Working in the heat!

[roccit_53 at scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca (C Boyko)]

On 8:54 am 08/07/06 "Dan Bubb" <jdbubb@verizon.net> wrote:
> Spent Saturday replacing the tie rod ends and aligning my Audi A4.
> The original tie rod ends, amazingly, have a rubber sleeve in the
> middle that lets them stretch and contract a small amount, I guess to
> absorb road shocks, but now with the new solid parts, the car seems a
> lot less wandery. That was definitely a worthwhile project.
>
> Sunday my nephew came over and for some reason all else stops when he
> shows up. Might have something to do with him owning the only turbo
> Scirocco in the family! :^( When last dynoed the car had made
> 208lb-ft @ 3900 where the boost was spiking to 13 psi and 177 whp @
> 5400 with boost at 10psi. Basically the torque just drops off in a
> straight line and we've been wondering where the restriction is that's
> causing the loss of top end. Mike's been slowly improving his
> Megasquirt maps based on datalogs and by leaning out the top end to
> match the lower VE up there to get a consistent AFR and playing with
> the advance he's been picking up a couple HP here and there (or so our
> butt dynos suspect!)
>
> Anyway his car sounded really bad with an exhaust leak that
> coincidentally seemed to have improved the top end performance of his
> car? A quick inspection revealed the downpipe was cracked. Turns out it
> was nearly broken off at the turbo flange and also had a series of
> little separate cracks in the same area! Well, I don't feel too bad
> since this was the first downpipe I'd ever made, probably the one I
> learned to weld stainless steel on, it is totally unbraced and had
> lasted over 4 years! A little clean up and some bead blasting to remove
> any carbon in the area so it didn't contaminate the weld and I welded
> it all up as good as new although it did look a little like a
> Frankenstein downpipe with all the little weld beads running this way
> and that. While I was welding that up Mike was playing around with
> throttle bodies and found out that the bigger A2 TB would mate up
> sufficiently well to the IC pipe that was shaped to match the small TB.
> So, we changed that out while we were at it. Recall that he's using MAP
> based accel enrichment so we're just using regular TB's without TPS, so
> that was an easy swap. Mike took the car for a test drive and his butt
> dyno indicated the top had picked up yet more power despite us welding
> up the power inducing exhaust leak. ;^)
>
> The last change was an effort to kill two birds with one stone. I had
> welded a tail pipe and hanger to a 2.5" Borla muffler I had laying 
> around for my 16V to replace the Flowmaster that sounded like ass.
> Well, turns out the Borla didn't sound too good either and was too loud
> for my tastes. I figured we'd swap the Dynomax on my nephew's car for
> the cobbled up Borla on my 16V. Pulling the Borla off the 16V wasn't
> too bad since I'd been careful to not tighten the clamp too much.
> Pulling the Dynomax off my nephew's car was even easier since it was an
> old old muffler and I just torched it off! ;^) Well, that's when I
> discovered that those bastards at VW changed the location of the
> exhaust exit from the body and the placement of the rear most hanger
> between the 8V and the 16V! Balls! So another hour later I'd managed to
> reshape the tailpipe and move the hanger. The 16V will have to wait for
> its muffler!
>
> So, his car is a touch louder with a nice rich tone to it and it
> seems we managed to pick up yet a little more power. Might have even
> made enough of a difference that a little retuning of the Megasquirt is
> in order! Another pretty successful project and Mike did all the
> wrenching! ;^) Did I mention this car is just a kick in the ass to
> drive??
>
> I also managed to drain the tank and replace the crimped tank to pump
> hose on the 81 I've been working on. That 2 year old gas smelled so bad
> it almost made me puke!
>
> So, what have you all been up to?
> Dan

Well Holy cow, you guys are all doing great things, first Winchell and
Jules with that gas tank, now that! I, as usual, was queen of the
piddly-ass procedures this weekend.  (some of which I've already posted
about)
Headache (16V): The red lens in the hatch light had slid, it's back in
place, slid again, must need adhesive, removed the steering wheel to
properly attach the lever that activates the high/low switch, relocated the
brown ignition grounds back to the battery terminal from their previous
relocation to a common ground connection, checked and reinstalled the coil
wires (small ones), new cap and rotor, test resistance of plug wires, and
the biggest job was the installation of a new shifter shaft bushing
(4crawler) and the ever popular Scott Rose solid shift linkage (with
virtual tech support from Mark and Drew, I managed to bust a bolt)  :) 
Yeah, I was worried about adjustment, but I have all the gears, and it'll
take a while to get used to, (I think I need to go for another drive :)) I
keep thinking it can't be in gear, because throw is so short and so firm.
But nope, it's there. It's VERY un-A1 like in it's firmness, delightful! I
imagine the Scott Williams version is similar, as Scott Rose doesn't do
them anymore. Do those joints need any sort of lube? Test drove that this
morning, right before more practice driving the mighty ARGO in the bush(our
little yellow amphibian)

Klaus: Yet another crack at proper washers for the tops of the Koni
Yellows, not sure why this has taken me so long to hash out, you can't just
reuse what came out, and my latest replacements have just not suited me
well enough. He should have a 4crawler solid shifter by nightfall. And as
usual, there are a bunch of piddly ass wiring concerns to clean up (wiring
for city lights/get blower fan working AGAIN, etc...)
 
Bug: Front pads and rotors, oil change. I'd been procrastinating something
awful on that job, it went fine.

Cabby: It'll be getting a new shifter shaft bushing too (this is the one in
the bracket on the frame), and then the whole lot need baths.

Ed Effinger's "S": I offered technical support (okay, beer) as he and his
son installed a new bumper.

Other: Trying to find some twisty roads for Track Day cruising (not so
successful), and a trip to the in-law's cottage.

Hey, you asked!
Cathy