New to the Forum

[SA RS6]

Hello all, my name is jerry, im new to the forum. I bought a 2003 Audi RS6 back in july. All i can say is WOW. I sold my 2001 Dodge ram 2500 cummins turbo diesel to get this beast, and i have no regrets at all. So far all that is done is the rims are plasti dipped black, put bright LED's in the fog lights and thats it for now. Im used to power and spending money to get it, all in all i had about 15,000 invested into my truck, so i just want to know what are some of the basic things i need to take care of first. I know about the DV's, exhaust, and tuning, is there some other basic mods i dont know about that gain some power? Ill post pictures in a bit cause im at work right now, but thank you in advanced for any advice that is given.

[nistah]

Hello all, my name is jerry, im new to the forum. I bought a 2003 Audi RS6 back in july.

Welcome to the crazy train! Make sure your timimg belt service is current before any mods and also invest in the MTM TCU tune, that is a must for these beasts if you intend to mod

[DHall1]

Put 8k in the bank for a transmission.

ECU/TCU tune and code out the primary O2s. Eurocharge is right next door to you. $700

Downpipes off and gut the primary cat. Time and labor only.

The stock exhaust system will support a stage 1 and 2 flash if you gut the primary cats.

The above will cost ya less than 1000 and some labor time. It will transform the car into a little rocket.

Hello all, my name is jerry, im new to the forum. I bought a 2003 Audi RS6 back in july. All i can say is WOW. I sold my 2001 Dodge ram 2500 cummins turbo diesel to get this beast, and i have no regrets at all. So far all that is done is the rims are plasti dipped black, put bright LED's in the fog lights and thats it for now. Im used to power and spending money to get it, all in all i had about 15,000 invested into my truck, so i just want to know what are some of the basic things i need to take care of first. I know about the DV's, exhaust, and tuning, is there some other basic mods i dont know about that gain some power? Ill post pictures in a bit cause im at work right now, but thank you in advanced for any advice that is given.

[Other_Erik]

Welcome! Agree with above comments, ECU/TCU tunes are a must, gutting the pre-cats will net you some power gain, and if you're looking to go further:

1) Splash Guard - Sportec vent mod (dremeled channel across the front of the splash guard with angle aluminum to allow airflow but not water/dirt up into the engine compartment. Total cost if you still have a splash guard: ~$20 worth of materials and a couple hours of labor
2) Wagner IC's/Hoses/Shrouds - beefier intercoolers, better piping, better airflow across the IC for more consistent power in higher temps (you're in Texas, I'd very much recommend this). Total cost ~$2k + labor (requires bumper removal, and you'll lose your fog lights)
3) It's only a question of when your Torque converter will take a dump, and you'll probably want to rebuild/beef the trans at the same time. TC: ~$2k for a built unit, Trans: ~$4k? for the rebuild with hardened parts, otherwise look forward to ~$8k to replace. This will require service position (engine and trans pulled to the autopsy table)
3a) While you're in service position, you might as well take care of a few things with the engine. Generally accepted repairs at service position time:
Timing Belt/Water Pump/Tensioner Rollers/etc... - the kit runs ~$700 and will be an extra 3-4 hours labor in service position - strictly done at least once every 35k miles. If you drive it hard, reduce to 30k intervals. If you drive like the typical RS6 owner, reduce to 25k miles just to be safe
Alternator / Alternator Diode - the Diode fails far more often than the alternator itself. Either _can_ be replaced without the engine out, but it's a tight fit, big hassle.
O2 sensors - if they haven't gone south recently, plan for them to do so soon. Can't recall the list price off the top of my head, but get at 'em while the engine is in service position to save a whole lot of trouble
Gasket check - every seal, every gasket, everywhere. Pinhole leaks are a pretty common occurence, and you don't want to mix coolant into the crankcase. Full seal kit runs ~$350. Lots of labor, but worth it to save the engine!
3b) While you're in service position, take some time to do other stuff with the engine that can net you some gains at minimal expense.
You don't need headers (unless you're doing a full custom turbo job, stage 3 tune, all that jazz) - I recommend wrapping the exhaust manifolds from the heads to the pre-cats, and possibly back to the secondary cats.
Turbos in good shape? Check lines and be sure you're not collecting oil in the lower bent tube. Assuming everything is still sealed up tight, turbo blankets will help you get your heat down the pipe instead of letting it soak the engine bay
While we're talking about heat - check out your EGT's - fairly common occurence with these is the solder joint from the thermocouple wire to the board cracking and causing EGT signal loss. Pop open the body of the Sensor, if there's any doubt to the solidity of the solder joint, flux that stuff off and re-solder, cover with dilectric grease, close it up and enjoy another 50k miles of service
UIM Filters - I'm not saying the stock filters are bad, but K&N makes filters that flow ~5% more volume while trapping particulates 90% smaller - f'in magicians, those guys... not necessary to be in service position, but it means less leaning over and possibly scratching up the front clip of your new toy.
4) General maintenance and/or appearance upgrades-
Check your axles and CV boots. Typically, replacing a front half-shaft from Raxle will give you a better performing unit at less than the cost of an OEM CV boot kit.
Cabin air filter - clean air, happy passengers
Coolant check: G12 only!
Oil: Not gonna start a holy war on the boards again regarding which oil to use. Just make sure it meets/exceeds 505.01 spec. I'm not even going to recommend a brand.
Per your taste, LED's are a great way to modernize the look of the RS6. Personally, I've done DEPO smoked LED Tails (they look pretty hot on Brilliant Black), and superbrightleds.com Type 74 in the high-mount brake light (MUCH brighter, much truer RED color when lit) - I'm planning on doing up some other lights, but I promised the girlfriend we'd get her car squared away before anything else with the RS6 (other than the RNS-E)

