Dace's '94 //s4 - Now For Sale!

[UrSobsessed]

Hungry, for more and more and more and more and...

First off, I want to shout out to those who have given their help all along the way of my journey. Brendan and the folks at Apikol, whose service and products are second to none. The other really important shout I need to give out is YOU, the people of this and other forums who have shared your info and advice. It is through you that I have been able to make my ride so much more fun and learned SO much!

This is gonna be long.

I've had this car for 2 years now, and have finally gotten around to doing a project thread on it. Procrastination.

Anyway, the car is a 1994 //S4, pearl white over black. I bought it with 135k on it from the original owner in 2008 in Arizona. The PO bought the car in Colorado and drove it here for 7 yrs. before moving to Scottsdale and barely driving it there. The car was always dealer serviced and very well cared for. The PO had all of the service records on the car, and had already replaced the a/c compressor, p/s pump, j-hose, upper strut bearings, brakes, tires, transmission mounts, etc. 10k mi. or less before I bought the car. The car was stock, except for some C5 S6 Avus 17" rims. It was time for the car to come home.

The drive home from Arizona to Colorado through New Mexico was great! I even had some random guy come up to me in a gas station to ask me if I wanted to sell the car! He went on about these cars for a while on how they rock. Needless to say, I was grinning from ear to ear. The grin was reduced on the drive as I noticed that the clutch release bearing started making noise and the pump to rack hose decided to start leaking. :(

Here is a pic:


Anyway, I had the clutch replaced with OE parts(would have done Southbend in hindsight), the green coolant flushed and G11 put in. I also had a stage 1 chip put in(I thought this was the 3bar level, which I found out later to be 1+). This first run of repairs/upgrades I did while still very ignorant of the world of options and capabilities of the car. I always planned on doing my own work, but was going to get into that slowly. After these last repairs, I realized it was time to start immediately!

So for the next year I focused on PM stuff and some upgrades for my future plans and really learned a LOT about these cars. In this period I installed a 1+ chip and VMAP-D, 044 fuel pump with Speedflow check valve, Samco hoses, relayed the fuel pump. Also in this time I went through the entire cooling system and replaced all hoses, fittings and senders. I also pulled the heater box and replaced the heater core and all three flap motors. At this point, the only original parts of the system were the radiator, head gasket and block to turbo hose.

The 1+ chip install was probably the WORST thing I've done to the car! :tard: Worst thing because it was not just stepping on to the slippery slope, it was launching myself out of a cannon over a cliff from which there was to be NO return! :wink: 1+ is fun. Nice and snappy. When I went there, I thought that was all I wanted. THOUGHT! Then I realized that I was kidding myself.

So, I decided to not fight it. Last winter I put the car up and made it look like this:


Well since it looked like that, I figured I should put it back together with some different stuff. I mean, come on, seriously, who can put their old stuff back on the car after going that deep?

I decided to go with the gt3071r turbo kit, 034 rs2 HO manifold, 034 tune kit for said turbo, Apikol FMIC, Stromung turbo-back cat-less exhaust and 7a cams. I also pulled the head to have it reconditioned as the valve guides were pretty worn. At this point, better brakes were mandatory! I also did a BUNCH of "while I'm in there" stuff like replacing all the oil senders/switch, knock sensors, timing belt service, radiator, headlight/windshield washer plumbing, p/s rack rebuild, replaced the remaining p/s lines and hoses, replaced the tie-rod ends, new serpentine pulley bearing, VVME HID kit, fuel pressure regulator, MAF, S6 sport steering wheel conversion, bluetooth into phone system install, blah, blah, blah...(this could go on for a while)

Some pix of the project:
I go fast!

I stop good!

Head will be held tight!

Sweet FMIC!

[RufCTR]

Some nice work.... I am glad that we at 034 were able to help out. You will have to post pictures and video up when you are done. By chance, was your car at S-Line this past June getting some work done?

[UrSobsessed]

So, you get the idea.

This project took SO much longer than I thought it would. I guessed 2 months. It was more like 8. When things finally came together after 6 months, I was psyched! Finally, the time had come to start the car! I turned the key and the car caught on the first crank! SWEET! It died almost immediately. SUCK! :x After it died, I could NOT get it started again. I went through all of the usual checks. Nothing. Long story short, I had the intake cam a little off from when I installed it which led to ever so slightly bending all of the intake valves. :frustrated: I was mad. So, off comes the head again for another valve job and some new valves. :frustrated: While the head was off I decided to get 034's adjustable cam gear. Bling. I got the head back and installed it, but while I was waiting for it I had taken my downpipe to Dave Jones to have him fab one up for me, as Stromung downpipes DO NOT fit in the engine compartment correctly with the Garrett hybrid turbos. The k26 hot side for the Garrett is in a slightly different location that the stock k24. The downpipe bolts up to the turbo fine, but presses against the frame rail and the WG pipe gets in the way of the right tie rod so full range of steering is lost. Anyway, I just had my car towed to Dave so he could fab up a down pipe for me.

