B5 S4 Owner Log

The car got a few new parts over the past 3 weekends. WOTBox, ER intercoolers, new charge pipes and a larger fuel pump.

A few weeks ago I installed my WOTBox. It’s a hardware based 2-step launch control.

It wires into the clutch & accelerator pedal and cuts the ignition at a predetermined RPM when you have both pedals to the floor. The install was very easy and the color instructions that N2MB includes are wonderful! I haven’t been able to get the thing to work correctly though.. When it’s set up it incorrectly cuts the ignition when the clutch pedal is out. But I think I’m setting it wrong. I learned last night that there’s a secondary rev limiter “hidden” in Motronic that you can enable. I’m trying to find out more about it and see if it’ll build as much boost as the WOTbox.

Next up was the replacement charge pipes. The first set of charge pipes I was sent didn’t fit well at all. I think they were meant for another car. At first I couldn’t get a lot of sympathy about the poor fitment. A few months later I saw some install photos of the pipes on another person’s car and could tell an obvious difference. So I emailed photos of my pipes and the fitment to the actual guy who fabricated them at Vast. He immediately shipped me a replacement set.

Old pipes, the meth nozzle rubbed right into the timing cover.

New pipes. They fit sooooo much better.

At the same time I was installing the charge pipes I also installed the larger ER intercoolers. The install was annoying and I ended up cutting more than I probably needed to. They fit alright, better than the RS4s. It was still tight on the passenger side with the AC condenser very close behind.

I ran some intake temp logs last night and it showed a measurable improvement.

The old RS4 intercoolers + meth dipped to ~15* above ambient and rose to ~30*

The new ER intercoolers + meth stay a little flatter. They dip to ~5* above ambient and rise to 15*.

So an improvement of 15* up top. Not bad, I guess. Not really worth the $$ I spent on the ICs but I might spend some time revising my “custom” shroud setup.

Finally, the most recent install was a Walboro 255lph pumpthat I did Saturday @ Chris’ bonanza. Between the heat, my allergies and the gasoline everywhere it was a pretty miserable task. I didn’t tighten the top lid down enough and it leaked all over the place on the way home, so I spent some time Sunday making sure everything was tight. The good news is I have enough fuel now.

Pink is before on the stock fuel pump. Too lean.
Red is the Walboro. Getting better.

Today I went to my friend’s house and installed my WOTBox 2-step launch control. The instructions are awesome! Full color photos and very detailed and specific instructions. It was pretty easy to set the stall RPM, but after I set it I went out for a drive and found that the box was cutting the ignition even when the clutch was out and preventing me from accelerating past the specific RPM. So I disabled the box until I could figure it out later.

Afterwards I wanted to track down an exhaust rattle I’ve been hearing since I put the car back together 3 months ago. I couldn’t find anything loose. It sounded like the source of the noise was the turbo itself, so I used a long extension and placed on end on the turbo and one end against my ear. Sure enough I could hear a metal on metal rattle. The wastegate flapper on the passenger side turbo was loose.

I put the car up on jackstands and crawled under. Fortunately the passenger side wastegate actuator bolts were kind of accessible. A few small turns of the adjuster nuts tightened up the wastegate. No more rattle.

As an added bonus, the adjusted wastegate actuator seems to have greatly improved my part throttle boost oscillation!

I went down to Empire Raceway tonight with my buddy Brendan and his MK3 GTI with a cammed VR6. I spent all night messing around with different launching techniques, tire pressures, and shift points but I couldn’t get anything solid. My best time was a 12.4 @ 116 mph, with a 1.8 something 60 foot. I kept hitting the 1st gear rev limiter. It was frustrating. I dropped my tire pressure to 25 psi all around right before my last run and it seemed to help me get a decent launch. I’ve ordered a WOTBox and hopefully it will help me get the launches even lower.

I met up with my friend Paul, another VAST customer, and used his flashing cable to load the first revision for my tune. I had sent VAST my logs a few weeks ago and today the changes were made available for me to load. Really wasn’t much of a difference, but the timing and fueling is a little bit smoother.

I ordered Evolution Raceworks side mount intercoolers yesterday. I was divided between those or a front mount. FMIC kits are cheaper and have yielded better results, but I didn’t want to deal with cutting everything up to mount it and then not have things fit well and deal with more boost leaks.

I am currently running RS4 intercoolers and further cooling the charge with water/meth. The IATs hover about 20* over ambient and I know they can be lower.

Conveniently, my friend Brad with a K04′d S4 just had ERs installed along with a fueling kit and tune for e85. Last week we met up and ran some logs.

