My Monsoon Grey B8.5 (Re)build

[19birel]

Little update, apologies for the lack of pictures on this one but bear with me. In the spirit of continuing to knock out more maintenance I replaced the PCV which was quick and easy. Then I noticed that my passenger headlight was fogging up AGAIN. For whatever reason the adjuster screws seem to be the source of this issue for me, so I sealed up the inner most one and that solved the issue. This sealant is easily removable should the lights ever need adjusted as well.



Next issue on hand is the instrument cluster. Mine has an LED behind the tach that likes to flicker occasionally. Typically it flickers for a few days, annoys me to no end, and then right before I reach the point of ordering a replacement cluster, the issue stops and doesn't reoccur for several months. However as my miles climb it gets harder and harder to find a cluster with slightly more miles than what I have so this time I jumped at the opportunity when I found one that fit the bill.



As you can tell it's from an S4 and I'm stoked about the grey gauge faces and white needles. I have a little S-Line badge coming to cover the S4 logo as well. Now i just need to wait until I hit ~103k miles so that my odometer remains accurate. Currently at 98,xxx so still a few months out.



Lastly I have encountered a larger hiccup with the car, the turbo (wastegate actuator specifically) seems to be on its way out. I noticed for a while the car didn't seem quite as quick as it once was, mid-range was good but it suffer up top of the rev range and a little down low too. I just attributed this to me needing to readjust my map for the stack, however after data logging boost request was low and the car was ~4psi low across the rev range. Finally checked for boost leaks yesterday and found none, so it looks like a turbo is in the car's not so distant future.

There currently aren't any codes so I'm going to wait, I've been super busy and still have timing chains to do. Likely going to go with something from CTS turbo and stick with IE for the ECU but time will tell!

[19birel]

[CENTER]Bit of a spotty update but I figured I'd get the thread back up to speed. First, the car crossed 100k a couple months ago (Currently around 102.5k)

Thankfully I also figured out my boost issues! So I after being told by a couple sources my turbo wastegate actuator was bad, I still wasn't convinced. I was making lower boost and my duty cycle was ~10% lower than normal, if the actuator was bad I would have expected higher than normal duty cycle with low boost. So I replaced my N75 (which I already replaced at 57k miles) and the car felt better but still not 100%. As a last ditch effort I flashed the car back to stock, then reflashed IE Stage 2. After a quick test drive to let everything adapt, I reinstalled the JB4 an we were back in business! Basically, I drove the car for so long with the bad N75 that the ecu adapted and the only way to reset the adaptation was to reflash. A big relief to both myself and my wallet that this car doesn't need a turbo yet haha

Then this joint in the steering gave me it's annual scare with the notchy steering feel, but as per usual blasting it with brake clean and relubing with deep creep takes care of things nicely.


Then the other day I picked up a Uniden R3- still need to do a more permanent install w/hardwire but this should come in handy


And last but not least I picked up this S4 exhaust locally for free! Plan is to modify it to fit the A4 for a more aggressive OEM+ look at the rear. The weather has taken a nasty turn though so this might have to wait a while haha.


Next I'll need to schedule the car for dealer service to have my new cluster programmed and have a couple other odds and ends taken care of. Followed by me doing the timing chains finally haha Stay tuned!

[eljay]

Nice progress!
I'm curious to hear (literally) how that S4 exhaust sounds when paired with 2.0T vs dual 2.0T setup on my Allroad. I realize you have a single exit one now, so it maybe a difficult assessment.
That JB4 is soo tempting.

[19birel]

Nice progress!
I'm curious to hear (literally) how that S4 exhaust sounds when paired with 2.0T vs dual 2.0T setup on my Allroad. I realize you have a single exit one now, so it maybe a difficult assessment.
That JB4 is soo tempting.

Thanks!

It'll be interesting for sure, all the videos I have seen usually include a resonator delete as well so I'm not 100% certain on what the sound will be like myself. Hoping for a subtle change and of course the improved aesthetics of quad tips which this should provide!

I still can't recommend the JB4 enough! Once you get one, you'll wonder why you went so long without it! I also really recommend the pedal tuner, it makes the car feel so much more responsive as it takes less pedal input for the car to react, if you're not quite ready to spend the money on the JB4, the pedal tuner is a great first step and easily one of my favorites as well.

[19birel]

Update Time!

So I finally got around to doing my timing & balance shaft chains! Unfortunately I had to do this twice because I failed to notice the chain jump a tooth when I was first doing everything around 3am car ran poorly and had a CEL so back apart it came got everything setup properly and after waiting 2 weeks for a replacement lower timing cover and crank bolt I got her back together and running better than ever!

Torn down


The infamous missing cam-bridge oil screen


Found the screen chilling in an oil passage and removed it. Didn't replace the cam bridge because the new screen would eventually rip and do the same thing


Tensioner was pretty extended, cam phase adaptation was -5.76


New tensioner after new chains and guides installed


All back together and looking fresh with the addition of a Fluidampr Crank pulley I got lightly used from another AZ member and some fresh NGK BKR7EIX plugs


The car runs great, wasn't having any issues before, but the Fluidampr definitely made the engine run smoother by dampening vibrations! I'm stoked to have the timing setup fresh now as well as that's a big item off the checklist. In addition to that I replaced the DV and reinstalled my spacer as the GFB VTA seized up. ECS is sending me a new one which will go back on eventually. I also took the car to the dealership to have the transmission fluid changed and the component protection removed from my S4 gauge cluster

Ignore the Sport-Differential fault, took this picture prior to coding that out (A4 so no sports diff of course)


I should take a closeup but that's an S-Line badge covering the S4 logo


A few notes about doing this cluster swap. To get the miles matched I bought a cluster with more miles and then swapped it road side (easier than it sounds) when my actual mileage matched the cluster's mileage. After that you just have to have CP removed. Until then however, only the speedometer, odometer, and trip computer work. No tach, no DIS, no fuel gauge, no temp gauge, and nothing is backlit so at night you can't even see how fast your going haha. Once the CP is removed it will function as normal. Going back to the sports-diff fault I had, the car my cluster came from had one I guess and that is programmed into the cluster. OBD Eleven allowed me to remove the programming for the S4 specific options like Sports-Diff, Adaptive dampers, etc. although only the diff generated a fault.

