2002 3.0 6MT Build

Update:

I dropped her off at the body shop last week. I will be having a complete USP rear kit installed using Euro Rebar. I will also be installing a new USP front because mine got scraped on some curbs so I can have my cupra lip installed flush on a fresh new valence. If I can swing it which i doubt I can for a couple weeks I will drop my Recaro’s off to be restored. I might wait to install them if I can afford to get black interior so I can put black carpet down while the seats are out which I would really like to do so I can add a flat bottom MFSW as well as the blue tooth system. But that makes the swap quite a bit more expensive as I priced the steering wheel with air bag on ebay for 850$ plus shipping. I think it would look beautiful with the Recaro’s especially if i can find some platinum door inserts, we’ll see tho. I’m really trying to find a point I can stop and be happy with the car as is and just drive it. Maybe I’ll find that point once I get it more comfortable with the seats and coilovers…

Well its been awhile and I keep meaning to update since I picked her up from the body shop but I haven’t had the time from school and other things. Finished off the USP rear and installed the Recaro’s, got my old seats sold finally and still have a few interior parts left if anyone needs any check AZ classifieds or Ebay.

So I drove down to Rancho Cordova yesterday to Luxury Auto dismantlers which has a quite a few cars with hard to find parts. So I found a white on black B7 titanium with full black interior but the problem was my rear seat wouldn’t go down because I accidentally shut it with the plastic clip off so I can’t get it to open but somehow i fit the carpet in the trunk with the dash going through the small seat that would go down. And carefully stacked everything in the back seats with the lady in the passenger seat which obviously wasn’t a good idea to bring her for the ride. But I made it back with everything. and so far I am only missing the control module for the steering wheel and the wiring harness but I think as far as that I got everything else I’ll know more when I go to install everything.

    So upcoming I'll post pics of USP rear. I bought new front 034 stiffer mounts and oem for the rear shocks and struts. Which I'll finally be able to get installed soon hopefully. I also bought B7 hinges and shocks thinking they were the right one for the automatic rear trunk but I don't think they are cuz I don't think they have springs as part of the hinge.


Up Next:

-Install Ohlins coils with 034 stiffer mount and new rear upper oem
-Full Interior Swap to black
-Install full heated seat harness with new climate control (will be using OEM harness from another 3.0 for a clean install)
-B7 Steering MFSW upgrade
-B7 Console with…
-OEM Auxiliary plug Install (my main reason for B7 console, not cup holders as I don’t allow anything but bottle water in my car that’s just a bonus)
-3m Di Noc Carbon Fiber Wrap for new set of trim that is Piano black.
-Oil Change

  • 2 new ballasts (to clear dipped headlight figure if one is going other is not far behind)
    -Cupra Lip? (Not sure if I want to do this mod, still deciding)
    -USP rear foil leave it off or install new one? (its basically a big black sticker that goes on the rear USP bumper
    -Possibly Sound Dampening kit either Secondskin or Cascade Audio, still researching this if anyone has info or advice its much appreciate, my goal is too kill road road noise and some small few vibrations I can hear but mainly road noise is the priority. After that I am likely going to keep the car as is and enjoy it as is or do a few more things to finalize my build and have the car ho

Future and final Mods I’m considering:
-JHM HFC on OEM exhaust, to keep a quiet OEM sound, possibly S4 catback if its any bigger with new chrome just tiny bit larger tip to a newer OEM size.
-4:1 Center Diff
-BBK with JHM 350mm Light Weight Rotors front + rear
-Light Weight Drive Shaft
-JHM light weight pulley

Figure depending on the drive shaft I can loose about 20lbs rotational mass I don’t want to get a whole lot faster but I want the car to be responsive, not a slouch, quiet on the road, proper stiffness but comfortable suspension. A beautiful OEM sport look and sound with possibly a little extra tuned affect. Mainly I need to make up for the significant loss of power due to the elevation I’m at. When I drive to Cali at lower elevation the car is much more enjoyable.