Here’s a plot of the two setups:

I talked to someone in Canada with the same Vast 93+meth tune, but with ERs. He said his IATs hover around ambient, so I’m hoping that’s where I end up.

For kicks, here’s a plot of 4 setups. Brad’s stock SMIC car on K04s, my stage2+ car on just RS4 SMICs, my current RS4+meth setup and Brad’s current ER setup. Soon I’ll add a ER+meth plot

I’ve been wanting to install some height adjustable coilovers ever since I bought the car. I went back and forth on what to buy. For a while I wanted a set of Vogtland GTs because of the good reviews they were receiving. Unfortunately, it seems that their quality control has taken a dive and many owners are complaining of low speed clunking coming from the rear. So then I thought I might purchase a set of Konis, but I worried they would be too soft.

I was exhausted with the research and the idea of spending over $1000 for something that I might not be happy with. So I went the opposite route and bought one of the lowest priced coilvers on the market: Vmaxx.

I picked the Vmaxx setup because of the price and because Strat, the US distributor, is right down the street in Victor and I wouldn’t have to pay shipping costs. The guys at Strat were very nice and answered all my questions. Their kitchen is nicer than the one in my apartment…

This weekend I installed them. I didn’t attempt to remove the front upright pinch bolt. Instead, I disconnected the shock at the tower and at the lower control arm. I then disconnected the front sway bar and lowered it, so I could push the upright downwards and lift the shock over and out the front. I used a floor jack to compress the shock for a little more clearance. This whole process went pretty quickly, with the exception of a stripped sway bar bolt.

Removing the rears were more difficult because several bolts were corroded. My weak Craftsman impact wouldn’t budge them, so I had to use a long breaker bar. This took forever. After the old coilover and housing came out I had problems getting the new shock up into the housing. The mount was slightly larger than the housing so I had to break out the grinder and trim it. I then used a punch to line up the shock mount holes in the housing.

This was when I first set the height.

The front was too close so I raised all 4 corners up 1/2″. I still need to dial in the height, maybe sometime this week, and probably roll the fenders a little. When turning, the driver side tire occasionally rubs the liner.

My old setup was a Bilstein shock/spring combo. They had almost 100k on them and one of the rear shocks were blown so the old ride quality was poor. My initial impressions of the ride quality with the Vmaxx are good. I think they’re a little software than I’d like. I would not say they’re bouncy. I’m sure they’re no match to a more expensive setup but for me they’re fine.

Went up to Innovative Tuning today. Put down almost 400 wheel, not bad for a base tune with no revisions. I’m very happy with the torque numbers, although that boost spike needs to be sorted and will likely bring the numbers down a little. Time to throw the MBC back on.

This weekend I painted my wheels a lighter shade of silver (Duplicolor ultra silver) and put on the center caps I ordered. So much better.

I then finished a project I started 2 years ago. RS4 style bumper grills. This used to be the cool thing that S4 guys would do. It might be played out now, but I wanted to finish the project. If I decide I like it I’ll cut out and install the RS4 mesh in the center section. If I get sick of it I’ll put the old grills back in.

I also got rid of the faded S4 emblem when I buffed the car a few weeks ago.

My friends Steve, Jack and I worked late Thursday night repairing the wastegate line so that we could be ready for our trip to Vermont on Friday. We were traveling there so Steve could pick up a 16 swapped MK2 Scirocco.

The car performed very well, the only incident being the washer tank leaking from a cap on the headlight washer squirter.

I have been experiencing over boosting ever since I got the car back together. I installed a manual boost controller (MBC) in parallel with the n75 and the boost would still creep up, so I suspected a torn wastegate line.

I hooked up a air nozzle with about ~10psi and could hear a loud hissing from the lower passenger side. When I crawled under the car I saw that the wastegate line on the actuator had torn clean in half.

Removing the old line was not as difficult as I feared. I was able to reach my hand up from the front of the motor, underneath the exhaust maniflold and above the motor mount and slip the hose off the actuator. and installing the repaired line.

I cut the metal line just past the bend and slipped on a new vacuum line. I should have used actual wastegate hosing with some shielding but it was late and was leaving for a trip the next morning.

Installing the repaired line was much more difficult than the removal. The wastegate actuator nozzle was just far enough out of the reach of my hand that I could not get my hand to push the hosing on. It took about 20 minutes to finally get the hose on and then a worm clamp over it to secure it.

My hand looked like I had pulled it from a garbage disposal.