Back Again... Noggy B5 S4

Hi all,

I used to be a regular used on here some years ago when I had an S3 (8L) but moved onto different cars and different forums in the last few years. From the S3, I went to a B5 S4, then a mk2 golf, then another B5 S4, then a B6 A4, then back to a B5 S4, then on to a C5 RS6 and finally ended up where I am now, with yet another B5 S4 as a weekend toy and B5 A4 for a daily.

I picked up my latest S4 in March this year and I’ve had a progress thread going over on *another forum*. I was updating it recently and thought I might as well share the journey on here too. Not sure if there’s a massive B5 following here but some of you might find it interesting, or you might not

Anyway 6 months of updates about to be copied and pasted below – enjoy!

Murray

13/04/18

I've had a few B5’s now but have ended up selling them all for various reasons; moving abroad, job changes etc. I parted ways with my most recent S4, a pre-facelift imola, when I decided on a bit of a whim I wanted an RS6. I had almost a year of (nearly) trouble-free motoring in one of those beasts but couldn't shake the B5 bug. So I sold the RS6, picked up an old A4 to scoot around in and started looking for another S4.

I decided I was going to be quite fussy this time. Previously, I’ve been quite happy as long as the car was mechanically sound – colour, mileage, optional extras etc haven’t overly bothered me. But my plan was to keep the next one for the foreseeable future and although this may well change, I figured I was more likely to hold on to one if it was exactly the spec I wanted.

The wish list was:

Nogaro blue
Facelift
Full history
As few miles and owners as possible
Full black leather or half leather half blue alcantara interior with carbon trim

Everything else (Bose, cc, sunroof, modified/unmodified etc) I could take or leave.

I spent around 6 months searching for one that fitted the bill. Visiting Ebay, Gumtree, Pistonheads, Autotrader and numerous forums became a regular pre-bed routine, much to my girlfriends delight. A few popped up here and there but nothing that fitted the bill at a reasonable price.

Finally, around 4 weeks ago, I came across one on Autotrader. To put it bluntly, the advert was complete sh*t. Two lines worth of information and around half a dozen photos, taken in a field. What I could tell from the advert was positive though - nogaro blue, facelift, 109k miles and black leather interior with full carbon package. A phone call was made and I found myself talking to Stephen, the current owner. I have to say from the offset he was one of the nicest guys I've dealt with when buying a car, absolute gentleman. Anyway he answered a few of my questions and emailed through some more photos. I very quickly decided I wasn't going to waste any time and sent him a small deposit to hold the car - he was almost 300 miles away so popping over for a viewing wasn't an option. I got a flight booked for the following weekend and sat tight.

I left my house in Ayrshire around 9am, was up to Glasgow Airport for 10, flight left at 12, arrived in Birmingham at 1, jumped on a train from there at 2 and arrived in Telford at 3. And.... no car. I waited for 10/15 minutes…. nothing. Needless to say I was getting a little nervous, but turned out Stephen was just running a bit late.

When he pulled into the car park, the car looked awesome, better than in any of the photos. I didn't have much of chance to look over the exterior initially as I jumped in and we headed back to his. On the short drive, he gave me a bit of history on the car. It was originally owned by someone from first registration in December 2000 until July 2001 - possibly a demo car I thought? It was then purchased by a lady who had owned the car from July 2001 until, wait for it, February 2018. Music to my ears! The car had been serviced by Shrewsbury Audi from day 1 and had full history – more good news! The lady had been a friend of his, she'd recently taken a fall and was no longer driving, at which point he'd taken the car off her hands. He'd had it less than a month but in that time he'd had the front wings and boot plinth re-sprayed, the front bumper and bonnet had been given a blow over, all four wheels had been refurbished with new tyres and he'd generally just given it a good tidy up. Why none of this was in the advert i'll never know!

We arrived at his house and it was immediately clear he was a car man – an old Jag XJS project car in the drive as well as a Toyota Celica GT. He set me up with a coffee and essentially left me with the car for half an hour. I genuinely could not believe how good the body work was - probably the best I've ever seen in person on one of these. There were a few very small scratches in the usual areas but nothing really noticeable. It was certainly far better than I had been expecting and crucially I couldn’t find a spot of rust, bubbling or corrosion. The interior was much the same, a bit dirty in places due to a muddy driveway but nothing that wouldn’t clean up. The engine bay was a bit of a mess too, didn’t look to have been cleaned at all in the last 17 years, but again, nothing that couldn't be fixed with some elbow grease. I plugged the car into VCDS - two fault codes showing. One relating to the N75 and another relating to one of the lambda sensors - certainly no deal breakers there. We took the car out and I was pleasantly surprised how well it pulled for a bone-stock car – everything I’ve had before has been mapped. Gave everything a good test and again I couldn't fault the car. I'm pretty sure by this point Stephen knew I was buying it, the huge grin on my face likely having given it away. So we headed back to the house and a deal was struck – I’d bought my fourth B5 S4. Once again I can’t thank Stephen enough, filled the tank for me and even offered me a pizza before I hit the road! The only thing I left worried about was the date of the most recent cambelt change - it appeared to have been last done in 2008!!!

