JBones's Silver Bullet B6 S4

[JimmyBones]

Since I got my current S4 I have been enjoying every few minutes that I get to drive it on the street, at the track, and sadly on the tow truck home. Over the few times that I have taken it to the track I have broken a few things and I thought it was time for some upgrading. Here is an old bad cell phone shot of my car lined up at MIR waiting for the Monte Carlo:


Since going to the track a few times I have done a some mods to my car, mostly for stuff that I broke like:
-USP metal slave cylinder with SS line
-JHM light-weight flywheel with stage 4 clutch
-Stern race density engine mounts
-Wavetrac LSD rear diff - I broke another rear LSD that I tried

The other stuff that I have done to my car was just because it was easy to do at the time or I was already in there for other maintenance like:
-JHM Trio package
-JHM 4:1 center diff
-JHM light-weight crank pulley
-034 Motorsport race density transmission mount
-Apikol snub mount and race density rear diff mount

Currently my S4 has been sitting down with the front end off for a few months while going through a couple of my projects that will be posted up later on as I get them finished. Now since I had the front end off and valve cover gaskets sitting around I thought it would be a good time to replace the leaking gaskets and clean the oil off my engine.



After a little paint I put the valve covers back on and here is the passenger side back on.



Yesterday, I got a package from 034 Motorsport for my recent order with JHM with a bunch of goodies.



Starting from the middle then going out. There are 034 Motorsport front sway bar end links, strut mounts, fully spherical adjustable front upper control arms, and spherical front lower control arms. The coilovers are KW clubsports that I got from 91gl over on AudiRevolution.net.

This is a blurry shot of the front struts with the upper control arms and the dust boots installed. Let me tell you the dust boots can be a PITA to get on.



Most of the parts I am taking off will be posted up in the classifieds section when I get them off the car.

So far this is all for now and I will keep updating this thread as other things come in.

[b4a41point8t]

baaaaallliiin, thats a nice build. Subscribed

[JimmyBones]

I forgot that I installed some 034 subframe bushings while my car has been sitting. These should help hold the subframe, engine, and trans in place.



On 034's website they say that Audi had really sloppy tolerances with these subframes and they were not kidding. The rear hole that is pictured above was really tight on top and so loose on the bottom that I had to wrap the sides of the new bushings so they wouldn't fall out. The two rear top holes required a half hour of opening up with a die grinder so that I could finally tap the new bushings in. Here is a shot of the blue duct tape that is better sealing the new bushing to the subframe - duct tape works for everything!



Here is the subframe after all the upper bushings were installed.



I got some more packages today too. This was in one of the packages. ;D

[BenSti]

Looking great! You will love the subframe bushings!

[JimmyBones]

Wow, I have been really bad about updating this thread.

Looking great! You will love the subframe bushings!

Thanks. I can already tell that they will make a big difference since I pulled the transmission out and the subframe is still tight against the body with the back bolts fully taken out. Tomorrow I will take a pic to show you what I mean.

[JimmyBones]

This is the JHM supercharger that I am putting in. That should add some power.



I also sent in my intake manifold to be modified and got it back with a black powdercoated top along with some other stuff done.



Then I took apart my transmission so that I could put in a higher sixth gear for better gas mileage.



I hope JHM doesn't mind me using their picture of the TDI sixth gear set.

[JimmyBones]

Too bad the machine shop I took my transmission shafts to messed it up when they put the new sixth gear on. They lost the detentes for the shift collar. Probably from not lining up the gears correctly since the part that is circled in red should go where the arrow is pointing.



JHM is helping with this along with some other problems that I have run into with this build so it will be sorted out.

There is good news though. I got my new tires in and mounted today.



They are Michelin Super Sports 265/35/ZR18 97Y on 18x9 F14 Forgestar wheels. Here is a side by side pic of the new and old wheels/tires. Needless to day the new ones are a little wider.

[Mr.Wrong]

Keep it up
Looking forward to more updates!

[65vetteC6]

Holy hell, wont those tires rub?

[M|R]

Holy hell, wont those tires rub?

Thinking the same thing here...265? How are you pulling those off? Nice build

[JimmyBones]

Thinking the same thing here...265? How are you pulling those off? Nice build

I started a thread back in February asking how wide you could go with these S4s since a friend of mine had some same size Michelin Sport Cup track tires.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...s+-+wide+go%3F

In that thread Ill 3.0 said that he barely rubbed on 265/30/R19s with a 19x8.5 ET37 wheel along with being lowered. The tires are basically the same height since the sidewall is a little taller since the rim is a 18 instead of 19. Then the rims are a little wider at 18x9 but the offset is more aggressive to make up for that. Lastly my car will only be about a half inch lower than stock because my coilovers will be all the way up. So they should just bolt right up and easily clear the big Porsche calipers up front without too much hassle.

You're going to have trouble with 265-35 tires. It of course depends on what wheels they'll be on. I ran 265-30-19 and it just barely rubbed with ET37 on 8.5 wheel. Granted my car is somewhat low but if you're planning on going lower than stock later, I'd look for something else personally.

[JimmyBones]

This is one of the things I have left out of all the threads that I have posted in about this car for one last thing to surprise you guys with. I am making my own exhaust for this setup from the headers all the way back.

To give you guys a taste of the headers here are a few shots of the fabrication tool mocked up for the driver's side. It is incomplete since I ran out of straight sections so just imagine that the cylinder eight pipe had about eleven more one inch sections to go down to the collector. A little while ago this mockup was knocked off the box and fell into a bunch of pieces. This still should give you a good idea of what they will look like when I finish them though. There will be more pictures as I get more done.




I can also say that I have a LOT more respect for the headers that JHM sells now after messing with this.

[BUD-S4]

^Holly shit. You're crazy.

Good luck, man. This is an awesome build!! I'll be watching

[tmorgan4]

I'm seriously amazed at the caliber of parts you are putting into this thing. I can't wait to see how the headers turn out. Those collectors from Burns are pretty damn nice!

Are you doing all the fabrication and welding yourself?

[JimmyBones]

Thanks BUD-S4.

I'm seriously amazed at the caliber of parts you are putting into this thing. I can't wait to see how the headers turn out. Those collectors from Burns are pretty damn nice!

Are you doing all the fabrication and welding yourself?

Thanks, I have researched what was out there for a while to find this is what I like and/or appears to be the best solution.

Burns did a great job making the collectors. They are 304 stainless and have double slip fit connections. This design is going to be majorly different than JHM's by allowing me to keep the engine in the car the entire time. Yes, I am doing all the fabrication and welding so I have my work cut out for me. Those blue blocks from Icengineworks help out big time with the fabrication since I can tweak something or change the bends in the tubing just by swapping a few sections at a time. Trust me if I didn't have that Icengineworks set then I would not be attempting this.

[BCsniper]

This design is going to be majorly different than JHM's by allowing me to keep the engine in the car the entire time.

Are your arm/hands just very small?
I honestly don't see how you do it. I guess with the trans out you have a lot of room to work, but hell, DP's are hard enough. I can't imagine there is much room in there for your hands and a wrench to get in there to work.

[JimmyBones]

Are your arm/hands just very small?
I honestly don't see how you do it. I guess with the trans out you have a lot of room to work, but hell, DP's are hard enough. I can't imagine there is much room in there for your hands and a wrench to get in there to work.

No quite the opposite. My hands and arms are kind of big and it has made certain repairs somewhat difficult like replacing rear coolant flanges on 1.8Ts because my forearms get stuck.

Believe it or not but there is actually a lot of room behind the engine where the downpipes and pre-cats are normally after they are removed. I would rather have the trans back in place to have the axles and trans in place so the back half of the primary pipes can be sorted out.

For example here is the back of my engine with the trans out. It looks like you would have all the room needed to do the rear timing chains, tensioners, guides, etc with the engine in the car. I would remove the axles just so that I wouldn't hit my head a bunch of times on the inner CV joints. The rest of the stuff like the shift linkages and slave cylinder could be zip-tied up out of the way.



Also yes those blocks are a grown man's Lego set.

[tmorgan4]

I can't wait to see what you come up with. That ICE engine works setup is awesome...I can't imagine doing it any other way. Especially in these cars where it's hard enough to access the headers with both the front end and transmission pulled.

Thanks BUD-S4.

Thanks, I have researched what was out there for a while to find this is what I like and/or appears to be the best solution.

Burns did a great job making the collectors. They are 304 stainless and have double slip fit connections. This design is going to be majorly different than JHM's by allowing me to keep the engine in the car the entire time. Yes, I am doing all the fabrication and welding so I have my work cut out for me. Those blue blocks from Icengineworks help out big time with the fabrication since I can tweak something or change the bends in the tubing just by swapping a few sections at a time. Trust me if I didn't have that Icengineworks set then I would not be attempting this.

[vdubjetta02]

Wow, this is excellent!

[pattrick02]

oh my goodness, finall a thread that delivers! keep it up!!!

[svra42.8]

Great thread! Subscribed and waiting for updates.

[Rico750]

Subscribed

[Lance.Hawk]

Any updates Jimmy?

[BCsniper]

I have been wondering the same thing. Apparently work has him pretty tied up, and he is currently waiting for his JHM headers to show up this month or next.

"Also yesterday I shipped off my front diff to Autotech Driveline for them to look it over to see if it is the same or similar to the 01E front diff for a Wavetrac LSD front diff for my car."


