Blue_Thunder
Registered User
That was the 'problem' of having two of everything! 
Rest assured, the rest of the eccentric bolts were correct!
Rest assured, the rest of the eccentric bolts were correct!
My DIY S4 "Super Funtime 'Modstoration'"
- Thread starter Blue_Thunder
- Start date
Chriscooke
Clueless!
Blue_Thunder
Registered User
The End (again)
Only a few small jobs left to get it roadworthy.
Rear Brakes were fully fitted ready for bleeding.
Bleeding was a real pain due to the system having been emptied out completely. I ended up putting two litres in to try and get rid of all the air, but I still had virtually no pedal. Jimbo came to the rescue, suggesting it was probably air trapped in the ABS pump. Sure enough, connected up my pressure bleeder at about 12psi, cracked open the first union on the top of the ABS pump and there was plenty of air released. Ran the ABS bleed cycle through Vagcom after that as well and ended up with working brakes!
Seemed a waste of clean fluid, although it's looking much nicer than the gravy that came out!
Before putting the front bumper on, I somehow managed to snap the ambient temp sensor clean off! Thankfully I had one from the old car.
Dropping the car back onto 4 wheels after all this time was exceptionally satisfying.
And I was quite happy with the first glimpse of the front splitter fitted.
I even quite liked the look with no headlights, and have at times toyed with the idea of getting some Lamin-x tints, but to this day have never got around to it.
Took the car for a cheeky spin around the block looking like this. :twisted:
Well, I had to make sure I wasn't leaving fluids behind again like the first shakedown! :lol:
Remembered at this point that one of my headlights had stopped working before the teardown began, so thought i'd sort that before heading over to Awesome for the alignment. Turns out the wiring for the cheap Chinese HID kit i'd been using for years had finally given up the ghost. Looks like they had used tin foil instead of copper in their wires! Had a few replacements knocking about, so that was a nice easy fix (fast forward another few months and I ended up fitting OEM again).
That first decent drive after a build like this is always a nervous one for the DIY'er. :-D
But I enjoyed every minute of it. The car was running very nicely indeed. It went well, it stopped well, it changed gear very well. After the first 30 mins of driving along in paranoid silence, listening out for anything untoward, I even tested the stereo still worked. It was a great success.
Got to Awesome for the alignment and asked them to check over all the bolts, as I had been getting a clunk from the front end when turning over a bump. They found more than one bolt not torqued up correctly.
Still, when they took me over to the car to show me which ones, it gave me the opportunity to check for leaks (none! :-D) and take some pics... All my graft was worth it!
One thing I did notice was the underside of the pass intercooler pressing against the bottom of the (not yet aligned) front bumper. I was going to have to address the IC mounting again at some point.
Alignment was done, bolts were torqued and clunk was now gone!
Leaving Awesome, I headed over to see Rick @ Unicorn. Up until now I had been driving on the map from Blue Thunder, which had been fitted with an RS4 MAF and Y-pipe, APR Bipipe and Water/Meth Injection. I wanted the map tweaked to ensure it was running safe on the lesser spec of New Thunder. We spent a good couple of hours tweaking, and it was safe to say that the car got a proper post-build shakedown, I can tell thee! :lol:
I left Rick's very happy with the smooth power delivery. Sadly not as much punch as the old car, but I had specifically asked for an 'all out' map on that one, so to be expected. Very satisfied indeed.
The following night I was able to give the car a good clean. It had to look presentable turning up to a wedding. Given there had been a little bit of angle grinding and some dremmel cutting action in the vicinity, and I could see a few small tears of rusty water marks on the bonnet as a result, I turned to a new product in my cleaning arsenal - Iron max. This stuff is supposed to dissolve small iron particles such as brake dust and 'fallout'. Turns purple when it reacts with the stuff it's dissolving. It had a lot to clean...
A little cheeky pic of the rear wheels/brakes once cleaned
And in conclusion to the 2nd leg of this epic project, one very satisfying shot taken on the way to the wedding. I really like this photo.
As with any SMART project, one needs to assess the outcome against the requirements. Let's see how I got on with that list from Page 1 - the list I had originally intended to COMPLETE in 10 days...
And on top of that list, I had also managed to:
So aside from the front wings, looks like I was done. Although it had taken me nearly 5 months to get that far. And what had been planned as a virtually zero budget build, became a rather expensive 'modstoration'.
Overall, i'd say a big success. I hope you've enjoyed the journey with me.
But it wasn't quite over yet...
Only a few small jobs left to get it roadworthy.
Rear Brakes were fully fitted ready for bleeding.
Bleeding was a real pain due to the system having been emptied out completely. I ended up putting two litres in to try and get rid of all the air, but I still had virtually no pedal. Jimbo came to the rescue, suggesting it was probably air trapped in the ABS pump. Sure enough, connected up my pressure bleeder at about 12psi, cracked open the first union on the top of the ABS pump and there was plenty of air released. Ran the ABS bleed cycle through Vagcom after that as well and ended up with working brakes!
Seemed a waste of clean fluid, although it's looking much nicer than the gravy that came out!
Before putting the front bumper on, I somehow managed to snap the ambient temp sensor clean off! Thankfully I had one from the old car.
Dropping the car back onto 4 wheels after all this time was exceptionally satisfying.
And I was quite happy with the first glimpse of the front splitter fitted.
I even quite liked the look with no headlights, and have at times toyed with the idea of getting some Lamin-x tints, but to this day have never got around to it.
