Round 2 - CJ_'s Silver Avant

[CJ_]

Well as some of you may know, I recently totaled my Santorin stage 3 and while still dealing with insurance, this thing popped up on cl from a local az member. I jumped on it almost immediately and Jeff (happy2b5) was nice enough to give me the week to get some cash together and I picked it up last Friday. All I can say is Jeff takes great care of his cars. The interior is awesome and the Exterior has some normal blemishes from being a 16 year old car but nothing some minor detailing wouldn't take care of.

Has a few minor issues, it occasionally throws a few codes under hard acceleration. They seem related to the battery or alternator. I bought it knowing it had a charging issue, it was idling and running around 12v on the dash and the battery light was on. We replaced the alternator with the one from my blue car and it fixed most everything aside from those few codes.. I'm going to change the battery today and see if the codes come back. Updates on that later.

Anyways, on to the fun stuff. Came loaded with some tasteful mods:

2001.5 s4 Avant Sport package - TIP - 134k miles
EPL Stage 1
Bilstein pss9's
BBS ch012's
Neuspeed rear sway bar
Neuspeed 3" cat back
Ocarbon silver carbon fiber trim

And it recently got all new oem front control arms, all normal leaks and timing belt taken care of recently. It is a TIP, but I will be keeping my old sedan and doing the manual swap soon after insurance is done looking at it. Rough plan for now is to dial in the handling (front sway, bigger rear sway, 17/18z), then get a motor ready to swap over all the stage 3 stuff. Stay tuned!







~Updated Full Parts List~

Performance Specs:

446whp/487wtq - Dyno Sheet and video

1/4 mile: 12.459 @119.8 MPH - Video and time slips

Click for Tip to 6spd swap and stage 3 - Page 2

B6 brakes and enkei RPF1s

Dyno Results

Headlight Retrofit

Engine:
BW k04s Rebuilt w/ New CHRAs
SRM Turbo Inlets
AWE SMICs
AWE Carbon Fiber Shrouds
APR Bi-Pipe
Bosch ev14 630cc
Walbro 450 FP
034 85mm MAF Housing
CTS Turbo Silicon MAF hose
Paragon Wastegate lines
SSAC DPs
Neuspeed Ti Exhaust
034 Street Density Motor Mounts

Drivetrain:
Tip to 6-Speed Swap
Rebuilt Trans w/ JHM performance kit
JHM 4:1 Center Diff
JHM Short Shifter
JHM Shift Linkage
B5 RS4 OEM Clutch
TTV Steel LWFW
034 Street Density Trans Mounts

Handling:
Bilstein PSS9 Coilovers
Neuspeed Rear Swaybar + reinforcement brackets
B6/7 S4 front brake calipers
R1 Concepts Carbon Ceramic Rotors (345f, 300r)
Akebono Pads
Stasis Rear 300mm brake kit
Enkei RPF1 18x9 + 35
42 Draft Design 5mm spacers
Continental Extreme Contact 225/40/18

Exterior:
RS4 Hatch Spoiler
RS4 Front Grille
RS4 Bumper Mesh
Depo E-Codes
Morimoto H1 7.0 bixenon retrofit
Audi OEM Mudflaps

Interior:
Ocarbon Silver Carbon Trim
8V A3 Flat Bottom Steering Wheel w/ single stage airbag
RNS-e MK2
Air Leather Shift Knob
Alcantara Shift Boot
Air Leather E-Brake Handle
AWE Aluminum Sport Pedals
Gauged Gauge Faces
ZIZA LED interior light kit
AWE Boost Gauge w/ Vent Mount
AEM X-Series*Wideband Gauge
S4 All-weather rubber floor mats


Updated Pics:

[erykv1]

congrats! sorry to hear about your old car. this one looks great :)

[Yuppie]

Congrats!

[avant1987]

Beautiful avant, the modification that have been done are a huge plus, and all of them are quality.


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[e30mclow]

Oh me oh my, that is a beautiful car.

Good job on keeping the Santorini. Always, always, always try and get a modified car back.

[CJ_]

Thanks guys! ^^

Oh me oh my, that is a beautiful car.

Good job on keeping the Santorini. Always, always, always try and get a modified car back.

