The Dad Wagon - B5 S4 Avant

[kittenpuncher]

It was nasty outside today, so it became a good day to work indoors. I needed to put one of these up over my tool bench for awhile now.

Before-


After




Broken wagon

[kittenpuncher]

Let's see a recent photo!

On the road for work this week! But I will when I get back from Portland.

So when the timing chain guides and tensioners are replaced I am going to take the opportunity to powder coat the valve covers and my intake elbow all the same color. The valve covers are a nasty beat up rattle can red from the previous owner and they drive me crazy. I am debating a few colors anyone what to weigh in on options? Right now I am thinking

-deep gloss gunmetal
-wrinkle black
-hyper silver
-a dark wrinkle grey

I am leaning towards the gloss gunmetal option. Pictures of the how the bay currently looks for reference.





Better shot of the ugly redness



Don't mind my missing rain tray cover thingy, I have one I had just removed it to do some wrenching.

[alexandermjoyce]

Let's see a recent photo!

[parttimeprojectionist]

oh man. just wanted to let you know as a prev. b5 avant owner that i fully appreciate the details of this build. well done sir.

[kittenpuncher]

This thing is RAD

Thanks man! I have always admired your mk6 from a far, simply one of the best if not the best mk6s out there...


Not much has happened with the avant this winter, it sits in the garage and stays salt and snow free.... minusssss my timing chain guides failing. It happened on start-up on xmas eve when I planned to take it out for a rip. They are the weakest points in this motor and they just wear down over time. Luckily the motor is unaffected and still running, but I can hear the loud chain rattle so I turned the car off and wont be turning it back on until its fixed. So now its just the $600 bill per chain tensioner/guide assembly ohhhh and there are two of them that will need to replaced... 2.7ts can be unforgiving. However, I am blessed this is the only issue I have experienced since going stage 3. So it has been a dead reliable 400hp car for 15k miles, something was bound to happen I guess... So I need to face the facts and spend the money to get it up and running. I plan on also powder coating my valve covers and intake when I do the guides because I will have them off of the car, I am going to coat them wrinkle black. Other things that need to be done I need to install my AFR gauge, replace the center driveshaft bearing and then flash the final tune onto the car... I am hoping for 450whp. I think that is easily obtainable. I will have it dynoed when it is all said and done so I can have the actual numbers for my own edification.

Small changes to the interior/exterior I also want to make, the headliner looks like doo doo thanks to the previous owner. So I want to drop that out and re-wrap it, and also wrap the roof gloss black to hide a few small areas where this clear coat is fading. If I feel like burning some extra cash while I am doing that I might send the aluminum roof rails out to have them carbon skinned to keep the carbon fiber theme alive.

Ill try and update these things as they are taken care of and I will also try and start taking better pictures, every build of mine has been documented via iphone and I have had a canon t2i just collecting dust.

[DUTCHswift]

This thing is RAD

[philohlean]

Your car certainly doesn't help with my occasional temptation to buy an audi wagon. Have you considered tying in the blue accents any further on the exterior? Maybe calipers? The all black is clean, but I've never been sold on the 'murdered' thing

[kittenpuncher]

Nothing new to report here, may make a few small changes this winter while it waits out the salt and snow in the garage. May clean up my trunk set-up and have a few things powder-coated.

[kittenpuncher]

Tune should be finalized this week. Fuel trims are all dead nuts with no adjustments to the timing, currently running 22 PSI. I have been cleared for WOT, then I will send the corresponding logs over and we will hopefully turn the boost up to 25-26 PSI.

Drove some back roads last weekend.

[kittenpuncher]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought your stock brakes were a fixed caliper design, so even with pad wear they should stay in the exact some position as opposed to a floating caliper.

B5 S4 brake calipers are floating or "sliding" calipers. Currently my stock set up has stop tech drilled rotors and akebono ceramic pads, vs my 17z set-up which used drilled OEM Mercedes Benz rotors and brembo ceramic pads. The stock brakes certainly lack the bite of my 6 piston 17Zs but IMO they still brake more than adequately.

There is a set of 6 piston wilwood calipers on my local Craigslist with brakets, lines, and rotors for dirt cheap I may buy them if the dimensions will accommodate the BBS' better than the 17zs

[MikeyRa]

Yep, due to the BBS Strosek wheels having a fairly slim back pad I had to step my braking down from the 17z back to stock. In order to run the 17z calipers I needed to run a fixed 22mm spacer which was too much, whereas with the stock brakes I am only running a 10mm spacer and as the pads continue to wear down I will be able to use a smaller space size.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought your stock brakes were a fixed caliper design, so even with pad wear they should stay in the exact some position as opposed to a floating caliper.

[kittenpuncher]

Read through the whole thread, loved it man. One day I'll own one of these.

Thanks man!

I do love this car. I'd love to own a B5 S4 one day and if it's anywhere near as clean and well-built as this one I'd be happy.

It looks like you had to step down to stock front brakes to run the Stroseks. How was clearance with the 17zs on?

Yep, due to the BBS Strosek wheels having a fairly slim back pad I had to step my braking down from the 17z back to stock. In order to run the 17z calipers I needed to run a fixed 22mm spacer which was too much, whereas with the stock brakes I am only running a 10mm spacer and as the pads continue to wear down I will be able to use a smaller space size.

I ended up selling the 17z set-up to my buddy who has them on his mkvi gti so they went to a good home!

[Ceedark]

I do love this car. I'd love to own a B5 S4 one day and if it's anywhere near as clean and well-built as this one I'd be happy.

It looks like you had to step down to stock front brakes to run the Stroseks. How was clearance with the 17zs on?

[rightfullrudder]

Read through the whole thread, loved it man. One day I'll own one of these.

[kittenpuncher]

Wasnt sure at first about the black wheels, but hot damn it looks so mean on the avant. Hard to beat air on these cars, I loved my setup on my old b5 other than the stupid e-level issues.

Thanks man! You really cant beat the ride quality of the performance airlift struts on this car, its rides infinitely better than any b5s5 on coilovers that I have experienced. I wet the 3P route which is the pressure based system, I had the same concerns regarding the leveling senors.