Matt Danger's B5 S4 Owner Log

Nothing to really brag about but I tried to hit 11s all last year on my heavy 18″ avus wheels and bad trans so I was happy to finally get my goal last night. I will make a few changes and head back on the 24th w/ bracketracer and see if I can improve.

Current setup:
PJ K04s
Self tuned on e85, 23psi spike to 22. Tune is evolving as I learn.
RS4 83mm MAF housing, airbox and accordion
Deka 60lb injectors @ 4 bar, about out of injector and will need to upgrade soon
Walboro 255 (probably also pushing it)
ER intercoolers
DevilsOwn injection using windshield washer fluid
AWE DPs, no cats, Milltek single 3″
Rebuilt 01E trans w/ JHM shift linkage/bushing/Nuespeed shifter
034 motor mounts (1 torn), Stern tranny, Apikol rear diff, snub, DTS w/ GM mount
18lb Volk TE37 w/ Pilots
No weight reduction other than an empty trunk (no spare) and 1/4 tank of fuel

Also, Sunday there was a local dyno day. Mustang AWD. Shop owners and locals say it reads low, but everyone says that about their dyno so IDK. It was like 90* out. I put down 400whp / 413 wtq (ok, 399, but the monitor said 401 at first!!)

Logs from the ride home last night. I’m still learning/working on the tune. I think my MAF scaling is off. Thanks to NOTORIOUS VR and judeisnotobscure for giving me some tips on my file.

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.

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 bought a MBC and a used N75 valve to try and correct my fluctuating boost. I don’t install the MBC but I do install the N75. The N75 doesn’t seem to help and after the install I have a “Signal too low” code for my MAF. Swapping the MAF with another doesn’t resolve the issue, it appears one of the wires in the harness may be broken. Dammit.

I got a copy of ECUx from a friend and set it up on my laptop. He couldn’t get it to work on his laptop so he let me try it. In return, I find a work around to get it working on his laptop. I ran a mediocre 5.2 FATS. The boost (actual) shows a minor fluctuation that I need to figure out. I’m thinking the n75 boost controller is bad.