Also scored a free OEM Audi Accessories bike rack. Almost but this same thing over the summer but decided to hold off, great coincidence! This will carry the mountain bike a little better than my Thule Outride I currently have on the car. Since I have the Kayak carrier on my roof as well, I'll likely remove the Thule Outride and install this one, transferring the Thule to my VW.


So what's next? Oil change is due in a few hundred miles and it's due for inspection so hopefully they don't hit me with anything as I'm not anticipating any repairs needed. when the weather improves I'll probably replace the engine mounts though as they seem tired. Mod wise, I have a hardwire kit for my radar detector finally on the way. I also noticed my intercooler is disintegrating (what I get for buying a $75 eBay TDI fmic instead of Nissens) so I'll probably swap that out for a Darkside Developments fmic come late spring. Currently at just about 105k miles!

[19birel]

So shortly after the last update, my clutch began to slip . 105k miles many of which were tuned and it started to slip up making an aggressive pass on the highway, guess the torque that results from 27psi of boost (where I'm currently at with the stack tune) was too much lol. In retrospect I think a bodged rev match slightly glazed the clutch causing it to slip because 500miles later it hasn't done it again. That said, it used to take a bad launch to make it slip so a bad rev match having the same result told me it was time to replace rather than wait until it got really bad.

Now obviously another stock clutch doesn't make sense, and upgraded units don't cost much more so I went with a Spec Stage 3+ which can handle 495ft/lbs of torque. Overkill? Yes. But it gives me plenty of headroom to upgrade the turbo and not have to worry about the clutch being the weak point (big reason I'm still on stock turbo). I have also been assured by another member that stock clutch feel should be maintained, hopefully that's true.



Of course when you do a clutch replacement you need to do the flywheel as well. Flywheels actually wear out over time, if this car had 30k miles on it, I probably would have at least considered leaving the stock one in, but 9yrs and 105k miles later replacing is a no brainer. Refinement is important to me so I was seriously considering a stock flywheel but the members here assured me there would be no chatter with a lightweight unit. A few colleagues who have built some sweet cars weighed in an told me that going with a lwfw would be a no-brainer so I took the plunge and bought ECS's version. IIRC the weight savings is 8.7lbs which in terms of rotating mass is significant so I can't wait to try it out. It also looks beautifully made







While everything is apart I've decided to do the rear main seal as well and went with an upgraded unit from IABED. Considering it's right there it's worth spending the $100 now than facing all the labor to get to it again if the original fails.



Current parts pile for ole Emmaline the A4 (excluding my S4 exhaust which still resides in my garage). Also shown here is the Sachs OE slave cylinder I bought as it was cheap enough to be another "while you're in there" replacement, my replacement GFB VTA which probably won't go on until it's warm enough for me to feel like doing it, a hardwire kit for the radar detector, and a full Ziza interior LED kit (was 50% again so figured why not, I've been wanting to do it for a while)


Plan is to schedule with the dealership to have the clutch,flywheel,rms, and slave cylinder installed asap. I don't really have the time to do it and I swore that I'd never drop another transmission on jackstands again after going through that with my B5 haha. The weather is warming up again but I'd love to get one good Dragy run with a low DA and a clutch I can actually launch the thing with. The other bits will be installed when i have time.

That's it for now, stay tuned!

[eljay]

Nice stash of goodies.
I was amazed how well the stock clutch and DMFW held up on my B6 Avant with GTRS. Stock setup lasted until 160k miles. I then put it a Valeo SMFW kit, which was excellent with same feel as stock.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions.

[19birel]

Nice stash of goodies.
I was amazed how well the stock clutch and DMFW held up on my B6 Avant with GTRS. Stock setup lasted until 160k miles. I then put it a Valeo SMFW kit, which was excellent with same feel as stock.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions.

Wow that's impressive! Hopefully getting the car inspected next week and then scheduling the work with Audi, I'm excited.

[19birel]

So whilst waiting to get an appointment for the clutch job, I tackled a couple of small interiors mods that I had been procrastinating on. First I swapped out the interior lights for LEDs using the Ziza kit from ECS tuning

Simple mod, but it makes the car feel a more up-to date when you get in at night. Next, I hardwired my radar detector. I finally got fed up with seeing the cable running from the cig lighter up the dash to the windshield, so using a Uniden hardwire kit and a fuse tap I got the setup cleaned up.

The uniden button setup


Then I finally got the car into the dealership for the clutch job

Unfortunately (actually quite fortunately) they found my output shaft seal on the transmission to be leaking badly which would have ruined the new clutch, and probably contributed to the old one beginning to slip. I hadn't thought to replace this originally, so the seal is on order and should be here in the next day or so allowing them to wrap up the job. Had this not been leaking, it probably would have started leaking later, killed my new clutch, and made me very unhappy haha.

Talking with the technician, he pointed out some suspension damage I had. A savagely bent tie-rod and a bent lower control arm

Now although I know for a fact I haven't hit anything gnarly enough to do that recently, the car tracks perfectly straight, and no vibrations through the wheel. I can only guess that this resulted from the accident that totaled the car. It was seriously out of alignment when i got it back on the road, but when I took it to the dealership they got it back in spec and I haven't had an issue since. I even had the car realigned last spring when I got tyres and there was no mention of this issue then either, but it aligned in spec so I guess whoever did it, deemed it "fine". They asked if I wanted to have them take care of it, I declined as I think I'll just wait to do the whole suspension in one go given the car's mileage. More on that later. I just can't believe they were able to align it so well two times!

