OEM+ 2012 Phantom Black Avant Build Thread

[A4 Centaur]

Such a classy build!

[avantagg]

Thanks guys! This has been fun to put together. I'm still kind of amazed how simple the cluster retrofit is. It looks amazing.

On another note, I have sourced a black headliner for the car! The plan is to start the conversion in the next few weeks after it arrives. More to come on that in a bit ...

[nmecum]

Where in Maine are you? I'm located in Portland. Love the car man.

[avantagg]

Where in Maine are you? I'm located in Portland. Love the car man.

Thanks! Located in Scarborough.

[nmecum]

Thanks! Located in Scarborough.

Nice. Let me know if you ever need an extra hand with installs. I'd love to check the car out in person.

Where did you get tuned at? I've been searching around the area and haven't seen much that I like outside of Boston. Also, have you done the carbon cleaning? Was also looking towards Boston for that because I don't know if I want to attempt the DIY service.

[avantagg]

Awesome! I'm in Portland almost every day. PM me sometime and we can meet up.

My VW tech friend performed the tune using UniConnect. I've also heard good things about East Coast European in Greenland, NH for performance needs. I'm not sure what to do about the carbon cleaning yet....I've been chipping away at the fun mods first but I know this is something that should get done sooner or later.

[avantagg]

So I ripped into my car the past few evenings in preparation for the new headliner arriving soon. I've been trying my best to document things as I go but there's a lot moving parts and stops and starts. Never the less progress is getting made. Here's a peak into the madness.

Headliner dropped.


Roof rails swapped.


I also swapped in some newer springs into my donor sunglasses door or whatever it's called. It bugged me that the door would only open half way down on its own.


Sunshade up next!

[A4 Centaur]

WOOT!

[antlaurence]

So I ripped into my car the past few evenings in preparation for the new headliner arriving soon. I've been trying my best to document things as I go but there's a lot moving parts and stops and starts. Never the less progress is getting made. Here's a peak into the madness.


Roof rails swapped.

what a slick swap. you doing the window trim as well?

[avantagg]

what a slick swap. you doing the window trim as well?

Thank you! Yes, in true black optic form the window trim will be going black too. Haven't had much luck finding the trim parts so I may end up a doing a 3M matte black vinyl wrap.

[Killerboots]

Those low profile roof rails are so good. Damn, great job. You're gonna make me spend more money...

[avantagg]

Had a minor set back today with the sunshade. I swear this thing is the worst part of this swap. I accidentally snapped one of the cables setting the sunroof assembly down on a table that was too narrow to support the weight of the whole thing. It put pressure on the shade and the cable just snapped.

Turns out these cables are a special order though the dealer and it's gonna take 2 weeks to get a new part....which means the whole sunroof assembly went back into the car today so I can have a (somewhat) functioning vehicle for a while. I'll be driving around in a reverberating metal shell, but at least I've got a face lifted dash to look at:

[bakedziti]

Sorry to hear about the sunshade cable! At least you'll get it figured out in a couple of weeks.

Question: what wheel did you go with, if this one's for sale?

[avantagg]

Sorry to hear about the sunshade cable! At least you'll get it figured out in a couple of weeks.

Question: what wheel did you go with, if this one's for sale?

Yea it's a bummer... I thought things were going a little too smoothly. There's always something that comes up, but I'm optimistic it will be wrapped up by July. Taking the time to find the last little bits needed to convert the interior to full facelift :) only need a couple vents for the completion.

I ended up finding a used RS4 FBSW from Germany, should be here soon!

[bakedziti]

Yea it's a bummer... I thought things were going a little too smoothly. There's always something that comes up, but I'm optimistic it will be wrapped up by July. Taking the time to find the last little bits needed to convert the interior to full facelift :) only need a couple vents for the completion.

I ended up finding a used RS4 FBS4 from Germany, should be here soon!

Nice! Excited to see the RS4 FBSW too. You have great luck with German eBay or your suppliers.

[np9131]

All this wagon love makes me sad I couldn't find a manual one before I got the sedan.

[avantagg]

Nice! Excited to see the RS4 FBSW too. You have great luck with German eBay or your suppliers.

Yes, I've gotten very lucky with eBay.de and also have a good connection over there for parts. Let me know if you want his info!

Sneak peak at what's to come :)

[jmeenach]

It could be yours for a cool $52k

That might be my favorite AR build. But I'm not paying $52k for a 2014. I don't care how special it is.

[dropshadow]

That might be my favorite AR build. But I'm not paying $52k for a 2014. I don't care how special it is.

Yeah, it's a little bit of wishful thinking at that price.

[avantagg]

Yeah, it's a little bit of wishful thinking at that price.

Yea, no way you are getting your money back on a build like that. Nice car though!

