The Project Pad

No worries, I appreciate everything and it's been a fun project so far! Soon the fun will begin with turbo and moar turbo (looking at you Hank For sure it will be detailed before Battleborn and hopefully I can get the AC going (requirement to have my wife come

Had the whole evening last night to work on the car and had a few things to do. First a trip to Home Depot to stare at the different Map Gas options. Of course I convinced myself that the one with the 5' lead hose and auto torch was the best one for me. It was worth the extra 40.00 to be more comfortable while torching :-) . First and foremost was to get the O2 sensor off of the old CAT in preparation for the other CAT. It's amazing what some heat will do for getting things off! Five minutes later and I ended up with an O2 sensor successfully separated. Not being able to do much more mechanical-wise on the car I set forth on some detailing. Started with polishing and rain-x'ng all windows then cleaned the door jams and seals and rubber surrounds on all doors. Took out the wiper arms and plastic trims, cleaned, and tried to get the black back with some of that black trim stuff. Put it all back with new wipers. Last thing was pulling the red tails back off to polish and reseal. Also cleaned the seats and was going to get the leather conditioner going but my brother has it so that will have to wait.

I'd suggest adding some E85 since you are so close but it sounds like you are into the cat anyway.


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I put in some E85 on both tests that I did. We did a few tricks with the car to try and get it in range but to no avail. The new/used cat (thanks Dave!) should fix the issue no problem.

Attempted to bolt up the new/used cat last night only to find out that I am missing the spacer things that the bolts go through so the flanges tighten down. I was able to get the tail lights polished and three of them resealed and bolted in. Need to get some more seal stuff for the last one and those will be finished.

nsimps wrote:Attempted to bolt up the new/used cat last night only to find out that I am missing the spacer things that the bolts go through so the flanges tighten down. I was able to get the tail lights polished and three of them resealed and bolted in. Need to get some more seal stuff for the last one and those will be finished.

Talking about the metal donut seal? If so, you should be able to get one at your local auto parts store, just tell them the size.

OOOOGT wrote:Talking about the metal donut seal? If so, you should be able to get one at your local auto parts store, just tell them the size.

I think the old one will still work. The things I need to gather are the spacers that are used with the bolts/springs. I may end up making some if I can locate any at a decent price.

17 Days!!! You are coming right?

Audilard wrote:17 Days!!! You are coming right?

Got the Cat on, ended up not using the stock spring setup and just got some shorter bolts and called it good. Also replaced two of the hanger grommets and now it sits very nicely. There was a gap between the cat and the rest of the exhaust so I used one of those stainless band things from AutoZone. Worked wonderfully. Found out that the AC compressor works via direct jump. I need to make sure that there is pressure in the system and then figure out where the wires need to go and such. This is important for BBQ as my wife will be riding with me.

Thanks again Hank for your help and the use of the lift!

Passed on the third try, and just barely too. I'm just glad it passed and will cross that bridge next year.

nsimps wrote:Passed on the third try, and just barely too. I'm just glad it passed and will cross that bridge next year.

Nice!!! Finally back on the road!

Audilard wrote:Nice!!! Finally back on the road!

I'm excited to start the project part of this project for sure. I need to take a look at your bumper to see how it was crafted, I want to do the same thing with the one that I have. Not to mention looking at how your wiring is setup for your A/C. Two more weeks till BBQ!

Went to BattleBorn last weekend and what a blast! I was able to get both a stereo installed and the AC working via a nifty little switch purchased from AutoZone. The car ran great and we turned over 200,000mi. Got around 20mpg the whole time regardless of how much the AC was on. After seeing Darin's car again I decided that a new coat of paint would be a better way to go than doing the vinyl wrap. There is a class at school called 'Paint your own car' And hopefully next semester I can have it prepped for that.

Glad I can be an influence even if my paint is only slightly better than yours.

Just got a couple new inner tail lights delivered to me along with the under dash shelf. I've never been so excited about a shelf in my life. Sent my brother Johnnyman back to the yard to hopefully pick up the B4 front fenders in prep for paint in a few months.

nsimps wrote:Just got a couple new inner tail lights delivered to me along with the under dash shelf. I've never been so excited about a shelf in my life. Sent my brother Johnnyman back to the yard to hopefully pick up the B4 front fenders in prep for paint in a few months.

Have him cut out the B4 rears for your car too.....

Audilard wrote:Have him cut out the B4 rears for your car too.....

Ha. I would love to, he actually ended up spending all day there yesterday waiting for someone to help him move a hood he got. Ended up having to load it in the coupe.

Ha...I just ran into Johnny at the yard...lol

Nick, you're lucky those sedan fenders are a little different than the coupe, otherwise they would already be gone.

I left with my B4 headlight connectors (finally!) and some OEM ducting around the airbox inlet (4 plastic pieces block out hot exhaust air)...I also ended up with a full B4 hood conversion kit, including OEM headlights and the radiator support pieces. You know, while I was in there...Anyone looking for B4 conversion parts???

Radiator support pieces, I need one of the uppers. Johnnyman get over to that other one, quick!

My brother is at the yard, right now, getting me B4 front fenders. I commend him for his service. Thanks Johnnyman! (jsimps)

And the fenders. Can I just say that I am very impressed with my brother and his newly adopted skills at the junk yard? Well I just did so there

Had about an hour of free time yesterday and put on the new 80 tails (euro tails!) and also the shelf below the steering wheel (shelf!). The tail lights were easy but that shelf was a pain to put in and i ended up only putting in one bolt to hold it up. I'm going to have to figure something else out for mounting. It's hard to decide which of these I was more excited about, let's just call it equal excitement for excitement's sake.

Next up will be some green fenders that I may just sand down and primer black. Or just rock the green and be a super hero or something.

Leave them green so I can make sure you don't try to get in my car and drive away. This car looks more and more like mine every day!

Audilard wrote:Leave them green so I can make sure you don't try to get in my car and drive away. This car looks more and more like mine every day!

One of these cars just needs a nice aluminum B4 sport spoiler.

And, Nick, I too was very excited to put the under wheel shelf in my coupe, until I actually had to do it. I had to get creative with the safety brackets and foam that were there originally on the airbag cars. Had I wanted to take the dash all out again, it would have been easy, but everything was pretty buttoned up. I ended up getting it all mounted in the intended factory locations, IIRC, thanks to a BFH massaging the brackets. Now my VAGCOM cables live in the shelf area for convenience.