Once I’d handed over the cash, I sent a quick text to DanialA11 - he had a Toyosport exhaust system for sale about an hour from where I was - figured it would be rude not to. Initially, this was purely for cosmetic reasons; I feel the standard, discoloured exhaust tips really let the rear end down and thought some shiny, larger tips would be a huge improvement. If there were any small performance gains that would be an added bonus. I've since started looking into the possibility of RS4 downpipes as well so we'll see where that leads....

I picked up the exhaust in Birmingham and once again hit the road. The car performed great on the 300+ mile, 5 hour trip home. Given the length of time since its last belt change, it was a pretty easy going drive though. As well as being my first experience with a standard engine, it was also my first experience with standard suspension and I have to say I was again quite impressed. If it weren't for the ungodly arch gap on the front I’d be quite happy to leave it as is. But something needs to be done about that gap asap...

In the 3 weeks since I got the car home, not much has happened – it hasn’t left the drive! I rescanned it after the long drive home and only the N75 fault code has reappeared. I’ll keep an eye on it but I’m thinking the lambda code may have been historic fault that has never been cleared? I’ve replaced the standard grill with a genuine RS4 grill I got from Zildjian a while back. I’ve removed the rear S4 badge as it was badly discoloured – I’m undecided whether I’ll be leaving it off or tidying it up and sticking it back on. Oil/filters/spark plugs etc have all been ordered for a service which I’ll hopefully get done in the coming weeks. New reg plates are also required as the current ones are pretty bad. I’m a big fan of the OEM look so I won’t be doing anything crazy. Short term plan is to fit the exhaust as well as some coilovers and spacers. That should pretty much get the car looking as I want it. Brushed aluminium mirrors are also on the wish list but not a priority at the moment.

More than any of that, I’m really just looking forward to giving the car a proper good clean and polish – so far I’ve only managed a quick wash. Same for the interior and engine bay – both have the potential to look great but I just haven’t had the time to tidy them up! Obviously any general maintenance (new N75 for example) and servicing will be done as and when required. When that’s all taken care of, I’ll think about taking her for a remap. I’ve sent a message over to Rick at Unicorn with a few questions; they seem to have a great reputation so looking forward to his reply.

I also had a bit of good news on the cambelt front – I had a more in depth look through the service schedule and it appeared to suggest it may have been changed in 2013. Whatever numpty has filled in the book has ticked both the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ boxes for belt replacement… So I put in a call to Shrewsbury Audi and they were able to confirm it had indeed been done just over 4 years and less than 11,000 miles ago. Happy days!

Anyway, some photos – all taken on an old iPhone 5 so very average quality. As I said it’s only had a quick wash so far, really looking forward to seeing how it comes up after a proper polish!






Front grill change:





There’s something deeply satisfying about a clean filler cap area…



Goodies waiting to go on



A quick shot with my daily B5 – a 2001, 1.8SE with 63k on the clock. Treated it to a rare wash while I was doing the S4. They’ll henceforth be known as the blues brothers….



That’s all for now but hopefully there’ll be some interesting stuff to come – looking forward to the next few months!

15/04/18

Had a semi-productive few hours today. Set about cleaning all the sills and hinges that have gathered up almost 18 years worth of grime. Satisfying job, but at the same time extremely frustrating as there are places my fingers just cant reach!

20/04/18

Tonight's mini task was attempting to refresh the faded boot badge. Picked up a small square of red carbon fibre wrap off ebay and set about it. Quite happy with the results to be honest - obviously missing the little Audi rings but for the £1 I spent its an improvement!

23/04/18

Usual story from the weekend - got a few jobs done but not everything went to plan...

Was out at the car nice and early, stripped off all the engine covers, got air box out etc, and was about to make a start on the plugs. I go into the garage for the tools and cant find the 16mm socket anywhere. So off I went to make a purchase and was ready to start again an hour later.

