A Nineyfoessfo: The Gentleman's S4...

A6 All/ S6 All
#1

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/5158/nineyfoessfo.jpg

What does one drive when the B6’s ECU is out and on the way to California? A 1994 S4. Which is really an S6 generation 1.

I bought this because I want to learn to wrench on cars as a pastime. However, my B6 is soon to truly become a family wagon so downtime isn’t an option, plus it doesn’t seem to be the easiest to work on with the V8 crammed in there. I also wanted to have a “winter beater”. My current commute to work is short so my B6 never really warms up, the implications of this being (1) more wear and tear on the precious V8 and (2) I rarely get to beat on the car even though I really want to.

So in steps “Bruce” the green monster and I am beating the arse off it around town. Considering there are 400,000 km on the body and 220,000 km on the engine, he’s in pretty good shape. The PO did a cut n weld job on the downpipes so I’m catless. Other than that it looks stock (although I thought that about my B6).

My goals are to DIY as much as possible on the car. I had to have some $$$ spent on the safety inspection as I wasn’t ready to do control arms yet and wanted to get it on the road ASAP. The list:

  • Done: installed a sound system (bits and pieces off Kijiji), some rewiring of the hack job behind the radio, which also got my climate control working
  • Near future: Get all the maintenance type stuff done like oil, spark plugs, fuel filter, brake pads, fix e-brake, sort out wandering idle. Get him running nicely before the other stuff
  • Over the summer: Some sort of Holset turbo (HY/HX35), exhaust mani, exhaust (with cat), injectors and other supporting mods including tune (does the Count tune I5’s?!)
  • Maybe, just maybe in the dim and distant future (or sooner if the compression test is not good): Engine pull and light build (as I understand it, rods are the main weak point)

Goal: fun daily on the cheap, learn to mod cars.

If I get really serious and into this, then I’ll go full retard restoration and come up with a build to get me in to the 12’s. That’s why I chose this car - there’s a lot of potential in the AAN 20vt 5 cylinder. I will eventually start a build thread on motorgeek.com but I thought I’d share here first in case anyone was worried I was having to walk everywhere while I get my ECU JHM’d :wink:

#2

awesome

12s? Eff that…go 9s!

#3

LOL I wouldn’t want to make you RS4 owners feel bad.

#4

12s would make most rs4 owners feel bad!

#5

Or how about 240mph: http://www.quattroworld.com/speed-week/the-worlds-fastest-audi-242mph-audi-s4/

What’s funny is that most cars at the Bonneville flats have to be pushed to the start line but not the 1992 S4. Insane.

#6

any particular reason for choosing the holset? they’re cheap and last forever but the big journal bearing turbo/aan head combo is gonna take light years to spool

#7

No reason, but there seems to be a Holset fanclub over on motorgeek and it sounded like fun. I’m always open to different things, what would you go with. Something more GT like? I see 034 have some GT based kits. I’ll be trolling the various classifieds to see what’s about, just depends on what’s for sale.

#8

you should take a peak at some of the newer turbo’s like the gtx or the efr.

#9

thats what I was thinking as well

#10

Nice car!! I was behind one on the highway last week. It was in great shape. Go full Hulk on it, make it a true beast!!

#11

Thanks, I’ll certainly have some fun with it. All I’ve done so far is some rewiring and a sound system install. Next up, some maintenance and a compression test.

As for turbos, those gtx ones look a little pricey. The word from the motorgeek team suggests something like an hx/hy 35 will have satisfactory spool.

#12

Those guys on Motorgeek are old school fab it yourself garage builders. The holsets are perfect because they can be rebuilt for like $40 and the whole turbo can be had for like $250. The power they make is pretty awesome too, and spool isn’t as bad when you size the hotside right. You have to shop the holset inventory for a bit but you can get some nice 400whp-600whp turbos for cheap

#13

cheaper than that when you have buddies who are into diesels (I’ve got one friend with a twined 12v, a few others with 24v, a handful of commonrails, the occasional powerchoke), for the cost its tough to beat

#14

IIRC the HX35 for example was stock on 90’s-ish Cummins diesels so I think a lot of these turbos are cast offs when people upgrade to Super 40 and the like.