Hmm. Well bunk. Had stuff come up after work and didn't get started as early as I wanted so I've resigned to doing it tomorrow since the expected time is about an hour. Found a writeup on the zine though and it looks simple enough, I just want to have enough time to take my time and not risk borkin ****...

 

ah ok, the foot wells and doors may be tricky.

 

Well. Foiled again... decided to start raining 'round these here parts :/ I need a garage. So. Instead of doing the lights- again- I took advantage to paint my new heat shield and subsequently drink a lot in lieu of a friend's birthday. Should have the heat shield installed by Sunday with pics, and with some luck, bulbs installed by Saturday afternoon

Doors shouldn't be too bad, just have to lay on your back for a bit; but the footwells definitely have potential to cause a minor aneurism. We'll see soon enough! Haha

 

day and a half? WOW that was fast lol
Don't be lazy! get those light right in meaw

 

I know right!? They were in hand and ready to install a full day before PayPal emailed me that you had marked them shipped haha

They're in! Look damn sweet too, and install was a breeze, only took about 20 minutes pics will be up shortly

 

So, until I can get my hands on a better camera, this is about the best shot y'all are gonna get for now. Its enough to see the red dome complemented by white map lights and how that affects the overall interior look, and you can also effectively see how the footwells and puddle lights look. Its so much cleaner, I love it. Thanks again Emil for the hookup on these, they're the perfect accent to the rest of the sleekness that is the B7 styling. All you guys on here should definitely look into doing the same, its totally worth it and Emil's kit is by far the lowest price you'll find on some very quality LEDs. I'll try grabbing some more shots in the next couple days closer to dusk instead of the dead of night and see if that'll help the quality a bit. If not, I'll just have to harass my sister to do me a photoshoot with her fancyass DSLR haha

 

nice man. def looks nicer, cleaner, and 'newer'

 

The tint looks great - another nice touch is the honeycomb grill inserts on the S4/RS4. Seen a few on CL for $100 or so. A friend made the switch and loves it.

 

Thanks! It really is worlds of difference in overall looks- way more elegant, I'm super satisfied with the results Can't wait to get more pics up

See post #19 I do have the RS4 grille on now hehe It is a way nice touch for sure

 

Good day folks! It's been a bit since I've updated this thread, so I figured I'd try to recap the latest- got quite a few things done in the last couple months, but only a handful of pictures haha

First up are just a couple shots of the car sitting on black wheels (the same one's that are in a couple of the pics of my B5 in my first post of this thread). This first one was taken by a mural that was done all in spray paint that is next to the coffee shop I work at part-time. Caught the wall with a nice morning sun and this is an untouched copy of this picture, taken with my phone:



This one was a late afternoon sun, taken on top of my office building's parking structure after work one day just after I had put a second layer of wax on in prep for the nasty winter salts I get to deal with in my neck of the woods. I did edit this one just a hair, because being another phone shot, the sun flare was absurd and really distracted from the overall shot I was going for- so I brought down the brightness and upped the contrast just a touch to tone down the flare and it turned out quite nice I think



This next one was another random shot that I took to get a better look at how the black wheels look on the car without direct lighting and from a bit more of a distance. Again, I touched this one up to pull out some of the whitewash in the background so it's not as distracting. I'd like your opinions on how the black wheels look. I, personally, like the way they look; what I don't know is if I like the look of the powder coat, as is on these wheels, or if a satin or gloss black might look better..?



And this final shot is a comparison of what the stock downpipe/cat looks like, vs the RAI Motorsport HFC/DP looks like:



In regards to what I've been busy with the last couple months, obviously, I did the downpipe change. I couldn't tell you for sure what kind of power difference I might have got from it, as its mated with the stock midpiping/mufflers and I don't have software yet; but my butt-dyno says that the turbo spools up a bit quicker and I can feel a difference, but I wouldn't call it a night and day difference- 5-10chp at best (RAIs dynos claim a gain of 22chp with just the DP/HFC *WITH* software). I'm planning a custom muffler setup, so it's not in its final form yet; gotta save a few pennies first to finish the exhaust. As it is, the tone isn't unbearable- a bit raspy on startup and WOT, but negligibly louder at idle and while cruising. Its certainly not a tone I would want to keep forever though- definitely needs to be refined with bigger piping and different mufflers.

The other thing I upgraded recently was the rear sway bar (don't have pics of that yet, I'll get some up soon though). I gotta say, if you haven't upgraded this yet, do it. Most people go with the upgrade to OEM RS4; its a little cheaper, 22mm thickness, and OEM for those people who prefer to keep upgrades as close to OEM as possible (yes, I do know people like that lol). I however went with the 034Motorsport one, which is a little bigger than the RS4 option at 25.4mm, adjustable, and yes, a little pricier. What exactly was my final convincing to go 034 vs. OEM I couldn't say for sure, I guess maybe I just wanted something different from what everyone else typically runs- such is the same with why I'm doing a custom exhaust build vs. just buying one of the various, pre-made, ready to bolt on options from stasis or apr; I just don't want to have all the same stuff that everyone else has. Takes all the fun out of customizing a car to me; not that other stuff is, vis a vis, better or worse than custom or less popular stuff- just a personal preference

That said, the improvement of the sway bar was astronomical- hence saying if you haven't done it yet, doooo it. The RS4 option with bigger brackets will run you no more than $150 shipped, while the 034 one is $200-$215, depending on where you're having it shipped. The installation is super easy- took me just under an hour moving at a leisurely pace, car on ramps, and in the dark; if you have a lift and don't take your sweet time, I bet you could have it done in no more than 30 minutes tops. Seriously, its worth it. General driving is tighter, curves at a reasonable speed feel like you're barely moving at all, and 20mph over the recommended speed through a mildly wind-ey canyon felt like I was pretty much moving in a straight line. Absolutely worlds of difference in the handling; and that still on stock suspension too! I can't imagine how it will be once paired with a nice set of coilovers


Anyhow, that's all I've got for now! The bank is tapped for a bit (damn holidays...) and winter is in full effect, so I probably won't have another update for a while, til the snow stops flying and/or I get enough saved up for my next thrall of upgrades Unless I happen to get some sweet shots plowing through fresh snow or something of course haha