Some Guy's Mediocre S4 Build Thread

[pwest15]

I just here to read through the comical bantering with some build stuff....

Good work PWest

Glad you enjoy it Slow!

Kudos on working on a full engine out job on your own...!
I am doing the similar thing on my S4. But trusted the S4 in the hands of a local Audi specialist. Don't have to know how to embark on a huge task like this.
Great thread......

Thanks man! I've been following your thread too, I adore Imola

So I went to the track today and was able to catch a ride with @boostedAvant in his wagon, @derrek in his BT A4, and @drumnjuny in his rental stock 370z lol. Next time I'll have my car... next time...

Me wearing Arjun's helmet


Derrek's car



Now then, all in favor of this being enough flange sealant on the timing cover say "Aye". Those in opposition say "Nay" (probably only gonna be like one response but whatever)

[Gosser]

is it too late to say nay? jk, looks good.

What manual are you using there that is printed??? or is that just printed from the net?

[pwest15]

is it too late to say nay? jk, looks good.

What manual are you using there that is printed??? or is that just printed from the net?

Lol!

I have a friend with a Bentley manual that scanned and set me copies of the important parts for timing. Also prevents you from getting the actual manual all dirty

Sent from my potato

[kavitzy]

Looks good dude. I took off my oil pan because my guides were actually broken off and had chunks of plastic at the bottom.
If you decide to do that double the amount of rtv what bentley says, I had to redo mine, was not happy.

I bet you cant wait to start it and hear no rattle lol. Its a great feeling, you got the hard part done, take your time putting it back together, you'll miss it later on.

[pwest15]

Got back home this afternoon after a week-long hiatus from this project. Here's where I'm at.

I got the valve covers and intake manifold back from powdercoating, put the new valve cover gaskets on, put the new valve cover bolts on, put in the new sparkplugs followed by the new coilpacks, installed the JHM intake spacers, put the PCV lines back on, resealed the intake manifold with RTV, installed the IM, replaced 8 o-rings and pintle caps on the injectors, and I installed the fuel rail.



Also, I got my JHM Stage 4 clutch kit in the mail today so I'm super excited to get that installed tomorrow!

[samaj]

Big respect pwest15 for doing the entire rebuild on your own..!

[Mr. Corey]

Coming along very nice!

[Slow4]

Time for headers
Good work Sir

[pwest15]

Big respect pwest15 for doing the entire rebuild on your own..!

Thank you! But I could never claim that I've done it all on my own because I've hadd several freinds stop by along the way and I couldn't have done it without them.

Coming along very nice!

Thanks man! Can't wait to see how yours turns out with those shiny new headers

Time for headers
Good work Sir

I wish... I really wish. But thanks!

[pwest15]

So today I installed the JHM stage 4 clutch and lightweight flywheel. Then, Erik came over and helped me mate up the tranny to the motor. We put the harness back on, replaced the slave cylinder, and put the motor back in the car. The motor mounts are bolted down perfectly but I still need to get the slave cylinder in the rest of the way and connect the heater hose on the back of the engine.

A couple pictures of the JHM SAI blockoff plates. Just for Jake



Pic of the gorgeous lightweight flywheel


Stage 4 clutch



RS4 pressure plate


Motor in the car!!!

[4kqlifer]

Looking really good!

[pwest15]

Looking really good!

Thanks so much! I see you're from Issaquah. I used to spend a lot of time over there when I lived in Seattle. Used to go to Lake Sammamish park quite often with some friends I had who worked across the park at Microsoft

[mark_ma]

engine looks clean clean

[pwest15]

engine looks clean clean

Thanks man! I just got home and it's sooo hot and I have 0 motivation to work...

[4kqlifer]

Thanks so much! I see you're from Issaquah. I used to spend a lot of time over there when I lived in Seattle. Used to go to Lake Sammamish park quite often with some friends I had who worked across the park at Microsoft

Oh nice. It's a great area no doubt. Come back so I can see that car in person! hah.

[pwest15]

Oh nice. It's a great area no doubt. Come back so I can see that car in person! hah.

