Barry's 2001 B5 S4 Build Thread

[q20v]

Got the front coilover assemblies together and installed on the car tonight. Also completely finished assembling one of the cylinder heads. I plan to tackle the other head next, then the front subframe bushings. Feels good to be bolting parts to the car.

[q20v]

Finally finished the front subframe bushings yesterday and got them installed, then installed the subframe itself. Pretty happy with how everything came out, everything fit just right. I also loosely installed the front suspension, hoping to install the front brakes tomorrow.
The DTS is just temporarily installed to make sure everything fit properly.

[q20v]

With the subframe installed I was able to loosely install the front suspension and brakes for a test fit.

I made some spacers to fill the 16-14mm gap between the 17z caliper and bolts, and shaved some self-locking nuts down to clear the rotors. Thread length was not reduced, only the plastic insert was removed. I will install these with a drop of blue loctite. I also enlarged the rotor holes to 3/4" (Volvo rotors).

I used OEM Bolts and Nuts:
N91084901 - Bolt (M14x1.5x55)
N10401801 - Nut (M14)

[booneylander]

Your stuff is off the chain Barry.

[Calif_Kid]

Just wondering - how did you set the height/rotation of the upper control arms? When I removed everything to rebuild the front H&R coilovers on my A6, I removed everything that you showed, and then replaced one of the upper control arms, and then snugged and torqued its bolt while keeping the rotation of the upper control arm to match the other one, and then did the remaining upper control arm. The other method I've heard about is to not torque those bolts/nuts, but to then torque everything once there is the full weight of the car on the unit, but it is then rough to get room to get a torque wrench in there, but the main point is that if you install the new upper control arms and torque them with the arms all the way up, then the bushings might not last very long. - Jim

Got the front coilover assemblies together and installed on the car tonight.

[q20v]

Hey Jim, so my plan is to drive the car on ramps and tighten the bolts that way. Currently they are just loose enough to allow the bushing inner sleeve to still rotate. Whichever method you use, just gotta make sure you torque them at ride height. For suspension bolts I usually tighten them by feel since torque wrench access is sometimes limited.

[dozer103]

Just wondering - how did you set the height/rotation of the upper control arms? When I removed everything to rebuild the front H&R coilovers on my A6, I removed everything that you showed, and then replaced one of the upper control arms, and then snugged and torqued its bolt while keeping the rotation of the upper control arm to match the other one, and then did the remaining upper control arm. The other method I've heard about is to not torque those bolts/nuts, but to then torque everything once there is the full weight of the car on the unit, but it is then rough to get room to get a torque wrench in there, but the main point is that if you install the new upper control arms and torque them with the arms all the way up, then the bushings might not last very long. - Jim

I use jack stands under the lower control arms with a wood block, and the tires off. Leave the rear tires on the ground and let the full weight of the front of the car sit on the jack stands. Then snug them up. My arms just don't fit in the wheelwells with the tires on and the car on the ground!

[Calif_Kid]

I use jack stands under the lower control arms with a wood block, and the tires off. Leave the rear tires on the ground and let the full weight of the front of the car sit on the jack stands. Then snug them up. My arms just don't fit in the wheelwells with the tires on and the car on the ground!

Sounds good, but is there still enough room to use a torque wrench doing that?

- Jim

[Gosser]

Sounds good, but is there still enough room to use a torque wrench doing that?

- Jim

Definitely not. The only suspension bolt you can really hit with a torque wrench is the pinch bolt, and to be honest probably the one people over torque the most causing the knuckle to split. Its only supposed to be 30lbs which isnt very much, but Im sure people give it the beans the same as all the other suspension bolts.

[q20v]

Last night I finally got all the little details of the rear brakes sorted out. I still need lines but I'll order those soon.

First of all, yes, I acknowledge there are other big brake kits out there, I've seen them all and yes, I decided to make my own. If you've followed any part of this build thread you'll know I like to make parts and tinker with things like this. So, it's not about convenience, time, or saving money, but having a solution that meets my specific requirements and lets me express my creativity, as well as a sense of pride in having made something.

