What did you do to your car today?

Installed my PD150 intake today. Good stuff!

You guys and your colorful trees and those things you call seasons.... lol

We have three types of weather in Houston or (south TX):

1) hot and humid (spring/fall), 2) very hot and humid (summer), and 3) Cool (winter if you can call it that)...

Anyway thanks for the pics!

As for what I did to my car today.... well I drove it that counts right? oooohhh ok, after I leave work Im going home to put on one of these (Leather MFSW) on my car :

Yesterday...

Pulled the valve cover to inspect the cam, lifters and journals. Looks OK.

Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ibanix/TDICamshaft

K&B finished up the exhaust install on my A3. No muffler, because it hadn't shown in time. Here's a view from the rear wheels looking back.

It's 2" turbo to tail, no CAT, nothing. It's pretty loud. Not bad if you baby it or cruise, but if you get on it it sounds like an angry little Cummins. And it pulls much, much better, very much like the improvement I saw in the B4. Runs less boost on the highway, boost builds much, much faster, and it doesn't smoke--at all. I dropped the IQ from 4.0 to 3.0 and still only a very light haze at WOT.

It's getting its 'after' dyno tomorrow. And the muffler showed up today, I think it's going on next week. Although it's a kick to drive, it's kind of anti-social.

SBAtdijetta said:

You guys and your colorful trees and those things you call seasons.... lol

We have three types of weather in Houston or (south TX):

1) hot and humid (spring/fall), 2) very hot and humid (summer), and 3) Cool (winter if you can call it that)...

Anyway thanks for the pics!

As for what I did to my car today.... well I drove it that counts right? oooohhh ok, after I leave work Im going home to put on one of these (Leather MFSW) on my car :

Click to expand...

I miss the colorful CT seasons (I am a native) . Now in Texas, of couse, the weather is like stated above EXCEPT you forgot to mention the torrential gully-washer rains and mothers of all *storms*!

As for what I am doing to my car today? I drove to Poplar, Mo to be at the Old Navy GTG and maybe install my heated seat harness and dash switches (tomorrow).

Re-installed the lower control arms with the new bushings installed. Not a bad job at all. Paid too much for a local shop to press in the bushings. Next time I'm doing it myself .

Had the wheels off waiting for the correct swaybar bushings, so I did the front brakes. Looking forward to no more warped rotor brake feel.

Tomorrow is swaybar bushings and the strut bearings (if I can get a friend to help out a little).

JP

aja8888 said:

I miss the colorful CT seasons (I am a native) .

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Me too! Moved from north-west CT to CA four years ago, still miss it in the falls.

New tires today: General Altimax HPs. Seem pretty nice, but I only put 15 miles on them today.

I did a ventectomy and advanced my timing. My car is running much better now

PD RC4 tune

just got home from driving 7 hours and got PD RC4 tune, I'm so happy that I want to go outside and drive some more

I really need a LSD now

Yeah, drive down to FL, I wanna drive your car too! LOL. I take it everything is going well with the swap then? No issues?

delvi__acevedo said:

I'm so happy that I want to go outside and drive some more

I really need a LSD now

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Your poor wife!

Glad it worked out for you delvi.

BrianCT

Farfromovin said:

Yeah, drive down to FL, I wanna drive your car too! LOL. I take it everything is going well with the swap then? No issues?

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everything is good no issues, exept lots of wheel spin.....

Well, if I had to pick a problem to have, I think wheelspin would rank right up there in my top choices.

BrianCT said:

Your poor wife!

Glad it worked out for you delvi.

BrianCT

Click to expand...

thakyou Brian!!

Delvi, you MUST get a DIFF!

Fixed my botched .681 5th gear change.

So far so good!

IBW's Track to Street Changeover

I got IBW up in the air last night and today pulled the brakes, springs, and struts.

I had yellowstuff brake pads on it for track use, and 700 lb. front springs and 550 rear springs with Koni coilovers. Needless to say, it rode a bit rough on the street.

The rotors were pretty new so I painted the part that rusts right away so they would look better through the wheels. These are Hudson rotors, which have stood up well on the track. And in true shoemaker's children form, I'm using pads left over from George's brake upgrade. What the heck, they're TRWs, barely worn. And the price was right.

Here are the rear springs that came out, with the street ones in place. They're supposed to be about 190 lb., not a lot stiffer than stock wagon springs.

And here are the stock front wagon springs, with the 700 lb springs (red) and the Koni coilover springs (about 350 lb.)

I raised the spring seat on the stuts a bit over an inch, and I'll have to wait and see where it sits. I'm aiming for close to stock ride height in front, and keeping the car nearly level. I've been happy with the Koni coilovers, which ride very well considering how firm the springs were. I'm looking forward to being able to fine tune the rear ride height along with front damping adjustment.

Brakes will go back on tonight. I need a driver's side inner fender and a right side engine cover. Then it will be buttoned up and ready for winter.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Brakes will go back on tonight. I need a driver's side inner fender and a right side engine cover. Then it will be buttoned up and ready for winter.

