belms4's Silver Auto Avant Conversion to Noggy 6 spd Widebody Build Thread

[belms4]

Hey folks, apologies for the long time between big updates. Sometimes life is just too busy to work on these. Let's pick up back in mid-January...

With the factory sound deadener stripped and everything cleaned I sprayed some primer over areas of bare metal and replaced all the body plugs in the floor and elsewhere. Those 2 plugs are supposed to be the same, but you can see how degraded the old one is.





Got my front Girodisc rotors in! They are massive, it's nuts haha. 380mm B7 RS4 aftermarket rotors and B7 RS4 OEM calipers




All the new Dynamat sound deadener down in the front floor pan and transmission tunnel areas. With the logos on there it plays some weird optical tricks on your eyes.




Rear under bench seat cleaned and ready for sound deadener, then pic of deadener installed.






Wonderful factory sound deadener for the roof. Audi really went all out here lol (yes that's a piece of cardboard glued to the roof).



More primer in the trunk areas across the weld seams just so they're protected from oxidation. Of course more Dynamat here too.





New set of wheel has arrived too! 19x9.5 et22 VMR v710FF (flow formed version). Customer powder coat color in Silver Dollar color from Prismatic Powders. Hopefully the sunlight pic is enough to see the metal flake sparkle in there. Wanted this color to match the bright coloring of the RS4 roof rails, mirror caps, and window trim.




This stuff was gross. From the factory these lower corners of the trunk area have a cavity wax coating. Of course after 20+ years it collects all brands of dirt. I cleaned all this off with wax & grease remover and sprayed all new cavity wax all over the place (more pics of that in next post). Removed factory sound deadener from the C and D pillars as well to apply Dynamat.







Here's what I'm using a few cans of. 3M cavity wax along with a kit with extended nozzles that spray in all directions. Sprayed this into the all cavities including between rocker panels, between wheel arches, behind new rear quarter panels.





Dynamat on D pillars, prepping to coat the inside of the welded over antenna hole in the roof.





My new roof sound deadener. Crazy the sound difference this made just tapping on the roof from on top before and after.




Factory sound deadener was also removed from back of engine bay around battery tray area prior to pain. Applied all new in the same areas.





This is behind the dashboard. Some of the factory deadener was peeling so I peeled what I could and replaced it.



All new stuff everywhere. Brand new side vents in the rear, new body plugs, new rear bumper mounts.



Wiring and vents back in place. Getting ready to weld on the new seat mount brackets. Factory fiber deadener going back in over the Dynamat in trunk area. This is behind the subwoofer. Later pics show the new seat brackets my neighbor came over to help me weld in for front RS4 seats. Within a few hours I had the new welds coated and ready to go.









Even a new little plastic cover thing here :) Did I mention I'm putting new stuff in everywhere I can?



Carpet getting another power washing and shampooing and I believe drying out in the February sun on a half decent day in this pic.



Doesn't everyone keep a dashboard in their basement for a year?? Getting it back installed with carpet finally! Next post will have more pics on the install.

[VMCB5S4]

Incredible. Love the attention to detail. This car will be so quiet inside. I hear all the material can add quite a bit of weight. If that really is the case, do you have a rough estimate as to how many lbs this will add?


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[belms4]

Incredible. Love the attention to detail. This car will be so quiet inside. I hear all the material can add quite a bit of weight. If that really is the case, do you have a rough estimate as to how many lbs this will add?


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It adds some but not nearly as much as you might think. Not really my priority with this build since I'll be way too scared to put it on the track now that I've spent multiple years on the build. I used 2 boxes of Dynamat that were 19 lbs each. So 38 lbs. (Probably less counting what clippings I didn't use). Probably removed roughly 15 lbs of the factory stuff, so we're at +23 lbs. You'll see in the next postings I installed a euro glove box which removed a solid amount more weight and euro knee bolster that's lighter. Also euro rear bumper mounts are way lighter. Maybe net even so far taking this all into account vs US model S4 avant. A little more will be added when I do new deadener on the door panel backs, but not much. Converting to aluminum uprights as well shortly here, so there's another -12 lbs.

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[VMCB5S4]

Gotcha. Things will even out with weight over time. I don't blame you on not going to the track. If I had the skill to pull off what you're doing I'd want this car in a museum lol.

