djdawson2

I'm the guy that bought Chuck Henry's widebody S4, now known affectionately in my household as the Tangerine Dream. A little update for those who may be interested in following this car.

First off, I want to be clear that IMO Chuck's car was a great purchase. He did an excellent job with the body mods. There are plenty of things that need to be addressed, but Chuck was a 100% straight shooter about all details. I'm NOT one of those guys that buys a car, and then whines endlessly about what the PO did, etc... This car is a great place to start such a project, and I'm glad that a friend spotted it for me. It is a 200k car, so it was reasonable to assume that it would need refreshing, at least. NOTHING in any of these updates will ever be intended to reflect poorly on anything ever done to the car.

The goal is to turn this car back into a street oriented sleeper. Many of the things I'm doing to it are geared towards that objective. Here goes:

I've swapped in Koni coilovers to make the ride more civil for daily use. I also installed a set of ASP 3" downpipes in place of the piggies. I replaced the RS4 intercoolers with the Apikol SMICs. I had those in my prior Stage3, and they were just a little too big, pushing the bumper cover out at the ends routinely. They fit just fine behind the RS4 bumper.

I've replaced all the control arms, and put in the 034 adjustable upper arms... this allowed me to bring the camber into a normal range. I straightened and balanced the wheels/tires - 2 were pretty badly bent.

This stuff has resulted in a much more reasonable driving experience. I did a "home" alignment too, as I had to take a 1300 mile trip in the car this week... the car was running significant toe-out, perhaps for track use. The car was pretty difficult to drive in a straight line at higher speeds, and it tramlined substantially. It's very stable now at higher speeds, and the tramlining is completely gone. I can highly recommend the 034 adjustable upper arms. It's a PITA to get the rubber boots over the sphericals, but other than that, excellent. I was able to adjust the camber to -1.25 degrees up front, where it was running more than -2.

Sad part is that the steering rack is shot too. It binds up big time, and that makes it hard to maintain a straight line on the highway. It does not leak fluid. That'll be replaced next, and I'll probably try to knock that out this weekend along with new tie rods. It appears that it will be a total PITA, as it is buried in there pretty tight.

Side note - seems like some tuner ought to provide a bump-steer cure. A lowered B5 results in a very poor tie rod angle. Since raising the rack is not an option, tie rods built with a spherical outer joint could be used, then an additional steering arm welded on to the uprights. This would allow the tie rod to attach to the upright in a lower position, ending the bump-steer. Sort of like the picture below of a Porsche RSR strut housing.

Other things... The brake setup is a really good Wilwood package, and Chuck did his homework. You should see his worksheet with the numbers. However, I'm shooting for as OE of an RS4 setup as I can get, so I've picked up a set of B7 RS4 brakes for all corners - picture below.

FWIW, the complete Wilwood setup will be for sale soon. Very strong performer, and proven at the track. Also very reasonable to own, as everything is available as off-the-shelf parts from Wilwood, except the hats and caliper brackets.

Other annoyances - Too much gear noise in the car for my liking. Chuck informed me that there is a nearly a solid mount for the rear diff that is likely the cause. That'll have to go too. Heater motor - the cricket noise thing... funny how some Audi issues never go away. Exhaust - I'm putting in a Milltek. The current exhaust is a dual with a single muffler. It sounds truly awesome at WOT, but it really won't be consistent with my goals. This too will be for sale soon.

Tuning - As I said prior, I had to take the car on a trip this week. Kansas City, so some sea level running for me (I'm from the Denver area). In KC, the car was a riot. The tune permits 26psi at sea level (!), and it goes like stink. Better yet is the sound of that exhaust at WOT at sea level. Completely different, and rather violent sounding. I was literally LMAO. I opened it up a few times in town around tall buildings and under some bridges. Wow. Unreal... makes me question swapping it out, but I sort of know that I should. One piece of good news... I've now put about 1900 miles on it, and NO oil use. Amazing for a 200+k engine.

However, the current tune doesn't work like my prior Stage3 using a Eurodyne box. My steady state cruising only yielded about 19-22mpg, while the Eurodyne would always get me 24-26mpg if I kept it under 90mph, and I frequently saw around 28mpg if I kept it under 80mph. That adds up. I am considering changing over to the Eurodyne, as the tuning flexibility is unparalleled. The power feels the same, but I need to verify that for certain by going to the same dyno I used for my prior car before I do anything.

Fluffy stuff - I'm trying to find a complete RS4 interior... seats, door panels, door sills, steering wheel, and gauge cluster (mph). I also need to find a new RS4 front bumper cover, a rear bumper cover, and all 4 fender liners. If anyone has a line on any of these parts, please drop me a PM.

I'm also going to try and get the car in for body/paint soon. I'm leaning in the direction of BMW frozen brilliant white, but not yet decided.

That's it for now.