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Hey guys, I'm here to document progress on our C4 A6 Avant dubbed AYeet. The original AYeet is long gone, sadly. It was a 1995 A6 Avant FWD that I had picked up for $500 in Chicago and used as a trail runner, all dressed up in Hella rally lights and a roof mounted light bar. This car was a blast and was pretty reliable as far as trips and driving was concerned. After a spring trail season bombing through ATV trails and being choked out with water about half a dozen times, the exhaust flange broke off at the exhaust manifolds and I decided it was time to sell it as there were no manifolds or exhaust pieces left out there. I ended up selling it and it was passed around until it eventually got abandoned in someone's back yard, got cut up and scrapped. I wish I would've known what happened as I would've bought it back and made a trailer out of it :bangshead: 🔨

So, while browsing around on Facebook Marketplace, I came across this twin to v1. It was a 1997 A6 Avant Quattro in the same Emerald Mica and Ecru interior but in MUCH better shape. Perfect interior, near perfect exterior paint and mechanically in great condition at a very reasonable price.

So we loaded up and hit the road to pick it up for a nice daily driver for my fiance. The deal was done after chatting for an hour or so with the owner about the stories the car has and how they came to purchase the car. The car had the typical leaky 2.8 v6, leaky exhaust, a mismatched front bumper, faded front right fender and some rear bumper damage. Pretty normal stuff of the C4 chassis. I had the front bumper and headlamp sprayers resprayed and reinstalled.

We ordered new brakes all around along with new CV's as the boots were tearing. Life was good with AYeet v2, until one night driving around town when the coolant warning light came on. I checked the level and it was fine, so I started digging on the forums for normal causes. Number 1 was a new coolant reservoir and sensor, nothing changed. We just continued to drive it thinking it was something with the circuit. Eventually steam started coming from the cowl, had the heater core just let go? The coolant leak was coming from the heater core outlet. So I ordered up a heater core and new hoses, the blower motor also had the typical squeak so I ordered a new blower as well. We tore it apart the next weekend and changed the core and the blower. I then bled out the cooling system, and air kept coming out of the bleeder on the crossover... and coming... and coming. After about 20 minutes of hissing, I knew something was up. At this point, everything pointed to the dreaded head gasket leak. I started collecting parts, Reinz head gasket set, Meyle head bolts, FCP assembled timing belt kit with the special sprocket holding tool, new Bosch water pump, new valley pan gasket.

We also narrowly avoided a massive headache. The headgaskets must've been replaced at some point already, being Reinz gaskets and updated head bolts installed.

We had the job done in 2 days worth of work, the exhaust manifold hardware being the worst part of it. All said and done, car running perfect. But wait, there's more. After idling for about 15 mins, the coolant light came back on... I noticed the radiator fans never kicking on. I slapped the scanner on and watched the temp rise up to 215* with no fan kicking in. The dip you see is from me turning the blower motor on and pulling out heat through the heater core.

On a whim, I replaced the coolant fan switch on the radiator and nothing changed. Then I decided to pull the radiator and flush it out, while taking it out, a hole got gouged in the core and a new radiator was ordered and on the way. While swapping everything over, i pulled the new coolant fan switch out to swap over and noticed the hole was plugged full of gunk. The bottom of the radiator was completely filled with gunk/mud looking stuff. So that was it then right? Actually yes this time it was. Since then, everything has been hunky dory.

I addressed the massive exhaust leak due to someone hacking apart the catalytic converters and emptying them. I chopped them out and replaced them with test pipes. This turned on the CEL due to no downstream O2's, this will be addressed later.

 

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Now the modifications, first off I put on a set of ASA GT1 18x8 ET35 that I had refinished and wrapped in new Pirelli PZero summer tires.

The wheel gap was absurd at this point, so I asked around the Facebook groups and was pointed towards the H&R 29800 springs. I ordered a set and installed them, the grin was ear to ear. The 'stance' was perfect, the wheel and tire fitment was perfectly flush to the fenders. Exactly how I wanted it.

While browsing eBay for NOS Audi aftermarket parts from Kamei, I happened across a set of headlamp covers that were not the Kamei models but a custom made set from ben_tuning in Kazakhstan. They were a very reasonable price, so I ordered them up. They eventually made it through customs and arrived unharmed. I sent them off to my painter and had them matched. Install was easy and fit is pretty solid. They look much better than the ones offered by Kamei.

We attended a local car show, but not before having the whole car cut and buffed! The results speak for themselves.

We added a set of roof rack crossbars and a Thule Mountaineer ski box. There was one problem though, the ski box was touching the antenna mast. I started looking for options and found out there were universal 'shark fin' style antennas that simply screw into the base where the original mast threaded. I had that painted as well to match and installed. Fit is great, reception is also exactly the same as with the traditional mast.

The ASA wheels are a bit bent prior to me owning them sadly, so I was on the hunt for new wheels. Eventually I found a set of Fifteen52 Tarmac 18x8.5 ET45 with new Continental Procontacts for a decent price and scooped them up. I think they look fantastic on the car.

 

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While doing some maintenance I decided to address the number of burnt out bulbs in the 3rd brake light. I replaced them all with new bulbs, and found that half of them still didn't work. I went through and cleaned all the terminals to no avail.

At this point I thought I could easily have a PCB made up and solder in LED's to replace this old setup. So after a bit of work with a ruler and some time in KiCAD, I had a solid design that would function perfectly. I ordered the PCB's through JLCPCB and waited for them to arrive. After all the parts were here, I assembled the first one and installed it in the car. I knew this would trigger a bulb warning light, and it did. I had preemptively ordered some load resistors used when installing LED's in cars. I crimped it in and the warning was gone. I even started selling these as kits on the Facebook group and other forums.

I designed one for the sedans as well as the Avants.

Now the skunkworks stuff. We decided to 4.2 V8 swap the car as the AFC was getting a bit smokey and weak. So far, I've collected a set of PT headers, NOS S6+ engine brackets, and an upper radiator hose from an S6+.

Big brakes are in the works as well, having acquired a pair of multipiece rotors from a 2018 R8. They measure 365mmx35mm and are 2 piece and scalloped. They should pair nicely with a set of RS5 8 piston calipers and custom brackets will be needed.

 

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Heres a little lakeside sunset photo shoot with the new wheels installed. Fitment required 10mm spacers in front to clear the spindle.