess its an old trick of the trade) and its amazing how well it worked. i suggest going this route if you have any more issues.

keep it up!

[Gumby]

Thanks for the tip. I use the same method on my handle bar grips for my mountain bikes, i just didn't think about it. I don't really get why my hoses kept blowin off, I had the clamps tightened to the point that I started to crush one of the pipes. I have a JHM front mount on my allroad that I had to cut two of the pipes to make it fit, and I've never had an problems with it.

To make the dimples in the pipes I modified a set of old welding pliers. They originally have two notches for unscrewing welding tips, so I just filled one in, and put a tack weld on it. After that all I had to do was pinch the pipe in a couple places around the end. I think I did four or five dimples in each pipe, sort of like a bead, it just doesnt go all the way around.



And I know I never mentioned it in my build, but that's genuine rs4 mesh in my bumper. I actually had the bumper and my sideskirts before I had the car. I got three of the lower center grills for the rs4 bumper from Achtuning, and cut out my pieces from that.

[AudiA4_20T]

love this build

[Turbwhistle]

Matt, how do you like your cone air intake, i was thinking of getting one just because i need a new air filter. Would you recommend it?

[Gumby]

love this build

thanks Clint

Matt, how do you like your cone air intake, i was thinking of getting one just because i need a new air filter. Would you recommend it?

i like it a lot. it makes a ton of extra room in the engine bay for when your working on stuff. plus sounds like a BOV when you shift

[J Ozzie]

YES!! Finally that slut is running!
Props to the detail job man! Ill come help you out with a full one!

[donkeysaudi]

oh yea defiantly love this build. idk if u answered this already but what r ur plans for the BT build

[Polski]

its beautiful! exactly what i wanted to do to mine eventually!

[Gumby]

how about a little update?

i haven't been able to really do anything to my car lately because i tore a muscle in my shoulder. but i am getting ready to knock out some stuff this week in preparation for the annual Leavenworth cruise here in Washington.

a while back i made a wood floor to replace my crusty ass stained trunk mat. i think it turned out decent, and only took an hour or so to make.







i also went a head and bit the bullet and ordered the brackets i needed to install my s4 side skirts. again, they are just spray painted until i can take them to get painted professionally. i have a lot of parts i want to take in at once, so for now this will have to do.








so my car had a little incident about a week ago...

i was getting off the freeway, and suddenly i heard a sort of metal on metal grinding sound exactly like a bad wheel bearing. but when i came to a full stop at the end of the off ramp a giant cloud of smoke blew out of my drivers side wheel well

so i pulled in to a gas station and tried to see what the hell was making all the smoke. i couldn't really see anything just because of the lack of openings in my wheels, and my ride height. from what i could tell the cv had shot all it's grease out. from what i could see the boot was fine, it just looked like the clamp wasn't tight enough or something. so i drove it back home, and without tearing into anything i just ordered a new cv thinking that was the only issue.

so today i pulled the axle to replace the cv, and this is what i found.



from the looks of it the tone ring for the abs separated, and pretty much ate itself.





it looks like the metal shavings from the tone ring got into the wheel bearing and made it overheat. all the grease in it was cooked, and the bearings looked like rocks there were so many chunks missing from them. so now i have to replace my brand new wheel bearing as well

but i went ahead and replaced the outer cv, and cleaned and re-greased the inner.



one other thing i have in the works for this week is to install a Snow Performance stage one water/meth kit. while i had the wheel off i went ahead and installed my meth tank i made. i'm going to use a stock washer tank that i sealed, and installed a push lock fitting in.





but me being the dumb ass that i am, i didn't test fit anything before i installed the fitting. i just mounted it in the lowest point that had a large enough void that i wouldn't punch through the other side with my unibit while i drilled my hole. well i ended up mounting it dead center of the fender brace. i somehow managed to hit the one and ONLY thing that could get in my way,. so i went through that bastard instead!



found a nice little home for my pump.



and final routing of the hose



i still have to mount my solenoid, tap into a boost source, and wire everything, but i'm going to put finishing this on hold. reason being i'm still waiting on the nozzle to arrive from the guy i bought the kit from. he is sending it separately because he was still waiting for a new nozzle to arrive, he just sent the rest of the kit so i could start on the install.

i sprayed my spare intake manifold with VHT wrinkle black so i can tap it for the nozzle whenever it arrives.