Walking out of the shop I also noticed this

my exhaust has rusted through at the welds on one of the mufflers! I noticed it had gotten a little louder and just assumed my flex pipe was going. Not terribly bothered by this though as I have the S4 exhaust waiting in my garage. I took this as a gentle reminder that this car is almost 10yrs old haha

Should have the car back early this week, can't wait to see how the new clutch and lwfw feel. Going to do an oil change next and then hopefully log the car's first roadtrip of the year after I finish the 500 mile break-in for the new clutch.

Update: Got the car back, clutch weight feels like stock so I'm super pleased with my choice of the Spec Stage 3+ so far. Didn't notice any chatter from the lwfw on my short initial test drive, but you do notice the engine revving more freely. Will post after break-in.

[dadman]

Great thread! Just a fast question about a previous post about spacers to raise the car, did you actually install them? I have a C7 A6 Prestige that has the Sport susp. & it's too low for the roads (and curbs) in my area. I looked into spaces but only saw them sold by sketchy overseas eBay sellers. Thanks

[19birel]

Great thread! Just a fast question about a previous post about spacers to raise the car, did you actually install them? I have a C7 A6 Prestige that has the Sport susp. & it's too low for the roads (and curbs) in my area. I looked into spaces but only saw them sold by sketchy overseas eBay sellers. Thanks

Thanks! The spacers I bought were wheel spacers which I temporarily installed to allow the stock wheels to fit without hitting the big brake kit I installed before I got the A8 wheels. They did not change the ride height.

If you want to raise the ride height of your A6, I'd reccomend getting factory non-sport suspension and installing that. Bilstein B4 shocks are cheaper than the Audi stamped units and extremely high quality, those paired with factory, non-sport springs should give you a little extra ride height and some more comfort as well.

[dadman]

Thanks! The spacers I bought were wheel spacers which I temporarily installed to allow the stock wheels to fit without hitting the big brake kit I installed before I got the A8 wheels. They did not change the ride height.

If you want to raise the ride height of your A6, I'd reccomend getting factory non-sport suspension and installing that. Bilstein B4 shocks are cheaper than the Audi stamped units and extremely high quality, those paired with factory, non-sport springs should give you a little extra ride height and some more comfort as well.

Thanks, I'm not sure the only parts I would need would be springs and shocks. There could be a few or many other parts that go with Sport suspension that might need to be changed to do it the right way. If I have the time I'll look into it. The spacers that I mentioned go under the springs, not great either. For now I might go with a +1 tire and a skid plate(s)...LOL.

[19birel]

Thanks, I'm not sure the only parts I would need would be springs and shocks. There could be a few or many other parts that go with Sport suspension that might need to be changed to do it the right way. If I have the time I'll look into it. The spacers that I mentioned go under the springs, not great either. For now I might go with a +1 tire and a skid plate(s)...LOL.

The only differences are the springs, shocks, and swaybars between sport package and non-sport suspension. You can retain the sport sway bars though. The only issue I could forsee is if your car has adaptive suspension, I don't think that was available on non-sport pkg cars so you would have a suspension fault on the dash. There are ways to remove the fault but still something to consider.

The spacers you found sound similar to the kits eurowise has for Q7s and Cayennes, that will really lift the car a good bit. I'd reccomend an SUV or allroad at that point haha.

[19birel]

Small update, acquired some parts!

Got a brand new set of primered OEM S-Line Sideblades for a great deal! I've wanted a set for ages so I'm stoked to get these painted and on the car. I think I'm going to paint them satin-chrome to match the alu-optic mirrors I have rather than go for the body color route

I also scored a free set of brand new OEM carpet floor mats from work, still sealed in the packaging! Going to wait until I can give my interior a deep clean before I install these haha, sometimes its the little things

Ran into a little issue with my headlight and it filling with condensation again this time I noticed the cap on the back that covers the bulb wasn't very snug. I surrounded the hole with butyl sealant and pressed the cap on generating a tight seal which seems to have solved it. Cap can obviously still be removed so no functionality lost. On the bright side, none of these leaks are related to me splitting these lights apart a million times, hopefully this is the last leak.

Last but not least, I finished the clutch break-in and did my first Dragy run and set a new PR! (not shown but 0-60 w/rollout was just 4.7secs )

not going to set the world on fire with my times being that I have a manual but I can now launch the car so much harder, finally getting my first sub-2second 60ft. time. Clutch feel is great, pedal feel is like stock though obviously it grabs way harder, and the lwfw makes rev matching so much nicer and the engine just seems to spin more freely.

Notes about this run, I slightly messed up my shift into 2nd. I feel like the linkage needs a minor adjustment as the shifter feels a little notchy compared to before the work was done but no bigee. My trap speed was also slower than I would have liked, this was my first Dragy run in a while with the meth activated, my fastest times have been without it. I think, based on what I remember from my old datalogs, the tune is already running a bit rich and the meth is adding to that. I think the meth might have been choking me out up top. Also, holy crap, the clutch grabbing harder makes it far more evident that my engine mounts are toast. Before they seemed like they might be on their way out, but not it's glaringly obvious during aggressive launches and gear changes.

I'd like to do motor mounts (stock), more drivetrain mount inserts, better fmic (my Macan S TDI unit is trashed), refit GFB VTA, do the exhaust setup, then somewhere inbetween have IE revise my ECU tune. If I can get all that done over the course of the summer then I'd like to see how much higher I can get my trap speed and how much lower I can get my time and then maybe revisit the dyno.

[19birel]

So this past weekend I took the car on it's first roadtrip of the year and went to NYC for the weekend on a whim. Thanks to my very heavy right foot, the fuel economy was terrible on the way up but she cruised at speed with ease and I made good time!

Naturally I had to snag a couple pics in front of the Red Ball Garage. For those who don't know, this parking garage is the starting point for the famous Cannonball Run. Felt cool to take a pic of my car, CB antenna and all at the legendary spot!

