Update on 3 things being done

[AudiRS4ever]

Thought I'd keep everyone up to speed that cared. Front bumper was removed and sent to body shop Monday. Should be back tomorrow or next week. The painter looked at it and couldn't believe I wanted it resprayed, but I told him that the bottom where it was scratched bothered me. Either way, it's getting repainted.
The headlights have been removed and baked so that they could be completely taken apart to remove the orange reflectors and drill out the hole for the city lights that are not in the US Spec cars. We are experimenting with different lights. So far I've orderd over $100 worth of LEDs from Superbrightled.com and am still not sure which ones I like the most for the city lights. I am sure of one thing, I am not using the normal bulbs. They are just too yellow. Also I am putting resistors in for the front turn signals and using amber LEDs for those. That's where most of my money went on the LEDs. The first set I ordered were $50 and I thought they looked like crap, so I ordered a different set that I think will blend in more with the car.
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS4%20Wheels%20and%20Tires/HeadlightMods.png
The 3rd is the one that as I predicted is taking the most time to come along. The custom box for the JL W6 sub. This pic shows the first part of a 2 part box that is being made. http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS4%20Wheels%20and%20Tires/SubInstall.png
It is going to work, but I'm lucky that JL doesn't need much air volume with the box. I also settled on running a Nakamichi amp that I had sitting around. Man, they just don't build stuff like that amp anymore. Anyway, I'll keep snapping pics as the work progresses. :incar:

[MaxRS6]

I look forward to the updates, and your impressions on how the finished product sounds.

[AudiRS4ever]

Just went by the body shop to check out my bumper. It looks great. One of the things I had them do was trace where the Wagner Grills were and paint black behind them. With the foglights in you couldn't see it, but when the Wagner's went in you could see Silver behind the grills. The bumper looks brand new and as soon as we finish with the headlights it will be going on the car.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS4%20Wheels%20and%20Tires/BumperPainted.png

[Aronis]

Scratches on the undersurface? I have those too, too many low entry drives! I only see them when I clean the car or get under for oil changes. Don't look, don't tell. LOLLOLOLOL...

[AudiRS4ever]

Yeah, I agree about usually leaving them alone, but I kept noticing the bottom everytime I washed the car and also that there was silver behind the Wagner grills. As long as I don't scrape it again right when I pull out of the body shop I'll be ok (fingers crossed). I'll take more pics when the car starts coming together later this week.


Finally got the LED bulbs I'm going to use for the turn signals. 25 Amber LEDs. 19 fire forward and 6 fire backwards. They look good and should fit nicely into the housings.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS4%20Wheels%20and%20Tires/LEDTurnSignal.png

[hahnmgh63]

Have you tried LED's without the resistor to see if the cars fault system detects them?

[AudiRS4ever]

Yes, there is no bulb out warning, but you do get the fast blink, instead of the steady one. Unlike my Mercedes that even monitors the interior lights, the RS6 has the technology of a Model T in comparison.

[AudiRS4ever]

Well it's been almost a month since my last update, so I thought I'd show you guys the progress with the sub install. So far I've turned the gain down on the amp so much that it barely has any at all. It absolutely out plays the rest of the stereo, just as I was warned it would. It's great!!!!! The best part is that after all of the dynomat there is not one ratttle from the inside, but even better, the outside. Here are some pictures.

Here's how it all starts.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6Box13.jpg

Here's where you start to cringe, because you can't figure out if the car is ever going to be the same.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6Box7.jpg

The car starts making a little more sense now.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6Box14.jpg

Another angle.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6Box11.jpg

Starting to come together.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6Box3.jpg

After panels are back on.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6Box5.jpg

Got a new panel and cut it to go over the box.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6Box10.jpg

Pic of the Amp.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS6%20JL%20Audio%2010inch%20Sub%20Install/Amp.png

The rest of the car should be done in the next 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to driving it. The only thing not pictured in all of this is the 1 Farad Capacitor I had to add to keep the battery volts from fluctuating.
I can tell you that this is definitely a one-off and I watched my tech spend countless hours on the car, but he is a perfectionist just like me and it came out great. Once the headlights and bumper go back on and I get her cleaned up I'll post some more pics of it complete. :race:

[skribe]

If you use 3 ohm resistors, aka load balancers (vs. 6 ohms) for the turn signals you can use one per side, one balancer covers front and back LED turn signal bulb conversion, so you don't have to wire a resistor into the headlight housing. It's much easier to wire them into the tails, plus there's plenty of ventilation back there, as load balancers get quite hot.