Well its been awhile and I keep meaning to update since I picked her up from the body shop but I haven’t had the time from school and other things. Finished off the USP rear and installed the Recaro’s, got my old seats sold finally and still have a few interior parts left if anyone needs any check AZ classifieds or Ebay.

So I drove down to Rancho Cordova yesterday to Luxury Auto dismantlers which has a quite a few cars with hard to find parts. So I found a white on black B7 titanium with full black interior but the problem was my rear seat wouldn’t go down because I accidentally shut it with the plastic clip off so I can’t get it to open but somehow i fit the carpet in the trunk with the dash going through the small seat that would go down. And carefully stacked everything in the back seats with the lady in the passenger seat which obviously wasn’t a good idea to bring her for the ride. But I made it back with everything. and so far I am only missing the control module for the steering wheel and the wiring harness but I think as far as that I got everything else I’ll know more when I go to install everything.

    So upcoming I'll post pics of USP rear. I bought new front 034 stiffer mounts and oem for the rear shocks and struts. Which I'll finally be able to get installed soon hopefully. I also bought B7 hinges and shocks thinking they were the right one for the automatic rear trunk but I don't think they are cuz I don't think they have springs as part of the hinge.


Up Next:

-Install Ohlins coils with 034 stiffer mount and new rear upper oem
-Full Interior Swap to black
-Install full heated seat harness with new climate control (will be using OEM harness from another 3.0 for a clean install)
-B7 Steering MFSW upgrade
-B7 Console with…
-OEM Auxiliary plug Install (my main reason for B7 console, not cup holders as I don’t allow anything but bottle water in my car that’s just a bonus)
-3m Di Noc Carbon Fiber Wrap for new set of trim that is Piano black.
-Oil Change

  • 2 new ballasts (to clear dipped headlight figure if one is going other is not far behind)
    -Cupra Lip? (Not sure if I want to do this mod, still deciding)
    -USP rear foil leave it off or install new one? (its basically a big black sticker that goes on the rear USP bumper
    -Possibly Sound Dampening kit either Secondskin or Cascade Audio, still researching this if anyone has info or advice its much appreciate, my goal is too kill road road noise and some small few vibrations I can hear but mainly road noise is the priority. After that I am likely going to keep the car as is and enjoy it as is or do a few more things to finalize my build and have the car ho

Future and final Mods I’m considering:
-JHM HFC on OEM exhaust, to keep a quiet OEM sound, possibly S4 catback if its any bigger with new chrome just tiny bit larger tip to a newer OEM size.
-4:1 Center Diff
-BBK with JHM 350mm Light Weight Rotors front + rear
-Light Weight Drive Shaft
-JHM light weight pulley

Figure depending on the drive shaft I can loose about 20lbs rotational mass I don’t want to get a whole lot faster but I want the car to be responsive, not a slouch, quiet on the road, proper stiffness but comfortable suspension. A beautiful OEM sport look and sound with possibly a little extra tuned affect. Mainly I need to make up for the significant loss of power due to the elevation I’m at. When I drive to Cali at lower elevation the car is much more enjoyable.

Since I am pulling the interior I figured now would be a good time to silence this car since its so loud on the freeway even with a nice set of tires. The main noise comes from the roof at the sun roof so hopefully i can add a little up there not sure how much it will do though. So I ordered about 72sq ft, basically 2 boxes of SecondSkin Damplifier Pro which is a CLD (Constraint Layer Deadener and 2 boxes of Luxury liner Pro which is MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) The first kills vibrations the second kills air borne noise and together they are supposed to make the car very quiet. Which This car needs it its load as hell. Unfortunately I’m going to gain about 100lbs from this but hopefully when I add HFC’s to the OEM exhaust it will help with that. I just want the car to be nice to drive and not a slouch. Also this will help with the quality of sound I think it will make the factory Bose plenty good. I think its plenty loud enough once the car is quiet and has no vibrations I am hoping it will sound as clean as I am imagining.

