Barry's 2001 B5 S4 Build Thread

[q20v]

2022 edit: YouTube playlist that documents several aspects of the build:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...Hn8wM-RqwWJ9ou



Hey guys,

I've been meaning to start a build thread for a while now so here's the start. I have a lot of catching up to do considering I've had the car since the spring of 2018 and I've done a lot of work since then.

Last spring I was on the hunt for a daily driver to replace my B5 A4 that I had for a couple years. Ideally I was looking for a trouble free simple car that didn't need anything and I could drive low cost for years to come. So when I found a 2001 B5 S4 with low compression on Cyl 5 but an immaculate body, I snatched it up since it met none of the practical requirements. While it had the low compression issue it still ran and drove fine, but I knew the engine would be coming out at some point. My plan was to daily drive the car until the engine really started acting up at which point I'd take it off the road and rebuild the engine (and get an actual daily driver).

I've had a soft spot for the B5 chassis for a long time, particularly the S4. I've been in Audis since my 1990 90 Q20V that I bought in 1999, I went through that, a 1990 Coupe, B5 A4, B6 A4 Avant, and a pile of other none VAG cars. I drove a tip B5S4 Imola back in the early 2000's when I was working at a dealership and despite the tip aspect, I wanted a B5 S4 ever since. They are hard to find in my neck of the woods, let alone with a good body. When this one popped up for sale last year I almost didn't consider it because of the compression issue but checked it out anyway and liked the body. The rest is history.

The car was stock with the exception of a Stage 1 tune (tune unknown). It was well maintained from a fluids / timing belt standpoint but needed suspension work and a few other little things. It had about 185k KM (115k miles) when I got it, sitting at about 190k KM now.

My master plan:
- Refresh the suspension and brakes (complete)
- Paint correction and full detail (complete)
- 2.0t coil pack conversion (complete)
- Plugs / fluids / filters / all that stuff (mostly complete)
- Drivetrain refresh including rebuilding the axles and rear diff output seals, tranny rebuild with all the JHM upgrades, and (potentially) one-piece driveshaft
- Engine out for block replacement and bigger turbos, Stage 3 (likely next year)
- All the 'while your in there' stuff when the engine is out
- Interior upgrades including CF trim, seats from a newer S-car when the leather on mine eventually fail, RNS-E upgrade, steering wheel upgrade of some sort (maybe flat bottom)..
- Refinish either the C6 A6 S-line wheels, or the B6 S4 Avus wheels and re-tire them with nice summers.. or go with something else wheel wise. I really like the B6 S4 wheels though.
- Replace the shocks or go with an aftermarket coilover setup (H&R, KW, or similar)
- Replace the exhaust - XSPower catless downpipes with either a home-brew DP-back or off the shelf system

The goal:
- Make the car spotless inside and out, underneath included.
- Solidify the suspension and drivetrain.
- Make sure all maintenance and issues are sorted out.
- Build a spare short block, pull engine and swap the current heads + accessories onto the short block.
- Engine upgrades will include: K04 sized turbos, maybe rods, intercoolers, injectors/tune/MAF, DPs and exhaust. Again, going for low 400WHP and reliable (can I use 400WHP and reliable in the same sentence?).
- Slowly update the interior as time/money permits.
- I intend to keep this car for a really long time, so I'd like to do this right.

For turbos, I'm really leaning on either OEM K04 or SRM K04 RS4+, looking for low 400 WHP range. I am tempted by RS6/K24 sized turbos but feel that going to the 500+ WHP range requires a significantly bigger budget and patience threshold that I currently don't have. I want to be realistic with this build and not have the car on stands for 2 years chasing endless issues and tuning. Not that all 500+ WHP S4s end up on stands for years, but in my life situation I have to balance a number of other things so that's why I'm choosing the K04 route. I also don't think going the K04 route is going to be easy by any stretch, but relatively speaking it will be easier than going big turbo.

So, be prepared, I'm going to flood this thread with pictures in the near future of all the work I've completed to date, and then will slow down once I'm caught up and the next wave will hit when the engine comes out and I can go full OCD on an engine build for a car I've dreamed of owning for 15 years.

Barry

[q20v]

Here are the first few pictures I took of the car







After giving it a quick bath:




The first drive after being registered

[q20v]

One of the first things I did was change the spark plugs, valve cover gaskets, cabin and air filter, oil change, and upgraded to the 2.0t coil packs using the ECS kit. Bought it lightly used from a forum member here. All the old coil housings were cracked, mind you they still seemed to function okay.







































I also changed the diverter valves and hoses, TBB, and oil cap

[eagano]

Ideally I was looking for a trouble free simple car that didn't need anything and I could drive low cost for years to come. So when I found a 2001 B5 S4 with low compression on Cyl 5 but an immaculate body, I snatched it up since it met none of the practical requirements.

...said everyone that has bought a B5 S4 in the last 15 years

For turbos, I'm really leaning on either OEM K04 or SRM K04 RS4+, looking for low 400 WHP range. I am tempted by RS6/K24 sized turbos but feel that going to the 500+ WHP range requires a significantly bigger budget and patience threshold that I currently don't have.

If you want to have fun light to light, go OEM K04. If you are looking for top end, there are many folks on this forum that hare having great success with SRM K24, but you'll need rods at least to be safe.

Silver is the fastest color Look forward to updates!

[e30mclow]

Nice to perhaps see a fellow B5 S4 around Ottawa.
I moved up here in October and have been daily driving mine, but I'm still to see another.

[rage385]

I love your approach. Very well thought out and realistic. I just completed my K04 build on my B5 S4 build. Going from K03s to K04s was a significant increase. I decided to go with the K04s for the same reason you did, I did not want to build the motor. With that said, I have also been told by my tuner that going with a RS6r does not necessarily require rods, but its always a good idea. Your tuner can always provide a tamer tune and still get you your 400 HP. I am planning on going with water/meth here in the near future. I am hoping that will get me into the low 400 range on K04s.

[q20v]

eagano
I had turbo'ed my old 5-cylinder 90 with a big turbo and it was a blast on the highway. For a while I also ran a K26 which was tiny in comparison but spooled instantly and was actually tons of fun. The more I think about it the more I lean towards the K04's. I think they'll be a lot of fun.

m30mclow
What end of town are you in? I'm in Barrhaven and commute to Kanata for work. I'll be pulling the S4 out of storage once the weather stabilizes.

A couple other things I did to the car after I got it:

Drivers side door handle


The drivetrain was clunking on/off throttle so I changed the driveshaft support bearing and filled the rear diff mount with poly




I made a driveshaft installation tool. Unfortunately I now get a speed dependent vibration. I've tried different shim thicknesses (including the original setup) and it just moves the vibrations to higher or lower speeds. I was diligent with the repair but must have made a mistake somewhere.


For the rear diff mount, I filled the old one with poly:






So my thinking was the poly rear diff mount might have been causing the vibrations. Not to mention the increase in drivetrain noise was unbearable for my old ears, I sourced a new replacement.



Also, since I disturbed the exhaust, after getting everything back together the flex pipes were leaking. So out came the downpipes and I welded in new flex sections.




That was a year ago and now the cheap FLAPS flex sections are very stiff and crunchy (had the exhaust off the other day).
Problem solved



Haven't installed the downpipes yet, but will likely do it before the end of April.

[q20v]

Thanks rage385. I was thinking of the larger turbos / conservative tune approach as well. I haven't discounted this idea yet...

[q20v]

Okay I'll break things up for a bit with some random beauty shots from last year

Actually before the beauty shots, here's a few from the first day I got it:










I had to drive it a couple times in the snow unfortunately, until I finally bought a daily driver.



My other distraction in the background is a 1988 E34 530i. Pretty clean body and I've had it since 2010, PO never winter drove it and I haven't either. That was supposed to be my daily when I bought it in 2010. I'm not good at buying daily's haha












Lots more to come

[q20v]

At some point last year I picked up a spare 2.7t motor I was going to build up completely (not for big HP but all the gaskets, bearings, rings, etc etc). Now that I've completely stripped it down, I'll just build a short block with it and re-use my existing heads and accessories since they're in much better condition. All this because I'm assuming my low compression issue has left scoring on my existing cylinder wall (it was scoped and it looked like there was damage). At this point the block is completely stripped and the next step is to drop it off at a machine shop.

[q20v]

Up until this point in the thread I'd say I was sitting at about October/November 2018 and I'd picked up a new daily (2008 smart car) with the intention of having the S in the garage for the winter for the following work:

Paint correction and interior detail

Front suspension:
- B6 aluminum upright / control arm conversion (I had just bought a new control arm set for our B6 Avant, and a month later the car was scrapped)
- wheel bearings
- clean the wheel wells

Rear suspension:
- Clean and paint the wheel wells
- clean and paint the spindles
- wheel bearings
- re-bush the lower control arms / spindles
- replace the shock towers / upper arms with good used items
- sway bar links
- SS brake lines
- ECS Brake rotors and EBC Pads

[q20v]

Starting with the paint correction... I'm relatively new at it but followed the following process:

- Wash and clay bar.
- Compound stage using Meguiar's Microfiber pad and/or Rupes Blue and Yellow wool pad, and Jescar Correcting Compound.
- Polish stage using Rupes Yellow Foam polishing pad, and Sonax Perfect Finish.
- I also used this process on the headlights and door jams. For the tail lights and black b-pillars, I just did a polishing stage.
- I also hit the A6 S-Line wheels with the microfiber pad and they came out nice!
- Touch up paint on the trillion rock chips on the front bumper.
- De-badged the trunk S badge because the badge itself was a bit beat up and I wanted a clear surface to polish.



