[Biturbos4] Farewell S4

[Keman]

Yesterday I traded my 2001 Audi S4 Avant 6-speed nogaro blue in for a Red
2004 Ford SVT Lightning.

Lightning details:    http://www.svt.ford.com/vehicleLightning.asp

I put 95,747 miles on the clock. Original turbos, stock chip, many bypass
valves. It did not burn a drop of oil nor did it leak it from anywhere. I
replaced a serp. belt tensioner pulley, the battery, one outer tie rod end,
and a few other little odds and ends, that's about it. Nothing major. The
trans/clutch was replaced at 47,000 miles because a leaky input shaft let it
run with a lot less oil in the trans than there was supposed to be. That's a
real freak occurance but I didn't mind as I got a new clutch out of the
deal.

They're great cars guys. If you change the oil every 3-4k miles with
synthetic and let em cool down for a bit before turning them off, the stock
turbos CAN last longer than 100,000 miles.

Mine, I couldn't trust anymore. Even working at my shop I'm not in a
position to replace them myself- it'd take me 3 days and not only can I not
use the lifts during the weekend, I could never tie up one for 3 days during
a week. So I'd literally have to pay for it to be done even when I can do it
myself. This dillema I procrastinated to the point where I saw that I could
get a brand new lightning for $26k out the door, and I took it. I needed a
tow vehicle for the roadrace mustang anyways.

How hard did I drive the S4? Damn hard. Real hard. Every chance I had I was
taking off as fast as I could and winding it through the gears. I went
through several sets of tires, and surprisingly more rear brake pads than
fronts.

I enjoyed every mile I drove it ... and it held up extremely well, the
interior still looking new after detailing. And I am glad that it witnessed
and took part of 4 very prominantly changing years of my life. I'm even more
glad to see it go with nothing but good memorys of it, rather than cursing
it to go after having something big fail on it and regret ever owning it
with the position it'd put me in.

Why did I trade it in vs. sell it? I required the buffer of anonymity that
trading a car in to a dealership provides. Trade in cost vs. personal sale
was the price I was willing to pay for that buffer.

The Lightning is a blast btw. It blows the doors of a stock S4 and most
other cars on the road, 13.6 @ 102mph and 0-60 in 5.1 is enough to suck your
eyes into the back of your skull when you smash on the loud pedal. It
reaches 30mph from a standstill faster than you can say the word
"ludicrous" - 1.9 seconds ... even faster out of the hole than the Viper
powered Ram SRT-10. The blower is loud and the truck is unrefined ... it
begs for all your irrational 'improper, as my audi would certainly call it'
immaturity to come out and produce things like this:

http://www.classic-cars-worldwide.com/gallery/ford-04-lightning-004.jpg

With 295/45/18" Goodyear Eagle F1 GS tires on all four corners, it holds a
corner pretty well and the bilsteins dampen exceedingly well for a solid
rear axle. I'm not looking forward to the price of those tires ... eesh.
But... it comes with a heavy duty trailer towing package, electric brake
controller wiring and 7/4 pin trailer outlet already installed with a class
three receiver hitch. It's good for 5000 lbs and fords super-duty cooling
system keeps it alive both on the way to the track and even ON the track. I
watched these 4600lb bahemouths careen around Gingerman Raceway when I had
my mustang there, and I was floored. I couldn't believe my eyes, they were
that fast in and out of the corners.

One of my friends at Ford headed up the team that managed to stuff the
diesel powerstroke trans internals into the 4R100 case. He's had 2 now and
towed with them for years ... he feels they're bulletproof at stock boost
levels.

380 hp and 450 ft/lbs of instant torque ... with that I don't care about
shifting anymore. :)

See-ya guys.... make sure to laugh at me this winter as I creep on by!

Keman
04 Lightning
90 Mustang
Both Vermillion Red