Tag: audi

MODIFIED AUDI 100 COUPE: OLD’S COOL

While newbies seem obsessed with their new-wave cars on air and wheels and their 15 minutes of fame, we’re grateful for the small number of diehards more interested in the bigger picture and the long game. Enter Andi Riley and his stunning modified Audi 100 Coupe.

Feature from Performance VW. Words: Jimbo Wallace. Photos: Si Gray

Unique. Different. Unconventional. All words that us car folk generally throw around with little respect. Yet we don’t need to harp on with the usual journalistic hyperbole when it comes to Andi Riley’s 1972 modified Audi 100 Coupe, this thing tells its own story as soon as you see it. Remember, let’s say… 15 years ago when people used to build cars and unveil them at shows with only their closest mate’s knowing about the blood, sweat and tears invested? The sense of anticipation and excitement that surrounded shows before the interweb and social media age meant that people would arrive at shows totally amped about the vehicles that may or may not turn up. For Andi Riley, a mechanic, camper converter and all-round fabrication whiz, an element of that old school cool was lacking thanks to the Insta generation who trickle out every detail of each single element. In the day and age, quite how Andi kept this modified Audi 100 coupe under wraps though we have no idea.

So, when we arrived at Ultimate Dubs 2020 in sunny Telford, imagine our surprise when nestling between the main halls and the coveted red-carpet area was this mind bending, Samurai grey modified Audi 100 coupe in all of its resto-mod glory – reimagined, rebuilt and rejuvenated for the 21st century! It might look like the past, but it sure as hell drives like the future. Also, loads of show goers kept enthusiastically asking us: “Have you seen that amazing grey Audi in the hallway?”

For Andi, the main man at modification and camper conversion specialist, Not Just Campers in Leeds, this car was all about validating his business, “I bought it 18 months ago after visiting a show in Belgium hosted by the Rollhard crew. There was a gorgeous Audi 100 two door there and it was sublime. After the van (Andi’s world-famous VW T5 with a twin turbo RS4 engine onboard) I really wanted to do a car properly, a full nut and bolt rebuild – no corners cut. So, I decided there and then that I needed one in my life.” As a tool to prove that his company is indeed “Not Just Campers” there was only one stumbling block and that was finding one! “I started looking everywhere. Then, one popped up in Wales that I found on the internet. It had been imported from South Africa, so I chucked the kids in the car and set off early one Sunday.”

Even though the kids hated it to look at initially, this piece of history was soon on the back of a trailer heading for Leeds. Andi wasting no time stripping it down with lots of help from his son Joshua, even buying him a swanky new socket set to help out, unveiling just a couple of minor rust patches along the way. In fact, we can vividly remember seeing this car on a rotisserie when Andi was stripping the seam sealer off, just prior it being sent off for sandblasting. “Perhaps thanks to its time in South Africa, the car was incredibly solid. We only welded small repair patches into one of the doors were the South African models used to have chrome trim, and a couple of small playing card size sections within the inner arches,” Andi revealed, continuing, “The real fabrication work began once I decided to swap the engine and gearbox.”

Having already sourced an early VW Passat (B5) 1.8T as a donor vehicle, largely due to the longitudinal engine layout, Andi had a fantastic source at his disposal. “It was a lovely little. car, I ran around it for a couple of weeks to make sure it was running right, so throwing the original 1.8 and three-speed auto away was a no brainer, particularly after I drove the UK’s foremost Audi 100 hoarder Keith’s OE car, that was dreadful,” quipped Andi.

Custom engine mounts were crafted that bolt to a box section cradle that runs beneath the engine before connecting to the smoothed chassis rails so the entire motor can be dropped out – mounts and all in no time at all. Likewise, the five-speed manual gearbox was also mounted inside a large portion of the Passat transmission tunnel, skilfully grafted in as the Audi tunnel wouldn’t accept the bigger manual ‘box, Andi having to knock up his own gearshift linkage to suit. At one point there was also a chromed K04 turbo that Andi rebuilt, but when it wouldn’t squeeze in against the new engine mounts, he settled upon the original K03 item that came with the motor, rebuilt to hybrid spec and fully balanced to make the most of the REVO ECU remap to up the power to somewhere in the 212bhp mark. The mods are kept to a minimum within the ‘bay, but the neatly concealed VW wiring loom runs the 1997 Passat clocks, while a custom-made, stainless steel, turbo back exhaust system vents waste gases to atmosphere. “The lights, wipers and ancillary parts are still run by the Audi fuseboard, but we stripped back loads of the Passat wiring and used the VW ignition barrel, transponder and immobiliser system.” Andi revealed. He’s also the first to admit that he didn’t want a totally smooth engine bay, so many of the original pressings and panel lines remain in place beneath that heavenly Porsche hue. The eagle eyed amongst you will also notice that the block and the gearbox are painted in a colour that matches the interior leather – you can tell Andi enjoys an episode or ten of Motortrend TV’s Bitchin’ Rides in his spare time.