Overall the paint was in pretty good condition already but there were a pile of little scratches and scuff marks, especially on the rear bumper.

Washing process








Here she is ready to start

[e30mclow]

m30mclow
What end of town are you in? I'm in Barrhaven and commute to Kanata for work. I'll be pulling the S4 out of storage once the weather stabilizes.

I'm in the Iris/Ridgeview area, but will be looking at a couple of places in Barrhaven this weekend as I need garage space.

I see you're also into BMWs, I'm hoping to finish mine this summer




Good to know there are some car people around!

[rage385]

I'm in the Iris/Ridgeview area, but will be looking at a couple of places in Barrhaven this weekend as I need garage space.

I see you're also into BMWs, I'm hoping to finish mine this summer




Good to know there are some car people around!

Gorgeous man! Have you heard of a company by the name of sikky motorsports? They make swap kits for a LS into an e30. That was always a dream of mine.

[q20v]

I can't believe you're in Ottawa! I just went over to your S4 thread and recognized it instantly, I remember reading about your Imola and the accident, and then when you got the black one. There's a good Audi community in Ottawa for the older generations. I'll send you a PM with some contact info. We'll definitely have to meet up, I want to check out your rides.

Here are some before / after pics from the paint correction work. It's very difficult to photograph the defects on a silver car, they hardly show up in the pictures but were clearly visible in person.

Some brake dust on the trunk that I removed with the clay bar




Scuff mark on the driver side fender




Some heavier scratches on the rear bumper, presumably from a parking lot incident or something




I even polished out the water spots from the driver side mirror




Old badge which I intend to replace it at some point.




Blue mark at the top from a broom strike and scuffs in the center of the pic




Big mark towards the top of the bumper




Scuffs along the top of the bumper


Left side of the finger is polished, right side hasn't been done yet


Notice the before / after (top / bottom)


Rear door black trim before

[q20v]

Some overall after pics

[SoundEfx]

Damn. Nice work man.

[q20v]

Damn. Nice work man.

Thanks!

Here's a quick example of the wheel polishing. I used the Rupes LHR75 with a 3" meguiar's microfibre pad and Jescar correcting compound. Didn't take much effort at all, the clear coat must be soft on these wheels.
Before


After


On a warm day I managed to pull the car out and snap a few pics. I forgot to mention, I used Meguiar's Ultimate Paste Wax in the end. I debating between that, a Carnauba Finishing Wax, JetSeal from Chemical Guys, all of which I have but have only used the Ultimate Paste. I decided on the Ultimate Paste because the bottle was open and it won't be the last time I wax the car, I can switch up in the future. I also contemplated ceramic coatings but again, I already had a bunch of good wax I figured I should use them up before buying other stuff.
These pics are after all the suspension work, and the front is 1/2" too low because I'm using B6 front uprights and B5 lower spring perches. I have the B6 perches that I need to swap on to raise the car back to normal ride height.










Now time to start sorting through all the suspension overhaul pictures. More to come.

[marty20dev]

Great Job!! Nice Car!! What suspension and brake setup are you planning?

[q20v]

Great Job!! Nice Car!! What suspension and brake setup are you planning?

Thanks! The car was all stock when I got it, but it's currently sitting on H&R springs (still stock shocks). Plans are upgraded shocks / RSB when money permits. Everything else, control arms, bushings, sway bar links, bearings, etc was addressed this winter. Pics to come :)

[q20v]

Interior cleaning pics..

When I first picked up the car:






Pulled the seat to clean the carpets:








After pics:












Gotta get rid of the wood trim

[q20v]

Great Job!! Nice Car!! What suspension and brake setup are you planning?

Brakes are all stock. Eventually I'll look to upgrade the fronts with 17z or 18z.

[zatch_303]

Was a nice read! Congrats on all the hard work, the car looks fantastic after all of your detailing.

