Fourings 6-speed allroad Build Thread

[4rings2turbos]

I made an Instagram account dedicated to my car to serve as my build thread earlier last year (@fourings) and now I think it has enough character to deserve a build thread on here. And besides, this section is so dead it can use all the help it can get :(



Quick background, first car was a 1992 Mercedes E190 2.5 Cosworth (auto, booo) wasn't in great condition but should have kept it. Couldn't really afford it as a 16 year old though.



First real car that I kept for a while and started to learn that modding was a 'thing' was a 2000 VW Jetta 2.slow. Black with tan heated cloth seats. Was SUCH a fun car, obviously always wished it was manual and had more power but it was very reliable.



First Audi I bought was too much money for me but I drove it for a little bit then sold it for a profit. 2004 A6 S-line. Black on black sport interior, sunshades, 18" wheels loved that car! Sold it bone stock with 99k on it.



Then I bought my first Audi I could actually afford, 2001 allroad tip. Black on Platinum/Saber. Premium and cold weather packages. Heated steering wheel ftw! I still have this car and it has around 160k. Vast stage I, original turbos and TC.



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One day I drove my allroad to a birthday party and parked it in a parking lot away from most of the cars like I usually do. Came out from the building once the party was finished to see my car moved from it's parking spot. Walked around to the other side and my car was SMASHED. No note, no cameras, nothing. Needless to say I was SUPER bummed. I bought a used black passenger door and swapped my door card and tinted window in. This fixed 95% of the damage but it still had a scrape on the rear quarter panel. A couple days later my wife was taking me to work and I was REALLY bumming. She asked me if I wanted to look for a new car and I said yeah. So right there I pulled up cars.com and did a manual allroad search. I had been looking for years for one before the first allroad and off and on since buying the tip allroad. To my utter shock there was one at my local Audi dealer with the options I wanted (most of them) and awesome miles. I called immediately and put a deposit over the phone. My wife and I went to the dealer after work and bought it.

It was pretty clean but it needed a couple things: compressor was loud, torn CV boot, ding on the rear hatch, I found the rear center headrest in the back where the air tank is and it had a dent in the foam for being back there so long, one of the flares was scraped and bent inward a bit, face was missing from the dash cup holder, MIL for N80 valve, vacuum leak from braided line between the diverter valves, soft touch on the headlight switch and the '-' button for the fan speed. Those small issues but lots of positives. It was a one owner, dealer maintained, had all the dealer records, cargo cover, cargo net, retractable net, all season mats including cargo mat, wheels were mint, cluster was mint and all around very well cared for.

So here's the stats:

2003 allroad
2.7T 6-speed
Exterior: Cobalt Blue Metallic
Interior: Platinum/Saber
Packages: Premium and Cold Weather
Options: Bose, sunshades, twin spoke wheels, increased noise insulation, rear side airbags
Purchased December 19th 2012
Mileage: 89,416
Price: $7,700
One owner, dealer maintained with full service history

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Current mod list, I'll keep this updated

EXTERIOR____________
Avery Matte Metallic Grigio, previously Avery Matte Dark Grey Metallic
Front flares modified and spaced 5mm, rear flares modified and spaced 30mm
DE Speed C7 RS style hatch spoiler with papaya underside
DE Speed livery
Biturbo badge
Pre-facelift tail lights
Euro plate tub
Custom Euro plate with registration
3M black gloss window trim, previously plasti-dipped
Plasti-dipped roof bars, door blades
3M black gloss wrapped f&r skidplates
Aero rear wiper
Thule aero feet, aeroblade base carrier bars, Circuit fork mounts, wheel on wheel carriers and airscreen fairing in black, previously Thule aero feet/aero base carrier bars, echelon fork mounts
Rear Diffuser Look
Gloss Black Wrapped Mirror Caps with papaya interior
Amber City Light Delete
Cupra R Lip


WHEELS/SUSPENSION/BRAKES_________
19x9.5 front, 19x11.5 rear Hartmann Peeler replicas (both widened from 8.5)- previous setups: 19x8.5f/19x9.5r peelers and 20x9 D3 S8 speedlines
285/35/19 front 325/30/19 rear Pirelli P Zero Corsa System
25mm spacers front, 50mm spacers rear
Final et front: 12.7 rear: 13.1
Track widened 5 inches in the rear over stock, rear track 2 inches wider than front
402 mod 52mm front 50mm rear on all OEM factory components
Aluminum Valve Stems
Spacer Wheel Locks
TT RS front BBK
RS 5 front wave rotors
Stainless steel brake lines
Pirelli P Zero tire lettering
Adjustable upper control arms

