The Project Pad

Very nice shots

Thanks Chris!

(although I still want to see your Carlisle pics!)

LOL! I need to get on that. I really didn't take any exciting shots though.

lookin good as always

Thanks man!

I suppose I should mention that I finally got around to fixing that door wiring issue yesterday that rendered all passenger windows lifeless. Turns out there was not one, but three broken wires. I repaired them all and now the auto-down feature works properly again! Woot. Not even sure what the last wire fixed, but I'm sure I'll be pleasantly surprised when I find out, lol. I went to the rear window lock button...

One other thing that I had to repair the other day was the VEMS ECU. 100% user error fried a chip on the ECU. Long story short, by brother took the 200 out while I was on vacation in Colorado and Tampa, FL. He asked one of my friends how to do the launch control which was the first mistake, lol. Since I STILL have my launch control half-assed and not hooked up to the clutch petal yet, I just ground the wire to the ring of the cigarette lighter to enable the system. So my buddy just told him to stick the wire into the lighter and unfortunately he supplied 12v to the launch control channel instantly blowing the MCP3208 ADC converter chip. So now he calls me up, neglecting to tell me about all of what happened saying that he was driving the 200 and now it's doing something crazy, like misfiring. I was like, hmm possibly a bad tank of E85 or the plugs are maybe shot?? We didn't get far with the phone diagnostics so he brings it home and parks it. I return home from my trip and took the 200 for a ride and quickly realize that the launch control is stuck on, lol.

Contacted Marc, he told me exactly what was wrong and what to order and I replaced the chip on the ECU. NOT FUN! Surface mount chips suck to change for a guy with average soldering skill/tools. Got it done though!

Yeah, I did that too, it sucks!

Coilovers installed:

Can't believe you post on fb before MG. For shame!

Yeah that input chip is f'ing TINY - not fun.

Coilovers look great. What spring rates and spring lenths did you use? Where did you buy? Trying to find the lowest price for Eibach coilover springs, threaded sleeves, perches, etc.

loxxrider wrote:Can't believe you post on fb before MG. For shame!

:stupid:

Car looks great! More info on coilovers please!! :-)

Looks money

Woah ! Looks awesome man !

Been a while since an update as I've been very busy. A little recap on what I've been up to.

March this year I decided to pull the trigger on my first home, three long months later on July 12th (day after my birthday) the closing finally took place (pretty annoying). The house was owned by an elderly guy who had to have been an epic chain smoker. The house reeked to an unbearable level as I am not a smoker. On top of that, it was way outdated. Me, being who I am, decided to rip the entire kitchen all apart right down to the studs/subfloor/upstairs floor joists to replace everything from scratch. The kitchen/dining area were the worst rooms of the house so I am re-doing those (still to this point) prior to even moving it. Ordered new cabinets, rewiring everything, new sheetrock, flooring, lighting, etc. This is all very new to me but luckily I pick things up pretty quick.

Here's a few pics:







The garage makes it all worth it:



Horrible kitchen/dining room before:





And currently:





Lots more to do but it's inching along slowly.

Aside form that, I have also been playing with my TDI a bit lately. APR recently released a tune for it, so I jumped on that and am LOVING it. Made a huge difference and performs very well as seen here:


Link to video

I also added the rain/light sensor and all associated upgrades to complete that job. Now I have auto wiper, auto headlight, coming home, leaving home and a nifty rain closing feature that will close your windows if the car is locked and it starts to rain.


Link to video

That concludes the Jetta for now.

Now, as for the 200! I've had the coilover parts for a long time now and finally got the itch to install them. That and because I wanted them installed for H2Oi.

So, here are some pics from the install.

Front suspension removed and for a ride in the Jetta off to my fathers shop:



The painstaking process of removing the stock perches...LOTS OF GRINDING. I will admit after the first one, the second was easier:



Making the weld-on ring for the uprights:

ID:


OD:


Like a glove:


Welded on and some rust prevention added:


Machining the hats:


And the finished product:


X2:


Sorry for the long post!

nice update! The house looks great, NICE GARAGE!! :woowoo:

Coilovers lookin sweet too. Hope to get mine done soon.

GARAGE

nice post congrats!

Mmm dat garage..

I like the new house!

So my car has a clunk in the front end. It did it before and after the coilover install so I can rule that out. I happens when the load shifts front to back. For example if I stop hard then accelerate something will clunk. I could be wrong, but it almost seems as though the struts might be moving in the uprights? Does this sound possible? If so, how is it resolved? I have the strut nut torqued to spec per Bilstein (95 +/- 7 ft lb).

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Nice work Nick, epic post. Great to meet you this weekend and go for a ride in the 200!

Hey Nick... how you liking the teflon washer solution? Also, I want impressions of the ride and handling.

chaloux wrote:Nice work Nick, epic post. Great to meet you this weekend and go for a ride in the 200!

Awesome meeting you guys as well Matt! I love sharing the 200's fun with everyone.

loxxrider wrote:Hey Nick... how you liking the teflon washer solution? Also, I want impressions of the ride and handling.

I went with the needle bearings, not the teflon washers and they are working great. The handling is much improved and I am loving it. The ride quality is noticeably more firm but not the worst I've experienced. I think the front is a little too low which is killing the ride quality as I may be hitting the bump stops.

Other then those clunks in the front end (post and pre coilovers) mentioned above I am loving the new setup.

Ah yes, I forgot about the needle bearings! Those were such a good idea. Glad they are working well

Anyone swap the headbolts with ARP studs one at a time? What's the best way to go about this? Pattern?

how many miles on this motor? Man, I admire your cheapness!!

Probably could get away with it swapping them out one by one. I give it a 70% chance of success

As long as it is one at a time, there is no need for a pattern My roommate did this with good results on his turbo E30. Been at least a year like this so far with no problems making decent power.

Hank, I don't see how this method shouldn't be reasonable. I cant figure any reason from a mech. engineering standpoint that it would be a problem. The clamping force is still going to be even enough with 11 (or whatever the number is) studs remaining that nothing will become warped including the head gasket in my opinion. Seems to work in practice.