A6 project

[rider]

After attempting to gut one of the precats and only scratching the surface I'm beginning to see the logic in that. And I don't know how I would gut the main cat, it's impossible to reach.

Disassembled the engine a bit today because I was bored. Downpipes are off and the tranny is getting there. I stripped one of the allen head bolts holding the turbo to the manifold... FUCK. This is a big problem. And more reason for me to go frankenturbo... AKA K03 turbine with a K04 compressor. The kit comes with a new manifold and inlets and everything you would need... for 2k.

It's looking REALLY tempting at this point, because
1. I won't have to rebuild the turbos (though I still will and sell them)
2. More power
3. Easier

[rider]

So I'm pulling the trigger on the K03/4 hybrids... 400awhp here I come!

[rider]

Just got back from a week at the girlfriends cabin. All the parts came in!





Hoping to get the manifold and turbos in tomorrow.

[Township Rebellion]

Siiiick.

[komokazi]

*fap* *fap* *fap*

[rider]

Sorry for the lack of updates, been busy with the woman and other stuff.

Engine is back in! Turbos are on and everything was spec'd to torque. Just got the shifter aligned and shifting into all 7 gears . New Samco TB boot in ricer blue (oops) is on and should prevent the stock throttle body boost boot from blowing to bits as it likes so much to do. New diverter valves are in too (stock ones like to poop too). The new ones are from the second gen TT 225hp 1.8t. The rear differential is in as well as one of the front axles. To get the new ones in I have to drop the rear part of the front subframe and disconnect the lower control arm. What a royal pain in the ass.



I'll get some better pics tomorrow when there's more light.

The three pedal assembly and all related parts are in. Luckily the stock brake fluid reservoir comes with a crimped off connection for a master cylinder line so they are interchangeable.




The company that said they would tune my car decided to be royal cunts and not tune it unless I dropped 1.1k on their "stage 3- tune package". I assembled the same thing from better components for half that. I can halfway understand it to get the tune right... but they shouldn't force their overpriced products on people.

Also, I got a choice between a free y-pipe size-matched to an 85mm MAF housing or an inline fuel pump. Both preliminary designs of potential products. Thoughts?

[happy_one_hit]

Glad to see your project is moving along. Hopefully soon I can say the same thing about my MR2 soon.

As far as that in line fuel pump, I find that if you need more fuel then just put a larger pump in the tank. To me those second booster fuel pumps are just more things to go wrong.

[rider]

Oh it's not a secondary... it's a primary pump that requires it's own management (More money, yay!). I WILL need a pump though, and the management costs less than a whole pump so that's a big plus.

The y-pipe would be a bitchin' display piece though, since it's the only piece that really sits above the engine with all the coverings on... It would look very, very nice I think. Especially with an 85mm elbow and filter with integrated MAF. And it would be great for spool.

[rider]

25awhp the easy way!



Saved myself $400 + $300 core fee for 2 hours with a grinder and some screwdrivers. Having them rewelded tomorrow. This way I also don't have to fuck around with razor-sharp heat shields directly off the turbo. They'll give more power, less heat, and longer life.

[MediumD]

So you made a big expansion chamber and tossed $200 of scrap catalyst?

[rider]

Nope, the cat chamber was the same size as the rest of the upper DP. no expansion chamber here.

What should I do with the catalyst material? I just double bagged it and put it by the car, not sure where to take it.

[The Cheshire Cat]

Are you not required by your state to pass emissions/smog tests?

[rider]

No, no visual or sniffer test. However, there is still a set of cats installed. I only removed the ones directly off the turbos.

[rider]

Everything engine is installed. New downpipes and o2 sensors are installed. Two of the ECU -> interior clips are different for the manual so I'm waiting around for my audi mechanic (ARGH) to come with his magic plug re-pinner. He had to repin the o2 sensors as well (Again, different year).

I also have to wire in the new pedals... not looking forward to wiring. I fucking hate wiring. But once this is all done it can be started. If it starts it will be thrown back together and I have to put at least 500 city miles on it. I'm leaving for college in 6 days (!!!) and this thing is still in pieces. Time to haul ass!