Yep, right now they're at a salvage value of $850, there's no way I could replace the parts on that car for that amount. I'm working with an independent appraiser now so I'm sure that value will go up some, but for the price of the stage 3 parts and the manual swap alone, I know I'll end up with it back.

[Corradovolksb]

Yah buddy that thing is clean.

[zatch_303]

Nice pickup, that Chicago fan sure does keep a clean ride Hopefully the avant mod will make you miss the santorin a little less once you get it back up to par.

[ruiz]

Nice pickup man that car looks clean. That carbon trim looks bad ass with that interior, too. I'm in a similar boat as you with a TIP avant and another S4 sitting with a 6-speed in it. Every time I drive it I get the itch to swap it sooner than I have planned haha.

[CJ_]

Yah buddy that thing is clean.

Thanks man, planning on hitting pavs this weekend if you wanted to join!

Nice pickup, that Chicago fan sure does keep a clean ride Hopefully the avant mod will make you miss the santorin a little less once you get it back up to par.

Yes, Yes he does! It came with a bears euro plate on the front but he wanted it back lol.. The Avant mod already makes me miss the santorin less, it helps that all the little things that bugged me about the sedan are not an issue (knock on wood) with this one.

Nice pickup man that car looks clean. That carbon trim looks bad ass with that interior, too. I'm in a similar boat as you with a TIP avant and another S4 sitting with a 6-speed in it. Every time I drive it I get the itch to swap it sooner than I have planned haha.

Awesome! Honestly the TIP is growing on me a little, not enough to keep it, but its still pretty fun in the meantime. When do you plan on swapping yours? Do you have a thread or anything, would be cool to follow someone doing the same thing as I'm sure I will have a ton of questions during the swap

[CJ_]

Also got some nice quattro weather

[erykv1]

if you have both vehicles already the swap will be painless. lmk if you have any questions during. just did a tip to 6 speed swap not too long ago, but took longer than anticipated due to unforseen missing nuts and bolts :P

[christianb5s4]

YES!!! So clean and a great platform to start your build round 2 off of! Super stoked for you CJ, can't wait to check it out at Wuste.

[slowSfaux]

Beautifully clean car cj. Glad you were able to find an avant. I looked for a long time in az, and the only ones that came up were hack jobs, and automatics.

[Seerlah]

Ah, so you picked up Jeff's avant! Nice to know it is going to good hands. Jeff is a good dude.

[happy2B5]

Enjoy CJ. Very glad it went to an owner who appreciates it and is taking it to next level. Don't forget the lightly used Michelin pss too!

Being a Bears fan affords me plenty of Sunday time for detailing. Not worth watching, lol! Sad but true.

Hit me up when you need extra set of hands during swap. I can stand around and supervise like during the alternator replacement .

I do want your help and rent shop space to maybe do the control arms on the allroad and who knows, maybe swap in some goodies into the c4 s4. Iroz efr kit *cough* if you're up for it. Anyway, I am about as happy as one can be after selling a car owned for the last 9 years. My first audi but not last. Talk soon.

And depending on what you really want or choose, you may just upgrade the rear to 034 or hotchkis. Many dont beef up the front as it tends to counteract the beefed up rear and reintroduce understeer. Just a thought.

[coolgraymemo]

Nice!

I spy a RS4 hatch spoiler?

[happy2B5]

Oh ya, forgot that too and an aero rear wiper kit

[coolgraymemo]

I may be mistaken but wasn't it a Titanium exhaust?

[happy2B5]

Indeed. ~9 lbs. Not everyones cup of tea with the single tip but was a great deal at the time.

[Wagonholic]

Ugggghh.....your car is so ugly. Avants are disgusting.

JK! Sad to hear about your Santorin, but I'm glad to hear you've gotten bit by the Avant bug! Let me say, when you have an avant, your main priority isn't performance anymore. It is how much shit you can stuff in your car LOL

You know, since you're gonna swap everything over, and your engine is going to be out, now would be the PERFECT time to drop-in some rods ;)

[CJ_]

if you have both vehicles already the swap will be painless. lmk if you have any questions during. just did a tip to 6 speed swap not too long ago, but took longer than anticipated due to unforseen missing nuts and bolts :P

Good to hear, will do! Im going to keep track of it here to hopefully not clutter up the main page. Im sure Ill have a bunch of questions when the time comes.

- - - Updated - - -

Enjoy CJ. Very glad it went to an owner who appreciates it and is taking it to next level. Don't forget the lightly used Michelin pss too!

Being a Bears fan affords me plenty of Sunday time for detailing. Not worth watching, lol! Sad but true.

Hit me up when you need extra set of hands during swap. I can stand around and supervise like during the alternator replacement .

I do want your help and rent shop space to maybe do the control arms on the allroad and who knows, maybe swap in some goodies into the c4 s4. Iroz efr kit *cough* if you're up for it. Anyway, I am about as happy as one can be after selling a car owned for the last 9 years. My first audi but not last. Talk soon.

And depending on what you really want or choose, you may just upgrade the rear to 034 or hotchkis. Many dont beef up the front as it tends to counteract the beefed up rear and reintroduce understeer. Just a thought.

Ah so thats how you keep your cars so clean! haha and lets do it, just let me know when! Were always down for projects or helping with maintenance over here.

Interesting to hear about the front sway bar, but that makes sense, ill do some more research on the subject

Ugggghh.....your car is so ugly. Avants are disgusting.

JK! Sad to hear about your Santorin, but I'm glad to hear you've gotten bit by the Avant bug! Let me say, when you have an avant, your main priority isn't performance anymore. It is how much shit you can stuff in your car LOL

You know, since you're gonna swap everything over, and your engine is going to be out, now would be the PERFECT time to drop-in some rods ;)

Hahah, Yes thats in the works! I bought a short block and 2.8 heads for the sedan before I crashed it, so now I have 3 blocks and 3 sets of heads lol.

[Wagonholic]

Hahah, Yes thats in the works! I bought a short block and 2.8 heads for the sedan before I crashed it, so now I have 3 blocks and 3 sets of heads lol.

Lol you definitely won't have a shortage of parts. I'd say, take the one with the best compression, reuse the rings, and drop in a set of SRM/RPM/maxspeedracing/ebay/china rods. Super easy to do and should cost around $5-600 haha.

[christianb5s4]

Don't undersell what's involved with 'dropping in' a set of rods lol, it's a significant investment from a money and time perspective to do it properly. But it would definitely allow CJ to get the most of of the K24s.

[ruiz]

Awesome! Honestly the TIP is growing on me a little, not enough to keep it, but its still pretty fun in the meantime. When do you plan on swapping yours? Do you have a thread or anything, would be cool to follow someone doing the same thing as I'm sure I will have a ton of questions during the swap

Lol, yeah it's nice not shifting gears on a daily sometimes... you can sit back and just relax, hold your coffee or whatever haha. I will probably swap mine within the next couple of months when it gets warmer out, maybe sooner depending on time. I'm gonna go full blown stage 2 with E85 at the same time (getting a bike vs stage 3, bike won lol). I may start a thread when I get everything all together we'll see.

The swap isn't too bad though, I did it to my wife's S6, but feel free to ask questions man. There is also a ton of info available on here and if you message the right people they will help too. I had a few C5 guys help me with a bunch of questions when I was stuck.

Don't undersell what's involved with 'dropping in' a set of rods lol, it's a significant investment from a money and time perspective to do it properly. But it would definitely allow CJ to get the most of of the K24s.

This ^. I was gonna just "throw some rods in" too, $400 why not?? Shit adds up quick if you want to do it the safer way by replacing all the old shit like piston rings, rod/main bolts, head gaskets, etc. I came out to roughly $1100 and that's with shopping for the best prices from like 4 different vendors and that doesn't include machine shop prices to balance the whole assembly which in my area is another $400 from a reputable shop. I ended up taking my crankshaft out to polish it so having to re-buy the one-time use bolts, bearings and thrust washers only added $177 to my total.

You could save money by reusing some parts but my philosophy is if you have all the shit taken apart you might as well freshen the whole thing up AND balance it so you know it's 100% solid. I'm not an engine builder by any means this is the conclusion I came to by reading a lot of the build threads on here.