[jmeenach]

Yea, no way you are getting your money back on a build like that. Nice car though!

You don't have a bad looking ride either!

[avantagg]

You don't have a bad looking ride either!

Thank you sir! It's a work in progress : ) I tend to sweat the details ...

[redavant]

Love the steady progress and your patience! It's all in the details :-)

[dropshadow]

Sunshade up next!

I can't say I'm heartbroken that I never got this far in the swap. It will look great when it's done, but man, you've got more patience than I do. Easier for me to just buy a car that had a black headliner already in it.

[avantagg]

Those low profile roof rails are so good. Damn, great job. You're gonna make me spend more money...

Hah, thanks man. I love what you have done with your Allroad. Avant roof rails on the AR look sexy as hell! DO IT :)

[avantagg]

I can't say I'm heartbroken that I never got this far in the swap. It will look great when it's done, but man, you've got more patience than I do. Easier for me to just buy a car that had a black headliner already in it.

I thought I had a pretty good idea of the detail involved with this project BUT DAMN the pano sunshade added a few more variables. A4 sedan headliner swappers have it easy :)

Thanks for paving the way Sean. I plan on seeing this through!

[geojt72]

Awesome! I'm in Portland almost every day. PM me sometime and we can meet up.

My VW tech friend performed the tune using UniConnect. I've also heard good things about East Coast European in Greenland, NH for performance needs. I'm not sure what to do about the carbon cleaning yet....I've been chipping away at the fun mods first but I know this is something that should get done sooner or later.

I will second that about east coast European. the guys there are great, and do great work. have had numerous things done.


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[avantagg]

I will second that about east coast European. the guys there are great, and do great work. have had numerous things done.

Good to know! Thanks for the heads up.

[avantagg]

The largest piece of the puzzle has arrived! Sunshade cables will hopefully be here next week and if I'm lucky I'll have this thing back together soon. Also decided I'm gonna hunt for OEM black window trim to make it an authentic black optic build. 90 of 89 perhaps ??? :)

[A4 Centaur]

Yup, you will have completely transformed your Avant. Funny, I looked up on KBB a fully loaded Avant has not lost as much in equity as I would have thought. I think the rarity of the vehicle might make these collectable one day?

I dunno but I plan on keeping mine a while! Great work there and I look forward to trying to match all the cool upgrades!

[avantagg]

^ Thanks man! I plan on holding onto mine for a long time as well. Great to see all the cool stuff you've done with yours.

[dropshadow]

The largest piece of the puzzle has arrived! Sunshade cables will hopefully be here next week and if I'm lucky I'll have this thing back together soon. Also decided I'm gonna hunt for OEM black window trim to make it an authentic black optic build. 90 of 89 perhaps ??? :)

Wow, awesome. Looks like it arrived in one piece. Looking forward to the rest of this project.

[ECDT]

Wow where did you source the headliner I have spoke with some sellers from eBay.de but they are not into shipping that across the ocean, nor would I want to pay the freight. I haven't really searched to the point that I am ready to buy but I am sure that will change once I can find it in the US.


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[avantagg]

Wow where did you source the headliner I have spoke with some sellers from eBay.de but they are not into shipping that across the ocean, nor would I want to pay the freight. I haven't really searched to the point that I am ready to buy but I am sure that will change once I can find it in the US.


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This is true! I have spent the past 3 months searching high, low, east and west for one of these f#%kers used. I almost got somebody to ship one from Poland but the shipping was twice as much as the headliner and they were nervous about damaging it. In the end I bit the bullet and bought one from an Audi parts wholesaler on eBay that offers free shipping. I was a little bummed I couldn't find a used one but I saved a ton on the other swap parts with some persistent and exhaustive searches on eBay.de

The shame of it all is that black headliner Avants are VERY common in Europe and the parts come up for sale often at very reasonable prices.

For what it's worth: the same German seller that is doing the RS4 spoiler group buy with kdaffy mentioned he could set up a headliner group buy if there were enough people interested. He sells the full kit all the time over in Europe and it's usually the first hit on eBay.de when you look for "B8 Avant Himmeldach" . I almost bought this kit through him but in the end the cost of the headliner shipping blew the whole thing up.

If there were a bunch of people interested it could actually be a pretty economical way to do this....but then again this swap isn't for the faint of heart, so I wonder if there would even be enough owners out there interested in the conversion. If somebody wants to spearhead it I'd be happy to make an introduction.

An alternative could be to just buy everything needed for the swap except the headliner from this guy (if he's willing to break it up) and buy a new headliner from the eBay seller I just used. Two suppliers: full kit.

Sorry for the long winded response. As you can tell I've probably spent way too much time researching this project. I'm happy I finally got all the parts sourced and did it through a combination of Polish, German and American eBay sites.

