I've had this car since I was 19 back in 2001, I've never stopped loving these vehicles. A little over 4 years ago the engine started to knock after it ran low on oil. At the time I was fully renovating my home that I purchased after Hurricane Katrina so my money was all tied up there. And to be honest I was a little tired of the car. It was noisy, drove really hard and rough, and the performance seemed to be diminished after 140k+ miles.

So there my baby sat for about 3 years, until I started to miss it ALOT, but I wanted a totally different feeling when I got this vehicle back. I wanted more of a luxury feel feel similar to a Jag, or Aston Martin. I stripped the entire tan interior but the dash, and went to town with fat-mat vibration damper, after wards I laid a 1/16 piece of foam decoupler over all the damper I doubled up on alot of both materials. Then on top of that I purchased luxury liner pro and covered all the decoupler with that. The inner and outer door panel received the fat mat and decoupler only. I added black suede to the headliner and deleted the mirrors, I also had to customize my lid to match some of the newer vehicles.

I've read threads on here stating how much a difference just the vibration damper made, so I really hope my overkill efforts eliminates most of the road noise and rattles that plague these cars. I prepped and dyed the seats black with SEM classic coat GM black, and the tan plastic pieces with SEM Landau black. I cleaned and dyed the carpet with black RIT dye in a large tub. I sent some interior and exterior pieces to my guy Ary @ El Paso Powder Coating in El Paso TX to have a black carbon fiber pattern hydro-dipped on them.

I should have been taking more pics to document this build, but I don't have nearly as many as I'd like. I will be taking more pictures, but the car is a mess right now.

 

I contacted Charley and Futral Motorsports in Walker LA and had been quoted an engine re-build and performance upgrade to reach my 400whp goals. Over the last 2 1/2 years I had been purchasing parts here and there, and paying Futral's for parts when I had the extra cash. The car has been there since january, the motor has been at the Machine shop for about a month now so I am just waiting for that to be done so they can start the reassembly. Once the engine is back in and the car is running I will take it to my dads potnah's body and paint shop where I will also be doing more hands on stuff. Here are some more pics.

1st pic AI 226cc 243 heads,

Charley at futrals said my cam bearings were about the worst he'd seen! Luckily the main bearing only had very minor scuffs, I never knew I had a problem until the car ran low on oil and it started to knock. There was oil leaking and I never saw an indication, had to replace the rods, and crank.

 

Looks pretty good so far! Those sun visor deletes 100% have to go because they look horrible (especially if your goal is a luxury vehicle).

 

Thanks, but you think the sun visor deletes look bad? I thought the stainless deletes gave a good accent with the black. Anyway I'm going to order another headliner, an ABS plastic one for more strength. I'll have this one wrapped in black ultra suede instead. Maybe I'll delete the deletes if I think it looks better.

 

Only 400hp goal? You know you'll want more....then more...then more!!
Good luck with the build!

 

Lmao, I don't even have the car back and I'm already feeling that way. Might Procharge it next summer. It should be a little more than 400whp, even though it is a A4. Here's a list of the my upgrades

Ai ported 243's 226cc w/ matching cam
229/236 - .626"/ .626" - 114 lsa
Ported Fast 90/90
LT headers
3600 stall
RPM Level 5 trans