Projekt RS4

[pjhock5]

Prologue:

After owning several Audis [all manuals] (B5 Santorin A4 1.8T K04, B5 s4 Brilliant Black sedan, B5 Cactus A4 1.8T) I had to overcome the all too real personal struggle that many of us here face; I needed to satisfy my desire to own an Avant…

After several months of rifling through the world-wide web I found a low mileage, clean example S4 Avant 6MT with coveted sport package with 75k miles on it that was ‘local-enough’; so I left on a Midnight train to Georgia… (no, not really, it was Milwaukee and during the day)

The only modification this car had was an APR stg. 1 flash and after a pretty clean PIP I was on my way back home.

It’s been many moons since purchase now, nearly 5 years, but for the first 2 years this was my daily driver in an unwavering combination of rock solid reliability, fun, and ridiculous practicality.

Slowly over time it received presents such as a JHM short throw shifter, Techtonics exhaust, mounts, etc. and eventually I went Stage II+.

At a distinct point in time an opportunity came knocking to walk the path of what many believe is the ultimate state of the B5 chassis…widebody.

The contents here within will document one man’s quest for RS4…Code Name: Projekt RS4

My goal of this thread is to further my knowledge, acquire assistance when needed (yeah, it’s needed), and hopefully provide inspiration to others on their build quests. I by no means do any of this by trade (that’s partially why it’s taken so darn long!) and have gotten help on the big stuff to get my where I’m at; shout out to Cacti and Cacti’s dad, as well as to my wife for putting up with this project.

Please join me in this nonlinear narrative of a project 3 years in the making. We will travel back in time and back to the present, when we eventually catch up to meow, right meow…

Beginnen:


Donor car that gave its life:


800 lbs. gorilla (or 800kg actually)



More details to come they shall...

[GO-GOTEKNO]

Im jealous , where did you get the kit from ?

[Trile]

Donor car from the UK
Nice work

[pjhock5]

Bingo B, yes, it was from the UK. I had to acquire all the LHD parts from other sources, including beltline trim from Trile's old parts car.

[Nollywood]

Neat!

I'll be following this one, that's for sure.

[jibberjive]

Following. Need some widebody motivation in my life.

[strawstreaker]

peanut butter and jelly! Where's this gem located?

[jbain2]

peanut butter and jelly! Where's this gem located?

His signature says "Mitten". I am assuming Michigan...

[rnagy86]

Following. Need some widebody motivation in my life.

Like this? Doing it on an Avant is way easier, you basically remove the rear panels and install the widebody
ones without modification, but for a sedan, it's much more complex but easily doable as well especially if you can
cut the widebody parts from the car at the any spot you want instead of receiving something that was removed
by someone.

[pjhock5]

Yep, located in MI on the West-side.

Nice work rnagy86! Yeah, I've been fortunate to also see the stages of a widebody sedan in person with Cacti's build. It takes a serious set of skills and confidence to do the work yourself. The work/skills that many members have on here is impressive, in which category I do not include myself.

[pjhock5]

Chapter 1 – Acquiring the Goods

Sounds easy. It’s not. It is stressful. It is exciting. It is frustrating. Think smaller scale ‘I’m buying a home’ process.

The theme of my build is OEM+. I wanted to RS4 as much as RS4 can RS4 without having the VIN of an RS4 (that’s a lot of RennSport!)

This was my first rodeo in mega parts buying overseas and there is definitely a learning curve.

After acquiring a contact through a contact and then making contact with that contact the process end-to-end took 5-6 months; keep in mind a car was available for dismantling at the time for me. As far as the timeline goes that puts in in mid-summer of ’14.

Could it be done quicker? Yeah, on both ends there could have been time cut off. I recommend having a vetted parts list in advance, making decisions promptly, and following up regularly to minimize your duration to acquisition.

