Mike's big RS4 modding project

[FaisalJ]

Those seats look great! Nice work

[Deano_123]

Any fitted pics?

Is there a guide or can you talk through the process od stripping the seat rears?

[pixsaudisex2]

Looking good..
The expansion tank looks good with the cap the right way

[MikeFish]

Any fitted pics?

Is there a guide or can you talk through the process od stripping the seat rears?

Sorry for the delay, I will write up how to strip the seat backs in a bit, but in the mean time here are some pics of the seats fitted:

[MikeFish]

And a couple of photos of the engine bay now it's started to get a bit cleaner.
I'm almost finished under here, still need to get a detail brush to clean in all the nooks and crannys; then it needs the 2 original carbon covers replaced. Finally I'd like a better looking brake fluid cap.

[MikeFish]

Also posted about some work I had done recently in another thread but thought if probably needs mentioning go here too.
Whilst having a new rear cv gaiter fitted (which took a week to arrive from audi) I took the opportunity to have a full set of HEL braided brake lines fitted and had the fluid drained and replaced with ATE type 200 (replacement for the old super blue).
I also had a SS+ 22mm rear anti roll bar fitted in place of my non SS+ 20mm one.
And as the garage said I needed a new exhaust clamp (old one was fully tight but still blowing past) I asked them to order 2 new ones from Audi (only needed one but thought it might look odd with one old and one new even though no one can see it). Nearly £40 for the pair!! Whilst at it I asked them to cut out the centre silencer and weld on a straight through section.
They said they'd do it with a bit of flexi and some rodding which sounded wan* but they were only charging about £100 so thought I'd give it a go. I haven't seen what it looms like yet as it's not at all visible when crouching under the car. But it sounds ace! Much deeper and a bit louder. Not really much drone. I did notice when trying to listen out for it that it could be heard but not very noticeable and at lower revs than my Tubi one used to drone at. I had it running on the driveway earlier and gave it a rev, boy did it sound awesome!!!! Remember , I have no precats, the valves are disconnected so permanently open and now no centre silencer. When revved it has a great metallic rasp to it!

Then earlier today I managed to scuff one of my rotors in a car park. grrrrrrrrrr!!!! Got my OEM wheels out and measured the tyre depth; still legal so gave them a good scrub ready for fitting during the week so the rotors can get refurbed. I'm thinking or making them all one colour as I was never a fan of the diamond cut edge (although I still love the look of them), either the same titanium colour or maybe just a shade darker, but not as dark as my OEM anthracite wheels. Still loving my OEMs though. Shame they are not 20s.
Need to get my crappy wrapped window trims and interior trims done properly now. Time is running out for AITP and I know there will be some tidy cars there; don't want to look too shabby next to the others.

[MikeFish]

Ps, I'll try and grab a video of the exhaust soon.

[TechNick]

All coming together very nicely, Mike. Bet it sounds great as well!

Ref the rotors, have you also considered painting the edges? Retain the two-tone look without the constraints of diamond cut.
Although it's a lot of work to mask them up properly first, the end result should be much more durable, easier to repair in the future and can be polished up/sealed to a much higher level. Plus it makes them very subtly different to all the other rotors out there.
That was my thinking, at least!!

[MikeFish]

Thanks Nick. Yeah it finally sounds great again, better than any videos I've heard of similar set ups from outside the car. Still lacking abit with regards to sound from inside though. The problem is, to make it sound good inside will probably mean making it so loud on the outside that I'd keep getting stopped by the police again.
I was thinking of reinstating the valves but on a separate switch but I'll see how I get on as I'm not sure its loud enough to need to make it quieter.

[Rick_RS4]

looking great Mike seatbacks and bay are looking awesome,

getting that perfect exhaust note is a pain in the ass, i feel your pain. i had larger boxes fitted to mine as it was to loud but now its a bit too reserved, im going decat and replace with silencers so hopefully should give desired sound finally,

bugger about the rims, really want to paint them too but said id only do it if i kerbed one

you could fit door poppers to the valves on a switch to openand close when you wanted

[FaisalJ]

looking great Mike seatbacks and bay are looking awesome,

getting that perfect exhaust note is a pain in the ass, i feel your pain. i had larger boxes fitted to mine as it was to loud but now its a bit too reserved, im going decat and replace with silencers so hopefully should give desired sound finally,

bugger about the rims, really want to paint them too but said id only do it if i kerbed one

you could fit door poppers to the valves on a switch to openand close when you wanted

There's a more oem looking solution, if you have a spare location for a dashboard switch. I posted a link to a how to guide not so long ago as I was about to do the same thing. You'd end up with a dash switch to fully open the valves. I was all set to get it done and then found my valves were buggered:-(

[MikeFish]

I've seen that mod you're talking about with the RS dash button, but I was thinking or a 3 way toggle switch so that it will always start in the previous mode rather than either one way or the other and having to press the button each time, this will also mean I can have it either permanently open, closed or it can behave as normal (ie via the sport button and only open at certain revs /gears etc). To be honest though, if I could have it perm open or closed then I doubt I'd ever use the OEM mode so maybe a switch will work as long as I can wire it to have memory of last used mode ie latching regardless of engine being switched off which is harder to do with a momentary switch, unless that RS one is latching?
I would personally wire in at the vacuum reservoir rather than at the ECU as it seems like a more logical place and much easier (less wires in the way). However, there is also a nice plug and play option, which just plugs into the loom at the vacuum reservoir and controls via a remote control. This was designed for Porsches but apparently is a straight fit for the RS4 too. I'll see if I can find the thread.

[MikeFish]

Here's the details and photos of the plug and play option.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=112406&p=723831#p723831

[FaisalJ]

Good idea being able to leave it in the last mode. Please keep us updated if you get it done, very interested in doing this one day.

[TAB1S]

Random one but what happend to your front splitter mike couldnt see it in your pics?