Whoever had put the plugs in before me, I have to assume it was Audi given the service history with the car, had seriously over-tightened them. Took a proper good effort to loosen them. They all came out in the end though and the new ones (NGK PFR6Q) went in without a glitch. Old ones didn't actually look too bad.



I then moved on to the coolant temp sensor. This'll be easier I thought. Wrong. The plastic clip did not want to move, at all. Eventually, the tab snapped off, leaving both sides of the clip still wedged in place. Took a further half hour to pry these away. When I eventually got them out, it looked like they'd been superglued in place! Anyway once again the old one didn't look terrible - another job done though.



After that I decided I'd had enough; patience isn't my strong suit so I went off to enjoy some sunshine. Finished off with a couple of easy tasks - took the reg plates off, new ones should be here this week, and stuck the boot badge back on.

28/04/19

Jesus f*cking Christ. Downpipe gutting. What an absolute ball ache. I bought a set of RS4 dp's off a guy up north (Craig - not sure if you're on here?) and Rich (Quttrokid) dropped them off this week. I spent an hour and a half on one this morning and its still no where near done. I've been using a host of drill bits as well as a hammer and chisel. Am I doing something wrong?

This is what it looks like after 90 minutes:



And this is how I was left feeling...




If just removing the insides is that difficult I'm really questioning whether or not I should be attempting to fit them myself!

On the plus side my new reg plates have arrived, not in any rush to get them fitted as the car wont be going anywhere soon....

05/05/18

Started off today with high hopes of getting the exhaust and downpipes off. Very quickly realised the job was probably beyond me. Beyond me in terms of expertise, knowledge, patience and tools. I found what looked to be quite a good guide for the job (in case anyone else is looking: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthrea ... ke-Piggies), but it proved a lot more difficult than I expected. I just didn't have the tools to access most of the stuff - didn't want to risk stripping anything or getting half way through and getting stuck, so I've decided i'll either fork out for someone else to do it, or just stick with the standard S4 dp's.

Despite the set back, I decided i'd make the most of the rest of the day. Started piecing the engine bay back together, cleaned all the plastics, stuck a new air filter in, changed the oil and installed the shiny new expansion tank! What a difference a few hours cleaning makes!



I did almost have a mare draining the oil - stupidly assumed the tray I had would hold enough - I was wrong. Started getting closer to the top and I had to run off the to the kitchen, grab an empty can of beans and catch the rest, ended up with this....



And a before and after of the bay. Extremely satisfying job. Still a few bits that could use some more attention but what a difference!




Gave the car another scan when I had it back up and running and the N75 fault has reappeared. Just bought one off a forum member so hopefully that'll be an easy fix! Also tried out my new boost leak tester - bought one off Zildjian last week. All seems ok but I only had it up to bout 5/10 psi, I've since been told it needs to go up to at least 15 to really show up any issues. So will try again next weekend!

08/05/18

So I stated in my original post that there wasn't a single spot of corrosion on the car - yesterday I discovered I was wrong. I spotted a couple of bubbles on one of the rear triangles that i'd not picked up on before, common problem I believe. Not a huge issue and to be honest it was barely noticeable, but I thought I'd try do something about it.

It did cross my mind to swap them over with the ones on my A4 as they're in good condition, however the A4 is a clean little car itself and I don't want it to turn into a donor car. So, as I've done with numerous previous cars, I set about carbon wrapping them.

As many of you will know the B-pillars are a breeze to remove, the triangles not so much. I've previously wrapped them on the car but wanted to do it right and get the best finish, so pulled the door card and got them off. Not actually a bad job at all if anyone else is contemplating it. They come out easy once the frame has been loosened.



Rubbed down the offending item, gave everything a clean and got started with the wrapping. I used 3M Di-Noc - used it on numerous occasions and its been great. Easy to work with too. The results:



They're not perfect, but pretty damn close! Really hard to catch them in the right light when they're on the car but gave it a bash:

29/05/18

Quiet couple of weeks for the car - hasn't really left the garage since the start of the month as I've been over in Florida. Spent the last 16 days driving around in a rather noticeable orange Dodge Challenger... Decent car for cruising on the highways but disappointingly slow when you plant the foot. Never driven a car with such a lazy gearbox either, painfully slow changes! The driving was however brightened up by the price of petrol, around 50/55p a litre!!! Absolute madness.




I arrived home to a bunch of new bits and pieces, including new reg plates, new n75, some led number plate bulbs etc etc. But the highlight was undoubtedly the new coilovers. Went for a set of the KW V1 Inox Lines as they seem to have very good reviews with a price tag which isn't outrageous.



I'm also fortunate to have a friend living in Miami, so I got him to order me some 034 Motorsport top mounts which a collected while I was over in The US.



Got everything fitted today and the car looks better already - not particularly low yet but the massive front arch gap has been reduced so I'm happy. I'll probably wind them down a little more this weekend and get some spacers ordered.



What size spacers are people running on standard wheels? I'm sure my first S4 had 10mm all round and it sat quite nice. But i'm sure my last two have had 16mm on the rear and 11mm on the front and they seemed to sit nice too... Thoughts?

15/07/18

Slow progress over the last month or so but managed to squeeze in a few hours this weekend. Always helps when the girlfriend is away for the day!

The cars been off having gutted RS4 downpipes fitted, got it back at the start of the week. The standard exhaust has been stuck back on for the moment as I’m contemplating having a full custom number made up, yet to be confirmed though…

I spent a fair bit of time fiddling with the coilovers to get the ride height as I want it, and trying various sized spacers. I’ve settled with 15mm on the rear with 12mm up front. I was so busy admiring my new stance that I forgot to take any photos, sorry! With the exception of some grotty exhaust tips it’s pretty much looking how I want it now (externally) - happy days!

I also had a hose kit delivered through the week from Creations Motorsport - used some of their stuff on my old S3 and it was decent so thought i'd give it a bash. Another thing on the to-do list. And I picked up a second hand y-pipe last week and had it repainted, cant wait to fit this, should make a huge difference to the bay!



So the short term to do list currently looks like this:

1) Noticed one of my CV boots was split so that’ll need replaced, hopefully going into the garage this week.
2) Fit all the new engine bay goodies.
3) 4 wheel alignment now I've settled on a ride height. Steering feels spot on at the moment but no doubt some adjustment will be necessary after fitting the coilovers.

Photos to follow as soon as I get the chance/weather!

18/07/18

Had the car in for CV boot replacement yesterday so all fixed up now.

Went to fit some of the new silicone hose goodies from Creations Motorsport last night as well and to be honest I was left fairly disappointed. The TBB needed some serious trimming to get even remotely close to fitting, and after a lot of chopping I still wasn't happy with it. On the plus side, the old one is in great condition, so I've ended up sticking it back on. Lesson learned - if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I've message the company but not holding my breath.

I also discovered while I had everything out that my Bosch DV's were holding zero pressure. So I've stuck a set of Baily DV30 recirc valves on for the moment - not entirely sure how good they are but I've had them lying around for a while so may as well put them to use! I also noticed that after 30/40 miles of driving my N75 fault code hasn't re-appeared.... is it possible the code was being caused by non-functioning diverter valves? Either way I really should just bite the bullet and fit the new N75...



And just to add insult to injury, my viscous fan coupling has kicked the bucket, so the car sounds like a truck/4x4 when pulling away. Not ideal!

So a few things to sort out but she's still pretty to look at

05/08/18

Some photos of the new exhaust system. I'm still undecided on the sound but its growing on me. Sounds nice in the lower revs but a little raspy at the top end. As I said though it is growing on me. As things stand, I've got gutted RS4 downpipes (with some new gaskets at the top end), a custom centre section with no cats and new flexi's, and a Toyosport back box. I'm no expert on exhausts but workmanship looks pretty good:





Painted the callipers this weekend as well, really happy with how they turned out. Four coats of high temp calliper paint, some decals, and a few coats of lacquer. Ideally i'd like to upgrade them at some point but this'll do for now:





While I had all the wheels off I took the chance to clean out the barrels, satisfying job!



I also picked up some OEM Kayser recirc valves from Ziljdan (thanks again Paul), so threw them on and got the Bailey's relegated to the garage. Also replaced all the DV hoses with some fresh silicone ones.

I mentioned previously that I thought my viscous coupling was toast - got a genuine replacement from Jimbo but this doesn't seem to have solved my problem. However I did discover that if I unplug the MAF the car runs absolutely spot on....

Definitely getting closer to finding the source of the problem, hopefully i'll have it sorted and running at 100% sometime in the next month after my holidays. The car is booked into MRC at the start of September - nice little road trip for me - but that'll need to be postponed if the car isn't running spot on.

Forgot to mention from a few weeks ago - LED number plate bulbs are in and new trimmed reg plates are on. Went with Velcro for attaching them, nice and easy to remove for cleaning purposes!