I also ordered my first polisher of amazon with the polishing pads so I can finally give her a professional wax and sealant. with my Adams Kit. So that will be cool to do. And I ordered a blue tooth OBD2 plug because I can’t find my VCDS cable. Hopefully that will suffice. And then some Boseshield which is recommended to apply on the Stasis Ohlins so I can finally get them installed that should be the last thing I need to get them on.

Needing a wash here is the USP rear, I haven’t installed the foil yet I wasn’t sure if I should, any thoughts?
The foil is just a black sticker from the dealer that goes in the cut out around the bumper above the exhaust.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/b36b3076-a577-41a0-9e0a-ad379f3bd358_zpsz96jgint.jpg

Since I am pulling the interior I figured now would be a good time to silence this car since its so loud on the freeway even with a nice set of tires. The main noise comes from the roof at the sun roof so hopefully i can add a little up there not sure how much it will do though. So I ordered about 72sq ft, basically 2 boxes of SecondSkin Damplifier Pro which is a CLD (Constraint Layer Deadener and 2 boxes of Luxury liner Pro which is MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) The first kills vibrations the second kills air borne noise and together they are supposed to make the car very quiet. Which This car needs it its load as hell. Unfortunately I’m going to gain about 100lbs from this but hopefully when I add HFC’s to the OEM exhaust it will help with that. I just want the car to be nice to drive and not a slouch. Also this will help with the quality of sound I think it will make the factory Bose plenty good. I think its plenty loud enough once the car is quiet and has no vibrations I am hoping it will sound as clean as I am imagining.

I also ordered my first polisher of amazon with the polishing pads so I can finally give her a professional wax and sealant. with my Adams Kit. So that will be cool to do. And I ordered a blue tooth OBD2 plug because I can’t find my VCDS cable. Hopefully that will suffice. And then some Boseshield which is recommended to apply on the Stasis Ohlins so I can finally get them installed that should be the last thing I need to get them on.

Needing a wash here is the USP rear, I haven’t installed the foil yet I wasn’t sure if I should, any thoughts?
The foil is just a black sticker from the dealer that goes in the cut out around the bumper above the exhaust.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/b36b3076-a577-41a0-9e0a-ad379f3bd358_zpsz96jgint.jpg

Finally got things moving along. Almost got the interior and suspension fully dialed in, right now i’m at 24.5" FTG in front and 25.5 rear, So I need to drop rear and raise front so I’m at 25" All around. I saved the carpet for last so I can just pull the door cards off and do all the sound dampening at once. I’m kinda skeptical about this because I hope it works as good as I want it weighs a shit ton and I imagine the extra 100lbs is gonna slow me down quite a bit. Hopefully I can get my exhaust modified in a manner that works for me to get some bump in power to even things out. Anyways here are some pictures I took during install process which took a little longer than I thought since I did it all myself.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150426_163602_zpsah7vu0ng.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150426_163136_zps2delj389.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150501_121802_zpssh7djyec.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/20150509_205026_zpsfzzbldly.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/20150509_204921_zps5o2tkynt.jpg

Here is where I got up to on my interior, I still need to get the air bag installed and glove box put in, then I can take the carpet and door panels off and line everything with SecondSkin CLD, and MLV. then Install my black carpet down and That should conclude the interior and I can move on to exhaust. Hopefully I’ll have her done soon because with the new suspension she has become much more enjoyable to drive. I can’t wait to get her all finished and enjoy her

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/A4Pic2.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150506_175859_zpsoltxoegt.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150507_113909_zpsxpwdslvg.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150508_201011_zps98kkjtwz.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/20150509_204816_zpsm7ato96m.jpg

That’s awesome man. Looks great did you need a specific part number for the radio.