Just completed my full LED conversion... got that nice digital blink. Used "switchback" bulbs for the fronts after I did the clear corner mod, they light up as white 6000k in driving mode, then switch to amber LEDs when you activate the turn signal. Also built 6000k 48 smid LED H7 bulbs for the fogs. Had previously put 6000k HID bulbs in the low beams.

Net result is every light on the front of my car is 6000k white with a hint of blue. Also did a small tweak on the clear corner mod, I pulled the front chrome trim bezel out of the headlight cover and hit it with matte clear lacquer, it now matches the brushed aluminum of the grille surround and adds definition to the lights. What can I say, I like the show and the go.

Your sub is very nice! Going to replicate that :-)

[ben916]

If you use 3 ohm resistors, aka load balancers (vs. 6 ohms) for the turn signals you can use one per side, one balancer covers front and back LED turn signal bulb conversion, so you don't have to wire a resistor into the headlight housing. It's much easier to wire them into the tails, plus there's plenty of ventilation back there, as load balancers get quite hot.

Just completed my full LED conversion... got that nice digital blink. Used "switchback" bulbs for the fronts after I did the clear corner mod, they light up as white 6000k in driving mode, then switch to amber LEDs when you activate the turn signal. Also built 6000k 48 smid LED H7 bulbs for the fogs. Had previously put 6000k HID bulbs in the low beams.

Net result is every light on the front of my car is 6000k white with a hint of blue. Also did a small tweak on the clear corner mod, I pulled the front chrome trim bezel out of the headlight cover and hit it with matte clear lacquer, it now matches the brushed aluminum of the grille surround and adds definition to the lights. What can I say, I like the show and the go.

Your sub is very nice! Going to replicate that :-)

Got a photo or some to show?

[skribe]

Got a photo or some to show?

Will post some pics, maybe a vid of the switchback LED effect when I get a minute to breathe (next few days) The front of the car looks much better to my eyeball and the 6000k hid bulbs (perceptually at least) seem to provide better visibility at night.

Contemplated mounting a set of S6 LED DRL's inside the headlights when I had them apart but decided against it... in my head that crossed over from modernizing a classic to trying to pretend it's newer than it is... like grafting a nuvolari grill on a C5 puke:

[AudiRS4ever]

Will post some pics, maybe a vid of the switchback LED effect when I get a minute to breathe (next few days) The front of the car looks much better to my eyeball and the 6000k hid bulbs (perceptually at least) seem to provide better visibility at night.

Contemplated mounting a set of S6 LED DRL's inside the headlights when I had them apart but decided against it... in my head that crossed over from modernizing a classic to trying to pretend it's newer than it is... like grafting a nuvolari grill on a C5 puke:

I couldn't agree more with the statement about putting the led strip in the car. I also thought about it when we took mine apart, but felt the same way. What I did do was drill out the city light blank and put pure white smd led 5 bulb in. We painted the one pointing forward, because a city light is just supposed to illuminate the housing, not shine like the xenon. I also tried the 6,000k's in the headlights, but found that they didn't illuminate the road as good as the stocks. Maybe the brand I got or something. Anyway, I'm excited to see pics of your car now. Thanks for the input.

[skribe]

I also drilled out the city light receptacle but haven't put anything in there yet.

All HID bulbs are not created equal. Our cars spec the HID-D2S bulb, the "S" is the spec for projector lamps (what we have) whereas the HID-D2R bulb is for retrofitted reflector housings.

Also, the the CRI (Color Rendition Index) for one bulb vs another is a variable... cheap HID bulbs typically have a lower CRI which results in poor distinction between objects in your field of vision... perceptually more difficult to distinguish a pedestrian from the bushes next to him, for example.

Initially (on a whim) tried $15 eBay 6000k HID bulbs. They worked but light quality was poor. Then put Phillips 6000k units in ($150.) Same color temp, far better lighting, better than the stock Phillips 4000k IMO.

[skribe]

Pic on my phone... only one I have for now, headlight before re-install. Just shows the matte effect on the front chrome bezel. Looks like brushed aluminum in the real world.

9752