Also on a slightly negative note – I’ve had a pretty bad experience dealing with Creations Motorsport over the last couple of weeks. I’ve used them before on my old S3 with no issues but can’t say the same this time round. The hose kit they make for the 2.7tt engine, or at least the one they sent me, is an absolutely atrocious fit. As in my previous post, I had to completely butcher the TBB to get it even remotely close to fitting. And after a lot of work I discovered the sensor which goes on top didn’t sit correctly. At this point, had the rest of the kit been ok, I wouldn’t have had an issue. However I then moved on to the upper/lower boost hoses and lobster claws and it was more of the same unfortunately. Customer service from them has left a lot to be desired shall we say….

10/08/18

Some good news tonight - went along to Ayr Audi after work to collect a new MAF and MAF connector. Got home, nervously stuck it on, and boom, the car is back! Well chuffed it actually turned out to be the MAF, I had visions of me chasing an issue for months but looks like I've got to the bottom of it. And it was only the second thing I tried, how often does that happen with B5's!?!? On top of that the nice parts guy gave me 10% off for no apparent reason.



Off on holiday for a week tomorrow so the cars tucked up in the garage - hopefully it still works when I get back haha

23/08/18

Had the car out for a quick half hour run tonight, first time in more than 2 weeks. Still putting a smile on face every time I drive it! And I'm now a fully fledged fan of the exhaust! Found myself parked up next to a Q3 - not exactly the biggest car but still makes the B5 look so small!

06/09/18

Got round to fitting the freshly painted y-pipe this week, really happy with how the engine bay is looking now - very clean and very OEM! Also stuck a new 034 Motorsport f-hose on, old one appeared to be fine but I know they're prone to splitting and with a remap on the horizon I figured better safe than sorry!





I also stuck the undertray back on after being too lazy to do it for the last few months and of course finished off with a wash and coat of quick detailer!

11/09/18

Well it’s been an exciting and exhausting couple of days for me (and the car!). She was booked into MRC for a health check and re-map on Monday, a fairly run-of-the-mill event for a B5 owner, however for me this involves a 750+ mile round trip. There isn’t a huge choice of tuners up here in Scotland, and certainly nobody I know of who has any sort of reputation when it comes to B5’s. I know there are a couple of reputable people/places down towards Manchester, however I figured if I was going to make that trip I’d be as well going all-in and heading to MRC.

In preparation for the trip and in the last few hundred miles, the car has been fully serviced, all fluids checked, all fault codes fixed and cleared and it’s been pressure tested. I also replaced the F-hose – a part which I know is prone to splitting – with an uprated 034 Motorsport silicone item (thanks to Eddie at WOT Motorsport). I also have an 034 TBB en-route but this hasn’t arrived yet.

So I gave the car a quick once over and set off from Ayr around mid-day on Sunday; I planned a nice leisurely drive down with one stop. Apart from the usual traffic, everything went to plan, arrived at the hotel when expected and dumped my stuff. Car was faultless. Popped out before heading to bed to fill the tank and find a jet wash. Gave the old girl a hose down before the big day; couldn’t have her dirty for the obligatory dyno run photos! I also gave the car a quick scan before heading to bed and nothing had popped up after the circa 400 mile drive down, happy days!

Parked up for the night at the hotel, end space, on my own, and of course I return to this in the morning. Typical.



Spotted a lovely Goodwood RS4 parked just out of shot – turned out he was en-route to MRC as well!

I was outside MRC just before 8am; it’s quite a surreal experience pulling up to the place I’ve read and seen so much about. I dropped the keys off and headed to the café round the corner for a quick breakfast and coffee, didn’t want to miss anything interesting! Upon return I of course spent a good half hour drooling over the cars in the yard, 4 B5 RS4’s, 2 widebody S4’s including the FS performance car, a few C5 RS6’s, a C6 and a C7 RS6, an RS7, a couple of B7 RS4’s and an RS3 to name but a few.

Anyway, the health check came back pretty good, one small leak from the DV hose – turned out the hose was fine but the jubilee hadn’t been tightened fully. I’ll probably have to take the blame on that one, must have missed it after I removed the DV to fit the F-hose a few days ago! To be honest I was dreading the pressure test; last thing I wanted was to have made the huge trip down only to discover a major boost leak had developed somewhere on the drive. So that was a massive relief. The technician who fixed it also commented on how clean the car is which was nice to hear!