I went down to pick up the car and got to drive it for the first time. I was excited! On the drive home, the car felt pretty good. There was a bunch of traffic, so I couldn't really get on it. When traffic cleared, I hit it a bit. It was nice, but felt weak for what the claims for this set up is supposed to have. The big difference was how the turbo pull ALL the way to redline. That was a nice change from the k24 losing boost from about 5000-5500 rpms. I stopped to get gas and smelled something strange, almost like rubber. I figured it was because the car had not really been run since the upgrades. My girlfriend and I get to Red Rocks Amphitheater for a show and my car is now squealing something fierce.
I park and open the hood and look around and find this:

:x :x :x :x
Needless to say, I was ALL fired up!
So, another trip like this for my car, and it was home again: :(


After digging further I found what had caused the problem. The 3 small bolts that hold the ring with the hall sender window to the adjustable cam gear decided to come loose, despite my checking the torque before installing the thing, and fall down in the bottom of the timing compartment. They then started to feast on my timing belt and do some serious damage to the TB drive gear on the back of the harmonic balancer.
When I got it all apart it looked like this:

I was pissed. However, as misfortunate as I felt, I realized how lucky I was. If my timing belt would have broken, well, you know.

Anyway, I got it running again. But still it was not running right. It had power. But it was inconsistent. The car would never get to full boost. 4th and 5th gears were particularly bad. It was even missing under anything more than half throttle. Also, the car is really hard to start if it hasn't sit for 24 hours or more. This was getting REALLY frustrating! You know, :frustrated: :curses: :frustrated: :curses: I didn't even want to drive the car much as I felt I was doing harm to my car if I drove it hard and I don't like cranking the hell out of the starter just to get it going.

Well, one day I decide to take it out and when passing some asshole he runs me off the road. I spin a few times and end up in a barbed wire fence. I once again got lucky because I didn't flip, but the back of my car was seriously scratched up and the trunk and LH fender around the power antenna was dented. Prick.

Anyway, I investigated all the possible things that could cause my running issues that I could given the resources at my disposal. It was time to take the car to Dave Jones and have him work his magic. After going through my car, he took it to the dyno to see what it was doing as it was behaving so strangely. After 3 runs, he determines that the tune is jacked up. The car ran the exact same each time. The A/F ratio's were all messed up. It was too rich at idle and through the power band except when the boost and torque started to hit. That was when it was having these lean spikes. Also, the HP/torque bands were jacked!
This is the first run: (If there is nothing here, I am having trouble getting a pdf to show up)


As you can see, it's pretty messed up. 258hp is way off the claimed 346hp. A BIG problem with the car is compressor surge(like my sig says :wink: )) It was causing the lean spikes because the airflow slowed/stopped abruptly enough to make the MAF tell the ECU that there was no air going into the system. So the ECU leaned the mixture way out. Dangerous. This kind of situation will blow an engine. I didn't sign up for that. Surge can be a real problem out here, as these turbos spool so fast. They are ready to go, and the engine is still trying to get rid of the air it already has going through it.

Anyway, after about 5 hours on the dyno, Dave, working with Nate(034) did a mostly retune on my car and it runs SO much better. It still has starting issues, and the surge is still there, mostly in 4th and 5th albeit is much better. 1st - 3rd gears are a COMPLETE transformation! It's is nice to feel more of what this turbo is capable of doing. The car now pulls strong all the way to red line in 1st-3rd gears. The HP number is more in line also at 327.
The final run of the retune: (If there is nothing here, I am having trouble getting a pdf to show up)


As you can see, this looks much better. I'm still trying to get this dialed in. I just got an anti-surge compressor housing and will mount it in the next couple of days. Hopefully this will make a difference. Not being able to stomp it in 4th and 5th sux. I wish when I asked the question:"Does this tune have any issues at altitude, because I live at 9000ft", I'd have gotten an answer different than:"No, no, this tune runs great in all conditions". I've had to spend a LOT of extra money, that I didn't anticipate, dialing this thing in. I can hear other saying:"I told you so!" now.

When I do get it dialed, however, it will be great!

[UrSobsessed]

Some nice work.... I am glad that we at 034 were able to help out. You will have to post pictures and video up when you are done. By chance, was your car at S-Line this past June getting some work done?

It was in there around then having the downpipe fabbed up. I don't remember the exact dates. Were you out here at S-Line?

