Matt Danger's B5 S4 Owner Log

Yep.

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.

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’ve put almost 100 miles on the car so far and it’s been mostly great. My 7 year old stock battery bit the dust so I picked up a 15lb Odyssey battery. I also installed my extra power steering pump. Fuck pzp107.

The vibrations from the Stern transmission mounts were unbearable. I learned that the mounts I received were an early style that had a design flaw. The mounts have since been revised with a larger diameter bolt hole. Not sure how a flaw like this made it through testing (if there was any) but PureMS (where I bought the mounts and waited 1 month for them..) suggested I bore the hole out to 15/16″. Tonight I spent some time with a dremel and the difference that it made with the mounts is awesome. So much better now. There are some vibrations at idle and the cabin noise is louder on deceleration, but everything else is great.

I finished putting the car together today and took it out on its maiden voyage. It road very nice and there were no real hiccups.

There are two problems right now. First, the replacement power steering pump from pzp107 (Audizine) is very weak. I have another pump that I will swap in.

The second problem is that the transmission mounts are VERY harsh. I’ll have to see if they settle down and break in. Otherwise, I’m going to swap to something more street friendly.

Overall, it was a nice feeling  to drive the car. The Vast tune definitely feels more torquey in the low RPMs.

Got some new crush washers for free from Holtz Audi. I can’t tell where the oil leak on the turbos are coming from, so I just redid the crush washers for all the lines. While I had the motor out I torqued the transmission to motor bolts that I forgot before. I also heat wrapped the inlet pipes.

I put the motor back in last night (all alone) and hooked up everything underneath and most of the wiring. I also managed to get the ARD bipipes to fit. The fitment is still poor but I think they’ll work for now.