4.2L V8 Swapped B5 A4

[bhusted]

Finished up my prototype cluster harness tonight. Of course I had to go plug it all in. No gray plug yet, but the cluster has all of the basic functions. The best part was the surprise of the "light saber" gauge needles. I need to finish mapping out the pins to the gray plug and test that before finishing my final harness. I may put in an order for one of the ebay LCD screens.

[bhusted]

Full facelift cluster swap complete! The ECU now sees the VSS from the cluster and the full rpm range is available for usage . I still have the warning lights to deal with on the new cluster, but I think I can just ground them to get rid of them for now.

The cluster swap wasn't as bad as others had made it out to be, or maybe I'm just getting used to reading these diagrams. Regardless, I'd be happy to send my spreadsheet to anyone interested in this swap. I'll try to make it into a nice .pdf at some point for others to reference.

[Koldham]

does the gauge cluster hold the mileage or is it just a display for the ecu?

[Mad Cow]

does the gauge cluster hold the mileage or is it just a display for the ecu?

Mileage is stored in the cluster, but all you need is a generic vcds cable and the right software to change it. Vag tacho and vag commander cables can do it out of the box. Or you can program the memory chip directly, which is the most reliable method.

[bhusted]

^Yup. This will be my next project.

[MetalMan]

^Yup. This will be my next project.

Are you planning to recode the EEPROM yourself?

[bhusted]

Are you planning to recode the EEPROM yourself?

No. I'll probably send it somewhere to have that taken care of. I want to make sure I've gotten all of the other kinks worked out before I do though.

[MetalMan]

Makes sense. I sent my EEPROM off to "a guy" (you probably already know who) and he reprogrammed it so I could reset it.

[bhusted]

Makes sense. I sent my EEPROM off to "a guy" (you probably already know who) and he reprogrammed it so I could reset it.

That's probably what I'll do. I'm going hold off for a bit and just keep track of the additional mileage. I want to make sure everything is good to go.

[Mad Cow]

If you still need to change the mileage, I found a program that works right off the bat with a generic kkl cable, no messing with drivers/configs and stuff. I tested it on both my clusters and it works flawlessly and couldn't be simpler to use.

[bhusted]

I'd love to see that program and get the mileage fixed. Thanks!

[Mad Cow]

http://nefariousmotorsports.com/foru...36196#msg36196

This is the version I used, many thanks to ddillenger for making it accessible.

[bhusted]

Thanks. I'll give that a try. It would certainly be easier than having to ship the cluster out.

[bhusted]

My outlaws are coming to visit this weekend, so I won't be allowed to work on the car. I did get a 45 degree coupler to replace the stock one to the MAF. It certainly cleans up the look, but now I'm not sure where to go with the rest of it. I may have to shorten the new coupler to allow more room for the filter inside my airbox. Maybe my idea of the 45 degree aluminum pipe isn't going to work out. Take a look at the pics. I'm willing to listen to any/all suggestions for where to go.




I may need to start over on my cardboard mockup of the heat shield.

[bhusted]

I worked on my heat shield for a while today while I was trying to avoid grading my final exams. No more cardboard template. I still have to add the mounting tabs on the bottom/back. Still deciding on how to finish it. What do you think? Paint, sanded to raw aluminum, or leave it?

[bhusted]

Finished up the mounting brackets for the heat shield today. Still undecided on if I want to paint it. I sanded out the back side and I kind of like the look. Now I want to do some intake air temp logs with and without to see if I actually made any improvement. Anyway, here are the pics.

[donkeysaudi]

I'm hooked. I want to watch this thread forever.

[bhusted]

I'm hooked. I want to watch this thread forever.

I'll try to live up to your expectations.

[bhusted]

Boring Sunday night, so I thought to myself, "What would Lukas (BaseDrifter) do?" And so, I decided to polish the bolts for my valve covers. I cleaned and painted the valve covers while I had the engine apart, but just reused the original, dirty hardware.

Before:


After:



I still have more to do, but it gave me something to do for a couple of hours on a Sunday night.

At the same time I started mocking up what it would look like with a "lid" on the heat shield I made previously. The thought occurred to me to reuse the original plastic cover, but I must have tossed it with the airbox. I don't really want to unless it will make a difference in intake temp. I still need to do some temp logs to see if the shield itself made any difference.

[bhusted]

Not a V8 specific update, but I've decided to go to my first show. Planning to attend WaterWerks on the Green in North Bend, WA on Sunday. Not that I'll enter my car into the judging, but I don't want to be 'that guy' that parks his dirty car among the spotless. The exterior panels of the car were already reasonably clean, but things like the door jams and trunk area were filthy. It's amazing the difference a couple of rags, an old tooth brush and a bottle of simple green can make. Here are some pictures of the trunk area before and after.

[SquishyPanda]

clean-ass nooks and crannies.jpg

That is suddenly near the top of my to-do list, right after dealing with the cracked coolant flange.

[bhusted]

^ Thanks for renaming that picture for me. The cleaning and prep continued today and I'm about sick of it. I added the most important part today.

[bhusted]

Spent some time today replacing some of the cheap, worm clamps that I sourced during the swap with Oetiker band clamps. I know that some owners have a love/hate relationship with these, but I think they look much better and give the swap the OEM look.

This:



To this:



Another thing I've been wanting to do is build some sort of cover for the fuel rails. Here's what I've come up with thus far. The final product would be made from aluminum and painted black.




The fuel pressure regulator is in a really inconvenient location. I'm open to ideas. What do you think?

