The Project Pad

WINNING, nice work man!

Get some helper springs cause I think it will still make noise when the spring is not compressed.

Awesome job Dan!

Thanks guys. Test drive confirmed no more noise over bumps form the right or left front supsension.
I might look into helper springs in the future. I remember reading in a post that possibly Ground Control reccomended not using helper springs with their setup. I guess I can call them or go visit them and see if there is any truth to that.

Could have been from all the burritos you had with you

If eating burritos would fix every problem this car has then I'd probably weight 300 lbs, but my 4k would be mint. LOL

Well, as everyone already knows the Tahoe run was a success and all went well for everyone. Today i decided to wash my car and clean off all the bugs and road grime from the 400 or so miles I drove. While cleaning the RR wheel I noticed to caliper didnt look right...




Turns out the top bolt must have been loose and I missed it when i check the bolts under that car a few weeks ago somehow and it fell out. The bottom bolt was barely loose. I also checked the other side while I had the car jacked up and it was fine.

Also decided to look into the exhaust leak i was hearing after getting close to Tahoe...





The weld on the aluminun side of the 3" Vband decided to come off. Going to pull the exhaust tomorrow and have the local welder take care of that so it will be done. Not sure if this explains the exhast "tick" that i started hearing once we got into Truckee but its a start. The ticking sounded more like a manifold leak.

So caliper fixed, exhaust will get fixed. Then I get to pull the rear struts out and check the castle nuts that hold the mount to the shock, being that the front were loose i bet the rears are loose too. Good thing I finally bought the right tool for that.

Sounds like this was a good shakedown for the trip to Vegas in October ;o)

Ha, Derek keeps trying to talk me into that too.

man, such shoddy workmanship. You should send that thing back to whomever built it and demand they keep it until it's fixed right.

Not bad for it's first real run.

Glad that caliper stayed on.

I can't wait to see that thing with some boost!

Glad you made it back safely since we were playing around a little bit. At least there weren't any other real issues. Looking forward to the updates.

That weld looks like garbage; I'd stay FAR away from that welder in the future, as the undercut and porosity are likely culprits for failure. Welds are SUPPOSED to be stronger than the parent material.

Cool trip though. In for Tahoe vids!

Derek, i'll just send the whole car up and you keep it until all the bugs are worked out and everything is 100 percent finished and it has two turbos and about 15 lbs of boost:D
I'm currently searching for the reciept from when I purchased that exhaust :slap: LOL! But really its not a huge deal. I'll get it re-welded and move on. I expect things like this to happen since it is all custom and who are we kidding...its an audi.

Dan, not bad for sure. I was prepared for worse. Had tools, Spare tire from Dereks alpine car(hope you dont mind Derek ) and a tow strap if a flat tow is what it came down to. Boost would be expecially great for high altitude drive like that, I bet i was down atleast about 50 hp up there and the car felt slow.

Sam, Thanks. I'm glad you made it back safe too along with Drew and Dan. I'm guessing since i didnt get any SOS calls/texts or have one of you drive back to my house everything went great on your drive home too. Good testiment to the reliability of a high mileage yet well maintained B5 S4. You should make a thread on here for that car as im sure everyone including myself would be interested in watching its evolution from stock DD to whatever you guys have planned for it.

PRY4SNO, is 600 miles far enough away? LOL. Not everything can be perect and we were in a small rush to get that exhaust done so its not perfect but pretty close. I dont think it was the welders fault. I blame Obama. LOL

Really Dan, I think the Tea Party is to blame for the broken weld...

ringbearer wrote:Really Dan, I think the Tea Party is to blame for the broken weld...

Can you define the word "weld"?

Eric

After seeing the exhaust in person I have to say I was pretty damn impressed with it. Okay so a weld failed (and Dan called it as soon as it happened.... he was on it lol) but I see some real potential in that exhaust for sure.... it sounds amazing too. I am sure if it is re welded it will be good to go.

LOL @ Dan and Eric. You gotta blame someone, right? I just took the high road and blamed our super awesome President.
It will get re-welded and will be back to normal. I need to go pull it now and take it in so it will be ready tomorrow to go back on. A revised rear section with a muffler is something that I need to get going on to bring the Db level down a bit and get rid of the horrible snarl on decel. It just needs a little back pressure created by a muffler at the end of the exhaust instead of a restrictor inserted into the flex pipe. Glad you like it Mike.

Glad you got her fixed up man! Now lock-tite those stinkin caliper bolts I can't wait to see this beast again and go for an actual ride in it!

Ben, you werent supposed to post about me fixing the exhaust until I confirm that i've fixed it :slap: So I better annouce it.
Exhaust fixed! Took it to the local welder/fab shop down the street and had em weld the v-band flange back on and then I threw it all back together. Weird thing is the exhaust "tick" that sounded like it was coming from the right manifold is gone. Oh well, just one less thing to worry about I guess. And yeah, gonna put some blue loctite on all the brake bolts so nothing like that happens again hopefully. I'd post a pic of the exhasut but it looks identicle to how it did before, so nothing really to see here.

Glad it's fixed.

Hang a big flag off the back and go cruise with the local boys today for fun, it's a 4x4 right

40v4kq wrote:Ben, you werent supposed to post about me fixing the exhaust until I confirm that i've fixed it :slap: So I better annouce it.
Exhaust fixed! Took it to the local welder/fab shop down the street and had em weld the v-band flange back on and then I threw it all back together. Weird thing is the exhaust "tick" that sounded like it was coming from the right manifold is gone. Oh well, just one less thing to worry about I guess. And yeah, gonna put some blue loctite on all the brake bolts so nothing like that happens again hopefully. I'd post a pic of the exhasut but it looks identicle to how it did before, so nothing really to see here.

DOH! I'm sorry!

40v4kq wrote:Ben, you werent supposed to post about me fixing the exhaust until I confirm that i've fixed it :slap: So I better annouce it.
Exhaust fixed! Took it to the local welder/fab shop down the street and had em weld the v-band flange back on and then I threw it all back together. Weird thing is the exhaust "tick" that sounded like it was coming from the right manifold is gone. Oh well, just one less thing to worry about I guess. And yeah, gonna put some blue loctite on all the brake bolts so nothing like that happens again hopefully. I'd post a pic of the exhasut but it looks identicle to how it did before, so nothing really to see here.

DOH! I'm sorry!

LOL. its alright Ben. I'm looing forward to Derracuda's next post/update. *SPOILER ALERT* Its gonna be a "fast" one.

40v4kq wrote:LOL. its alright Ben. I'm looing forward to Derracuda's next post/update. *SPOILER ALERT* Its gonna be a "fast" one.

I heard.