[Cysco abt S4]

That's a sweet color

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[CJ_]

Thanks for the tips ^^, Its running great right now so I'm going to take my time with building an engine correctly while I do the 6 speed swap and a full stage 2. Or maybe Ill throw on the k24s on the stock block and run a moderate tune while I get an engine built.. Hmm, Decisions, Decisions..

[vavJETTAw36]

Best way to do it cj. That's how I am doing it (spare block) and 2.8 heads


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[CJ_]

Installed my AWE boost gauge and was only seeing about 5-7 psi of boost. Did a boost leak test and immediately found the culprit. Picture explains itself.. Installed all my top end Samco hoses and spikes to 17 and holds ~15 psi, what a difference

[CJ_]

Couple Transmission swap questions:

-How long will it realistically take? Doable in say a weekend or two? Given that I have a full 6-spd parts car

-Car currently has an EPL (I believe) Stage 1 tune. When I recode the module, will I need a new tune as well?
The tune is locked as I tried to read it via nefmoto and got the 'RequestUpload may have been disabled by aftermarket engine software'
Will this create any problems for the swap electronic-wise?

[Corradovolksb]

I can't answer the trans swap question but I will help you out with the tune let me know when your ready. I'm stoked for you to get started

[jaychen]

Swap a transmission before lunch given you dont break anything and have everything on hand.

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[happy2B5]

Couple Transmission swap questions:

-How long will it realistically take? Doable in say a weekend or two? Given that I have a full 6-spd parts car

-Car currently has an EPL (I believe) Stage 1 tune. When I recode the module, will I need a new tune as well?
The tune is locked as I tried to read it via nefmoto and got the 'RequestUpload may have been disabled by aftermarket engine software'
Will this create any problems for the swap electronic-wise?

I believe? It is epl

[CJ_]

I believe? It is epl

Thanks, too many acronyms to remember, epl, asp, apr, awe, jhm, giac, uni, etc, etc.. I guess I could've just looked at the first post again lol

Just got back from my trip out of the country, how's the car search coming along??

[CJ_]

I can't answer the trans swap question but I will help you out with the tune let me know when your ready. I'm stoked for you to get started

Thanks Brad, I will be hitting you up for sure! I'm going to be keeping it on k03s for now. I pulled apart my motor and one of my k24s was damaged by whatever was going on with the old motor. Had a decent amount of shaft play.

[Corradovolksb]

Right on sounds good. We can do a E54 tune for it if you want to on the K03s. Oh man that sucks about the turbo. Did you find out what was causing your issue?

[christianb5s4]

Wait you found a damaged K24? That's crappy CJ, you should send it out to a good turbo rebuilder like Compturbo and have them refresh both turbos while you're doing the transmission swap. It would only be $400 per turbo for a refresh/rebuild (I'm going to have mine done to make sure they're good to go for 25-30psi).

[Cysco abt S4]

I blew the left side ko3 yesterday morning on my way to Mark's , wonder what comp can do for these lol

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[CJ_]

Right on sounds good. We can do a E54 tune for it if you want to on the K03s. Oh man that sucks about the turbo. Did you find out what was causing your issue?

Yeah man, that would be cool. I'm going to do dps, intercoolers, and I'll get with you later on about fueling..

Haven't pulled the heads yet, but was planning on it this week.. need to order the head bolt tool

Wait you found a damaged K24? That's crappy CJ, you should send it out to a good turbo rebuilder like Compturbo and have them refresh both turbos while you're doing the transmission swap. It would only be $400 per turbo for a refresh/rebuild (I'm going to have mine done to make sure they're good to go for 25-30psi).

Yep, the wheel is solid side to side, but has about 5mm of in-out play.. that's a good option, I was looking at new chras from srm for around $300 each, but I'll give compturbo a call for sure. Might even try to trade them + some cash for some bw k04s or something.

[happy2B5]

Thanks, too many acronyms to remember, epl, asp, apr, awe, jhm, giac, uni, etc, etc.. I guess I could've just looked at the first post again lol

Just got back from my trip out of the country, how's the car search coming along??

No worries. Keep me posted when you want extra set of hands for help.

Still looking. Likely getting the n54 powered bmw wagon. Glutton for punishment...