[27litres]

You could angle it up over the regulator and extend it similar to the other side, ending near the inlet hoses. If you wanted to keep the little angled tabs down towards the valve covers to finish it off, you would probably need to weld it. How good are you with a TIG?

Can you get an OE engine cover to fit? You're expansion tank may be too close, but you could trim it, and I'm not sure how it will fit without the valve-cover covers:


It's funny how hindsight is a wonderful thing... I was just thinking to myself "My old Holden used to have some nice neat fuel rail covers for the 5L V8 that Holden had made once they injected it" - turned out that by modern standards they're a bit clunky! Not bad though:

[bhusted]

Those Holden covers are more like what I was looking for. The more I look at it, I wonder what it would look like if I could make the stock cover fit. I wish that one had come with the parts car when I started this. Maybe I'll just buy one and see how it looks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-2000-AUDI...e4a556&vxp=mtr

[27litres]

My valve-cover covers are off my engine at the moment.
I'll put the top cover on and take a photo so you can see what it goes over and how it looks...

[bhusted]

My valve-cover covers are off my engine at the moment.
I'll put the top cover on and take a photo so you can see what it goes over and how it looks...

Thanks!

[bhusted]

I noticed that the connector plug for my MAF was failing and ordered a replacement. At the same time I ordered rubber boots for the coil connectors. If anyone is interested, the part numbers are below.

MAF: 1J0973775A
4 Wire Boot: 4B0906102

Here's the original failing connector.


Here's the replacement. You can see that the red retainer is completely missing from the original.



Installing the rubber boots on the coil connectors proved to be more challenging than I thought it would be. Begin by removing the pink retainer.



Then, go raid your girlfriend/fiance/wife/strange girl you met on the street's purse for some hair pins. If you can't find any, drive your HOT German car around until you find some. Cut the straight ends off and bend them as such.


Insert them into the connector above and below the wire pin. Push the hairpins in and gently pull the wire out. It does not take a lot of force. If it does not want to come out, try repositioning the pins.




This is the point where I stopped taking pictures as it is the most frustrating part. The boots are meant to go over the wires before the ends are crimped on, so getting the crimped ends through the narrow end is a challenge. I used some external snap ring pliers to spread the boot while I stuffed the wire pins through. The best advice I have is to apply lube to the inside of the boot. After some cussing and gnashing of teeth, all eight were installed.

[BrucexL33]

I haven't followed your thread in awhile but did you ever find out how much power you are making? Is it tuned? I love your car. haha

[MarcusDubya77]

This is an awesome build!

[bhusted]

Thanks. I've never had the car on a dyno. They had a mobile dyno at WaterWerks, but only 2WD. From the factory the 4.2 is supposed to be a little over 300hp and 300 ft-lbs. The only ECU tuning was to make it complain less about the lack of TCU to talk to and to delete SAI. If I happened across a set of S6 cams and intake manifold I wouldn't turn them down. I could probably also make some more power with some exhaust work. All in good time.

[BrucexL33]

Thanks. I've never had the car on a dyno. They had a mobile dyno at WaterWerks, but only 2WD. From the factory the 4.2 is supposed to be a little over 300hp and 300 ft-lbs. The only ECU tuning was to make it complain less about the lack of TCU to talk to and to delete SAI. If I happened across a set of S6 cams and intake manifold I wouldn't turn them down. I could probably also make some more power with some exhaust work. All in good time.

Which year and model did you take the v8 from?

[bhusted]

The donor was a 2000 A6. Engine code ART.

[wolfe2118]

Have you figured out if the heat shield does any good? I don't have a shield, but I'm thinking about making a few fiberglass parts, one being an air box, the other being a fan shroud. I like fiberglass/carbon fiber because it's so easy to build a mold and to shape. I'm ready to start making mine look pretty now that everything has been working right since January.

[bhusted]

I've neglected to do some data logging to see if the heat shield makes any difference. Other life projects have been getting in the way, but it's still on my list. I've never really worked with fiberglass/CF. That's something else I should experiment with. I'd like to see what you come up with for heat shield and fan shroud.

[27litres]

My valve-cover covers are off my engine at the moment. I'll put the top cover on and take a photo so you can see what it goes over and how it looks...

Thanks!

Sorry, finally got to it!

[bhusted]

Thanks. That actually looks pretty good with just the top cover. I may have to buy one of those. Is the red outline on the front only on the 'S' models?

[27litres]

I think so.
But they all have the "V8 4.2" badge the same, just usually with a silver outline, so you can always dig out your can of red paint and a paint brush

[bhusted]

While I was out running some errands today, the car stalled on me pulling into a parking lot. When I started it again, it seemed to have a misfire and didn't want to idle. I limped it home and scanned it to find that the MAF was reading 0.00g/s. I bought the reman Bosch MAF less than a year ago, so now I'm looking for the receipt for any warranty info. I should also check the wiring to the sensor. Very frustrating.

In other news, I spent part of today making some reinforcement brackets for the rear sway bar mounts. Neuspeed and 034 want $170 just for the brackets. I made these for about $30. I'll take some more pictures once I get them installed with the new sway bar.

[bhusted]

I wasn't planning on installing the rear sway bar reinforcements until the sway bar came in, but with the dead MAF I got bored and decided to just go ahead and do it. Everything went as planned. The worst part of installing these is getting the nut on the back side of the upper bolts were the lower control arm mounts. It's not necessarily a flaw in my design as all aftermarket brackets seem to mount here and would have the same problem.

Before:



After:




I can't really drive it right now to see if this makes any difference with just the stock S4 bar installed, but I did notice that before I could flex the mounting tabs by hand. Now the mounts feel rock solid.