Siena's Audi B5 V8 RS4 Sedan, And A4 TDI Sedan Project.

I guess every car has it's particular fans - sometimes borne out of love of the brand, the model range, reliability, performance, brand loyalty, economy etc.

I'm a automobile engineer, and have been hooked on Audi for as long as I can remember, my mom's official car in Nigeria in the '80's was a 1978 Audi 100 LS. Then, my dad had a VW Igala (VW is Audi's parent company). Then, my first car in Nigeria before I left, was a VW Beetle 1500.

In 1980, Audi, a little known brand, decided to create a 4WD car, and make it competitive in Motorsport. It was an alien concept, how competitive could AWD be? How much weight and drag would it add to a standard FWD car?

The concept worked, and the Audi quattro was born. The first cars, based on the Audi Coupe GT were launched in the spring of 1980, first in LHD, then later in RHD. Audi fullfilled their policy to have 4WD (quattro) available in every model.

I purchased my first quattro model in 1989, a 1987 Coupe quattro in Alpine White. It was stolen 9 months later, and recovered, but partially stripped, so that was a write-off! Since driving Audi quattro models, I've never looked back, and never had a 2 wheel drive car again, though I did have a brief (6 month) ownership of a 1990 BMW M3 (E30). Great car, but not great in the wet, where the Audi quattro would keep gripping, even in icy conditions.

4WD forms a great base for more power. Yes, there are powerful 2WD cars, but you're always going to be limited by traction, (or rather, lack of). I bought another Audi Coupe quattro, another 1987 model in 1996. This time, in Panther Black Metallic. Went through 2 colour changes, and I was the first in the UK to successfully remove the original 2.2 5 cylinder 10V engine, rated at 136 horsepower, and replace it with a 2.2 5 cylinder 20V turbo unit, from a 1995 Audi RS2, rated at 315 horsepower as standard.

By the time I sold it, in December 2002, I had rebuilt the engine to a different spec, and the last dyno run saw 426 horsepower.

Which brings me to my current project. . .

In the meantime, I had purchased an Audi RS4 from Germany, (www.ebay.de) and the matching 6-speed box. The buyer wouldn't ship to the UK, so I hired a Mercedes Sprinter van, and drove to Germany, via France, to pick up my purchase. It came from a 2001 Audi RS4, that had been written off, when a truck ran into the back of it. It had covered just 16,000 miles too.

This is the engine I collected, pictures of the 6-speed box will follow later,

More. . .

Front nearside fender. . .

As my car was a '97 model, it had the earlier door handles. So, I purchased the front doors used, the only 2 of 3 used parts, sourced here in the UK. They are off a 2001 Audi A4 sedan, the only difference between them, and the Audi RS4 doors is the holes for the door mouldings, which the RS4 lacks.

I decided to buy these, and weld up the 4 small holes left, after I deleted the mouldings . . .

Another RS4 front bumper image. Note the large air grill apertures, to direct air to the twin intercoolers, and the recesses on top, to house the concealed headlamp washer jets. . .

, Ordered and collected the Audi RS4 side skirts. . .

, Then Audi RS4 cast aluminium mirrors. These are unique to the RS4, they'e not merely "alloy-look" shells that fit to the existing mirrors.

They are supplied without glass, which I had to purchase seperately. I did originally plan to use the original glass from my standard electric mirrors, but found the profiles were different. Bummer . . .

I guess my question is what are you going to do about the flared rear arches? Are you going to cut the flared arches out of the estate body panel?

Yes, chassis for both cars remains the same, both are quattro. Just the powerplant, (engine / transmission) and bodywork are being changed.


I'm using most of the estate rear quarters. Pictures will follow.

Audi RS4 front grille. . .

I went to the other website. I saw what was done with the rear quarter. Nice. Are you upgrading the suspension and the brakes? Props Man, Nice one

The standard brakes on the Audi A4 quattro are actually quite good, but with an increase in power (and weight  ) why put them to the test?

So, I purchased Audi S8 4-piston Brembo calipers. The discs I'm using are 36 x 360mm, compared to the stock 28 x 288mm.

If these don't stop the car, then hmm, brick wall, armco, another car's rear end.  But, I'm confident they'll be fine.

Audi S8 Brembos . . .

. . . Bilstein Sport dampers . . .

. . . Rear suspension bush set. . .

Then, wheels was next on the agenda.

The standard wheels on my model were alloy, A4 Competition items, 7"x16", with an offset of 45, fitted with 205/55VR16 tyres.

The offset (ET) is the distance between the centreline / mounting face, and the inner / outer rim. The higher the ET number, for example, ET45, means the wheels will sit further within the wheel arches. The lower the ET number, for example, ET20, means the wheels will sit further out within the wheel arches. The offset can be tailored to fit massive brakes behind the wheels, without the spokes fouling on the calipers.

I wasn't keen on the Audi RS4 8.5"x18" wheels, as the UK's full of replicas, they are popular fitment to VW Golf III and IV. I wanted something a bit different.

I went for a set of 8.5"x18" ET20 BBS RS-501's, these are a 2-piece rim, with 255/35ZR18 Dunlop SP9000's. These had to come from Germany, and it took about 2 weeks, but well worth it.

Here they are. . .