B8 S5: Track/Daily Project

[Audi_Sport]

History:
Brought the car on February 1st, 2018 after having a catastrophic engine failure in my daily driver, a 2011 Infiniti m37x. I chose to go with Audi as my next car because a year prior my family and I took a trip to Europe and I got the chance to drive an Audi A6 TDI on the German autobahn. When I looked down and saw I was doing 130mph when it felt like it was 60, I knew I needed a car just like it. I picked the S5 for two reasons the Quattro system and the v8 powerplant. I had a v6 and wanted to go up in cylinders. When I first picked up the car with 29,291 miles, I instantly fell in love with the looks of the S5.

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Goal:
To be brutally honest when I got the car, she was going to be my daily driver and I was ok with that at the time. But as time has progressed the goal shifted from just being a daily to a track car that I could still drive every day. I want it to be a car to drive 4 hours to a track, track it, and then drive home with no issues.

Let’s Begin:

Key [* Activity / Events] [$ Notable Repairs] [- Modifications]

[Audi_Sport]

-AWE carbon intake (Feb 2018)
The car was missing the ducting that went from the slam panel to the air box, so I took the opportunity to upgrade it there.
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-Stop Tech slotted and drilled rotors w/ street pads (Jun 2018)
Rotors did a decent job of resisting brake fade, but the pads are a different story either they didn’t bed right or something. The pads would just slip randomly, and the brake pedal would just drop to the ground. Confirmed no air in the system and the pistons weren’t leaking.
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-Corsa Performance cat-back (Jul 2018)
The stock exhaust is pretty good for a stock system, but omg that v8 needs to sing. Picked the Corsa Performance over the other offerings cause in my opinion it struck a good balance with sound and price. Just a lil’ more expensive than the AWE equivalent and from audio clips the Corsa is just a hair cleaner sounding.
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-ECS rear control arm brace (Jul 2018)
This upgrade fixed the “loose” end feeling when driving. Helped with confidence a lot!
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* Empire Dragway (Nov 2018)
They were only running 1/8th mile that day but still wanted to set a mostly stock baseline. Did 3 runs and the best result was a 9.1 in the 1/8th
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-JHM engine tune (Dec 2018)
Probably the most dramatic change to the car’s character. It encouraged you to step on the pedal more. Didn’t dyno it to see the change but the butt dyno gives a big thumbs up.
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-JHM test pipes (Jan 2019)
There are possibly two benefits of doing test pipes, but I can only confirm one of them. The old school thought of cats restricting power may be true here but must wait till dyno charts show. But I can confirm that they make the car a lot louder and raspy. I love it!
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-RS style front grille (Feb 2019)
Had the body shop install an RS grille instead of the S-line grille
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[Audi_Sport]

*Received the Wrecked RS5 (Feb 2019)
I decided to grab an RS5 for parts as my interior had some small gremlins and the wheels caught my eye when I saw it up for auction. Planned on using the entire interior, brakes, springs, wheels, misc. parts, Carbon trim, and the trunk spoiler. Didn’t get to use the active spoiler as it was damaged during handling and the brakes were traded for a different BBK setup later.
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*Disassembly of the RS5 (Mar 2019)
I got the RS5 to start and cleaned up a little bit for resale as I didn’t plan on keeping the motor or shell.
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-RS5 interior & BFI shift knob (Mar 2019)
The seats, door panels, center console, and shift knob were installed. The car no longer felt 2010’s inside. The shift knob does catch a lot of people off guard when they take a quick glance. (not my intention but oh ’well). The RS5 seats had a different airbag connector but both ends had the same wire colors, so I changed the S5 connector to the RS5 floor connector and got rid of the airbag light.
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[Audi_Sport]

-HRE FF01 20x10.5 (Apr 2019)
Oh, damn these suit the car so well. And the extra width helps a decent bit in the corners. But the tires that were installed on the wheels left a lot to be desired in the wetter conditions. Often lost grip.
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*Watkins Glen Opening Day (Apr 2019)
My very first track day experience. Taking the S5 to the track gave me the unfightable itch to make the S5 into a weapon. It felt so good even though it was mostly stock suspension. (Thanks to my friend Reed for filming the day)
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*Joined Audiunitesnyc (Jun 2019)
I joined my very first car club. Fantastic group of people and beautiful cars.
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$-Sparkplugs (Jun 2019) 50,000mi
Besides the usual maintenance items like brakes and oil changes, this was probably the first repair I had to do. The car started misfiring and I believed it was the plugs. Replaced the plugs and the car was running much better. 😊
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-RS5 steering wheel (Jun 2019)
Just located a reasonably priced airbag to finally install the wheel. Luckily all the buttons worked with no coding or adjustments.
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*RS5 sold to the new owner (Jul 2019)
Sold to RomanK after meeting him earlier in the year. He told me about his RS4 Allroad project and I just knew I needed to see it happen, so we struck a deal and off she went to be repurposed. https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...-RS4road-build
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[jschrauwen]

Things i would consider in your case.
1. Use a better pad rated for the track. It won't huve you yhe best braking feel in your daily driving use bug it's an option to swapping out pads between track snd street use.
2. Have a look at the Alu Kreuz front lower suspension brace coupled with the CR-15 upper strut brace.
3. I would consider a walnut shell carbon cleaning as well.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

[Audi_Sport]

*WaterFest 25 (Jul 2019)
I took the S5 to my very first water fest and boy it was a hot one. On both days the temps were well above 100 degrees. Loved seeing all the builds, really inspired me to keep going.
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$-Coils, Plugs, Air filter, O2-Sensor (Aug 2019)
Started misfiring again, got codes for a bad O2-sensor and 2 cylinders misfiring. I know the V8’s have coils that usually go bad around 60k so not too far off. After the replacements, runs like new😊
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-Powerflex Bushings, 034 Upper arms, BBK, ECS cutouts, H&R lowering springs (Sep 2019)
Bushings needed replacing so opted for the poly bushings and they made a bigger difference than expected. 034 arms were needed to fix the extreme camber from lowering the car. The BBK I ended up with is the Porsche Macan setup. Little heavier than the RS5 setup but Macan setup was significantly cheaper. I got Macan rotors and calipers for just RS5 calipers. Oh, what a luxury it is to have a button to piss off your neighbors lol.
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$-Parking brake motor (Sep 2019)
The parking brake failed over the summer but didn’t really matter on a Tiptronic car. Romank was extremely helpful with sourcing one for cheap. The dealership quoted $2000 for the repair. I’m like hell naw.

[Audi_Sport]

*Raid the Runway hosted by Audiunitesnyc (Oct 2019)
Unfortunately, there was no timing equipment at the event, but it was a fun ass event. I believe it was close to a quarter-mile setup because I was trapping above 110 mph through the cones.
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$-HRE wheels repaired and powder-coated (Nov 2019)
Wheels needed some TLC, so I got the curb rash repaired. I chose to powder coat it in gunmetal to try and hide future brake dust. We’ll see how it holds up in the spring. Other wheels belong to Roman lol
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$-Injectors, Fuel Pump and filter (Nov 2019)
The car started misfiring again. UGH!! Since I replaced everything else in the system that could cause it, I had no choice but to buy a new set of injectors. I decided to replace the fuel pump as well as a while I’m in there. This totally changed how the car drove. So smooth you’d think it’s a brand-new car.
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*Suspension Collapsed (Nov 2019)
All of the sudden the front just collapsed and cut the body harness that runs under the fender. This made the car undrivable until I replace the coil-over setup. The shop got busy and was unable to repair quickly so it was parked for the winter. I believe the H&R springs plus the Electronic dampeners didn’t play nicely with each other.
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*New daily (Dec 2019)
The S5 is no longer my daily driver which means upgrades can get a little more intense. Purchased a 2012 VW Jetta to take the spot. But it was involved in a serious accident 2 days after purchase. So, I picked up a 2002 Audi A4 Avant with a 3.0 manual to take the spot. (Avant owners rejoice). But this is the S5 build thread, the wagon will get its own one day.
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[Audi_Sport]

Things i would consider in your case.
1. Use a better pad rated for the track. It won't huve you yhe best braking feel in your daily driving use bug it's an option to swapping out pads between track snd street use.
2. Have a look at the Alu Kreuz front lower suspension brace coupled with the CR-15 upper strut brace.
3. I would consider a walnut shell carbon cleaning as well.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

Just finished getting the thread up to date sorry

[RomanK]

Just finished getting the thread up to date sorry

walnut shell carbon cleaning is going to be done soon

[RomanK]

that .46 seconds into the video

[19birel]

Great progress! I did opening day at Watkins Glen in my old B5 A4, such a blast.

Any full track events planned for this year?

[0000_S5]

Enjoyed reading your story and the track videos. Pretty adventurous efforts with the RS5 purchase and part out!! Best of luck in your project!

another_white_S5


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Audi_Sport]

Great progress! I did opening day at Watkins Glen in my old B5 A4, such a blast.

Any full track events planned for this year?

Watkins glen opening day of course and maybe a couple of roadtrips this summer possibly

Enjoyed reading your story and the track videos. Pretty adventurous efforts with the RS5 purchase and part out!! Best of luck in your project!

another_white_S5


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the support!!

[RomanK]

dam that jetta was beautiful, scarlet will be missed

[Audi_Sport]

- Bilstein B16 PSS10 Coilovers, ECS Carbon strut Brace (April 2020)
Picked up the new set of coilovers to replace the collapsed old set. Right away the car feels firmer and more confidence-inducing in the corners. That could also be because of the strut brace. Overall the car is way more planted feeling and I would probably go to swaybar next.

[Audi_Sport]

-New Stage 2 ECU and TCU tune from JHM
https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...0#post14147760