DRIVETRAIN_______
Stage II+ Ddillenger tune with launch control, left foot braking and anti lag
RS 6 14.2:1 steering rack
RS 4 solid tie rod ends
RS 4 clutch, TOB and PP with Fidanza lwfw
034 track density trans mounts
034 track density motor mounts
710n DVs
BKR7E (gapped to .028)
Upgraded coilpacks 2.0T 06E905115E
Auxiliary fan delete
Aluminum thermostat housing
911 coolant tank cap
Updated vented oil cap
Engine Cover Delete
628 Servotronic delete
SAI system delete

EXHAUST_________
Piggies
Muffler Delete
OEM RS 6 SE Black Oval Tips

INTERIOR________
Recaro Sportster CS in full leather with heat, previously sport seats
4.2L sport rear seats with 4 seater mod
Gen II RNS-E
Factory bluetooth
Alcantara headliner, previously prefacelift headliner (darker grey, nicer material than facelift)
Custom Alcantara flat bottom steering wheel with Papaya stitching and centering hash, tip buttons modified for headunit
Alcantara door cards, previously black leather
Alcantara hand brake
Alcantara shift knob and boot with papaya stitching
Euro KM/H only RS 6 cluster
DE Speed orange seat belts
DE Speed fabric door pulls
Euro SOS overhead console panel
Solar sunroof
Komfortblinker
Passenger seat memory
OEM Premium Carpet Floor Mats
OEM allroad Logo All-Weather Mats
3M black gloss interior trim wrap
Remote windows mod
Card tray
Navigation button panel
Cup holder delete
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This is a terrible picture but it's the only one I have of the car stock.



I immediately ordered a number of things to mod it. First things first though, I always change the oil, oil filter, air filter, cabin filter, fuel filter, spark plugs and front/rear wipers first thing when I buy a car. That way I know it's been done and I can start my routine maintenance intervals.

[IMG][/IMG]

First step was moving moving my peelers from my 01 onto the 6-speed. I know I've given my wheel specs many times here but for the sake of all my info being compiled: Hartman RS 6 reps, 19x8.5 245/45/19 front with 20mm spacers final et05, 19x8.5 widened to 9.5 275/40/19 rear with 20mm spacers final et17.5. (tire sizes will change a handful of times, current sizes: 255/40/19f, 285/35/19r). Then we had a little photoshoot with the car and out first born son. He was born the very next day and we named him Audi. Our car was featured in the Continental Audi newsletter.



A couple weeks later I started the color change on the car. I chose Avery Matte Charcoal Metallic for a full body wrap.



I did the door jambs and all. The flares were wrapped initially but I removed that not long after. I also plasti-dipped all the chrome and the peelers and gloss black wrapped the grille, skid plates and rear badges. I also did a few other small mods: 628 relay delete, prefacelift tail lights, and swapped the broken dash cup holder with a card tray.



A bit after the new year I bought a new Gen II RNS-E and OEM bluetooth. Was pretty stoked about this one and I still REALLY love it and use the nav, the SD card music and the bluetooth all the time. Makes the interior look so much newer as well.


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Shortly after that a Euro RS 6 instrument cluster. I love how many details it has. Very visually interesting instruments. I swear the LEDs are crisper and the red more vibrant as well. And many icons are unique vs the normal clusters.


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Then the second official photo shoot happened. This time for a feature in Clean Audi. The shoot was really cool, the location was a hangar with a large handful of charter jets and prop planes including some Beechcraft KingAir prop planes. Beechcraft ended up featuring a shot from the shoot as well.

Clean Audi feature





Next mod was kinda funny. I swapped headliners between my allroads. The prefacelift headliner is a nicer material but also darker grey, has more sophisticated panel layout, no airbag warnings on the visors and also a grille for the bluetooth microphone. It was an insane amount of work for the arguably small change but it was still very worth it. This was to tide me over until I found an Alcantara headliner.



I've posted about driving through this storm before but it's still a cool story: driving home from Grand Rapids I passed through NW IN during a state of emergency blizzard with whiteout conditions. I was told at a tollbooth that the highway was closed while I was on it and I saw many semis in the ditch and even a plow truck. I blasted through no problem at all and didn't see a single car for eerily long stretches of road. It was so desolate that I got out to take a picture of my car.