If this project has taught me anything, it's fuck automatics. There's so much extra hardware, weight and complication for a shitty driving experience.



Dusty as fuck.

[The Cheshire Cat]

Damn.

Hell of a project you took on. Glad to see you've stuck with it and made some HUGE progress.

[ratfrink]

As ever, I'm really impressed. What are you studying at college?

[rider]

Good day. Spent 4 or 5 hours working on my back. I hate working on my back. Had a bitch of a time getting the front driveshaft gasket in.

But after 10 hours today:


Best picture I could get in the dark. But the picture is only half the story. Everything underneath is now attached and ready except the catback. The ECU plugs have been rewired and the car has been hooked up to it's battery. Fixed some random sensor plugs that were either loose or not plugged in. Both the brake lights and traction control lights are stuck on because neither ABS or ESP works with the m-box with a slushbox program. My audi mechanic tried to reflash the ECU as a manual but it kept coming back as an auto. I've heard a rumor that if there's a transmission fault it won't allow a transmission reflash until that fault is cleared. Lame. Luckily I can drive it just fine on the current tune. And I'll have CELs from the gutted cats too. Never ordered the spacers because I was hesitant on the piggie pipes (catless downpipes).

Tomorrow I need to wire in the fucking pedals. I cannot figure it out for the fucking life of me. Every guide I see is for a different application be it year of the engine, car pedals, everything. I'm trying to take it one step at a time so it's the first thing I'll be working on tomorrow.

I'm fucking tired, going to bed. Hopefully I'll have a running car tomorrow.

EDIT: Frinky, I forgot to mention that I'm studying computer science. I hope to do computer science with a background in alternative energies.

[Township Rebellion]

Keep it up man, a man of your calibre can accomplish harder tasks. Hell of a good show son.

[MediumD]

Eh, if you're going to college in 6 days, this is probably going to be irrelevant for a few years if not forever. But hell, if you can work on an A6 and maintain your sanity, no 500 level class should even come close.

Call up any metal recycling company in your area, you probably won't get as much as bringing in a whole cat, but should still be worthwhile - cat scrap is often priced based on what vehicle the unit is from because that lets recyclers know which and how much component precious metals are in the unit.

[rider]

Cranked with nothing for about 10 seconds... stopped, then this:
http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q...-37-41_781.mp4

Gotta fill the diff/tranny with oil and bleed the clutch. Then we're in business again.

[rider]

Alright guys, the bitch runs and drives! BUT, the gas pedal and brake lights don't work... FFUUUUUUUU last thing to do before I can drive it! I moved it back and forth on the clutch, but it's hard when there's no gas haha.

It's also making a really strange buzzing from the front end of the car around the serpentine belt area. I'm waiting to get the gas hooked up to see how the noise reacts before I try to figure out what it is. (EDIT: the noise only happens at certain RPMs which leads me to think it's a heat shield or just something loose and rattling around)

Leaving either tomorrow or two days from now, depending on the car. FUUU time to chug along as fast as I can!

[reggie_love]

Awwwww yeaah! Gogogogogo!

[rider]

Didn't push it here:


Drove it for a short distance since it still doesn't have brake lights or a bumper. Or exhaust. But it runs! And burns oil. I'm going to have to reseal the feed on the passenger's side turbo. Not to bad with the wheel off. I have to do some minor work anyways. Need to bleed the PS system. I'm 99% sure that's the rattle coming from the front of the car because of the way it reacts while driving.

It's fucking hard to get into reverse because the shifter's poorly aligned... the real job takes special tools and measurements that I can't do so I'm going to drive it to Audi to have them do it.

Feels good to drive a stick again.

[rider]

Put 15 miles on the car tonight after getting it done with nothing worse than a boost hose I forgot to tighten popping off. Dropping of my girlfriend 20 miles away in the city to make sure it works then it's off to Montana in it tomorrow!

