Greetings my fellow Audiziners,
Like most of you here, it's fair to say I also have a deep passion for not only most things automobile but specifically for this particular chassis & powertrain. It is hard to say what draws us in, maybe the timeless lines which invoke a sharp sense of understated strength which only seem to get better with age, or possibly the crackle of nailing a perfectly timed 2-3 upshift, perhaps it's the ability to peel all 4 wheels from a standstill, or it could even be the turbo noises....
Regardless, it seems that the general VW/Audi populous seem to have a fond appreciation for clean, well executed builds with a touch of "oh shit" moments to spice things up so I would like to formally make my contribution by means of this build thread. Anyways! Enough rambling, onto the meat.
The car in my driveway after picking it up from NY and driving back through the night, February 2018.
Engine bay.
I overpaid in retrospect but there were aspects of this particular car that I feel at ease about, so I felt the extra expense up front was worth knowing that I would have a solid foundation to build upon given I felt I was taking ownership of a well built AWE stage 3.
Legacy specs @ 206k on odometer upon pickup:
+ Stock block 2.7t w/ 56k (claimed) miles
+ BorgWarner k04s w/ 42k (claimed) miles
+ Labree split DPs
+ custom 2.5" to 3" catless/non-res exhaust w/ Borla Xr1 muffler
+ APR Bi-pipe
+ Samco hose kit
+ X34 intake
+ AEM dry oil filter
+ Full carbon fiber engine bay treatment (ECS I believe)
+ AWE 85mm MAF housing w/Hitachi MAF
+ RS4 fuel pump
+ Green Giant 360cc injectors
+ Spec Stage 3 (claimed?) clutch
+ Neuspeed short shifter
+ AWE DTS
+ ECS diff mount
+ Neuspeed rear sway bar
+ Stoptech stock size rotors w/ stoptech pads
+ Eibach springs on Koni struts (blown out)
+ 17" Avus wheels powder coated black w/ full spare
+ AWE vent boost gauge
+ AWE pedals
+ And of course the killer neochrome engine bay paint work!
So, owning a B5 S4 has been a long term goal of mine, therefore I was committed to putting my best foot forward with this car from day one. So after flying into NY and driving back to coastal NC the very first thing I did was utilize my paint correction skills/tools.
Technically day 2.
Panel by panel.
Taking my time, day 3.
& by day 4 I was almost all the way around the car.
I approached the paint correction panel by panel. Starting at the trunk I slowly progressed my way forward, taking due diligence to mask off the trim areas as this process was extensive & I know how stubborn spend compounds/polishes are to remove from trim areas and windows once dry. Ultimately I was satisfied after a clay bar treatment, a 2 stage compound, a 2 stage polish, a full polymer seal coat, and then 2 layers of butter wet wax after the sealant had cured for a full 24 hrs.
It was excruciatingly difficult to keep going by day 3 as I've never owned a vehicle of this caliber before and while I had time on the highway to start learning the car staring at it for almost a full week after dropping a substantial stack of cash on it required a lot of willpower but I think the effort was worth it because now I could rest easy knowing the exterior was up to par since now all I had to do was stick to a consistent maintenance regime. So I took it out for a quick photoshoot once the wax was applied and dry.
Fingerprints on the rear window...
Still tweaking the bumper gap.
Oil change because why not??
One more night time shot.
Having gone too such depth with the paint correction I am convinced this car was resprayed and I found 3 small runs near the side markers and the paint up front was certainly a bit softer than factory, hence some of the obvious paint chips. The gloss black roof really meshed well with the tint & body lines of the car as well but I suspected it was single stage and my suspicions were confirmed about 10 months later.
After a week of ownership I had had time to start contemplating how I was going to begin making the car feel like my own,
I concluded that the exhaust was just too rough, the drone was obnoxious, and even though the crackling on downshifts and while engine braking was awesome to enjoy with the windows down I couldn't escape the feeling that the constant boy-ish exhaust note was taking away from the refinement I was aiming for. So I opted to fit in a through style 3" vibrant resonator for the immediate moment. This also gave me a chance to adjust the amount the exhaust tips protruded. Again this is another small detail that I felt took away from the car.
Removed the rear half for modification.