[q20v]

The front suspension was all original with about 190k KM and the bushings were pretty tired and noisy over bumps. I had just purchased a Meyle control arm kit for the family B6 A4 and installed it, but the car ended up being scrapped about a month later so I kept those parts for the S4. The B6 had aluminum uprights so I had to use those. After I got everything back together the car was sitting about 1/2" lower than before up front, then I realized that happens when using B6 uprights with B5 shocks. I have a set of B6 lower spring perches that I'll swap in to bring it back up. I also bought new OEM bearings and spent some time cleaning the wheel wells.





























- - - Updated - - -

Was a nice read! Congrats on all the hard work, the car looks fantastic after all of your detailing.

Thanks! I can't wait to start driving it again this summer.

[q20v]

For the rear suspension, basically all the bushings were torn and the shock mounts were very rusted. The original plan for the winter was to source some clean shock mounts and swap them in, replace the passenger side wheel bearing (driver side was done in the summer for safety inspection), and deal with the rest later. After finding a good set of shock mounts, I also found some clean upper control arms. Once I started tearing apart the suspension, I found the lower control arm bushings to be worse than I thought, the rubber was detached from both inner and outer sleeves. The spindle bushings were also cooked, and the rotors were crustier that I wanted. And, the wheel wells behind the shock mounts had a bunch of surface rust.













I was doing this work in the garage while it was -20*C outside, so I cleaned the parts in the garbage can and dumped the water out front in the snow bank.










Blasted some parts with my small sandblaster. I have a tiny compressor so it takes forever.






I painted everything with 2 coats of POR15

[q20v]

For the spindle bushings, I initially tried pressing the new ones in using the Bentley method. I machined a cup that slipped perfectly over the inner sleeve flange but the lip of the outer sleeve started to fold over immediately. Ideally I wanted to press from the outer sleeve only, so I made a split adaptor that goes under the inner sleeve flange, and the cup presses against that. Anyway, the pictures kinda clear that up..

[q20v]

I wanted to replace the control arm bushings in the lower arms but couldn't find the rear bushings in stock anywhere. I found complete used arms from a seller on eBay in Texas who advertised the bushings as being good. Unfortunately when I got them the bushings were all torn. A friend of mine actually found a set of rear bushings so I snagged those, and then I found a set on eBay from a seller in the UK to replace the ones my friend gave me. So my initial search wasn't very good obviously.. The arms I got off eBay were rust free which was a bonus.

The bushings look good at a glance, but as soon as you deflect the inner sleeve you can see the tear





The sleeve for the rear bushings was flared, and I'm wondering if someone had tried to change the bushings in the past




For the front position bushings, I pressed out the inner sleeves, sawzalled a slit in the outer sleeve, and popped it out.






New bushings


My old arms:


This sleeve just slid right out


Before I reassembled everything, I took the time to clean up the wheel wells. (I'm thinking next year I'll do the subframe)














EBC Pads and ECS Rotors








Found one of the sway bar links was loose so I grabbed a new pair.


I also bought new CV boots and planned to rebuild the axles, but ran out of time!

[Gosser]

By install b6 perches, do you mean cut the rear springs to match the current ride height at the front?

Solid thread, I cannot wait to see some 2.7 building taking place. Well technically I dont, but I do... you know what I mean.

[csobel]

Nice thread! I love the tons of pics.

As a sidenote I have family from Ottawa and it looks like my kids would have fun with yours in the Audi... they're always hitting me up to go play in the "blue car"!

[q20v]

By install b6 perches, do you mean cut the rear springs to match the current ride height at the front?

Solid thread, I cannot wait to see some 2.7 building taking place. Well technically I dont, but I do... you know what I mean.

If the front tires didn't rub the fenders 5 times during a 5 minute drive, I'd be all over cutting a middle coil off the rear springs.
Ya I'm pretty pumped about pulling the engine as well. No stone will be left unturned. Which means you and Sean will most likely be winning the competition. Which both of you should have won by now considering you have long blocks ready to go.

Nice thread! I love the tons of pics.

As a sidenote I have family from Ottawa and it looks like my kids would have fun with yours in the Audi... they're always hitting me up to go play in the "blue car"!

I think I'm done with the pics for now! Maybe a few more after I get the front suspension finalized and the downpipes installed. After that I'm just driving it this summer and planning next winter's projects.

If you're ever in the area let me know and bring your kids over! My kids loving helping out in the garage.

[q20v]

Hey guys,

The summer has flown by and not a lot has changed with the car. I've been daily driving it and really loving it. The suspension work I did last winter gives the car a really solid and tight feel.