The single turbo kit I've almost finished installing took a lot of time and energy out of me. You're like superman in comparison. Looking forward to the next updates!


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[belms4]

Lol well I appreciate the kind words. All skills I just decided to dig into and fail at at first and learn over the past couple years. Only superpower here is finding enough free time to constantly make progress on this.

Btw... a couple people now have suggested I make some YouTube videos on this build. Sadly a lot of the exciting less-documented things for this platform like painting and bodywork are behind me. Currently I'm sand blasting rear end parts, pressing bushings, powder coating and soon to be zinc electroplating some old bolts/hardware before I put together the rear subframe and get the fuel tank reinstalled. Anything in particular anyone would like to see on video going forward? I wouldn't be opposed to making some videos. Just can't make any promises on my non-existent video editing skills!

With warmer weather I'll finally be doing cut & buff on the clearcoat. Glass will be going in later as well along with mounting doors and all. Of course the AZR engine and driveline should be coming in the next weeks. All items to think about in relation to what videos I can shoot.

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[LJS]

You do REAL NICE WORK---This will be one absolutely beautiful Audi when finished.
Question-
Where did you find the body plugs-- I've been looking for the two that are on the rear chassis, where you place jack stands, and have yet to find suitable replacements.

[belms4]

You do REAL NICE WORK---This will be one absolutely beautiful Audi when finished.
Question-
Where did you find the body plugs-- I've been looking for the two that are on the rear chassis, where you place jack stands, and have yet to find suitable replacements.

Thanks so much! No timeline pressure, so it's been great just taking my time to make everything the best quality I can.

Most of the plugs I get from Audi still if they're available. On occasion I need to measure a hole and order a cheap plug from Amazon that matches the size or find one from another platform of the same size. Are you asking about the big flat one like right in front of the fuel filter? If so, I looked for that one since there's 2 up front as well. Audi doesn't sell it anymore and I've not found a suitable replacement that extends outward so far. Haven't really looked too hard though since mine are still there.

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[LJS]

Thanks so much! No timeline pressure, so it's been great just taking my time to make everything the best quality I can.

Most of the plugs I get from Audi still if they're available. On occasion I need to measure a hole and order a cheap plug from Amazon that matches the size or find one from another platform of the same size. Are you asking about the big flat one like right in front of the fuel filter? If so, I looked for that one since there's 2 up front as well. Audi doesn't sell it anymore and I've not found a suitable replacement that extends outward so far. Haven't really looked too hard though since mine are still there.

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YEAH those are the two I need to replace---they're a bit beat-up from all the use they see...
I have the same problem--can't seem to find a suitable replacement

[jesster]

Need more updates or I possibly might die

[belms4]

Need more updates or I possibly might die

Lol man am I like a drug dealer to some of you or what!? Damn B5 junkies!

Regardless, I'll get to it. Already uploaded a couple more batches of pics Flickr, just need to create a post.

And side note... rs4 engine has arrived today! Pics will be coming

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[zipdoa]

Lol man am I like a drug dealer to some of you or what!? Damn B5 junkies!

Regardless, I'll get to it. Already uploaded a couple more batches of pics Flickr, just need to create a post.

And side note... rs4 engine has arrived today! Pics will be coming

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how much you payyyy for that azr. I have amassed the entire intake tract, but now I want the bottom end.

[bmwpower603]

B5 junkies is an understatement.

[belms4]

Still behind on updates here, but picking up where the last one left off around mid-February 2023.

Carpet in and all clean. At the recommendation of a friend I picked up this ozone generator. It pretty much kills off all odors in anything it's put in a room with. Worked nicely in my uses so far and I'll plan to use this for a few hours/cycles in the car once it's more together to get out any remaining old smells.




Dash reinstall finally! So many wiring connector, but I got them all in place as they were, eventually. Riveting the VIN number plate/holder as well.









RS4 handbrake lever. I cleaned this and then put new copper anti-seize on the areas it was before.



Fresh cavity wax in all frame cavities along the front and rear ends. This stuff dries out/cures a bit and doesn't look so gooey later.





Next up was working on the manual pedal set swap. I bought some Rennline aluminum pedals so removed the old rubber ones and put the new ones on. Or in the case of the accelerator pedal I received the wrong one initially so that went on later. Dead pedal going on later too.