[200 Avant]

Nice looking ride Dace,

What a story.. I think that I've seen you driving around Golden on Hwy 93. I was just reading the bluetooth install on Q.F.

Love to check your ride out in person. Hopefully within a month I have a new engine and 6 speed about ready to drop in the Avant. My goal is 3.5 days for the complete swap and then a trip up to see Brendan for a bit of S.S. welding. Aggressive I know, but I think that it's doable with the help of a couple friends and a detailed layout of all new parts.

[brianspillner]

Sweet build, very entertaining to read. Glad to see you got through all the issues. So what's next? Props to a fellow 3071r owner

[UrSobsessed]

200 Avant wrote:

Nice looking ride Dace,

What a story.. I think that I've seen you driving around Golden on Hwy 93. I was just reading the bluetooth install on Q.F.

Love to check your ride out in person. Hopefully within a month I have a new engine and 6 speed about ready to drop in the Avant. My goal is 3.5 days for the complete swap and then a trip up to see Brendan for a bit of S.S. welding. Aggressive I know, but I think that it's doable with the help of a couple friends and a detailed layout of all new parts.

Thanks! I come through there periodically. I'd love to see your project also. Who's building your engine?

Sweet build, very entertaining to read. Glad to see you got through all the issues. So what's next? Props to a fellow 3071r owner

Thanks! I'm going to do a suspension refresh with all new bushings, S6+ springs, Koni shocks and Apikol rear sway bar. At that time I'll also replace the rear diff seals. One of them is starting to weep, so while I'm in there... Hopefully I can also get my surge issue resolved soon with minimal expense! Down the road, a 6 speed and built bottom end, whichever needs to be done first(also money depending)

[RufCTR]

I was driving across the country to 034 to start work. One of the slide pins for my d/side rear caliper came out and I lost it on the road 35 miles outside Denver. Dave was awesome and helped me get back on the road.

[UrSobsessed]

I was driving across the country to 034 to start work. One of the slide pins for my d/side rear caliper came out and I lost it on the road 35 miles outside Denver. Dave was awesome and helped me get back on the road.

Yeah dude, Dave rocks! There is another pearl car, a '92, that Dave has built that is a bad-ass ride. That one was in there around that time too, so you might have seen it instead of mine.

[HeartlessNomad12]

glad its working out for you finally, got lucky with that belt not going

[loxxrider]

nice, good luck getting it figured out the rest of the way

[RufCTR]

Actually, I think that car was sitting above yours on the lift. I have a picture on my phone that I will send to my e-mail and post if you want.... :-)

[200 Avant]

I'm building my engine and pimping a few Audi buddies (Max, Matt, Peter) along the way. Mr. Weldon has been a BIG help with parts and will be helping with the transplant and others too... 3zero3 motorsports, Hank, Apikol, Ridge Reamers machine shop, 034, Scott Advanced Automotion on the tranny, My wife and others. Certainly kudos to many..

Lets get together.. Love to see your steed

Here's a taste.. Lots to follow in the next month

Attachment ( 24712 ) : AAN Top View.JPG

[mxnhid]

Yeah, i might sniff around that get together...plus i want to get Tom's car up and running That will be a nice D.D. but yours is mountain goodness once the suspension is done. Any interest in bringing it out to High Plains Raceway for an open day?? I want to bring mine out there. $120 for the day and we can beat our cars as hard as we want on a race track with our own helmuts....Sounds like fun to me...We should get this Mcstiff guy out there too

[RufCTR]

200 Avant wrote:

I'm building my engine and pimping a few Audi buddies (Max, Matt, Peter) along the way. Mr. Weldon has been a BIG help with parts and will be helping with the transplant and others too... 3zero3 motorsports, Hank, Apikol, Ridge Reamers machine shop, 034, Scott Advanced Automotion on the tranny, My wife and others. Certainly kudos to many..

Lets get together.. Love to see your steed

Here's a taste.. Lots to follow in the next month

Glad we could help. I like the paint-work? Powder-coated?

[Mcstiff]

Yeah, i might sniff around that get together...plus i want to get Tom's car up and running That will be a nice D.D. but yours is mountain goodness once the suspension is done. Any interest in bringing it out to High Plains Raceway for an open day?? I want to bring mine out there. $120 for the day and we can beat our cars as hard as we want on a race track with our own helmuts....Sounds like fun to me...We should get this Mcstiff guy out there too

Hopefully by spring I'll have time to sort out the things I want to have sorted out for the track. Getting a group of I5s out there would be cool!

[RufCTR]

Can I come join you guys?

[mxnhid]

Can I come join you guys?

Sure, but your going to have to get serious with your car first :wink:

But fer realz, i just want to get a group out there and have some fun, no special set ups needed.

