The Project Pad

A new member to the forum, but no stranger to the Audi 5 Cyl world, I'm here to document the rebuild and restoration of my 1995.5 urS6. Why am I calling it Red Arrow Senior? It's following the guidelines of a Single Turbo, 3.0L, Laser Red, B5 S4 I built a few years ago (See Audizine).

Background:

The week I got it:


I originally purchased the from my cousin several years ago as a daily driver while I was in Technical School in lovely Cleveland, Ohio. Equipped with a euro front bumper, headlights, some kind of lowering springs and full RS2 setup, it was nothing short of a fantastic daily driver. Rain, snow, sleet, and anything else that got thrown at it. I did some maintenance, and kept it going. Completed school, treated the car to a euro rear bumper to match, exhaust shop special exhaust, and some different wheels. Decided it was time to "move up" in the world and ended up selling it to a gentlemen in Michigan.

The day I sold it off the first time :


I ended up buying a laser red B5 S4, and since doing single turbo builds was cool, ended up doing this build: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/502354-Project-Red-Arrow-S4-Resto-Mod

Sold that, moved to California and had the opportunity to work at 034 Motorsport as a technician. Immediately contacted the person that bought my urS6 and got it back from him, in slightly rougher shape. Did some maintenance, updated the tune via Rip Chip, and continued to daily drive the car. Came across a very low mileage B5 S4, Traded the urS6 for that, and then built this: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/608560-Project-Blue-Arrow-3-0L-STK-2-Build?p=9965591#post9965591

See a trend here?

Moved across the country to the east coast, grew up a little bit, got promoted to foreman, built a house, and discovered an empty spot in my life. So naturally, I found out who bought my urS6, got in contact with them, and bought the car....for the third time.

This time it came back to me in pretty good shape, some nice euro tail lights added on, and a dead misfire due to a wide open injector. Repaired the injector, did some more maintenance and enjoyed the car for a few months and all the memories that came with it. Here she was enjoying her time on the east coast:



And then coming home one night from dinner, the head gasket decided to retire. In a cloud of smoke, we made it home and shut down the engine for the last time. Sure, I could have replaced the headgasket, cleaned everything up, and kept driving it. But wheres the fun in that? I've wanted to get this car back to "like new" condition ever since my cousin let me drive it for the first time 10 years ago, so off we went...

Started by pulling all the trim, windows, moldings, bumpers and anything else that would hinder an excellent paint job. Any and all minor rust issues were brought to the surface and prepped for repair. Found the trunk rusted out at the plate lights beyond repair, but was able to locate a clean replacement. Got everything packed up, and off to body she went:





The body shop has had her for a few months now, working out all the dents, dings, surface rust and various odds and ends. Some updated pictures they snapped for me:









Got the call on 6.14.2016 that she is finally all done and ready to be picked up! Dragging it home this Saturday to start getting it re-assembled. Pics to follow!

Welcome! Great looking car and fantastic story! It's always nice to see these oldies get the love they deserve. Eager to see to pics of it all together.

Do you know what you want to do with it once it's all tidied up?

That's great! It speaks volumes of these cars that you keep coming back. It's always nice to see someone giving an old Audi the attention it deserves.

Great read, glad you were able to reunite with your old ride again and again.

Looking forward to future updates.

Following. I need to do this to my S6.

Got her back from paint today, looking sharp! Going to try to get the interior going this week and get it looking like a car again before engine/trans work begins. Some Pics:











Didn't get pics of the euro bumpers, but they look just as good as the car.

Nice! Doing it right.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Tried to get some work done this week, but it's just been to damn hot here in South Carolina. Got the headliner out, stripped, and recovered the insert. Started on the actual headliner but couldn't get it perfect. So I ordered new material and am going to have it professionally recovered.

Some pics:









Hopefully more progress when it cools off a bit. Also have some goodies waiting to go in:



Slightly more modern S4 seats, everything will be fully operational and I loose the aweful armrest.



A minty dash with OEM carbon trim. It is S4 spec, but MINOR trimming makes it work flawless in a 95.5 S6.

