All posts by Jeff

Front Driver Side Wheelwell

While I am waiting on some additional parts to be able to commence installing the K04 turbochargers on this S4 I have been directing my efforts at refreshing and upgrading the suspension and brake components.  The past couple of days I’ve been working in the driver side front wheelwell.

Today I wrapped up a bunch of parts swaps.

Audi B5 S4 Suspension and Brake Upgrades
Audi B5 S4 Suspension and Brake Upgrades

Starting at the bottom and working the lines counter-clockwise  we have:

  1.  Both lower control arms (balljoint on the front was a blast trying to get out.)
  2. Swaybar end link
  3. Brake rotor
  4. Vogtland Coilover (Had to visit Autozone to borrow a spring compressor)
  5. Brake pads
  6. 034 brake line
  7. Tie rod end (Surprisingly pesky putting the new one in)
  8. Upper control arms (Neither went in willingly)
Audi B5 S4 Slotted Brake Rotor
Audi B5 S4 Slotted Brake Rotor

The turbochargers have arrived.  I was mistaken about them being Genuine BorgWarner, they are a K04 rebuild from Midwest Turbo Connection.

Midwest Turbo Connection B5 S4 K04
Midwest Turbo Connection B5 S4 K04

Next up will be to check and set the preload on the wastegates to 8 psi so I can take a short break from the suspension and brake work.

Waiting on Turbos

With the new flywheel and clutch installed I reattached the transmission.

Audi B5 S4 Dual Mass Flywheel
Audi B5 S4 Dual Mass Flywheel
Audi B5 RS4 Pressure Plate
Audi B5 RS4 Pressure Plate
Audi B5 S4 Transmission
Transmission Reinstall

I am waiting on the BW K04’s to arrive so I can start reattaching the various turbo lines, so I turned my attention to the front end and the brakes and suspension upgrades.

Audi B5 S4 Suspension and Brake Work
Suspension and Brake Work

Removing the front lower control arm was quite the challenge.  The ball joint remover alone was not getting anywhere, the gear puller was not either, so I combined applying the ball joint tool with a pair of hammers to hit both sides of the lower upright simultaneously.

Audi B5 S4 Lower Control Arm replacements
Lower Control Arm replacements

That did the trick, freeing the pesky ball joint.

The rest of the nuts and bolts have taken some torque to loosen, but so far I haven’t had any others that required taking unusual steps to free up.

Survey Platform Experiment

You probably already encountered the pop-up Survey.  I thought I would try a different survey format for a question I have.

Since for the past several weeks I have been focused on refreshing and doing some upgrades on a fellow B5 S4 owner’s car I haven’t been doing much in the way of product testing.

Test fitting turbo lines
Test fitting turbo lines

It occurred to me that I ought to see what ideas others have for products that could stand to be evaluated.  As a result, the survey you saw was created.

Below I will be creating a table of the suggestions made in response to the poll.

Or not.

After 185 opportunities to have a suggestion made for an item to test next there was a grand total of zero (0) suggestions given.

I will keep chugging along as I have done in the past, directing what gets tested next.