Some Guy's Mediocre S4 Build Thread

B6/7 S4/RS4
#161

Semi-update time. I pulled the oil pan off to reseal it. In the process, I had a hunch about the JHM Oil cooler bracket thing leaking so I pulled the alternator and it’s bracket off to check. Sure enough, there was a little puddle under the alternator signifying that some oil had leaked from the Oil cooler bracket. One of the AN fittings seemed a bit loose and I was able to do two full turns with a crescent wrench to tighten it. The other fitting was TIGHT. Somehow, two turns didn’t satisfy me or make me feel that safe. So I broke out the hammer and tightened that fitting about 3/4 of a turn more by hitting the crescent wrench. Needless to say, it’s tight and shouldn’t leak. Reinstalled the alternator and put sealant on the oil pan and bolted it all back up.

The front end is still off because I wanted to replace the gasket that goes from the water pipe to the block and that’s arriving in the mail tomorrow along with my Motul Oil.

This is what the oil pan hides. NEAT!!

http://i.imgur.com/GUlbrHX.jpg

Aforementioned puddle

http://i.imgur.com/s6NI3J9.jpg

Hope that’s tight enough on those fittings

http://i.imgur.com/nh3hxIN.jpg

All back together (kind of). Starting to finish that intake piping. Just need like 4 more inches of pipe and a coupler and it should be done. I’ll probably get around to fabbing up an airbox by the end of the week.

http://i.imgur.com/dPyuXJv.jpg

Here’s one thing that’s had me a tad miffed for a while. This goes for all you JHM supercharged folks too. The JHM oil cooler kit has these lines run through here. The problem I see is that this is supposed to be a cooling application but the lines run DIRECTLY in front of the exhaust manifold or headers if you have them. Even if I had ceramic coated headers, I’d be worried about heating up these lines. At least the one travelling back from the radiator because it almost seems to negate the effects of having the cooler in the first place… So I’ve been thinking about putting some heat shielding in between the lines and the exhaust manifold but I’m a little worried about it because the stuff I have leftover is for passive, radiative heat transfer, not direct contact. If I try and wedge a piece of shielding down there, it makes contact with the manifold so I don’t know if it’d end up being that effective. Nothing pressing of course, just something I’ve been thinking about. Maybe Jimmy would care to share his thoughts as he’s heat wrapped the piss out of pretty much everything on his car :wink:

http://i.imgur.com/iWyehD7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vKoOzGM.jpg

#162

Congrats on every success PWest. Your enthusiasm makes me ache to get mine on the road. I swear you must’ve gotten one of the last LWFW’s on the shelf because I think I ordered mine about the same time as you and they’ve been on backorder. This morning I got a shipping notification from JHM though, so I’m planning my weekend with the car. Joy of joys.

Thank also for documenting your work the way you have and sharing the things you’ve learned and done. It helps remind a person like me that it’s just a machine and there’s no magic involved. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the help out of it now.

#163

“help” = he11 (stupid autocorrect)

#164

We use this type of sleeves on the race car to protect lines from high temps
http://m.summitracing.com/search/brand/design-engineering-dei?keyword=hose%20heat%20sleeve

#165

Nice catch on the oil cooler block off plate lines leaking. I had to hold mine as close to the block as possible with a prybar and then tighten the fittings. The first time that we started up the engine after installing the SC, it poured engine oil.

The stock exhaust manifolds have a steel layer around the actual pipes on the inside for an air gap. So I wouldn’t be worried too much about the oil cooler lines heating up especially while driving with all the air flow moving over the oil cooler lines. Now sitting still in rush hour traffic is not going to help but most people try to avoid that in heavily modified B6/7 S4s. I had an oil temperature gauge and it read pretty consistently around 180-215 degrees Fahrenheit under normal driving. If I beat on the car at a road course or drove like a mad man on the street then I could see 270 degrees Fahrenheit but that is still within the acceptable range for oil temps.

http://wiki.quattroworld.com/images/8/8d/S4_stock_header_opened.JPG

That would work pretty well. I used some of that on my front O2 sensors when I had the V1 JHM headers.

#166

Thanks so much man! Once you get that clutch in the mail, let me know if you need any help.

I’ll look into those. Heard great things about the same kind of product that Earl’s makes from the RB26 crowd. The issue is that I’d have to disconnect the lines to install this stuff which doesn’t seem too appealing to me… I think I’d rather use something I can just wrap around the lines. But thanks for the suggestion!

Well that makes me feel a lot better haha. Thanks as always Jimmy!

I put her all back together and took her for a test drive. So far, no leaks :slight_smile:

Also, I piped my CAI today. Not the final product. Still need to make a little airbox and incorporate the old air-ram/ cowl. I also want to extend the pipe about four inches lower. But for now, I’m happy driving like it is.

http://i.imgur.com/Z3YYdGx.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oGQnvqP.jpg

Needs that cowl

http://i.imgur.com/YA0TUsB.jpg

I think I’d like the filter to sit about this low

http://i.imgur.com/0sYPBVI.jpg

I also installed the little throttle body coolant bypass to keep temps down in the intake charge

http://i.imgur.com/dHEGUIM.jpg

#167

you really have tackled a big job and come out very well. good work and it all looks great. The intake does look and work better when its down that low. Getting that air dam in there would really help feed that filter at speeds.

the heat wrap sleeves make a big difference. Its helpful in cases like that.

#168

I really like the DEI products. They supplied our TA2 Camaro with a ton of different products. The rep that came out even demonstrated the durability of the different heat sleeves, shields and wraps. It was pretty cool to see first hand what putting a torch directly to some of the stuff does. I don’t think you could go wrong with even some of the adhesive wrap they have

#169

Pwest,

What about this product? This may fit more of the style your looking for since it uses velcro once you wrap it around the piece

http://summitracing.com/oh/parts/dei-010405/overview/

#170

Thank you! Yeah, I’ll get around to putting that air dam in eventually… eventually… I just want to drive right now

That’s exactly what I’m looking for! Thank you!

#171

Little update, I’ve put 500 miles on the car so far since the big project wrapped up (not bad for a couple days :wink: ) I basically just took a two days off to go hiking and to drive up in the mountains as much as I could. The high altitude here is a real test of performance. You often see a lot of NA cars start to fall short, wheeze and become sluggish at 10,000ft of elevation but I’ve been pretty impressed this whole time. The S4’s no slouch. Probably mostly due to the fact that I’ve done my best to eliminate the heat soak problems and the car has been constantly responsive, even after 3 hours of cruising at 90+mph. I’m so very satisfied with it and being able to enjoy the twisties up in the mountains again is so rewarding. I can’t describe just how much fun it was for me. I practically never stopped smiling. I’d often check for signs of leaks but was always pleasantly surprised by dry pavement.

Here’s a video of me going over Loveland pass at velocities that would probably impound my car on the spot. The video won’t do the downhill justice but the last little bit of the video was spent at what we’ll say is 13.0 mph at practically 12,000ft of altitude. Not too shabby if you ask me. I would also apologize for the crappy shifting and indecisive throttle use. Half of me just wanted to stop and admire the gorgeous view and the other half of me wanted to bomb through those straights.

[video=youtube;q3hEX5k6dOU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hEX5k6dOU[/video]

Here’s my car in Glenwood canyon

http://i.imgur.com/kWmPKxl.jpg

I may as well be a professional insect exterminator. (Ignore the red strip, as hilld said, it signifies an S/RS parking zone… definitely nothing else) but in all seriousness I had permission from the ranger to park there because the lot was full.

http://i.imgur.com/vlye11w.jpg

Can’t wait to see how she pulls at sea level with 93oct in a few weeks

#172

Video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3hEX5k6dOU

#173

Looks like fun, beautiful drive. I wish we had those kind of mountains in NC. I’ve got a blue ridge parkway drive planned for the fall, won’t be that pretty though.