All I managed to do this summer is install B7 A4 brake calipers up front, change the engine oil and transmission fluid. I did pick up a couple winter beaters though. Two because my brother is helping drive my kids to school in the mornings and needs a car for that, and I'll use the other to get to work.

Mostly just pictures of the car in this post..

IMG_2870

IMG_2071

IMG_2036

IMG_2127

IMG_2760

IMG_2767

IMG_2771

Love this garage picture
IMG_2774

My B5A4 winter beater
IMG_2821

IMG_2822

And the B6A4 Avant beater
IMG_2893

Also managed to pick up a few engine parts from TheMysticWizard on this forum... valve cover gaskets, piston rings, Calico main and rod bearings, OEM thrust bearing, and Maxspeeding rods. For the record, amazing seller and I'd 100% do business with him again. I've bought and sold a lot of car parts from people on the internet over the past 15-20 years and this was one of the top transactions.

I spent some time a couple weeks ago cleaning my spare block in preparation for honing and hot tank at the machine shop. I just dropped it off today. Once that's back I'll bring the block into the basement for the winter where I'll paint it and build it. Then either next summer or winter I'll pull the engine from the car and transfer the heads + accessories to the rebuilt block. If I have the $ for turbos I'll do those too, but I'm really leaning towards TTE550 sooo that might add some delay from a cost perspective.

IMG_3029

I also grabbed a set of cleaner pistons (came with OEM rods, won't need those) for the build. The pistons that were originally in the block had a lot of the skirt coating worn down.
IMG_3074

IMG_3076

[Mocke]

You are absolutely right going tte550.
This is a great bolton option.
I have tuned these with great results.
Contact me here, i can set you up if needed.

https://www.27tmotorsport.com/products/

[q20v]

Thanks Mocke. I'll keep you in mind when the time comes!

Unfortunately the car is going into storage next week for the winter. On the weekend I gave it a good wash and clay barred the lower doors since there were little tar specs. Gave it a coat of wax, rain-ex on the windows, and treated the leather with Sonax Leather foam (first time I use it and really like the results). I'll keep this thread updated as I progress the bottom end build during the winter.

IMG_3265

IMG_3264

IMG_3263

IMG_3266

IMG_3267

IMG_3268

The rest of the fleet
IMG_3269

[raswin]

Dude I want to be like you when I grow up.. you are very detailed, I would love to clean the car inside and out just like you took the time to do. That is exactly how I would love my car to look, it’s so darn clean. It’s a pleasure to follow your build, I will try my best to mimic your detailing once I start with my Silver Surfer..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[q20v]

Thanks for the kind words raswin! Owning a B5S4 has been a dream of mine since I got into cars and now that I finally have one I want to take my time with everything I do to it, and do it right. I have a lot of plans for the mechanical side of things but those will come when I have more time + money. Should be a fun but long build!

Let me know if you have any detailing questions etc. I’ll keep my eye out for your build thread.

[AvantGuard]

I can't decide if I'm more impressed with your Audi or the organization of your garage.

[e30mclow]

And then he hits us with the e34 on genuine Alpinas!
I need to swing by and check it out

My old e34 m5


Alas, my B5 S4 is sold and leaving me this week though.

[raswin]

I can't decide if I'm more impressed with your Audi or the organization of your garage.

I was about to say the same thing, I sent the picture to my wife last night. Her comment was” you can get yours like that, but only better”. My comment under my breath was” yeah, maybe if you get all your crap out of my garage, just maybe I can start organizing it”lol...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[q20v]

Thanks guys! I spent ~1999-2010 doing car/hobby work in an overcrowded 2-car garage at my parents house (family of 7). You could pull a car in but the other half was a lot of junk (to me, i.e. not car stuff), I had a small corner to work in. I managed quite a bit of work in there now that I think about it.. When I got my own place the first thing I did was focus on the garage, bought the BMW, then got married and had 2 kids so things slowed down for a while. The past couple years I've slowly been getting back into more fun projects as time and money permits, and now that the kids are a bit older it's really rewarding when they spend time in the garage with me.

There have been a lot of personal changes for me this year but things are on the up, and I'm anxious to spend this winter tackling a long to-do list for the garage. Also, my brother will be storing his B6S4 in my garage this winter and we'll be doing a paint correction and likely the timing chains and aftermarket headers. I'll throw a few pics up of that once we get going!

[q20v]

Nice M5 e30mclow! I've never experienced the S38 but have an itch to swap one in some day. One project at a time

I'll keep you posted on the next garage day at my place. Usually have them when the weather is nice so probably won't happen until the spring actually, so I'll try and have you over for a beer once the Christmas rush is over and my brother and I are diving into his B6S4.