Click to expand...

I think I some how have an extra side skirt. . need to check which side. . I think drivers.

its yours if you want.

and I put a new fuel filter in today. . (the one I bought months ago) and checked the case pressure relief valve.

(Yesterday) Picked up the correct 21mm swaybar bushings and installed them. Took it for a test drive - no more clunking! I can tell the difference with the LCA bushings too. Much tighter feel.

However I did have an annoying squeak over rough pavement, more noticeable when off the throttle. Seemed to go away when on the throttle. It had been present before, noticeable on cold start with the car sitting motionless, but I didn't notice it as much while driving previously as I did on the test drive.

I drove the car on a 75 mile round trip drive today and no noise. Outdoor temp and humidity were pretty much the same as yesterday. Hmmm...

JP

..finished today,
timing belt kit with water/pump-t.stat
changed coolant -and oil
replaced intermediate shaft seal
harmonic dampener pulley
idler tensoner pulley

drove it.

Pre-2003 Injector No. 3 Adapter Update

Yesterday I completed the install of my spare injector cores with PP520 and I am very excited to go try the added power.





I used my nifty adapter and connect the Pre-2003 No 3 Injector to the 2003 connector.






However after I put the new injectors in; took it out for a spin and hoping to burn some rubber but ...... instead .... my car became a total dog.

It was like total limp mode ...... could not even get up to 80... and it took forever to get up to 60...... What a dog!

I had the nozzles professionally installed by a local Bosch shop who pop tested them and cleaned them. So I do not think it's the injectors.

I think it must be the adapter that did not work correctly? maybe it was not sending any signal back to the ECU or something? Boost was fine but zero power. Any thoughts?

Anyway I took the PP520 Pre-2003 cores out of the car and put my original 2003 cores with the Bosch 205's back in and the zip is back

I bought some 03 cores and they are on their way .... and this should put an end to my problem.

P

What did you botch? and how did you fix it?

mtltdi said:

Fixed my botched .681 5th gear change.

So far so good!

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TornadoRed said:

2.5" downpipe installed today, with straight pipe where the cat used to be, then the stock exhaust until I can figure out what to do next.
Lots more turbo whistle, along with faster revving I think. No EGT gauge, so don't know if EGT's are lower. Looking forward to a road trip this weekend, to see what is going on with fuel mileage.

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Road trip was to Old Navy's fall GTG. Down and back got 49.36 mpg, third best mileage ever and best since summer 2005. Not bad for an ALH modded to approximately 150 hp and 250 ft/lb.

Turbo whistles ALL the time, even at idle. I like it now, hope I don't ever get tired of it. ("It's just the turbo")

I wonder if the DG Panzer skidplate I installed (with MoGolf's help) at the GTG will improve airflow under the engine.

Old Navy GTG

Saturday: Attended the Old Navy GTG and met a lot of nice folks . Got 44+ up there and 47 MPG back (best tank ever - 700.44 miles). Not too shabby for an 01M slushbox. Mileage was accurate as I fill to within 2" of the brim and calcluate by pen and paper. Driving conditions were great (low humidity and temperature, no A/C use, cruise between 60 - 70, light traffic, three coffee and whiz stops in the 10 hour drive to Texas.

Today - washed the bugs of the nose.

I replaced all four glow plugs and the four-wire harness.

My CEL was intermittent so time will tell if it cures it. The harness that came off seemed to be the original and there was a lot of green crud falling out of the boots.

On the new harness I filled the boots with dielectric grease before installed it. We'll see how it holds up.

tothemax said:

Yesterday I completed the install of my spare injector cores with PP520 and I am very excited to go try the added power.


I used my nifty adapter and connect the Pre-2003 No 3 Injector to the 2003 connector.

P

Click to expand...

How was the smoke?

When I changed my injectors over to the new style plug, I pulled the purple clip out of the plug end that goes on the car and inserted the wires into the new plug, requiring no adapter. Basically just changing out the plug end.

Did you build the adapter or buy it? If you fear that the wires are crossed then pull the clip and re-install them. First time I put the wires in they were backwards, car was a turd. Switched them around and it became a rocket. I believe it was the original plug that wasn't labeled pins 1 & 2, which caused the mix up for me.

I'm not referring to the plug on the end on inj #3, but the plug that it plugs into on the car (with metal clip).

David

Last week, I installed a new TDI (red DI) emblem on my new trunk. After the car came back from the body shop, the dealer could not find the TDI (red I) emblem I previously had on, so I took the next one he had in stock.

Now I have to match the engine with this emblem.

Tdiin Texas:

as asked how was the smoke?? if you had a lot of smoke and low power your needle lift sensor conversion did not work.

maybe just a loose wire. . these cars are dogs w/o the needle lift sensor.

Got it ready for winter!

New battery and TDI Heater installed today... took four hours (it had to be perfect!) and knuckles are sore. Left orange tag from the line cord hanging out on purpose.