Took the car for a cheeky spin around the block looking like this. :twisted:
Well, I had to make sure I wasn't leaving fluids behind again like the first shakedown! :lol:
Remembered at this point that one of my headlights had stopped working before the teardown began, so thought i'd sort that before heading over to Awesome for the alignment. Turns out the wiring for the cheap Chinese HID kit i'd been using for years had finally given up the ghost. Looks like they had used tin foil instead of copper in their wires! Had a few replacements knocking about, so that was a nice easy fix (fast forward another few months and I ended up fitting OEM again).
That first decent drive after a build like this is always a nervous one for the DIY'er. :-D
But I enjoyed every minute of it. The car was running very nicely indeed. It went well, it stopped well, it changed gear very well. After the first 30 mins of driving along in paranoid silence, listening out for anything untoward, I even tested the stereo still worked. It was a great success.
Got to Awesome for the alignment and asked them to check over all the bolts, as I had been getting a clunk from the front end when turning over a bump. They found more than one bolt not torqued up correctly.
Still, when they took me over to the car to show me which ones, it gave me the opportunity to check for leaks (none! :-D) and take some pics... All my graft was worth it!
One thing I did notice was the underside of the pass intercooler pressing against the bottom of the (not yet aligned) front bumper. I was going to have to address the IC mounting again at some point.
Alignment was done, bolts were torqued and clunk was now gone!
Leaving Awesome, I headed over to see Rick @ Unicorn. Up until now I had been driving on the map from Blue Thunder, which had been fitted with an RS4 MAF and Y-pipe, APR Bipipe and Water/Meth Injection. I wanted the map tweaked to ensure it was running safe on the lesser spec of New Thunder. We spent a good couple of hours tweaking, and it was safe to say that the car got a proper post-build shakedown, I can tell thee! :lol:
I left Rick's very happy with the smooth power delivery. Sadly not as much punch as the old car, but I had specifically asked for an 'all out' map on that one, so to be expected. Very satisfied indeed.
The following night I was able to give the car a good clean. It had to look presentable turning up to a wedding. Given there had been a little bit of angle grinding and some dremmel cutting action in the vicinity, and I could see a few small tears of rusty water marks on the bonnet as a result, I turned to a new product in my cleaning arsenal - Iron max. This stuff is supposed to dissolve small iron particles such as brake dust and 'fallout'. Turns purple when it reacts with the stuff it's dissolving. It had a lot to clean...
A little cheeky pic of the rear wheels/brakes once cleaned
And in conclusion to the 2nd leg of this epic project, one very satisfying shot taken on the way to the wedding. I really like this photo.
As with any SMART project, one needs to assess the outcome against the requirements. Let's see how I got on with that list from Page 1 - the list I had originally intended to COMPLETE in 10 days...
Project Requirements said:· Engine Pull Done... and Double Done!!!! Never to be repeated again. (although I Never say Never now! :lol
· Fit K04's and pipework Done
· Fit RS4 Intercoolers Done - tweaking needed to pass side fitment for bumper to fit flush
· Fit Injectors Done - Took far too long due to torn injector seals - Mikey-S to the rescue!
· Fit Bosch 044 fuel pump Done
· Fit lovely new 'Liquorice Allsorts' Gearbox (beats the chocolate gearboxes in most S4's!
· Fit Downpipes Done
· F-Hose and N249 delete Done - still not sure if I will reinstate the N249 though...
· Fit new Rocker Cover Gaskets Done - twice due to using wrong sealant the first time!
· Spark Plugs Done
· Replace front subframe Done
· Replace rear arms Done
· Fit B5 RS4 brakes up front Done
· Fit Trig's B6 setup to the rear Done
· Fit Exhaust Done
· Fit RS4 Oil Cooler Done
· Fit RS4 engine mounts + 034 Tranny mounts + 034 Snub Mount Done
· Replace front wings (orginals bubbling to hell) Not started
· Replace steering wheel Done
· Fit cluster with repaired DIS Done
And on top of that list, I had also managed to:
Other stuff I ended up doing which I wasn't expecting said:
So aside from the front wings, looks like I was done. Although it had taken me nearly 5 months to get that far. And what had been planned as a virtually zero budget build, became a rather expensive 'modstoration'.
Overall, i'd say a big success. I hope you've enjoyed the journey with me.
But it wasn't quite over yet...
Chriscooke
Clueless!
Blue_Thunder
Registered User
That's pretty much all the mechanical action wrapped up, although I did have to pull the engine again back in March due to a failed actuator, but that wasn't worthy of writing up as it was a simple engine out -> engine in job.
Done loads cosmetically since this, which I might get round to tagging on the end. But mostly it's just a gazillion photos of me sanding, filling, sanding, priming, sanding, priming, sanding, filling, priming, sanding, priming, painting, sanding, painting, flatting (too much), painting, etc.
Oh, and there was a cheeky interior swap.
I'm extremely happy with the end results though.
Sneak peak of how it sits today...
Edit - Apologies... No sneak peak. This site doesn't seem to allow me to cut and paste links from Photobucket on my phone!
Done loads cosmetically since this, which I might get round to tagging on the end. But mostly it's just a gazillion photos of me sanding, filling, sanding, priming, sanding, priming, sanding, filling, priming, sanding, priming, painting, sanding, painting, flatting (too much), painting, etc.
Oh, and there was a cheeky interior swap.
I'm extremely happy with the end results though.
Sneak peak of how it sits today...
Edit - Apologies... No sneak peak. This site doesn't seem to allow me to cut and paste links from Photobucket on my phone!
