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Sitting at 163,000 miles and just wrapped up a 350 mile trip with the wifey to Joshua Tree for the weekend - I quickly found out how much my car hates cold starts in the 30s at 4000ft elevation on E85 .
Otherwise, car did great and has been pretty much trouble free with the exception of my fuel pump wiring job failing last year and since it's last engine pull in 2018.
As you may know, smog for highly modified cars is difficult in CA and I'm going legit this time around - can't justify my current methods any longer. Figured this is probably the best time to pull the engine and do my 8 year refresh while I'm at it.
From now till June, I will start collecting parts to make it smog friendly but it'll still have upgraded turbos on ethanol and make roughly the same power levels.
I'm especially excited to swap my turbos to OEM RS4 units - they will build peak boost sooner and won't have finnicky wastegates like my current turbo setup. Only drawback with changing the airbox, MAF, and turbo setup will require an entirely new re-tune of the car . Gotta pay to play I guess.
All in all, I'm trying to keep the entire refresh under $4k.
Parts to order:
New LUK dualmass flywheel & flywheel bolts
Southbend Stage 3 Endurance clutch kit (holds 500ft/lb)
New wastegate lines
RS4 Engine mounts
Softer Transmission mounts
Stock airbox, 85mm MAF adapter, new accordion hose
1000CC injectors (current injectors sit at 90% duty cycle, oof) w/ new o-rings
Fluids galore
New E85 friendly PTFE fuel lines from tank to rail.
Rear brake pads
I've thought about selling it while it still runs like a top but, I just cant' bring myself to do it .. it's such a budget friendly car compared to going out and buying something like a C7 RS7 or something.
Parts are becoming increasingly harder to find but the insurance / deprecation / tags / everything else is miles cheaper than buying something newer / faster .
Silly question, but now much can your fuel pump feed? It’ll be nice to not have to deal with ‘tweaks’ wink wink to pass smog tests all the time.
Any pics from your trip?
The pump is a Walbro 450 - it can feed 750/1000cc injectors for my power levels .. I'm just more worried about my injector duty cycle being almost maxed.
In an ideal world, I would have a car that looks factory but makes 3x the factory boost and passes smog when I switch back to pump gas.
Glad to see you are live and kicking. The S4 looks great as always. That is awesome you can get the wife to drive it. Sounds like it was a fun little trip for the two of you.
Can't wait to follow along on the refresh. I am sure it will be nice to no longer jump through emission hoops.
This thing was fast AF when I rode in it years ago, cannot imagine how fun it is now.
Cars have gotten so fast nowadays the S4 is becoming less impressive but, for a 25 year old street car with a manual transmission, it has no problem keeping up with most modern stuff assuming they aren't tuned .
Gearing, powerband, and weight really helps it on the highway. I love it.
I'm supposed to re-run my buddies V10 R8 6 speed before it goes under the knife .. I'll make sure to film it.
I'm still not sold on cats being necessary to keep the rainforest alive...fake news.
Love that you're updating here...I'll be checking in.
Also pro move letting wifey drive when you know you'll be doing a clutch soon anyway.
Cars have gotten so fast nowadays the S4 is becoming less impressive but, for a 25 year old street car with a manual transmission, it has no problem keeping up with most modern stuff assuming they aren't tuned .
Gearing, powerband, and weight really helps it on the highway. I love it.
I'm supposed to re-run my buddies V10 R8 6 speed before it goes under the knife .. I'll make sure to film it.
Speed has been democratized these days, it is (to me) entirely unimportant. You could easily get smoked by some guy who bought a Model S for $30k.
The important thing is how does that speed make you feel? These old cars may not be that fast from a numbers perspective but they FEEL fast. The noise, drama, lack of anything resembling NVH reduction, etc all make them feel like they're Rimac fast while not landing you in jail quite as fast.
Just like the S2k makes you feel like you're going 120mph when you're only going 40 lol. It's so much more fun that way.
Speed has been democratized these days, it is (to me) entirely unimportant. You could easily get smoked by some guy who bought a Model S for $30k.
