its these kind of things that's gonna make me miss my a4 when I sell it so many mods you can do to it, lets see a vid of how it sounds I know it must be sick!!!!

 

sitrep:

Drove Eva ~700 miles today from Spring Lake, MI to Sioux City, IA. Everything is going well and she is running great. I think I've logged a total of about 950 miles since the swap now.

Currently staying in a reasonably nice Ramada in a not so nice neighborhood. I hope the wheels are still on in the morning...

 

the torque must be sweet.

 

How's the gas mileage on these trips?

 

Good question. The first tank when I got it running better was 17 mpg, but as this was the first tank, I pretty much had it to the floor the whole time.

First tank, being nicer to it with mixed driving was 21 mpg. All freeway, cruising at 70 mph got me 23 mpg. I never really got much better than 25 mpg with the 30V.

Interestingly, it got up to 92 degrees outside today while driving from Sioux City, IA to Billings, MT and the temp gauge moved a little bit right of center when at 75 mph. I turned off the A/C (econ) and popped the moon roof. That tank got me 24.5 mpg! Needless to say, I hope it cools off for the last leg of my journey home to WA tomorrow.

Once I get home, I need to reevaluate my cooling situation. It never really gets that hot in the Seattle area, but I don't want to have to worry about it either. I've heard that the S4 fender liners are vented for the side mount intercoolers. Can anyone confirm this? I feel that my biggest problem is allowing for proper airflow out of the engine bay. I also intend to make some baffles to direct air from the bumper through the radiator. Thoughts?

 

The S4 liners do indeed have vents. Is your belly pan attached? It plays a big role in airflow at highway speeds.

 

You know, I had a similar thought about the belly pan on the road yesterday. I had always run the belly pan before the swap, but the flimsy bar that supported the rear was kind of a casualty during the swap, plus my belly pan was in really bad shape. I actually zip tied it on in case the fasteners let go.

After the swap I tossed it because it was in such poor shape. I'm thinking of buying one of the aluminum skid plates instead.

The way I look at it, it must be an issue of airflow. At 75 mph, it will have all of the air it could ever want. I need to do more work on directing that flow through the radiator. Many doing this swap just use a 1.8T radiator flipped over. Although I've done something similar, mine is 3 core and all aluminum. I don't think that the size of the radiator can be the issue. Are the S4 liners a direct swap? I wonder if they would also help.

 

They are, but for the money you may as well just drill some holes in yours unless you can get them dirt cheap. You could also try swapping in a colder t-stat?

 

I had thought about cutting mine up, but wanted to keep it classy. Although the red valve covers and huge cone filter may give me away, I am going for the appearance that this engine came with this car.

I don't think that the thermostat would help. I really only have this issue when running on the freeway at speeds higher than 65 and outside temps greater than 80. By then, the thermostat is certainly wide open. There is also the issue that the thermostat is behind the timing belt and I am not going there again.

 

Okay. Before you guys get on me for this, I know it is purely a cosmetic update and I have other work I should be doing. This is something that has bothered me about the swap and I wanted to "fix" it.

The stock ignition coils for the V8 have this nasty, yellow colored epoxy on the tops. Why they couldn't spend a fraction of a penny more to have black is beyond me. I took matters into my own hands.

Starting on the left, stock coil straight out of the engine, stock coil cleaned up, and finally beautiful black coil.





How did I accomplish this? Just a bit of paint from the local hobby store and a small brush. How long will it last? I'm not sure, but for the couple of dollars I have invested in it, I could do it once a year and be okay with it. Time will tell



And the end result: