Aaron Wilden B5 passat: This tired 2000 VW Passat mom commuter was pulled from a used car lot soaked in detailing makeup for $1600. A few quarts of oil get it home and it was driven straight into the garage where it wouldn't see the light of day for 2 years. The car was stripped to bare bones that week and calls went out to see who could help me with my passion project. When everyone in the PNW shot down my vision, Andrew at BBM threw out some ideas on a consultation call and we established a baseline for the power plant. I was beyond excited he jumped on board for the project. Peak Covid times made it really difficult to source rods and get machine work done, but it happened all while I had the chassis back home and prepared the rest of the build for its new heart. An Audi Allroad was sourced for the 2.7 block that received a health overbore. The internals received a full rebuild from bearing to o-rings to head studs. The bottom also received  Maxpeeding forged H-beam rods and custom spec Ross Racing Pistons to set up for the top end. The top was assembled with refreshed 2.8L heads having port cleaning and valve transition matching for a tight seal. As if it were a crown on a head, an Eaton M62 blower was mounted between the heads to force feed the cylinders. Power would be delivered to the transmission by a Southbend Stage 2 Endurance clutch pack and manipulated by custom shift linkage from the selector fork to the shift knob. A simple catless exhaust system was fabricated to wrap up the last of the engine's outputs. While the motor was out, every vacuum line, solenoid, sensor, pulley, mount, and gasket was replaced to truly turn this into a zero mileage motor. Time was taken to also delete unnecessary items on the motor such as AC, SAI, and over engineered PCV bits. The empty engine bay and idle hands ended up with a mildly tucked and shaved engine bay suited with drop in panels for a cleaner engine bay aesthetic and improved replacements of OEM engine plastics. To complete the driveline before motor install, all bushings, control arms, endlinks, tie rods, etc were replaced and connected to KW V2 coilovers. The interior was hand made without a brake press (as you can tell) and will serve as rev.1 while the next iteration takes place. Staring me in the face is a beautiful B5.5 silver ringed gauge cluster that was refurbished for this build to have the odometer match the zero mileage motor. The dash also sports both hand held and 360deg fixed nozzles for fire suppression in the driver seat with a 4L tank mounted in the trunk. Fire suppression "T"s off and also watches over the engine bay nearest the fuel injection points. The front buckets were replaced with suede Recaros and the rear bench was replaced with 10lb Kirkey aluminum seats to help with weight savings (The car now weighs just under 3k lbs). All wire looms in the cabin were rewrapped and the floor resealed along with custom driver floorboard to ergonomically position feet after the carpet and insulation were removed. The interior is still in the rev.2 planning stage. For the exterior I acquired some fun bits. Antenna deleted and dealer option sun visor added to the sun roof. The rear trunk sports a Zender spoiler along with lightly modified rear tails to retain an OEM look. The front hood received a custom molded low-profile hood scoop that feeds directly into the intake and also wears a B5.5 hood bra that was re-sewn to match the B5 hood profile. OEM side markers and lights were refurbished to keep things looking simple. A fiberglass rep of the Votex lip was made and additional chin, sideskirt, and rear bumper extensions were custom made to outfit the car with an aggressive yet simplistic design. Audi Allroad C5 mirrors were custom adapted to B5 bases and mounted to the doors for a wider viz range. And to top off the exterior work, a set of C5  Audi Allroad  fender flares were heavily modified and heat formed to the car to keep the additions looking period correct. The track width was extended 1.5" on both sideS of the car. All of this sit on a set of Revolve 0520 wheels 18x9.5 et20 (et now -2 with adapters). The engine and car are now ready for rev.2 on power upgrades and interior design. I am very happy with the car and very thankful for Andrew at BBM as well as the boys at Autosport Imports for their consistent support throughout this build. The service was great and they were really on board with me taking a road less traveled. I also thank my wife for supporting the journey of turning a $1600 beater into something she almost refuses to ride in lol. There are a few others on social media platforms that were big helps when I couldn't find ETKA part numbers or would engage in late night convos to get me in the right direction. Here's to more power in the future and if anyone wants to jump onboard to help me get this thing ripping faster I am ALWAYS down to play!!