Salvaged Budget Build

[dmanisgnarly]

Bought this S4 as a mindless project for $4K with 113,XXX miles. It had been hit in the passenger doors in a parking lot/low speed impact on base. The insurance company ended up writing it off and I picked it up before it hit craigslist. I have an A4 as a DD and a F350 for work, this thing is purely a hobby as most of my time is spent on the supermotos.





Before the rest of the Pandem RocketBunny Front Aero kit was installed. (it was originally made for a 180sx)








Put the winch in the F350 hitch receiver and pulled the center door pillar back out to where the doors would open and shut. Picked up a set of doors from a donor A4 from a pick-n-pull in S.C. for $145. Took the doors apart and swapped all the bose/controls/tinted windows/seals from the S4 to the A4 door shells. The only real difference in the door interior is the rear window sun shade.


Drove it for about a month and noticed it had numerous oil leaks-the most severe being the valve covers and valley pan. It shifted really rough too, with a ton of slop. Was coming off the interstate late one night and spiritually downshifted from 3rd to 2nd only to have the clutch stay in the floor.

Shit this is going to get expensive! Funny enough as I was cleaning it out to pull into the garage for the long-term project I found a few time slips from a local dragstrip...looks like my poor car saw a rough life before me.. the times weren't anything to brag about and it was probably the cause for the poor feeling clutch.

In the process of pulling the clutch I discovered one of the motor mounts was in 2 pieces and the snub was non-existent. I decided to go ahead and do the oil check/spray valves while the valley was open even though I don’t have any rattle on start-up. I am also following a poly fill DIY for the rear diff mount.











Just gutted the piggies and am starting the fender cut for the ram air intake tonight.
Spent waaay too much on parts some of which are listed below:




JHM Stage 4 clutch w/lightweight flywheel
Piggy pipes
ECS Snub mount
APR Carbon NACA duct-fender mount
Rocketbunny V2 Splitter/Canard- True JDM import
Nokya Fogs
Weighted shift knob
K&N Pod filter
Rally Armor mud flaps
H&R Lowering Springs
JHM Intake spacer kit
034 Street Density Billet Motor Mounts (upgraded 10mm hardware for launches)
JHM shift stabilizer bushings
Oil pressure sensor
Valley pan gasket/oil check valve/ (2X) oil spray valves
Valve cover gaskets
Accessory Belt
ECS street shield aluminum skid plate
Sachs clutch slave cylinder
Oil filter housing o-rings
Cam chain tensioner gaskets/ hold tool
Driveshaft flange seal
90 degree stainless O2 spacers
Vinyl wrap(for silver doors) and for graphics
Honeycomb grill
Tow hook
Euro plate
Stainless Rear diffuser


Stay tuned as I’ll update with more pictures as the engine and body start coming back together in the next few weeks. Currently tearing into an Aprilia and a CRF450 as well so my time is limited.

[FastEddie]

nice grab. I like seeing revive threads.

[Mr. Corey]

Nice to see this B6 getting some much needed love!

[Terry.Reese]

nice and shiny engine!

[Terry.Reese]

I want to get a euro plate, but I also have to have a front plate, which currently I have on the tow hook spot. is there a specific plate holder for the S4 that goes on the front filler? of will the plate holder be the actual filler? Thanks for any info.

[dmanisgnarly]

I want to get a euro plate, but I also have to have a front plate, which currently I have on the tow hook spot. is there a specific plate holder for the S4 that goes on the front filler? of will the plate holder be the actual filler? Thanks for any info.

My filler plate popped off and I used the supplied bracket that came free with my euro plate and screwed it in the holes behind the filler plate. Took all of 5 minutes once I found screws that fit.

[dmanisgnarly]

nice and shiny engine!

its shinier now ;) Polished the fuel rails and am painting the valve covers, intake mani, throttle body, and throttle body elbow as well/..should look blingy soon.

[Terry.Reese]

My filler plate popped off and I used the supplied bracket that came free with my euro plate and screwed it in the holes behind the filler plate. Took all of 5 minutes once I found screws that fit.

can you take some closer pics of that, really want to do this also.

where in NC are you located?

