Thread: [Build Complete] She's Finally Done

Start Date: 12/25/2009. Finish Date: 12/25/2011

Two long years later, my first car has reached its ultimate stage. Before the pictures begin, I feel like telling a story.

I took delivery of this car on December 25th of 2009, Christmas. I got my license the day before, on the morning of the 24th. My life changed as a kid.. I went from not being able to drive, to having access to anywhere at any time (Before 11PM of course!) in an Audi.. Imagine. Sixteen and I've worked into an Audi...

So that's how it was for the next year, an over-joyed kid driving a brand new A4 with complete satisfaction. Then the racing blood in my veins tapped into the street car side of me.

"Man, I REALLY love the way quad tips look.. I NEED to make that happen on my A4."

The inevitable ensued, with me doing my researched and coming to the conclusion that I would go with the APR Catback Quad Exhaust, because, I wanted to keep everything legal and the APR exhaust looked great to me. Seeing the price of it toppled my hopes a bit, but when I was told that I would get some help with it as a Christmas gift in 2010, I decided to get the APR/Carbonio Intake as well. This is the moment that the mod bug bit my ass.

January came and went, still no delivery from APR. I told myself that if they didn't arrive by the end of the first week in February, I would contact APR about it. Luckily for them (Ha!) a big box showed up at my door step the second or third day in February. Now, I needed to get them installed. I had already done a bit of searching around through APR's dealers and came up with Eurocode in Torrance based on their reviews.. Little did I know that I had just poured a few gallons of gasoline on an already blazing desire to make this car far quicker than the other A4's in my area. Upon picking up my car after a couple of days at Eurocode, it took barely any convincing for me to commit to returning for the Eurocode HFC and APR Stage II tune.

Shiiieettt.. Already a few grand in the hole from making the whole S rear conversion to stay OEM and run the quads, I just committed to about another thousand (Correct me if I'm wrong on price? Tellin a story here)

To keep a long story from being just a little bit longer, the rest is history and at this point I've done the following for performance:

• APR Stage II
• APR Catback Quad Exhaust with Diamond Black Tips
• Eurocode High Flow Cat
• Eurocode Front Mount Intercooler
• APR/Carbonio Cold Air Intake

So, you'd assume that I'd stop there and have a great car right? Well, I still got sh!t from everyone, so I knew I couldn't stop.

Next was the infamous Blake mod as it's called at Audizine. My car needed to be dropped.. So I did just that. Add ST Coilovers to the list of mods at this point.

Happy now guys?.. Oh, that's right, my wheels. Apparently anything OEM is not approved there, and I quickly grew tired of the black wheels. Gave VMR a call, committed to some 701's that same day.


Now the fun part, pictures of the steps, documented the best I can in order:

As Delivered from Rusnak - December 2009:



Step 1, Quad Exhaust and Tint:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 2, Debadge, Tune and HFC:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 4, FMIC and A4L Fog Grills:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 5 Part 1, Interior Lighting Swap:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 5 Part 2, After ONE DAY I hated the red, swapping all red out for cool white.


Step 6, 3.2 Gloss Black Grill Install:

IMG_0907.JPG by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 7, Vinyl Gloss Black Roof:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 8, Infamous Grill Lights + S Line Front End:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 9, All Plates Gone:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


Step 10, FINAL STEP, Drop on ST Coils and VMR 701 19x9.5 ET45 Gunmetal wheels:

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr

Untitled by milesmaroney, on Flickr


VIDEOS:

0-60:



Grill Lights:



I know this has been a bit of a long read, but I appreciate it if you took the time to look through it all. It's a nice feeling to finally be done after you've had 4 or 5 instances of being finished before. The car will be for sale right around 50,000mi (At 31,000 now) but until then I will enjoy it and appreciate all the joy it has brought me in the past two years.


-Miles

Nice write up! She looks perfect.

1) cop lights? must be illegal as fvck!
2) i'd get rid of the chrome around the grill
3) nice build

cool =]

Nice work guys. It came out great!

how is red and blues in your grill to immitate a police cruiser "infamous" this is the first i've seen of it. Just curious of what you're reasoning is. Other than that, the Step 5 part 2 volume xi was my fav

simplicity is underated. Nice job

CLEEEEAN whip! Love it! If I saw those grill lights go off behind me, I'd definitely move the hell over... I'm sure that's what your intention is. Goodluck and God Speed not getting caught with that lol

def. illegal, could even get charged with impersonating a police officer

In response to all of the questions regarding the lights;

They are not used on public roads in any sort of situation that would ever put me in danger. To date, the only time they have ever been used was during the Targa Trophy event ONE TIME in the middle of a canyon to slip past a truck and trailer, with a turnout ahead that I knew they could use.

Regarding the plates;

I plan on doing numerous photography and cinematography related events in the remaining time owning the car, this makes it much easier by removing the need to edit plates in the pictures and videos. ALSO, I've found that I have gotten less fix-it tickets for not having a front plate when not running a rear as well, as it makes the car seem more like it is from the dealership and I'm not intentionally avoiding a front plate. (4 with no front plate, 1 with neither)

Appreciate all of the positive remarks, and certainly understand the negative about the lights and plates; however, I have my reasons, and those are enough for me to justify what I've done. I've contemplated removing the lights at this point, but I figure it makes no difference whether they are off or not installed at all. They are 100% legal to be installed if they aren't used on public roads.