Project Giant :: urS4 avant

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:46 am

This will be brief as my wife goes into hospital today, so i have 10 minutes, well 5 minutes left!

Project Giant is my new 93 urS4 avant, purchased from Crewe from an ad on S2 forum. I drove the 90 down to Nogins for restoration to be completed/ or at lest well done! Once again the club came in useful as Nogin and Al came with me 30 miles to see this car, both very familiar with he engines/ cars both said after 5 minutes.. buy it... So i did. Unusal i spent 1-2 hours usually looking at EVERYTHING.

It also came with a boot full, and i mean seats down full of spares!

Car spec as follows;
93 urS4 avant
manual 6 speed box
i believe its ming blue, but will check the data sticker.
181k on the clock
Leather interior
Carbon trim
S6 wheels
S6 brakes
Full Stromberg exhaust
HP2 struts and H&R lowering springs
MTM remap
Bosch 005 fuel pump
Autometer boost gauges (which just aren't to my taste at all, so they will be coming off!)
Air con
Sony flip face fancy stereo thing, with a remote control?

It comes with a set of OEM roof rails and boot spoiler, Al was despereate for me not to fit them but i think the boot spoiler alone will add enormously.

PROs
::everything works
::loads of toys
::fast
::cavernous
::more economic than the 90

CONs
::Nasty squeak from the belts when it starts up for 20-3 minutes then it shuts up. Suggestions for that please!
::VERY low, front tyre has scrubbed the bumper so much the bumper has dropped 3 times now... again will be looking here for some suggestions!
::Rubbish headlights... already ordered some Phillips powerbulbs.

On the whole this is a wonderful car, very off the radar and so comfy to drive, wife gives it the thumbs up too. Although i must say, the only disappointment is the noise, the 90 beats it hands down. infact it beats most engines for audio pleasure

BIG thanks to Nogin for the day, he even fixed my warning light which ws one of the two rear number plate lights... Al gets a special mention too , in the words of Gmo, like a wirey Ferret...

Good to catch up with Gmo again as well, sorry i didnt stay longer sounds like MikeS2 was heading down soon anyway. Nogins car in the garage is astonishing, hte turbo is about the size of watermelon its bloody huge! Plus a timewarp condition A plate 80 GL is somethign else as well.

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:53 am

That IS nice, lovely car bud, IMO leave the rails and spoiler off, my old 80 Avant never had them and i thought it always looked cleaner, different, so if it were me, leave as is, but thats my opinion only.

Beautiful car though, felt sorry for the seller, 3 blokes turning up to look at his car, Laughing

Good buy and a noce looking car.

Cheers

Si. Wink

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:55 am

Well, what can I say - looks stunning!!

Squeak from the belts (steering, alternator belt) - change it, cheap enough plus it's smething you can do yourself.

Front bumper - the clips could have broken, black plastic mounting looks like a 90deg triangle, 2 clips at the top 1 at the bottom.
Bumper is very easy to remove. 2 bolts at the front and 1 either side where it joins the front plastic wheel arches.

Headlights - thought of a HID kit (you have the projector lights fitted yes?)

Hope your wifes ok
Wink

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:13 am

A friend of mine has just bought a UrS6 saloon in Nogaro blue with the same kind of spec although not believed to be have any tuning. It's an auto on 175k but in remarkable condition and he paid a pitence for it! He also found the boot full of spares including 2 laptops to run Vagcom on! Laughing

It's down on boost believed to be the wastegate frequency valve but apart from that it's excellent but the ride quality is awful, so much car for the money! Cool

I think we need a piccy of the roof rails on and off for a vote but the roof spoiler sounds like a good idea. Cool

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:16 pm

i'm loving that car mate, i think its the colour! Wink

glad your journey went smoothly anyway.

did you get a go in al's S2?

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:25 pm

Ooh yes very nice, I'm going with both the spoiler and the roof rails I think. I assume the roof rails are black to match the de-chromed look?

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:55 pm

thank you, thank you!

I didnt get a run in Als S2, not sure why, never asked i guess!

What bulbs does this run on dipped? H4s some sites say H1's? I will change for the phillips extreme bulbs which i find are a genuine improvement over normal.

Will buy some aerowipers, ironically Tesco do them! Will see if they fit suitably, the current ones are frankly, awful, was struggling to see in the monsoon.

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:57 pm

I voted yes for Roof rails and rear spoiler. You could even buy my S6+ Alloys to make it an extra bit special Laughing

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:05 pm

i guess you had more pressing issues on the day! Wink

so you getting rid of the beemer now then? Laughing

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:08 pm

the roof rails i have are chrome/satin. But i do think they should be black/ anodised. Can anyone confirm this is the case?

s6+ alloys are nice, but i have TWO sets of avus wheels already which is plenty! And the wheels on it would be my own choice, the tyres NO! Dunlops they are pants in the wet.

Its an awful lot of car for the money, oh i forgot its got some fancy BOV, Trubosmart? Apparently its adjustable it dumps to atomosphere at the moment which maybe hurting performance,. i wil change this out soon too. I have also been offered a 3bar MAP sensor as well.

Next will be loads of reading on the engine, i like fast but not at the expense of excessive engine wear. i would rather it was effienct and well maintained.

The squeaky belts. all the belts and pulleys were done 2 months ago, what causes the squeak? The belt or the pulleys

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:04 pm

I'm sure they could, but would it not be cheaper/easier to source a pair from a scrapyard? As I'm sure the lower spec models will have had black as standard.

Having said that .... On my car, also a dark coloured avant .... I think the aluminium roof bars look good, but you have dechromed window trims which might make all the difference. The alternative would be some satin/silver mirror covers like the later S cars which would compliment the satin roof bars. Just a thought.

Have they ever been fitted? Does the car have holes in the roof?

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:19 pm

was never fitted with roof bars!
i might be wrong, but i think the urS4's are de-chromed anyway. in the same way the 90 is de-chromed. Actually the trim on the 90 is chrome with a black foil/paint finish over the top!

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:54 pm

You gave the moths a good airing then matey Laughing

Spot on is that car, lovely colour same as the wifes A4 Cool

I think that roof rails are good - after all it is an Avant. Mine are black and yes, URS4s were de-chromed - except for the grille surround.

There's a nice following for the URS4/6 and its all gathering pace.......well chuffed

Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:53 pm

cheers! No i am very happy with it all told. Interesting as we have both gone from 20v 90s to urS4 avants. Not as chuckable but its not far off, this one has been lowered and on HP2 struts. Fairly stiff, but probably too low.

Oh and the name Project Giant....

In some part to its physical presence but mainly as a reference to the previous owner, he shares the same name as the now deceased star of the film... thus lives on after his death...

Site Moderator Joined: Jan 31, 2003 Posts: 9144

is it standard trim to have black seats and cream lower dash or have the seats been replaced

Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:59 pm

who is this?? Embarassed

i say roof rails on it looks weird without them and the spoiler will help the look no end its the thing im desperate to do to my s2 avant but no pennies Crying or Very sad

oh and your seats look shite and unsupportive so i will help you out here fella if you bring it down here il swap for my slidey s2 leathers Wink

other than that looking good what boost are you seeing? oh and when you have time available get some more pics up, i know there are other things at present though so whenever Smile

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:51 am

no flies on you, it was replaced, it had a cream/ cloth interior, but i actually quite like the combo, the big give away is in the boot, the boot floor is cream! but it comes with a load liner which has already had a lot of use!

Gompa, tsk tsk... i bought the car from James Dean.

What boost, no idea! the door pillar gauge moves up and down a fair bit. its coming off, it really obstructs, distracts my view when driving at night.

Biggest issue right now is the F**king clifford alarm. i really cant work it, seems to have a mind of its own. why cant it just have a button to open and a button to close rather than five buttons that have to be pressed in random sequences!

Site Moderator Joined: Jan 31, 2003 Posts: 9144

the on board computer should show you a boost figure when the top left setting is used. Other cars gave instantaneous mpg instead

Note you'll need to remove atmospheric pressure to get the boost from the total

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:20 pm

i found that, i just haven't found a straight piece of road to look at the numbers whilst giving it beans. No idea about the rest of you but it has literally rained non stop since Sunday here. bad flooding up here.

whilst on the onboard computer discussion... what does the .G> mean? I assume its not lateral G?

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:08 am

Wow, never noticed this thread until beerbelly pointed it out, will read all shortly. Looks a nice car!

Sound, yep, hugely dispointing that the AAN/ABY does not have the same crack as the non turbos, however got to admire how smooth they are.

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:09 am

Same here, colour really suits it, almost as low as mine Laughing

You always notice one that's been polished / looked after beacuse the 90° top corner trim of the rear window surround is polsihed silver Cool

forever painting mine black again Rolling Eyes

is the top of the tailgate metal? if yes it is probably not remoavble so the spoiler wont fit, not sure on the 100 models but S6 with spoiler has different tailgate to A6 to allow spoiler to bolt on

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:26 am

Oh and the G. is points of a gallon you've used, I wouldn't look at that too much if you are giving it death, mine confirms the economy. if i drive on a clear M-Way at an indicated 65mph, (which is about a real 60mph), I get about 65mpg, and will be doing 60 miles in one hour. so when the time driving says one hour the G is usually at 0.9 Cool

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:11 am

thats for that.

Ob the boost tests, i went for a blast this morning, honestly it has rained HEAVY for a week here, flooding etc. boost gauges aren't moving at all.

It is boosting? Well i can here the BOV venting to atmosphere when i take the foot off the gas. Wondering if all that standing water has fried something?

Going to upload loads of photos today as well. oh the G has been sating .1 to .4 with me! ERK... this morning is the first time i have given it some stick, was behind a guy in some sporty astra after a while i realised he was really going for it i was driving up to the edge of boost then changing... so booted past him on one of the short straights, looked down... and it was going VERY fast indeed. deceptively quick, and really gets going above 50.

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:15 pm

Nice car Iain Very Happy

Why a 3 bar map sensor? You'd only need that if you were planning on running over 1.5bar (2.5bar inc atmos) not to mention a remap.
You could possibly achieve that on the standard K24, but it'd not last long before expiring.

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:23 pm

cheers!

This is all new to me Jas...

3 bar map sensor is only as i was offered one FOC. Its got the MTM 275 chip in it, i dont know what boost that should be making, i beleive the same chip as you have in the S2? I don't plan running it on high boost, i would rather it ran well. However with 182k on the clock I am not expecting the turbo to last forever but that said 182k on original turbo is pretty impressive.

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 2:20 pm

You should see 1.4bar (if read from a dial type boost gauge, 2.4bar on the trip comp display) or there abouts all being fine and well.

I'm running some chips from a friend in germany, usually see 1.5bar in overboost (floor it in a high gear at lower revs and watch it climb) Significantly less if using treacle syrup Asda cheapy petrol though.

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:02 am

update:
Now done 3000 miles in the S4 and it runs well. Incredible for a car with 184k on the clock, it pulls well and generally behaves.

In the past month a few things have become apparent.

The front bumper/ left wing kept parting company with scrubbing endlesslessly. So i have readjusted these and the problem has gone away since then so assume thats that one fixed. not massively difficult the front bumper is help in place at the wing edge with a simple V shaped clip. i moved this forward about 10mm and its made the world of difference, also means the arch liner moves up a small amount and it too also stops scrubbing.

