Das Smaragd RS2+ Coupe

[John B]

Blog

I’ve written this blog on owning an S2 from the point of view of someone who was completely new to the game. In order to give the blog a feeling of time over the five years that I have had the privilege of owning an S2, I intend to release a month’s worth of activity or so each week as best I can to bring the project up to date. This is purely due to the fact that I have not taken the time to write up fully all the issues at the time but I have logged things and taken plenty of photographs. I hope it is of use to existing and budding owners of these superb vehicles. Sorry, I couldn’t really think of a good name so just reverted to a bit of German – smaragd is emerald.

[John B]

Early Days

Like many S2Forum members, I guess, I was always impressed by the Audi Quattro. In the mid-1980’s I was lucky (and old!) enough to see these beasts of the rally world in world championship action. The growly noise of the 5-pot and the chirrup of the over-boost became intoxicating and forever etched on my mind. One day I thought maybe I would be lucky enough to have one of them.

When the kids had grown up I thought the time was right so I did a bit of research on the Audi Quattro and then started another chapter in my life of abbreviations, codes and way of life that all lovers of the four rings get to know. I soon got to know the car as an urQ and got hold of the books by Jeremy Walton (the old one from the mid-eighties and the more recent one) and then the definitive Audi Quattro book by David Pollard. This really got me to appreciate the mechanicals and the development of the engine, drivetrain and chassis.

The passion that was fuelling my thoughts suddenly got a bit of a practical head and I started to think about real-world issues of where I would keep it and what I would use it for. Using the car on a weekly basis soon became a non-negotiable and therefore it had to be reliable. It would also have to be mostly outside and thus not susceptible to rust. The thing that turned me one day was could I live with the eighties interior on a daily basis: must be the feminine side shining through! I loved the idea that these cars were effectively hand-built supercars and quite rare but then I heard about the rust issue and thought a good example would be hard to get. I noticed in Pollard’s book about the final evolution of the urQ, the RR, which had a 20 valve engine and more power than the WR and that lo and behold, that engine was in the successor to the car, the S2. For some reason most of the books were not too complimentary of the S2 largely as it did not have the blistered looks of the urQ or the rawness of the WR including the old-school turbo-lag.

Then the logic went into overdrive (or was that more passion?) when I found out that it had a galvanised chassis, a great interior but best of all it had the powerhouse of the 20V engine and the same Quattro drivetrain. The fact that second hand prices were lower than the urQ was a bonus and I had to have one. Suddenly the 3B and ABY variants became part of the language but then the question came: should I have and Avant or a Coupe? Well since I already had a four-wheel drive SUV for family and holiday uses, it had to be a Coupe and I plumped for the ABY because of its tuning potential and later-developed engine without a distributor.

[John B]

Here we go!

After several regular visits per day to the Mecca that is Pistonheads, I found several examples. Other than being an ABY coupe, I thought it would be spectacular if it had leather seats and a walnut interior and A/C would be great. Other than a full service history I wasn’t too fussy about colour or location but low mileage would of course be good. One weekend when my wife was away working, I spotted one and decided that as my reward for all the decorating that I had done in the hall, I would visit the potential buy that was in a small town on the north side of the Forth above Edinburgh. With the rush of adrenalin in my veins, I thought nothing of the 7 hour round-trip, gave Andy a call and arranged a visit the next day.

This is what I had in mind: -

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Well when Andy hand-rolled the car out of his garage and I saw the metallic green shape, with leather and walnut, I was smitten. The car only had 101,000 miles, which for a 14 year-old car was good. The test drive was a blur, literally. I remember bits like Andy telling me to let the car warm up and not take the engine past the 3,000 revs until the oil temperature needle was past the first mark so that the cats did not get wrecked. Thinking about things now I remember the gear whine when under hard acceleration (see later) but I was unprepared for the sheer waft that the car had and this proved an intoxicating diversion. When we got back to his house my mind was buzzing and after all the buyer checks on Mike’s very helpful site www.s2-audi.co.uk I thought I had better seal the deal. I left a small deposit and went home to contemplate my potential purchase.

After saying to my wife that I wanted to buy it (she says I just bought it after telling her I wanted one) but the reality was I had just left a £100 deposit without a firm commitment. Yes there was some rust and I could see a few things wrong but all the automotive checks proved fine and the service details were all there from day one together with a good bunch of receipts to show that the car had been properly cared for. It turned out that the car had been bought in Yorkshire but had spent most of its life in Scotland, in Aberdeen, Perth and latterly Edinburgh.

[John B]

Enter The Dark Side

So it was on a cold day in April 2008, I persuaded my wife that I should buy it. I think it helped when I proposed that we really should have a long weekend break in Edinburgh and then pick up the car on the Sunday. Once the obligatory shopping and eating had been done on the Friday night and Saturday morning, we went to visit the home of the S2. After paying my dues, I got behind the wheel and drove very gingerly onto the Forth road bridge with Sue following in the Honda (yes it was not VAG but we’ve fixed that now!). Wow, this thing was a beast but very controlled on the motorway and we soon made great progress down the A74. That night we were staying at a hotel in Dumfries and this gave me the chance to get off the motorway and get onto some A-roads to try it out. The torque was really strong and she pulled like nothing I had driven before even from low down in the rev-range. I started to push a bit more and loved it when I heard that familiar chirrup from what I would later get to know as the Diverter Valve.

After a few weeks of living with the car the first thing I did was draw up a list of what I wanted to do to the car. I divided these up into three categories as to their priority: -

1. What I considered safety-related and therefore essential

• I had noticed that the car needed coolant top-up (this proved to be a big issue – see later), so I thought replacing the hoses was a good place to start
• The headlights left a lot to be desired so a better solution had to be found
• I knew the pads needed to be replaced but in reality the stock brakes left a lot to be desired given the power and the weight of the car, so some sort of improvement had to be found
• Linked to the above the brake warning light needed to be cancelled each time I started the car; this needed to be rectified

2. Advisable to replace/repair

• The exhaust was blowing and so a replacement system was in order
• The wheels although non-standard needed some refurbishment to sort the kerbing and corrosion

3. Upgrades (the best bit!)

• Mounts for the engine, gearbox, diff etc.
• Suspension bushes, springs and shocks
• CV boots and wheel bearings

This seemed to be a reasonable list and realistic given my limited knowledge of the S2. At this point I thought (naively) that power and other handling things were something that I didn’t need. Oh how I was wrong as the Dark Side that is the RS2 and beyond started to grab a hold of me. Anyway for now I had a plan going forward, which seemed good and was not too expensive.

[John B]

March 2008

I purchased a stop lock to complement the Toad alarm already fitted: I didn’t want this baby going anywhere it shouldn’t! There were a few cosmetic issues inside the cabin to sort. As usual with cars of this age, the driver’s side seat bolster was badly worn. Short of re-skinning the seat with new hide, I took the choice of using good old-fashioned black shoe polish to darken the lighter worn bits, leaving lots of polish on overnight and then polishing off. Then I used my favourite leather conditioner of Turtle Wax on all the upholstery. I would thoroughly recommend doing this and I have a few times since. It will pay you back in terms of giving you long-lasting comfortable seating.

The wheels that were fitted were after-market Oettinger 17 inch 225/45 including the spare wheel. When I got the car the spare wheel was flat in the boot. Andy said that he carried it like that for long runs but left it out for short runs. I thought it was a great waste of space for the boot. In the end it was a simple solution of deflating the tyre and taking out one of the carpet sections that allowed the wheel to fit in the wheel well. To complete the setup I included a pump for the tyre, which isn’t a bad thing to carry anyway.

The exhaust had a fair bit of rust on it and some of the hangers had to be re-seated to stop the exhausts knocking against the under-body. What was of more concern was that I noticed that the coolant level had dropped slightly and that the water pump was noisy on start-up but did go quieter when warmed up. Perhaps this was the culprit for the coolant loss but there was a long way to go in this coolant loss saga.

I noticed that the left repeater indicator on the front wing was not sitting correctly and on further inspection one of the clips was broken, which is quite common with these items when the plastic get brittle. A quick visit to the local scrapyard sorted that out to get a replacement orange one.

[Greg_S]

Nice write up, How are you getting on with your list of todo's now

[John B]

Nice write up, How are you getting on with your list of todo's now

Thanks...

Well for the lights I installed HIDs but then a ballast failed....
I replaced the rad then the aux rad then the water pump....

As Kenny Everett would say....."i'm telling the you the plot!"

All will become clear....please be patient while i write it all up.....will tell all.....but some things are not fully resolved today!!!

JB

[John B]

April 2008

The beginning of April was the beginning of some noise from the dash area….oh joy that could lead to the dashboard coming off, which in the early stages of ownership was not an enticing task! I soon ascertained that the noise stopped when the fan was turned off and the noise started again at anything above speed 1. Then I thought I would do a quick bit of research and found that the blower motor was behind the glove box, which was easily accessible. I could see the motor and the rubber grommet that protected the motor fan spindle, so I managed to take it out and sent some PTFE lubricating oil down the hole. Miracle of miracles, everything went quiet: I thought if everything was cured as easily as this then ownership would not be too complex. How wrong I would be!

A week later it was the turn of the speedometer to stop working……..then it started working but only sporadically. First instincts were to take off the instrument binnacle and so I read up on Paul Nugent’s amazing site (www.s2central.net) on how to do this and it was surprisingly easy to do without taking the steering wheel off. Well all the connections appeared to be fine but the speedo still didn’t work. A bit more research revealed that sometimes the speed sensor that is in the gearbox was at fault. Sure enough a quick squeeze of the cable clip and the connector came off the sensor. The usual blow trick, a cotton bud to clear any muck and a wiggle of the connector sorted the problem out.

A short order to VAGParts (RIP) soon sorted the rest of the month’s issues to replace the gear knob, which had become very worn as had the S2 badge on the steering wheel become scratched. The cracked front clear indicator lens was also replaced.

[John B]

My car's mysterious past

Andy was up-front with me when I bought the car that the front wings had been replaced in 2004 by him and that several areas of rust had been treated. The car had spent most of its time in Scotland with wet and salt, so it was not surprising really but nothing prepares you when you see the pictures with the car in pieces. Still it was inevitable and the usual suspects for rust areas were treated. In fact the rear arches are just starting to bubble through now about 8 years later.

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This last picture shows the car when it had a tow bar and Andy used to take his MTBs on trips regularly. I even towed a boat trailer with it but in the latest round of modifications, it had to go. I still have it somewhere if someone want it but it does need the anti-rust treatment!

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[John B]

May 2008

On the 8th of May I noticed again that the coolant was low. At this time I was using the blue G11 coolant rather than the superior pink G12 coolant used today. The coolant was just below minimum mark and the car was using about 150ml per 250 miles and so I dutifully topped it up to maximum. The only tell-tale marks of coolant leaks were small stains around the auxiliary radiator area and the odd dot around the top of the radiator and auxiliary water pump area. These things would turn out to be clues for later on but for now there was no obvious glaring leak……hmmmm.

The only other problem that I noticed was a small but spreading crack in the left headlight lens, which had started to attract condensation in the light. To my delight I discovered that I could replace just the glass lens rather than the whole light assembly. That excitement was short-lived when I saw the price! Anyway I thought I had better do it and even bought the right lens to match as well as new seals to do the job properly: I could keep the old ones as spares. I noticed that the lenses do attract green coloured mould close to the seals and this had to be cleaned carefully from the light assembly without damaging the chrome areas. Having done this four years ago, the mould is now back! Still the lights were back in sparkling form.

[John B]

Short interlude

Did I tell you I am nuts about racing, cars and just about anything that has an engine?

Well here's a short interlude......it was in May 2008....one of many trips to Oulton Park......off-topic but the car is German so loosely still there. Here's Ric Wood's ex-DTM Opel. Wouldn't you love a car that needed to go on a 1,200 hp rolling road?

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Yeah that's him explaining to the marshals again how he had problems in qualifying but still managed to storm past most of the field and win the race ......and look at those carbon brakes .....well pretty much everything in the picture is carbon fibre apart from the calipers

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Ok back to the serious stuff!

[John B]

June 2008

One of the things I really wanted to get my teeth into were the brakes. At this point i was quite a newbie when it came to the S2 and RS2. I came across this parts list from somewhere but I cannot remember where.

Parts list for possible solutions RS2 brakes.pdf

This got me thinking and I started to research more the sites to find out about "big reds" and other such wonders of the braking world. Paul's site gave some great tips http://www.s2central.net/ under Technical Data--->Running Gear--->Brakes and then i had a look at Mike's site http://www.s2-audi.co.uk/technical.htm under the Brakes section. Their's and other's diligence in researching this and other subject is legendary in my view. I have spent ages reading their articles along with this forum in planning what to do.......I highly recommend others do the same.

At that point VAG Parts was alive and well and I downloaded the catalogue (which I still have) as a reminder of what great customer service can be from enthusiastic owners. It had lots of "big reds" and "bigger reds" upgrades....Brembo heaven really along with all the bits you needed to make the front brakes what they should have been on the S2 from the outset (IMHO).

One thing was niggling me at this point though

I needed brakes.......no a car....better than the RS2, so rather than the 993 or 968 calipers i needed to have 996 monobloc calipers

In the meantime to help things become more clear, in June 2008 I went testing a Group N Impreza with a friend on a closed stage........good for the adrenalin but no quattro....

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[John B]

November 2008

OK little while since the last post.....

July to October 2008 was researching brakes time to fix one of the issues I saw as essential. Having concluded I needed the 986/996 calipers I read all about the upgrade on Mike's and Paul's sites as well as this forum and decided to go with the safe option of using RS2 caliper adaptors, first generation A8/S8 discs and RS2 hardlines.

Which discs 314 or 323 hmmmm 314.....no it has to be 323 . I picked up some black calipers from a Porsche dismantler thinking I would remain subtle at this stage and got the rest from a mix of Pete Reeve at Quattro Corner and VAG Parts.

29-30 November 2008 was the time for the upgrade. Here is the crustacean creature that I faced.......look familiar?

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[John B]

Left front 996 upgrade

eeny meeny miny.....ok I'll do the left side first.

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Wow...that caliper came off easily! I used the hanging on a piece of wire trick to keep the old caliper attached hydraulically whilst I fitted the new kit.

I even found time for a spot of rust collection

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Right time to admire the new gear glinting in the November sunlight: -

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Sorry was boring and went for the good old Textar pads

and here are the discs....what an improvement on the old ones (but they were cheapie ones ): -

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[John B]

Left front 996 upgrade - the caliper goes on

First the RS2 caliper adaptor goes on easy....nice working with new bits

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Then the disc and caliper all finger tight for now

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Looking good from behind

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And with the wheel on

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Wow.....there's not much clearance between these 17" rims and the caliper, and between the disc and the caliper

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Right...satisfied with the trial fit.....onto the hydraulics. Man, that old hose was a PITA to get off. The brass nut just wanted to strip every time it saw a spanner. Eventually i had to use some heat and grips to get it undone

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Here is the after, with the nice new Goodridge hose on

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Here is the finished product......very satisfying!

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