OK, so now that I'm feeling like the B6 section rolled back 4 years and is becoming awesome again thanks to the chatter that's getting started in this thread, I'm going to roll back to the Fall of 2010 when I took Avant off the road and started the build.
So first, I think I need to add a few disclaimers.
1. Its true and makes no sense that I store this Quattro Avant every winter (except winter 2007, when this love affair began). I love it too much to let the east coast winters take their toll on the car. I have a truck that I use for my daily, and it played an important role in this build. Besides, quattro is not just for winter driving!
2. We all know that when you start with a small 1.8T platform, you'll never end up with big low end torque that larger displacement motors can make, no matter what you throw at it. But I like small displacement turbocharged motors because if built right, you can have gas mileage when you want it and power when you want that. That was the main reason I bought a USP 6MT Avant instead of the black/black 04 S4 Avant 6MT Avant that I test drove first.
In fall of 2010, I was just one of many happy B6 owners with the REVO Stage 3 GTRS eliminator setup. Had a blast at Waterfest and was thrilled to actually win something for a change in my life, the heavily modded B5/6 class (and so did Arclight, who won the moderately modded B5/6 class). Hahaha, heavily modded. Little did I know at the time.
Arclight's sedan and my Avant after Waterfest 2010:
Hanging with the AZ community on Saturfay at 2010 Waterfest:
I was pretty happy with the car at that point, but knew I wanted to go for something bigger in every way. I was getting annoyed reading what seemed like all of the B6 forum threads digress into arguments between Clint and A4Tschuss about who had the fastest B6 (remember those days? It was actually pretty amusing...) I always thought the idea of a B6 competing on a dragstrip was like a sumo wrestler racing in the 100-meter hurdle, but that's just my opinion. In a funny way they helped me realize that my vision of the B6 and most Audi's was their road worthiness, and I wanted mine to be of the character that one would want to enjoy blasting down the Autobahn, or enjoy on a track like Lime Rock. Debatable aspirations for the B6, but nonetheless. Am I still talking about the B6? Maybe not, but I wanted to work my B6 toward that vision while keeping it true to Audi form, function, and driver comfort, which is what still makes me so pleased with the B6 platform.
Anyhow, fall 2010, I was reading up on the then new Borg Warner EFR series of turbochargers, and the B2-framed twin scroll series caught my attention because of how well they spooled and made big power compared to other similar sized turbos. For those who aren't familiar, here's the tech brief on the EFR line:
http://www.full-race.com/articles/efrturbotechbrief.pdf
They were mostly being tested and run on some Subaru's, and they were raising a lot of eyebrows with their spooling capabilities compared to the rest of the competition. So I contacted Mike Hood (Ringer Racing), one of the people who gave me a lot of support early on in the build. Mike had been working with Full Race throughout 2010 to develop a Full Race tubular exhaust manifold specifically for the large-frame (T4 turbine housing) EFR turbos for the B5/6 platform. I went back and forth on whether I wanted the 0.92 A/R T4 7064 or 7670, I ultimately chose the 7064 since I wanted the turbo to spool as low as possible and still provide a big top end. The compressor map of the 760 seemd like it would not hit where I wanted it to. And, was the record, this was all long before they introduced the 7163 series, so whatever. I placed my order in winter 2011 for the 0.92 A/R T4 EFR 7064, but there was a waiting line as Borg Warner was sorting out quality issues with the turbine housing and they weren't releasing them to market yet. Word was a few months out at that time (winter, 2010). When someone does a 7163 in a B6, we can compare results.
As I was learning about the EFR, I read up on some of the directions I could go for the motor. Initially, I really I wanted to build an ALH block 2.2 liter stroker. So that led me to Issam Abed as he was one of the few people that really knew what was needed to do it. He educated me about the complexities associated with building an ALH in a B6, and it sounded like more than I wanted to deal with. I also did not like the rod to stroke ratio of the 2.1 alternative, so I simply decided to bore and stroke the 06A 1.8T block to 2.0 and see what I could make of it. So I placed my order for the motor and cylinder head side of the build with Issam, and Clint provided me with an AEB cylinder head. This is a short list of the list of the hardware purchased:
83mm Mahle Motorsport Forged Pistons 9.25:1 CR
DM forged Rifle-Drilled H-Beam Connecting Rods w/20mm wrist pins
ARP Hardware Throughout
SEM Intake Manifold
Fluidampr Crank Pully
Torque plate
Complete Ferrea Valve Train, OE-Sized AEB Valves
Issam followed through like a champ with my order. He was a great resource for the motor build.
Not having he machinery and tooling needed for a build of this caliber, Clint helped me find a person about an hour from me in Lancaster, PA to manage the block machining and motor assembly. This was my first mistake, but in no way do I blame Clint at all. Let’s just leave it there. Since he was an hour away, I decided to deliver the Avant to him (grrrrr…). I sourced a used AMB block to be machined so I could keep my original motor together for future considerations. This brings us to approximately winter 2010. This is where things started to get a little sideways.
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R.I.P - Traded due to catostrophic failure
Originally Posted by evo_ski
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