[Gumby]

lastly i'm still having issues with my intercooler piping blowing off... i tried the hairspray trick Flynnr suggested, but i still blew off pipes. so i think i finally came up with a system to roll my own beads in my pipes to solve this issue once and for all!

i started out with another spare set of welding pliers i had laying around.



then i cut off the needle nose pliers.



then i welded one side of the notches for removing tips.



in theory they worked, but i couldn't pinch them hard enough to bend the pipe. so i cut two pieces of scrap tubing to extend the handles.



the rubber grips had to go





a little quick shot of black paint to clean things up.



and some rubber tape for some extra grip and a little cushion.



and now they work great!

after testing it on a scrap piece, i think i finally found the solution i needed.





the inside remains pretty clean, without any burrs or rough edges.



and side by side with a machine rolled bead. i actually think mine will be more effective.



tomorrow i'm going to roll all my pipes that no longer have beads, and see how it holds up.

i'm going to have parts rolling in all week, so i'll update things as they progress

[NeedingAnAudi]

Wow I think I need to make that floor. Also, where did you get those S4 brackets?

[Gumby]

Off genuinevwaudiparts.com, I think they were around $50 shipped. They're listed as something weird like a "holder"

[Gumby]

i got a Fluidamper in from 034 today. just wanted to say thanks to Max for hookin it up

I decided to go with the Fluidamper just because i don't like the added vibrations from running track density mounts, and an unbalanced engine. and i'd like the added safety when i get ready to rev this engine out a little more.



side by side comparison of the OEM crank pulley and the new Fluidamper.



i ran into a little issue i wasn't expecting though. the Fluidamper doesn't have a provisions to run an a/c belt. i ended up just removing the belt and tensioner until i can figure out if anyone offers a solution to this. i'm not really worried about it because my a/c wasn't charged anyways.



so i just threw the front end back on and called it a day. hopefully my wheel bearing will show up soon so i can get a feel for the new dampener while driving.

[Turbwhistle]

Your car is "THE" shit!

[Gumby]

Your car is "THE" shit!

i don't know if it's THE shit, but it's getting there ;)

[Gumby]

more stuff showed up today. my wheel bearing came in, and i got a used Neuspeed rear sway bar from Bryan@audis4parts (it actually showed up a day earlier then it was scheduled to. yay.)



i decided to tackle the rear bar today, as i only had a couple hours before i have to leave for work.

i'm not really sure what bar this is, but it's bigger then the 19mm bar most companies carry.



and of course the obligatory side by side comparison with the puny 'sport' rear bar.



and a finished picture with the install all buttoned up.



the rear sway bars are surprisingly easy to install on these cars compared to the c5's, all said and done it only took me an hour or so to do. i have the day off tomorrow, so i'm gonna knock out that wheel bearing. i can't wait to drive this thing!

[biketsai]

Do you have any type of subframe support for that new rear sway bar? I'd look into making something or buying something otherwise you run the risk of cracking your subframe.
Btw- Love the DIY beading tool, that thing is a beast.

[stunner247]

Nice build. Diggin the bead rolling tool. Are you just running the 4 rib belt on the damper pulley or are you going to convert it all to 5 rib?

[Gumby]

Do you have any type of subframe support for that new rear sway bar? I'd look into making something or buying something otherwise you run the risk of cracking your subframe.
Btw- Love the DIY beading tool, that thing is a beast.

thanks Chris, the beads seemed to do the trick. i beat on it pretty hard this weekend on the Leavenworth cruise, and didn't have a single issue with the pipes. i'll definitely be holding onto that tool for a while.

as far as the subframe goes... no, i don't currently have any reinforcement brackets. i'm aware of the weak design of the rear subframe on these cars, but the car Bryan pulled my bar from didn't have any brackets. when i installed it i put it on the soft setting until i can get some brackets. it honestly doesn't feel that much different right now. a tiny bit tighter feeling but not much. so i think i'll be ok for now.

i found some detailed pictures of the brackets Neuspeed includes in their kits, and they really aren't anything special. i think i'm going to fabricate my own and save myself the $175 they want for them separately, that's more then i paid for the damn bar!

[Gumby]

might as well throw these up while i'm here.

i finally got a roller of my car this past weekend on the cruise thanks to BoostedAvant.



and these bad boys were waiting for me when i got home. it's nice to have door handles with good springs. my drivers side front had the usual busted spring and rattled non stop when i was driving.





i think i just about have my interior exactly how i want it.

[Gumby]

Nice build. Diggin the bead rolling tool. Are you just running the 4 rib belt on the damper pulley or are you going to convert it all to 5 rib?

i'm just running the main accessory belt right now. i haven't really dug into it much to find out what my options are as far as a solution.

what do you mean convert it to five rib? just changing the belt to a five rib wouldn't do anything. the pulley for the ac condenser doesn't line up with the rest of the pulleys.