So, it was August of 2007 when I picked the car up. It's an early 01 in light silver metallic, 57k, 6 speed with an APR chip and bypass valves and was in immaculate shape. It's the white and black interior which I was skeptical about at first but I absolutely love the contrast! I intended on keeping it stock....lol, that didn't last long.
So I started with smaller stuff. Added an APR carback, a lip spoiler, HID fog lights, RS4 grill, 20% tint and a set of coilovers before winter:
Some DONKS:
By this point I thought I started hearing the "dentist drill" (bad turbo) noise and came across a guy who purchased an entire APR Stage 3 kit and decided to bail on the project. So I got a great deal on an unopened APR Stage 3, woooot!
So by spring of 2008 I had my car up and running with a full APR Stage 3, MTM downpipes, SSAC catback exhaust, K&N, full 034 engine/trans/snub mounts and a Southbend OFE (stage 3) clutch. Turns out the RS4 fuel pump in the kit was bad/damaged so I dropped an 044 in the tank as well.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9jK6AmSAvc[/youtube]
Another set of wheels:
Winter of 2008. Rebuild of transmission #1 (lol). New 1-2 collar, new 3-4 collar, new 1st though 4th gears, all new synchros, used mint input shaft and all new seals. Also added an Apikol diff mount and Stern diff plate bushings:
New parts (plus the full JHM rebuild and 3-4 shift collar which are not pictured):
Also added a new clutch because the stage 3 slipped from time to time on a hard launch:
Southbend Stage 5 and fidanza:
New transmission was perfect and I brought the car down to spring show n' go in Englishtown, NJ. Was featured in Euro Tuner Mag (11.93 @ 116 on pump gas!):
Another new set of wheels (current) BBS CH 17" x 8.5" ET35:
Full big brake kit:
Winter of 2009: For whatever reason I mashed up another 3-4 shift collar in my rebuilt 01E which really sucked. I didn't have time to rebuild another transmission so I picked up another "mint" unit and threw it in the car with a few other regularly needed maintenance items (after-run pump and spider hose):
New after-run pump:
So the car was up and running again for 2010. New transmission was poop from the get go (not nearly as bad as I've seen them) and would grind into third even at low speed/rpm. I put in some regular gear oil (rather then synthetic) and being that it was less slippery the bad syncro could grab the collar and that fixed it temporarily.
10-17-2010 The S4 hits 100,000 miles! By this time the trans is really acting up (3-4 collar is sticky and 1-2 is not far behind).
I take it out for a scenic car ride with a few friends, proceed to show them how it launches and scare the hell out of them, lol. Running 1st to 2nd and my shift knob flys apart yet I continue to shift to 3rd. Now reaching the top of third gear I proceed to shift 4th only to find myself in 2nd gear with the clutch out. I see the tacho PEG and see a CEL. OH FUCK! Now I'm coasting at 90ish mph so I proceed to try and pop start the car...clutch slips, lol. Ok, she's locked up! Hour tow home and parked...
At this point I put it up for sale AS-IS for any reasonable offer assuming the worst (needs engine and trans), and go a buy my 2010 Jetta TDI (10/20/10). A few weeks later I receive a message from a forum member saying "DON'T SELL IT". I open the message and proceed to read on. He said that he did exactly the same thing (money shifted 3rd to 2nd) and he thought that his engine was toast as well. Turns out that the steel trigger ring on his Fidanza flywheel ripped the rivets out and got lodged in the bellhousing. Untouched to this point I enthusiastically run down to the shop and pull the plugs to verify there was no catastrophic top end damage and they were all perfect. This gives me hope!
So as most of you know the 200 project consumed my resources (time/$$$) this past winter and the S4 has been sitting on the back burner. Now I am getting the itch to pull it apart and am hoping it's just the flywheel on top of needing another transmission. Finger crossed!
So that's where it sits as of right now...
So it turns out that the trigger ring on the flywheel let loose, shattered the bell housing and smashing one of the turbo return lines. It's seems as though the engine is still good. Did a compression check just spinning it over by hand and got consistent readings for just turning it by hand. I think the flywheel let go so quick then engine locked up immediately saving the valves. I will do a leak down test to be certain though.
A few pics:
Link to the entire album: https://picasaweb.google.com/1072863826 ... directlink
Flywheel:
And it runs again!
My mom's new ride too:
. Excuse to have them re-coated when the leak is resolved.
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