Let's get some details on your new beast! Last 6 of the VIN? Color? Interior color Ebony or Platinum? Interior trims in wood or carbon? Any mods done by previous owners? See my example below:
V#905530, Brilliant Black on Ebony Leather, wood trims (until oCarbon gets my order finished), previous owner replaced DRC with KW Variant 3's, I had a K40 system installed and mounted with a kill switch, replaced tails with DEPO Smoked LEDs, and am restoring to near-showroom condition one part at a time. Next up on the list is RNS-E, after which I have to stop modding until the girlfriend's car is sorted out.

Whew, lots of stuff here. Welcome, and FON!

Other_Erik

[nistah]

Put 8k in the bank for a transmission.

Or take that 8k, go to http://www.autowarrantyagency.com/ buy a service contract on your car for 4K and put the other 4K in your back pocket, when the trans goes pay the $100 deductible and laugh

[SA RS6]

Welcome! Agree with above comments, ECU/TCU tunes are a must, gutting the pre-cats will net you some power gain, and if you're looking to go further:

1) Splash Guard - Sportec vent mod (dremeled channel across the front of the splash guard with angle aluminum to allow airflow but not water/dirt up into the engine compartment. Total cost if you still have a splash guard: ~$20 worth of materials and a couple hours of labor
2) Wagner IC's/Hoses/Shrouds - beefier intercoolers, better piping, better airflow across the IC for more consistent power in higher temps (you're in Texas, I'd very much recommend this). Total cost ~$2k + labor (requires bumper removal, and you'll lose your fog lights)
3) It's only a question of when your Torque converter will take a dump, and you'll probably want to rebuild/beef the trans at the same time. TC: ~$2k for a built unit, Trans: ~$4k? for the rebuild with hardened parts, otherwise look forward to ~$8k to replace. This will require service position (engine and trans pulled to the autopsy table)
3a) While you're in service position, you might as well take care of a few things with the engine. Generally accepted repairs at service position time:
Timing Belt/Water Pump/Tensioner Rollers/etc... - the kit runs ~$700 and will be an extra 3-4 hours labor in service position - strictly done at least once every 35k miles. If you drive it hard, reduce to 30k intervals. If you drive like the typical RS6 owner, reduce to 25k miles just to be safe
Alternator / Alternator Diode - the Diode fails far more often than the alternator itself. Either _can_ be replaced without the engine out, but it's a tight fit, big hassle.
O2 sensors - if they haven't gone south recently, plan for them to do so soon. Can't recall the list price off the top of my head, but get at 'em while the engine is in service position to save a whole lot of trouble
Gasket check - every seal, every gasket, everywhere. Pinhole leaks are a pretty common occurence, and you don't want to mix coolant into the crankcase. Full seal kit runs ~$350. Lots of labor, but worth it to save the engine!
3b) While you're in service position, take some time to do other stuff with the engine that can net you some gains at minimal expense.
You don't need headers (unless you're doing a full custom turbo job, stage 3 tune, all that jazz) - I recommend wrapping the exhaust manifolds from the heads to the pre-cats, and possibly back to the secondary cats.
Turbos in good shape? Check lines and be sure you're not collecting oil in the lower bent tube. Assuming everything is still sealed up tight, turbo blankets will help you get your heat down the pipe instead of letting it soak the engine bay
While we're talking about heat - check out your EGT's - fairly common occurence with these is the solder joint from the thermocouple wire to the board cracking and causing EGT signal loss. Pop open the body of the Sensor, if there's any doubt to the solidity of the solder joint, flux that stuff off and re-solder, cover with dilectric grease, close it up and enjoy another 50k miles of service
UIM Filters - I'm not saying the stock filters are bad, but K&N makes filters that flow ~5% more volume while trapping particulates 90% smaller - f'in magicians, those guys... not necessary to be in service position, but it means less leaning over and possibly scratching up the front clip of your new toy.
4) General maintenance and/or appearance upgrades-
Check your axles and CV boots. Typically, replacing a front half-shaft from Raxle will give you a better performing unit at less than the cost of an OEM CV boot kit.
Cabin air filter - clean air, happy passengers
Coolant check: G12 only!
Oil: Not gonna start a holy war on the boards again regarding which oil to use. Just make sure it meets/exceeds 505.01 spec. I'm not even going to recommend a brand.
Per your taste, LED's are a great way to modernize the look of the RS6. Personally, I've done DEPO smoked LED Tails (they look pretty hot on Brilliant Black), and superbrightleds.com Type 74 in the high-mount brake light (MUCH brighter, much truer RED color when lit) - I'm planning on doing up some other lights, but I promised the girlfriend we'd get her car squared away before anything else with the RS6 (other than the RNS-E)