Scooped up a euro rear tub and moved the fourings plate to the rear and put my registration tag on it.



I hit 100k and it was time for the 100,000 mile birthday. Here's the list of presents I got her:
Front left and right axles (reman Raxles) new axle bolts
timing belt
tensioner
roller
idler pulley
lever
water pump (metal impeller) and gasket
new aluminum thermostat housing
thermostat
accessory belt
accessory belt tensioner
crank seal and new crank bolt
all cam seals and cam caps
cam chain tensioner gaskets and valley gaskets
valve cover gaskets
coolant temp sender (front, green) and new o-ring and clip
upgraded 710N diverter valve (left and right)
OEM throttle body boot
secondary air injection system delete (kombination valves, pump, vacuum lines and accordion hose) and 034 block-off plates
N80 valve
PCV hose assembly (update R)
new hood strut
new front aero wiper arms (left and right) and blades
upgraded rear aero wiper arm and blade (much to Brian's dismay I recklessly went OEM here and supported a forum vendor
new headlight switch
viscous fan delete
oil change (Rotella T6 5w40)
oil filter change (OEM Mann)
washer change (already switched to magnetic drain plug previously
new coolant expansion tank
new coolant expansion tank cap (Porsche 911)
full pressurized coolant flush
G13 coolant conversion
Michelin Pilot Sport 2 245/40/19f 275/35/19r

Here's the new switch



The fresh spider hose



New water pump, pulleys and aluminum t-stat housing. I took my time with all of this and really cleaned the engine bay.



Mounting the new tires scuffed up the plasti on the wheels so I decided to go back to hyper silver for a while. Here's a shot after cleaning them up. Still 100% minty like new. I love how the plasti protected them and keeping them waxed with wheel wax- including barrels keeps them clean when they're without plasti protection. This whole build has been about details so in the beginning I got aluminum valve stems seen here.



Entered the first car show of my life, it was in my local town and was fun. But pretty much entirely American and no one knew what my foreign wagon was lol. REALLY wanting 402 by now.



And 402 I did, I bought a genuine vagcom cable and lowered her so tastefully onto her beefy haunches. I also tuned for stage I. Yummmmm



Was in Grand Rapids and was spotted and posted up on the MIVE fb page



Went through a little period after about 1.5 years of ownership where I just drove the car on many road trips. But that fall/winter modding got a little crazy:

Picked up sport seats



I picked out 4.2L sedan seats for the rear- heavily bolstered outboard seats, no center armrest and no mounting point for a seat belt in my avant. I wanted to go four seater wagon because racecar.



Also black door cards. They didn't have sunshades so I swapped the black leather inserts into my rear door cards with shades. I also wired up the passenger seat memory that the front passenger seat came with.





Picked up some winter wheels. OEM 20x9 D3 S8 speedlines



Then TT RS front brakes. I also got RS 5 wave rotors but these I didn't put on until later on. Also threw on some stainless braided lines

[4rings2turbos]

Cupra R lip



And komfortblinker. Also was 30k since original filter maintain so new cabin air and fuel filters, spark plugs for the 3rd time (BKR7E gapped to .028 for the tune and 2.0T coils) and picked up new hatch struts for my slow moving hatch, new antenna mast for my crumbly mast, wiper blades front and rear. Went on a 1k road trip after this and LOVED the komfortblinker and RS brakes.




Time for another 5k road trip mid-winter and I brought my toolbox since I would be gone for a month and be in Miami for a couple weeks with time to wrench. While I was down there I flushed the heater core, fixed a handful of various little trim issues, fixed the rear passenger dome light and hatch dome light since they worked intermittently. My speakers became a little crackly on the way down, I found that the harness to the amp was corroded so I cleaned that up and also adjusted all the window frames and the wind noise on the highway died WAY down.



On the way back up North from Greenville SC to Blacksburg VA we had a highway blowout. Felt it deflating so I slowed as quickly and smoothly as I could and then it blew at about 40mph and I wrestled it to the shoulder. That was fun.



Spring sprung and I did something that everyone said would be difficult to do, so I had avoided it. It was NOT difficult but BOY was it worth it! I gutted my DPs. LOVED the freed up ponies.



Then I noticed the headlight lens on the driver's side was getting a bit iffy so I cleaned them up and sealed with the urethane/mineral spirits trick.



Not a part of this build, but I stumbled on a 98 A6 Avant and scooped it up for $360, and I fell in love with the C4 chassis on the way home. Such a cool car.



