RS2 - a new lease of life

[Avantus]

Cool story, and mighty results!

[prj]

Results remain to be seen, but most important is that the owner is happy.

[Bram]

what a story. Being flexible and patient seems to have paid off

[Ross]

I'm certainly very happy with the real-world performance and the theoretical results. Bing on the next MRC dyno day

The car feels so fast through a 2/3/4 pull. It's got more of everything everywhere! As said I'm really enjoying the better driveability, and the turbo does start to boost earlier - and now it really is relentless between 4,000-6,000 rpm. Not really fussed if it's 400hp but with the way it feels and logs it looks to be well above that. 440hp would be a nice figure :mischeif:

Very happy with the overall result and thanks to Acidburn's on-loan MAF i can drive it properly now

[Rocco]

Do you have the same boost to redline as me?

Ross,do you remember what I told you about this true?

Your compressor wheel is 57 mm also or is it smaller?

Glad to see you Happy!

[Greg_S]

Looks like a really good result Ross. Will def examine options of this turbo when I get mine apart

[A80Avant]

hey Ross,
i would say this should definitely be more than 440. You had 425 on a 3071 which sounds similar size turbo,and without touching the head. A good head porting should add more than 15hp!

[Billman]

Very nice! Good job

[Ross]

I did the best 'mod' ever on the car yesterday... went to Imperial Tyres who are just across town from me in Swindon. £78 for a 4-wheel alignment, they had all the kit bolted onto the wheels and spend a good hour on it after setting up the machine.

I haven't checked the settings they used vs factory settings, but the difference is night and day. It used to wander a bit under acceleration/braking; I can now boot it in 2nd and go straight without holding the wheel. The steering feels lighter, can only think they adjusted the castor, and the PAS pump isn't struggling at very low speeds any more. Didn't really expect that.

I've not covered many miles but it's remarkably more stable (particularly on bumpy roads) and just wants to go where you point it. It was a bit of a wake-up call as to how much 'correction' I was making, and how an RS2 should really feel handling wise. I'd say it even goes quicker but I think that's due to the winter tyres I had fitted... slight wheel spin in the mid range in 2nd

So... if like me you're a bit cheap, and figure if it ain't eating tyres it's fine, get it aligned properly and take it out on some twisties :mischeif: I'd go as far as to say I was more confident putting it quick into a wet roundabout on winter tyres than a dry one on Goodyears!

[Ross]

A quick update on the past 15 months:

June 2012 - RS2 spewed out coolant enroute to a RR day. After replacing the rad cap the coolant loss has been minimal but it's severely overheating. I did a run on the dyno and pulled 350hp, something not right for sure.

August 2012 - RS2 has been garaged, baby born and impulse purchased our first home!

October 2012 - We moved and the RS2 parked up + SORN'd outside... the new house needs lots of work and the garage is storage for materials & junk

Winter 2012 - After freezing solid during the cold snap, coolant topped up and she's started to circulate it.

July 2013 - Interior smells musty and there's mould spots. After a deep clean and leather conditioning it has the 'RS2 leather' smell back.

August 2013 - I replaced the dud battery. She started on the first turn, first time she has been fired in 7-8 months. The garage is finally clear so a quick jetwash to remove the mass of cobwebs and dirt and she's been moved back inside.

I've been driving a C5 RS6 for the past 12 months - with only 4k miles a year I caved to the temptation - I do enjoy the car but I will be trading it for something cheaper to run soon, my wife drives it mostly! But I did wonder if it would end up replacing the RS2, which seemed destined to rot on the driveway until I flog it cheap to pay for the bathroom renovations next year...

Well I'm pleased to say there is not a chance in hell that is gonna happen

I took the car for a cheeky drive when I moved it into the garage - just a few miles to clean up the brake discs (it is insured). It feels so light and nimble compared to the RS6 The engine is smooth as butter, revs cleanly and sounds a bit like that V10 lambo that was on topgear a few weeks back. I forgot how much I love the I5, and this car in general... so, my affair with the RS6 is over (ok I'll have her on the side for a bit longer) but the RS2 is never going anywhere. That 5-minute drive has reminded me where my passion lies.

The house is still going to drain most of my time and money over the next 12 months but I'll be working on the car as and when.

First things first - I need to get to the bottom of the overheating; I will checking for a closed stat, knackered water pump, blocked radiator. If none of that checks out I'll be looking to get a sniff test kit of some sort.

It's sounding really tappety - not low oil - the turbo side engine mount needs changing and I have a Rusty sub mount + Wagner EVO IC to fit. Rear brakes and pads need to be fitted.

Once done I'm getting her MOT'd; I may need to fit a cat for that - depends if I can find another friendly MOT station

After that... RS4 MAF conversion by PRJ and as it's not longer a family car, I'm thinking of dropping her 10-20mm possibly onto some coilovers... then I'll be looking to tidy the body work up and refurb the front leather to get her looking as good as she goes...

Hoping to update soon with some progress!

[Ross]

I'm hoping to have the car at ADI in 4 weeks time.

Currently the front end is off, and new rad is ready to be dropped in. The snub mount has been swapped for Rusty's SQ style one with a delrin mount. I've also fitted a new MFTS plug so hopefully I'll lose the coolant light and get full boost back - the old one had plugs corroded away completely!

Tonight I dropped the oil and fitted new engine mounts (I forgot to fit my new ones during the rebuild). I had a real fight for about an hour with the turbo-side. I'd get the 17mm socket on, add some knuckle joins and extension pieces, take the strain and something would give, jumping the bit off the nut and resulting in loss of knuckle skin.

Eventually I took the intake hose off and that gave clearance to thread a bar down by the throttle body and attach it to a 17mm deep socket. Raw foreams and alot of of bruising later, I managed to crack the nut. It was slow coming off with about 15 degrees of movement on the bar - hitting the block & downpipe. As if that wasn't enough pain I got a bar on the sump plug - got that off quite quickly but managed to slice open my hand when it cracked.

Oil drained, I dropped the lower oil cooler line from the filter housing, off with the 15mm lower engine mount nuts and the mount dropped out. So much easier without that oil line in the way. I had to jack the engine up to get the new mount in as it's sitting alot higher. With the new mount tightened up the turbo hotside has much better clearance - A good fingers width, before it was about 2-3mm so I expect the rubbing problem and excess movement is solved.

Next... I need to fit the new stat and rad, put the intake, PAS, etc back together and replace fluids. I need to get the Wagner IC fitted or stick with stock for now. Then the bumper can go back on. I need to fix my resistor pack and lube the heater fan. I'm tempted to replace my stone-chipped fog lights while they're out too...

After that, it's front top mounts and MOT time - think I should give myself 2 weeks to get that lot done.

[macspring]

Hi Ross,

It sounds like the kind of grief I've experienced twice on two differenct urS6. And the starter and brake servo on the S2.

Please would all people working on these cars use some copper grease, especially on brake line connections.

I'm taking some comfort from the fact that others have to endure this "blood, sweat, and tears" trauma on their driveway also.

Best wishes.

[Ross]

I'm sure I am not the only one battling to get the car ready for ADI! This weekend is my deadline to have it ready for MOT as I'm busy the following weekend. So I've been doing some jobs.

The new rad went in as fine as it could given that I have ACC She's back together, PAS and coolant topped up ready to bleed. Cleaned the foam air filter and intake back in etc.

I was sent the wrong size sump washer, don't buy one from ECP! But i got 3 bosch oil filters delivered to my door for a tenner - can't argue with that. Rather than use the old crush washer I ordered a fumoto valve. Nothing like a few opportunist upgrades

After issues fitting my Wagner IC to the RS2 cross member, I found that with a bit of persuasion (note: pliers to flare the cut hole where the concealed intake tube exits the cross member and pliers to smooth it off) I was able to get enough adjustment to fit it. I've used the Mark-H mod which is sitting a tiny bit low on the one side, I'm hoping that doesn't give me clearance issues with the bumper.

I'm also struggling to fit the snub mount - it's sitting higher that adjustment will allow - it does look to be unusually high so I'm trying to source new gearbox mounts to fit in the next few days and see if that tilts the front back down a bit.

Any experience / how-to on replacing gearbox mounts appreciated, I don't even know where to locate them

[Avantus]

gearbox mounts are fairly easy.

Remove the heat shields, support the box, and then it's just loosening them.
Bit of playing with putting a wrench on the top nut, but I did mine in about one hour on a ramp iirc.

Expect completely knackered ones if they have never been changed.

[andy10v]

Good work, sounds like you are on the home run.

The gearbox mounts are not too bad, just a bit fiddly the first time you do it working out where to get spanners/sockets on the top.

Gearbox mount is No. 14



You need to remove the heat shield (couple of 10mm bolts?) Big 17mm? bolt/nut in the middle holds the rubber mount to the alloy arm, 2 13mm? bolts/nuts hold the mount onto the subframe.

The smaller bolts may be a bit scabby/rusty.

Do once side at a time, chuck a jack under the box.

If you cant get the mounts in time you will be able to jack up the box to drop the front end and get the snub mount fitted.