98 Volcano Black Avant V6-QS build thread; 2.7T swap, C6 RS6 brakes & more...

[aragorn]

You know, gunmetal rails could look awesome...

I've got a spare set that i was planning on painting gloss black for the wifes car, but maybe that would work better as a theme to tie in with the wheels. Also got a set of the B and C pillar trims to do at the same time.

 

[Farmer Broad]

As much as I truly do love the idea of Gunmetal rails and trims (now stored in the memory bank for another project!) I must admit the whole point of this car is for it to be an understated, and as original as possible, B5 A4, bar wheels and ride-height, so I will most likely leave her as-is. I just love the factory spec of this car so I don't want to start changing her too much. As said though gunmetal rails and trims would look ****** lovely!

Here is a controversial statement.... I am not a fan of facelift lights! I love the PFL looks, which is another reason why I was only interested in a MY98 car. She has most of the FL addons while still retaining the PFL exterior and interior. In my opinion that's the perfect B5, but, as I've said previously, looks & style are subjective!

Cheers all!

 

[aragorn]

PFL Xenons?
The halogen PFL lights make it look quite dated, and dont actually illuminate the road The S4 Xenons would keep it period correct, but enable you to actually see

 

[spartacus 68]

PFL Xenons?
The halogen PFL lights make it look quite dated, and dont actually illuminate the road The S4 Xenons would keep it period correct, but enable you to actually see

Agree completely. The halogen lights are truly shocking. I've seen more light coming from an 8 year old's birthday cake with half the candles already out!

 

[S4_dan]

I disagree with the pfl halogens. My derv shed has much better light output onto the road over my TQS fl projector lamps!

Obviously HID is a game changer altogether, but I'd prefer pfl halogens over fl halogens any day.

 

[Bradderz_1988]

Theres a set of S4 PFL xenons on srs £55 + postage

 

[Farmer Broad]

The thing that puzzles me is that the headlights on my B5 are actually better than the xenons in my B6.... Then again, in my opinion, everything about the B5 is better than the B6!

With respect to everyone I must admit that I highly doubt I'll be changing the headlights on the B5. Anyway, I couldn't afford to change them at the moment anyway with the way she is currently destroying my, urm... can't say bank account as I'm a farmer and we don't believe in them, shall we say cash reserves that never existed anyway if you're the tax man?!

I was fitting my SAI blanking kit from O34 when I decided to check the chargers for shaft play, bad move, wish I hadn't! Long story short I'm now weighing up my options of what to do regarding buying new turbo's.

I'm not keen on buying more K03's but at the same time I just cannot currently afford to do the upgrade that I want to. I feel dirty for saying it but I keep looking at the cheap and nasty K04 eBay specials from China and thinking "how awful can they be?" I know it is wasting money but I am desperate get the engine in, running and then mapped just so I can go to a few local meets this year before ripping the engine back out over the winter to do the actual build that I want, engine wise.

Actually it has been one of those weeks thinking about it. I bought another C6 RS6 rear brake set-up with calipers that has turned up without the pads (even though listed as with them) and I also bought a C5 RS6 front hub and bearing assembly that has arrived as just a bearing.... On a happier note I did fit the new wheels on the front today... still love them!

I'll post some pictures later when my beautiful lady stops hogging the iPad!

 

[AlexA4Avant]

Why not hold off on the meets to get the engine done how you want. Then hit the scene with a beast of a engine

 

[Farmer Broad]

I know, it's ridiculous! I probably should change what I said in the earlier post as, in truth, it's not so much the meets and being ostentatious, it's more being able to drive the car and meet (car) friends that I haven't seen in years... as much as I want to punch myself for saying it I think I'm missing certain aspects of... "The Scene"

Anyway, I did take some pics of the car on all four wheels today but because I haven't played with the front ride-height I can't bring myself to post them (she looks awful) I did, however, finally get round to fitting some new number plates so I'll leave with a pic of that.

Night all

 

[AlexA4Avant]

I know how you feel I have the same with shift work

 

[aragorn]

The china turbos will be lucky to last a couple thousand miles. They really are pretty crap.

