The Project Pad

vt10vt wrote: Either way, nothing's getting done tonight, got a date with a gorgeous redhead but maybe tomorrow... afternoon :wink:

pics or it didn't happen.

Rallyfreak202 wrote:

vt10vt wrote: Either way, nothing's getting done tonight, got a date with a gorgeous redhead but maybe tomorrow... afternoon :wink:

pics or it didn't happen.

You can believe whatever you want but sorry, no pics of that project yet :wink: What HASN'T happened is much of anything on the 200. On top of losing most of Sunday (not complaining) I've had to finish the plate mount for my buddies bike and now I'm elbow deep in his E36 5xx's front suspension plus a stack of job apps and an interview have limited my Audi time.

I'm taking a break from the bimmer right now to go mess with the MS. Forecast:70% chance of incoming questions with a high of 60*

pics of redhead.

yes redhead

Okay so I'm terrible at project threads but here's a minor/major update... I sent my MS ECU out to Brent Savage and I cannot say enough about him, either as an awesome, helpful guy or as an awesome tech! Despite blown components in the ECU caused (probably) by an incorrectly assembled relay board, he diagnosed several problems and got the ECU back up and running perfectly and has been incredibly helpful with other non MS related problems! Thank you again Brent! And...

She runs!!! But barely... I can't seem to get any significant fuel pressure. I have good spark, the ECU is running and reading everything perfect, TB is calibrated (which apparently doesn't do all that much anyway), I now have the correct, stiffer spring in the , but I am only seeing ~30psi at my regulator. If you crank for long enough, I think fuel is slowly filling the cylinders because it runs really off pattern and I have checked all my timing, plugs, wires etc. and everything checks out. I now have the fuel pump jumped and I'm seeing ~12v there but still not nearly enough at the gauge or in the rail. I am 99% sure this is the only reason the car isn't running and being tuned is because of this fuel problem, which is frustrating because I have been fighting leaks at both my rail and the banjo fitting coming off the fuel filter. I'm now thinking the fuel pump is dying. gauge pressure remained about the same with the carb spring cranked down and the EFI spring. increasing spring tension does not increase gauge pressure. The filter only has a few thousand miles, the fuel pump is running and I have no fuel leaks I can find. The FPR is also correct, return on bottom, gauge and feed from rail on top, here are pictures of what I'm looking at:

Here is routing of lines from/to the rail:

You can't see the banjo fitting on the fuel filter but that line goes to the back end of the fuel rail, through that, then out the front through the 'loopy' line and into the top chamber of the FPR and then out the bottom through the return line.

One of the fuel filter fittings and stuff


One of the gauge pressure I'm looking at with any combination of the fuel pump's OEM wiring, jumped fuel pump and several versions of banjo/AN fittings on the feed line.



Sound like a fuel pump? Some big clog somewhere? Like I said the filter (in the bay, there isn't a second is there?) is almost new, fuel pump runs and builds some pressure at least, all lines/the rail have been cleaned out (at least a second time). The pump makes a decent bit of noise and I'm pretty pretty sure it has plenty of gas in it (cluster is out at the moment so I'm not 100%... but oh man, if that's the problem...) so that's what I'm leaning towards. I'm going to get some fuel hose tomorrow and do a flow test. I don't know what the exact measurement for 30 seconds of fuel pump runtime is supposed to be but for a CIS GTI, which I have a Bently for, it is somewhere around 600 with the voltage I'm seeing at the pump with my jumped configuration, so at least I have a ballpark.

Any input/advice/feedback appreciated! Final question, any brands I should stay away from? From what I read on SJM my MC1 200 should have the same pump as a 5ktq, if I'm wrong let me know because it's easier to just look for 5ktq parts than it is to worry about the VIN cross on the 200's.

Thanks for reading!

-Shawn C.

P.S. In thinking about the running problems it was having before I'm now pretty sure the pump is going out but I'll report back tomorrow (hopefully )

And I'm not sure posting my redhead pics is kosher... but if it's already on the internet... linking is always okay right? [link removed cause holy hell that drummed up a lot of hits]

Let's get this thread back on track!

PPS I love halloween.

Post what you find out about the fuel pump flow results. Interested to know.

what no interior pics?!?!

my2000apb wrote:what no interior pics?!?!

hahaha of the chick or car?