[The Backdoor Man]

Awesome project guy, im really proud of you! Working on an Audi is fucking hell, takes alot of patience and fuck you willpower! But it must be fucking amazing to drive

[rider]

On my way back from my girlfriend's house, after 65 miles, the slave cylinder exploded. Just fell into pieces. One of the pieces fell into the transmission. I was driving, went to downshift and the clutch just sank to the floor. Pulled over, fluid all over the ground from below the slave cylinder.

So, since I had to leave for college the car was towed to my trusted Audi mechanic where they managed to fish the piece out without dropping the bellhousing (saving me over a grand in labor) and replaced the slave cylinder. They also replaced the front brake hoses and bled the whole thing... which really needed to be done. And they aligned the shifter, which I was unable to do precisely myself due to lack of tools. Shop foreman said the car drove and shifted great on a short and easy test drive. I asked for a good looking over and they said the engine looked great with nothing visibly wrong.

So now my dad is going to drive it a couple hundred miles for me to make sure it's all in good order and break in the clutch, and I'm going to pick it up and drive it to Montana over Thanksgiving break.

On the plus side, the car drove phenomenally as a manual and made a lot more power, even on the stock tune. I only got on to it a bit though, since I still have to break in the clutch. I have no leaks or clunks or weird noises. Car drives exactly like it should.

[The Cheshire Cat]

Was the slave cylinder a used one or was it brand new? I swear there is nothing like using parts that are old and in good working order, just to slap them on something else and have them fail almost instantly.

[rider]

Used, which I now know was a huge mistake. I wish I had put in an all-metal one while I had the transmission out. But Audi won't install non Audi parts and it had to be fixed by them. The funny part is I didn't even touch the slave other than to bleed it... came still installed in the transmission. I must have bumped it while installing it which was enough to send it over the edge. The stock slaves are plastic pieces of shit that are known to fail.

So this project is not done. That would be foolish! My goal now is to get it tuned and dialed in properly, and then modifying it for ultimate reliability. These 2.7t engines have ridiculous vacuum lines all over them that are plastic and know to leak. So silicone replacements are the next mod. Then it's the auxiliary water pump delete (Helps to keep the turbos cool... not needed if you're careful about warming it up and cooling them down, like I am). The pump is again plastic and likes to start leaking right around my mileage. Then it's more random plastic/rubber hose to silicone conversions. It'll increase the life of the car and the turbos significantly. I'm hoping for 250k miles out of this beast at this point!

Once I've made it reliable I'm going to:
1. FMIC. Kinda flashy for an Audi, but it performs excellent and costs half as much as the cheapest upgrade side mount kit.
2. Fuel pump.
3. 85mm MAF + Some sort of intake to support it (Shame because the stock one is brilliant)
4. Injectors and a stage 3 tune for ~375awhp. Very conservative number for a stage 3 2.7t.

[The Backdoor Man]

Lol, what kind of tires do you like/buy?

[rider]

Right now I have a set of continental supersports or something like that. I don't remember the name. They're pretty sticky but the Audi is no beast made for handling. They've got enough grip that I'll be able to hold the road just fine with the quattro. Rated to 155mph too...

[rider]

Couple small updates.

Back home now, worked on the Audi some:


That's all for modifications now... I finally got to see the old slave cylinder (The one that blew up):

And where it failed:

Plastic pieces of shit.

Quick picture while out and about:


Some random pics:



It's got around 170 miles on it now. I think one of the wastegate lines popped off (Boosts to ~15psi before throttle cut, actuators set at 12), but that's not too much work. Only more than an hour of fiddling and tight spaces for one line . The car is being driven ~200 miles to see my girlfriend tomorrow, I'm not worried at all! It's still got 100% of the fluid that was put in it when it was put back together. The only problem is that I can smell oil burning after the car is turned off (Not when running??).

Any thoughts on what could be causing the oil smell only after the car is turned off?

EDIT: Random thought, even with the throttle cut the car is FAST. Much more so than stock, even untuned. Can't wait to get the tuned ECU swapped in! In the mail right now.

