jeep...

Long story short - after lot of struggling in completelly unbelieveable places, I have managed to finish front suspension. Everything works, however front is way too high (adjustment is at the bottom). So now I have a jeep:Of course springs are not settled, but I don't think they will drop a lot. Here's look at the front (note how tired the car body is :'(, this photo needs little photoshop...)
Rear is still running stock suspension with lowering (blue) springs. Much better situation with height. However it will be no problem, because rear suspension can be dropped very far down (no tie rod fixture, which is in the way of the spring):
And better photo of strut in the car, just before lowering it to max. Stupid me, I have hoped, that this setting will be unacceptable low car :). BTW adjusting of height is really pleasant. Just jack the car, and turn nuts. No need to take off wheel. Nice, however I need to figure out what to do with the springs...

CV joint hunt was successfull

As title says. Search for CV joints was successful. Got new, and good quality (GKN/Loebro, same as OEM) CV joints for good price (not so popular item). Old one:New one - notice, that ABS teeth are missing:
And assembled strut in the car with the wheel on (still hanging in the air). Sorry for picture quality, but camera refused to focus - too dark in the garage with doors closed (because of the rain).
Haven't tried to move the car, as it was raining as hell outside. It feels stiffer, when you push it however not so stiff as I would expected. As new spring is installed car rised about 2cm above normal. Hope spring will settle at night and I will get nice drop :). We'll see what tomorrow will bring.

Hmmm...

As every spring - I try to start working with the car. This is no exception. Suspension struts are primary target for this spring. So - day in the garage, and old strut is out:Comparison old vs refurbished. No essential differences. Rubber in the coil is to rise car nose a bit as those white springs were way too weak. Let's continue with assembly of coil over. Everything fits nicely. Added some engine oil for better thermal contact between strut and shock absorber. I know, that antifreeze is safer and better. But I don't like it. It's sweet, it's hard to wash :(. Engine oil should do this application just fine. Comparison of old and "new" strut assemblies:
Some work, and everything is put in place. Time to tighten CV joint bolt. Few turns and it's no longer turning. WTF? Hub is no longer turning (on gearbox gears free motion). WTF!!!!!. Short inspection revealed the obvious. ABS and non-ABS struts are different not only with sensor mounting. ABS strut has additional groove to fit CV joint teeth, and non-abs - hasn't. See for yourself (rusty one is ABS):Just another FAIL. But now I'm used to it :). It's just another challenge. Now I will search for suitable CV joints. Hope someone has them to seel. Saga continues...

Lost... but not forgotten

I'm still there, car is still there. And it is getting warmer in garage ;). Time to make winter chaos into something where someone can work with a car. Let's hope, that show will go on, and new updates, new toys will follow. Gitars took huge portion of my time, but not all. Some portion is reserved for this special goal, that special audi coupe quattro.

If there's anyone who still reading/subscribed to this stupid blog - thank YOU. For your patience...

Some youtube video for you (from 2008)

Guitars won...

Original title of this monthly entry was planned to be like this. Something like "this is the end of this blog, blah blah blah". And it would be true. This summer guitars really won my time regarding cars. Instead of tweaking car suspension, gathering experience on the track, driving on twisty roads - garage becoming is full of new inhabitants like this:I'm spending time playing guitar (however I don't have any progress so far), crapping strange audio related things like stompboxes, preamps, amplifiers, burning them, crapping again... Whole corner is taken by audio stuff:When not playing guitar - I'm bothering with mysterious things like furniture, or electrolysis. Which is BTW nice rust remover. Some transformer from old UPS
In the bowl with plain steel electrode connected to +, item, which needs rust to be removed connected to -, we get pretty nice results (on the left). There is some 20g of washing soda (not baking!) dissolved in it. It bites nicely - turns your bare hands into soap in long period so it is suggested to wear rubber gloves, unless you like to wash your meat from the bones ;).

This is rear disc brake caliper carrier, which was produced in 1983, and was rusting all the time so far. Right carrier was soaking in vinegar for one day. Result is interesting, however smell of vinegar, surface activation and slow progress makes electrolysis. Electrolysis makes rust shear and loose contact with steel.

Back to title - guitars won only single battle so far. Some chap on S2 forum has read all this rubbish I write monthly, and said "you have a nice blog". That was the reason to visit my forgotten idol, angry getting dust in the garage. When I came, decided to warm thing a bit (it was sitting for few months non starter). After starting my car, feeling it's vibrations, hearing deep roar of straight exhaust - got me so exciting, that I rolled car to the yard and washed it. I know it's not the nicest one, rusty, tired, old. It's power is puny when compared with Scandinavian monsters. However it still makes my heart to beat much faster, looks exciting, and still has guts on power. Still can kick some buts ;). I still love this car, it may have only little of my time, however it surely has some corner inside me.
So I took the camera and made bunch of photos. Just to remember how nice car I happen to have (I sometimes forget). Here are some of them. Enjoy.

Bad carma :(

In short - rolled my other car out of garage, kicked the throttle, and it went dead. Cold 10w60 oil, heavy foot and tired dizzy gear gave up. After tearing half of the car apart:
Managed to take this thing out. Will need new dizzy gear. Meanwhile I have no human carrier, no free garage space to work and play with guitar. Dark moments in our history...

Sad, tired and exhausted...

Chain of failures (related and not with the car), killed that slight motivation I had to work with it. I don't want to do anything with it now. Don't want to drive it... I just want to disappear in the darkness...

OK, enough of my depression (some say, it is just lack of Lithium in my ration), so short review what was done in past 10 days (with PICS!).
So first thing was gearbox and rear diff mounts. I was running original (audi green) mounts all way round, except driver side gearbox one. Reason for that is my driving style with harsh throttle lift off. This puts lot of strain on poor mount, and because audi has designed nice two stage response mount with comfort zone - this leads to premature wear and destruction of it. So last season mount by kwlw was quite teared. Because it was beta version, some things were made not so good. All other mounts were replaced with 034efi track density rubber mount. I can recommend those things. They are exactly the same dimensions as stock, but much much more stiff. You can feel it with fingers when trying to push dents. China mount bends easily, orginal one - resists, and you can barely deform 034efi one. That is good. Very good. So pics:
New version of mount has additional alloy disks to make pressure to rubber more even. Bolts were made longer, whole thing is working with larger area, this leads to additional stiffness and reliability As you've migh seen sandblasted rear struts, front ones were not blasted to preserve bearings (they are not so cheap). Instead I have spent few hours with steel brush, and angle grinder with rotating steel brush. Actually they looked event better than in photos. After this procedure that they were painted with POR15 just like rears. No pictures, because they look almost exactly the same like rears - hanging on the rope. Good thing, that after few shiny days - paint has cured completelly and now is hard as it should be. Bad thing, that I lost my motivation and health somewhere. Maybe these puppies are to blame?
Don't make mistake. I'm not guitar player. Actually I am tonedeaf. And have no idea what to do with guitar. But it's nice toys to just to play with. Something new, unusual. However even they don't make me smile. Don't know why (Lithium problem?).