Rallyfreak202 wrote:

my2000apb wrote:what no interior pics?!?!

hahaha of the chick or car?

lmao!!!! both are hot... but back on topic right?? lol

Long late night of work and then audi time and looong day today but here ya go...

[youtube]http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=PjWMvM4EJT4[/youtube]

She sounds pretty good I think! Just downpipe right now, I'll get a better video tomorrow evening, hoping to calibrate the wideband, get the oem cluster in, finish relaying the fuel pump and maybe start cleaning up the wiring if I have time. Should be another busy night! Finally starting to really feel worth it though!

And what, of all things, was causing a lack of fuel pressure? A lack of... Fuel... :slap:

Terribly frustrating night, my stupid dog chewed up my spare wideband sensor so now I'm not only out that $50+ (after a $270 vet appt this week :frustrated: ) and I couldn't figure out if my LC-1 or gauge is bad. The voltage starts super low like .03-.04 and as soon as the sensor thinks it's warmed up it shoots to 4.84. Calibration does nothing, I can connect with the LM-1 calibrator but I can't seem to with logworks. Without an extra 02 I re traced my wires, read about people with LC-1 problems (and nobody with my problem has seemingly figured it out), and basically wasting my time. So, all in all, wasted evening which was supposed to be very productive. At least I hopefully have a working video link now. I hate youtube. Right now I hate everything :frustrated:


Link to video

my2000apb wrote:what no interior pics?!?!

Interior is same as what I got from you, it's still sitting in VT, hopefully I'll get it soon, if you still have my # and Toph still wants that cluster have him give me a call or another pm, got mine in and everything is working! I can't wait to get all that stuff down here to replace the missing pieces on mine and the cracked woodgrain. Thanks again!

mounty wrote:

Rallyfreak202 wrote:

my2000apb wrote:what no interior pics?!?!

hahaha of the chick or car?

lmao!!!! both are hot... but back on topic right?? lol

Lmao yeah I did pretty well for myself on that one the car is slightly less hot right now though, we'll see once the 200 gets some paint though...

Well these last few updates have been a little frantic, Wednesday nights are my "car night" because it's the first day of the pay period so I don't have to worry about getting more overtime and Gromit (my wingman/dog) goes to daycare and just sleeps all evening. He is boxer and black lab and a year and a half so peace, quiet, and focus are hard to come by with this little guy Figured I'd start the evening with a little update. My new job is working on nuclear density gauges, the company services them and calibrates them blah blah but the other guys here are total gear heads. Big-Boss man owns a 840hp '69 blown big block Camaro, used to have a 1400hp Merlin motor but it's mostly a street/show car (lame) so he stepped down. Also has a '70 Nova drag car making somewhere over 700hp (forget what the dyno sheet he had was exactly) all motor on race gas. It's also a big block. What's awesome is we have a spare bay that connects to the work area so the Avant got a new home: :woowoo:




Sitting next to it is a coworker's '72 Monte Carlo which isn't anything radical but got a total restoration and is really nice, although the paint job is a 10ft job. It's mechanically very sound though

And the other night the 'ol girl idled her way outside! The throttle wasn't hooked up and it came out of the closest bay door behind it but it moved under it's own power!



And this is a project I have been too shy to post pictures of yet because they aren't done and I didn't do them "right" ie. using the whole rear quarter panels. They're not 100% yet, still need some shaping and sharpening of the upper curve. If people think they look okay I have a bunch of progress pics and can go into detail on what I did, I'm fairly happy with them and there is not much filler at all which I was really happy about:



It looks a little goofy because the paint on the car is so terrible and it's flat white primer but eventually I'll get some gloss primer and better pics when I am a little more happy with them. That's my buddy standing there, he's really stepped up and helped me out and even brought a bunch of mutual friends over last week so we had a montage and got her running right for the first time. It was pretty sweet having some help and company!




And I mentioned it in another thread but we're setting up a side powder coat and sandblasting business. Yesterday we took delivery of a 100lb pressurized pot and blaster and today this 'little guy' arrived:



Honestly it's a little oversized for our pot at 185CFM but we shouldn't have to worry about outrunning the compressor

Blaster:






We already have a both a walk-in freezer and an asphalt oven capable of 700*F so once the walk-in gets heaters it's going to get real serious in here :dur:

Anyways, just a little general progress update, more tonight after I get a bunch of nagging issues squared away!