Finally got things moving along. Almost got the interior and suspension fully dialed in, right now i’m at 24.5" FTG in front and 25.5 rear, So I need to drop rear and raise front so I’m at 25" All around. I saved the carpet for last so I can just pull the door cards off and do all the sound dampening at once. I’m kinda skeptical about this because I hope it works as good as I want it weighs a shit ton and I imagine the extra 100lbs is gonna slow me down quite a bit. Hopefully I can get my exhaust modified in a manner that works for me to get some bump in power to even things out. Anyways here are some pictures I took during install process which took a little longer than I thought since I did it all myself.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150426_163602_zpsah7vu0ng.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150426_163136_zps2delj389.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150501_121802_zpssh7djyec.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/20150509_205026_zpsfzzbldly.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/20150509_204921_zps5o2tkynt.jpg

Here is where I got up to on my interior, I still need to get the air bag installed and glove box put in, then I can take the carpet and door panels off and line everything with SecondSkin CLD, and MLV. then Install my black carpet down and That should conclude the interior and I can move on to exhaust. Hopefully I’ll have her done soon because with the new suspension she has become much more enjoyable to drive. I can’t wait to get her all finished and enjoy her

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/A4Pic2.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150506_175859_zpsoltxoegt.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150507_113909_zpsxpwdslvg.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150508_201011_zps98kkjtwz.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/20150509_204816_zpsm7ato96m.jpg

That’s awesome man. Looks great did you need a specific part number for the radio.

Thanks! I love the silver nappa with black interior, its beautiful…What do you mean? The Radio is a OEM RSN-E, Fits in all B7 and B6’s or are you talking about the Auxiliary OEM mod?

Thanks! I love the silver nappa with black interior, its beautiful…What do you mean? The Radio is a OEM RSN-E, Fits in all B7 and B6’s or are you talking about the Auxiliary OEM mod?

After almost 3 days I’m done with the wrap, hoping to find a place to hydro dip it and I think it would look better that way but I haven’t found one yet so I’ll probably keep the Piano black on until then. For now haven’t made much progress the next job is going to be a lot of work sound proofing and doing the carpet but hopefully it’ll be worth it. Here her some pics of the Carbon wrap and my heated seat harness I made as they come from the factory. And I’ll try to find some pictures of the second skin MLV and CLD if I can.

Short review on the Ohlins, I don’t have anything to compare to but stock sport and I honestly can’t say they would be better than a brand new 02 sport suspension with B5 perches up front but that would actually cost more than the ohlins and not be as stiff. I really think they are very nice but as I read they were designed to not need a sway bar which I think is not true because I think it could use at least the RS4 bar if not a S4 hotchkis kit. I need to make some adjustments to get to 25" around but I still don’t see the ride changing at all. All in all they are a great setup and I like them a lot the car was definitely due for suspension overhaul.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150511_022911_zpsz9twauix.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150517_001648_zpstkvniba6.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150517_001730_zpspdmdr57b.jpg

Here are the Part numbers if you wanted to add heated seats yourself All you need is some wire and a few plugs.

B6/B7 HVAC Unit with heated controls

3B0-972-734 x2

380-972-712 x2

2 Green Connectors Not sure on Part number for these but it shouldn’t be hard to find. The dealer can tell you, I got it from them once but can’t find it. They won’t have info on the other connects most likely as they could not figure that part out for me.

Wire with connectors, some connectors are different sizes, you’ll just have to pick which ones when you buy the connectors. Dealer should stock all sizes.

Pin 1 Green - Pin 1 on Black 8 pin connector
Pin 2 Green - Pin 2 on Black 8 pin connector
Pin 3 Green - Pin 3 on Black 8 Pin connector
Pin 4 Green - Pin 4 on Black 8 Pin Connector
Pin 5/6 Green Empty
Pin 6/7/8 Black Empty
Pin 3 also splices in middle to connect to Pin 2 on Black 2 pin connector
Pin 1 on Black 2 pin Connects to Pin 5 on Black 8 Pin connector

I have pictures of these connections if anyone is confused pm me I’ll send you them. Its pretty straight forward.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/heaterseatharnessplug_zps07836a2b.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150507_221218_zpsneohuxts.jpg