[Township Rebellion]

Are you idling the motor for a bit before you turn it off? I heard shutting it off before the turbos stop spinning and cool down, oil can get trapped inside the housing and burn, causing damage. Or something along those lines. And I say this having not done any research before posting ITT.

[Kwinnie Bogan]

^I wouldn't have thought that A6 was of a vintage that preceeded turbos with an independent oil line, but it may just be good practice with ALL turbocharged vehicles to run at low load for a couple minutes before turning off if you've been spooling them heavily, as with the older turbos at least this allows time for the turbine to cool down and spool down before the oil supply to it is shut off. The last thing you'd want is wear in the bearing race after all, right?

Old cars (Jags and VLCT + turbo diesels that I've driven) seem to have required several minutes of idle upon parking up.

[rider]

Put > 250 miles on the pig in the past two days. Drove to Wisconsin to see the girlfriend .

Over 400 miles now and running beautifully apart from 4 warning lights, no traction control or ABS and 5 or 6 CELs and the oil burning! Sounds like a lot but after all I did to this car that seems like a tiny amount of work compared to what I've done. Still needs to be tuned. Stock turbos push ~7psi, new ones are 12psi. So if I go over 7 I get some pretty serious throttle cut from the ECU. Luckily the spare ECU is in the mail off to get tuned right now. Remove tuners FTW!

[rider]

Boost gauge cleaned up:

Put the interior back together. ECU will be here soon with the new tune so I can finally see what it'll do with the new turbos. Fuck it's killing me.

Inline fuel pump + in tank pump will be run in serial to boost fuel delivery soon. Got a free inline pump. Once I get injectors I can crank this bad boy up to ~400awhp. But for now it'll have to stay at 300. How slow

[Kwinnie Bogan]

400awhp. I like it. Dash reminiscent of R8.

[rider]

Got a cable to flash the ECU and loaded a stage 1 (K03s, stock hardware, 16psi) just so I could feel the car. Holy shit. It's fast. But since the tune was for K03s it was lean and cutting ignition hard.

New ECU programmed for the hardware it has is coming in tomorrow.

[rider]

Little bit of 5th gear action:
http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q...-30-27_161.mp4

Love going 75-120 in ten seconds . Stock intercoolers are garbage at 19psi.

[The Cheshire Cat]

How is your reliability with this project? I know with your Miata build you had nothing but nightmares and weird problems. Anything like that pop up yet, or has it just been smooth sailing?

[rider]

YES! I'm having what I call "stage 3 problems". The bigger turbos (that the Audi community knows as stage 3) and extra boost is causing weird shit to happen. Stock hoses (and there's a shit load) have 130k miles. The extra stress just pushes some things over the edge. Today I found the passenger side turbo dangling off the manifold after torquing to the shop manual specs... so I just tightened the fuck out of it and it solved all my exhaust leaks along with some exhaust paste on the slip-pipes. And now, somewhere, one of the wastegate lines is torn/popped. So the boost just keeps building and building. It's a 4 hour job to change just the passenger side.

This car, despite how fast it is and how much I love it, makes me miss my Miata. Took 30 minutes for a turbo swap instead of 3 months . I also miss everything not costing an arm and a leg.. I cringe at how fast of a Miata I could have built with the money I spent on this project. That's not to say I don't LOVE the Audi... it's just a completely different animal. Different drive, different feel, different goal and different fast factor. It is faster, but lacks the throw you back in your seat feeling that the Miata had. The Miata "felt" faster, despite the Audi being significantly faster.

But on a better note, I've put 3k miles on this setup with no major mechanical problems. Just stupid little shit that would frustrate a normal human being. I drive it ~150 miles to and from Eau Claire every weekend and it's never skipped a beat. I've also decided to get into tuning.. Remote tuners, while great for what they are, are bullshit. If you make ANY hardware change you have to purchase a whole new tune for the privileged of sending your ECU off 3 or 4 times and hoping it runs right at the end. Lucky the stock ECU can be read, flashed and tuned to any spec.

EDIT:
We're an Audi family


Also found this:

I want to get it laminated and hang it in my room. Is that sad?