Resonator fitted and ready to be welded on @ local shop.
Up next, I was NOT happy with the suspension or tires (BF Goodrich Sport Comps) so with my last little bit of time home before my spring outage season (more on that later) I harvested the Solowerks coilovers off of my dead A4 Avant (RIP)
Sourced a full set grade B/C 18" Ronals off of eBay wrapped them in 225/40/R18 continental DWS 06s. After some deliberation and a few days playing with offset calculators I order hub-centric spacers & propery sized lugs courtesy of 42draft designs.
The final aesthetic.
At this point, I had about 2 days left for tinker, & being myself I knew I had to improve the sound system; so yet again harvesting my faithful avant for parts I installed my Alpine CDE W265BT headunit which matched the dimpled aluminum trim quite nicely I must say. I ran a 4 AWG kit from the battery, through the firewall via the ECU compartment, to the CD changer compartment and installed the complementing Alpine PDX-V9 5 channel amplifier. I then ran all new wires to all 4 speaker locations and installed a full arrangement of Infinity Kappa components over the previous Alpine components I was considering pulling over from the wagon. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of this install for some reason but have faith, it was done correctly. Lastly, but not least I have to have ample low end so I wound up opting to hack up the rear deck in order to install a custom enclosure housing a single Ultimax 12" from Dayton Audio which is a proven performer in it's larger variants (I have 2 18" Ultimax's in my Touareg).
Enclosure glued together and setting.
Subwoofer & enclosure mounted.
Unfortunately, I did not have time to fine tune everything done this far as this all happened in the span on about 10 days. My plan is to upgrade the 12" driver and to rebuild the deck plate and modify the rear deck with a custom grill to make the subwoofer install extremely rigid and as OEM looking as possible. Over the next 8 months I drove this car to multiple sites spending months at a time away from home. During that time I quickly learned just how fast a "measly" 360awhp/380awtq can be (according to the dyno sheet I was given). I also had time to realize that I wanted to go all in with this car.
So fast forward.....
One bad MAF connection,
Three states,
MS.
MI.
IL.
Many wash & waxes plus a cupra R lip installed on the road.
And I found myself back home @224k miles.
Having had 9 months to run Medusa through the paces I had succeeded in defeating the clutch, diagnosing a failed power steering pump, and rendering the 1-2 syncro just about kaput. Other gremlins had come to surface as well, including a mysterious water intrusion issue that would result in my left foot being drenched in water anytime I took a hard right turn after even a mild rain. Full disclosure, I also somehow forget to close my sunroof fully towards the end of my stay in MS and came back to my car to find a substantial amount of water in my front seats which destroyed the leather and finally took the headliner down. The seat cushions I had replaced quickly but the headliner is still an annoyance so with a growing list of "need to happen: maintenance I decided it was time to park the car ....
.... and make a list.
The list has changed (of course) but essentially my aim is to completely overhaul the suspension, drivetrain, brakes, engine, and any other problems areas that arise.
So it was time for my first motor pull!
EDIT: Hopefully this video actually works...
https://vimeo.com/user96992143/revie...634/b3f4c194f2
Success!
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Pulling the engine, which thanks to some awesome write ups and online resources, was fairly straight forward. I forget to unbolt the shifter linkage so I spent about a half hour toying with the engine in the air before realizing my error after crosschecking the engine pull check list another user had generated. As you can see, the clutch was done, and it appears the occasional miss was due to a cracked (1" long) hose that feeds into the bottom of the area near the throttle body which is what I believe has coated the valley is gunk.
Since the engine is out, my plan is resealing it from front to rear as well as replacing all notable wear items, hoses, etc for the immediate future as I plan on building my 2.8L while still enjoying the car with the k04s. The plan is to build the chassis first, install the supporting mods, build the 2.8L block, go e85 while still runnings k04s on the big power block, then finally moving for Tial Xr770s once I'm confident in the build's stability.
I guess to formalize the process I'll lay off my plan of attack in "stages" (subject to change as always). I fully intend to build the car while driving it as I don't need my shop space clogged up anymore than need be & I also want to enjoy my car while also being able to iron on kinks in the set up as it evolves.
.Chassis stage.