Let's get some details on your new beast! Last 6 of the VIN? Color? Interior color Ebony or Platinum? Interior trims in wood or carbon? Any mods done by previous owners? See my example below:
V#905530, Brilliant Black on Ebony Leather, wood trims (until oCarbon gets my order finished), previous owner replaced DRC with KW Variant 3's, I had a K40 system installed and mounted with a kill switch, replaced tails with DEPO Smoked LEDs, and am restoring to near-showroom condition one part at a time. Next up on the list is RNS-E, after which I have to stop modding until the girlfriend's car is sorted out.

Whew, lots of stuff here. Welcome, and FON!

Other_Erik

that is a lot to take in lol, i had already started setting money aside for the trans, i went through 3 of them in my Cummins, so im not new to spending the money to have a built trans, question i have is how "built" can the trans for this car get, the one i had in my truck was full billet internals, red alto clutches, 3 disk TC, and a lot more. So who can i go to in Texas for a good trans build when that time comes around. As for the exhaust somehow when i got the car home, drove it around for a while, the mufflers somehow just fell off and straight pipe found its way up there, my question about that is, if the resonators were to do the same thing along with the cats does it have a bad drone inside? About 2 weeks ago i took the car to Audi here in SA and had them go over the car with a fine tooth comb just to make sure everything was good, they said only problem they found was right front shock hose was leaking and they could replace the hose for a low low price of $745. So what is the best solution for the DRC, cause Audi said the campaign ended in 2011 so there was nothing they could do about it.
And for the vin ill have to post that when i get home, still at work. BTW thank you all for the feedback it is very much appreciated

[4everRS]

You've got a good list there other Erik. However, I very much disagree with the k&n filter recommendation. I have a thread out there somewhere that proves mass air flow was no different between used paper stock filters and new k&n's.

[905084]

You've got a good list there other Erik. However, I very much disagree with the k&n filter recommendation. I have a thread out there somewhere that proves mass air flow was no different between used paper stock filters and new k&n's.

Put K&N's in mine....in the grand scheme of all the money you can piss away on this car, K&N's vs. paper don't amount to a hill of beans. That being said, next time, I'd just put the paper Fram's in and put the money towards the transmission.

[Other_Erik]

that is a lot to take in lol, i had already started setting money aside for the trans, i went through 3 of them in my Cummins, so im not new to spending the money to have a built trans, question i have is how "built" can the trans for this car get, the one i had in my truck was full billet internals, red alto clutches, 3 disk TC, and a lot more. So who can i go to in Texas for a good trans build when that time comes around. As for the exhaust somehow when i got the car home, drove it around for a while, the mufflers somehow just fell off and straight pipe found its way up there, my question about that is, if the resonators were to do the same thing along with the cats does it have a bad drone inside? About 2 weeks ago i took the car to Audi here in SA and had them go over the car with a fine tooth comb just to make sure everything was good, they said only problem they found was right front shock hose was leaking and they could replace the hose for a low low price of $745. So what is the best solution for the DRC, cause Audi said the campaign ended in 2011 so there was nothing they could do about it.
And for the vin ill have to post that when i get home, still at work. BTW thank you all for the feedback it is very much appreciated

I'll defer to those more experienced than I when it comes to the built TC and Trans. IIRC, there's a shop in Colorado (help me out here, guys?) that builds TCs to handle ~700hp for less than the cost of a stock refurb unit, and there's plenty of options for the trans. For some reason the name Tozo comes to mind. I'm a relative newb when it comes to the C5 RS6 platform, so much of what I'm saying is whatever I've gleaned from the research I did before and since buying my beast back in June.

There are a couple folks here with straight pipe setups, but I've never seen one in living color...

As for the DRC blues, you've got choices. Koni makes a kit for under a grand for good spring/strut combo, there's another company that makes an adjustable kit for ~$2200?, and KW Variant 3's are what I'm rocking, I love the stance on its lowest setting, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to raise one notch on each corner so I don't have to wind my way around speed bumps.

4everRS - I'll defer to you on the K&N's having the same MAF readings as I haven't seen the thread you're referencing, but was there any measurement of particulate in the intake? Every vehicle I've ever owned has gotten a cleanable K&N, and I've never been disappointed by them. Like I said in my first post, I'm not saying the stock paper filters are bad Personally, I'd take a slightly lower flow (maybe 1-3% lower volume) if it meant keeping dust and crap out of the engine internals, but then I'm not going for 1/4mi times, and this is one car that I doubt will ever see an autocross track as long as I own it.

Jeesh, I do have a tendency to ramble. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming

Other_Erik

[ttboost]

Foam filters filter almost nothing..especially if they are not oiled...and oiled filters soil MAFs. NOTHING filters better than a paper filter.

[SA RS6]

Foam filters filter almost nothing..especially if they are not oiled...and oiled filters soil MAFs. NOTHING filters better than a paper filter.

IDK about this car but i would assume its the same, in the world of Cummins owners oiled filters were a PIA, making 40lbs of boost usually cause the oil from the filter to get sucked through and get caught all over the front wheels of the turbo, some people said it cause a little lag due to it being sticky, but im not sure about that. All i ever ran on my truck was a dry filter with the K&N design, flowed a lot better then the drop in filter and made me smile like a small child cause i could hear the turbo sooooooo much more lol.

[dab]

Warranty for sure, yellow konis instead of the drc handles better, sits better. Once you get your tune make sure it is adjustable for octane and then get aces iv fuel additive and run your tune on the 100 octane setting. Try and get the smile off your face with 550 lbs of torque.

[SA RS6]

Let's get some details on your new beast! Last 6 of the VIN? Color? Interior color Ebony or Platinum? Interior trims in wood or carbon? Any mods done by previous owners? See my example below:
V#905530, Brilliant Black on Ebony Leather, wood trims (until oCarbon gets my order finished), previous owner replaced DRC with KW Variant 3's, I had a K40 system installed and mounted with a kill switch, replaced tails with DEPO Smoked LEDs, and am restoring to near-showroom condition one part at a time. Next up on the list is RNS-E, after which I have to stop modding until the girlfriend's car is sorted out.

Whew, lots of stuff here. Welcome, and FON!

Other_Erik[/QUOTE]


sorry for really late response, last 6 of vin 903997, color is avus silver pearl, interior is ebony, trim is carbon fiber. and nothing that i can tell minus the plasti dip wheels.

[DHall1]

That car is one of the first RS6 on US soil.

2nd vin on our list and earlier than the AoA executive car.

Let's get some details on your new beast! Last 6 of the VIN? Color? Interior color Ebony or Platinum? Interior trims in wood or carbon? Any mods done by previous owners? See my example below:
V#905530, Brilliant Black on Ebony Leather, wood trims (until oCarbon gets my order finished), previous owner replaced DRC with KW Variant 3's, I had a K40 system installed and mounted with a kill switch, replaced tails with DEPO Smoked LEDs, and am restoring to near-showroom condition one part at a time. Next up on the list is RNS-E, after which I have to stop modding until the girlfriend's car is sorted out.

Whew, lots of stuff here. Welcome, and FON!

Other_Erik

sorry for really late response, last 6 of vin 903997, color is avus silver pearl, interior is ebony, trim is carbon fiber. and nothing that i can tell minus the plasti dip wheels.[/QUOTE]

[s8prtotype]

Spotted this one back up for sale...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-Audi-RS...p2054897.l4275

I love how you guys keep track of the vins here

BTW, not this one, but I have a deposit on one now... It has everything thing I want and pretty clean.

[SA RS6]

LOL she wound up back in the state she came from. Still looking real good too, I'm really liking the red calipers I should have done that.

[s8prtotype]

Do you mind saying what the dealer gave you on your trade in?

Was the tranny ever done?

[SA RS6]

Not at all, they only gave me 12750 for it cause it had a few issues. And no the trans was never done that I know of, but I didn't have any issues with it. It had a bad motor mount before I got rid of it though.