It was tire time for the peelers and by this point I had decided the look I was going for for the allroad so I scoured for the tires I wanted and found a scorching deal on some regularly $2,200 R compound Pirelli P Zero Corsa Systems with a treadwear rating of 60. 255 front and 285 rear. Holy hell do these things grip in the corners, they simply do not let go. And they're super quiet and actually awesome in the rain and standing water. I say it often but I've tried many iterations of the Pilot Sports: PSS, PS2, Pilot Sport A/S2 and all of them fell short. These Pirellis? WHOA. They're good at things they're not even supposed to be good at haha. I also dialed in the 402 to get it perfect. 50mm lower in the rear, 52mm lower in the front.



I had picked up some RS 6 SE exhaust tips a while ago but I hadn't had time to put them on despite having chopped the mufflers off many months before. I marked and cut the new openings in the bumper and lined the rough edge with some of that door edge protector stuff and had the tips welded on. The exhaust not actual changed a bit which I was surprised. I effing love the note this gives. I don't think I'll ever change it.



The RS cluster I bought so long ago had a scratch so I FINALLY pulled it out, sanded it and sealed it the same way as the headlights. My wife actually argued with me when we first got in the car after I put it back in. She thought I was trying to trick her saying the lens was back on when it wasn't. Then I tapped on it and her mind was blown haha. It's still that clear too. Very worth while to clean it up a bit and I recommend it!



I taped up the rear bumper to make a 'rear diffuser' to compliment the RS tips. I just plasti-dipped the outline. I thought it came out nicely




(that's a pic of me and someone that I met on Instagram when he found my page. He's from Montreal and was on a month long road trip to the West coast and back. He had some issues while on the road and I helped him diagnose and then offered for him to drop by Chicago on his was back to Quebec. Another example of the awesome friends I've made in the car 'scene'. He can be found on Insta at: @deaucteur)

The expensive tires meant adjustable upper control arms. My pinch bolts were impossible so I had to buy new uprights and new wheel bearings and new lower control arms. It got expensive quickly. But no more negative camber.



The direction I am taking the car is track day special in a GT3RS, or even harder core customer racing R8 LMS/TT SP4T. So I needed some contrasting seat belts. I looked for a Papaya color (my chosen color scheme is dark grey, black and Papaya) but I couldn't get anything yellow-orange enough. I put on belt in but it was too bright. To this day I'm still working on it but I should have some in soon-ish.



Father's day 2015 came up and I had given myself a gift. I bought these two genuine Audi Sport onesies for my two children (so darn cute) and had a little photoshoot that Sunday morning. I couldn't believe how well they did when I handed them things and told them to just play and pretend.





Audi started following me on twitter a while ago which I thought was really cool



Audi started their 50 states of Audi campaign on twitter and retweeted my shot from the winter storm drive which was cool.



Later on they retweeted my 'pit crew' shot.



And then a little while later they followed me on Instagram. Which was also cool



Something that my 01 allroad came with that I though was standard until I got my 03 was the optional premium textile mats. They have 'allroad embroidered on them, have foam padding on the back and have a much softer and thicker pile. I moved them to my 03 when I bought it but then I found some BRAND new ones and scooped them up.







The original wrap had been on for over two and half years and I had been really hard on it. It had begun to show signs on wear in a couple spots so I removed the old wrap and picked a similar but new color, Matte Grigio metallic. I wanted the car to be tip top with camp allroad coming up.



JOY OF JOYS, I have always wanted a better steering wheel than the granny four spoke and the factory 3-spoke wasn't big enough upgrade. I asked the AZ custom wheel maker to make me a custom Alcantara wheel. He said no at first but a bit later he agreed to make me his first Alcantara wheel. I also had him make an Alcantara hand brake cover. I spec'd it with flat bottom, his new, even fatter padding, RS 6 badge in the bottom, Papaya stitching and papaya centering hash, with tip buttons which I rewired to control volume and track on the RNS-E. I have many favorite mods, and this is definitely one of them.





Last minute camp allroad prep with a new license plate to repair the one I badly smudged when I was cleaning it with something it didn't agree with



Then it was time to head to camp allroad!



I met up with a handful of B8 S4 guys (and dropshadow with his smallroad) from Minnesota. It was too much fun in that convoy with the walkie talkies.