Unfortunately the next day when I collected my car from the hotel parking garage (not the redball) one of the wheels was curbed and the shifter had a ton of extra play while in neutral. Not sure the transmission issue was their fault (dash cam footage helped me determine this) but the wheel was. Either way I wasn't thrilled with the situation I was in.

later in the afternoon I went on to leave the city and whilst on the road, still ~260miles from home I heard a loud pop and the car starting shuddering badly and wouldn't go anywhere. I coasted off the first exit I could see and rolled to a stop in front of a small farm in rural PA. The car would idle, but as soon as I tried to pull away, it would stall immediately.

A really nice guy came out to help me, offered me some tools etc. and I found that the cap on my charge pipe for the sound box delete had blown apart. Normally I replace that yearly, but somehow it slipped my mind amidst all the other stuff I have been doing to the car and it chose now to fail leaving a massive boost leak

Rummaging through the car and the guy's barn we couldn't find anything to replace the cap, until I discovered an old rubber glove in the bottom of my center console. I hose clamped that over the hole and drove as carefully as possible doing my best to stay out of boost. I heard it pop about 40miles in, some random lights came on the dash, but the car was still purring along so I kept going. Looking at the rubber glove afterwards, I have no clue how it got me the 260miles home, but to say I feel very lucky is an understatement haha.

Took my Golf to the hardware store the next morning to grab a new cap, swapped it on, cleared the codes and drove the A4 to work, right as rain. A better fix is in the works though, I don't want this happening again lol. Also gave the car a quick bath to get the 800miles worth of bugs and grime off

Next issue left to tackle is the messed up shifter. Some of you may have seen the thread I posted about this, if not, essentially I have ordered a JHM short shifter in hopes that whatever component broke will be replaced as part of the short shift assembly. The shifter plate looked fine when I took a peek in there, so hopefully the short shifter remedies the problem. Hoping to install that this weekend assuming it arrives on time

[mc_hotmail]

@19birel Hey, when you installed the new cam chain back in January, did you count the links between the 2 colored ones, and did you simply line them up with the markers on each cam sprocket?

I counted 9 non-colored links between the 2 blue ones. If I line up the blue ones with both markers on the sprocket, that makes both markers pointing straight up.

When I disassembled the old chain (not aligned to any colored link), I counted 10 links between the sprocket markers (not including the link pointed to by the teeth), which is one more than the 9 non-colored links between the 2 blue ones. As a result, the 2 markers pointed away from each other.

I want to confirm that the last guy did this job was one teeth off on the exhaust cam, and may be the ECU and the cam adjuster were able to tolerate but not optimal. I did a rough search on the forums but didn't find something explicit. All hints are appreciated.

[19birel]

@19birel Hey, when you installed the new cam chain back in January, did you count the links between the 2 colored ones, and did you simply line them up with the markers on each cam sprocket?

I counted 9 non-colored links between the 2 blue ones. If I line up the blue ones with both markers on the sprocket, that makes both markers pointing straight up.

When I disassembled the old chain (not aligned to any colored link), I counted 10 links between the sprocket markers (not including the link pointed to by the teeth), which is one more than the 9 non-colored links between the 2 blue ones. As a result, the 2 markers pointed away from each other.

I want to confirm that the last guy did this job was one teeth off on the exhaust cam, and may be the ECU and the cam adjuster were able to tolerate but not optimal. I did a rough search on the forums but didn't find something explicit. All hints are appreciated.

I looked back at some pictures on my phone and also counted 9 non-colored links between the two blue ones. When I set the timing though, I just lined the colored links up with the markers on the sprockets after confirming the cams were in tdc.

[19birel]

Another update! So to fix my shifter issues I figured the installing a short shifter would be the simplest solution. Assuming that whatever broke would be contained in the shifter assembly and be replaced. Placed an order for a JHM unit as I have only heard great things and was pretty impressed when i took it out of the box.

Not a piece of plastic in sight, unlike the stock unit. Install was straight forward, I have see some DIYs suggest you need to jack the car up and do some stuff underneath, not the case. JHMs video is actually a great guide even though it's in potato quality haha.

One note about the installation, you really need to pry this piece on the JHM shifter apart to get it on the shift linkage, just make sure you can still get the thread started for the bolt that secures it!

Well the short shifter feels great, very tactile, satisfying feel. I set it to the longest throw (still shorter than stock) and it's perfect for me. There's just one issue, it didn't remedy my issue. I dug around more and found this strange movement on this rod which the linkage attaches to, I'll link a video below.

https://youtube.com/shorts/XUyptcosLbQ

After looking through ECS Tuning's parts catalog for transmission bits, and cross referencing that with pictures from eBay ads for used transmissions I determined that it was the shift selector arm that had broken in some way. I talked to an Audi master tech who was able to search in the Audi system and confirm that this shift selector arm was most likely the problem. Fortunately it appears that it can be replaced with the transmission in the car as well with the removal of the downpipe and cat (or testpipe in my case). The part is $200 from ECS, I ordered through the dealership and it turns out there are none in the country and it's on backorder (ECS seems to get their OEM parts through a dealership too, so it would still be a wait through them). My plan is to check ebay to see if I can find one, if not I'll wait for the dealership to get one. The car is still completely drivable, just annoying to shift at times so it's not an emergency. Since the exhaust has to come off for this my plan is to order the bits I need to adapt my S4 exhaust that's been collecting dust in the garage and install that at the same time, more on that later.

In other news this week was really good for the car from a cosmetic standpoint. I scored a rare OEM Audi Zubehör trunk spoiler, already painted in Monsoon Grey, for free from work. and got that installed on monday.

3M double-sided adhesive never fails!








Couldn't be happier with how it turned out, it really does wonders for the rear end of the car and I love that it's an uncommon OEM piece, part number below

Then today I finally got my side blades painted up and installed. Being a big fan of the aluminum optic look, they were always going to painted accordingly, rather than color coded. I went with Duplicolor universal chrome and then finished it with a matte clear coat. The result matches the S4 mirror caps really well and ties together the whole alu-optic look for me.