-Shawn C.

Whoa! I'm EXTREMELY interested in those quarter panel mods.

pilihp2 wrote:Whoa! I'm EXTREMELY interested in those quarter panel mods.

Thanks! (I hope haha) They weren't too complicated, just took a TON of time and a lot of do overs to get right. In short I cut and stepped the existing sheet metal in a smaller arch and pulled the rear quarters by hand a little bit to meet the 20v flare. Then I tacked the 20v arch into the step which gave me a place to drop a weld a little into. Then ground the welds and used filler over the seam. Again, they aren't perfect and in seeing Darin's 80 flares I would maybe have done it differently but I'm pretty happy, especially with it being my first independent body project I wanted to come out really well. I'll write a post with pictures about them soon when I'm not trying to get stuff done but thank you for the interest!

Okay so to bring the thread up to date on actual car process, it has been running fairly well but there has been a few loose ends that were needed to be tied up and came together tonight. Long night for sure! To start with, I had a vacuum leak as a result of a port on the TB I forgot to plug, so I threaded it, a little JB weld on a bolt and cut it off flush.

I then needed to add a low profile idle set, the original interfered with the fuel rail so I made a minimalist one. The welds are better than they look and have good penetration, I snapped it shut and tugged on it and it seems solid enough:

You can also see the temp idle screw in that picture

Done:


Then these have been painted for a bit but I've been waiting on getting the right rebuild parts. VHT flame proof header painted baked 3x's per directions. Hopefully I won't have to do these again any time soon!



Finally got the *right* seals


And then I put them in the freezer hoping it would help them slip together.


It seemed to:


And then mockup. I know how dumb that looks but it's too late to be looking for hardware




And yesterday I stopped by a local place called British Metrics and they set me up with 2 correctly sized crush washers for $1 After tightening tonight I can finally say that I have ZERO fuel leaks. The old mis sized washers sealed for the most part but still would weep.



In the course of working on the car again I pulled the air temp sensor wires out of the relay board again, they were too short and stretched directly in the way of working so I nerded out and depinned the GM connector, added longer pigtails, and re soldered the connection with the DIY autotune labeled wires.

Old pins/wires popped out:


New wires:


Repinned:


Done, comparison between old and new lengths (old ends at balls of electrical tape )


Done!


Still done!


And an engine bay shot, although I think I took it before I did the new air temp wiring


My wideband is calibrated and hooked up but you all know what that looks like... and it's late so... trust me it works hahaha

Finally one of my little guy, daycare=tired Gromit=happy and productive me :-) We got to the shop and he spent a few minutes checking on everything, laid down on his bed and hasn't moved since. It's a beautiful thing.



Hope everyone enjoys the read! I'm very excited about my progress. It was one of those nights where a bunch of little things really came together quickly and was a good time! I'm hoping to at least have taken the car around the block by the end of the weekend. Going to try and get the brakes fitted and bled soon and then I just need to get the throttle cable hooked up!

-Shawn C.

Okay, time for another update! Didn't make it as far as I wanted this weekend. Couldn't find anyone to help me bleed brakes so the Avant is sitting on stands and I decided to tackle the rest of what it needs to be able to drive around the block.

I did get the rebuilt G60's mounted up and the car is on stands so when I can get a pedal-pusher, hopefully tomorrow, I'm ready for it. Also set the car on stands and took the wheels off so it should be a relatively quick job...


Next up was figuring out a throttle cable holder thing. I don't have room for a spring on the throttle body itself so I made another spring action so when you go full throttle that last little bit isn't just stretching the cable. I threw two nylon spacers in the lathe and made seats for the springs, then bored them so they catch the same part of the throttle cable the OEM stop grabs. Unfortunately I am still bottoming at full throttle before the pedal touches the floor so I need to fine tune but I'm pretty happy, works like a charm! I hacked up the stock mount, flipped it backwards and welded it to the original intake manifold mount:


EDIT somehow I mirrored this picture..?


Then I ran it for a few minutes and pulled the plugs to see what they looked like. I think this is why I'm having hesitation issues and it's missing pretty bad. These plugs have been through noob fabrication/standalone hell so I'll pick up a new set tomorrow and see how they do.