Also putting in new clutch master cylinder, 034 silicone heater core hoses, new B5 RS4 brake booster, brake master cylinder, 034 stainless steel braided clutch slave line, new brake reservoir.














Cleaning up and installing the ABS pump and whatever else this is. Rebuilt power steering rack from a couple years back done by Rack Doctor. Hopefully this thing doesn't have any issues since they're now essentially out of business.






And I went to town on the entire undercarriage over a couple months scrubbing it all by hand with soapy water, scrub brush, and degreaser. You can see the white/clean areas after I went over that spot. Pretty massive difference in some areas.







Euro glovebox install! First pulling the assembly for the original U.S. style. Had to remove some brackets and such, but damn, this really shaved some weight. Also modified the little wiring harness for the glovebox light. The U.S. spec had a separate switch on the wire for when the box is open to turn on the light. I cut that out and made a direct wire since the Euro box has the switch integrated into the light bulb. Hopefully this works when I get power back to the car lol.









And a messier pic of the interior as work moves along haha. Filled with tools, parts, and wiring currently.

[belms4]

Hmmm been a little while... who wants an update soon? Plenty has happened over the past year. Big surprise the car is still under construction, but getting closer to road worthy!

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[2006b7a4]

Need more updates or I possibly might die

^^

[PwrWgn]

Update would be great!

What are you planning to do for the headliner?

[belms4]

Haha pretty sure that guy has long since expired waiting on my updates.

I'll see if I can get some new pics together this weekend/holiday. Might have to just cover the basics and I can go back later and fill in more details. We are talking about over a year of updates piled up here. I been taking the pics, just been busy and haven't had time to create posts. Also recently completed a 24 Hours of Lemons race (not in this car) that split about 6 months of my time with that team.

Funny you ask about the headliner. That's something I'm hoping to also work on this weekend if the weather cooperates. I have a large roll of genuine Alcantara here ready to cut and glue on. Spray gun and gallon of industrial fabric adhesive. I already cleaned the headliner and sunroof slider of the old material and sanded, so it's ready to go. I can do a separate post on just redoing the headliner if that's of interest. I'm thinking of wrapping some of the upper pillars in the extra Alcantara fabric too.

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[PwrWgn]

Yea it would be nice to see a good reference if you'd share! I'm knee-deep in an engine build currently, but the headliner is the biggest issue with my interior to get the car back the way I'd like it. I don't intend to do alcantara, but process-wise would be the same for whatever fabric I assume.

[Tec_Nine]

By chance, you still have the BBS's that came with the car? Would love em for my A$ Avant

[belms4]

By chance, you still have the BBS's that came with the car? Would love em for my A$ Avant

Sure do and I could definitely sell these. I'll pull them out today and grab some pics for you. They may have some scrapes and such from what I remember, but I'd let them go cheap. Probably still have tires on them I need to go get unmounted.

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[Tec_Nine]

Sure do and I could definitely sell these. I'll pull them out today and grab some pics for you. They may have some scrapes and such from what I remember, but I'd let them go cheap. Probably still have tires on them I need to go get unmounted.

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Can't say enough good things about this guy, went out of his way for me and was one of the most pleasant individuals I've come across on the forum. Thanks for the wheels, looking forward to bringing them back to their former glory. Staying tuned in on your progress on your awesome build

[belms4]

Can't say enough good things about this guy, went out of his way for me and was one of the most pleasant individuals I've come across on the forum. Thanks for the wheels, looking forward to bringing them back to their former glory. Staying tuned in on your progress on your awesome build

thanks for the kind words! Send me some pics once those are restored, I'd love to see how they come out

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[belms4]

Yea it would be nice to see a good reference if you'd share! I'm knee-deep in an engine build currently, but the headliner is the biggest issue with my interior to get the car back the way I'd like it. I don't intend to do alcantara, but process-wise would be the same for whatever fabric I assume.

PwrWgn - I've got the headliner done now. Will have some pics and quick write-up including tools I used in short order for ya

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[Tec_Nine]

thanks for the kind words! Send me some pics once those are restored, I'd love to see how they come out

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No problem! Surely will, looks like they got delivered today. Can’t believe how fast they got here.