Seeing it like this makes me so excited, once the exhaust is on it will look exactly as I envisioned when purchased it back in 2018! There are a few cosmetic defects that need addressed but nothing I can't sort. A photoshoot with some proper pics will be in order once that happens!

[19birel]

Big update:

So the paint on the bottom of my fenders has started flaking, this is thanks to the budget bodywork I had done when I originally rebuilt the car. I looked around for replacement fender in monsoon grey with no luck. Having a bodyshop fix the fenders would cost a good coin, and snowball into me doing the hood and then having the front wrapped in clear bra all of which isn't quite in the budget right now. The solution was to fix it myself.

Here's the flaking fenders, they were really becoming an eyesore and I wasn't even motivated to detail the car because of it




After chipping away the loose paint and bondo


Some sanding


After more sanding I did a thin layer of filler
Untitled by Ayrton@Drive19Photography, on Flickr

And some more work


base coat


clear coat- the clear I got from touch up direct was unimpressive, it didn't lay very flat but as you'll see next that was the least of my issues


When the front of my car was originally resprayed the paint wasn't a perfect match, this paint was a closer match and as a result there was a bit of an issue.

Shit.

Now i could either leave it like this, looking worse than when I started or figure out how to fix it. I chose the latter! Remasked for some blending


After the blending, the lines left over are over spray lines that were later wetsanded


After wetsanding and polishing. is it perfect? Certainly not, but it looks better than the chipping paint!


The driver's side was going well, I'd learned a lot from the first fender and gotten the blend right first go. Alas, I didn't quite lay on enough clear coat and this happened during wetsanding


Time to remask and repaint lol




Everything put back together, wetsanded and polished



I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Again not perfect, but my friends who thought I was insane for attempting this were impressed with the results haha.

I also picked up this set of 90mm AWE Black Diamond exhaust tips from another AZ member. They need a good polish but should clean up nicely; they'll be going on my S4 exhaust that I've been waiting to install.

Next up is the new shift selector which I finally installed


As my technician friend and I hypothesized, with the test pipe/cat removed, there is enough room to replace the shift selector.


Now I didn't take many pictures because this job kinda sucked, I started late because I spend most of the day getting ready for a work trip I was leaving for the following day, and ended up finishing this project around 4am. So after all that my shifter issues should be fixed right? NOPE! Absolutely no improvement, if anything shifting is slightly worse lol. At that point I was honestly just happy to have the car back together for my drive to Cleveland where I was for work all week. The silver lining to all this is that the car is still drivable, it made the trip to Cleveland without a hiccup though fuel economy was rough (22ish) although my heavy foot was probably to blame.

Going to confirm this week with a master-tech at work, but at this stage we're thinking some sort of internal failure occurred. I'm thinking this means a new transmission which drives me up the wall because I had to replace the trans in my old B5 (that car inexplicably shredded 4th gear). For a car that isn't beat on, and is well maintained I'm gutted but such is life. This past week I went through a ton of emotions, the past few times I got in the car I secretly hoped someone would smash into it and write it off (again) so I could find a manual B9 and start fresh lol. But I know once it's fixed I'll be happy again so I'll more than likely get another transmission and have the dealership install it. I'll update more as I know more

Once I get the transmission sorted I'll have the wheels refinished and I'll do a multi-stage paint correction on the car and re-ceramic coat it. Doing the exhaust is also on the list, maybe I'll do an RSNAV upgrade if we're lucky.

[19birel]

Long time no update!

So I ended up purchasing a replacement transmission from a local European car parts breaker, it had just 26k miles (my car has 112k) so it was really fresh for just $650. Had it installed at the dealership and put some fresh fluid in it as well and now finally the car is right as rain once again.

The tech working on the car discovered that the problem was a detent in the transmission got stuck and that's what caused the floppiness in neutral and preventing the shifter from returning to neutral. The detent is supposedly easily replaced, but I haven't located a replacement yet, though I honestly haven't been motivated to. The transmission is otherwise good though so I kinda feel bad just scrapping it.

I meant to circle it and forgot haha, but its that round bit that you can see sticking up above the hole where the shift selector would go in.

If anyone wants the transmission lmk!

Feels great to have the car back in good order and better to finally get to fully experience the JHM short shifter which I can't recommend enough. It makes the shifting feel so much more tactile I absolutely love it. Mine is still set to the longest throw.

Of course, a few days after I got it back the sound system randomly started making a loud POP noise that was driving me crazy, I traced this to my B&O sub failing so for now I have unplugged it. That sub is so weak I barely notice a difference, it feels like my Infinity mids in the doors have been doing all the work bass wise haha. I have an upgrade in mind but I'm holding off for now.

I'm honestly sick of spending money on this car as the transmission issue kind of ruined my road trip plans as I didn't want to drive it far as it was (though I took it on a business trip to cleveland), so for now I'm just going to keep stacking miles and hopefully make up for lost time and get some more trips in! Once she's redeemed herself a bit I'll start pampering her some more haha

[MongoMcG]

@19birel - I've seen the JB4 on some BMW's. That was a bold move, bud. The work you've done on your car is really well done, and your Drive Nineteen pics are great - nice angles, nice composition, nice levels. I've been looking at the Spec Stage 3+ clutch you mentioned when I first started my build thread. Are you still happy?

[19birel]

Thanks! She's been a labor of love! The JB4 stack was definitely a risk being that I was the first to give it a go on this car, but based on what I learned getting everything dialed in with George from Burger Motorsports during the beta test process on the otherwise stock car, I felt confident enough to have a go at it. I also had him check out my data logs to confirm I wasn't about to blow it up haha. The torque with the stack is intoxicating!

The Spec Stage 3+ has been great, it has slightly more weight to it but not much, I daily drive the car in traffic and even drove it through NYC and never once wished I made a different choice. I highly recommend it, especially paired with the lightweight flywheel. Overall very smooth and easy to drive. I went with Spec because I heard about some issues with Southbend recently, and I have no regrets.

