Well here goes again, I’m typing this in MS Word 2013 and saving regularly so hopefully no more f**k-ups…
Right, where was I, oh yes the BEGINNING… AGAIN!!! As I was saying, Kit suggested I call this Project Spec-Creep which is perhaps more apt for reasons that will become clear later on, however Project Mental Wheels I think sounds better. If however there is a referendum on the matter I will concede to popular opinion.
A little over a year ago Kit took me out in his modded S2 coupé and so impressed was I with the enormous thrust of the thing I decided I wanted to have a similar sort of contraption. What with the rising values and the fact that it wouldn’t be too long before they weren’t affordable I was advised to seek out an RS2, which would have similar power out of the box and wouldn’t only not depreciate like a used BMW but would in fact serve as an investment. What better way to rationalise buying a fast car!
Sometime in October 2014 a Ragusa green N reg example came up on here, hi Andy , so I went with a couple of knowledgeable friends (K Simmonds & Trist28) up to Derby to have a look at it. Paintwork was 99.9% rust-free, wheels were excellent, it had a new £2k Supersprint stainless 3" stainless exhaust & inc. downpipe, the interior was as good as could be expected from a car with 127k on the clock, in fact there was minimal wear and tear, ran sweet with no funny noises and had the optional £2k big brake conversion in 2006... so on the 18th October I became the proud owner of a fine specimen of Audi’s flagship sportswagon of the mid-nineties
20150516_155328.jpg
A couple of months later I crashed it and wrote it off. No I didn’t, that would be a horrible story No, 2 months later another Ragusa green M reg example came up, hi Michael This time about ¾ the price. A little miffed I decided I had to go see it. It turned out to be in almost as good condition and had been well looked after for some years at an Audi dealership in Walton-Upon-Thames, Surrey and had a great service history and many new parts/replaced bulbs etc including new rear shocks and a clutch. A shame I already had an RS2. ...On the 10th of January I became the proud owner...
20150113_153613.jpg
What was I to do with 2 RS2s? "Power, more power!" (Christopher Walken? A View to a Kill?) Yes, hungry for more power - it still bugged me that Kit’s machine still gave a more thunderous surge from lower down the rev range – I decided that I would offer one of my cars up for a little vehicular surgery. It was a hard choice but I decided to put the M reg up for the task, it cost me less, had 16,000 extra miles on the clock and had some cheap window tint that had gone purple and had to go.
Now who to take on the work? MRC seemed a bit up-market/new cars/expensive and DNA were a bit far away, so I rang VRS. Enter Will Linfoot. Absolute legend, really enthusiastic and will happily spend the entire day discussing mod options for my car and talk about his own motor related stories, massively cool guy and am immensely pleased he’s at the helm of this project.
So anyway, I walked into VRS with plans to ask about a billet, perhaps hybrid turbo and a remap, I came out with various scribblings on my notepad, including ‘Turbo Dynamics MD357, Wagner Evo EM, coil packs’ and some other illegible cacography.
About two weeks later, I went back and after another days chatting I came out with more scribblings, this time reading ‘Borg Warner EFR6758, Wagner Evo RS2 EM & IC, de-cat Jetex exhaust, baffled sump, paint subframe, MoTeC M84 ECU, 3 angled seats, target 400-450bhp’ Perhaps now you can see where Kit was coming from with his suggestion of ‘Spec-Creep’
Another 3 or so weeks later and the notepad was reading most of the above but now ‘BW 7163, Iroz tubular EM, custom 3" exhaust, MoTeC M84 & D153 display, launch & anti-lag, optimised head work, Bosch 044 10bar fuel pump, Bosch motorsport 1100cc injectors, VRS rods & Sputter bearings, boost level control, 4.8Kg billet flywheel, new 1st – 2nd gear hub & carbon covered synchros, paint block + head + gearbox, target 500-550bhp, KW suspension?’. ‘Spec-Creep’ had, by now, gained absolute legitimacy.
At my last meeting with Will on Friday 3rd not much, thankfully, could be improved but just to cement the ‘Spec-Creep’ accolade, I inquired about a brake upgrade... Porsche 996 GT3 front calipers and 996 Carrera 4 rears are now on the to-do list. More importantly however, I was now able to see some evidence of action on the car and have taken some pictures which I shall now unveil…
This is what I was presented with, work was well under way:
20150703_123948.jpg
Block, crank and pistons seemed in good nick:
20150703_124055.jpg
20150703_124003.jpg
Some cleaning required:
20150703_131945_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Gearbox set for some TLC:
20150703_131817_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Some ancillaries set for some soda blasting:
20150703_124032.jpg
Subframe and wishbones set for some powder coating. Note the clutch which is virtually new and maybe a replacement for the poor specimen that was subjected to the hardships of drag racing...
20150703_124106.jpg
Brakes don't have long to live now:
20150703_124249.jpg
Rear diff and driveshaft, not too bad:
20150703_124605_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Now let's have a look at some of the new stuff...
Intercooler & downpipe:
20150423_113329.jpg
Boost gauge:
AEM boost guage.jpg
MoTeC ECU & D153 display:
MoTeC M84.jpg
20150703_134641_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Turbo and manifold:
Tubular ex manifold + 7163 turbo.jpg
Billet flywheel:
20150703_143008_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Baffled sump:
20150202_120933.jpg
More when I have more. Engine bay is set to be detailed on the 9th, subframe and wishbones to be powder coated a week later, block, head and gearbox should be painted too, with assembly a week after that. Fingers crossed it'll be on Will's brand new 4wd dyno come the end of the month...
This has been a somewhat rushed and less passionate write-up than the previous one I lost, but I was so f*$%£d off I'm surprised I've even managed this. In any case, watch this space...
Right, where was I, oh yes the BEGINNING… AGAIN!!! As I was saying, Kit suggested I call this Project Spec-Creep which is perhaps more apt for reasons that will become clear later on, however Project Mental Wheels I think sounds better. If however there is a referendum on the matter I will concede to popular opinion.
A little over a year ago Kit took me out in his modded S2 coupé and so impressed was I with the enormous thrust of the thing I decided I wanted to have a similar sort of contraption. What with the rising values and the fact that it wouldn’t be too long before they weren’t affordable I was advised to seek out an RS2, which would have similar power out of the box and wouldn’t only not depreciate like a used BMW but would in fact serve as an investment. What better way to rationalise buying a fast car!
Sometime in October 2014 a Ragusa green N reg example came up on here, hi Andy , so I went with a couple of knowledgeable friends (K Simmonds & Trist28) up to Derby to have a look at it. Paintwork was 99.9% rust-free, wheels were excellent, it had a new £2k Supersprint stainless 3" stainless exhaust & inc. downpipe, the interior was as good as could be expected from a car with 127k on the clock, in fact there was minimal wear and tear, ran sweet with no funny noises and had the optional £2k big brake conversion in 2006... so on the 18th October I became the proud owner of a fine specimen of Audi’s flagship sportswagon of the mid-nineties
20150516_155328.jpg
A couple of months later I crashed it and wrote it off. No I didn’t, that would be a horrible story No, 2 months later another Ragusa green M reg example came up, hi Michael This time about ¾ the price. A little miffed I decided I had to go see it. It turned out to be in almost as good condition and had been well looked after for some years at an Audi dealership in Walton-Upon-Thames, Surrey and had a great service history and many new parts/replaced bulbs etc including new rear shocks and a clutch. A shame I already had an RS2. ...On the 10th of January I became the proud owner...
20150113_153613.jpg
What was I to do with 2 RS2s? "Power, more power!" (Christopher Walken? A View to a Kill?) Yes, hungry for more power - it still bugged me that Kit’s machine still gave a more thunderous surge from lower down the rev range – I decided that I would offer one of my cars up for a little vehicular surgery. It was a hard choice but I decided to put the M reg up for the task, it cost me less, had 16,000 extra miles on the clock and had some cheap window tint that had gone purple and had to go.
Now who to take on the work? MRC seemed a bit up-market/new cars/expensive and DNA were a bit far away, so I rang VRS. Enter Will Linfoot. Absolute legend, really enthusiastic and will happily spend the entire day discussing mod options for my car and talk about his own motor related stories, massively cool guy and am immensely pleased he’s at the helm of this project.
So anyway, I walked into VRS with plans to ask about a billet, perhaps hybrid turbo and a remap, I came out with various scribblings on my notepad, including ‘Turbo Dynamics MD357, Wagner Evo EM, coil packs’ and some other illegible cacography.
About two weeks later, I went back and after another days chatting I came out with more scribblings, this time reading ‘Borg Warner EFR6758, Wagner Evo RS2 EM & IC, de-cat Jetex exhaust, baffled sump, paint subframe, MoTeC M84 ECU, 3 angled seats, target 400-450bhp’ Perhaps now you can see where Kit was coming from with his suggestion of ‘Spec-Creep’
Another 3 or so weeks later and the notepad was reading most of the above but now ‘BW 7163, Iroz tubular EM, custom 3" exhaust, MoTeC M84 & D153 display, launch & anti-lag, optimised head work, Bosch 044 10bar fuel pump, Bosch motorsport 1100cc injectors, VRS rods & Sputter bearings, boost level control, 4.8Kg billet flywheel, new 1st – 2nd gear hub & carbon covered synchros, paint block + head + gearbox, target 500-550bhp, KW suspension?’. ‘Spec-Creep’ had, by now, gained absolute legitimacy.
At my last meeting with Will on Friday 3rd not much, thankfully, could be improved but just to cement the ‘Spec-Creep’ accolade, I inquired about a brake upgrade... Porsche 996 GT3 front calipers and 996 Carrera 4 rears are now on the to-do list. More importantly however, I was now able to see some evidence of action on the car and have taken some pictures which I shall now unveil…
This is what I was presented with, work was well under way:
20150703_123948.jpg
Block, crank and pistons seemed in good nick:
20150703_124055.jpg
20150703_124003.jpg
Some cleaning required:
20150703_131945_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Gearbox set for some TLC:
20150703_131817_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Some ancillaries set for some soda blasting:
20150703_124032.jpg
Subframe and wishbones set for some powder coating. Note the clutch which is virtually new and maybe a replacement for the poor specimen that was subjected to the hardships of drag racing...
20150703_124106.jpg
Brakes don't have long to live now:
20150703_124249.jpg
Rear diff and driveshaft, not too bad:
20150703_124605_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Now let's have a look at some of the new stuff...
Intercooler & downpipe:
20150423_113329.jpg
Boost gauge:
AEM boost guage.jpg
MoTeC ECU & D153 display:
MoTeC M84.jpg
20150703_134641_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Turbo and manifold:
Tubular ex manifold + 7163 turbo.jpg
Billet flywheel:
20150703_143008_Rothersthorpe Crescent.jpg
Baffled sump:
20150202_120933.jpg
More when I have more. Engine bay is set to be detailed on the 9th, subframe and wishbones to be powder coated a week later, block, head and gearbox should be painted too, with assembly a week after that. Fingers crossed it'll be on Will's brand new 4wd dyno come the end of the month...
This has been a somewhat rushed and less passionate write-up than the previous one I lost, but I was so f*$%£d off I'm surprised I've even managed this. In any case, watch this space...
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