+ 034 aluminum sub-frame bushings (ready for install)
+ 034 snub mount w/ spaced bracket (ready for install)
+ 034 "Motorsport" engine mounts (ready for install)
+ 034 "Motorsport" trans mounts (ready for install)
+ Apikol rear diff mount w/ "Race" bushing (need to order)
+ Apikol diff carrier "Race" bushings (need to order)
+ New OEM (***) wheel bearings all around (ready for install)
.Suspension Stage.
+ F&R 034 "Motorsport" upper adjustable/spherical control arms/tie rods etc (need to order)
+ Front 034 "Density" LCAs (need to order)
+ 034 Spherical sway bar end-links (need to order)
+ 034 "Density" strut mounts (need to order)
+ Vogtland GT3s (need to order)
+ Hotchkis sway bars w/ new bushings (awaiting install)
.Brakes Stage.
+ 18z upgrade on all 4 corners (awaiting rebuild)
+ Girodisk 345mm front rotors (need to order)
+ Girodisk (B8 s4) 330mm rear rotors (need to order)
+ Voshmods 330mm brake kit (ready for install)
+ Wilwood MP4 parking calipers (need to order)
+ Hawk HPS pads all around (need to order)
+ SS Brake lines (need to order)
.Drivetrain Stage.
+ CM billet flywheel (needs new pilot bearing)
+ CM FX400 6 puck clutch (for k04 block) (ready for install)
+ Ringer Racing Stage 4+ (for 770 block) (need to order)
+ JHM 01E trans rebuild (awaiting rebuild)
+ JHM "Trio" shifter package (ready for install)
+ JHM shifter cross brace (ready for install)
+ USP Metal Slave w/ SS line (ready for install)
+ JHM weighted shift knob (ready for install)
+ R-Axles rebuilt axles all around (awaiting rebuild)
+ 4:1 center diff mod (ready for install)
.Fueling Stage.
+ IE Dual 044 Surge Tank w/pumps (need to order)
+ Single 044 on SRM bracket in tank to feed surge tank (need to order)
+ -6/-8 AN custom fuel lines from bow to stern (still deliberating options)
+ Aftermarket FPR (still deliberating options)
+ 1200cc EV14s (need to order)
.Powertrain Support Stage.
+ R8 Coil conversion (need to order)
+ Fluidampr Harmonic Balancer (need to order)
+ 2.0T Coil Conversion (need to order)
+ Ported "Monster" Plenum S4 intake (need to order)
+ 770 downpipes (deliberating options)
+ Fast Intentions Stage 3 exhuast (need to order)
.Block Build Stage.
+ 83mm bored & honed BF block
+ Weisco 10:1 compression pistons
+ IE rods
+ NEW rod bearings
+ New OEM mains/thrust bearings
+ ARP studs
+ 2.8l heads w/ 2.8l intake cams
+ Supertech SS intake valves (stock diameter)
+ Supertech inconel exhaust valves (stock diameter)
+ Supertech springs & retainers
+ Anything else I missed (>.<)
.Turbos.
+ K04s as long as I can ->
+ Tial Xr770s !
There's definitely items I've overlooked here, I'm sure I'll be back to update and modify as needed. I plan on using this first post as a means to help me keep track of things just as much as a means to convey to gravity of the build as it progresses. I should also note that I travel (ALOT) for work and this build is also being done in tandem with another (smaller) build on my 2.8L A4 as well as sharing priority with the cost of starting my own business. What that means is that I won't be able to just blitz this anytime soon and will have to attack it in chunks when I am actually home long enough to get time in wrenching. Ohhh and I am also moving this fall which will be a slight set back as well.
I guess what I'm getting at is that this thread with not be a constant stream of car porn (unfortunately) but I can promise I'm working hard to earn the money and find the time to build it right. My goal is to have all the "stages" I listed here 95% complete by summer 2020. I've been chatting with Tipcke performance about the block as it was his build that inspired me to go this direction, it won't be easy, cheap, and quick to finish but I think it's going to worth it in the end!
I am looking forward to updating this with more progress, Medusa is currently in my shop in about 500 pieces waiting for all the things I listed as (ready to install) or (awaiting rebuild) to be done. Stay tuned my friends....
*RESERVED*
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks