The Project Pad

Very nice. Beautiful day and beautiful area.

LOL at you Eric. The other day I hit carls jr for luch and there was a guy in the truck next to me. He asked me it had a v8, i said yeah, then he asked me if it was an GM LS motor. He was very suprised to see what was under the hood. He didnt know audi made v8 motors.

Thanks Chris. That was only a few hours ago and now its all overcast with rain clouds. I did it at the perfect time today.

Spent many hours on those roads on motorcycle and roadbike.
Good times.

Thats it.... Im driving up there to bomb this road with you!

that's the less traveled, but not as intense road. The other two ways out of where he started are intenser, and intensest. The intensest route having long long drop offs on one side of the road 8)

Sounds great Dan, can't wait to see/hear more

Next request is rig up a mount for your panasonic camera to sit inside between the front seats, and go up the Cool side of the canyon

@ Repaair. I'ved lived in the area for about 23 years. There are lots of good driving/riding roads around here. If you rode a lot i'm sure you know about Mesquito Ridge Road, Ralston Ridge Road, Wentworth Springs Road, and Salmon falls. All great roads for for a rip... when there isnt traffic.

@JT4K. Come on down anytime. You would double the 4kq population instantly.

@ Derracuda. Yeah, thats the weaksuck of the twistys around here. I didnt even try going from the confluence of to Cool because during the day its guaranteed to be a traffic jam, and I did video going up the Auburn side but there was road work from rock slides and slow slow trucks in front of me. Thats why I did the Foresthill side. As you could see hardly anyone on the that side of the canyon. When the snow is done I wasnt to run Wentworth Springs, its wide, smoothe, and really has some nice scenery with all the lakes and huge trees. I'm thinking race up the the start of the Rubicon, spin some donuts on the slabs, and race back to town.

That right there was pure awesomeness.

Jelly.

That last video was an awesome way to start my day.

Ben, you just need to stop by and check it out for yourself.

PRY4SNO, i just started my day the same way

Since everyone is making requests... one day you need to try out an external mic. It would really do that engine justice!

That was a great video! Love the sound of the V8!!

Chris, and external mic was something i started thinking about a while back. It would be awesome to get inside video with outside audio. I'm gonna look into that now.

Darin, thanks. More to come...its not even summer yet.

Not to be a nerd, but what about cops in that area? No speed cameras?

What is a "cops" and a "speed cameras"?

LOL. Sure, there can be the occasional county sherrif deputy or highway patrolman, but they are few and far inbetween out in the area where I was. Still you have to be on the lookout for the popo. I'm sure they would love to catch me. What I do before I make a fast run is drive through at a normal pace and scout for anything fishy, and if the coast is clear...its game on. The key trick is to knowing where the turnouts are where a cop could be parked and just slow down until you know the coast is clear. The hard part is to keep the fast driving down to a moderate level. I feel like I just robbed a bank and made out every time I get away with a fast run. I'm pretty sure a cop on one side of the canyon can hear me from the other side, but it will take more than luck for him to set chase and catch me.

Oh, and no speed cameras. I believe thay were found to be unlawfull and were all taken down in california. There are only traffic cameras on major roadways.

Wait, what? Speed cameras are UNLAWFUL in CA?

Here the cops don't give a rat's ass. They do have a few speed cameras, but the highest speeding fine is THB900(USD30).
That is for 161kmh+ in a 120 zone. There is no higher fine. Yeah, I know, it's a joke.
Upcountry, you slip the man a 100 baht note and you are on your way.

One of the reasons why there are 25,000 traffic fatalities per year on a population of 66 million.

Yeah, according to california law, photogenic speed cameras are illegal to have anywhere besides an intersection...which means they can only be at intersections to catch redlight runners, and cannot be out on highways and freeways. But it could change one of these years. I was talking with my buddy that has a Ford GT(supercar, not mustang) and he told me he has a friend that got a ticket doing a little over 100mph and it cost 1800 bucks...OUCH!!!

Finally got around to wiring up the intake manifold actuators. Wired them up the two of the four stepper outputs from the VEMS using the steppers inverted so they ground when activated and wired the power side to key on +.
Gave Marc a call and we went over everything to make sure it was right and now they are working. After reviewing some videos that extreme90path made for me of his 4.2 in action I can see that I have them backwards, but it no big deal. I just need to go in and switch the programming around from stepper A to stepper B and visa versa. The first stage actuates just off of idle and the second stage is set to actuate at 4k RPM.


Link to video

Went out to the car and switch the programming around so now they do opperate in the proper sequence.
Almost forgot to mention I ordered up the LCD display from Marc too. Hope to get that sometime next week then I get to figure out where to mount it.

So how does it drive?!!?!?!?! Interesting to hear your thoughts on power before/after getting the actuators working 8)

WOMBAT wrote:So how does it drive?!!?!?!?! Interesting to hear your thoughts on power before/after getting the actuators working 8)

Well, It feels like there is more midrange power/torque now. No difference in the top end since without the acutators adding vacuum to the dash pots the intake is in high RPM mode by default. I made a log the other day when I went to the store and now it is waaaay lean in the middle of the RPM range so I made some changes to the VE table and now I need to go upload the new config and see how it is. After I get this sorted I need to hook up and configure the VVT to get the most out of the motor. Then Marc gets to try his hand at tuning this beast over the interwebs

NICE WORK DAN! Here you are playing with your V8, I am stuck fiddle farting around with trying to get my engine back together.

Yep, been playing around and got caught by the popo when I wasnt even trying to drive fast. Was looking down at my laptop and didnt notice my speed had gone up and got caught doing 10 over...65 in a 55. It will be a small fine and I"ll have to do traffic school to keep the point off my record but its not really a big deal. I dont blame it on the car either since I almost alwasy drive that fast there in any of my vehicles, it was just poor timing i guess, and circumstance.

That sucks man.... Silver minivan you would have been okay.... Red Audi with V8 conversion well.... I am sure that didnt help.

So the 5-0 did not accept your excuse that you where tuning your ride and had your eyes on the comp?

ChrisAudi80 wrote:So the 5-0 did not accept your excuse that you where tuning your ride and had your eyes on the comp?

Exactly. And trust me, that was my exact story and it wasnt a lie. First time I've been honest to a cop and it didnt pay off. I should have lied to him about a bee in the car or something stupid like that. LOL.