[MongoMcG]

Thanks! She's been a labor of love! The JB4 stack was definitely a risk being that I was the first to give it a go on this car, but based on what I learned getting everything dialed in with George from Burger Motorsports during the beta test process on the otherwise stock car, I felt confident enough to have a go at it. I also had him check out my data logs to confirm I wasn't about to blow it up haha. The torque with the stack is intoxicating!

The Spec Stage 3+ has been great, it has slightly more weight to it but not much, but I daily drive the car in traffic and even drove it through NYC and never once wished I made a different choice. I highly recommend it, especially paired with the lightweight flywheel. Overall very smooth and easy to drive. I went with Spec because I heard about some issues with Southbend recently, and I have no regrets.

Cool. The drivability (and price) has me really leaning toward the Spec. Thank you for the info. I hope the tune on my car goes smoothly. I don't want my budget for the clutch/install becoming a budget for rods and pistons this fall.

[19birel]

Cool. The drivability (and price) has me really leaning toward the Spec. Thank you for the info. I hope the tune on my car goes smoothly. I don't want my budget for the clutch/install becoming a budget for rods and pistons this fall.

I think you'd be pretty happy with it. Any plans for a dyno run once you finish the tuning?

Small update- ever since I did the shift selector on the old transmission I've had an increasingly bad exhaust leak. when I got the car back from Audi I was beginning to smell it through the vents and after a few days of that knew I couldn't put it off any longer for obvious reasons. I suspected the leak was due to the cheap exhaust gasket I used between the turbo and test pipe.



My original one had a split in it so I used one that I think came with the test pipe (was laying in my tool box) and it was beyond trash as you can see in the pic below.




Replaced with a new OEM gasket and now we're good to go!

I was also noticing that boost was hitting really late, so I check on the chargepipe cap (the one that left me stranded on the way back from NYC) and it was somewhat loose so I replaced it and reclamped it and it feels much more responsive. I need to order a couple things to make a more permanent solution.

Trying to plan a big roadtrip soon so making a list of maitenance and mods I want to knock out before hand. More on that later

[MongoMcG]

No plans for dyno run until clutch is done, but I have a feeling that's gonna be needed sooner than I hope.

An aluminum charge pipe replacement is not too pricey ($104 for the CTS Turbo version - part# CTS-IT-267). It adds a bit of forced induction noise if one digs that, and the install is quite easy if you remove the fender liner (or peel back just the front half of it).

[19birel]

No plans for dyno run until clutch is done, but I have a feeling that's gonna be needed sooner than I hope.

An aluminum charge pipe replacement is not too pricey ($104 for the CTS Turbo version - part# CTS-IT-267). It adds a bit of forced induction noise if one digs that, and the install is quite easy if you remove the fender liner (or peel back just the front half of it).

I've considered that route a few times, but I actually mounted the pump for my meth injection to my stock charge pipe, on the bracket where the soundbox used to sit. So in order to switch to the aluminum charge pipe I'd have to relocate the meth pump, and partially re-plumb that system. I have some stuff on the way for a more permanent fix, if I'm not satisfied with the result I'll just suck it up, relocate the meth pump, and upgrade the charge pipe.

[MongoMcG]

I've considered that route a few times, but I actually mounted the pump for my meth injection to my stock charge pipe, on the bracket where the soundbox used to sit. So in order to switch to the aluminum charge pipe I'd have to relocate the meth pump, and partially re-plumb that system. I have some stuff on the way for a more permanent fix, if I'm not satisfied with the result I'll just suck it up, relocate the meth pump, and upgrade the charge pipe.

The two mounting studs for the stock charge pipe located toward the rear of the car could hold a pump bracket, and those studs are not used for the aftermarket charge pipe (the CTS version anyway). You could bend some 16 gauge flat stock that is wide enough to cover the two studs on the frame or the pump mounting bracket, whichever is wider. Bend an L shape, short side is drilled to mount on the studs, long side is drilled to mount the pump. It doesn't need to be pretty, but it should be scuffed, primed (self-etching) and painted with a couple days curing time. I'm sure they sell brackets pre-drilled for the pump, but you'd likely need to drill for fitment on the studs.

This move might be a short enough to re-use lines and wires.

The two nuts I'm talking about are at the far right in this pic. They are not vertically aligned, keep that in mind if the pump needs to be vertical or horizontal.

20220512_000838

[19birel]

The two mounting studs for the stock charge pipe located toward the rear of the car could hold a pump bracket, and those studs are not used for the aftermarket charge pipe (the CTS version anyway). You could bend some 16 gauge flat stock that is wide enough to cover the two studs on the frame or the pump mounting bracket, whichever is wider. Bend an L shape, short side is drilled to mount on the studs, long side is drilled to mount the pump. It doesn't need to be pretty, but it should be scuffed, primed (self-etching) and painted with a couple days curing time. I'm sure they sell brackets pre-drilled for the pump, but you'd likely need to drill for fitment on the studs.

This move might be a short enough to re-use lines and wires.

The two nuts I'm talking about are at the far right in this pic. They are not vertically aligned, keep that in mind if the pump needs to be vertical or horizontal.

I'll keep that in mind if my plan doesn't work out. I'm sure I could make use of those two studs one way or another. I ordered the wrong size hose so I'm gonna have one more go at making a block-off before I relocate the pump and get the CTS charge pipe.

Made some more progress tidying up the car and knocking out maintenance. On the mechanical side of things I decided to replace my coils again, just a preventative measure, but this time I decided to try APR's relatively new coil pack upgrade. They cost the same as OEM so I figured why not, can't say I noticed a difference but I didn't really expect to. Theoretically the benefit should be the ability to run a larger plug gap thanks to the stronger spark, with a bigger turbo this would probably be more helpful. Keeping my R8 coils as spares, they have ~45k on them iirc so they realistically should have some life left in them.

Picked up this coil pack puller tool, and wow is it nice. Not that it's terribly difficult to remove coils, but it just makes the process smoother not having to basically pry them out.