Getting the driveshafts to line up was the next hurdle. “They fell about two inches further back with the new gearbox, but by chopping them up and adapting them to fit the retro fitted 1976 Audi 100 suspension setup – which did away with the early Auto spec 100 inboard disc brakes, it was possible to bolt later Audi 80 stub axles into position to accommodate VW Passat wheel bearings and hubs,”

At this point, Andi also had to factor in that sensational wheel choice. “The CVs, hubs and stub axles meant I could also use some 288mm cross drilled Passat front discs in 5x112PCD, but when I decided I wanted to use the HF Turbo wheels cut and converted into custom split rims it needed a 4×98 stud pattern.” To squeeze in the thoroughly modern discs and Maserati four piston calipers, custom caliper carriers were knocked up by his local engineering shop and the discs and hubs were re-drilled to suit the Lancia bolt pattern. Talk about make work for yourself, Mr Riley, but work together it all most certainly does, “I owe a lot to the Audi Owners Club online, and also my new-found Audi 100 geek mate, Keith – who is officially the UK’s Audi 100 font of all knowledge and parts – I honestly couldn’t have built this car without his help and considerable spares.”

Having gone to all this trouble, Andi soon found that height adjustable suspension isn’t exactly rife for a 1972 modified Audi 100 Coupe with lots of other Audi and Passat bits bolted on – who knew? A quick phone call to Jonathon at Intermotiv netted some custom made front and rear airbag struts featuring Goodridge sleeve bags to really set those sills on the floor. Less altitude, more attitude, right? Combined with cutting edge Airlift 3H management, a trio of Torpedo tanks and a brace of Viair 444c compressors this setup places those 8.5 and 10.5 x 18-inch custom made split rims way up into the arches. If you’ve not already clocked the boot build that was a last-minute decision just a month before Ultimate Dubs, what are you waiting for?

With the fundamental chassis and fabrication work sorted attention turned to colouring in the panels. “I tried a spray out of Porsche Miami Blue on a wing and hated it, and the body shop guy wanted me to go straight white to keep the prep to a minimum, but then I visited a Porsche dealership and witnessed Samurai grey. There was no going back,” Andi explained gleefully. Body wise the 100 remains largely as Audi intended, with the exception of a later C3 front splitter, but then the lines of this car look so sharp and classic that it’s easy to mistake it for a product of the Aston Martin or the Pininfarini stable anyway. Sharp, painstakingly wet sanded and buffed to perfection, it’s truly stunning from every angle.

When combined with an interior that’s clad in enough Ferrari tan leather with specially imported basket weave inserts courtesy of Andi’s regular camper trimmers at SG Styling, that it looks like a Caramac feed herd have moved in. “I really wanted the chrome trim to extend all the way around and I rebuilt the centre console, so it extends further back as well,” Andi mused. Indeed, the nose rush of premium leather on those Mk2 Golf Recaros – a total nightmare to fit due to the angle of the rear runners which needed welding into floorpan, makes this interior a very special place to be without doubt. A Retrosound headunit also feeds it’s signal out to a high-class Hertz install that features 2-way components front and rear, a brace of Hertz amplifiers and a duo of ten-inch subs all skilfully moulded in around the rear wheel arches so they’re almost invisible.

There’s literally too much to look at with this build and we dread to think the hours that must have poured into from Andi and his close network of first-rate craftsmen. Hell, we’ve not even had the chance to tell you about the Passat pedal box with hydraulic clutch conversion, Pro Alloy intercooler and radiator, twin Kawazaki ZX-10R twin fans or even the insane lengths that Andi had to go to in order to secure any spare parts for the resto. What we can say unequivocally is that it’s nice to see the old boy showing the kids how things used to be done. Taking an extremely rare car and making it a 21st century masterpiece deserves huge respect, but as Andi’s mate put it on a forum once. I don’t know what all the fuss is about, it’s only an Audi on air and wheels! Right, Andi?