....so interesting stuff from JimmyBones, as always. I am very excited to see how this project turns out come summer time.

[JimmyBones]

Update:

Recently I have made a lot of progress. The JHM headers came in a little while ago. So the engine should be started soon plus I will have the rest of the car done very soon.

Here are the headers while the ceramic coating was drying on the outside and inside:


Closer shot:


Also did the intermediate pipes too. The catless pipes are coated on the inside too.

[JimmyBones]

Then a week ago on Tuesday we installed the headers with the engine still in the car. Kind of scratched the ceramic coating on the driver's side since it was very tight but I have already touched it up.



The passenger side had all the room in the world with the engine hanging down. I had to grind off a little bit of the engine mount bracket on that side to make everything fit but that was not a big deal.


Sadly the old Delphi alternator hit the headers.


So I got a new Hiatachi alternator and it fits.

[JimmyBones]

The dealership messed up on one of the coolant hoses for the Hiatachi alternator so that is the last thing holding me back from throwing in the SC and turning over the engine. It should be here tomorrow morning so I found other stuff to throw in place like my front BBK.



Also finished up the rear suspension, brakes, and tires a while ago too. This photo is not that great and it really shows how a IPhone is not a real camera.


So soon enough the beast will be moving again.

[JimmyBones]

Today I installed the supercharger, brackets, and pulleys since my alternator hose came in.

[tilnaneer]

Looking good Jimmy! You need to give me a ride once this beast on the road:)

[JimmyBones]

Looking good Jimmy! You need to give me a ride once this beast on the road:)

Will do once it is all done.

Got some more stuff done on the car. I kept cutting out incremental parts of the body for the SC inlet hose to fit until I got to this point. Now there is so much room that there is a half inch of clearance at the tightest point.


All the hoses were installed.



Then I got to this point with everything in except some minor touches and new fluids like engine oil, coolant, power steering, and gasoline.


Then my gorilla strength snapped off the end of the AC condenser at the high pressure switch, damn it!

[BCsniper]

....I hate seeing these pictures, but I felt this thread would be a little left out without including the latest carnage







I was sad seeing those. When I saw the post I was hoping that it was going to be your car up and running.

One step forward, two steps back. Don't let it get you too down. You've gone too far to turn back now.

[JimmyBones]

I tend to update this thread a little slower than the one on AudiRevolution because far fewer people look in these sections.

The first picture is where the front differential broke the transmission case.
The second picture is the pin that slid out of the front differential carrier that broke everything.
The third picture is the pinion gear of the front differential that was damaged by that pin sliding out.

Right now I am trying a few options for fixing this. One choice is to replace the front diff gear set (ring and pinion gears), plus any bearings/seals/circlips/etc that are needed, and weld a plate over the hole. Another option that I would like is to replace the transmission case and front diff then swap over the guts of the transmission. The third option is to replace everything with a new transmission which would be stupidly expensive.

There is no stopping me now but this is one major hurdle to overcome.

[Mr.Wrong]

Jimmy, did you end up going to the strip last Friday? If so how did it go, any #s, feedback?

[tekkie]

Updates?

[JimmyBones]

I have made a few trips to the strip. So far I have run low 13s at 105-108 with low 1.7 60 feet times.

But I keep breaking stuff. I broke an axle/inner CV joint and more recently I broke my rear differential. Got torque?



On a happier topic, I got a STE PPD gauge unit. So I can see a lot of cool information like oil temp, intake air temp, battery voltage, engine load, mass air flow readings, etc.


Anyways soon enough it will be fixed and I will be back to the strip to make some more passes.

[tekkie]

Ouch! Good luck

[speedshopmike]

hi jimmy,
regarding your sweet STE display setup, i thought b6 s4's didn't have an oem oil temp sensor; is that correct?
if so, where'd you mount the STE sensor?
thanks, man.
sorry you keep eating drivetrain parts, that sucks.
how'd the new tune do compared to the old?

[JimmyBones]

Mike, I did not install any other sensors for the STE gauge system. I did talk with the owner of STE about expanding the PPD unit to include oil pressure and I would also like to see the after SC intake air temp too. There is a bung opening in the connecting piece between the SC outlet hose and the MAF hose that would work great.

The B6 S4s use the same oil pressure switch as the B5 S4s that have an oil temp gauge. So I think the instrument cluster still sees oil temp but it is probably hidden away in a measuring value block far in the back.

I like the updated tune. It makes the power smoother especially in the low to mid range like 2.5-4k rpms, where I spend most of the time while driving. Before I broke the rear diff I noticed that the air/fuel ratio is better too.

[Lucian189]

Moar please :)

[PushingTin]

Updates? 👍