Stay Tuned!!

sweet! LOVE red Audis

I really like those B6 recaro's. Interested to see what's involved in making them fit

Wow, very awesome story! Thanks for sharing with us. Looking forward to more yummy updates.

Haven't had much time spent on the project lately due to a lot of work travel and the crazy southern heat, but managed to get the HVAC box out and sorted that.

Pulled the box, took it apart. Cleaned up all the flaps, lubed everything up, replaced the heater core with an OEM unit, installed new foam/sealer tape and re-sealed it. I re-coated the blower motor mounts with some silicone grease, and left it at that. I replaced the blower a couple years ago and it still looks minty.

Some Pics:













Dropping the headliner off Tuesday for recovering, and then heading out of town for a week, next goal is the get the HVAC box back in, new dash in and get the interior sorted out and assembled.

Finally had a little time to put some work into the car, hopefully a lot of updates through the Month of August.

Crappy pics, but I got the refreshed heater core/HVAC box in with sealing tape, freshly redone headliner is in as well. Hopeing for the dash and 90% of the interior this weekend, moving to the exterior as well.

Still got a lot of cleaning to do in the engine bay/ firewall area but proof that work is being done!!



And the headliner, looking great:

Thanks for the typically inspirational posts, you're getting a lot done! Everything looks top shelf.

After several hours of choice adjatives the new dash is in, all vents perfectly lined up and sealed, and everything bolted down. Going to start on the seats today and further assembly this week.

Another quick update!

After a lot of swearing, welding, fabrication, wiring...I have B6 S4 recaro's in my C4. Fully working power and heat. I also didn't botch any of the OEM mounting points, so if I ever want to put OEM seats back in I have that option.

A pic:



Center console is also back in:



In between all that I cleaned up A LOT of wiring, cleaned up some messy area's and ran all the wiring for the new Audio System, all tied down to OEM locations using the factory tie downs, because I have major wiring OCD.

Took some time and put all the chrome back on, glued the quarter windows back in, and put the B-Pillar covers on...




Progress is being made!!

Wow. If you ever sell it, whoever the next owner is better appreciate all that work!

After selling it what, twice and restoring it, I sincerely hope life allows him to enjoy it forever!

Another quick update....

Had some time finally now that I'm done traveling for work to get more of the car together. Door and window trim is on, as well as the door frames. All gaps are set and adjusted, everything fits as it should. Going to get the door cards and rest of the interior in this week along with the rest of the little exterior trim, and then its time for engine out!

Progress pics:

Long overdue update:

Exterior is 95% done. Replaced all the lower door moldings with new OEM parts, finished installing all the trim, door panels, speakers, amps, trunk dressings,etc.

Tested all the lights, sunroof, locks, speakers, radio and all is good to go! Pulled her into the day light to snap some pics and clean up shop, going back in tonight and up on jack stands.

Time to start what everyone has been waiting for....engine and transmission work.

Did some more work to the project. Removed the engine, tore it down, found the blown headgasket...and cracked block, and missing inner valve spring, and a whole bunch of other wierd problems that explain a lot of intermitant issues I could never sort out.....

Did some cleaning and tear down....









Now on to the head...

Had a low mileage crack free 7A head that I sent to Iroz Motorsports. They modified it with additional cooling ports and cam sensor bracket. Had it machined, cleaned, and decked at my local machine shop. Installed new valve seals today, lapped in all the Ferrea valves by hand, installed the Supertech valve springs, lifters, and 7A cams with new chain. All ready to be mounted back on the engine!!

Nice work there. I also had an issue with a broken inner valve spring on my first Coupe 20 valve. It ate the top of the guide & created an oil consumption issue.

Nice on the b6 seats in the c4. Love my b6 recaros.

lookin good!

MadAudi wrote:

This is of PRIME interest... where are those install/mod pics?

Fitting those seats was a nightmare. Totally custom brackets made, including welding new cross members to the frame of the car. However, if anyone wanted to put stock seats back in, they would bolt right up and the harness will clip right in.

No pics of that, it was 105*F in my garage and I was grinding to get them done right. But they look good, ey?