What’s the process to acquiring a LOT of parts/big parts from overseas? Whether you’re curious or serious my learnings are below…experiences/results may vary…
1. Formulate parts list / make contact of trusted/great rep. dismantler
2. Negotiate / agree on parts to buy (make contract) / put down deposit (you get hit with transfer fees everywhere during this process but pick a method you’re comfortable with – Note: THERE IS ALWAYS A RISK)
3. Once car is dismantled, make payment in full and dismantler will crate it
4. Hire an importer company to process the shipment, bill of lading, paperwork, customs, etc. (I was initially unaware I owned this task and it is additional cost on-top of everything else)
5. Have delivered to a business that has a forklift (my crate was 800 kg! so UPS guy is not going to carry it to and drop it off on your front porch)
*Note: It’s expensive to ship so it’s recommended to get anything and everything you want/need in one go. If you think you need it/want it, then get it. You likely will be able to sell it to somebody else if you don’t want/need it later.

So what did I initially get?

Body: All body panels (except hood) including hatch/spoiler, all windows/handles for doors, bumper mounts, fender liners, belly pan, roof rails, mirrors, headlights, fog lights, tail lights, hard wheels, full window molding trim, door sill trim, B&C pillar trim (already had grille)

Mechanical: Front and rear full brake sets, longer e-brake cables, aluminum uprights (I skipped on AZR block and RS4 trans, more on that in later chapters)

Interior: Cluster, full carbon set, door cards/handles, knee bolster, glove box, steering wheel/airbag, e-brake handle/cover, front (heated) / rear full leather seats, seat mounts

Everything was packaged quite well, especially the fragile parts, and there was minimal damage due to shipment.

OK, THAT was a lot. Future chapters won’t be so verbose. Sorry, pictures or it didn’t happen, right?

[kneums25]

This is neato for sure following.

[jbain2]

No AZR block or trans?? You can't dangle that out there without an explanation.


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[CELison]

It's awesome to see people still making these cars badass.

[pjhock5]

Chapter 2: Metal work

In for surgery for some hindquarter implants. This is where we get to see the start of the cars transformation.

I shopped this out as I wasn’t going to tackle this procedure myself. I don’t have the metal skills and wasn’t going to hack it up practicing; props to those of you that do though.

Top tips:
1. Shop around, talk to shop owners/their body guys, find reputable shops, get several quotes
2. For Avants midway up/down the C/D pillar is optimal for the donor quarters to be cut for re-attachment

This takes us to August/September ’14 in our story when metal work was underway.

At this stage I had to start figuring out what paint color to spray the car. I was going back and forth on paint colors….if the force is strong with your reading comprehension than you'll remember it will be OEM...

Waiting for surgery

In the operating room

Off with the old...

Inner fender - wider is better (think Pontiac Grand Prix widetrack...oh yea!)

Seam sealer detail

Welding done

We're blending

Primer...done for now

Jamb detail in primer

Great angle/lighting of that extra width

[Marc R]

I see some "jimbo" parts there,props for the effert there!

Besides my full RS4 build I also did an RS4 limo build... it's like rebuilding a house.... so I feel your pain.

[pjhock5]

Chapter 3 – Back from Metal

Almost a year after beginning the parts search the car was done with metal. Over this period this journey had been quite the experience and a bit more time consuming than I expected it to be.

Fortunately, we had not had any appreciable snow up to the beginning of December ’14 (so no salt!) and I was able to get the car home in one piece.

The car was put away in the garage for the winter and beyond some tinkering I didn’t complete too many projects of significance.

I did need to make a final decision on paint and what I was going to do with the motor though…

Back home and ready for storage

Stock S4 tires in RS4 arches

[pjhock5]

No AZR block or trans?? You can't dangle that out there without an explanation.


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In due time, in due time...

[pjhock5]

I see some "jimbo" parts there,props for the effert there!

Besides my full RS4 build I also did an RS4 limo build... it's like rebuilding a house.... so I feel your pain.

agreed and quite the eye you have Marc

[Alex44]

respect

[Peter1.8t]

I'm envious of your skills. Keep up the good work.

[pjhock5]

Chapter 4: Engine

As I mentioned previously I was considering an AZR or ASJ motor coupled with an RS4 transmission for this build to keep factory OEM but an opportunity presented itself in December of ’14 that I thought was a better direction and value.