[ECDT]

This is true! I have spent the past 3 months searching high, low, east and west for one of these f#%kers used. I almost got somebody to ship one from Poland but the shipping was twice as much as the headliner and they were nervous about damaging it. In the end I bit the bullet and bought one from an Audi parts wholesaler on eBay that offers free shipping. I was a little bummed I couldn't find a used one but I saved a ton on the other swap parts with some persistent and exhaustive searches on eBay.de

The shame of it all is that black headliner Avants are VERY common in Europe and the parts come up for sale often at very reasonable prices.

For what it's worth: the same German seller that is doing the RS4 spoiler group buy with kdaffy mentioned he could set up a headliner group buy if there were enough people interested. He sells the full kit all the time over in Europe and it's usually the first hit on eBay.de when you look for "B8 Avant Himmeldach" . I almost bought this kit through him but in the end the cost of the headliner shipping blew the whole thing up.

If there were a bunch of people interested it could actually be a pretty economical way to do this....but then again this swap isn't for the faint of heart, so I wonder if there would even be enough owners out there interested in the conversion. If somebody wants to spearhead it I'd be happy to make an introduction.

An alternative could be to just buy everything needed for the swap except the headliner from this guy (if he's willing to break it up) and buy a new headliner from the eBay seller I just used. Two suppliers: full kit.

Sorry for the long winded response. As you can tell I've probably spent way too much time researching this project. I'm happy I finally got all the parts sourced and did it through a combination of Polish, German and American eBay sites.

What would you say your total cost was to do this? I have thought about buying a damaged/salvaged donor car like an allroad but never looked into it enough to see if the headliner is compatible but then have some sport seats and led tail lights to go along with the headliner, who knows maybe try for facelift b8 avant lol.


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[bakedziti]

What would you say your total cost was to do this? I have thought about buying a damaged/salvaged donor car like an allroad but never looked into it enough to see if the headliner is compatible but then have some sport seats and led tail lights to go along with the headliner, who knows maybe try for facelift b8 avant lol.


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avantagg and I have discussed a donor car briefly. I found this a while back, but there wasn't a price or auction date attached at the time. I'd actually really like those brown seats, but that's another story.

https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/Vehicl...oadRecent=True

[ECDT]

avantagg and I have discussed a donor car briefly. I found this a while back, but there wasn't a price or auction date attached at the time. I'd actually really like those brown seats, but that's another story.

https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/Vehicl...oadRecent=True

Yeah I was just looking at that too damn site makes me want to do crazy things that I know I shouldn't like an 3.0 s4 swap. My neighbor buys/sells used/salvage cars and always tells me to let him know when I am ready to do something like that. His son has an e46 m3 he bought for $5500 and just replaced the hood and a fender which his shop fixed and the father drives a newer Range Rover also a salvage that he paid next to nothing for.


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[avantagg]

What would you say your total cost was to do this? I have thought about buying a damaged/salvaged donor car like an allroad but never looked into it enough to see if the headliner is compatible but then have some sport seats and led tail lights to go along with the headliner, who knows maybe try for facelift b8 avant lol.


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I've got a tally going on a spreadsheet somewhere, I'd have to check and will update the thread once the project is buttoned up. But it's not as bad as you would think, maybe 1500 when you factor in the extra things like black dome lights, the rear view mirror, the sunshade and all the shipping. I got pretty lucky with a few of the parts though, particularly the pillar set and sunshade. The most expensive part was the headliner because I bought it new. That was almost half my cost right there. But it's flawless and it's actually an Allroad headliner. They are completely interchangeable.

If you can find a sport Allroad for salvage that could be a good way to go depending on the price! You could lift a set of sport seats, headliner and all components, all the facelift switches and vents, tails, wheel perhaps? That's $4K or more in parts right there.... But a black interior sport Allroad could take some time to find. I started the search on some salvage sites (thanks bakedziti!) but only one turned up and it was way too far away for easy transport.

I think the best way to approach this conversion is to find all the used parts from Poland or Germany (ideally one source to save on the shipping costs) and buy the headliner new. Happy to share some of the contacts I've made during my research. PM me if you decide to tackle this project!

[dropshadow]

Dude, never add up what you've spent. I avoided doing that for years until a prospective buyer of my last allroad asked for a total of what I'd spent. I resisted at first, but finally caved and added it all up. In the end, it was depressing. Could've bought a second car for what I'd spent.

[avantagg]

Dude, never add up what you've spent. I avoided doing that for years until a prospective buyer of my last allroad asked for a total of what I'd spent. I resisted at first, but finally caved and added it all up. In the end, it was depressing. Could've bought a second car for what I'd spent.

Hah, yea that's probably true! I put the spreadsheet together mostly to keep track of the parts and upgrades that I've done to the car. I try not to look at the bottom line : )