[4rings2turbos]

This was THE most fun car event I had ever been to (also the first real one/big one lol). Camping with everyone was so fun and it was gorgeous under the stars. I didn't finish rewrapping before I left, as you can see, but I brought my supplies and finished up Saturday morning before the big show.





The Saturday show was crazy, well over 100 cars turned out. An amazing amount of C5 allroads. My allroad met it's hero, Rory's RS 6'd S6 Avant. Full conversion, including motor, with an 01E swap. So tasty you guys.







Big highlight of camp allroad was the Pike's Peak drive. Wow.



On the way back down all cars come to a mandatory brake temp test checkpoint. The TT RS brakes on my car boasted the second coolest temp of the day

My car made Fourtitude in their camp allroad coverage



She was also christened a member of the TD1 crew



Got home and my plate for the C4 came in. I thought long and hard about what to get and knew it had to pay homage to the age of the A6 and I like what I decided on.



Again, nothing to do with the build, but I bought another C4. This one does hold more important implications though. This car is taking over daily duty and more importantly, car seat duty and winter duty. No more car seats allowed in the manual allroad! Stats: 1996, black on MINT tan heated leather interior. Previous owner put about $6k in his two years of ownership. It was an ideal case of giving the car whatever it needed. Very few things needed attention. And he kept it impeccably clean, engine bay and all. To date it's kept the allroad out of the snow, kept car seat dents off the rear bench and almost 10,000 miles off the allroad's odometer. And we've even used the rear facing 3rd row a handful of times. The look on people's face when I tell them it seats 7 is priceless. I even rode back there a couple times.

Here she is in all her glory. We were on a road trip to the mountains of Virginia.



Back to the car at hand, hand brake that is, I got my Alcantara hand brake cover and installed that. (This winter I'm sending out my shift knob to be recovered in Alcantara as well.)



After MANY MANY talks with various people and vendors about a hatch spoiler option for our cars and no one ultimately delivering I decided to take matters into my own hands. I started with a cardboard prototype styled after the B8/C7 RS spoilers which I then wrapped and put on my car for about a month to get a feel for the proportions. LOVED the look, decided it was a touch too long so second prototype was a bit shorter and this type made of modeling foam and had a more sculpted and 3-dimensional shape. Again I wrapped it and put it on the car for the rest of the year. Most people couldn't tell it wasn't 'real'. Though that's due to not looking close up at the spoiler as there are some tell-tale signs. Biggest sign was that I hadn't moulded the spoiler into the sides of the hatch. But for the most part it looks polished. Right now the final negative mould is being sculpted with some additional refinement and a more angular look at the edges but still soft swooping lines, to more closely match the Bauhaus nature of the C5. This male mould will be used to make a reusable fiberglass female mould, with which I will be making many hollow 2x2 twill carbon spoilers using a vacuum curing process. The spoiler will be two or three layers thick and the vacuum bagging will mean fully impregnated fibers and will be super strong and most importantly the finish will be excellent (as long as I take my time with finishing the female mold. These will /eventually/ be available to people that want them. Anyway, on to the very few pics I have of the first two prototypes.



My wife drives with the plate in the rear window because she gets nervous about getting pulled over. Shame.





I haven't really talked about maintenance at all but there's been a TON of it up to this point, as any C5 owner knows, to keep things minty there's gonna be a huge stack of receipts. Maybe I'll post up the long list of maintenance just for the sake of having the whole story on here. But for now I just want to talk about the clutch switch. There are two switches, one at the bottom of the pedal travel, and one near the top. One is for telling the ECU that the clutch is depressed and allows the car to start, the other can make or break your world.

I started having weird boost/wastegate issues and I ended up tracing it back to the clutch switch going bad. When I declutched to shift my RPMs would continue to rise, the car would buck and it would take FOREVER for the revs to drop. It was near impossible to drive smoothly and literally forget about downshifting. Also boost would drop into oblivion between gears and take FOREVER to build back up. I opened up the switch, adjusted the contact and it helped but I decided to put a new switch in anyway and it made a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE. Throttle response is better than it has ever been, it's MILES more rev happy, so much more willing and easier to rev match and in every way the engine is so much more of a treat. All this being said, if you have a manual and an old/original clutch switch, do yourself a favor and buy an OEM switch and see how much of a difference it makes. The thin copper contact wears out and doesn't contact/disengage at the proper intervals after a while and performance suffers. P/N: 7H0927189 (it's around $30 depending on where you get it for the OEM, but trust me, you definitely want the OEM)



Finally made it to a semi-local cars & coffee. Marko (ChicagosPhantom) and I met up to head to the North burbs of Chicago. We were greeted by about 20-25 cars I'd say, and with this C&C going on for years now we were the FIRST allroads to ever make it and one of the very few C5s and even Avants. Such a shame. Anyway, we showed them what beef was all about. After the g2g most of us headed to a BMW show and during we went behind the facility holding the meet and took some pics of our cars.

