Project: RS2 ABY

[Rusty]

Might need to do a bit of bending or get a shaped plate welded in there.

[Sonic]

A few of you saw the car at the MRC dyno day and AITP on the VRS stand last weekend

Updates -

I forgot to mention that after getting the EPROM writer i ran Dmitri's diagnostics on the ECU and could see intermittent knock pulling back the timing, so we suspected that the cam pulley was still not quite in the correct location and had this corrected and verified. Dmitri also pulled back the ignition timing slightly, and there has been no knock causing problems since.

The car ran near identical figures on the MRC dyno compared to my last run, so if there is a problem, i've still not found it.



I've had the head bolts checked and they're all good, plus some maintenance (hydraulic fluid change, looks like i have a slight leak, oil change etc), cut-out the rear arch liners to further reduce rubbing and installed the aerocatches which works really well on the front bumper (photo to follow).

The oil cooler is sat in-front of the rad so i'm going to get this moved to a better location and re-install the aux rad, but plumbed into the WG rather than as stock. This should help my temp issues massively.

The car is running really well, but i can't help but think its still slightly below where it could be under optimum conditions.

A few people have also suggested that the cam setup (ABY inlet, RS2 exhaust - the bane of my life) is really not helping me, and that a 7A set would be far better for performance.

Water meth also looks like a good route to keep inlet temps down, but given how well the car is running at the moment i'll likely be leaving these "performance mods" for a later date. The car is utterly devastating on the road.

The car is in desperate need of some coilovers. The koni's that i replaced a couple of years back seem to be feeling shot already, and the ride height is to low for sure on the H&R springs, causing me further problems, so this would be a good mod for the future.

The paintwork is also looking pretty bad given the rust bubbles on the arches and rear quarter, and the cutting of the front-bumper and flaring of the arches. I hope to get the car into a bodyshop this winter if funds allow

[DJones]

Andy,

I went from 7A exhaust cam back to standard AAN (inlet & exhaust) and it felt stronger on the standard cams an I guess 480 bhp at 1.75 bar confirms its running well.

Water meth helps greatly with temperatures mine was cruising at 22 degrees and only rose to late 26's on full boost when I logged it.

Mine isn't mapped for it, it just gives a little top end protection. .4mm jet coming in at 1.1bar.

Darren.

[Sonic]

Aerocatches (thanks to TerryBullwon for this idea):

[Rusty]

Looking pretty good

Any more fitting info?

[newsh]

Aerocatches are very nice, so can you release them and just pull the bumper off?

[Sonic]

Looking pretty good

Any more fitting info?

The catches come with a template for the outline, so its just a case of marking that and cutting the plastic out for a flush fit, then putting the bracket in place and drilling a hole through it the wing behind it where you want to mount the bolt, ensuring its all lined up.

The bolt needs cutting down to avoid catching on the inside, as it's far to long by standard, as to the rubber bump-stops to make sure it's a snug fit. Also get 2 locking nuts, as the normal ones that come with it to clamp the bolt to the wing didn't last long

Aerocatches are very nice, so can you release them and just pull the bumper off?

Yeah they do the job well. The bolts behind the fog lights are still in place, holding the bumper in the correct position at the front, so you'd have to remove them also to entirely remove the bumper.

The purpose here was to hold the sides in place after cutting them back.

[Sonic]

I've been trying to curtail my expenditure on the S2 over the last few months given what it's been lavished with thus far and in preparation for some body and paintwork this winter, however i eventually caved in and bought a set of KW V3's to compliment the car along with new top-mounts all round and Mount Savers (thanks Ross).



Simply, the handling and road comfort was getting a bit silly due to the ride-height with the H&R springs, and coil-overs seemed the best solution, allowing me to tailor the setup for the car and tweak the rebound/bump settings for both track and road use.

The coilovers were only fitted last week but in-time for ADI and Castle Coombe last weekend.

I'm happy to report that the ride on the road is massively improved. On track the car feels as great as it always did and far less of a handful whilst cornering. I need to dial out some understeer, and i figure that means increasing the bump resistance at the rear to stop the car sitting down so much at the rear under acceleration out of the corners? Any advice on this is much appreciated

Other "mods" include the oil-gauge being replaced due to the dreaded peeling, which was stopping the gauge from reading correctly. The oil-cooler has been relocated slightly closer to the front-bumper duct, with a 4" pipe being added to direct airflow over it. The undertray has also been re-fitted, all of which hopefully should keep temps down. I was seeing coolant bang on 90c and oil temps rising to but sitting on 130c during the time on track at ADI. Ambient temps were cool 12-13c.

New headlamp glass has been fitted to both lights due to some ******* lorry dropping some stones in-front of me, so the front of the car is looking a bit sharper, and the front-bumper grills has received a coat of paint, but i have no doubt they'll be rusting within a few months again

As reported on the ADI thread i had a bit of drama getting home. The car started feeling like it was going to stall and would bunny-hop on any positive boost. Rather than sit at the side of the M4 in the now pissing rain i made it to Ross's where we diagnosed the split vac hose running (i think) between the inlet manifold and ECU. It had completely corroded and torn in-half where it was cable-tied to a bunch of other hoses.

Luckily, as a good S2 owner, i had all the spares in the boot, so with Ross's help and hospitality (somewhere dry with some light and tools) we replaced all the vac hoses in the area that looked worn and then took her for a test-run, with everything working perfectly again.

It's amazing how bloody temperamental these cars are when it comes to boost leaks

Having acquired some new aeroquip oil lines from Merlin at Castle Coombe (thanks Rusty) we then decided that some midnight-modifications were in order and started replacing the horrible blue Samco catch-tank hoses that have been grieving me for a long time.

The engine bay looks far nicer now IMO. But it would have been preferential to do it in the sun at ADI rather than in the pissing rain at midnight



The power steering pump is leaking large amounts of fluid so that needs to be replaced imminently. Can you still get hold of these from Audi?

Besides that, i'm on count-down to get the car in with Ish at QCW and finding somewhere indoors to keep her

[Rocco]

Awesome yellow parts

I'm seeing your next upgrade will be custom roll cage

[Sonic]

Oh God... don't start with that.

The constant temptation is to rip out the leather interior and electric leather recaro's and use the sale to source a cage and bucket-seats with harness, providing better safety on track, handling and performance due to weight reduction.

It's a constant temptation as it's bloody worrying when you see a crash and realise what could happen to you if you did come off the track given how fast and how hard this thing can handle .... but i always aimed to have a fast, comfortable road-going sleeper car, not a dedicated track-weapon. If i did, i could have saved myself a LOT of agro!

[Rocco]

How much cost your back,neck or ... your life,eh?

If I were a track addicted... with that amount of power I'd do it... isn't too expensive a roll cage.


If you really want,you'll end doing it

[Error404]

Andy wants a car that does everything very well - the hardest thing to achieve
He is a couple of years and several £k ahead of me in this ultimate pursuit

[Ross]

Yes... and one day, he will have kids, and realise that he made one big mistake:

He should have started with an RS2, like me

I just need KW's and some track tyres (I'll bin my winters)

Car flies though, the response is instant compared to mine and it feels so tight. Without being excessive on the NVH either. I do envy that.. but I don't think I can change the engine bay from the OEM look.

I actually enjoyed working on someone else's car for a change. Get that PAS pump and we'll swap it. I got mine for £200 exchange, can anyone recommend a supplier to beat that?

[A80Avant]

I can only suggest one that will repair it for about 120-140£

[Rusty]

It's a combination of springs dampers ARBs and a lot more...

First step is to flip reverse the springs. Set the ARB in the middle to allow quick adjustment.

Do you check hot tyre pressures? I set to 36 all round hot and after the warmup and check after the first and second session.

Find out how to set the dampers and put them equal and in the middle setting. Do a session with them like that and then add or take away to suit the balance. I like a twitchy car that I can adjust with the steering and throttle but it's not for everyone.

Etc. Etc.

Also, and I'm sure you know this but most don't, you drive it like a quattro not a BMW. Slow and sideways in and use the grip to get a good exit. Need to be patient on the throttle to unless it's really hooked up and accept the power under steer on exit as you should be pointing far enough round the corner or sliding enough to get on the power!