It then occured to me that I haven't cleaned my BMC filter once since installing ~2yrs/30k miles ago so I did that. It was pretty dirty...


This all came out of the filter after just hitting it against the ground


Used a BMC cleaning & oil kit and got it looking like new again. The car actually felt like it was breathing a little easier after this. Going to make this a yearly service as I definitely waited far too long.


While I was at it I tossed in a new Mann cabin filter


Next I had to take care of my driver's side puddle light, the image on the little slide had burnt out and looked horrible


Ordered another set from amazon for $25 and just replaced the driver's door which was damaged. The rest still look like new so I figure I at least have spares now.

Not pictured I removed the plastidip from my foglights and wrapped them in a matte black tint film. During the day they look the same, but when my pathway lighting is on it looks much cleaner.

The car still needs tyres, I also noticed I need rear brakes which I'll likely order along with oil and a filter this afternoon. After that it's motor mounts. I'd like all this done so I can take a big road trip next month, but we'll see if I can find both the time and the motivation haha.

[19birel]

Smol update- Did an oil change shortly after my last post, replaced the battery as it was having trouble starting(I still had the original dated from 2012 in there!) and then a couple weeks ago I got around to doing my rear brakes.

Pads actually had life left in them


New Akebono pads and Zimmerman blank rotors fitted


I was due (probably past due to be honest) for a brake fluid flush as well. Since the car is at 115k miles and nearly 10 years old I thought it a good idea to replace the brake lines with some stainless steel units from StopTech





The powerbleeder makes doing the fluid flush so much nicer, I used ATE performance fluid.

After everything was done, the brakes feel soooo much better so I'm still glad I did them even though the pads seemed okay.

I also got lucky and scored a winter wheel/tyre pkg for free from work! 17" so they'll just barely clear the front calipers, but the MSW by O.Z. wheels look like new and the Pirelli Sottozero 3 tyres have loads of tread so I'm amped to finally have proper rubber when the bad weather hits, especially because my Michelin PS A/S 4s are entirely bald lol



Ordered some Audi centers for them too, only one showed up though from Amazon, apparently they're sold individually


Current plan is to do motor mounts (I have them sitting in the garage along with an engine support bar) and get a couple 1/4 mile Dragy runs in before swapping tyres. My best time to date was done with a boogered gearbox (made for a slow 1st to 2nd shift) and collapsed engine mounts. With those problems sorted and me adjusting my shift points a bit I think I have room for improvement.

I also want to use the 1/4 mile time and (primarily) trap speed as a benchmark for my latest project to get added to the stable...

My new (to me) 2021 Volkswagen Golf GTI SE 6speed Performance Pack (all '21s actually got Perf pkg.) with only 18k miles!



Believe it or not this is actually another salvage car, and as you see it is how I received it. Long term plan is to put a hybrid turbo on it and make over 400whp and have a rowdy street car that I can also take to track days occasionally and split miles with the Audi. Build thread for this car will be over on GolfMK7 soon! I'm excited to see how the EA888.3 in the GTI compares to the EA888.2 in the A4, obviously it's better, but it will be cool to experience them both and compare & contrast.

[eljay]

Congrats on the MK7! It looks great. What is salvage about it? The front lip catching on a curb? haha

[19birel]

Congrats on the MK7! It looks great. What is salvage about it? The front lip catching on a curb? haha

Thanks! It has undercarriage damage, the PO must've run something over as it looks like a ninja had it way with the underside of the car (a few good dents, a couple small gashes, and a lot of broken plastics) haha. The car drove itself off the truck with zero warning lights though, and I'm actually close to completing the rebuilt already. I got pretty lucky on this one!

[19birel]

So it occurred to me that I haven't taken an pictures of this car with my real camera in almost a year, so whilst out on a drive the other day I pulled over an snapped a couple. Waiting on some paperwork to arrive for the GTI so I can get it legal for the road (the rebuild is already complete) then I will do the motor mounts on the Audi and swap over to the winter tyres.

I also just started hearing a clunk in the rear over bumps so it looks like come spring I'll be doing suspension on this thing, not particularly looking for to that but oh well haha

[19birel]

Forgot to update the thread, but I did eventually get the winter setup mounted on the car and it's performed really well in the snow!


These 17s BARELY clear my brakes


Random shot one evening passing through the city

I still haven't done the motor mounts, the weather has been less than ideal lately so they will wait until spring. That said I'm acquiring a set of rear brakes from a C7.5 A7 so I will have the larger, vented rear rotors and complete my big brake upgrade. I don't feel they are necessary, but I'm helping my dad rebuild another A7 for my mum and he's letting me snag the rear brakes from the parts car he has so it'll be nice to have the full setup.

Admittedly most of my time and car budget has been going towards the GTI though, I've put about 1,200 miles on it and done some basic "Stage 0" mods. This car is a total riot

[19birel]

So just a wee update, but something I've been meaning to do for a while. Back when I did the ZIZA interior LEDs, I tossed one in the trunk which was great for all of a couple days before it quit working. After months of not being able to see in the trunk at night, I pull the light out to replace the bulb with a spare, and I have no clue how this happened, but the think was mutilated lol



I grabbed the OEM Led trunk lights from the A7 parts car, but sadly the C7.5 uses a different connector for these lights than B8.5 so short of swapping the connectors over that was a no go as well. I then remembered that the puddle lights for the doors are the same as the trunk light, so I grabbed the LED projector puddle light I replaced a few months back (the Audi Ring image was damaged and distorted), removed the lens with the distorted image, and installed it in the trunk! Keeping old parts pays off!



Excuse the messy trunk lol


Sometimes it's the simple things!

[AudiTLC]

great work on the respray of front fenders! I have some clearcoat peeling on my trunk, will do similar when it warms up.

[19birel]

great work on the respray of front fenders! I have some clearcoat peeling on my trunk, will do similar when it warms up.

Thanks! For a DIY repair I'm pleased with the result, just be sure to invest in a really good clear coat!

