Saturday, September 15, 2007

Just to show, that something is done at the garage

At the moment I'm busy with my human carrier (trying to fight the rust somehow, and paint places which rusted). I use spray putty to fill scratches. It takes time to dry before you can spray new layer. So there's some time which can be spent on better purpose than watching the wall ;).

Somebody maybe noticed, that front grille is from old typ81 coupe. It carries 5E logo, not the quattro inscription. It's not terribly wrong, but it's good when it's better. Found quattro logo from my old 80 laying in pile of rubbish at the garage. It was quite worn out after 20 years of trusty service. So decided to refresh it a bit. Here are pictures of the progress:And the final result (looks about 7 from 10, but much better than original condition):

Sunday, September 9, 2007

One month resume

So, just to brake the silence a bit. Resume of the month, that passed. It was really more shopping time, than working with car.

Bought IR thermometer. Very nice toy. Found, that my oil temperature gauge lies about 10-15 degrees which is good :). And that water temperature gauge doesn't lie to me. Which is also good.

Bought some cheap accelerometer. Measures G's, acceleration, horsepower, breaking distance. Seems to be not very optimistic (like Tesla G-Meter old versions were). Measured friends 220v - 10.2 seconds 0-100, 54 meters 100-0. That's very non optimistic, which is good ;).

Still thinking what clutch to buy, was offered SPEC, clutchnet (very expensive race piece) and local made one. Tend to buy local one together with new pressure plate from LUK or SACHS.

Also the main point is roll cage selection. Yes, the beautiful interrior must go. It's sad, I don't like very much, however I like my health more, so sane mind won. It will be professional roll cage this winter in the car. This means complete tearing apart whole thing (I promise pictures).

One more thing - cleaned the car (especialy wheels) and went to local audi show:
My car was standing in the very respectfull company of rally-cross urquattro, and heavy modified red ur (only white wheel is in the picture).

Sunday, August 12, 2007

2007.08.10 - kupplung schaden :(

In short - put aggresive chip inside moronic, went to race track, ruined clutch. It seems that clutch plate or pressure plate leaf spring gave up. Pedal is soft, max speed is ~130kmph, engine happily revving at higher speeds, and the speed is not rising. Back in to the garage for a looong time (no planned funds for the new clutch and pressure plate). Will pull engine and box someday. Maybe in autumn? Silence starts...

Monday, August 6, 2007

Searching for the boost leak

Due to low boost (1.3 bar instead of 1.5) searched for the boost leak. Spent half of the day trying to pump up the system, however it was not possible with one pump. The air was escaping faster than I was able to pump. So I've tightened the clamps again and went to some drive :) :

video

Also during the drive (not in video), tried to run sharper in one usual corner - massive understeer at low speed :(. Bad wheel alignment is serious for handling. Will try to align front myself. Will see what that will bring ;).

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Exaust bump stop

Still fighting with exaust movement. After my rubber/duct tape temporary item melted at the track (after boost hose blew off, and the exaust was really hot), exaust pipe was happily melting the rear bumper. So I need something more rigid. Yes, and more clamps ;). Here is the result:
Adding more flexibility benefits whole system, now the engine is not trying to break the exaust off the turbo, but pushes rubber. After engine returns to the initial position - the exaust returns also. Went to the street for a test drive - after some pushing, exaust still in place. Good :). For some reason DVR refused to record this run. This is bad. I think I need to rethink whole on-board camera concept.

Alternator and stuff

The pain is gone, so it's time to check why alternator is not charging battery. Took out voltage regulator with the brushes. They are worn, but ok. Replaced whole unit with the 14.5v aftermarket one - just to be on the safe side.And as expected - nothing good happened. No battery warning light, no charging on start. Okay, that means dirty job awaits...

After checking bulbs, tracing schematics and wiring, I have found where blue wire from the alternator ends (near driver legs, red 1 pin connector). Checked the wire - it's clearly shot. So it's time to do a new one. Just made single lying wire, hope it will not rub to anything (fixed it with cable ties) and the car will not burn...
Now battery light is on with ignition, and it seems, that battery is charged without rising rpm. Good.

Friday, July 20, 2007

2007.07.19 fitting samco's

The day started by badly injuring my little finger. Good thing, that it happened to the left hand, and another good thing is that the bones were intact. Started to work at the garage only in the evening, instead of entire day :(.
First took out old intake. Looks strange, isn't it?
It's not so restrictive as it might look, but was really PITA to make. And the elbows are poping from the hoses all the time. That's because engine is moving under load and the intercooler - is not. This radial movement turns elbow out of the hose (due to it's bent surface, elbow tries to exit hose when you turn it around).

So I have installed this thingy right after the turbo:
Now the hoses have space to move. Also replaced three SS elbows with two, changing diameter silicon hoses. Those are more flexible than SS, so now hoses should not be under stress by the engine. No photos of the hosing, because it was done on the fly underneath the car. Only the final result (bumper was cut more after drive test ;))
Also found, that I have tightened the clamp for the BPV a bit too much:
Poor thing doesn't seem to be very happy with it. Hope it will hold the boost without leaks.