Jretal

well what weekend of car work would be complete without sitting down and giving a report with TONS of pictures!!!

So there were a few little odds and ends that needed to get buttoned up before I got all the turbo stuff buttoned up, one of which was to get the coolant fan running. When I did the initial break in, we actually hotwired the fan to run at all times since I wasn't 100% on how to hook up the sensor (the old radiator that was stolen ahd a 2 prong sensor, the new one has a 3 prong). So after some asking around, Frank (Katman) was able to help me out and come up with a solid idea... since all it is is a trigger, and I wasn't sure which side was the high and which was the low (since the 4000 fan has only one speed), I made a pig tail to run between the high and low triggers, and then a ground...

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61296-2/IMG_2349.jpg">

and installed it looks like so:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61302-2/IMG_2351.jpg">

Next, I needed a way to tie down the hood without going the whole speaker wire rig that I initially did when I broke in the motor :-P

After thinking a bit and a trip to the hardware store (and $5 later) here's what I came up with (with some inspiration from someone on motorgeek)

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61299-2/IMG_2350.jpg">

works perfectly, and after the considerable amount of metal I added to that little cross clip to make it stronger, I'm pretty confident this will hold the hood down temporarily if for some reason it does become unlatched

Next on the list was to mess with some more electronics... and I just loooove messing with electronics &lt;bangs head on desk&gt;

The plug on my headlight switch is melted, and hence I have to wiggle the switch to make certain lights come on (mainly interior, but the parking lights were a bit tempermental as well). Also, my driver's side parking lights aren't coming on because there is a short in the system somewhere. Not 100% where yet, but I'll figure that one (didn't have a chance to diagnose that this weekend unfortunately). I was able to get the passenger's side working via relaying the plug like so:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61305-2/IMG_2353.jpg">

so I was able to at least take the car for a jaunt at night and do some more non-boosted shake down.

Unfortunately, during that shake down I ran the damn thing out of gas (really need to fix that damn gas gauge! lol)... here's the 'ol girl getting some more life juices into the tank once again:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61308-2/IMG_2354.jpg">

19.5 gallons later, it was full :-X This brought me to friday... when I took it out to finish putting about 50 or so miles on the motor, which allowed me to do what I did this weekend. I def got some funny looks as I drove around with the headlight missing and a giant cone filter sticking out the grill area (not to mention it was backfiring like no other when coasting in gear due to the extremely rich conditions of the current tune)

And this weekend I was one busy s.o.b...

Since it was absolutely gorgeous outside I figured I'd roll the 'ol girl out of the garage and work in the sun for a bit... so out she rolled and I put the front up on jackstands to give me a little added clearance to install the intercooler and change the oil. Here it is ready to get built up again:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61311-2/IMG_2356.jpg">

On the list to do was:

1) Install Crank case breather recovery tubing so I'm not running an open crank case and covering the engine bay in oil, and not doing nasty things to good 'ol mother nature (BTW, Jim, this is where that smoke was coming from when I fired up the car for you when you were down here)

2) Clean up and paint the new cross member/intercooler support and cut up top section of the front facia

3) hook up the intercooler and associated piping and make it allll fit nicely

For the crank case breather stuff, I decided to run a hose to the mandrel bend where my cone filter is hooked up. This was a pretty easy move in my book, but got the idea from a local guy that's been helping me out with the tuning. Here's the tube w/ the adaptor tapped in:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61314-2/IMG_2359.jpg">

I decided to paint it up since it was just aluminized steel piping, and didn't look overly pretty. A few coats of rustoleum primer and then a few coats of some paint I picked up at the local autozone that was a close match to the existing paint and that's what I got. Came out real nice in my book.

here's with the cone filter attached and the hose mounted up:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61323-2/IMG_2364.jpg">

installed in the car:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61326-2/IMG_2365.jpg">

and how it's hooked up:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61329-2/IMG_2366.jpg">

cross member all painted up:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61320-2/IMG_2363.jpg">

as for getting the intercooler all hooked up, I had already done a very basic mocking up of the hoses, so I figured it wouldn't be too hard of a task to get it all to fit together once again. For the most part, I was right... but it still took me a while to get it all together.

