LimeyBoy

My brother flew in from the UK for a week vacation and at the last minute we decided to do a road trip. Went down the Blue Ridge Parkway, found the Tail Of The Dragon, exercised the Pcar during the day and then good food and good beer each night wherever we happened to stop. There were maybe 15 tunnels and each (and every one!) was taken windows down in 2nd to get the full FD Stage II experience. 1600 miles in 4 days. Need to do it more often.

Blue Ridge:

Tail Dragon (photo xtremesportsphotography):

Yep, bit of rubbing (photo xtremesportsphotography):


Going off topic but before we left I dropped the Audi off at my Indy and I know there are a few S4 owners on here that might appreciate this:

Paul902

Love your car, esp with those wheels. Sounds like it was a fun trip with your bro!

MartinC2S

Nice pic of the S4 engine. I'm not looking forward to doing the chains on mine. I have the same version of that engine, except with belts, in my Touareg. The belt job should be much easier than the chain job. haha

Nice P-car pics too!

ilko

Nice photos of the P-car. Love the wheels, stance, and ROW front bumper!

How many miles on the S4 engine? Tensioners shot? Guides look to be still in decent shape... Any chain rattle? How often did you change the oil and what oil did you use?

boman993

Nice pics!! Thanks for sharing!

Mmmmm...glacier white!

doberdog

Nice looking wheels and car, like the action shots. Double wow for the complex looking S4 motor.

M. Schneider

Is that the back-side of the 4.2 V8? Whatever its poster art if there ever was.
Yeah,,, luv the old sckool wheels on yer 993 coupe.... !

stickypatch

I had a B6 S4 - for about 8 weeks until I hydrolocked it during heavy rain with standing water on the highway and broke the conrod on cylinder one. The only cure entertained by the dealer was a shortblock replacement so it was a total loss and insurance paid out.

Great car though. I'm getting about the same fuel consumption figures out of the 993 as I got from the 4.2L V8 in the Audi, interestingly enough.

ginch

I'm curious too!

Nice pics of the pcar as well! Glad you had fun with your bro!

LimeyBoy

Thanks all. Audi has 145K miles (50K by me) and yes, the tensioners were going - although I realised the guides could be suspect. About 6 months ago the startup rattle changed - a bit louder and for about 2-3 secs if cold. I've always been pretty good with the oil, 5000 miles and Mobil 1 0W-40 (with the VW approval code). After 6 months being unable to find a comparable different used vehicle I just bit the bullet. The guides were actually perfect - but I got the whole lot, including chains etc swapped out. The DM flywheel was also shot so a new one of those with a clutch. That exposed end of the engine is, to my eyes, a thing of beauty - shame it needs doing at only 145K though. I think I heard the V8 timing belt version in an S8 takes about 3-4 hours for a belt change. I average 17 MPG, maybe 20 on a long drive.

doc_porsche

Looks like its a trip we all need to do often......great story and pics

Terry Adams

I always love a road trip story, thanks.
Tail of Dragon starts 5 hours from me and is on my list.
I read it is generally a 30 mph speed limit, and crowded.
Any problem with speed traps or pokeys holding up traffic?

LimeyBoy

I would reckon Tail Dragon at a busy time of year would be frustrating - mid October it was good and most times, cars and Harley's were pulling over to let us past. 30mph is for entire 15miles or so. 1st run mr. policeman was parked at side of road and lifted his hand in a semi-wave as we went past. 2nd run he had moved about 1 mile and no wave. 3rd run he pointed a finger at me so we took that as a sign and moved on. Maybe 5 or 6 sports bikes past us going the other way, they were way over 30mph, in some places knee down etc. Go and find it, it is worth a trip - the general area around there is also cool for driving.
BTW, I used RL to plan this last minute trip - search Tail Dragon and Blue Ridge Parkway - you'll get maps and suggestions etc.

Avenger6

I did it last year, earlier in October. Weather was great, not TOO crowded, and I saw no Law Enforcement personnel, but I did get stuck behind one of a trio of "Chromosexual" Harley boys on the big hogs... This guy was a Horrible Rider.... wrong line on EVERY corner, taking too much speed into the curves and then braking in the middle of the corner, waving at the photogs, and the bike was an overloaded, bloated beast apparently only any good for looking cool when crossing the Great Plains on the Interstate on the way to Sturgis..... His pipes and pegs we all so low that on a couple of corners, it looked like he was turning as far as he good (the pipes looked really close to hitting the pavement, and he wasn't making it around, resulting in heavy braking and readjusting the line.... He never crossed the center-line, or it would have looked like that set of shots over it the Random Pictures thread in OT.

R&T has a list of other, less trafficked but similar roads in the area in this month's issue. If I go to that part of the state again, I'll skip the Dragon and hit a couple of those other ones instead.

mongrelcat

Cool trip and great pics, thx for sharing.

The "S4 exposed" pic reminds me of...