Matt Danger's B5 S4 Owner Log

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.

I borrowed a Porter Cable polisher from my friend Karlis and went to town on the car this weekend. I got most of the fine scratches out, but another pass is probably still required. The advantage of a silver car is that it doesn’t snow scratches or swirls as easily.

No pics now because of rain, but hopefully.

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.

Today was rear wheel bearing day. I almost stripped the axle bolt but managed to break it free by slipping a box end wrench over the 14mm socket. The rest of the suspension was a challenge, but with a hammer and an air chisel it came apart. I took the knuckle to my friend Darrel’s shop to use his press. I almost ruined the new bearing when I pressed the hub in without supporting the bearing from the bottom. Oops. It went back together very smoothly though.

After that I plumbed the meth up and installed the new coolant tank. Then realized I didn’t have enough G12

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.

I installed the electric fan but still need to find a source to wire the switching wire.

Started to reconnect parts under the car and noticed a small bit of oil on each turbo hotside. Looks like the oil feeds might be leaking

I sucked it up and pulled the engine out. Much faster this time, 2 hours and 45 minutes! The core support was already off.

One hitch: The ARD/Vast bi-pipes don’t fit. The inlet radius (intercooler side) is too tight and points upwards. Shot an email to Prince @ Vast about it.

Tonight, with the help of my roommate and his dad, we reinstalled  the motor and transmission.

For the most part everything went smoothly. I installed the front axles while the motor and transmission were a few inches from their final mounting points.

It took a lot of brute force to the get the motor and transmission aligned. A long pry bar helped as did loosening the transmission mount bolts.

Tips when installing the slave cylinder:

• There’s a metal clip on it, remove it temporarily while you’re installing the slave so you have more room to hold on to it
• Grease the slave boot and the hole in the tranny so it goes in easier.
• Insert the slave into the hole as straight as you can (it won’t go in straight because of the shifter assembly being in the way). When it’s in just enough for the slave’s piston to hit the fork use your free hand to wiggle the piston/boot. You should feel it in the fork. This way you’ll KNOW that it’s seated correctly. You can then begin to compress the slave and let go of the piston
• It’ll take some strength to get the piston fully compressed, get a good angle for your hand.

Some other notes:

• I did not use new gaskets on the axles & drive shaft. They are a huge pain to get aligned correctly without ruining. I don’t think they’re totally necessary and was told by an Audi tech to not bother with them. If they leak I’ll deal with it in the future.

And it’s in: