[s-cars] Was: OE wheels, 993 calipers,... Now: Bob's Big Adventure [long]

Tue Dec 3 12:29:14 EST 2002

Bob's Big Adventure:
A few weeks back I installed the snow tires. I got a great deal on Ebay on
almost new Blizzaks mounted on dirty but straight 16 x7.5 ET42 BBS rx's.
My kids took to cleaning them up, and they look great on the car. Now that
the 95.5 sedan pretty much complete and having no real Audi projects going
on now, I decide to put my spare set of Big Reds back onto the car.

Those at the PAulifest saw my very badly scratched Big Reds on the Avant a
few months ago (from doing donuts in the snow in a gravel parking lot last
year - DUH!). I swapped on my other set and had these refinished by Tom at
ECS-- now they look good as new! The first challenge was to find a set if
12mm x 1.5 x 72-75mm socket screws to mount the calipers to the brackets.

I'm off from work on Fat Friday, so I set out to get them.  Home depot,
Sears Hardware, Lowes..NOPE.   OK, There is a specialty bolt business about
an hour from home...fighting the damn holiday shopping rush it turned into 2
hours....

"What?  You advertise the largest metric bolt inventory in the country and
you don't have it?" "Nope, not in socket head!"
He can get them for Tuesday, but at almost $10 each!  No thanks.

Finally, it dawns on me that a Porsche dealer should have them.   40 minutes
in the other direction from my house, and YES!, finally all 4 bolts for $11.
As a bonus, the Porsche dealer is near a "Tool CLUB" I belong to, and I pick
up a beautiful 35W dual flourescent drop light with auto retracting
reel....It is sooooo sweet, (
http://www.voltec-industries.com/pdf_files/Retractable%20Reels.pdf  product
# 07-00175).  I can't wait to install and use it.  With my new 115btu
kerosene Redi-heater, I'll have a warm garage and now good light too. I'm
thinking it'll be a great winter of projects in the garage.

So Friday was mostly wasted, but it was fun.

I start the install Saturday afternoon. Everything is going OK for a while,
then the banjo/stainless brake lines I had made at Earl's Indy won't go on
right. I sent them the same drawing and spec's on my prior orders, but this
time they put the wrong side of the inverted flare inside the 10mm female
end!  Time to go digging into the "track box" and luckily I find my last set
of lines from the old batch.  Great, back it business, and I complete the
install on one side.

Then I try to refit the RX's - NO GO!

Ok, time to install the H&R studs and dig out the 13mm H&R spacers I have
lying around...still, NO GO!
Ok, I've got 7mm spacers too....
The caliper barely fits inside the wheel with 20mm of spacer, and now the
studs arent'long enough.....this is getting stupid.
I give up, it's time to unistall,& save the Big Reds for the spring and the
17" BBS RC's---I'm pissed that I already wasted almost 3 hours today trying.
The wife is still pissed I was gone all day yesterday.

Then I hear a "BOOM", and suddenly I'm in the garage in total darkness and I
smell smoke!!!  Holy Shit!!!!!!!!!!!

I fumble through the mess on the other side of the garage,find the breaker
box, and reset the circuit breaker. When the lights go on I almost wish they
hadn't.  I find I had draped the cord of my super-sweet new drop light
across the front of my "redi-heater", and all 115,000 of those tiny British
Thermal Units went to work to set the cord ablaze!  I feel a strange
combination of angry and dumb.   Better stop now before I hurt myself.

In conclusion, it was a really shitty Friday/Saturday:

-Wasted all day Friday; wife wasn't pleased.
-$300 in brake lines for the upcoming track season are worthless
-Big Red's didn't fit, put a few new scratches on the new paint trying
-Ruined my new $75 droplight on its first day
-Got assorted nicks, scrapes, and mandatory dirt under the fingernails
-Almost set the house ablaze
-Wasted over 4 hours Saturday, and accomplished absolutley nothing!
-Seriously bruised ego re: "mechanical skill"

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Krasusky [mailto:KrasuskyP at FirstInterBank.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 11:16 AM
To: 'Charlie Smith'
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: RE: [s-cars] OE wheels, 993 calipers, and road sand

Hmmm...  similar but different, someone else (Pizzo?) suggested possibly
adhering some of that fancy headlight / hood edge clear protectant to the
cals.  Thoughts?

It was 20F all the way from OH to FL?  Yes, that counts!

Paul "I fart in your gen-er-al di-rect-ion" K.

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie Smith [mailto:charlie at elektro.cmhnet.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 11:03 AM
To: KrasuskyP at FirstInterBank.com
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com; charlie at elektro.cmhnet.org
Subject: Re: [s-cars] OE wheels, 993 calipers, and road sand

Earlier, Paul Krasusky wrote:
>
> Morning-
>
> While it's snowed 3x here in sunny CT thus far, I've yet to install and
> enjoy my Pizzotron Industries 16" Snowsports.  News flash:  255/40/YR17s
are
> a tad greasy in the white stuff.  Duh.

  [   ...   ]

> SOOOoooo...  any more BTDT's from you all???  Will fitting the 16x8s be
the
> demise of my caliper paint here in sunny CT (where they seemingly sift our
> road sand with chainlink fence rather than a fine screen!)???
>
> Any thoughts appreciated.  Or indecent personal attacks, sans vulgarities
of
> course...

Lessee.  How about if you cover your shiny calipers with a thin coat of
tar or some such (just for the winter)?  That could protect the paint
if done right.  Or maybe that rubber coating they sell for plier handles?

Then you could use your Pizzotron Industries 16" Snowsports to great effect!

If you won't step up to that, we'll tell you your sister has ugly elbows
while we pass (toluene fortified) gas in your general direction.

    - Charlie

> '95 //S6 slipslidin to work but with purty cals
> '58 TR3A with Bill's 911 and da bears, finally (ever drive with no top nor
> windows nor heat on a <20 degree night?)

Does riding a motorcycle From Ohio to Florida in 20 degree F weather count?

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