[dmanisgnarly]

I will as soon as I pull the front end back out of storage. Wilmington!!

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[gautam]

What did you use to clean the valley? It looks immaculate!

[brianup]

So much more than wheels going on in this thread but I have to say I really dig peelers in a B6!


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[Tracer77]

Oh man, thanks for posting pics, I like what you're doing here!

[dmanisgnarly]

What did you use to clean the valley? It looks immaculate!

A mixture of elbow grease, dollar store citrus cleaner, and WD40. Plenty of paper towels as well. I have a pressure washer but have had bad luck with blasting engine seals... :(


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[ngood1]

Nice build! Seriously tho, how is that a total loss?

[gautam]

Nice build! Seriously tho, how is that a total loss?

Probably because of sheer depreciation. The car's KBB was probably around 6-7k and the fix would have been more than that.

I got into a minor accident a few months ago, bumped a car doing maybe 10 mph and my radiator had to be replaced, hood had to be re-alligned and bumper re-painted. The shop billed my insurance company nearly 7k for it and I don't know how the insurance company didn't total it. My car's KBB value is somewhere around 5-6 thousand at most. 04 with 130k miles on but I love her to death!

[ngood1]

Probably because of sheer depreciation. The car's KBB was probably around 6-7k and the fix would have been more than that.

I got into a minor accident a few months ago, bumped a car doing maybe 10 mph and my radiator had to be replaced, hood had to be re-alligned and bumper re-painted. The shop billed my insurance company nearly 7k for it and I don't know how the insurance company didn't total it. My car's KBB value is somewhere around 5-6 thousand at most. 04 with 130k miles on but I love her to death!

Insurance companies base it on same / similar vehicles in the area that are for sale.. Not the book value.. And they adjust for mileage, condition, etc. (but most of the time you have to tell them to adjust for it)

Most adjusters are quick to write off vehicles. Often including work that does not need to be done or unnecessary things that jack up the repair estimate so they get it to total. Happened on my b5. Adjustor estimated the damage to be $9000+ which was ridiculous. And the car was still driveable just had body damage. I had several shops quote the repair around $6000. Vehicle value was $10,000.

Still the adjustor did not budge and said the vehicle is a total loss. I refused to sign over the title and a few weeks went by. I called the guys supervisor and they ended up paying for the damage. The shop then fixed it for way less than they billed the insurance company and I ended up walking away with $300 (deductible was 500)

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[Terry.Reese]

We bought our 02 f150 6 years ago for 6k, got hail damage totaled, insurance gave us 8.7k.. today we are buying an 05 allroad, low mileage, clean bill of health from an inspection and has new blizzak tires and new timing belt. 2.7t biturbo v6. 5.5k

[dmanisgnarly]

Monday morning update!

Got bored at work, went out on my lunch break last week and picked up a body saw from HF for $18. Placed the NACA duct down and traced out a stencil.


Body saw and completed cardboard stencil


Had to fiddle with the alignment with the hood closed to find the sweet spot for the new airbox. Initially a fender install was planned but I wanted to keep the factory ducting already in the fender.


Tape ready!!


Done! :) Only took about 15 minutes. Had to cut a very minimal section of support on the backside. I'll post more of the NACA install once I paint the edges and start the airbox ducting.










Put the valve covers in my sandblasting cabinet but unfortunately I had the wrong medium..had some garnet mix that I use for firearm finishing but it wasn't abrasive enough so I stripped the inside with it and did the outside with a 15 dollar 3" grinder/wirewheel(also from harbor freight). I need to do some MX on the blasting cabinet anyways...



Finished with VHT wrinkle Red. 4 coats.