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[Ryes7]

What a read, wowza. Nice job so far! Can’t wait to see the finished product.

[belms4]

The day many of you have been waiting for... an update! So sorry for not getting back to this sooner and this is still going to be a "light" update. Just pics from tonight as the car sits in current state so you can tell I've actually been doing something the past year and a half. I've been taking all the pictures through the whole journey, so possibly when it's about done I will have the time to go back and provide those 50 picture full updates walking through everything in depth.

Let's just cover some of the basics on the build now since it's been a while.

ENGINE/EXHAUST:

AZR RS4 engine running all stock internals, including the heads. I'm about to start working with Mocke/Kemal over at 2.7T Motorsport for the tuning. Sending the ECU off to him tomorrow. He convinced me last year I would be better suited running RS6 turbos, so I scrapped the RS4 K04s and went with genuine BW RS6 K04s. Bought a good used set, sourced new CHRAs and wastegate actuators, then sent them off the ProjectB5 where Nick did a fantastic job with the modifications to fit them perfectly to a 2.7T. He also did a ported and Cerakote coated set of the factory exhaust manifolds for me. I'll cover all this in a future update in detail.

Just got the exhaust back from 485 Designs local here in Denver the other week. I had bought THE-Tuner 3" downpipes and 485 did the work to add a pair of 300 cell cats and get the pipes to fit up to my AWE Tuning twin 2 catback with v-band connections. They didn't have the actual car there since I was working on it at home, so I'll need to bring it back in a little later to adjust some of the components to fit better. Otherwise, a great looking exhaust set!

On the intake side using factory RS4 airbox & MAF fitted to THE-Tuner y pipe. THE cast aluminum bipipes as well, which I think fit better than the factory RS4 bipipes honestly.

THE-Tuner fuel rails (yeah I love their parts!) paired up to injector dynamics IDX 1050cc injectors. Overkill for gas build, but their size was a good fit. I tore down the factory engine wiring harness and rebuilt a ton of it to fit ev14 style connectors direct on the harness. Also used THE's ignition coil direct wiring kit to pin straight to ECU. Also using THE RS4 oil cooler that fits where the factory RS4 cooler went. Requires modifying the radiatoe carrier a bit for this, which I'm working on getting the parts for.

Wagner RS4 intercoolers with carbon shrouds. JHM electric fan kit with mechanical pulley driven fan delete.

DRIVETRAIN:

4 rebuilt axles on the car fresh from Raxles. Brand new driveshaft from ETSpec. RS4 01E 6 speed. Refurbished the factory cooling lines and got the correct radiator to plug into for gear oil cooling integrated in. Factory RS4 rear differential.

TTV single mass flywheel paired to B7 RS4 clutch.

BRAKES:

B7 RS4 rebuilt and freshly painted from Steve Green over in the UK. Steve supplied half this car including engine, interior, drive drivetrain. Many thanks to him! Using these calipers on front and rear paired up to slotted Girodisc rotors. 380mm up front and 324mm rear. B5 RS4 brake booster.

INTERIOR:

B5 RS4 factory black leather seat set. I have original fabric to eventually convert these seats to the Hi-Tech seats, but this is a long ways out. Alcantara covered A,B,C & D pillars along with Alcantara headliner. Thanks to Kyle H. for doing the tough B pillar uppers after I attempted those once and couldn't get it done without wrinkles haha. Kyle also did an Alcantara covering on the center armrest lid, and did air leather (dimpled) cover on the handbrake boot and handbrake handle.

B7 (I think?) rearview mirror with invisible/hidden compass. AWE Tuning boost gauge. Euro glove box. Awesome floor mats from Adam with RS4 logo stitched into them.

Will be using factory RS4 cluster (MPH) with colorMFA. It's currently in my imola sedan I daily drive since I love using the cluster so much, especially with that colorMFA install!

Factory black leather RS4 door cards. The fronts I will be swapping parts around since I got a RHD drive set. So sourced pieces from RS4 LHD fronts (leather part) and will be plugging them into S4 LHD door cards up front to get what I need.

New factory Audi glass in front windshield and 2nd row/back seat windows. Also did brand new and additional sound deadener everywhere in the car. Rennline aluminum pedal set.