A semi-local forum member was parting their car and after meeting up to discuss the details we came to an accord.

Details of my acquisition are below:

3.0 L machined BEL block with 3.0 L crank
2.8 Heads with Titanium Supertech valvetrain (springs, valves, and retainers – 4 angle valve job)
Diamond 9.8.1 compression pistons
Rosten rods
Polished and ceramic coated exhaust manifolds
Borg Warner K04/RS6 hotside hybrid turbos with 60mm billet compressor wheels
Ceramic coated 3" AR Design downpipes

This motor had ~3,000 miles logged after built.

To support this motor I sourced the following parts over time:

2.5" true dual tectronics exhaust (had)
RS4 airbox
83mm RS4 MAF
034 RS4 elbow
RS4 Y-pipe
RS4 bi-pipes
RS4 intake manifold with RS4 fuel rail
RS4 throttle body and metal TBB
Phenolic spacers for IM
ER side mount intercoolers
New 630cc (720cc @ 4 bar) EV14 injectors, #298
Bosch 044 drop in tank fuel pump
New NGK BKR7E plugs
New Ringer Racing Clutchmasters Stage 4 full face clutch
New Luk DMF

After break in I will assess if I need to make adjustments for fueling, etc. Ultimately, once I get this thing dialed and a few thousand miles under it's belt I may source a TDI transmission for the taller 6th gear; which is what steered me away from the RS4 transmission.

Time will tell if this can become a reliable setup.

Motor in question

[pjhock5]

Chapter 5: Wheel Test Fit

I picked work back up in March of '15 after the weather broke and I decided to test fit the RS4 wheels that I had powder coated satin black. I also did a rough dial-in with the rear suspension for now. Along with the wheels I had the RS4 aluminum mirror housings, B and C pillar trim and triangles, roof rails, and all window trim powder coated in satin black. The drip edge window trim is quite long (9 ft) and easy to bend so be careful if you take it off.

Besides b7 RS4 wheels, b5 RS4 are my favorite factory wheels.

[pjhock5]

Chapter 6: Prep and Panel Test Fitment

The next stage of the project was beginning to get the car ready to go off for paint. In April '15 I began working on getting the interior mostly stripped out and testing panel fitment on the car. I removed all windows, trim, handles, etc prior to having it shipped out for paint.

I had the wings and rocker panels pre-worked and primered because they were somewhat easy to transport in prep for color. I began shopping around on paint prices at this point, connecting with about 5 different places until I made my selection.

It was starting to get pretty exciting at this stage to be able to see the car in full widebody guise.

I finally landed on a color as well...it was between Daytona Grey and Avus Silver, and I selected Avus Silver as it is a pretty exclusive OEM color, primarily only seen on RS4's; code LY7J.

Shortly after these pictures it was loaded on a flatbed and sent for final paint preparations.

Pre-fitment



Panel Test fitting

[pjhock5]

Chapter 7: Finishing Paint Prep

Later in the month I sent the car over to a buddies for final prep prior to being shipped out for color. Remaining glass was removed as well at this time.

Motor was pulled and front coilovers were fitted along with a set of new control arms up front. It took a bit of elbow grease but we got the engine bay cleaned up as well.

At this point panels were sanded/blocked and cleaned up as needed.

Next stop is the paint booth...

Prepping for motor pull



Clean bay


Coilovers and control arms


Sanding/Blocking

[wbrunner23]

Need more updates more faster

[pjhock5]

I'll talk to the production gnomes to see if they can increase the output of widgets . Seriously though thanks for reading!

[ElementR]

Subbed from the east side of the state. Nice work so far.

[tesh0boy]

I'm debating going down this route myself actually. Buying the body isn't a problem, getting someone to do it and the respray is what kills you. Easily 10K+ around here. Might just buy and sit on it, but if I do I know it'll never go anywhere.

[pjhock5]

Chapter 8: PAINT! Did I Say Paint?!

Oh boy, oh boy... long time coming for this major milestone. Finally getting it in the paint booth and then out in the sunlight for the first time was exciting. I've never owned a brand-new car (nor will I) or a freshly painted one so this was a treat.

After my one experience trying to paint a house with a paint sprayer, I made sure to contract a pro for this.

Since it's basically flawless at this stage at a certain point you become quite aware, oh crap, any time I touch the paint I'm damaging it! That anxiety is real. Everyone will handle it/dwell on it differently but I can say it's changed the way I move around the car for sure! Oh, and remember, you must put the rest of the car back together without damaging it...

When I'm chatting with the other 99.9% of the population that aren't as crazy about cars as us I typically will show these pictures; one specifically where it looks like a sad, abandoned shell (first picture). It helps people conceptualize 'building a car', 'doing a build' or whatever you specifically call it.

"So, you took like every part off the car to make it a few inches wider...?" If by a few inches wider you mean badass, then yes, yes, I did. This question is usually followed up by "How much horsepower is it going to have?"...

But boy it's a lot o' flippin' work / $$$.

Without further ado, enjoy the barrage of pictures:

Wait, wait... final thought, this takes us to July '15, now onto pictures...

[SleeperAvant]

^WOW that is looking amazing! Great job!!

[pjhock5]

Chapter 9: Audio upgrades

Well, while some of this work ran concurrently with paint, this isn't really a point-in-time update. I wanted to upgrade the sound system without it being too much and leaving no trace of aftermarket; I wanted everything to still look factory.

Shortly before body transformation I upgraded all the door speakers to Boston Acoustics so I transplanted those into the RS4 door cards and they are awaiting install.

I also purchased a second gen RNS-E Nav headunit with a custom faceplate for the b5 that will be installed. Along with that I purchased the required adaptor harness for it. This was a huge pain as it came from Europe and my first order got lost in the mail with no seller communication.

Lastly, and semi-custom, I upgraded the rear sub. I wanted to upgrade the bass without making a custom enclosure or having a box floating around in the rear cargo area. After a fair amount of searching I ran across a product that was similar in size to the factory Bose sub (5.75" I think) and was shallow enough to fit in the factory sub enclosure.

The product is SWS 6.5" subs and they are only 1.75" deep while also needing minimal air space. I bought two (200 watt 4 ohm) subs and was able to wire them together in the factory sub enclosure to 2 ohms (factory Bose resistance).

The way I did this is I ditched the factory amp and cannibalized that space for the second sub. They both just fit in the enclosure. I have no idea how they are going to sound but I am hoping for good results when the stereo system is fully hooked up. I am not expecting a 10" or 12" sub type sound performance but I want the bass to hit harder than factory.

Power to the subs will be supplied from a Soundstream mini monoblock class D amp that tops out at 450w RMS. This thing is tiny: 3” x 6” x 1.5” and will go in the left side compartment as well.

While on the subject, audio is not my area of expertise, is there anybody in the Michigan area that’s installed an RNS-E on a b5 and willing to lend a hand this spring?

RSN-E mocked up with RS4 glovebox action - fun fact - the RS4 glove box is 5-10 pounds lighter than the US S4 one (cannot remember exactly now)


Factory Bose sub enclosure re-purposed


Sub enclosure mocked up pre-paint

[pjhock5]

Chapter 10: Seat Bracket Install

It's already documented but RS4 front seats are not a direct swap into cars with power seats. Factory power seats are a 4 point mount while the factory manuals are a 3 point mount. Luckily, the carpet is cutout for manual seat brackets already and the chassis has alignment pin holes so it makes it fairly easy to install the brackets in the correct location. These needed to be welded into place and afterwards I etch primered and painted the brackets.

Where the old power seats mounted there were big cutouts in the carpet that I didn't quite care for so I came up with what I thought was a clever way of covering them and still making it look factory. I bought an extra pair of the black covers you see below and installed a pair under each front seat; I think it turned out quite good.

At this stage parts were starting to trickle in from the powder coater as well including: RS4 mirrors, roof rails, drip edge trim and window trim, B, C, and rear door window triangles.

I also sent out my RS4 cluster to Daz to get a new factory LCD and get my mileage programmed.

