There are few cars as iconic as the original Audi quattro. It found a pivotal moment from the company’s history and it’s not just a stretch to suggest that Audi’s continued existence and its current remarkable health can be directly attributed to it.
Taking all-wheel drive out of your farmyard and giving it to the performance market was a stroke of genius. That it was fitted to some car by using these a gloriously muscular appearance that went on to dominate the World Rally Championship didn’t hurt either.
Its Audi five-cylinder turbo engine was another unique selling point and, in a short time, driving enthusiasts had embraced the quattro, granting it a special area into give a retro feel
Nostalgia is a remarkably strong emotion and the majority of us already have the Audi quattro on our bucket list. We’ll overlook its tendency to understeer and pretend they don’t cost a small fortune to service and look after. Yet their biggest problem is simply that this now represents 30 year-old technology. We acknowledge that its age can also be its charm, despite the fact that even the rosiest spectacles can’t overlook the improvements that have been manufactured in construction, efficiency and handling during the intervening years.A Traditional (w/video)
Someone who fell under the Audi quattro’s spell was Hank Iroz. That didn’t impede him, although the 29 year-old owner of Iroz Motorsport, located next to Las Vegas Speedway, wasn’t even born when these cars first came to prominence.
Possessing a self-described basket case when in college, Hank had to quickly learn about maintenance for his 1981 coupe. He soon mastered the basic principles and began trying to make it faster. Eventually, word spread among the people who own the 400 or so quattros left in america, and the interest inliable for building this Frankenstein quattro
Iroz Motorsport
Returning to Vegas two years ago, Hank’s business strategy plan was already mapped out, so he found a workshop and began specializing in fabricated and machined parts for the five-cylinder quattro, generating a range that features intake and exhaust manifolds, engine mounts, etc. Lots of his Iroz Motorsport industry is wholesale with other Audi tuners but the small team also services and tunes a range of VW/Audi vehicles, making good utilization of the in-house chassis dyno.
During our visit, there was a row of five-cylinder Audi models outside the workshop, and numerous quattros inside. We’d go to see the ’83 quattro owned by Sean McLane – the local man who also owns a Lancia Integrale, amongst other things.
Originally a 2.2-liter 10-valve model, Sean’s coupe was in great condition. Even though it formerly had numeroustowards the TT RS 2.5-liter, five-cylinder turbocharged motor. This is interesting since the 2.5L is basically half the Lamborghini Gallardo’s V10 – an engine competent at producing revving and 550hp to 8500rpm.
When compared to Audi quattro’s five-cylinder, the TT RS engine features a vastly superior head design with excellent flow characteristics. Hank reasoned it would be easier and cheaper to tune the 2.5L than the quattro’s popular 20v motor, even allowing for the price of the conversion kit. And being a somewhat new powerplant, the 2.5L needs to be around for some time, helping to guarantee a plentiful supply of parts.
Even more interesting is that the Gallardo’s V10 have also been the basis from the EA855 (07K) 2.5L five-cylinder with multipoint injection used in the VW Rabbit and Jetta. In this guise, it’s an extremely feeble 170hp economy motor that doesn’t have the main benefit of direct injection. Yet it shares the identical basic architecture as the Audi and Lambo versions, rendering it popular for VW turbo builds. What’s more, it’s incredibly cheap when compared to the Audi engine, allowing TT owners to rebuild damaged engines much more affordably as soon as theFollowing a brief discussion, Hank and Sean decided to install a 2.5-liter turbo motor into his ’83 10v. A powerful eight weeks of work saw the car ready for an event called Battle Born quattro last August. It’s a yearly gathering Sean organizes in Las Vegas, created to tempt quattro owners out of hibernation and onto the racetrack.
In addition to the relative ease of tuning – a standalone ECU, big turbo, ancillaries and injectors saw 590hp – the 2.5L had all its timing chains placed on the rear once it was fitted longitudinally in the quattro engine bay: it sat transversely in the TT RS, although the older car didn’t have sufficient space to enable that…
The lighter, shorter engine saves 65 lb over the quattro 20v motor, putting less weight on the long nose, helping to improve weight distribution and handling. Using a VW block, it absolutely was dressed for battle with forged Mahle pistons, rods and a TT RS forged crank. The compression ratio is a relatively high 9.5: 1 because the engine runs on E85 ethanol to maximize output. The oil pan fouled in the sway bar and crossmember, even though by using a custom flywheel and clutch, the engine and transmission were united. So Iroz Motorsport fabricated a baffled pan with seven-quart capability to allow sufficient clearance.A Traditional (w/video)
The oil filter needed to be remotely mounted to gain more space, now residing in the driver’s side fender. The engine could then be lowered onto the custom Iroz mounts.
