RS6A Update

[Fast Co]

I have put almost 10K miles on the RS6A since purchasing it from Steve a couple of years ago. My daily driver is the 6 speed S6 but I have taken the RS on a few road trips, C & Cs, PVGP and drove it daily while the S6 was having electrical issues. It is the 11th Audi that I've owned and by far the *most* reliable. Several people have asked for "dibs" when I'm ready to sell but there's really nothing else that I'd want. As I mentioned in the other RS Avant thread (sorry, didn't mean to threadjack), Scott Kehoe, president of AoA saw the car at the Grand Opening of the local dealership and was impressed enough to mention it in his speech.

I have not driven a stock RS6 so I can't make a comparison but having driven both auto and 6 speed (swapped) C5 S6s, I will say that there is a huge difference in the character of the car.

Hopefully I've attached a photo, I'll try to add a few more to my album. I forgot to mention that AoA brought a Sport Quattro (swb) and an E-Tron LeMans car. I'll post those pictures as well.

So I was wondering, in addition to Dave's newest project, how many RS6 Avant conversions are out there? I am aware of Rory's and Neil's but I suspect there are a few more.

[DHall1]

More pics!

Is your Avant Brilliant black? I love it!

Mine is Brilliant black

We are importing the real deal Avants as I type this. But the prices are sky high to certify them...too much for even me

[SteveKen]

I know of about 8 or 9.

All are done a bit differently and I have my own opinions on certain things. I do all my own work and have the time to not cut any corners for the sake of convenience.

Some haven't converted the fueling which is a mistake in my opinion. The proper way is to swap fuel tanks and body harnesses and add the fuel pump control module behind the passenger side rear seat belt assembly and retain both pumps. The RS6 fuel supply hard line is also larger in diameter than the S6 one.

Some haven't cut out and replaced/welded in the front engine mount with the correct one. The RS6 one is unique and there is a VAG P/N for it.

The only places I didn't swap over an RS6 specific item was the battery location and on the inner firewall under the coolant reservoir where the fuse holders are mounted. Instead of cutting out the entire section of inner firewall, I made a custom aluminum bracket that uses the stock S6 battery tray mounting points. Battery location was customized for space retention and weight was a side benefit.



I'm glad you are still enjoying it.

I never really was one to document the build very well and go over all the custom touches which make it truly unique.

Among other things:

6 speed manual conversion
RS6 Engine from the UK which has no coolant after-run pump and standard V8 radiator (no EVAP either on the Euro III harness)
Custom tray and holder using the SAI pump bracket holding an Odyssey PC680 battery located in the engine compartment, which retains the full avant trunk space and spare tire. The battery cable running to the starter is only 3ft.
Custom oil cooler (no need for any trans heating/cooling) loops
Exterior trim, including the rain gutters were removed and powder coated 'black optics' black

Thinking about it, I'd say that the manual swap, battery and (lack of) wiring has the car conservatively over 200 pounds lighter than the autotragic variant.

Just the slushbox harness and TCU was around 12 pounds. PC680 is only 15 pounds compared to the 55+ pound stocker.

It almost makes me want to do another one, but there's always a new project on the horizon. I'm kinda jonesing to do an LS powered 997 once I finish my 2.7T powered B6 S4 Avant.

[Fast Co]

Yes, brilliant black. There's very little that I would change from the way Steve built this car. I swapped a perforated steering wheel, 5 spoke RS6 wheels, hardwire V1, etc.

It seems the recently difficulty starting was not due to the clutch pedal sensor, I think the battery is getting weak. The location of the battery dictates its size. I looked into lithium ion, found one that would fit. It costs more than 3 times the price of the Odyssey. This one lasted 3-4 years, I'm going to order another.


album.php (http://www.rs6.com/album.php?albumid=1599&attachmentid=18738)

[DHall1]

Yes! Brilliant black with powder coated black trim!

+1 more from your west coast brother.

[Fast Co]

Some photos