The cost of new K04's and the cost of new K03's is pretty similar tbh. Its a no brainer to fit K04's now.

Alternatively, just run the turbos you have. Unless they are completely fubar. How much play is actually in them? I presume the engine came from a working car?

 

[Farmer Broad]

The engine was from a running car, yes. I drove it around the farm for a few weeks just to see if anything was noticeably wrong!

It felt strong actually and didn't puff out any smoke when running but there must be around 4-5mm of shaft play, in/out and side to side.

I did have a friend working at a place called TurboDynamics down this way so I may see if he is still there and able to price up some K04's... Failing that does anyone recommend a place to get some and roughly what I should expect to pay? (I probably should just do a search on here!)

Sorry for the questions but Turbo's are far beyond my speciality!!

 

[aragorn]

The usual approach is to buy some knackered ones and fit new CHRA's. Probably expect a grand to 1500ish, depending on how much you pay for the used cores.

A lot of people are wary of fitting used ones due to the work involved, but brand new complete turbos are about a grand each.

 

[Farmer Broad]

Ok, hope no-one gets mad by this as it is actually nothing to do with my B5 as I'm rather busy with other stuff so haven't made any progress on her bar speaking to my local garage about swapping out some new wheel bearings and hub spindles on my alloy uprights.

Anyway we all know that eBay is dangerous and so, well, yeah... this happened.




Not that I've been planning on building an A2 for years or anything but in my parts bin I just so happen to have a few spare AGU 1.8T's, Polo 9n GAZ Coilovers a few sets of 5x100 wheels and, well you get the idea, another engine swap and general ruining of a good car is about to commence. I must admit though that I really wanted to drop a 1.4TFSi in her but they are just out of my budget unfortunately.

I know it isn't a B5 and I'm in totally the wrong section but I just wanted to share it with you guys as I think they're super cool cars and, after all, we are all general Audi lovers aren't we?!

 

[aragorn]

1.8T A2 would be epic, and AFAIK using 9n polo bits it literally bolts right in?

 

[VAG-Slag]

Ok, hope no-one gets mad by this as it is actually nothing to do with my B5 as I'm rather busy with other stuff so haven't made any progress on her bar speaking to my local garage about swapping out some new wheel bearings and hub spindles on my alloy uprights.

Anyway we all know that eBay is dangerous and so, well, yeah... this happened.




Not that I've been planning on building an A2 for years or anything but in my parts bin I just so happen to have a few spare AGU 1.8T's, Polo 9n GAZ Coilovers a few sets of 5x100 wheels and, well you get the idea, another engine swap and general ruining of a good car is about to commence. I must admit though that I really wanted to drop a 1.4TFSi in her but they are just out of my budget unfortunately.

I know it isn't a B5 and I'm in totally the wrong section but I just wanted to share it with you guys as I think they're super cool cars and, after all, we are all general Audi lovers aren't we?!

Awesome, should surprise a few people on the road anyway! Gotta love a sleeper

You aiming for much power wise?

 

[Farmer Broad]

Thanks Aragorn... an "A2T" is kind of totally against what the car is all about so I am fully prepared for a wave of hatred but I've been wanting to do this for many, many years and so I, for one, am really excited.

I know the A2 is on the PQ24 platform and so shares many bay and suspension components with the Polo 9n, Fabia 6y and Mk3 Ibiza but I am finding it hard to gather much information on the swap.

From what I can see the 1.8T should be a direct bolt-in, however my 1.8t's are AGU's from an A3 and a Golf Mk4 and I know for a fact that the Ibiza Cupra uses the AYP (amongst a few others) block which I believe has an internal water pump where as the AGU's have an external one... so I am sure it will all become fun and games. My knowledge isn't good enough to know exactly what to expect but luckily I am always happy to learn while buggering things up.

I'm planning to use Ibiza Cupra/Fabia VRS front hubs in the belief that they erase the nasty FSIII caliper mountings and thus allow me to run LCR front brakes and also to make some sort of hybrid rear beam disc conversion (I know the FSi A2's had disks on the rear so there must be a way) that will utilise the Mk4 Golf GTi rear discs and calipers that I have here.