From there, she made her way to the dyno for a warm up and pre-map run. Queue the aforementioned obligatory dyno photos….




Doug reported 267 pre-map, pretty impressive for a car which came out the factory 18 years ago with about the same and has only had DP’s and an exhaust! I then left him to work his magic for a while and returned for the post-map runs. After a couple of runs, he wasn’t happy with the N75 valve so a new once was fitted and all was well. Long story short, the car is now making 338bhp with flat shift and launch control. I was completely on the fence about having these installed as I really can’t see myself using them much, if ever. After speaking with Doug though, I decided to go ahead with it. There was no extra cost and as he said, it’s not something I could ‘accidentally’ use. So if I don’t feel the need to use them, I simply won't. A dormant modification if you like!

Some more photos/videos:






Everything was done by mid-day and to say I was one happy man would be an understatement. The car was given a clean bill of health, performed well during the half dozen hard runs on the dyno, and she was now ready to head home with a 25% power increase. I paid my (substantial) bill, got my shot outside MRC and hit the road.



The huge grin was soon wiped off my face by the ****** M6 – I’ve driven the road countless times over the last decade and not once have I had a clear run, not even close. What an absolute piece of sh*t road. Between road works, speed limitations, average speed cameras and awful drivers it’s an absolute nightmare. My heart goes out to anyone who uses it on a daily basis!

I did treat myself to a couple of flat shifts on the way home and wow, what a noise! It’s certainly not something I’ll be doing regularly though, especially around town. I still haven’t been able to bring myself to try a launch; I just can’t see it being any good for the car. I’m also not entirely sure where I’d ever need it in real world driving….

Anyway I made it home safe and sound, again the car was faultless. And she still looked pretty clean after a 6 hour drive in the wind and rain!




The final trip mileage was just over 750 – I almost doubled my total mileage in her since I got it 6 months ago.

Forgot to mention, I also picked up some genuine BBS CH’s on the trip. All 4 need refurbished and all 4 require tyres, but I couldn’t pass them up! Refub and tyres will need to wait until my bank balance recovers from the MRC visit though, so they’ll be stored away for a while.



The plan now is to spend some time enjoying the car and NOT spend too much money on it. But hey, the best laid plans n all...

I'd specifically like to spend some time proper cleaning and detailing it. I've lost count of how may time ive gone to give it a clean and polish and ended up spending the time doing something compleelty different. Plus I've accumulated a mountain of products recently which I've yet to use!

15/09/18

Had a spare half hour this morning so thought i'd try a quick test fit - I now want them refurbed and on the car ASAP!! Can't wait to have them and cleaned up and fitted. Looks like they're going to sit pretty much bang on at the front, haven't tried one on the rear but based on the front i'm guessing perhaps a 5mm spacer could be needed.





I also stuck this little thing back on the bottom of my expansion tank. Not an overly important part but I managed to snap the original when replacing the tank and it was annoying me! Bill9Cars was kind enough send me a replacement free of charge, many thanks mate!



And finally the MRC sticker had to be applied, went for the back window

16/10/18

Not much to report - the car is leaving the garage less and less in this weather.

I did have her in for 4 wheel alignment at the weekend - turned out everything was fine! Cant recommend Ayrshire Alignment enough. Left the car at the garage while I nipped of to do a few things, got a phone call half an hour later to say the car had been up on the ramp, alignment checked with the Hunter Hawkeye machine and everything looked good. Got back to the garage, he walked me through everything on the computer and didn't charge me a penny. Hard to find service like that these days!

Front wheels were both sitting at around -1.45 degrees of camber, rears around -1.25. The caster/toe numbers escape me but were within tolerances.

20/10/18

Spigot rings for the BBS alloys arrived from PW Motorsport this week so I was able to have a proper test fit before I send them off for a refurb. Looks like they're going to sit spot on front and rear, happy days! Will be nice to run without spacers for the first time in a while. Now to decide who i'll trust with the refurb job...






Gave her a quick wash while I was at it and couldn't resist a shot before I locked the garage up. Paintwork looking pretty dam good.

08/11/18

Got my CH's back from the powder coaters last week, over the moon with the results! Went for 'satin silver' - was as close as they had to the original BBS silver. Really should hold off until after winter to fit them but I want them on so bad!

JG51 AUD said:

That's one good looking S4.

JG

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, doing my best to keep it in as good a condition as I bought it. OEM with a few choice modifications is the plan!

Hear-Vier said:

A fascinating read, made me a bit late for work!

If I had any mechanical/engineering skills this is something I would like to attempt.