Lights: never have a B3/B4 car with good lights, and this is no exception despite having reflectors its awful. So i bought new phillips powerbulbs which for my money are the best bulbs to retrofit without going HID and be able to SEE! popped the covers off and couldnt figure out why they wouldnt tighten. Both headlights have VERY loose housings for the bulb it floats about 30° in any direction, so i am assuming this is the light issue. This will also explain why i got the car with a spare set of headlights. So i will fit those soon, i maybe circumvent that and go down the HID route as this car covers ground very quickly and you really do need to see at night!

The car has always felt like it tramlines badly, the tyres are fairly new so i cant really blame that, i got the tracking checked and the back end is out. Apparently the adjustment in the rear is shot on the rear right. So i will find the parts for this, and if not too difficult change myself!

Lastly, and probably the most annoying the SCREEECH on start. The car does this for about 5 minutes and it sounds awful. Had the front of the car off and tried to listen where it came from, heard mixed reports on spraying WD40 into belts so i opted to try tensioner and devices first. I did a little squirt ont the shaft of the alternator and it shut up isntantly. So theres my problem. also the tensioner to the alternator looks ancient and the others dont. So i will replace it too. Managed to source a few SH alternators in nearly new condition, time to pick one but i need to know something...

Question:
Does the replacement alternator need to be specific for a car with air conditioning?

Ride height, i am growing on the height, it is very good on the handling front but in carparks/ speedhumps its a nightmare. But it has bilstien inserts and HR springs which make a pretty good combination imho.

Boost Hoses!
Nogin will testify, i have popped a few when i first got it, the jubilee clips that were on it are useless. so i got some stainless steel ones marked for turbos, much more robust and strong. These have stopped all those issues. Knightrider pointed me towards clamps with a bolt on either end, which if i have any further failures i will go for those.

I have aftermarket autometer door pillar boost gauges i dont want. They are more of a distraction and i find it easier to look at the digital gauge. I have seen 2.3 bar on full boost at the most, but i havent yet seen it hit 2.4bar so i assume something is still leaking somewhere or i have another fault?

Bulb out...
Some dayys i get this endlessly all days, others not at all. I assume its the loose housing on the dipped been cluster, but i honestly dont know. Its got very annoying some days as going round the car and checking it ala MOT every bulb works. inc numberplate ones... a mystery...

However all this said and done, its a hell of a lot of car. its big, i mean really big compared to the 90. Holds my family, dog, pushchair, over night stay stuff and plenty of spare room. it handles well. Goes like stink. And i utterly love the sleeper like status. Already got a fair few bemused looks as nobody expects it to shift as much as it does. It really is the epitomy of Audis of the era for me, big, understed, powerful, functional and well made. why didnt i buy one sooner?

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:51 am

Oh no istoo is forgetting about his 20v! Sad

out of sight out of mind? Wink

I do like these cars but I just dont need one. My Coupe 20v is purely my toy, the missus has a 2001 A4 1.8 ( clean and functional ) and my workhorse is the T4 Transporter 2.5tdi which pulls like a train. The dog even has his own seat, however he's only allowed to look at the coupe! Laughing

If I didnt have or need the van then a big avant with plenty of oomph would be on my radar!

Would you recommend the powerbulbs for the Coupe mate?

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:06 am

oh the 90 isnt forgetten, far from it!
If i want too hoon sure the S4 is fast as hell but the 90 is chuckable and out warbles the AAN any day of the week. Thus it will be my fun car. For a day to day car the S4 is much much much more suited to me. The 90q20v is very under rated in its own way. And the urS4 is also hugely under rated in a different yet somewhat similar way.

Phillips powerbulbs 110% yes in the coupe, i have them in the 90 and allows me to actually see where i am going.

I will post on the 20v thread, spoke to herr nogin the other week, I am in no hurry as such as the man has been good to me so i am not pressuring badly. Thats for the 90 thread Smile

I will update when we start moving again, but i think casually i am looking for a good set of original wheels for it.

UltraUser Joined: Jan 30, 2003 Posts: 1743

i forgot to get back to you mate, do you still need that alternator?
Gav