I'd love to make it back up there some time. Maybe next year for Leavenworth if I feel like driving that far haha

Anyways, semi-update time. I pulled the oil pan off to reseal it. In the process, I had a hunch about the JHM Oil cooler bracket thing leaking so I pulled the alternator and it's bracket off to check. Sure enough, there was a little puddle under the alternator signifying that some oil had leaked from the Oil cooler bracket. One of the AN fittings seemed a bit loose and I was able to do two full turns with a crescent wrench to tighten it. The other fitting was TIGHT. Somehow, two turns didn't satisfy me or make me feel that safe. So I broke out the hammer and tightened that fitting about 3/4 of a turn more by hitting the crescent wrench. Needless to say, it's tight and shouldn't leak. Reinstalled the alternator and put sealant on the oil pan and bolted it all back up.

The front end is still off because I wanted to replace the gasket that goes from the water pipe to the block and that's arriving in the mail tomorrow along with my Motul Oil.

This is what the oil pan hides. NEAT!!


Aforementioned puddle


Hope that's tight enough on those fittings


All back together (kind of). Starting to finish that intake piping. Just need like 4 more inches of pipe and a coupler and it should be done. I'll probably get around to fabbing up an airbox by the end of the week.


Here's one thing that's had me a tad miffed for a while. This goes for all you JHM supercharged folks too. The JHM oil cooler kit has these lines run through here. The problem I see is that this is supposed to be a cooling application but the lines run DIRECTLY in front of the exhaust manifold or headers if you have them. Even if I had ceramic coated headers, I'd be worried about heating up these lines. At least the one travelling back from the radiator because it almost seems to negate the effects of having the cooler in the first place... So I've been thinking about putting some heat sheilding in between the lines and the exhaust manifold but I'm a little worried about it because the stuff I have leftover is for passive, radiative heat transfer, not direct contact. If I try and wedge a piece of shielding down there, it makes contact with the manifold so I don't know if it'd end up being that effective. Nothing pressing of course, just something I've been thinking about.

[Jake@JHM]

Those JHM SAI Block Off Plates though

[microracer24]

Those JHM SAI Block Off Plates though

Been looking for those. Still don't see them on your site. What happens to the EGR function?

[Jake@JHM]

Been looking for those. Still don't see them on your site. What happens to the EGR function?

Not officially released, but they are available. They are $29.96

Coupled with our SAI Delete option with our tuning everything works great!

[microracer24]

Not officially released, but they are available. They are $29.96

Coupled with our SAI Delete option with our tuning everything works great!

Thanks Jake. Got the tune with the SAI delete a couple weeks ago. I'll be ordering these soon!

PWest I love the color combo of the intake and VC's! Awesome job with the car!

[pwest15]

You got to get it into the pocket on the fork

Thanks. I've been trying to get it in there but it's hard when you can't start the approach head-on because of that bolt thing behind where the slave cylinder mounts. Justincredible mentioned that I shoudl try using a thick zip tie to try and compress the slave cylinder before I install it so I might try that when I get back to the project this Saturday. Don't want any exploding slave cylinders

Thanks Jake. Got the tune with the SAI delete a couple weeks ago. I'll be ordering these soon!

PWest I love the color combo of the intake and VC's! Awesome job with the car!

Thanks man!

[Jake@JHM]

Stabbing the slave can be rather difficult, specially if it is your first time =[

[pwest15]

Stabbing the slave can be rather difficult, specially if it is your first time =[

Jake... it's awful :( I'm 90% sure it's impossible

[Jake@JHM]

You got to get it into the pocket on the fork

[pwest15]

Those JHM SAI Block Off Plates though

Thanks again for those man!

In other news, I just CANNOT get that stupid freaking slave cylinder in and it's pissing me the hell off!!! Once I do that and get the heater hose plugged in, I'll be golden to throw the rad support back on and drive it.

