Here we go! Well, before I start, I'd like to introduce myself, as I'm relatively new here. I'm Mark from Upstate NY - I've had a serious car addiction for a long, long time! A brief history of the cars before my wagon -

First car was a 2002 Mustang GT, 5 speed manual. This car would take whatever I could throw at it.. I really loved it. It was a really nice hand-me-down from my oldest brother when I was old enough to drive, and I didn't have to self-control to leave it in stock form. One thing lead to another, and basically I picked up more hours at my first job just so I could buy mods. After quite some time, I eventually saved enough pennies to buy a Kenne Bell Supercharger. In the summer of 2009, my dad and I, having never done a significant mechanical project, successfully installed the kenne bell. Totally transformed the car... long story short - I ended up parting out and selling the car. However, my memories live in videos!! Here's a little bit of footage from my first car:

02 Mustang GT Kenne Bell Supercharged Raw Footage - YouTube

Sticking with Mustangs, my next car was a Sonic Blue 2003 SVT Cobra, 6 speed manual. If you're unfamiliar, the 03/04 Cobras are one of the most respected Mustangs to date - equipped with independent rear suspension and supercharged with forged internals from the factory. This car was slightly modified previously, but the previous owner seemed to have really taken care of it. That ended up being untrue.. after the supercharger and cylinder heads were failing, it became clear that this car was abused (full boost before oil temps could ever get up). I replaced the failed parts and had stage 2 camshafts installed while the heads were out... I couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted to keep it or sell it. So, in my immense frustration for wasting loads of money, I decided to leave the American muscle world and get something I could enjoy and drive all year round. Here are a couple videos from my old Cobra:

Cammed 03 Mustang SVT Cobra idle and revs - YouTube

Cammed 03 SVT Cobra Underpass Flyby - YouTube



Finally, here we go! This is definitely a "slowly but surely" build. My builds of the past were always quick because I wanted to get big power as soon as I could, but with this build I'm dialing back and preemptively addressing the weaker parts of the car, both suspension wise and engine wise, before the engine undergoes a large transformation. Learning from past mistakes, I looked for an unmodified S4, 6 speed manual. I bought my stock avant out of Kentucky back in August 2011. The car had front bumper damage from hitting a cement block at the end of a parking space (previous owner), but past the rough exterior, it was a 1 owner, dealer maintained S4 with 162,000 miles. Let the progress begin!

The condition at which I bought my wagon:
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Despite the rough exterior, the interior wasn't bad at all, and the mechanical parts were well-sorted.
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After getting a hold of an OEM RS4 bumper and OEM aluminum sport package mirrors, I decided to get the entire car resprayed brilliant black.





I clear-corned the headlights as seen in this token "natural habitat" shot at a sculpture park.


It's amazing how much stuff these things can hold!




As another addition, I installed an AWE boost gauge which has been vital to monitoring my car's health. Lastly (for now!) to prepare for summer, I bought some ST coilovers with 034 motorsport adjustable control arms to get her nice and low. To hold the summer rubber, I bought Rotiform NUEs and had them powdercoated satin gray.







Thanks for reading my essay I look forward to being part of the community and posting up my progress. As a student, funds are kinda tight, but like I said, slowly but surely! Cheers

 

Glad to see you posting here mark! Our wash and wax session lasted one whole day as my car got rained on
Can't wait for the power mods to begin!

Rs4 bumper FTW

 

Looking forward to seeing this build!

 

Thanks!!! You have some excellent taste yourself!