^ LOL @ this kid.

5/7/2012 7:12:59 PM

New battery... which required jacking it up and taking off a rear tire.


Also checked the A/C which has been blowing warm, appears to be a stuck expansion valve (open). It is really tough to get to, so I will be taking it to the dealership soon.

5/10/2012 10:55:21 AM

Enlisted the 2 wheeler up for June 30 VIR-South Track days.

Cleaned it up with some:



Now it's purrdy and smells good. yum!

[Edited on May 10, 2012 at 7:53 PM. Reason : .]

5/10/2012 7:51:35 PM

began teardown for engine build

5/11/2012 10:20:48 PM

tonight.. got the engine pulled, accesories and everything off, removed head.

5/13/2012 1:19:37 AM

^^what car is that?

5/14/2012 7:51:09 AM

looks like an audi a4

I know lil 4 banger turbo

[Edited on May 14, 2012 at 7:53 AM. Reason : .]

5/14/2012 7:52:44 AM

a rwd a4?

5/14/2012 9:35:38 AM

quattro son.

but even the non-quattro are longitudinal mount FWD i think.


[Edited on May 14, 2012 at 9:47 AM. Reason : .]

5/14/2012 9:46:40 AM

1998 audi a4 1.8t quattro

all a4s and b5 passats are longitudinally mounted, both fwd and awd

current project:
upgrade connecting rods

and with that comes:
new main/rod bearings
balance rotating assembly
new timing belt/tensioner/water pump/thermostat
new rings
new gaskets/seals
supertech inconel exhaust valves
new valve guides/seals
resurface block deck/head, hone cylinders, etc
new clutch - south bend stage 3 (rated 400 torque)
etc

hope to have all this stuff done before memorial day weekend (going out of town this weekend to a vw/audi show in georgia)

after that i'll be upgrading the fuel pump and doing the ICM delete (switching harness and coil-on-plug units to the later style with built-in ICM)

then i have to get a 2871R CHRA, 440cc green giants, and some other misc things like gaskets and oil/coolant lines.

400bhp/300whp is the goal.
daily driven 1.8t

Hope to get the block torn down and the cams out of the head tonight and drop the block/head off at the machine shop tomorrow morning.

[Edited on May 14, 2012 at 12:18 PM. Reason : .]

5/14/2012 12:10:23 PM

the pics i was too lazy to post saturday

5/14/2012 12:16:35 PM

race ya for a sundrop

do yall have anyone that can do e85 tunes?

COMPLETELY worth it. It helps the 2871 keep from choking its own turbine.
Seriously worth 30whp on that turbo.




[Edited on May 14, 2012 at 12:32 PM. Reason : .]

5/14/2012 12:30:13 PM

i rotated the tires today and noticed that my 1.5 year old front control arm bushings were torn. to make matters worse, i finally cleaned out my garage this weekend and threw away the old control arms thinking that the new bushings would last until i got a different car. (the trash was picked like 4 hour prior to me realizing they were torn) so rather than swapping out bushings on an extra set at my leisure, i've gotta deal with some downtime whenever i decide to do the repair. first world car problem.

5/17/2012 11:06:33 PM

^^^nice work Kevin!

sorry man, that's annoying as shit

Any of you guys use Plexus plastic cleaner on your bikes or cars? I mentioned yesterday to my auto detailer that after track events it is a major bitch cleaning tire rubber smears off of the clear bra on the front of my car and he said to spray the whole bra down with Plexus before the track event. He said if I do that the stuff will easily wipe off.



[Edited on May 18, 2012 at 8:09 AM. Reason : g]

5/18/2012 7:59:09 AM

on my s13, i'm replacing the LCAs, tension rods, knuckles, tie rods, and steering rack bushings with new/modified stuff, and upgrading to bigger q45 brakes. aiming for roll center correction, reduced bump steer, increased full lock angle, reduced steering overcentering, and general badassery of having nice heim/spherical joints everywhere instead of sloppy rubber bushings and worn out ball joints.

on dad's s14, i just finished swapping out his old diff for a nice low-mileage j30 LSD.



[Edited on May 18, 2012 at 10:29 AM. Reason : .]

5/18/2012 10:20:04 AM

lol, you use Instagram for that pic?

5/18/2012 12:28:54 PM

my bad, when i was posting i realized the only pic i got with both cars in the shot was that instagram'd one, haha

all finished up now, i'll get some normal pictures tomorrow maybe.

5/18/2012 9:21:09 PM

rerouted my exhaust

5/19/2012 8:37:58 PM

You can put whatever you want on the clear bra as long as it isnt petroleum based.

5/20/2012 9:36:51 AM

What I'm doing in the next 2-3 weeks: replacing my sound system.

Swapping in 2 sets of Infinity Kappa component speakers. Bypassing my stock amp and getting a Alpine PDX-V9 1000w 5-channel amp. Adding a 10" slim fit Alpine type R sub with a custom box I'm going to build that'll fit where my current HK 6x9 "subs" go. And because my stock head unit appears to be giving me issues with my aux setup, I'm probably going to drop in a new head unit (I think a Kenwood unit is in the lead right now)

I think I priced it all at around 1600, lets see if it's worth it.