Tech Spec: Modified Audi 100 Coupe

Engine:

1781cc VW Passat 1.8T (AEB) engine; custom engine and gearbox mounts; VW engine wiring loom using Passat clocks, immobiliser, key and transponder; Pro Alloy radiator and intercooler setup; K&N pod filter; rebuilt hybrid KKK03 turbocharger; twin Kawazaki ZX-10R fans; Revo ECU; Custom stainless steel turbo back 2.5-inch exhaust system; Passat five speed manual gearbox with bespoke shifter linkage; Engine block painted to match interior trim; fully polished or plated ancilliaries: Kawazaki Clutch slave reservoir. Power: 213bhp 200lb/ft

Chassis:

Custom made three-piece Lancia Delta HF Turbo wheels in 8.5- and 10.5×18” diameter with 215/35 and 225/35 tyres. Intermotiv air ride struts, later 70s Audi 100 outboard disc brake suspension setup, Audi 80 stub axles, Passat 5×112 hubs re-drilled to accept 4×98, Maserati four piston calipers front and rear, 288mm cross drilled Passat discs, Passat rear disc conversion using OE hubs on solid Audi rear axle, weld in lower strut brace, custom engine cradle, 3x Torpedo air tanks in custom boot build, AirLift 3H air ride management, 8mm lines, eight valve manifold

Exterior:

Refinished in Porsche Samurai Grey; Audi C3 front splitter; repaired and re-plated chrome trim throughout; front bumper trim narrowed and tidied; largely stock bodywork

Interior:

Mk2 Golf Recaro seats with headrests removed; Ferrari tan leather retrim with basket weave inserts; custom extended centre console; VW ignition barrel; Mustang steering wheel; VW Beetle aftermarket door handles and window winders; Retrosound Bluetooth enabled headunit; Hertz 2-way component speakers front and rear with hidden crossovers; Hertz 10-inch subwoofers; Hertz 4 channel and mono sub amplifiers

Source

May 25, 2021
MODIFIED AUDI 90 QUATTRO: EVERYTHING EVERYWEHRE

Some people build their project cars for out-and-out thrust, or to be nimble on the track; others are focused on quarter-mile times, while yet more like to have a quick and practical runabout for nipping to the shops via the fun route. Wolfgang Koller wanted all of these things at once, and the modified Audi 90 you see here is the polymathic result…

Feature first appeared in Fast Car magazine. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Lukasz Elszkowski

“I like to use this car for special occasions,” says its proud owner and builder, Wolfgang Koller. “Like quarter-miles, half-miles, and weddings…” Only a few moments in his effervescent company and already we’re awestruck by the quality, malleability, entertainment value and sheer audacity of this build. After all, while blushing brides are famously quite keen to get to the church on time, the idea of lining up alongside the Christmas tree lights in full wedding regalia and catapulting up the strip is presumably not something that gets mooted all that favourably. Finding a car that can excel in both of these entirely diverse scenarios is a rare treat indeed, and Wolfgang’s wonderful creation is frankly something of a marvel.

Perhaps the best part of all is that people really have trouble trying to figure out what the car is. If you look at the front dead-on, then it’s clearly an RS2 – except that when you move around to the side you find that it’s a saloon. And what’s this 90 saloon doing running a big-power 20v turbo five-pot and a full quattro drivetrain swap? It’s like a greatest hits of 1980s/’90s Audi engineering, smooshed together into some kind of quantum vortex and atom-split into one catch-all solution. A practical four-door that’s also a total headcase.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, as the driving force (pun certainly intended, ta) behind Germany’s revered Audiland Racing, Wolfgang is a man who knows his Ingolstadt onions. The fella had a fairly early start, with his quattro career kicking off back when he was nineteen with an ’87 Coupe GT quattro. “I started out modifying the wheels and the suspension, before moving on to the question of power,” he recalls. “The engine was a 115bhp 2.2-litre, and I modified the cylinder head and fitted a crank from ABT, as well as upgrading the exhaust system.”

It’s true that modifying can be a manner of addiction, and the path that’s been followed here is a textbook case. The initial alterations in both altitude and attitude acted as a gateway drug, and it’s never long before the lust for thrust begins to push with its insistent urgency and pointy claws. In Wolfgang’s case, it all proved too irresistible for words, and his home-brewed modifying adventures naturally led him to be buying and selling Audi parts, something that developed into a proper parts business and vocation; the enthusiasm for tuning stirred its own elements of malevolent energy into the mix, and as all of these stars symbiotically aligned it was only a matter of time before he was cutting the ribbon on the doors to the new business, Audiland Racing. And the rest, as they say, is history.

So why an Audi 90 this time, of all things? Well, quite simply, Wolfgang crashed his old Coupe GT and he needed a new car. After a quick search, he unearthed a front-wheel-drive Audi 90 for sale not too far from home, packing a 136hp 2.3-litre motor. (For the uninitiated, the 90 nameplate was the one applied to the versions of the Audi 80 that were running five-cylinder engines – it was a more luxurious version with plush velour seats, and identifiable by its different lights at either end.) Suffice it to say that the 136bhp number didn’t stay the headline power figure for long, as Wolfgang immediately got elbows-deep in the oily stuff to reimagine the saloon as the ultimate version of itself. “I built it up to 550bhp, with a Garrett GT35 turbo and the 2.2-litre 20-valve engine out of an S2,” he grins. But impressively – and perhaps slightly improbably – that wasn’t enough for this inveterate tuner. Perhaps it was the tortured screams from those overloaded front tyres that gave him pause for thought, but somewhere along the line he realised that he was putting quite a lot of surprising grunt through the front wheels.

“In 2002 I bought an Audi 90 quattro chassis, and built a completely new 90 quattro 20v turbo,” he explains. “In the beginning I used the engine out of the FWD Audi 90, along with an intake manifold from an Audi S1 to add a little more power. Since then, I’ve changed almost every single element of the car – only the fuel tank and the rear diff remain.” That’s a fairly astonishing boast; not so much Trigger’s Broom as a cornucopia of relentless excellence, this project has been an ongoing quest to refine every individual element of the car in the pursuit of perfection. Topped off by the white carbon Audiland cam cover, this insanely purposeful five-pot kicks out Group B levels of power, and the bangs and flames which explode out of the custom shotgun exhausts really are a treat for the ears and the eyes – check out Wolfgang’s Instagram (@koller.74) to see for yourself.

What makes it all the more fun is that, if you weren’t really paying attention, the car almost looks subtle. Sure, the low-slung stance thanks to its KW V3 coilovers and the old-school BBS E28s tell those in the know that something’s amiss here, but the sober grey hue acts as a sort of cloaking device. There’s a reason why military planes are often painted grey; well, three reasons, really – first of all, if you paint the underside of a plane grey, it can blend in with the sky more easily when seen from below. Secondly, and similarly, if you paint the top of it grey then it can camouflage itself on the runway tarmac when viewed from above. And thirdly, and most significantly, if you slather your fighter jet in radiation-absorbent iron-ball paint, it’ll be pretty much invisible to radar. That, and it’ll fox heat-seeking missiles somewhat. All in all, the stealthy properties of grey sell themselves when it comes to hiding in plain sight. This is very much the reason that the 90 is a stealthy (if sparkly) grey – it flies under the radar. Well, until it starts popping and banging like a rally car, obviously. The interior is splendidly fit for purpose too, as Wolfgang’s swapped in the forthright innards from an S2, also augmenting it with huggy Recaro buckets, plus the essential accoutrements for a build like this: oodles of gauges, and a big shift light. It’s all form and function here, working in splendid harmony. A true polymath, built largely by Wolfgang’s own two hands, with the ability to carry out any task thrown at it with aplomb. Dragstrip runs, track days, nipping out for a pint of milk, bridal chauffeuring, this unique creation can do it all. Naturally the colossal thrust will pin the bride back in that Recaro like a force 11 gale, and the cartoonishly large brakes will then pinball her toward the dash, but of course that’s all part of the fun. Wolfgang’s got big plans too, involving a bigger turbo and around 800hp. When you have a car that can do everything, that gives you carte blanche to do anything.

Tech Spec: Modified Audi 90 Quattro

Engine:

2.5-litre 20-valve 5-cylinder, PK Motorsport valvetrain, TTH GTX35 turbo conversion, Audi S1 intake manifold, PK Evo pipes, TiRon hardware, custom Audiland cam cover in white carbon, custom exhaust system inc. thermo-isolated manifold, full quattro conversion

Chassis:

9×18-inch BBS E28 wheels, 215/35 tyres, KW V3 coilovers, front strut brace – covered in white carbon, RS6 8-pot front calipers with R8 LMS discs, B5 RS4 rear brakes

Exterior:

Full repaint in metallic grey, RS2 front-end conversion, RS2 mirrors, Kamei badgeless grille, additional air vents in bonnet and front bumper, USDM taillights, smoked headlights and indicators, de-badged rear

Interior:

RS2 interior conversion, stock carbon trims, Recaro bucket seats, Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel, shift-light, additional gauges in air-vents

Source

May 13, 2021
Supersport Race Coilovers

Supersports RACE coilover suspension comes from Germany and are famous for high quality, good looks and an affordable price. The Supersport RACE Coilover kits are designed to give you stunnig looks and improved handling at a fraction of the price of its competitors.. The Dampers are chrome plated for a long durable life and stunning looks. The springs are made from Chrome Silicone Steel for superior handling and long life. All Supersport kits are German TüV approved for peace of mind.

The kits are now available for the Audi A3 8L Quattro 96-03, Peugeot 206 98, Renault Clio B 98 and the Golf 4 Syncro and are available from your nearest Spax or Supersprint dealer.

Try looking on the MaxxDirectory for a Spax dealer near you

December 27, 2008