[A4] Subject: Re: audi project UPDATE

[Brandon Rogers]

Sounds awesome.  This is exactly what I was thinking about doing some
months back...instead ended up with an '01 S4...

But I gotta say I still see the attraction of the 1.8T - the 1.8T cars
really do drive lighter than the 2.7tt cars and the shifter and brakes
on my 1.8T have a much better feel than on the S4.  

Anyway - cool upgrades - I'm enjoying your posts.

Brandon
'84 urquattro 20Vt
'01.5 S4
'98 A4 1.8Tq


-----Original Message-----
From: a4-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:a4-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf
Of thejimrose
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:18 AM
To: a4 at audifans.com; Dave Tong; Jeff Galisky (jgalisky); Andrew; S P;
mike obrien
Subject: [A4] Subject: Re: audi project UPDATE


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 
top+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
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