[A4] Subject: Re: audi project UPDATE

[thejimrose]

hey all - quick update on the a4 project from h3ll: took her out for her
maiden voyage last night. WHOA is all i can say. what a difference. it's
rough and needs fine tuning but the potential is awesome. she threw a bunch
of codes. vagcom'd it this am and got 2; 02 sensor and abs wheel sensor. i
replaced an 02 and pulled out the abs sensor to do the strut, so i'll check
to see if i damaged it or put it in wrong. i understand theyre pretty
fragile. [FRA-GEE-LEE, it's italian!]. im really happy it wasnt throwing
more codes wince i had the whole intake, turbo, etc apart. it would have
sucked to redo that.

its my 1st time with the vagcom, what a cool tool. took a  while to figure
it out [borrowed cable and shareware download] but it rules. a window into
the soul of this maligned beast. a very nicely sorted interface tho,
comapred to something like my ice>link which just works so.... beta. i feel
so NASA with my laptop in my car. my neighbor came by [shared garage] and
was like 'whoa..' gave me that 'youre some kind of.. mad scientist' look. =)

so the alignment is WAY off. i need to get that sorted today. but the car
GOES, it seems to run hot, comes up to temp instantly and was WICKED hot
when i shut it off. hotter it seeems then nomal. of course i did blast
around the block 5 times at WOT then shut it right down. not that bright,
actually. the temp gauge was dead center. i'm happy about that since i went
pretty deep into the cooling system. WHEW! all that happy new pink coolant.

the suspension is awesome [neuspeed sport w/ groved bilstein sports, NS rear
sway]. i just went around the block a few times but holy crap it feels so
tight and new. NO body roll on left to right ransitions. just flicks side to
side. the NS rear bar is really nice - mounts right up, and has nice
triangulated brackets for each side to stiffen the sway mounts. very slick.
it does sit really low, which im not happy about, but the spring compressors
i borrowed wouldn't let me squish the springs enuff for the higher-ride
settings on the struts. i might redo them at some point, but it raises a
question: how do the grooves/clips on the strut body [which allow you to
change the height of the lower spring seat on the strut realtive to the
top+bottom shock mounts] change the ride height, as they are purported to?

it seems to me that the ride height is dictated by the shock legnth, how
much distance there is between the lower a arm and the top strut mount. i
understand that the spring supports / suspends the car and the shock dampens
its motion, but it seems that changing the height of the lower spring seat
would just pre-compress the spring and not really 'raise' the car?

maybe thats it, the spring under more compression pushes harder which forces
the car up a bit. but if that's correct then it's likely at the expense of
ride quality since you're always riding around on more tensioned
[compressioned?] springs? hmm...

anywhoo it feels great. the brakes are noisy / grindy as hell but i need to
bed them in and ill report back. they're ecstuning cad plated, slotted
rotors. the finish on the rotors is pretty rough. have to say im
underwhelmed with the quality of the carriers and the rotors.

also - i got 'optimal' brand control arm set from germanautoparts - very
nice guys, GREAT prices and service but these are suposed to  be oem quality
and theyre GARBAGE. nothing like the meyle or febi. fair warning. always
check your brands. the TRE's literally fell apart putting them on. the
upper CA's seemed passable, but i imagine ill be doing them again in not too
long. =( fingers x'd...

this weekend the exhaust goes in [full apr], boost gauge to see whats what,
and ill log blocks on the vag to see what the motors up to. i really need an
adjustable fpr with a gauge and a wideband 02 to dial the fuel in, which are
about 500$ from 034. of course EVERY time i talk to javad it costs me 500$..
=)

later
jim