I chose 17z front (330mm) / 4L (touareg) rear (300mm). The front install is pretty straight forward and I covered that above. For the rear I decided to design my own brackets for the 4-piston Brembo and Wilwood parking brake.

The 4-piston Brembo bracket is laser cut from 1/2" steel (outsourced the laser cutting) and powder coated. I drilled / tapped it (M14x1.5) for the caliper mount, and it mounts to the spindle using M10 Gr 10.9 fasteners. I enlarged the brake splash shield holes from M6 to M10x1.5 to accommodate this mounting arrangement. The surrounding pad is smaller than ideal however the bearing stress once the fastener is torqued to spec is still less than half the material yield strength. Drilling / tapping the M10x1.5 holes requires removing the wheel hub and unfortunately the wheel bearing is sacrificed.

The Wilwood parking brake caliper bracket is laser cut from 3/8" steel and powder coated. It mounts to the spindle using the OEM caliper mounting arrangement (hardware too). The Wilwood caliper bolts to the bracket using 3/8"-24x3/4" Grade 8 bolts and lock washers.

Overall it's a very rigid setup and optimized for weight savings and simplicity (except for having to drill out the spindle mounting holes).

I 3D printed several iterations to get the perfect caliper placement (red parts):

[RMode]

looking good!

[S4James]

first time you get caught in the rain you are gonna be sooooo mad.

[q20v]

looking good!

Thanks!

first time you get caught in the rain you are gonna be sooooo mad.

I'll probably keep a temporary shelter in the trunk so if I see a cloud pop up I can pull over and get covered until the cloud passes.

[S4James]

no word of a lie, an ex freind of mine with a supercharged vr6 jetta held up the entire convoy to waterfest so he could park his car under an overpass on the way down when we got hit with a rainstorm.

[q20v]

Last night I intended to install my rear axles and thought I had new inner gaskets (between the CV and diff output) but turns out I had the wrong size. I remembered I had boot kits in the basement, but figured they were cheap Chinese kits, so when I checked for gaskets in those kits not only did I find the gaskets but also realized they are good quality (probably still Chinese). Some boot kits I've installed recently (A4 stuff) felt like plastic instead of rubber, whereas these are definitely rubber and feel / fit really nice, all new hardware included too. Anyway, long story but in the end I tore them down and replaced the boots and these should be going in tonight. CVs feel nice too, no play. Gotta do the fronts next.

[R490]

Good deal! Chinese axle parts are so hit or miss.

[q20v]

I'm due for an update here, it's been a couple weeks and I've made good progress.

I took three days off work last week and focused on the engine.
- Rebuilt the second head (lapped valves, stem seals, cam chain pads, deep clean)
- Installed:
- both heads and valve covers
- Exhaust manifolds / turbos
- Timing belt and associated components
- All the coolant hard pipes and most of the rubber hoses
- Powder coated the alternator pulley
- etc...

Lots of pics...!

IMG_0013 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0001 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0025 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0026 by barry.goss, on Flickr

Primed the turbos before install
IMG_0031 by barry.goss, on Flickr

I have since replaced the spring clamps on the thermostat manifold outlet. My brother hooked me up last night with new ones.
IMG_0065 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0062 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0064 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0063 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0059 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0058 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0074 by barry.goss, on Flickr

Powder coated alternator pulley
IMG_0066 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0070 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0076 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0075 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0077 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0069 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0079 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0067 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0078 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0083 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0082 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0081 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0080 by barry.goss, on Flickr

Next up, wiring harness, intake manifold, then I'll pick it up on with the picker and do the flywheel / clutch / transmission etc. Hoping for insertion within the next couple weeks.

[RMode]

excellent

[S4James]

its good to squirt some oil in those turbos but you should reprime by pulling the injector wires and ignition wires, then crank to get the oil flowing again.. The turbos will drain completely by the time you get it in the car.

This is how we did it on mine...

[q20v]

Oh 100%. I plan to crank it over a bunch prior to sparking it up.

