Also just purchased a M370 Intake Manifold!

Not sure I'll do a "house mod" thread, since it would be like starting a build thread for a stock G. Haha. But I'm excited to have a garage t be able to work on my car and actually be able to wash my car, since my apartment complex wont allow us to do anything to our vehicles in the parking lots.

 

The Motordyne M370 just arrived!

 

Ooooohhhhhhh that's pretty. When is it going on?

 

Saturday, along with a bunch of other things.

 

Really nice build love the mods to. I should perhaps start a log instead of just posting pics in garage lol. Anything else planned after all your current mods go on ?

 

Thank you. Saturday I plan on having RSR coilovers, Hotchkiss sways, Whiteline endlinks, Hawk HPS pads, Stoptech slotted rotors, Motul brake fluid, Takeda cold air intakes, and Motordyne M370 installed. Next will be a tune, most likely UPREV, then spring time I'll have a set of Vossen VFS 2 in graphite with Michelin PSS 245 fronts and 285 rears. After that I have no clue. Maybe save up for a super charger, but I'm sure by the time I save the money I'll be ready to buy a new car and will sell the G.

 

All on the same day, away from home, installed by a mechanic you've never met?

You know, I'm sure that's going to work out perfect. No complications what-so-ever.

 

Thanks for the optimism...

Let's put it this way. I wasn't happy with the job my mechanic did on my exhaust to the point that I won't use him unless I absolutely have to. Chris has offered to allow me to stay at his place and use his mechanic. Of course Chris has quite a few mods installed by this mechanic and hasn't said anything bad about them yet. Yes it's a risk, but I don't have anyone in town that I trust to install everything, and I don't have anywhere to install them myself.

 

amazing build! so jealous right now good luck with the installs always makes me nervous when my gee is in someone elses hands

 

Regardless of personal feelings you may have for your local mechanic, "trust" is still the #1 component of that relationship. Twofold, actually: trust that he's charging a fair price for fair work, and trust that he has the skills you respect to work on your car. Since any problem is eventually fixable irrespective of cost and inconvenience, in actuality the person taking on the most risk in this project is Chris. Yours is just a leap of faith and a tank of gas.

Tomorrow is certainly a big day. That Sunday ride home (assuming you have a Sunday ride home) could be awesome. Looking forward to reading about it.

 

I trust my guy, he's always been more than fair with me rate wise which he also extended to Kirk. As far as skills, when we dropped off Kirks car he had a brand new Audi S4 he was bagging and just did an exhaust on and his S2k with an RB swap burbling away.

I'm trying to Kirk to come back down on the 17th for a show but it isn't looking good so far.

 

I'm excited to hear Kirk's feedback on the Motordyne manifold. I've heard mixed reviews about it from a few forum members and am attempting to determine if it's a modification that's with the investment.

From the looks of what Kirk posted on Instagram, it looks like the installs went smooth.

 

I don't even know where to begin. I literally thought about what I was going to post here the entire 6 hour drive back, and now that I am in front of my computer I've drawn a blank... So please bare with me because I'm sure this post will be a little scatter brained and will require some fine tuning.

I was very impressed with David (Chris's mechanic). Like Chris said he had a 2015 Audi S4 with less than 3k miles on it that he had already put a full cat back on and was in the process of installing bags. It was a beautiful car and I really wanted to bring it home with me, but I was equally impressed with his S2k project car with the RB engine, and would have loved to have taken that home with me as well. Anyway... on to my car...

I dropped it off around noon after I had gotten into town and bs'd with David for a little bit and told him kind of what I was looking for drop wise and handling wise. He had a pretty good understanding and seemed eager to get started so Chris and I left and came back the next day around 3pm.

After David was done installing everything on my G he sent us a picture (the one below) to make sure that I was happy with the drop so that he could take it to get the alignment done. I honestly was not expecting David to send us a picture to make sure that everything was okay before he had it aligned, so he had exceeded my expectation. I was happy with the way it was sitting and gave him the go ahead.


Chris and I arrived at the shop before David got back. As soon as I saw David pull into the drive way I had a huge smile on my face, and I hadn't even seen the car, other then the picture above. Everything looked good in person. He had left the rear coils a little high since they still needed to settle, but otherwise everything looked great. He tossed me the keys and told us to take it for a spin. Chris and I jumped in and took off. I didn't push it too hard since I still have my winter tires on and don't really know the limits of them, and don't really plan too, but I was very happy with the responsiveness from the engine and the handling. I noticed quite a increase of mid range torque between 3,750-6,500 rpm, and very little if any difference in the low end. Since we were in a residential neighborhood I didn't really get to play around in the high end.