[AudiTLC]

Thanks! For a DIY repair I'm pleased with the result, just be sure to invest in a really good clear coat!

going with a 2k clear

great thread, nice inspiration!

[19birel]

So I figured I'd make a list here of To-dos to help keep track of what needs done this year on ole Emmaline. The GTI still has most of my attention (just did my first track day with it at VIR) but the A4 is still playing commuter and being a work horse. She's feeling a little long in the tooth though and we can't have that so the goal is to start getting her back to form this spring. My plans are outlined below, any input is welcome!

Aesthetic

-Full decontamination, multi-stage correction, and ceramic coating: I've been wanting to re-ceramic the car for the last couple years but haven't had the time. The paint is BEAT right now, but with the other car I can afford to take the Audi off the road for a week to handle the correction in my free time after work. I'll wait until the weather has more consistency to do this

X-New S4 mirror caps: My eBay reps are super pitted and look pretty rough, time to either get used OEM ones are a new set of eBay ones

- Repaint brake calipers: The yellow is fading a little, and there are a few chips etc. so a refresh of these would go a long way I think

-Refinish wheels: My A8 wheels weren't perfect when I got them and unfortunately met with a couple curbs and it kinda brings down the rest of the car.

X-Full interior detail: the interior isn't terrible my most standards but it's kinda a warzone in my opinion rn. The leather needs some love so I'm going to give leatherique a try

X-Replace start button: silver coating is starting to flake off haven't cut myself on it yet but it catches your finger sometimes

-Replace front Audi rings: Chrome has two bubbles forming, doesn't look bad yet but it will once it gets to the point of flaking off

Mechanical

- Motor mounts: self explanatory they're collapsed and really need done haha

X-Bleed clutch: Whenever I do a couple aggressive shifts the pedal starts to feel weird and I suspect the clutch wasn't properly bled

X-Exhaust: Outside the car it's starting to smell pretty foul, I suspect the holes that were already there have gotten worse. It also sounds like trash though not overly loud, S4 exhaust has been sitting in my garage for nearly a year, just need to prep and install it.

-Suspension Refresh: theres a clunk coming from the rear, I think the shocks are toast. I also want to do control arms etc, not looking forward to spending the money but it should drive really well as a result.

X-Rear subframe: Mine looks crusty as all heck so I want to do something about it before it gets compromised and cracks. Plan is to hit it with the angle grinder and flapper disc to knock the rust off and then POR15 the crap out of it.

X-Shifter: something feels a little loose, so I'll have to investigate it. Overall it still feels great but I'm inclined to take it apart and check everything.

X-Install GFB VTA: I reinstalled the dv spacer because my original VTA was faulty and ECS warrantied it and I never installed the replacement

X-Spark Plugs: They're just due ~15k miles on the current ones

X-Oil Change: Routine, just due in a few hundred miles

X-Boost pipe fix: That stupid rubber cap that blew apart and left me on the side of the on my way home from NYC has yet to be replaced by a better solution. I know how I want to fix this but simply haven't bothered haha. It needs done though so I'm not on the side of the road again trying to MacGyver the car back to life. There's a couple of weekend trips I want to take the car on so I need this handled by then

X-Awful Fuel Economy: Some might have seen me post in another thread about this where the OP had a similar issue. 22mpg on the highway is just too awful to handle when I only have a wee 2litre. Plan is to start with the O2 sensor replacing it with a spare I have, then pull the JB4 off, then mess with the pedal tuner. I don't think it's the pedal tuner, if it's the JB4 it's my really aggressive boost mapping. If none of those do the trick I'll start throwing parts at the fuel system.

X-Replace Cabin Filter:It has to have been ~2yrs since I replace it last so might as well do it again

It's a heck of a list and there's other stuff I want to do but these are the important bits. Fortunately most is it (outside of the suspension) is more labor intensive than cost intensive so hopefully I can get through it relatively quickly. I'll check items off as I complete them!

[eyab689]

I'm surprised about your fuel economy because I run 93 octane constantly and on the high way I get between 33 and 36 running like 80mph. My car is far from stock. K04, 200cell cat, 83.5MM Pistons, IE air intake, awe turbo back ss exhaust with quad tips, 700hp rods, IE intercooler etc. I'm running around 425hp with the Snow-Performance water/meth injection and I have 133k on it. And it's a 6 spd automatic. Yeah having an issue with camshaft position sensor at moment. But once that's fixed I'm hopefully back to my great mpg. And knock on wood original fuel system no upgrades those are next. I run IE stage 2 tune and I'm putting 2mm larger exhaust and 1mm larger intake valves on it next. Then one last thing once I know its running top notch CTS Bigboss 600 turbo with custom tune.

Sent from my SM-F926U using Audizine Forum mobile app

[19birel]

I'm surprised about your fuel economy because I run 93 octane constantly and on the high way I get between 33 and 36 running like 80mph. My car is far from stock. K04, 200cell cat, 83.5MM Pistons, IE air intake, awe turbo back ss exhaust with quad tips, 700hp rods, IE intercooler etc. I'm running around 425hp with the Snow-Performance water/meth injection and I have 133k on it. And it's a 6 spd automatic. Yeah having an issue with camshaft position sensor at moment. But once that's fixed I'm hopefully back to my great mpg. And knock on wood original fuel system no upgrades those are next. I run IE stage 2 tune and I'm putting 2mm larger exhaust and 1mm larger intake valves on it next. Then one last thing once I know its running top notch CTS Bigboss 600 turbo with custom tune.

Sent from my SM-F926U using Audizine Forum mobile app

425hp sounds like a blast, you've got a pretty rad build by the sound of it!

I run 93octane with meth injection as well. Someone mentioned my pedal tuner possibly being the culprit and I checked it and I have it set to the most aggressive setting which I didn't realize haha. I have the same pedal tuner in my GTI which still gets great fuel economy but it's on a much more tame setting so I'm going to experiment with that first, hopefully it's that easy.