Before I started the trans seal overhaul I wanted to modify my Harbor Freight(you see a trend here? poor college kid budget ;) ) Transmission Jack. The supplied strap was a little to wide for my application and the size of the ratchet handle made it a b*tch to work in the S4 trans tunnel. I broke out my sewing machine and went to town on an old motorcycle tie down. NOTE*** The motorcycle tie down is rated for 450 lbs..the same as the HF trans jack***







Cleaned the trans up a little before the surgery


Took the rear seal out, you can see it's been leaking for quiet some time due to the brown discoloration at the flange. Dang that trans fluid stinks!!! Gonna replace the seal and pour 3.5 Q of Redline 75w90 oil. Never noticed it leaking but the exhaust pipe will probably prove otherwise if I look close enough.




Went ahead and cleaned all the front suspension/subframe/entire underneath to make life easier when my adjustable control arms and coilovers come in.


Finished the weekends projects off by changing out the inner CV boots. The originals were both tore at the one time use clamp.


Also installed the JHM shifter stabilizer bushing and 034 Billet motor mounts but forgot to take pics...

Stay tuned! This week I'll be painting the manifold, replacing the timing chain tensioner gaskets, VC gaskets, clutch, installing the GT wing, fixing the glovebox hinge, replacing the trunk actuator, installing my tow hitch, repairing the brittle headlight harness, and replacing the clutch slave cylinder..ordered the wrong one..and hopefully will have it off the jack stands by the end of the weekend.

[Terry.Reese]

How do you keep water from pooling in that intake hole? Nice idea also.

[dmanisgnarly]

How do you keep water from pooling in that intake hole? Nice idea also.

Its going to have a water trap similar to the snorkels seen on jeeps... I also have a cover for the hole that goes on the underside if I decide to run an open element filter when it starts raining.

[Terry.Reese]

Can you IM me pics of that. This is getting me thinking about my setup and options on what i want to try on mine

[M0ve0ver]

I haven't heard the best things about using Redline in our transmissions.

[dmanisgnarly]

I haven't heard the best things about using Redline in our transmissions.

Hmm interesting...should I go with the Motul then?

[pwest15]

Hmm interesting...should I go with the Motul then?

I can vouch for Motul. Been running it for over a year now. I too haven't heard good things about Redline but I can't really confirm any of those things either.

[dmanisgnarly]

Not too much to update with this morning, been busy with work and school so far this week. Should have the remaining parts to finish my build tomorrow and I'll be off till Tuesday :)

In the meantime I managed to fix the glove box, this is my second one as my A4 had the same problem. I'm sure there's DIY's around the forums but anywho, this is my version. As usual the right side was completely broken and the left side was starting to go..it was about 1/2 way still attached.

Picked up a pack of brackets from Lowes Hardware for $2.50. The size is: 1 1/2"X5/8". The supplied screwws were too long for the bottom of the brackets withot going through the visible part of the glovebox panel so I used some shorter ones.



I first conformed them to the bend of the plastic pieces and then ground off the sides to make them the same width as the underlying cheap ass plastic.


I might paint them later, who knows.





I know theres repair kits for sale out there and my fix isnt the prettiest but my grandfather taught me to improvise and I've been doing just that my whole life

[dmanisgnarly]

After ECS sent me the wrong slave I really didnt want to wait for another to ship so I could get things rolling along. Ordered one from AdvancedAuto and it arrived yesterday. The first thing I noticed is that its all metal-cast. Has the same dimensions as the OEM unit but is missing the alignment dowel. Anyone had any luck with these kind of slaves? It's branded as "Perfection" and is made in Italy...

[dmanisgnarly]

The slave fit just fine, have yet to pressurize it because I'm waiting on my gear oil to refill the tranny.


No one around these parts carries 75w90 GL4 so I had to resort to amazon prime. Another delay...

I did manage to get the intake manifold painted and I serviced the flap and tightened down the torx screws inside of both halves- they were all loose. I've heard you can take them out but I just did the loc-tite dance and torqued them back down. Reassembled the throttle body as well. One of the gaskets had seen better days so I used a very thin layer of Blue RTV on both sides.



I really didnt like the fact that the JHM intake spacer kit forces yo to lose one of the rear engine mounts..this seemed unnecessary at this point since I still have an engine support bar across the bay holding the motor up...looks like the spacer kit and valve covers will be the last thing on the list.