We got back and David threw the car back up on the lifter to give me a run through on changing the height of the coilovers, which honestly looked quite complicated and I'm not sure it could be done without a transmission jack. The coilovers looked extremely nice and very high end, at least from my extensive knowledge of coilovers ).


The ride home gave me a good feel for what I would like to change with the coilovers. The fronts seemed to be a little soft so I may have to play around with the dampening a little bit, but I'm not sure I will be able to with the rears since I would have to pretty much take the shock out in order to do so. The ride quality is very very very good. You do feel a lot of the bumps in the road, but they are not harsh at all, which may be due to how soft the dampeners in the front are. I hit quite a few of the TN pot holes, not on purpose and not very large pot holes, and it didn't feel uncomfortable at all. The setting that the dampeners are on right now would be how I would have it set up if I were going on a long trip, but for around town I would like it to be a little more firm.

I'll group the Cusco FTSB, Hotchkiss sways, and Whiteline endlinks together since they were all put on at the same time and I cannot give feed back on one item verses another. The car felt great around corners. Again since I test drove it in a residential area I didn't take any of the corners very fast, but I did hit a couple of on ramps at a decent speeds. David did say that one of my endlinks were shot in the rear, so it was a good thing that I had bought the Whitelines. I still need to look into the SPC's for the front. I noticed that there was very little body roll, if any and was very surprised. Since I still had the boxes in the back I couldn't really take full advantage of the on ramps, but I will once I take them out tomorrow.


The brakes felt great! I had the brake fluid replaced with Motul fluid and had Stoptech slotted rotors and Hawk HPS pads installed too. I was very happy with the feel of the brakes. The slotted rotors also look pretty awesome!


The Motordyne and Takeda look goregous in the engine bay along with the Cusco FSTB. Like I said before, I did notice a pretty decent increase in torque in the mid range, which I'm ecstatic about. I don't know if it is from the the Takeda, Motordyne, or a combination of both, but I am thrilled. I did notice that my exhaust is a good bit louder, especially at idle. Before when the car was warmed up you could faintly hear the car idling from outside the car, now there is more of a verbal. I don't mind this at all. Under load its much louder as well, which is a plus to me, even though Chris thinks my exhaust is too loud anyway... I don't know how I feel about the Motordyne cover/metal plate on top of the M370. I think it looks kind of cheesy and out of place and I'm not sure if it serves a purpose or if its more of an advert for Motordyne. I need to figure this out. David said that the instructions said to put it on after installing the M370. There is a cut out for the bolts to go through it and into the manifold to secure it, but again I don't know if it serves a purpose or not. This is the first M370 that I've seen with it on, others I've seen don't have a cover of any sort.


Overall I am very happy with the out come and would not be hesitant to go back to David, I do wish he was closer though, but at the same time that could be a little dangerous...

If you have and specific questions feel free to ask, since I'm sure I may have missed something. I'll try to wash off the salt off my car and try to take some better pictures.

 

Great write up Kirk, looks like you found a reliable guy to help w/ your addiction
It does take a bit of trial & error to find the sweet spot w/ the coilovers but sounds like you're already close. Agreed on the engine bay, looks tight!

Post up a review on the RSRs when you get some seat time w/ them.

You know those calipers are screaming for some love now
Have you thought about any color combos down there?

At any rate, sounds like a very productive weekend and looks awesome!

 

Why are the rears so hard to adjust damping?

Shame about getting all this done while riding on snow tires. That really messes up what you can do with the car and how to assess changes.

The pic of the yellow end-link, is that adjusted as short as it will go? It looks it. How did he make the decision on length? My mechanic and I were discussing end-links while it was on the lift a few days ago, and I've come full-circle on the topic, leaving the OEM parts right where they are. He'll check them out whenever he has the car, about twice a year. At least, that's the new plan, LOL.

Slotted rotors look fantastic. (jelly) Of course, now that the rotors look as good as they ever will (because new), this Spring is your best moment to get those calipers painted.

You should be aware of that CUSCO bar when lunging into a turn from a dead stop. However, with the coilovers on the car, it's impossible to differentiate where the changes are. Bar is pretty. Brackets are... blue.

I agree 100% on the Motordyne cover. Very cheesy seeing that huge sticker. I'm pretty sure there are ways to get the engine cover back on, however it will require some compromises on fitment, and maybe some minor customization.

Now that the new UIM and intake is on the car, when are you getting it tuned?

Your car is a total sleeper. Not entirely stock to someone who knows what they're looking at, but just another sedan to someone who doesn't. I think that's fantastic.