RS4 on a diet!

[pomy]

If one were to strip excess weight from a B5 RS4 to improve the power to weight ratio, where would you start, from subtle right through to extreme?
Are there any companies who can prepare an RS4 to this level, similar to what Manthey Racing do for Porsche?

Cheers!

[Norrs2]

If one were to strip excess weight from a B5 RS4 to improve the power to weight ratio, where would you start, from subtle right through to extreme?

In my case - the Driver!!!!

[Blue_Thunder]

How much stripping out are we talking here? Stripping down to a track car (as Manthey would do) or would you want to keep your creature comforts?

You could start off with:

Swapping out the Recaros for some buckets.
Lightweight wheels (4 of... no spare!) - BBS, etc.
I saw this carbon fibre bonnet on eBay recently: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/audi-a4-carbon-fi ... dZViewItem

[cossymad]

You could get anything you want mad from carbon these days, roofskin, boot, doors, doorcards, bonnet, bumpers etc etc.
As said above aswell.
Seats
brake callipers
wheels/ tyres
lighter flywheel set up
rear seats
dog guard
parcel shelf
luggage net
sound system
speakers
then if you want to go for full track use only;
glovebox door/ internals
aircon
climate control system
airbags
doorcards
change glass for poly
roolining
rear window motors
sunroof motor
electric mirror motors
pillar airbags
archliners
brake disc sheilds
spare engine covers
etc etc.
Then you could shave off your hair and drive naked, with 10L of fuel in the tank!!

[GardinerG]

rip the steering wheel, dash & centre console out, this would require some kind of "mounting" to replace with only what you actually need to hold the steering column, switches, fuses, relays and lightweight steering wheel etc.

Just have the 1 bucket seat.

Sounds kinda fun.

[JonnyX]

I think the sound proofing weighs a fair bit as well.

[Nige_RS4]

If you want to be able to return the car back to normal for resale, then I would stick to the following;

lightweight alloys - OZ, BBS etc..
lightweight battery
kevlar seats
carbon bonnet & front wings
remove aircon condenser
ditch rear seats , dog guard & toolkit etc..

A lightweight flywheel is an option, but it doesn't do that much for lowering the centre of gravity, but will improve pickup etc...

[pomy]

I'd say not completely stripped out, but more of an MTM clubsport RS6 type conversion. I think they got the weight of the RS6 down to around the same as an RS4, ditched the tiptronic for a manual RS4 box and turned it up to 580 BHP.
Has anyone here had any weight saving mods done to their car and who by?

[Andiroo]

If you want to be able to return the car back to normal for resale, then I would stick to the following;

lightweight alloys - OZ, BBS etc..
lightweight battery
kevlar seats
carbon bonnet & front wings
remove aircon condenser
ditch rear seats , dog guard & toolkit etc..

A lightweight flywheel is an option, but it doesn't do that much for lowering the centre of gravity, but will improve pickup etc...

Think Nige has it bang on there. All that stuff will shed a bucket of weight and she can still be put back together quite easy.

I took Noggy Babe's rear seats out completely in order to fit the racing harnesses into recaro buckets, that saved a lot of weight intially. But then we stuck two huge NOS tanks where my dog used to go, so it sort of defeated the whole object

Using a lightweight flywheel is a really good idea as Nige says, as is looking at carbon driveshafts and carbon alloys. The weight difference will be minimal overall, but the percentage of power loss to the wheels is reduced dramatically, which in effect will increase your power to weight ratio.

The main problem you will face is that with all this weight loss you might want to put a cage in, especially if you're thinking trackdays - you're then back to square one

Andiroo

[quattrokid1]

have you heard of Dahlback Racing? he has his RS4 on here...
http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=PNp ... ic&t=63038

this may help

[pomy]

Yeah, that Dahlback Racing RS4 is my inspiration right now! Need to find someone in the UK capable of doing something similar, MRC maybe?

[DaveP]

Honestly, not wanting to piss on your fire here, but really you on a long road to nowhere if you are doing this in the hope of turning the car into a trackday beast.

There are several people who have tracked and modded their RS4's quite heavily, and spent fortunes in the process....eventually, all have come to realise that it's the wrong vehicle to be starting with and have moved on.

The sensible thing to do is to save the money, buy a cheap car that is made for the job from the start and keep the RS4 for what it was intended.... an awesome A to B car.

The RS4 was and never will be a track car....

[DavidT]

Hey, where did you appear from mate

Agree with you BTW

[DaveP]

I do pop in now and again !

Was a nice surprise to see Andiroo here !!

[DavidT]

I do pop in now and again !

Do you know ?

Was a nice surprise to see Andiroo here !!

Yes, very much so