The important thing is how does that speed make you feel? These old cars may not be that fast from a numbers perspective but they FEEL fast. The noise, drama, lack of anything resembling NVH reduction, etc all make them feel like they're Rimac fast while not landing you in jail quite as fast.
Just like the S2k makes you feel like you're going 120mph when you're only going 40 lol. It's so much more fun that way.
100% agreed. The S4 is raw .. it's a small car and with the right launch, 12 seconds at 120mph in the quarter mile isn't out of the picture. FYI - a stock G80 M3 runs 11.5 @ 124 mph ... I'm really not that far behind in a straight line and this car is approaching 30 years old, 6 speed, and it's on the original powertrain .
I will be able to provide more details as they emerge but, a real estate opportunity dropped in my lap that I cannot ignore which means making some tough choices and sacrificing the toys first.
I put my car up for sale on 3/4 and have somebody from Arizona interested with cash in hand, shooting for signing over the title in a week or two if all works as planned.
This was a very tough choice for me - this car is basically apart of me, and the family ... even my kids love it. It has taught me everything I know about wrenching and has taught me some important life lessons along the way.
In hindsight, I think this is a VERY good time to break away from the car as it still runs, boosts, and I'm not on the hook for a $4k refresh / 6-9 months of rebuilding and retuning - While it is very important to me, this car keeps falling lower and lower on the priority list and it will turn into a garage ornament in no time.
I plan on taking it to the last cars and coffee tomorrow and it's last send off drive in the mountains.
I know this is the right decision and I will be thanking myself later.
Coworker is about to start looking for a TDI A7, after his wife finds a Q8.
His current daily is a super clean DSG 1st gen TT 3.2 & she's driving a 3/4 ton Suburban
I will be able to provide more details as they emerge but, a real estate opportunity dropped in my lap that I cannot ignore which means making some tough choices and sacrificing the toys first.
I put my car up for sale on 3/4 and have somebody from Arizona interested with cash in hand, shooting for signing over the title in a week or two if all works as planned.
This was a very tough choice for me - this car is basically apart of me, and the family ... even my kids love it. It has taught me everything I know about wrenching and has taught me some important life lessons along the way.
In hindsight, I think this is a VERY good time to break away from the car as it still runs, boosts, and I'm not on the hook for a $4k refresh / 6-9 months of rebuilding and retuning - While it is very important to me, this car keeps falling lower and lower on the priority list and it will turn into a garage ornament in no time.
I plan on taking it to the last cars and coffee tomorrow and it's last send off drive in the mountains.
I know this is the right decision and I will be thanking myself later.
You're moving to MN?!?!?!?
Congrats on the upward swing, sucks that the car has to go but these things are replaceable while your home is not. You had your fun, got your knowledge, and the great memories to go with it all. Time for new ones with a new house?
I'm far (few years) from entertaining another vehicle but a C7 & C7.5 RS7 is my top 3 picks.
I was behind a blue RS7 in traffic yesterday, but it was raining and I decided to skip the pic.
Originally Posted by TylerT
MN?!
No.
COL sound nice?
Yes.
That's the thought - I am hoping to offload the car in the next few weeks.
I was about to welcome you to FL, seems like everyone is moving here now
youre going to Colorado?
as the others said, bummer that the car is going, but as you said it seems to be the right time. In time, you’ll get another toy and build more fond memories.
Well that is indeed an unexpected twist there. Cars come and go but real estate opportunities do not drop into your lap everyday. Good luck on the real estate endeavor and I am sure you will be back in something fast and fun soon enough.
I've thought about BAT & Cars and Bids but I'll pass - Hoping for a local sale with cash preferably. Too many keyboard critics with no intention of buying
Got 2 new people interested yesterday so we'll see what happens.
I still haven't told my kids that the car is for sale / likely gone soon - I think they're going to be more sad about it than me .
I've been to SD lots of times and got on a plane out of there every time. Just opening Zillow was enough for me lol. That said, SD is very nice though.
Having family around is incredibly important though, especially with the kids.
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- can't justify my current methods any longer. Figured this is probably the best time to pull the engine and do my 8 year refresh while I'm at it.
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