Thanks to Status Racing for delivering a pair of Ring GT seats! They’ve provided us with sliders and six point harnesses to use with a pair of Wedge seat brackets.
Ring GT shells are made with Kevlar and are FIA approved; the shells are wrapped in black Alcantara and each seat weighs in at just a tad over 12lbs.
The past few weeks have been rather interesting. Installation on the VF supercharger has wrapped up, below I’ll detail the install procedure. All work was completed at achtuning in Redmond, WA. If you were considering ordering a supercharger, give them a call: 425.895.0000; if you’re out of state…even better! No tax!
Our first step was to remove the OEM intake manifold, this is a good time to do your valve cover gaskets if yours are leaking. This process is straight forward. If there’s enough room under the hood when everything is said and done, I am still very interested in adding JHM intake spacers (which were removed for the blower installation).
Typically, if you have a later build S4 you can simply put the vehicle in service position to install the new VF tensioner and idler pulleys; unfortunately, I had literally the first run of S4 motors which lacks some mounting points, and as a result we had to remove the entire front end in order to drill and tap the block.
After we drilled and tapped the block we were able to attach the additional pulleys.
Each VF comes with a liquid intercooler and a new, more compact power steering cooler. Note the location of the intercooler: below the front bumper support; the PES intercooler sits behind the bumper support. By replacing the power steering cooler we’ll need to bleed the system when we’re done; this is a good time to clean the filter in the power steering reservoir. VF supplies one use time clamps for the new power steering hoses.
And finally, a quick video!
The parts we were waiting on came back from the machine shop and we were able to complete the exhaust installation. The headers sound great with the cat-back; angry outside of the car while reasonable inside the cabin. The piping is 2.5″ through and everything is connected with v-band clamps.
You can click the video for a higher quality version.
A buddy of mine brought this to my attention the other day! It seems the February Eurotuner has a few paragraphs on the car. 
Last weekend I paid Thunderhill Raceway a visit with the Audi Club of Golden Gate…wow, what an awesome track! Since my car wasn’t ready, I decided to rent a Spec Miata for the weekend. and this was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I was able to refine my braking and vehicle control techniques over the two days at the track. The first day was split 50/50 with the first half was braking and vehicle dynamics mixed up with on track sessions; the second day was entirely track time.
Honestly, I can say I’ve learned more with seat time in the Miata than I would have in my S4.
My instructor and I.
This was my second session on the track with a Civic spinning out in front of me.
This was my third session on the first day.
Here is my third session on the second day. I shot this video with my 7D and my SD GoPro.
Here are three different videos of the car testing various exhaust options.
These two videos are of the JHM headers with the GMG resonated midsection, there are no mufflers attached.
This video shows what the car sounds like with only the JHM headers.
Here are some photos of the exterior of the car. JHM stage 4 clutch, lightweight flywheel, solid shifter linkage, Delrin shifter bushings, Stern control arms, and Stern motor mounts have all been installed. We had a clearance issue with the 18×10 TE37s and the rear parking brake spring; it would make contact with the wheel weights on the inner wheel. After moving the weights out 2mm, we didn’t have any more clearance issues. 18″ wheels with the Alcon brakes are a TIGHT fit.
Homemade B-pillars
CF mirrors
370mm 6 piston Alcons and 18×10 TE37s
I brought my camera to the shop today and took a quick walk video walk around. I have some exhaust videos that need to be encoded still.
After buttoning up the rest of the car, we decided it would be a good day to finish up the brakes. The front and rear brakes were installed, but I only took photos of the fronts.
Today we put the transmission back into the car and buttoned everything back up. If everything works out tomorrow the brakes and cat-back should go on!
Below you can see the high-flow cats mate up to the new headers. JHM offers a pre-lengthened set of O2 sensors since the O2 bungs have been relocated on the longtube headers.
Some “better” photos of the JHM/Stern motor mounts.
Here the Stern control arms have been installed.
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