Click to expand...

Thanks mate! And apologies about work
I'm no mechanic myself, plenty of stuff I wont/cant do! Basic servicing and bolt on/off stuff is about all i'll turn my hand to. I briefly attempted to do the downpipes on this and very quickly realised it was beyond my skill level!

Lowfield said:

Ooohhh that paintwork!!!
I've been cutting, polishing and waxing mine the past few weeks and i'm a million miles away from yours.
Very nice indeed

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, probably more a testament to the previous owner than myself! I've put a few coats of polish/wax on it as well as giving it a clay bar, nothing too drastic.

Stick at it - nothing better than a shiny noggy in the sun

Well she's been tucked up in the garage for the last 6 weeks or so avoiding the bad weather. But I have been collecting bits and pieces to fit the new wheels! And today they finally went on. I've managed to accumulate:

4x genuine BBS CH 012 (18x8.5 et35)
4x Falken FK510's (225/40/18)
4x genuine BBS centre caps
4x centre cap retaining rings
4x new centre cap stickers
4x new tyre valves
4x BBS aluminium valve covers
4x Bimecc spigot rings
4x spigot ring retaining rings
16x tapered wheel nuts
4x Mcgard locking wheel nuts
And last but not least, a bottle of Gtechniq C5 wheel armour. Turns out you need a lot of sh*t to fit 4 wheels!





I coated them last week with the C5 and left them to cure for 24 hours, should hopefully keep them in top shape. After application:



The centre caps that came with the wheels, while genuine, were in pretty bad shape so I removed the existing faces, gave them a quick coat and stuck on some new red centres. I had the tyres fitted down at Ayrshire Alignment, again cant recommend them enough, and here's the fonal result:



And on the car:

It was a toss up between red and black centres to be fair, I like the red with the red callipers but maybe not to everyone's taste! I agree about the standard wheels, I really like them too, and having owned 4 of these this is the first time I've actually changed wheels. I do think the CH's make the car look a few years younger though

Belated update from a couple of weeks ago...

New clutch arrived today! Many thanks James. Basically I've felt mine slipping a couple of times under load over the last few weeks. After much research online, it seemed that genuine RS4 was the way to go in terms of a replacement. Lots of people seem to be using them with no issues in much higher powered cars than mine, there was just one problem - the pressure plate is now NLA! I couldn't find one a anywhere, so had started looking at various aftermarket options, most at least double the price. And word on the street is the LUK kit available from Eurocarparts isn't made to the same standard as this. Then luckily this came up for sale, James had been collecting parts for a K04 build that was no longer going ahead. to say I was pleased is an understatement! No plans to change it any time soon, car still drives spot on, just glad to have this waiting.


Also arriving today were some old playground tiles I picked up off ebay for £8 I read something recently about cold concrete causing tyres to crack as it sucks the moisture out of them if left for long periods of time - no idea how much truth there is in that but for 8 quid I figured i'd do something to prevent it haha. Should also limit the chance of any flat spots!

Samuel c5 Q said:

338bhp is some going with dp and exhaust. It used to be about 310-320 with a filter and exhaust but not sure who that was doing the mapping. Just shows you mrc know their stuff. I flat shifted a sierra a few times and it was fun but probably not very good for it. I did a few launches in my c5 1.8t quattro and felt bad about it. Seems harsh. Yours will have so much torque the launch would hardly be required most of the time. My power band starts higher up and it bogs down a bit if you're not nasty with it. Have to say lovely car. I'd sleep in mine if I had one.

Click to expand...

Yeah absolutely agree about the launching - I've yet to launch the car and I honestly don't think I ever will! Like you say, it picks up ****** quick anyway, really don't see any need for it.

Appreciate the comments - hopefully it'll not bankrupt me to the stage where I actually am having to sleep in it

Well its been a boring few months for the car. It's sat in the garage for almost 2 months now, had a lot going on elsewhere so just haven't had the time to get out in it. Next weekend i'm hoping to have a spare few hours so weather permitting she'll be out for a blast!

I did have some more parts arrive though, some beautiful new B pillars and rear triangles. They've been carbon skimmed with a blue weave carbon from the US. Very close match to the OEM interior carbon trim and one of only 2 sets in the UK.






Over the moon with how they've turned out. Unfortunately the process of getting them has been an absolute nightmare. Its been over 6 months since I sent the parts off to be done and its been a complete **** show since. Lost parts, found parts, wrong parts sent out, countless lies and more broken promises than you'd believe. A real shame to be honest - based on what I've received, I would almost certainly have had more done. As things stand, I wont be going anywhere near the company again. I wont publicly slate anyone but if anyone's thinking of having parts skimmed, I can certainly tell you who not to use.