Here's a pic of the rear diff mount. It's sooo pretty! The thing took me all of 20 minutes to install. All I did was take out the bottom three bolts while the diff was on a jack, lowered the jack and the diff so I could pull the bolt out over the top of the diff, then I put the new mount on and raised the diff up to mount the bottom three bolts. The fact that my driveshaft isn't connected to my tranny yet probably helped lower the rear diff a bit.

[VroomTT]

This whole thread is just plain inspiring

[Steelman]

Nice work PWest. Kuddos to you for taking this project on and learning as you go.

Looking foward to seeing the finished product.

[pwest15]

This whole thread is just plain inspiring

Haha never thought it'd be inspiring, but thanks a lot!

Nice work PWest. Kuddos to you for taking this project on and learning as you go.

Looking foward to seeing the finished product.

Thanks! It's definitely been a great learning experience.

Well, she's all back together now. The intake right now is temporary until I can get one more coupler and another 4" of pipe to finish my true cold air intake. I'll also be making my own little airbox for it in the future. Right now all I want to do is drive... Unfortunately, I can't. I tried filling up the coolant and noticed that it all drained out the back of the engine, making a small puddle. I guess I just didn't install the heater hose correctly so I'm gonna have to put her back up in the air to fix that...





The dreaded leak...

[pwest15]

Fixed!

[xhackerekx]

no pics :(

[0396]

You are one bad as- backyard mechanic.
Congrats.

[VroomTT]

I'm curious to hear what that intake sounds like! Wanna make a quick video?

[pwest15]

no pics :(

You're tough to please ;) You want pictures of the heater hose?

You are one bad as- backyard mechanic.
Congrats.

Haha, I really appreciate it man!

I'm curious to hear what that intake sounds like! Wanna make a quick video?

Will do! I get my gopro frame case in the mail tomorrow so I'll be sure to take a few videos

[pwest15]

Hate to make a post like this but it must be done...

To put it shortly, I'm having some problems. Everything seems to be good to go. I pulled the ignition fuse and "started" the car a few times before actually starting it because I wanted to make sure oil went through. Then I started my car and noticed it start to idle funny. The idling settled down to normal but after I hit the accelerator a few times, it started idling like it was cammed for a while and then settled down. Clear signs of a vacuum leak. Oh well, I can hopefully hunt it down and sort it out although any tips on that would be greatly appreciated.

Next thing is this knocking coming from the driver's side valve cover. I can feel it right near the center of the valve cover when I place my hand over it. It's kinda scary. At first I though a cam may have been hitting the underside of the valve cover where the PCV collects from but that part isn't located where I feel the knocking. My buddy Josh told me that it was probably lifter knock and that I needed to "rev the shit out of it" to build up enough oil pressure for it to go away. Can anyone confirm this?

Here's a link to the video I took trying to capture both problems.

[Slow4]

Flush engine with some engine cleaner on idle for 5mins, change oil and drive for 250miles and change oil again.

I hope that lifter noise is just sludge and it goes away...don't try hard revving it too much and try to stay out of high rpms until you do the oil change; just my advice.

[B6_4.2]

Just pull it all out again and send those heads to JHM, that should take care of it

[Lucca M]

did you pull valve covers to see at least from the top if everything looks fine ? id do that.

[evildsmr]

did you pull valve covers to see at least from the top if everything looks fine ? id do that.

He fixed it. It ended up being the cover that goes right under the oil fill cap. He had to use washers to shim it tight after getting the covers blasted and powercoated.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Slow4]

He fixed it. It ended up being the cover that goes right under the oil fill cap. He had to use washers to shim it tight after getting the covers blasted and powercoated.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Wow, that's a terrible noise for a vacuum leak!

Glad he fixed it though...

[pwest15]

Dam! That looks great!

Thanks!

Wow, that's a terrible noise for a vacuum leak!

Glad he fixed it though...

Vacuum leak was in the IM silly . That knocking was a separate issue dealing with that one oil filler plate screw. I posted a more in-depth analysis of it over on the AR thread.

That said, I just took apart the IM, did the flapper DIY fix, and resealed the IM with a metric f*&k ton of sealant so it better not leak or make noise now. Leaving it to dry for a while