Matt's billet HX40 Super URS4: Dusting off Cobwebs

[ringbearer]

Glad the car is working as planned, I'd love to see a thread on da boat!

[lucidmatt]

Its the best of both worlds, all the woodworking and housekeeping projects of restoring an old house, and all the transmission, motor, and electrical projects of a pair of cars, with the added bonus of making sure everything is waterproof!

[ringbearer]

No wonder you can deal with the old Audi

[pilihp2]

the two happiest days of a boat owners life...

[PRY4SNO]

the two happiest days of a boat owners life...

Makes me wonder, what are the GVWRs of the C4 and b3 chassis'?

[lucidmatt]

...guess you could say I own 2 boats! But really, this summer is going to be the start of something wicked. It's a 42' "Cooper Prowler" with every comfort of home and then some! I got it for a song, and its going to serve as a floating condo. I've lived on boats half this size in the past, and I cant wait to get moved back into that liveaboard life! Once I'm settled in and living comfortably, (and its twin v8 turbodiesels are purring nicely... talk about big turbo projects!) its back to the holset grind!

[ringbearer]

Wow, she looked big but 42 is no joke. you must be a busy and single guy

My current boat is a 3 man raft...

Make a thread for it, it has turbos!

[lucidmatt]

Drivability update for those who asked: 500 miles on her, and everything is settling in nicely. Got the DD ride height dialed in, minimized the old bottoming out issue I had (GOD the roads here SUCK) and she definitely has become a true highway rocket. she SUCKS around town, suspension is very "crashy" at low speed thanks to all the solid mounted everything & soft springs, but at highway speeds (...*cough*...) she tracks true, absorbs road imperfections amazingly well, and maintains sure footing over undulations. The summer wheels are back on, and she has the response and initial turn-in of a car 20 years newer! Looking forward to getting back to tinkering with this old girl after my life is officially floating.

[ringbearer]

Good to hear!

[chaloux]

Second that. Awesome

[lucidmatt]

So all, back from a long hiatus, I have found myself outsourcing for the first time in a long time. Long story short: After getting the car running just in time for carlisle, a catastrophic stalling issue reared its ugly head about 200 miles into the trek down. Aborted mission. Parked it at EMI Parts thanks to Julian who works there. bad MAF, bad cam sensor codes, oh, and a bolt through a tire from the breakdown lane as a cherry on top. Enjoyed Carlisle thanks to carpooling with Mystified and had a great time despite this awful unforeseen circumstance and l met some awesome new people! Limped her home after Carlisle and replaced all 4 tires with Dunlop Direzza ZII's. Had to replace two rear camber links and a busted exhaust hanger, which leads me to where I am currently.

Got her into the shop yesterday to diagnose these apparent wiring issues, and get the exhaust re-welded. Got a call today from the mechanic. My crank cog sheared and shifted 3 teeth. This explains why in my messing around, the tommi's billet gear ran better the more I retarded it... New Tommi's hardened cog is headed to the shop from Marc at EFI... now I've got the matched set!
Amazingly, there is no apparent valve damage. Again. This is after I also dodged the bullet with the cam gear shearing as well... somehow the valvetrain has survived all this insanity. All I have is a cold lifter tick in the back of the motor that smooths out as things warm up... I also think back to the close call with the control arm separating outside my house and not on the highway, and I am convinced that this car has a good luck streak hidden in with all the bad luck she appears to give me on the surface. I look back at all her problems and all I can see is how much worse the problems could/should have been. Brings me all the way back to the first test drive in 2010, where on a 90* day, while on the test drive, the throttle detached from the cable. I was immobilized, but I had fully functioning, Ice cold AC still blasting until the embarrassed PO got there. I knew from that point that I'd be in for a roller coaster ride. its been the best 5 year love/hate relationship I've been in. I'll update with pics if/when I get her back.... I miss my old girl.

[ringbearer]

Fugg
When not if...