Anyway I'll stop blabbering on about an A2 in the B5 forum, let's just see what happens and wish me luck!!

 

[Farmer Broad]

Sorry VAG-Slag I didn't see your post!

As it is me I will keep the exterior pretty much stock, thinking of having the chrome inside of the headlights sprayed body colour just to give it a slightly more angry face and possibly have the chrome around the fake grill painted too... not sure yet though.

Wheel wise I am thinking about 18" BBS CH002's at the moment as I quite fancy a "hard" wheel, I have some cheap fake CH002's in 18x8 that have been sat in my barn for a few years to test out my theory and am awaiting delivery of some 215/35 tyres to slap on them... so we shall see what they look like next week hopefully!

Power wise... I'm really not sure! The bay is so small that I feel heat may-well be the limiting factor. I've been speaking to a good friend of mine from Devils-Own regarding water meth but this is just to be a little road car and so if I can get the temps where I need them with just an intercooler I'd be happier, even if it means less power.

One of the AGU's I have is running a K03s and Revo Stage2 map on the ECU so I guess should be just over the 200bhp fly mark but I haven't ever dyno'd the car so I've no idea and I'll most likely change the ecu to another one that I have and have her custom mapped anyway!

So I guess I am saying 180bhp would be fine, 200 would be great and 220+ would be... well, fantastic!

I'll leave with a pic of the fake 002 against the car... disregard the tyre size as that is a 225/40 section from a Golf, I'll be running 215/35.

 

[VAG-Slag]

All transverse 1.8t blocks are the same, couldn't comment on longitudinal

A healthy AGU with K03s and stage 2 mods (3" down pipe, induction, FMIC etc) should flow enough to make around 230/240bhp, perhaps even more. Although I'm not sure where the AGU injectors max out to be honest?... A completely standard K03s engine with just a remap should make over 200!

 

[aragorn]

yep, all transverse 1.8T's are internal pump 06A blocks, no different to the later engines.

find yourself a ibiza cupra or polo gti and rob it of all the mounts etc. As you say, front hubs/driveshafts etc grab the lot.

230hp is sensibly achievable with a K03S, decent exhaust and an intercooler. You'll almost certainly need larger injectors. I would possibly suggest using a later ME7 wiring harness as it will likely better match the A2 platform which i presume already has electronic throttle, and they're just better.

 

[Farmer Broad]

Thanks for the info chaps. It goes to show no matter how "educated" I think I may be from reading stuff off of the internet I actually know nothing! I will say that I was being very conservative with my power predictions, I just don't know what to expect from a big engine and lots of heat in a small bay with limited cooling!

The A2 does indeed have a DBW throttle where as my AGU is cable, I do however have a spare 1.8T DBW throttle from a Passat that I was planning to use.

Well, I am now going to try to research what is needed to convert and old AGU to run with ME7... I'm going to guess rather a lot, which is a worry considering how much she is already costing! A2 parts are what I would call "scary expensive"! At least there are many posts regarding the subject of ME7 to peak my interest for a while.

Anyway, I'm off... maybe I will actually speak about the car that this thread is about next time. Who knows?!

Again thanks for all the help, as always!!

 

[aragorn]

wiring harness is the main thing, you'll also need the ecu, maf, injectors and a few other bits and bobs from a dbw car. Thing is, given your converting a different car anyway, doing it with ME7 instead of M3.8 will make little difference, and given the car is already electronic throttle, the most awkward bit of the job is already sorted.

 

[Farmer Broad]

Sorry all... I promise this will be the last post on my B5 page about my A2 but...

I decieded to pop the coilovers and wheels on today. It took me all day to fit them so I didn't have time to set-up the ride height fully but I thought it was worth taking a few snaps, even though she is filthy too. I'm feeling the rears need to be lifted a few mm and the addition of a 5mm spacer either side wouldn't go a-miss... anyway I think it is about time I started a build thread for her in the A2 section!

 

[Phil_R]

That looks good, much better height for an A2 to sit at and the wheels suit it well

 

[Oranoco]

Looks really smart, love it