[Mcstiff]

But fer realz, i just want to get a group out there and have some fun, no special set ups needed.

I'm talking reliability and safety stuff not Holset and R rubber

[200 Avant]

Powder Coated and ceramic coated hot stuff...

[UrSobsessed]

So I installed an anti-surge housing on my 3071 to try to quell the surging I was having in 5th, and to a lesser extent, 4th gears. After driving it for a few hundred miles, it has definitely helped! I'm psyched about this! I've put the screws to this thing and it has not shown the signs of surge that it did before. Peak boost is still a little off in 5th, but that doesn't bother me as it's insignificant.

A pic of the housing:


Now to sort out the starting/idling issues...

[chaloux]

Wooo! Nice looking housing ya got there. Looks quite a bit more aggressive!

[RufCTR]

Nice work, I'm glad that helped... might go that route myself in the future.

[UrSobsessed]

So I finally finished my suspension refresh. Doing things to this car has really taught me a level of patience I didn't have before. What I thought would take a week or so, took almost a month. Much of what took so long is due to the :tard: factor that controls part of my mind. Anyway, so much of what I have learned doing this was made MUCH easier by those who have posted before me or have answered my questions along the way. So a big :thanks: to all!

I set out to do a complete suspension refresh, and did just that. The things I did were:

Front:
New subframe bushings(front/rear)
New control arms/bushings
New nuts, bolts and necessary washers
New axial bearings
New UrS6+ replica coil springs(Hyperco)
New Left, right drive axles(Empi)
New sway bar bushings
New Koni sport shocks
New bump stops
New shock dust boots -NOTE: The new boots, which were the same part number as the original boots that crumbled off, have a larger bottom opening than the originals. I had to zip tie them in place. The top fits as it should.

Rear:
New subframe bushings(Apikol blue)
New rear diff mount(Apikol blue)
New crossmember I to body bushings(Apikol blue)
New crossmember II to diff bushings
New trailing arm and pivot to hub bushings
New trailing arm to subframe bushings
New trailing arm front mount to body bushings
New nuts, bolts and necessary washers
New camber links(upper control arms)
New UrS6+ replica coil springs(Hyperco)
New Koni sport shocks
New Apikol rear sway bar

Also, since everything was out, I replaced the rear diff left, right and input shaft seals.


:pics: :
Garage mayhem with all of my rear end parts across the floor. The floor jack in the pic died while lowering the diff out of the car. At least it dropped it down gently!



The gutted rear end


I had to improvise this to get the bushings out of the hubs as the press can't get to them to push them out

and in place...


As you can see, there was some leaking going on from the diff...


One thing of note with replacing the seals on the diff: In the DIY that I followed, it says that the left side seal is pushed in to the stop built into the case by the special Audi tool(which I didn't use). YMMV on this!!! I didn't measure the seal depth prior to removal like on the right side because I thought it was unnecessary because of the stop being there. After installing the seal to the stop, I realized that it was way too deep! The inner lip of the inner seal was resting against the ring gear for the diff lock mechanism. Alas, I had to destroy the seal by removing it. :frustrated: So, after measuring where the polish marks on the driver were relative to the case, I figured out the installation depth of the seal needed to be 7mm from the edge of the case to the front face of the seal. Once again, YMMV! Just measure where the seal is prior to removal and this can be avoided!

Below is a pic of the "stop"


After cleaning I installed the rear mount while I waited for another left side seal to arrive


I also had some trouble getting the phillips head screws out of the front of input shaft flange. In fact, I had to drill them out. They were seized in the case. I replaced them with some allen head screws with some anti-seize just in case they had to come out again.


I wish I took more pix, but whenever I get into doing this stuff, I get all consumed and shit and forget about the camera until I've done most of the work. In this case, I missed the work on the front of the car. :(

So, impressions: The car rides SO much better! For the most part, my suspension was not in bad shape. Everything was just original and was due for a refresh. I have the shocks set one half turn from full stiff, which seems to be perfect. The car hugs the road, but the ride isn't rough. The suspension feels firm but compliant on the bumps. One thing is for sure, I can feel the road a lot more. One thing of note is that imperfections in the road are definitely more noticeable. I really like the way the car rides now. The springs feel like they have the right tension and for where I live, the correct ride height. The springs dropped the car about 5/8". Any more drop up here in the mountains would kill my exhaust. A major improvement, the rear sway bar really improves the cornering of the car, especially coming out of the turns! :woowoo: I have it set in the mid-stiff position. That feels right for me.

[UrSobsessed]

Wooo! Nice looking housing ya got there. Looks quite a bit more aggressive!

...especially with the hose over the intake. It looks like there is a HUGE opening in there :wink: