The $400 S4 Vert Resurrection
22 years of rust sucks... Had a brake line blow yesterday. After driving 3 hours back from chicago to my parents' in WI, I pulled in the driveway and my main line going to the rears blew out. Thank God it did it in the driveway and not on the freeway... Anyways got some brake line and ran a new line all the way back today. Wierd how I had the car on the lift at school last thursday and I remember thinking I should really replace those brake lines.
But the car has been great. Been dailying it in Chicago, and driving back up to Wisconsin every weekend with it. Just needs a turbo swap to give it a bit more bite... lol
Going to put a dual alternator pulley on it tomorrow, as I only have been running one belt for a few months now.
Have some time off from work and school for the holiday, so I get a chance to work on this.
Got a s5 gauge cluster for this last week. Worked on putting it in today. I followed Icemark's writeup on installing the s5 cluster in a s4 car, which is just having to re-pin the harness. Cleaned the area around it, and around/under the steering column plastic real good being it was apart. Also put some padding under the column plastic to stop the bad vibration it had from the solid motor mounts.
Here's pics of the cluster install, no finished pic today because it got dark.
modifying the harness.
s4 vs s5. S5 looks much more nice to me.
Got a s5 gauge cluster for this last week. Worked on putting it in today. I followed Icemark's writeup on installing the s5 cluster in a s4 car, which is just having to re-pin the harness. Cleaned the area around it, and around/under the steering column plastic real good being it was apart. Also put some padding under the column plastic to stop the bad vibration it had from the solid motor mounts.
Here's pics of the cluster install, no finished pic today because it got dark.
modifying the harness.
s4 vs s5. S5 looks much more nice to me.
^thanks.
Worked on it quite a bit this weekend fixing all the small things it had wrong. The day after I put the new cluster in, a bulb burned out, fml... So pulled that apart again, and while I was at it I went through the entire interior and replaced any burned out bulbs. **** irritates me lol.
The brakes had a nice loud squeek under light braking, so tore them completely apart, and cleaned everything up, and scuffed up the rotors and pads, now they're perfectly quiet
Put a new sway bar in with poly bushings, as my old sway bar was completely missing a link bushing, and the other ones were rotted bad. Handles much better now.
Gave it a fresh oil chage too.
Detailed the engine bay again.
Worked on it quite a bit this weekend fixing all the small things it had wrong. The day after I put the new cluster in, a bulb burned out, fml... So pulled that apart again, and while I was at it I went through the entire interior and replaced any burned out bulbs. **** irritates me lol.
The brakes had a nice loud squeek under light braking, so tore them completely apart, and cleaned everything up, and scuffed up the rotors and pads, now they're perfectly quiet
Put a new sway bar in with poly bushings, as my old sway bar was completely missing a link bushing, and the other ones were rotted bad. Handles much better now.
Gave it a fresh oil chage too.
Detailed the engine bay again.
And I'm going to end up driving this car through winter, so I'm going to try spraying the underbody with oil to help reduce any rust from the salt. It seems stupid to undercoat it, when there already is rust on the underbody, so the undercoat will just hide it up, and then that's another mess I have to deal with later removing the undercoating...
I wanted the grill black, but I hated to permentantly paint over it considering the bumper was just painted a few months ago. So I used black plasticoat, which will peel off like a sticker if I ever decide I don't like it.
Honestly, this car is doing very well as a daily driver, even considering that it was sitting for 2 years and was a mess before I got it, and I've put 15,000 miles on it already. I compression tested the motor yesterday and it was at 90/95psi, which is impressive to me considering its the original motor at almost 150,xxx and 22 yrs old.
Part of me hates daily driving it though, as its my only car and I know what could potentially go wrong considering its age, and I need the car to go every day... But at the same time I love driving it every day, love the handling, the sound, redline, and the looks everyone gives it. And it really has been very reliable!
I wanted the grill black, but I hated to permentantly paint over it considering the bumper was just painted a few months ago. So I used black plasticoat, which will peel off like a sticker if I ever decide I don't like it.
Honestly, this car is doing very well as a daily driver, even considering that it was sitting for 2 years and was a mess before I got it, and I've put 15,000 miles on it already. I compression tested the motor yesterday and it was at 90/95psi, which is impressive to me considering its the original motor at almost 150,xxx and 22 yrs old.
Part of me hates daily driving it though, as its my only car and I know what could potentially go wrong considering its age, and I need the car to go every day... But at the same time I love driving it every day, love the handling, the sound, redline, and the looks everyone gives it. And it really has been very reliable!
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,881
Likes: 3
From: Jacksonville, Tampa & Tallahassee
Awesome work!
And don't worry about daily driving, unlike many, u actually maintain your car and don't use half-*** fixes and work around to avoid addressing the actual problem. Those are the things that get you stranded, and they are not rotary specific. 7's just don't suffer fools lightly.
And don't worry about daily driving, unlike many, u actually maintain your car and don't use half-*** fixes and work around to avoid addressing the actual problem. Those are the things that get you stranded, and they are not rotary specific. 7's just don't suffer fools lightly.
Door handle rehabilitation time... My drivers outside door handle broke a couple months ago, and the lock has been inoperative for about 4 months. I could of paid $30 for a door handle, but thats no fun.
Start with the lock cylinder. As some of you know, the plastic flapper door on the lock breaks off and gets stuck inside, where the key can no longer get in. Well, I pulled the cylinder out and took out some of the tumblers until I could get the plastic out, then threw it back together and it works great.
The cast aluminum piece that goes from the handle itself up in behind the handle cracked in half, so spent some time making a metal piece up to brace that back together and drilled a couple of screws in, works great, and no JB weld required
Lastly the handle was missing a mounting stud, so got one put in. Spent nothing on all of that.
I put a new thermostat and gasket in, as the old gasket was starting to leak pretty good.
And finally, I plasticoated black over my sticker-wrapped spoiler. Kind of miss the clean look, and I can peel the plasticoat off whenever I feel the urge to.
Start with the lock cylinder. As some of you know, the plastic flapper door on the lock breaks off and gets stuck inside, where the key can no longer get in. Well, I pulled the cylinder out and took out some of the tumblers until I could get the plastic out, then threw it back together and it works great.
The cast aluminum piece that goes from the handle itself up in behind the handle cracked in half, so spent some time making a metal piece up to brace that back together and drilled a couple of screws in, works great, and no JB weld required
Lastly the handle was missing a mounting stud, so got one put in. Spent nothing on all of that.
I put a new thermostat and gasket in, as the old gasket was starting to leak pretty good.
And finally, I plasticoated black over my sticker-wrapped spoiler. Kind of miss the clean look, and I can peel the plasticoat off whenever I feel the urge to.
I never noticed the tach and speedo before on the clusters!
I have a s5 cluster sitting for years, was originally going to maybe modify it with aftermarket gauges but your swap inspired me now.
I have a s5 cluster sitting for years, was originally going to maybe modify it with aftermarket gauges but your swap inspired me now.