To the exhaust, the corporation used its unique equal-length headers, incorporating a Tial blow-off valve and V-band connector. They have matching steel downpipes that were V-banded to a aluminum exhaust system. The latter helped shed extra pounds, gave a pleasing exhaust note and, we will need to say, looked tough placed in the S1-replica rear bumper.
The turbocharger is a Forced Performance HTA 3582R. It’s based on the Garrett GT35R but uses a billet compressor wheel for strength at high boost. It develops the majority of its power from 4000- and 7500rpmwhile Hank admitted he could have gone bigger to produce more power, Sean liked its drivability.
As opposed to run everything on the quattro’s original electronics, Iroz Motorsport installed a VEMS V3 standalone ECU that allowed them to tune for the E85 fuel. Hank has worked using this type of system before and likes both its flexibility along with the Bluetooth functionality. It could be mated to any Android device, so the Audi has a tablet mounted in the center console that monitors every engine parameter, from boost to fuel pressure, and can even provide touchscreen navigation, etc.
The Ur has the cheaper VW bloc, even though 1983 audi quattro EA855 long block 02 Photo 8/14
With a thirst for E85, a MagnaFuel ProStar 750 mechanical pump was fitted, in addition to huge injectors to supply sufficient fuel for your high horsepower application.
With all the hood open, you can’t help but admire the custom Iroz intake manifold and billet cam cover. These were retro touches requested by Sean as a tribute to the car’s roots. In fact, Hank told us the intake is actually a rally-style dual-plenum design that was popular within the ’80s but is no longer necessary with modern software. Yet it looks marvelous with Turbo engraved within the original font.
Out of sight is a custom intercooler and radiator, stacked in the nose with end tanks fabricated using the in-house CNC machine.
So, how much power does it produce? On the Iroz dyno, the coupe put down 586hp at all four wheels, with 530 lb-ft of torque. Assuming a regular 25% transmission loss, this 1983 Audi quattro has about 740hp at the crank at 28psi. However, this represents a relatively early state of tune, with Iroz aiming for 600awhp and 650 lb-ft at 35psi with software revisions.
The car is frighteningly fast, as can be witnessed in our online video alongside the TT RS which can be found at www.europeancarweb.co, as it standsm
Application
Iroz had done his homework, although we had been genuinely shocked to see the 31 year-old car had such brutal acceleration. The transmission’s innards, for example, were from the B5 Audi RS4, while the stock locking rear diff will probably be swapped for any Wavetrac unit to help in the turns.
The stock axles remain, Hank claiming these were over-engineered within the ’80s and extremely capable. In reality, he’s expecting low 10sec quarter-mile times out of the box given the car’s power and its particular 2800 lb weight.
The suspension consisted of custom coilovers using Koni dampers and 2Bennett Automotive springs. It also had delrin bushings throughout and was fitted with the four-piston calipers and 330mm rotors from aat only 17.5 lb per corner. The quattro showed its age when they could only be fitted with 225/45 R17 Continental ExtremeContact DW tires beneath the blistered fenders, however. Fortunately, the German rubber seemed to give the car ample grip during our visit, allowing the all-wheel drive system to hook up instantly.
Finished in its original Helios Blue, Sean had fitted an activity quattro-replica fiberglass hood, as well as an A2-style (second-gen Group B) rear spoiler. The bumpers were also rally-style and, together with the wider wheels and lowered suspension, these gave the quattro a decidedly beefier appearance that recalled the vehicle’s remarkable motorsport history.
The mint interior was largely unmolested, save for that touchscreen in the console which had required the radio be removed and the heater controls repositioned. In fact, Sean pampers the 85000-mile car, insisting it hasn’t seen rain since 2004 – not an impossible feat given his Vegas location, yet somewhat missing the purpose of the quattro. It’s an indication of his devotion to this rare machine, however.