Right off the bat, I needed to get the BOV mounted up. Issue with this was that the flange I had the guy weld to the tube got a little warped during the welding, and also he burned through a few spots and filled it which resulted in pits and high spots. This would not seal right w/o a doubt... so right off the bat, I went to leveling the mounting surface for the BOV:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61317-2/IMG_2362.jpg">

Slathered a layer of bondo onto the mounting surface, then proceeded to grind it on a piece of sandpaper on a flat/level surface. This allowed me to deck the flange so to speak, and create a uniformly flat surface. There was next to no bondo left by the time I was done... and here's the BOV all mounted up:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61332-2/IMG_2367.jpg">

and after some fighting, twisting, and tweaking... here it is installed in the car:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61335-2/IMG_2368.jpg">

fit quite nicely in there... almost like it was meant to be there

then came the rest of the fitting. Like I said before, I pretty much had all this together once before, so it was just a matter of doing some final tweaking...

here's what the tubes look like:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61338-2/IMG_2369.jpg">

and here's the car all together once again:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61341-2/IMG_2373.jpg">

and with the hood shut:

<img src="http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB2/gallery2/d/61344-2/IMG_2374.jpg">

overall this took me around 4-5 hours I think (and i got the insane sunburn on my shoulders to prove it... ugh). I def took my good 'ol time doing it just because I wanted everything to fit nice and cleanly. I was even able to take the car for a spin up and down the street! It's boosting ~6psi according to my boost gauges, so that's right about where it should be I think (given' the minimal cranking I did on the bolt in my wastegate). I want to keep the boost low for the time being just so I can get 1000 miles or so. Then I will hook up my elec boost controller and start upping the boost (18-25psi me thinks ).

I wasn't able to get it tuned this weekend, but maybe if my buddy can free up some time, he and I will be able to tune it. Hopefully this week, but if not it'll wait till after easter weekend.

Overall, I'm VERY excited about this. Everything is finally coming to a close, and I'm really hyped. It was great to lay into the car a little bit and get it into the boost! It has some get up and go (at least over the NA setup I had going before). It's far from fast, but the tune is far from optimal right now. I have it runnign rich as a pig at idle (10.4:1 or so) and it's getting a bit lean when on throttle (close to 15:1 at part throttle), so there is def tuning that needs to be done before I can start really laying into it... but it's still a great feeling to start the car (without jumping it) and pulling it out of the garage under its own power (and not pulling/pushing it by hand)...

so hopefully in the next few weeks I can get this thing to the point where it will pass inspection (get parking lights 100% and it's there) and 100% streetable (get an alignment since it's fubar'd and get it tuned properly)... and then I will be REALLY :-D 8)

that's it for now, hope ya enjoyed the show!

Nogaro Nitwit

Looking good. Keep up the good work!

MrHydeA4

Nice!

exS4||wp0ZZZ

congrats. that looks like fun.

4Rings::G2 boosted::

after it took me over 6 hours to get my two intercooler pipes welded up and ground down to where they didn't have any leaks. It's a lot harder then it seems... or maybe I'm just making it a lot harder :P

absolutcq20v

...are your running your headlights w/ relays, to save the switch? BTDT on my previous 3 Audis.

Lookin good! Can I borrow your engine hoist? :P

Jretal

i've gotten significantly better laying a good bead when welding stuff, but still make a mess that needs to be ground down a good amount of the time. It's all about getting the bead to form and carrying it along. Sometimes I am able to make one that looks "pro" and others like a 6 yr old went at it...

That coolant pipe I welded together I could never get to seal correctly, even after repeated grinding and rewelding attempts. It'd be a helluva lot easier with a tig welder (more control of heat, etc etc), but what have ya.

Jretal

trying to keep this as sleeper as possible. And with the modifications I made, i'm able to retain all the stock mounting stuff on the hood, and just needed a safety catch. that cable will be able to with hold to the shock if the hood popped up.

And yes, I'm planning on installing relays for the headlights. That's next on the list. I actually need to do it on the pass side especially because the wires aren't long enough after routing them down the new front cross member... lol. Oops. So yeah, that's the next step to get those done, and I have to redo some of the wiring on the behind the dash relay for the headlight switch... the relay i pictured in my post was for the parking lights, because the are powered directly from the light switch, which is why they melt so often.

As for the engine hoist, if I owned one you sure could borrow it! But alas, I rented one from a local rental place. I do have an engine stand you can borrow if you need it though, but it was only $40 from harbor freight, so nothing fancy.

absolutcq20v

WRT the headlight switches...I'm amazed it took Audi so long to figure out running ALL the amps through the relatively high-resistance switch was a bad idea. :P

Oh, If all you need is a safety catch..then cable will do!

Jretal

and yeah, audi wasn't the sharpest tack in teh box with that wiring setup. My plug is def melted from it, though the switch *seems* to be intact. I swapped out the switch for a known good one, so it's just a matter of removing all the draw from the switch and I'll be good again... need to clip and combine 2 more wires and I'm there... then I need to hunt down and figure out why the damn driver's side parking lights won't light up... grrrrr