Lining up:



And the result:



The next week on a GORGEOUS September day I was invited to a press drive for the MKIII TT. I drove a coupe and a roadster, both loaded to the gills with all the cool tech stuff. These were just the base TT as no TTS were in the states yet. As such I was blown away as how well sorted these cars were. They make very clear their intentions. Extremely sport oriented. They were quick, nimble, made a GREAT exhaust note, the ECU drops a bit of unburned fuel into the exhaust to make it burble on shifts and the brakes totally stole the show. I've driven perhaps 250 different cars and this definitely took the cake for best bite, easiest modulation in a base model. I loved how sparse the cabin was, no center stack at all! All climate control and seat cooling/heating functions are built into the vents and radio/nav/car is built into the cluster. It really helped to give the car a 'driver's car' feel. I fell in love with them, despite the DSG. Overall a really clever and restrained design with many details that I appreciated. Of course the allroad garnered a lot of questions at the event. I also got to tour the parts facility, pretty cool how many parts are in stock.





Back to the allroad: I've been trying to eradicate plasti-dip from my car as it's maybe a little less sophisticated and doesn't last as long and isn't as durable as I would want for my car. Also in the vein of updating my allroad to reflect the recent RS models I had wrapped my window trim gloss black. A very refined look and I love it.



A little mini dream came true, I had a machine shop mod some RS wave rotors to fit the TT RS calipers. I love this look and it's genuinely a couple lbs lighter than the 270mm TT rotors.



Since camp allroad I had also been running this Pirelli tire branding. I love the motorsport look but nothing available to the public had the look I wanted. Namely I wanted yellow and it HAD to be the exact font. I decided to hand paint the tires with enamel.

I had been rolling around with a bum level sensor and I finally got around to swapping it out, just in time to hit up a show. Still haven't gone to many shows at all, camp allroad, little cars and coffee get together and that all-american show in my home town. It was at Audi Exchange in the North burbs. Lots of fun, met some super cool people, ate some good food. Highlight? Meeting the owner of this iconic '84 urQuattro- and then going for a ride in it.



ChicagosPhantom and my friend Bobby with his saweet urS6 Avant came too.





I wrapped my fog light surround gloss black. More of that late model RS goodness.



Then I finally had my tune updated for full stage II+, added launch control, antilag and left foot braking for brake boosting.
So at this point we're pretty much caught up. I pulled my car into the garage, took the wheels off and put them inside. With the car up for the winter I started planning and gathering mods for the Spring. I've looked for a black Alcantara headliner for over THREE years and I finally have one to put in thanks to ChicagosPhantom, also some Alcantara door cards. The headliner comes with a solar sunroof which I'm super stoked about.



I'm also upgrading my seats with these tasty little numbers:


*not my C5 in the pic

Recaro Sportster CS with heat

Continuing on the interior upgrades for the winter, I'm pulling the dash and wrapping it in Alcantara, and possibly the tops of the door cards too, haven't decided on that yet, but I think I do want the door cards to blend with the dash.

She's also getting a new clutch, lightweight aluminum flywheel and pressure plate (still deciding which for each of these), trans, motor and diff mounts, all 034 track density.

Aside from this modding I've taken the winter to offer my experience VCDS cable and heated garage to people in the area. I posted up on Instagram that it was available and so far I've had Carlos (Arsenal) in for a timing belt and top end reseal, than he came back to do his own trans and diff flushes, an allroad in for some electronic gremlins and an RNS-E install, a D2 S8 for a MAF, winter wheel and tires, a scan (and subsequent lean issues sorted) headlight washer cover and parking sensor fix, a MKVI TDI Jetta for a scan, a 6MT B7 S-line A4 for a scan and vagcom mods, a B8 for OEM LED headlight retrofit and coding and a B5S4 coming in for TB and misc maintenance job before going stage III.

This is what really makes putting so much time into my car worth-while. I've met so many cool people, been able to help them out and pay forward all the answers to the questions that I had when I was just starting out. I knew next to NOTHING about how to fix cars before I swapped my fuel pump on my first allroad some 5 years ago. The car community is super cool and as someone that's not too outgoing it's awesome to have a conversation starter that turns into great friendships.