Big thanks is owed Jake for sorting out the order, patience of a saint!

Hoping to get these fitted in the coming weeks - photos will follow

Well I’ve been pretty busy with other things of late, renovating a house and attempting to move into it being the main one.

Went to take the car out at the start of March for the first time in 7 or 8 weeks and sure enough it was completely dead. And me being Mr Sensible had parked it in the garage front first. Sooo I towed her out and attempted to jump start it off the A4, but nothing. This was at 3.45pm… the local EuroCarParts closed at 4pm… needless to say a mad dash across town ensued. Made it just in time and had my hands on a new Bosch S4 096 by 4.01pm.

After a more leisurely drive home, I got the new battery dropped in and she was back in the land of the living. New battery matches the noggy blue nicely!



I’ve also managed to get all my carbon goodies fitted over the last few weeks but to be totally honest, i'm undecided on them. Think they may be a little too blue against the noggy paint? I reckon they’d look spot on against a darker colour but not sure if it’s too much blue for me... I’ll leave them for a few months and see if they grow on me.









I’ve also managed to do a bit more driving over the last few weeks as I’ve got a bit less on my plate; been great using the car for what it was meant to do! But every time I’ve found myself looking at the car thinking – could it use some small wheel spacers? As much as the car sits nice without them, I just couldn’t help feeling a few millimetres front and back would take it from nice to perfect... So I bought some – 3mm for the front and 5mm for the rear. And also some new extended bots as the current ones were already at their limit.
I THINK it’s just about perfect now – amazing the difference only a couple of mm can make to the look of a car. As you can see its barely a sliver.



How she currently sits:



Not much else to report. Hopefully get some time over the next few weekends to give her a good clean and polish, got a new DA polisher i'm excited to try. Just enjoying driving her at the moment!

*Pic Heavy Post*

Well what a weekend that was! I took the car along to the EditionNoggy event being held at Perth Audi and it did not disappoint I was off work on the Friday so gave the car a proper deep clean. After some practice on my old A4, I set about the S4 with the DA polisher as well… very happy with the results!







I drove over on the Saturday morning and met up with around 15 other noggy enthusiasts in Pitlochry. We took the cars for a leisurely drive through the countryside, stopped for a coffee, got some photos etc; it’s amazing the attention a snaking line of 15 blue cars gets! Weather wasn’t great but we still had an enjoyable run on a well-planned route.

Some photos from the Saturday:







Sunday was time for the main event at the Perth Audi dealership. Not much to say really other than it was a huge success for all involved. There were a total of 20.5 noggy blue Audi’s in attendance, including two near immaculate RS2’s, every generation of RS4 (B5, B7, B8 and B9), a host of S4’s (B5, B6 and B7), a monster S8, a few S3’s, TT’s and a C5 S6. Oh and of course the unmistakable EditionNoggy barbeque, hence the 20.5 cars Some photos from the day (a mixture of my own and some taken by others):

























As above it was a great success and there was possible talk from Perth Audi of a world record, but who knows. All in I covered around 350 miles over the course of the weekend, happy to report the car never missed a beat That’s the most miles I’ve put on her since my trip down to MRC last year and have to say I enjoyed every minute of it.

13/07/19

Had the car out a lot more recently, enjoying bits of nice weather here and there clutch is performing absolutely fine now, haven't felt any slipping at all and I've been on a few 'spirited' drives. Looks like the RS4 clutch will be staying in the box a while longer! (fingers crossed...)

Picked up some 034 goodies which i'll hopefully get on soon, nice and straightforward to fit. Just need some matching lobster claws now.



Also got myself some big brakes, a set of Brembo 18z's. Standard ones work fine however there's been a couple of occasions where I've found myself looking for a bit more stopping power. The only thing putting me off fitting them is i'll not be able to fit the standard wheels, which I do really like. So they'll probably sit in the garage for a ages while I decide. Need to give them a paint anyway, they'll be going the classic red.



Mtec were running a 10% discount last week so thought it would be rude not buy some discs, went for the ML55 ones that a lot of people seem to use with the 18z's





And the only photo I've taken of the actual car in about 2 months!

17/08/19

DIY refurb complete - just need to figure out how to fit them with my very average mechanical skills...










Far from a perfect job but really happy with how they turned out!