[lucidmatt]

oh hey guys, hows it going?! Sorry I've been quiet. I took the summer to settle into boat life, and tinker with the auld girl whenever I had a spare moment. After getting her back from the shop, the stalling/cutting out issue actually got worse. WORSE! And then one day she decided to just... not fire over. Thankfully I have that trusty old stock ECU (that I decdided I'm never selling, ever) and got the car to run again. Took the MTM ecu apart and checked everything out, and I found one of the pins on the scrambler board had broken. Apparently someone must have installed it and bent a pin enough to weaken it, but it only took 10 years to finally separate! So, my creative buddy JC who is handy with a solder gun got everything patched back up, and she runs! The last couple of times the car stalled out, I checked the thermal fuses under the footwell for the fuel and ignition circuit. ingition circuit was too hot to touch, so I think I found the culprit! I swapped in some slow blow 15 amp spade fuses and she has run flawlessly since. Really amazing the things that go awry after a car turns 23 years old.

[PRY4SNO]

Sweet! Nice find/fix.

[ringbearer]

Glad you have it back in service!

[mushasho]

JC to the rescue!!!... To bad Bimmer life has him out of the Quattro life

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[ringbearer]

No mom jokes with him gone

[themagellan]

buennnooooooooooooooooooooo

Wish you could go to h20, i'd get my ass moving and reg the 2hunj and drive it with a wack wheel bearing down to maryland hahahaha.

[mushasho]

I'll at :
Seabonay Motel
2711 ATLANTIC AVENUE
OCEAN CITY, MD 21842

[lucidmatt]

Ill be at:
home, sad and alone, shopping for daily drivers and getting yelled at by my boss.

[themagellan]

I'll at :
Seabonay Motel
2711 ATLANTIC AVENUE
OCEAN CITY, MD 21842

HAH - Just asked you in the other thread, ok. Time to get a hub pressed and tag this thing. Matt - Reconsider you have a spot on the front seat of the 200

[lucidmatt]

Well guys, My daily driver hunt went faster than I expected, and it is with a heavy heart that I am considering putting my old girl on the market. I've realized that I just dont have the space, time, or budget for two high powered audis. I was hoping to take her off the road and finally do the big turbo build, but unforeseen boat expenses are compounding the new car expenses, and having nowhere to store her (boss' shop is always being used for some thing or another) is making the two car lifestyle rather prohibitive. I have decided to see if she will sell. It has been a crazy journey, and I have learned a ton and made a ton of friends thanks to this platform, but it is time to close this chapter. Look for a for sale ad in the classifieds and on Craigslist. I know my asking price is probably high, but honestly I dont want to sell it for anything less. Too much put into it to let it go for bargain basement. I'll still pipe in around here, and maybe I'll get around to the boat project thread. But most of all, THANK YOU! to everyone who has taken time to teach me and help me find my way through this awesome platform. As soon as I have a garage of my own, I am getting back into another 5 cylinder. Theyre just such cool cars. See ya'll around.

[loxxrider]

That's unfortunate, but I know from instagram that you got a helluva car to replace it with. Why don't you share?

[lucidmatt]

Don't worry. Thats getting its own project thread! I beat the seller senseless with all the little "deferred maintenance" he never bothered to do.

[lucidmatt]

So, with the RS4 running like a top and only a couple odds and ends to install, the winter winding down (besides this freaking April snow storm!) And not even a nibble on the auld girl, I think its a sign to finish what I started. Having the RS as a daily means I can finally start some body repairs on her, and finally make her all one color! (I'm sure people didn't want to pay a premium for a car that was 3 different colors). So I am starting a new game plan here. Building is more fun than selling, after all...But I'm at a crossroads, as well. She is a high mileage girl (about to roll 270k) and the body is TIRED. So I am very close to stripping down the car into a street legal hillclimb car and just having fun with a silly big turbo on the stock block, and maxing out the internals on 93. Ive driven it only a handful of times and im still so happily surprised when she fires right up after 3 or 4 lazy cranks from that cold, neglected battery. Of course, the other alternative is to finish the body, throw in the turbo and a tune, keep the interior stock (It's probably the best preserved part of the car) and try to sell it for something more reasonable than my silly original asking price... Really my main driving factor (no pun intended) is that I just want something to tinker with, and the RS4 is definitely not the car for that. Sorry for the novel.. More updates, stay tuned!