5/20/2012 11:58:22 AM

broke it

5/21/2012 12:23:53 AM

Quote :

"You can put whatever you want on the clear bra as long as it isnt petroleum based."

Cool. I was mostly just mentioning that plastic clearer b/c rubber smears are such a bitch to remove after the fact

5/21/2012 8:19:04 AM

What have I done to my vehicle lately? I traded it in and got this:



Now I need an NC State license plate...

5/21/2012 2:14:19 PM

My brother helped me with some vehicle color change.
BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

5/21/2012 8:42:35 PM

Nice pickup!!

5/21/2012 9:58:06 PM

^^the angle from before shows nothing of the angle used for during and after

5/21/2012 11:24:56 PM

^^ thanks!

^i know. I was just illustrating the color difference. We forgot to take a before picture so I dug that old one out.

5/22/2012 12:32:44 AM

put a naked headlight on it.

5/22/2012 1:18:37 PM

nice color

reminds me of another bike I sold a guy one cold november morning in 2005.....

5/22/2012 2:50:50 PM

picked up the engine pieces from the machine shop today.. reassembly should begin this evening.

5/22/2012 3:19:53 PM

thanks for the compliment..man... that was 2005..that bike still has me stuck on v-twin's. The Sv is the new cult hawk.

that hawk was so bad ass. I should have never tried to jump that ditch with it evil kinieval style

5/22/2012 3:47:29 PM

yeah man

5/22/2012 4:08:49 PM

Put a bed liner in the truck with Rust-Oleum truck bed coating. If you plan to do this and have any questions let me know. I have a few points of advice that may be helpful.

5/25/2012 10:21:27 AM

I wasn't sure where to put these (short of creating a new thread) but here's a '76 CJ-5 that was recently given to my wife and I by her aunt and uncle. It's got the usual rust in the floorboards and underneath, but overall it's in good shape for a 36 year old vehicle that been outdoors all its life. We're excited about restoring it and making some upgrades here and there. Should be a fun project!












Any suggestions on where to start (other than repairing the rusted floor and sealing it) would be much appreciated, as I'm not all that familiar with Jeeps other than what I've read on the internet.

5/26/2012 7:33:58 PM

Best bet on a Jeep is to fix what you need to be able to drive it. Then decide is this just a cruise around town jeep, a drive to the beach jeep or something you can take off roading.

5/27/2012 11:37:36 AM

Have tentatively sold my 06 A6 Avant and tentatively bought an 02 s2000...eeek, dont bail on me now!

5/31/2012 9:13:44 PM

Detailed the IS250. Nothing special.

5/31/2012 9:23:09 PM

started attaching crap to the block (engine mount bracket, breather, oil filter flange), which now has the crank, rods, pistons installed. waiting on some hardware before i install the oil pump, front crank seal, crank sprocket, timing belt, etc.

also got the cylinder head assembled. should all go together in the next few days.

in the mean time i am going to clean up the rest of the brackets and wash the engine bay.

you can see pics/specs here:
http://apex-tuning.com/projects/1998-audi-a4-1-8tq/

or here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150719620268279.421821.291482448278&type=3

5/31/2012 10:10:32 PM

^^^tentatively, welcome to the club!

6/1/2012 8:15:21 AM

Fuck tirerack. Need to get my shit inspected but its going to take them a month to get my tires to me

Looks like I'll be putting cheap ass used tires on the back for the time being...the s will hate me.

6/3/2012 10:57:55 PM

discount tire >>> tirerack

6/4/2012 7:44:48 AM

i got to DT and have them Match TR prices.

and they used to charge less for installation because you still ordered the tires from them i don't know if they still do.

6/4/2012 7:57:10 AM

^^Tirerack's selection is better...

But I use Discount Tire for my tire installation and balancing

6/4/2012 8:24:07 AM

discount tire doesn't carry this tire

guy down the road from my work managed to get them for cheaper than tireack including installation, though

[Edited on June 4, 2012 at 5:01 PM. Reason : ]

6/4/2012 5:00:23 PM

I had some 3M paint protection pieces put on my trunklid and the top center of my hood over the weekend. Now I can suction cup my GoPro camera to my car with reckless abandon and not worry about scratching the paint at all

6/5/2012 8:48:29 AM

I need to see the videos that come out of that

6/5/2012 10:08:15 PM

today i bolted the cylinder head to the bottom end and put the timing belt on. also tried to organize a bit. hope to get some of the brackets/accesories/manifolds bolted up tomorrow, but i still need to clean a bunch of stuff. hoping to bolt the drivetrain back in this weekend, but i have a lot of stuff that needs to get done before that.

[Edited on June 6, 2012 at 12:45 AM. Reason : .]

6/6/2012 12:45:01 AM

stock cams or??

i know the 5 valve motors can breath well... but don't usually stock. (mostly because why have a great breathing head when you have a turbo that chokes at ~200whp

[Edited on June 6, 2012 at 7:47 AM. Reason : .]

6/6/2012 7:46:49 AM

Yeah, this is going to be a fun afternoon.

6/6/2012 1:22:54 PM

AC vacuumed and recharged. Nice to have cold air...

6/6/2012 3:12:33 PM