EXTERIOR:

Factory original B5 RS4 body panels. See older posts for all the work there. Basically everything is converted to RS4 panels. Original RS4 roof rails & new RS4 tail lamps. RS4 matte aluminum window trim. Upper large piece was way too hard to get shipped from overseas due to length and fragility, so a shop actually painted that piece to match the rest of the RS4 window trim .Brand new RS4 matte aluminum mirror caps. New Depo Euro headlamp housings. Working on possibly a Valeo set in the future, but they're tough to get new since they stopped making them earlier this year. Will be doing aftermarket LED fog lamps provided by Kyle H. if they can fit with the intercoolers. I'll find out pretty soon there!

Wheels are VMR flow formed V710FF 19x9.5 ET22. Powder coated a custom color - Silver Dollar from Prismatic Powders. I have a pair of freshly refurbished factory B5 RS4 wheels as well. Initially thought no way in hell they fit with the 380mm front rotors, since they're 18" wheels. I test fit and found it had roughly a hair width of space between caliper and wheel barrel! So they can fit if I get tires for them! Sticking to the 19s for now though.

Probably plenty more I'm forgetting about, but we can address that later. Have some pics as your reward for reading this far! Just quick phone pics in the garage tonight. Nothing special, but you get the idea.















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[Tec_Nine]

Absolutely in love with your B5, such great work.


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[ShelbyM3]

It’s pretty impressive to see that engine bay look more cramped, but so clean and tidy. I especially just love the aesthetics of an early 2000’s era Audi with its lock carrier off, for some reason. I think because the charge piping, to me, is gorgeous.

Coming together beautifully!


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[Ryes7]

I love how thoughtfully every detail is handled. Kudos

[belms4]

Hey all, I got a first start in on this thing last week and I'm currently working through some of the vagcom steps needed to get some of these codes to go away.

What I'm struggling with are steps 3 and 6 (see screenshot from the s4wiki).

For the ABS in steps 3, I've tried these steps, but each time I reopen the controller the soft coding is set back to all zeros. The change won't take. The one thing the wiki doesn't mention is needing a workshop code. Is that needed? If not, what would be causing this to reset back to zeros each time?

Step 6 for the throttle body adaptation, I'm not quite understanding what "set block channel 60" means. Anyone got further info on steps in vagcom to do this?

Appreciate any help! I have a few things I'm working through here so I can run the car more than just a 1 minute start.

S4wiki page:
https://s4wiki.com/wiki/Tip_To_6spd_Conversion

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[replica_rs4]

Instruments box 17 if I remember correctly
Go to adaptation in that menu
Once opened type 60 in line box
Box below set value 1025


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[belms4]

Instruments box 17 if I remember correctly
Go to adaptation in that menu
Once opened type 60 in line box
Box below set value 1025


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Yeah that had worked fine. It's steps 3 and 6 I've got questions on.

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[replica_rs4]

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index...BS/EDS/ASR/ESP)
They have good instruction on what to do

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[belms4]

Gotcha, I think I found the right link here

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index...BS/EDS/ASR/ESP)

Edit: not sure was AZ is doing to that link but whatever it is breaks it and leads to a blank page. I found the right one though.

Looks like it needs steering angle calibration done too. I'll work through those steps and see if that works, thanks!

Then I'll just need to figure out what the hell #6 in my screenshot is actually telling me to do.

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[replica_rs4]

You may need throttle adaption done first. Abs needs to see throttle valve angle to work .
Ross tech will have instruction on throttle body adaption also.

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[belms4]

Oh okay, good stuff. I should be able to track that down then. Hopefully that solves the last of the coding issues. I'll post back how it goes. Thanks again!

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[belms4]

Bam, that all worked! I was missing the steering angle calibration step before leaving the controller. Once I did that the new coding took and stayed put.

Also did the throttle body alignment procedure found in the ross tech wiki. That was what #6 was referring to.

That got the ABS light to go out, so all set and on to the next batch of issues!

Thank you replica_rs4!

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[jrieder]

next level work.

[Ryes7]

Can’t wait to see the unveiling of this beauty in some sort of video or a car meet. I’d drive my basic (in comparison) noggy avant to Denver to see it (I’m 3 hrs away). I probably won’t park next to it though lol.

[Hmh800]

Me too! I’m a bit closer in Eagle but I’d love to check it out.