[S4James]

sorry to mansplain, you just never know.

[RMode]

Liquid Moly also sells an oil specifically for this too. Tossed it in to mine since I had a threshold to reach on an order

https://products.liqui-moly.com/pro-...dditive-1.html

[q20v]

Yeah James you're starting to sound like my ex-wife telling me what to do all the time

Thanks for the link RMode.. never knew a product like that existed. I have no intention of messing with those lines again but will grab some for the next build (the BMW..)

[S4James]

just throw a high zinc breakin oil when you do your first fill. that will coat everything up nicely as everything sets in. Ive heard all sorts of different stories on how long to run that stuff. I put 800 of the 1000 reccomended KM on mine and it came out like water.. Id just do 500 if I were you.. Never seen oil leave a motor so fast in my life....

[q20v]

Yeah good call on the break in oil. What about something like basic conventional oil for the first KM or two just to get the assembly lube etc out of there?

[S4 John]

I'm not sure if this is the best break-in oil. But, I used amsoil per one of Justin Ballou's videos. Also, you can prime the turbos/safely crank the engine with the ecu unplugged. I found it a little easier than unplugging the injectors and coils.

https://www.amsoil.com/p/break-in-oil-sae-30--brk/

[S4James]

Yeah good call on the break in oil. What about something like basic conventional oil for the first KM or two just to get the assembly lube etc out of there?

no you want the high ZDP protection. it gets a nice protective layer on all those virgin surfaces like the cams and lifters. Then follow up with a good oil and a bottle of ceratec.

[Silverex]

He’s correct you want a oil high in ZDP.

I used brad penn break in on mine, varied RPMs between 2000-2500 to break lifters/cams in for 20min, checked for leaks then drained it. I used some cheap conventional oil after and changed that at 50/100/500/1000miles then switched to liquid Moly. Probably didn’t need to do so many oil changes but I wanted to inspect each filter/oil to make sure there wasn’t a bunch of metal in there. Motor now has over 30k burns no oil and has good oil pressure.

[S4James]

thats the stuff i used.

[q20v]

I'm not sure if this is the best break-in oil. But, I used amsoil per one of Justin Ballou's videos. Also, you can prime the turbos/safely crank the engine with the ecu unplugged. I found it a little easier than unplugging the injectors and coils.

https://www.amsoil.com/p/break-in-oil-sae-30--brk/

Just ordered some of this, thanks guys.

[OreOOO]

Great quality build here and awesome work!

Make sure the passenger engine mount has a good raw contact surface to the block and the mount. I powder coated my mounts and looked past this and upon initial start up. Had a hell of the time turning the engine over and I ended up having to remove one of the mount bolts with everything in the car and grind the powder down.

Maybe this was already addressed but I noticed you powder coated the engine mounts and I just wanted to point out something maybe you overlooked.

[q20v]

Great quality build here and awesome work!

Make sure the passenger engine mount has a good raw contact surface to the block and the mount. I powder coated my mounts and looked past this and upon initial start up. Had a hell of the time turning the engine over and I ended up having to remove one of the mount bolts with everything in the car and grind the powder down.

Maybe this was already addressed but I noticed you powder coated the engine mounts and I just wanted to point out something maybe you overlooked.

I ground the area of the mount under the ground strap but completely neglected to address the mount to block interface... sooo THANKS!!!!

[mjmatos]

subbed, you have an amazing build here Barry! the car looks absolutely AMAZING!! I just bought an S4 that needs a clutch job and some minor parts, but this is some great inspiration! keep up the good work

[q20v]

subbed, you have an amazing build here Barry! the car looks absolutely AMAZING!! I just bought an S4 that needs a clutch job and some minor parts, but this is some great inspiration! keep up the good work

Thanks a lot, appreciate the kind words!

I've been slowly picking away at the engine the last few days.

Installed:
- Intake Manifold (looks very bright in the pics, it's just a bit over exposed)
- Wiring harness to the engine
- Spider hose
- Removed my pass-side engine mount bracket and removed the powder coat where it contacts the engine block... thanks again OreOOO!!!!!!