I also extend this invite to you guys too. If anyone is in the area and needs to help or wants to learn or just needs a heated garage shoot me a PM I've got tons of room.

Now that I'm up to date I'll be posting later in the comments. But I will keep my mod list in the first post up to date. PLEASE ask any questions, happy to answer them and keep the C5 chassis going with fresh mods.

[HereWeGrow]

🏻🏻 hashtag Allroad goals.

Awesome write up. Enjoyed reading the story behind the photos.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[4rings2turbos]

Thank you very much for reading! I'm maybe half way through. But compiling all of this is so tiring haha. I'll finish it up over the weekend and update bit by bit.

[a4kamila6]

First and foremost, congrats on your son, hes a blessing. Secondly, congrats on your allroad, she is also a blessing.

I love the fact your allroad has the original 6 speed with the correct gear ratios, hence it being a REAL 6speed allroad. Nothing against the guys who run swaps, takes a lot of knowledge and time to get all the parts and install them correctly.

You put so much work into your car, you literally made me feel like the stuff I did to my car so far is like what you did to your allroad in one morning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[4rings2turbos]

First and foremost, congrats on your son, hes a blessing. Secondly, congrats on your allroad, she is also a blessing.

Hahaha, I literally lol'd and told my wife.

Thank you very much. The mods did go pretty quickly but to where I've posted is about the first two years of ownership. I still have this last year to post about but loading pictures up to photobucket takes SO LONG haha.

I also love the allroad gearing. I understand wanting a taller gear for the highway, but I actually prefer how much the allroad gearing is in the heart of the torque range more often. Also it was important to me to have a factory 6-speed because 1: it's factory 2: it's $3,000 that can be spent on mods that weren't a factory option.

[SteelyS6]

Well done sir! Was wondering when this build thread would happen. I hope to do one for my highland green allroad!

[4rings2turbos]

Thanks Geoffrey, I'm really looking forward to seeing that one when it happens. I like the way you mod.

I updated the second post with a bunch more content. Man, so much to compile...

[Airflite40]

My wife is from GR so we make the same drive very often. You can see some ugly road conditions especially on 196.

[JTown77]

That is one really great looking interior! Nice write up, even though I have read it here and there before, I still read it all again here.

[SteelyS6]

Have a question, why RS6 steering rack?

[A Stupid Turtle]

How much was the steering wheel to be covered? Definetly looks slick!

[4rings2turbos]

How much was the steering wheel to be covered? Definetly looks slick!

I'm not sure what he charges normally, I got a deal from him for being the first Alcantara. But it's from Raggaman on the forum here. His name I Lukasz. Super cool guy, does a great job and lots of options.

[4rings2turbos]

Have a question, why RS6 steering rack?

I'm glad you asked! I'll go into detail when my posts are updated to that point, but there are two benefits: allroad/A6/S6 steering ratio is 1:16.1 and the RS rack is 1:14.2, much more direct. And the RS rack also gives a tighter turning radius.

[4rings2turbos]

My wife is from GR so we make the same drive very often. You can see some ugly road conditions especially on 196.

Totally, I've driven through many a whiteout on 196. It's a nice road and with the right car it can actually be kinda fun.

That is one really great looking interior! Nice write up, even though I have read it here and there before, I still read it all again here.

Very much appreciated my friend :)

[R490]

Looks great! Super jelly.

[Ko4S4WI]

I'm glad you asked! I'll go into detail when my posts are updated to that point, but there are two benefits: allroad/A6/S6 steering ratio is 1:16.1 and the RS rack is 1:14.2, much more direct. And the RS rack also gives a tighter turning radius.

So the RS6 rack is different than the S6 hu?...... Interesting... very intresting.

[4rings2turbos]

Looks great! Super jelly.

Thanks my friend, labor of love. Emphasis on labor lol.

So the RS6 rack is different than the S6 hu?...... Interesting... very intresting.

Yes, quite! And it's your next mod ;) do you have plans for an RS motor someday?

[bpark1210]

That's some great work there! Inspiratin thread for sure.

[4rings2turbos]

Thanks Bpark, I really appreciate the encouragement.

[n8henn]

I've been following your ride since day one man. Great job! I've said it many times before and I'll say it again, this is one of my favorite AR's out there. I look forward to what lies around the corner.

