Rocky Mountain Performance & Design

06/23/2026

Shop life...shop cat.
We have our new HPA exhaust system, and the Borg Warner EFR 8474 turbocharger, briefly laying on the ground after shooting a short YouTube video for our project 'Mk4 R32 HPA FTX700' build...needless to say, our shop cat "Turbo", took the opportunity to relax on the exhaust pipe.
He really loves being in the shop!

06/08/2026

Our FIRST Video dropped a few days ago, here is the link. Feel free to like, subscribe, and comment as we get this channel going!

Join us as we create the most INSANE Volkswagen MkIV R32 BIG Turbo ...

06/08/2026

NEW Video DROPPED! We're still gaining momentum...comment, like, and subscribe. Feedback is welcome.

Welcome back!!On our journey to creating what will likely be THE ...

05/20/2026

We were a recently featured business in 'Voyager Denver' online magazine. Here is a link to see the article:

Local StoriesMay 18, 2026 Inspiring Conversations with Saul Rivkin of Rocky Mountain Performance & Design Local Stories Share Tweet Pin Today we’d like to introduce you to Saul Rivkin. Hi Saul, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – ...

02/05/2026

One of the things that really needed attention on the '66 Ford, was the fuel tank. It had accumulated a LOT of rust inside from years of sitting. We removed the fuel tank, drained it, and began the refinishing process. We de-greased the inside the tank first. We then added half a gallon of CRC Enviro-Rust rust remover with several pounds of metal nuts inside to loosen and remove the rust. We had to use a wire brush mounted to long piece of flat stock aluminum to assist in rust removal. Once the rust was all gone (this process took us about 10 days), we used POR-15, Inc. metal prep and rust remover before using their fuel tank sealer. Since the tank holds 20 gallons of gas, we needed two pints of sealer to do it correctly. While we permitted that to cure several days as instructed, we refinished the outside of the tank. We wire brushed the outside, repainted it with some galvanizing paint and used Flex Seal rubber sealer on the bottom to protect the fuel tank and to mimic what the factory did. The obsolete and un-attainable fuel sending unit was restored, the loose contact re-soldered, remove the rust, repainted it, and replaced both the fuel sock and float. The fuel tank is now rust-free, the gauge works again, and is ready for many years of service.

02/05/2026

Although we typically work on and specialize in Volkswagen and Audi's, working on this car took us back to a time long before ABS and SUV's.
Although I truly love what we do now, many, many years ago I actually got my start working on older Fords. My very first car was the car that my father purchased new; a 1966 Ford Country Squire which had the 352-4v engine. I drove it for a few years until the East-Coast winters finally took its toll. It has been my dream to eventually find one similar and relive my youth again (like many others!). We were lucky enough to find this very original and complete survivor with less than 80,000 miles on it in Denver, Colorado early 2025. This car was similar to the one I had when I was 16, but this was Wimbledon White, Venetian Blue vinyl interior, 428-4v engine (the biggest you could get and rated at 345 hp), auto trans, power windows, power bench seat, air conditioning, along with a few other options.
It had been sitting for almost a decade indoors and didn't run.
After we towed it to our shop, we took on the task of getting the car road worthy again. One of our goals was to keep the car as original as possible, so not everything was repainted or restored, parts that had most of the original finish remaining were cleaned and left alone. We removed the engine and transmission for a full rebuild. US Automotive Machine in Loveland, CO did all the machine work to the block, heads, crank, and even cooked the intake for us. We did all the assembly work needed, including installing the .30" over Sealed Pro pistons, rings, Cloyes double roller timing set, Competition Cams 262H camshaft, rebuilt the Autolite 4100 carburetor, refinished exhaust manifolds, repainted the long-block, and much more. The folks at Longmont Transmissions, LLC rebuilt the C6 trans for us, which is shifting beautifully again. We also replaced all brake parts and installed a set of new white-wall tires, which were purchased and installed by the great folks at M&O Tires in Greeley, CO.
As mentioned, we paid close attention to details and performed "a sympathetic restoration" on the car, little details like valve cover gasket staples, crayon markings, and special locking-tab washers on the exhaust manifolds. The car is now back on the road, enjoyed by us and admired by so many people who remark "I had a station wagon like that when I was young!"

02/05/2026

The "Project Big-Turbo B5 Avant" wasn't just another car to build, it was a tribute build that pulled on our heart-strings like no other. The reason our customer decided to build this car was to honor his brother that he lost. His brother had a passion for Audi's, so he set out to find and build a car to honor him. We were extremely honored that he chose us to be a part of this tribute. Our customers brothers nickname was "Cheese", so we wanted to tastefully incorporate cheese where we could. Two of the places we chose were the brakes and steering wheel. We used this style Audi steering wheel to have a small wedge of cheese inset in the wheel with clear epoxy resin. This way, his brother is right there with him when he is driving the car. We also created custom decals for the bigger brakes we installed. These are just a few examples of the extra attention we gave this car during the build process. 🧀💜

02/05/2026

For our "Project Big-Turbo B5 Avant", one of the things we wanted to do is a tr**ny swap. We removed the original and very tired 5-speed 01A transmission in favor of a 6-speed, so we swapped in a 02X from a lower-mileage B6 A4. This provided much better low-end gearing along with an increased top-end for highway cruising. A custom SPEC stage 5 clutch was sourced to handle all that power, and once the 6-speed was bolted to the engine, we fabricated a bracket for the transmission and mount.

02/05/2026

On the "Project Big-Turbo B5 Avant" we took on, we relocated the battery to the LH rear storage compartment where the factory amp usually resides. We fabricated a bracket using the original battery tray that bolted into that area to fit a narrow battery (with plenty of cranking amps to power the car), added a hold-down, and ran the necessary cable back to the engine bay. The carpeted cover fits like a glove to conceal the relocated battery. I'll be honest, it kinda sucked hiding the cool bracket we fabricated, the result was better what we expected to achieve.

02/05/2026

On one of our most previous customer builds, "Project Big-Turbo B5 Avant", we took a track-built car that suffered not only an under-hood fire, but a lot of bad decisions by the prior owner (not by our client!). We did a LOT of work to get the car road-worthy again, rewired everything, new big brakes refinished red with custom cheese logo's, new big turbo, bigger intercooler, tubing, and mount, re-gasketed the engine, new steering wheel with custom "cheese" insert, (to honor his deceased brother), 6-speed swap, and so much more! Here, we show that we relocated the fuel lines, coolant reservoir, and battery. We smoothed out the firewall by removing a lot of threaded studs and melted plastics from the fire. After some extensive work, the results were as different as night-and-day! The pics also show the bracket we fabricated to mount the coolant res to its new location behind the firewall.