All that took longer than anticipated as I wanted everything run nice and clean. I'll be running the stock TBB (relatively new) for now and keep my eye out for an upgrade in this area. Either an all metal setup, ideally, or a reinforced silicone option, less desirable.

Next up, pick up the engine and install the flywheel / clutch / transmission / downpipes. Install is scheduled for Saturday! I have Friday off as well to prep, if I can get the 17z calipers sorted out (need to shave material off to center the caliper on the rotor) then I should also be able to put the car on the ground just for fun, to see how the H&R coilovers look. I suspect they'll need adjusting because I have no idea what ride height they provide using factory initial settings.

I also will do away with the ECS FSI coil harness since it's massive and adds way too much wiring. I'm going to try and de-pin my stock connectors and wire directly to the FSI connectors.

IMG_0263 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0264 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0251 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0250 by barry.goss, on Flickr

IMG_0265 by barry.goss, on Flickr

[Silverex]

Build look great man!!

I’m in process of building a coil harness that gets pinned into the ECU similar to what The-Tuner sells. If you need any help with the wiring lmk.



Here’s some pictures. I just gotta add the deutsch connector and add the EcU wires to other end. The Tuner has harness going through firewall to Ecu which would make pulling the engine a pain and why I’m adding the connector

[q20v]

Thank you!

Just checked it out, looks slick (the THE-Tuner harness)! My plan was to harvest the FSI connectors off the ECS harness, de-pin the stock harness and splice in the FSI connectors directly to the stock harness in the same location (and run the ground). Just ordered the de-pin tools and I'll play around with it all later, probably after the engine is installed. Gotta focus on getting the transmission installed this week!

[S4James]

you have FB PM.. I have just the thing...

[q20v]

Hey guys,

I made a quick video on rebuilding the cylinder heads, check it out here:

[harryn]

Great video! Reminds me back when my dad was teaching me to rebuild my first engine, reseating the valves, into the heads, etc. One thing I am curious about was, why did you not take the heads to a machine shop and check to make sure the heads are level, pressure tested to ensure no micro cracks are present, and then flush the coolant journals to make sure all journals are clean and flowing smoothly? Further, for only a few more bucks ($60 - $80 USD as of 4 years ago when I re-decked my heads, the machine shop can also polish/smooth your intake and exhaust ports to boot. If you want F1 quality port and polished heads, it's going to be considerably more.

Just curious, no dig on you or anything, as I think you made a good video. Thanks for sharing bud! :)

[q20v]

Great video! Reminds me back when my dad was teaching me to rebuild my first engine, reseating the valves, into the heads, etc. One thing I am curious about was, why did you not take the heads to a machine shop and check to make sure the heads are level, pressure tested to ensure no micro cracks are present, and then flush the coolant journals to make sure all journals are clean and flowing smoothly? Further, for only a few more bucks ($60 - $80 USD as of 4 years ago when I re-decked my heads, the machine shop can also polish/smooth your intake and exhaust ports to boot. If you want F1 quality port and polished heads, it's going to be considerably more.

Just curious, no dig on you or anything, as I think you made a good video. Thanks for sharing bud! :)

Hey man,

Great questions for sure! I quickly checked flatness with a straight edge I had in the garage and it seemed okay. Factory service manual says to ensure no more than 0.1mm feeler gauge. Cracks are something I could have had inspected and in hindsight maybe I should have... and as for the cleaning, yeah, a rebuild shop may have been able to get it cleaner but I don't think these are prone to having clogging issues. The video shows a heavily edited cleaning procedure when in fact I spent a lot more time on it, using the steamer right on all the ports into the journals, flushing hot water through everything, tons of cleaner, not saying it's as good as what a shop will use but considering I was planning to simply re-use the heads as-is I figured this should be good. And on the last point, I didn't really have any interest in a port and polish since I don't think there's much benefit in that on this build level. Maybe next time on V2.0 when I upgrade everything : )

And thanks for the feedback! Always appreciated!