[Es2] First drive impressions and other business

[Ben Klumper]

Hey guys,

I was away over the weekend (mini road trip with the "new" car) and I'm just now catching up on my emails. A few things to get out of the way before I go into my first driving impressions:

1) Welcome Elijah, your urS4 motor will no doubt find a good home in the coupe! Keep the questions coming!

2)Josh, lucky find on the RS2 oil cooler. That's what I'm running. The ductwork fits perfectly behind the S2 bumper. What the heck was it doing stateside? Good luck with the start-up!

3)Darin, glad to hear you're back in the loop! Moving sure throws a wrench into the conversion plans doesn't it?

Ok, got the car back from Riegel Tuning on Friday after they did the alignment, cooling system and some custom exhaust work. When I got there the mechanic had a big smile on his face after just returning from a little test drive. All he said was "your gonna like it a lot"...
I felt like an 8 year old at christmas. The car sounds great with the exhaust all hooked up. Actually not much different than with the 7A in it. I was just happy it wasn't belching out of the DP anymore! Anyway, I got in the car and backed it out of the lot and onto the road when the car suddenly died. I mean totally dead. No electric power at all. So we roll it back into the garage and I'm thinking the worst of course - either a bad connection somewhere within the now-hidden and tightly secured wiring, or maybe the cable going to the starter was touching the exhaust and burned through or even worse, a fried ECU. However, after about 10 minutes with a test light, we found that the battery ground strap had come slightly loose from where I had attached it to the body. What a relief!

The next day I set off on a three hour highway trip to a friend's cabin. I am amazed at how this thing pulls on the highway. Equally amazed at how drivable it is around the city at lower RPM's. The power is really smooth and constant. This car is quick! I can finally say that all the time, effort and $$ I put into it was worth every bit. I couldn't be happier! It's a real joy to drive. The S2 springs and bilsteins handle really well, even though the car is still sitting a little higher than I hoped. With all the bushings that I replaced, the car feels really tight again. The one thing I'm kind of dissappointed with is the illumination of the S2 white gauges. I find them a little hard to read at night. Anyone else find this? Maybe it'll just take a little getting used to. Or maybe I'm just getting old...

The other negative is that I took a stone to the windshield and it now sports a nice 12" crack straight up from just below the passenger side wiper. What are the odds!

Well I've rambled on long enough here. I'll try to get some good pics of the car this coming weekend after I wash all the bugs off it! Thanks again for all your help guys, it's been an amazing and very worthwhile endeavor!

Ben