The Project Pad

chaloux wrote:
I'm wondering if I should put Aaron's tune in before the trip down to Carlisle... Hmmm.

I would,... for the mpg's alone... the added power is a bonus...

Good call ^^^

Glad to see things are shaping up. Sounds like a really fun car which is why I've always been interested in them.

Well dang it





It's either the water pump or thermostat cover. Waiting for parts :cry:

My god mate, that is one scary picture. Good luck

Timing belt is finally done. I had to wait until today because the locking tool was a different order than the belt itself. Just a PSA: chalk does not a good timing mark make.

At least now I know it was done, and done 100% right. And the thermostat and cover, and a major front end clean up/degrease.

The only things I have to do are a front upper front control arm (yes, I wrote front twice) and a rear bag. Once the control arm comes in I'll do them both. This car had better be dead nuts reliable for at least a little while.

Damn, what an ordeal. I tried leveling my suspension today after some suspension work. First of all, I assumed the rear driver's side bag was leaking because if I left it at level 2 or lower, the car would lower overnight. I've had the Arnott GenI bag for a few months and finally had time to do it today. Install went fine. Also did the driver's front upper front control arm.

Got it home and proceeded to follow the 402 mod procedure. This is where it got frustrating. I probably ran through it 20 times. Sometimes it would change, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes when I changed one corner alone, a different corner would change. I wrote everything down as I went to make sure I know where it was. I had to raise the rear driver's side bag 80mm. Yes. 80mm. For it to translate to about 15-20mm of lift. DAFQ. This was seriously frustrating.

Then half the time once I was done and exited, it would adjust as expected. But then like 20 seconds later it would adjust again. Then I'd have to run around and measure again. I tried to be thorough and measure only once it was "done" it's BS. I think I've got it now. They're all within 1/8". PIMA

I think I ended up lifting the front driver, rear driver, and rear pass, and lowering the front pass. Someone MUST have screwed with this before, no? Perhaps I need new sensors or they read differently... I don't know.

On another note, the headlights are now super shiny and clean. Yay. Unfortunately I still have a code for improbably cam signal so I guess I gotta pull the valve cover and count links. Owell. Car is running just great with the conservative 14-15psi Stuklr tune.

Wahoo, finally found some time to change out the cruise stalk. The old one was incredibly hard to push the signals and it was very "clicky"

I think the big main connector on the back was simply unplugged. I'm still glad that I did it though even to have a much better feeling signal and high beam stalk. So finally the cruise works!

The only things to do now is fix the small bits of rust on the outside (appointment booked for some time in the fall. Needs to be done before winter!), and fix the two passenger side door switches. And the stupid cam timing code.

Keep chippin away man!

So I took this picture there other day thinking, dang the car looks pretty good in stock form, it just needs some wheels:



Then I find out later that night that it did this to itself:



Damn! I'm now looking for a hatch in Atlas Grey.

How did that happen?

What the? Hit and run?

It rolled 50 feet backwards into a tree. :sad:

You mean a branch broke off a tree in a recent windstorm, and hit the car... right? RIGHT!?! (Act of God coverage carries no fault/no premium increase)

The tree chased it up the hill is what I mean

I'm just glad to see the car is mechanically treating you well, sorry about the dent :|

I'm going to do that 402 adjust tomorrow on my "new" allroad. Level 1 is about level 2 hight, I may have f'ed things up by putting it on the lift without putting it in jack mode...let you know how my morning goes....

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Oh it's such a bitch. So much running around with a tape measurer. Just write every step down! It's very important. Like I said my one corner came up like 80mm or something according to vcds. lol

And yeah it's pretty mechanically sound. I think the turbos might be burning a tiny bit of oil. Or maybe it's just normal oil burn since all the stock pcv stuff is hooked up. Other than that it's great! Just doing dd duty like I wanted it to.

Went well, lowered it 20 mm all around, the rears are nearly 10mm higher, the rake makes the wheel wells look even. Probably lower it another 8-10mm next summer for summer mode.

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UPDATES!!!

Lol. Driving the piss out of it. Still leaks oil after all the seal up work I did, I think it's the exhaust cam seals on both sides. Grrrr. And somewhere on the driver's side turbo. Not enough to leave drops on the driveway but enough to smell. I honestly hate working on this engine.

Other than that it's been great. I just put winters on both cars. The heated steering wheel is tits. I've been thinking of going led headlights.

Oh, and I picked up a parts car for $500. Just haven't had time to pull any parts off of it! Going to use it for the doors and hatch.

Wicked! Is your parts car an A6 or AR?

Allroad. With coilovers! I'll write you back soon. Only bad thing is it's green. Sooooooo green

Finally got some decent wheels for this car. I picked up a set of Fast Hayaku (Volk TE37 reps) in 5x112, et25, 18x9. Also picked up a set of 10mm spacers from the ebays. Should look the business! I'm putting 245/45 tires on if it all works out, we'll see what my tire guy says. Best of all the wheels were $500 CAD. They come with a small bit of curb rash on one of the wheels but other than that they seem pretty mint. A 9" wheel is WIDE!!!

Here are the wheels. Same gunmetal colour... didn't take any of my own pics and dropped them off right away:


Here's a set of 18x9.5 with 245/45, ET30 with 15mm spacer. Not Fast Hayakus, but another TE37 rep. So I'll be 12.5mm narrower wheel, so not stretched. I'd like a nice straight sidewall.



Another to show the profile:


I still have to fix the corrosion on the bottom of the doors (by swapping doors out). A bunch of paint has flaked off, it looks so ghetto :( Especially when combined with the attacked-by-a-tree hatch. Now that it's spring, I'll probably get after that pretty shortly.

Yep









Some fancy pants machining had to happen to make these work with the 10mm spacers. But all is good! I love them.