For motor oil I picked up some rotella T6 since my F350 likes to drink it as well... cant beat buying in bulk ;)

More to come this weekend

[Clun9]

Wait, how does the JHM Intake spacer kit force you to loose one of your rear engine mounts?
The engine mounts are at the bottom of the block.


JHM pic for reference. The engine mount is the part with the STERN sticker on it.

[blacknboosted]

Wait, how does the JHM Intake spacer kit force you to loose one of your rear engine mounts?
The engine mounts are at the bottom of the block.


JHM pic for reference. The engine mount is the part with the STERN sticker on it.

He is talking about the black tabs that he is currently using to hold up his engine with. The tabs can be seen in some of the pictures in the OP's first post. They are to the side and in back of the intake ports.

[Terry.Reese]

I just did my spacers. I think you have to put those back on before you put your IM back on. I couldn't get mine on again.

[dmanisgnarly]

Sorry for the confusion I meant engine support tabs.. yeah with the supplied JHM instructions it shows the engine lift tab removed. I'll take it off once the engine is supported by the actual mounts and snub.

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[Kambesama]

Sorry for the confusion I meant engine support tabs.. yeah with the supplied JHM instructions it shows the engine lift tab removed. I'll take it off once the engine is supported by the actual mounts and snub.

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Have you performed any work/repair to the hit on the passenger side of the vehicle?

[dmanisgnarly]

Have you performed any work/repair to the hit on the passenger side of the vehicle?

Yeah, the only damage really was the pillar and doors. I pulled the pillar out with my 12K winch. The donor doors are off an A4 and fit just fine. Theres a few MM of alignment I need to finish with the pillar towards gthe bottom back but I'll probably leave that up to my friend who runs a body shop. I drove it 800 miles with the donor doors on a few months back with no problems the way it is now. Picked up some piano black vinyl to wrap the doors with. Got arctic white, red, and graphite silver to do the body graphics with so no one will ever notice the doors being wrapped vs painted.

Going with a theme similar to this:

[jakeoboy67]

I ground down my engine lifting tab on a bench grinder so that the manifold clears it (didn't have to remove much)

[dmanisgnarly]

I ground down my engine lifting tab on a bench grinder so that the manifold clears it (didn't have to remove much)

Awesome to hear! I literally just got the trans in and the clutch bled so I'm getting closer!! When I go to refit the manifold I'll do some investigating to see what needs to be ground down. Thanks for the heads up!! I don't plan on pulling the engine until next year when I go full header but It'd be nice to retain all the lifting points. Glad to have such a wealth of knowledge on here. props man.

[dmanisgnarly]

Getting closer ;)

Gotta order a few valve cover bolts as I had to dremel 3 of them out during the initial teardown.

Yesterday and today was exhausting! Yesterday i got the trans in, hooked up the shift linkage and the crossrod, speed sensor, reverse light sensor, center driveshaft(holy hell that was a mess)... the ball bearings fell out and I had to re-assemble it. Pumped it full of new Cv grease and called it a night. I had my wife help me bleed the clutch and flush out all the old fluid and I must say the pedal feels great!!


Today I installed the trans crossmember, exhaust pipes, axles, 90 degree o2 spacers, o2 sensors, upper control arms, sway bar, subframe, JHM intake spacers (retained the rear lift point)intake mainfold, valve covers, engine mounts, and fuel rail/injectors.


Tomorrow i'm replacing the fuel filter and sorting out the mess of coolant/evap/emissions hoses and then taking the front end out of service position.

[pwest15]

Great work! Glad to see it coming along so well!

[dmanisgnarly]

Thanks!! I plan to fire it up for the first time tonight! Will report back after I blown some s*it up! 'Merica, Happy 4th folks, the original Brexit!

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[Gosser]

Nice progress, I really like the engine color scheme, but I am a little bias:

How did you fit the rear engine hoist bracket? Just ground it down? I left mine out as I dont plan on needed it anytime soon, knock on wood...
Looking forward to more updates.

[Terry.Reese]