After a LOT of research I decided to go with Second Skin sound deadening products. They have 3 sound barriers and then 3 in a regular line the PRO Line is all a thicker and higher quality then the regular line. I chose to use the Sound Damplifier Pro (CLD) Constraint Layer Deadener which is a vibration, heat and the noise deadener of noise that comes from the vibrations. It says noise dampener but it really only dampens the noise in a sense of removing vibrations that are causing noise. Luxury Liner Pro is a noise barrier. It goes on top of a vibration damper like the Damplifier Pro mat, in order to block airborne sound waves & create a silent car. I ordered 73 square feet damplifer pro which is 44 sheets which is 200$ plus shipping for 36.5 sq ft. And then I ordered 72 sq ft of the Luxury Liner pro which is 210$ per 36 sq ft. so all in all it was like 800$ plus shipping but I paid a little less getting it from Amazon. Also 2 Cans of 3m 90 High Strength Temp Adhesive which is about 50$ for 2 cans so all in all it was close to 1k for materials. Most Shops would want at around 1k for install but I am hoping to do it myself while the carpet is out. It might take me some time because I’m OCD and haven’t done a lot of work on my car until recently. If anyone has any tips for advice for install don’t hesitate its much appreciated.
Here is a couple pics showing the thickness of each, and the new style of Black foil they use on the damplifier pro which I think is better than the silver foil.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150517_005901_zps26snlebd.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150517_010021_zpsuwqons4c.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150517_010135_zpsuqcsy32c.jpg

Looking good!

FWIW, RS4 silver nappa seats came with matching door cards, pillars and headliner, but all the carpet is black!

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/16/f8a7d8991773df6c4d90f9ead7e7e9eb.jpg

Thanks! Yea I can’t wait to get the black carpet in I have it all cleaned and it looks like new and will make it look a lot better. I have a silver arm rest lid and I had found some door cards but dude wanted like a lot for them so I figure I could get a body shop to match them when they refurbish my seats I figure it wouldn’t cost much to wrap a few pieces of leather to match them on the door.

However, I don’t think they matched the headliner. The headliner should be black IIRC. I could be wrong because the speaker cover on the rear sub is supposed to be matching too I think so maybe the headliner and pillars are too. Maybe one of the RS4 guys can confirm it that has it. Also I have Nappa Silver seats from a S4. I didn’t want the RS4 seats that say RS4 on them in an A4 maybe I’m weird but I think it would be lame. I like that they say Recaro. So obviously in a S4 the headliner would be black maybe its different in the RS4. Also that picture you posted looks like it could be from a cabrio, which could also have different headliner as well than other models.

Every time I try to source one through a scrap yard they ask me for a part number. That’s why I asked. I would wonder to know the part numbers across the units.

After almost 3 days I’m done with the wrap, hoping to find a place to hydro dip it and I think it would look better that way but I haven’t found one yet so I’ll probably keep the Piano black on until then. For now haven’t made much progress the next job is going to be a lot of work sound proofing and doing the carpet but hopefully it’ll be worth it. Here her some pics of the Carbon wrap and my heated seat harness I made as they come from the factory. And I’ll try to find some pictures of the second skin MLV and CLD if I can.

Short review on the Ohlins, I don’t have anything to compare to but stock sport and I honestly can’t say they would be better than a brand new 02 sport suspension with B5 perches up front but that would actually cost more than the ohlins and not be as stiff. I really think they are very nice but as I read they were designed to not need a sway bar which I think is not true because I think it could use at least the RS4 bar if not a S4 hotchkis kit. I need to make some adjustments to get to 25" around but I still don’t see the ride changing at all. All in all they are a great setup and I like them a lot the car was definitely due for suspension overhaul.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150511_022911_zpsz9twauix.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150517_001648_zpstkvniba6.jpg

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/A4QuattroV6/AR%20and%20AZ/20150517_001730_zpspdmdr57b.jpg