[a4kamila6]

I like the white one. Beautiful color


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[4rings2turbos]

I've been following your ride since day one man. Great job! I've said it many times before and I'll say it again, this is one of my favorite AR's out there. I look forward to what lies around the corner.

Thanks brother! I'll probably bring the update up to where I currently am tonight. A few bigger things to come still. And camp allroad goodness too.

I like the white one. Beautiful color


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That one is a bit of an anomaly. There were only 76 C4 allroads that are model year 1998 and the pearl white is really rare among that tiny group. It made me fall madly I love with the C4 chassis too.

[G0to60]

Love the build you've done so far and look forward to updates!

I have a couple of questions. One is how do you get away with the euro plate with US tags?

Second is the RS6 cluster already calibrated to the allroad or did you have to do something special? Meaning, if you're going 62mph is it showing 100kph?

[a4kamila6]

Thanks brother! I'll probably bring the update up to where I currently am tonight. A few bigger things to come still. And camp allroad goodness too.



That one is a bit of an anomaly. There were only 76 C4 allroads that are model year 1998 and the pearl white is really rare among that tiny group. It made me fall madly I love with the C4 chassis too.

You mean thats an allroad? The white car? Wow. I thought it was a c4 a6 avant. Didnt even know there were c4 allroads.


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[AudiA4_20T]

Love the attention to detail

[4rings2turbos]

Haha! Oops! Typo, meant A6. Definitely A6 Avant. 2.8L auto

[4rings2turbos]

Appreciated Clint! You yourself know a thing or two about a build!

Love the build you've done so far and look forward to updates!

I have a couple of questions. One is how do you get away with the euro plate with US tags?

Second is the RS6 cluster already calibrated to the allroad or did you have to do something special? Meaning, if you're going 62mph is it showing 100kph?

Thank you! It's a bit of a case of just waiting until I get stopped. It's been a few years though. My plate has been run many times and I have yet to get a ticket. The cluster is a true km/h. It's not been fully coded yet but you're right, once it's fully coded 100km/h will be 62mph. I need to adjust for my tire diameter for it to be accurate.

[JTown77]

all those images and not a single engine bay shot, what a shame.

[4rings2turbos]

Haha it's a 2.7T with no engine covers a 911 coolant cap and 2.0T coils. It's not too exciting yet.

I was going to put one in but photobucket was going soooo slooooow that I skipped it.

[Racin2redline]

i love your attention to detail man, iam the same way, its the things that everyone overlooks that excites us lol
cool your finally compiling all your info into one thread..one day ill actually do that, if i can remember everything!

[happy2B5]

Worth repeating, but the attention to detail and the unique OEM+ mods are a thing of beauty. Well done.

I remember first time I saw a C5 allroad and instantly wanted one. I can imagine if someone sees this rolling down the road...sold!

[4rings2turbos]

Worth repeating, but the attention to detail and the unique OEM+ mods are a thing of beauty. Well done.

I remember first time I saw a C5 allroad and instantly wanted one. I can imagine if someone sees this rolling down the road...sold!

Thank you! All of you guys with your sick C5s makes me feel proud that you compliment mine like you do.

I remember seeing an allroad waaaayyyy back when they were pretty new (I would have been like 10-ish) and I thought it was so Euro and unique, but didn't think I'd ever own one (didn't really know much about it) much less think it's one of THE best all-rounder cars.

[4rings2turbos]

Just updated post 2 and 3. Camp allroad goodness posted up.

[happy2B5]

Speaking camp, when is this years planned for?

[4rings2turbos]

Date hasn't been announced yet. Rich said it'll be in Colo Springs again and my guess is it will be in July again.

[happy2B5]

[Black-Forest]

Wow fantastic job on the Allroad! Seems we have similar tastes in cars. We now have 2 Allroads and my longtime 86' 190E 16V manual. I look forward to modifying one of our Allroads and keep the other untouched for the wife.. I like some of the great work you did with the interior as I would like to change from the brown in mine to a black. Again fantastic job!

[4rings2turbos]

Wow fantastic job on the Allroad! Seems we have similar tastes in cars. We now have 2 Allroads and my longtime 86' 190E 16V manual. I look forward to modifying one of our Allroads and keep the other untouched for the wife.. I like some of the great work you did with the interior as I would like to change from the brown in mine to a black. Again fantastic job!

Wow! Please post up some pics of the 190! I loved that car so much, I've toyed with getting one for a while but I think I'll be keeping my stable 4 ring specific.