Work from this update was completed in July '15.

Seat bracket in question




Under seat cover


Completed and ready for seat install


Parts for powder coating


Cluster

[pjhock5]

Chapter 11: Brakes

I got a full set of b5 RS4 brakes in my crate but I decided to go a slightly different route on the fronts.

Rears got b5 RS4 disks, EBC redstuff pads, stainless lines, and I installed the required longer RS4 parking brake cables.

While I was doing the rears I also cleaned up the inner rear quarters and hit them with several coats of undercoating spray. After the paint dried I installed the rear inner fender liners.

For the front I picked up a full set of B7 RS4 8 pot calipers. Unfortunately, I got screwed by the seller and was sent past minimum wear mark OEM rotors. I ended up replacing the front disks with Stoptech 2-piece floating rotors. Lastly, I installed a new set of 'RS' high-temp decals on the rotors and I am very pleased with the results.

Rears in progress


Finished rears


Front Calipers mocked up

Stoptech 2-piece rotors

Fronts with new decals

[4RingRook]

This is awesome - great work

[JediJoker7169]

That's cool that the OEM rears are true floating, but blank. I wish there were more rotors like that.

[pjhock5]

Chapter 12: Seats Install

I began the seat install in August '15 after completing the seat brackets install and brakes. It was nice to get the seats out of storage and into the car.

Before installing them into the car I replaced all of the adjustment mechanism springs, pin, and sliders on the seats. I wiped out and re-greased the tracks for smooth operation. I also gave them a thorough washing/steaming and then treated them with a generous amount of leather conditioner.

While going through my photos I noticed that I only had pictures when I was halfway through the seats install... weak. I'll post some updated pics of the interior in an upcoming post.

So a few days later a shiny present showed up in the mail as well. After 12+ weeks and probably the same amount of calls my AR Design mid-pipes finally showed up. They do look nice though don't they?

Passenger first

Seriously, just the seat bottom?!

RS4ness

Mount them on the wall in the garage as art or install them on the car?

[pjhock5]

Chapter 13: Body / Interior updates

We were having some great weather in August '15 and I was getting a ton done after the car got back from paint.

All glass was put back in the car including a new windshield and I got the windows tinted: 20% rear and 35% front.

Door wiring was re-run into their proper positions and door glass frames were adjusted.

Sticking with my satin black trim theme I wrapped the RS4 grille trim surround and it turned out great.

I also got the rear hatch lock barrel re-keyed and installed the hatch lock mechanism. The RS4 lock is different from the S4 and doesn't use the central air locking pump system.

Another project that I started was re-upholstering the headliner, sun roof shade cover, and A-pillars in Alcantara. I believe the color is dark grey.

Wrapped grille surround

RS4 Hatch opening mechanism

Alcantara!

Color difference with stock headliner

I was pleased with the final results

Wow...re-installing the sunroof assembly was a PITA

[pjhock5]

Chapter 14: Motor Prep and Install

This was a major milestone achieved in the build in September ’15. The 3.0L motor had ~3,000 miles since the build and on a new TB, water pump, metal thermostat, and other ancillaries.

Motor got new valve cover gaskets, IM gaskets with phenolic spacers for the RS4 IM, a new set of pulleys, BW K04/RS6 turbos were installed, new spark plugs, coil packs, sensors, etc.

New 034 motor (track) / trans (street) mounts, tensioner, AR Design DPs mated, new Ringer Racing Stage 4 clutch and LuK DMF, ToB, etc.

I’m probably forgetting something but it was carefully gone through.

After install of the motor in the bay I continued install/mock-up of various components like RS4 Y-pipe, RS4 metal TBB, RS4 bi-pipes, RS4 MAF, RS4 airbox, RS4 engine covers and eventually got the Rad support mounted up.

Built motor next to stock motor

Turbos


Ceramic coated Downpipes


Plugs

Finishing prep

Install w/janky ratchet straps


Eagle has landed

Continue install / mock-up

[JustManson]

What an amazing build and a fantastic story to tell to boot. Really enjoying. Subscribed!


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