Project Cars Under Construction - Garage Projects - Eurotuner Magazine

Achtuning! S4
When we think of RS4 conversions, cars like Adam McCarty's 600hp '01 B5 S4 Avant (et 9/09) come to mind. But in the Pacific Northwest, there's a new breed of conversion stirring with Achtuning's '04 B6 S4. Already equipped with Stasis suspension, big brakes and a rear differential, 20" Work wheels and APR performance mods, this yellow B6 recently went under the knife at JMI Motoring in Smokey Point, WA. The shop took the sedan apart to outfit a complete B7 RS4 uniform, including front and rear bumpers, front fenders, rear quarter panels, trunk, hood and even the doors. The team is also fabricating a full rollcage along with custom carbon fiber parts for the interior. Once the body is done, Achtuning tells us a supercharger is in the works to give the 4.2 liter V8 more grunt to live up to its RS4 inspiration.

Euro Sport GTI
eurotuner GP '09 Challenger For the past few years, Euro Sport Accessories (www.eurosportacc.com) in Anaheim, CA has brought some interesting vehicles to our annual etGP. In '06 and '08, they campaigned two Ford Focus under its FocusSport banner. In '07, owner Raffi Kazanjian brought out his '75 Rabbit to the challenge. But for '09, he will to purpose-build a car for the event, buying this '01 VW Golf 1.8T five-speed manual to showcase the in-house products and hopefully score high in the competition.

The two main goals were to make the Golf cost-effective and lightweight. Starting at 2873 lb with half a tank of gas, the staff hopes to drop about 400 lb. To do this, the seats will be ditched, along with the carpet, spare tire, fender liners, center console and more. Weight will be also saved with H&R coilovers, a carbon hood, lightweight battery and 17x8" Enkei RPF1 wheels.

Performance-wise, the 20v will receive a GT28RS turbo upgrade, plus Euro Sport's own front-mount intercooler, downpipe, exhaust and intake.

Mrs Shifty's Jetta
Last month we introduced the latest project from Shifty's Spraywerkz, which was being transformed by Robert Lackey's wife, Tosha. She purchased the '01 Jetta GL 2.0 with hopes of building her first project car. Since then, the couple has started collecting parts to build a 16v-hybrid. Tosha is still somewhat new in the trade, so she's taking her time to learn the art of body- and paintwork. Her first success was filling the trunk emblem and prepping the car for Vapor blue paint from the '00 New Beetle.

Since last month, the tranny, mounts, brackets and accessories have all been painted gloss black. Some new parts were also located, such as old school Mk2 Recaro seats to go with the 16v theme.

"Tosha's learned lots throughout the process," Robert told us. "So far she's done her first bit of welding, grinding, masking and painting. The project has brought us closer, while at times nearly driving us to fighting. But at the end of each day, we happily stand back and admire our work!" By next month, the car should be painted.

Turner E92 M3
This latest project from Turner Motorsport is turning heads across the BMW scene. The '08 M3 was chopped up and built to compete in NASA regional competitions. Turner explained it's not full race-spec, but shares similarities with the tuner's Koni Challenge racecars. The interior features an eight-point cage, that's tied into the chassis with A- and B-pillar gussets, while the door bars were designed to Nascar specifications.

Reducing the weight was also important, so almost everything was stripped except for the dash, while a center console is being fabricated to retain the factory i-Drive controls. Finishing off the interior is a lightweight Racetech seat.

Going the extra mile on this project, Turner upgraded the suspension with Moton coilovers, while the new wheels will be 18" Forgeline rims with 275-width Hoosier tires. Brakes will remain stock with Pagid pads.

The carbon factory roof was replaced with another carbon piece minus the sunroof for greater rigidity. We'll have more from this amazing project next month.

Rogue Status R32
Most people know the name Rogue Status for its trendy apparel line appealing to skateboard enthusiasts around the globe. The founders behind the clothing line are also passionate about cars, supporting X Games and Gumball 3000. Now, they revealed a new project car - this '04 VW R32 that will promote the company and its enthusiasm for the European tuning scene. Although in its infancy, this blacked-out R32 will feature plenty of carbon accessories, Volk wheels, racing seats and a VF-Engineering turbo kit. The ultimate goal for the Mk4 is to compete in the California-based Targa Trophy rally series and it will be showcased at the SEMA show in the NOS booth.

Contact: to be included on this page, email details of your vehicle to: eurotuner@sorc.com

Clages A4
It was a mad rush for Nicolas Clages to prepare his '02 Audi A4 3.0 to debut at Wüstefest (see show report et 11/09). We've been following the build for the past few months and he's accomplished many feats, including the shaved handles and front bumper plus a sleepy böser hood in the confines of his home garage.

With weeks before the show, Nicolas still had a long list of tasks. He started by swapping the factory beige interior to black. The new wheels also arrived but UPS had damaged three of them. Without time to return or fix them, Nic told us he "refinished the black wheels with camouflage green lips and managed to bend the lips back into the shape for the show."

While the wheels were temporarily fixed, Nicolas also played with his new air suspension setup. "Installing air-ride for the first time was not an easy task but it worked out quite well," he explained. The stock shocks were modified to work with a universal air-ride kit. Nicolas finished the install two days before heading out to Wüstefest. Once the suspension was installed, the car was then painted flat black.

"We reassembled it three hours before the drive to Vegas. I had a three-mile test-drive before the six-hour drive. Luckily, everything went well and I wasn't stranded," he laughed. And the hard work paid off when the A4 won Best Audi at Wüstefest.

After getting home, he tore the car back down to its bare bones to work on the motor and manual tranny swap. New Bilstein shocks are also waiting to be installed, which should allow the air-ride to go much lower.