Lettuce Build Thread, Fast Cars and Fast Women: Stage 2 and Beyond

[lettuce]

Bought a couple 5-gallon drums of methanol today. Also bought a bunch of distilled water to cut it with. After mixing it all together it should give me 25 gallons of 60/40 water/meth at $4.60 a gallon. Or 20 gallons of 50/50 at $5.50 a gallon. Haven't decided yet.

[Allowencer]

LOL talk about "Costco" buying methanol!

Car is looking good bud!

Were you able to resolve the high speed/RPM oil fault? I read you swapped the cam bridge but then it came back. Any new info?

[lettuce]

LOL talk about "Costco" buying methanol!

Car is looking good bud!

Were you able to resolve the high speed/RPM oil fault? I read you swapped the cam bridge but then it came back. Any new info?

Well I went through a half gallon at the track, so I figured I'd buy in bulk so I don't have to keep restocking. Plus I'll get more consistent results if I do large batches at a time. Consistency is key considering I'll be tuning for it.

That issue ended up being completely unrelated to the cam bridge. Good to have a new one in, but it ended up being that stupid little cam actuator clip that i snapped in half back when I did the turbo install. Every time I have to unplug it, whenever I plug it back in I have to finagle some bits of wire in there to bridge the broken connection. Apparently I didn't do a very good job one time and was getting an intermittent connection there, causing the fault. I redid it and it went away. I've been searching for a new one to splice into my harness with zero luck. I'll probably need to find a junked A4 and just clip one off the harness. Unless you can find me one..

[Allowencer]

Ah! glad you were able to figure it out. From the top of my head, aren't they the same connection like to the fuel injectors?

[lettuce]

Ah! glad you were able to figure it out. From the top of my head, aren't they the same connection like to the fuel injectors?

I don't think so. They're the same as the connector on the front of the upper timing cover that clips into the front actuator that goes into the intake cam's control valve. The one with the reverse thread you need that special keyed tool for.

[lettuce]

Wow, my steering wheel just shipped. That was fast. Now let's see how long it takes to get here from Poland.

[asfastas63]

Nice! Now he can start work on mine!

Is that the stock image from the listing or did he take that of the wheel he's sending you? I still haven't heard anything from him.

[lettuce]

Nice! Now he can start work on mine!

Is that the stock image from the listing or did he take that of the wheel he's sending you? I still haven't heard anything from him.

Just one of the pics from the listing. I never heard from him either, but I gave him all my specs in a PayPal note along with the payment. I'd imagine he's just crazy busy nowadays and will only email you if he has to.

[lettuce]

God damn it.

[jmeenach]

God damn it.

Hello two tone steering wheel! haha

[ECDT]

God damn it.

Oh god please no I already have a grey one that was ordered wrong

[lettuce]

Oh god please no I already have a grey one that was ordered wrong

Did you have any luck dying it? My wheel is in NYC right now so I imagine it'll be here by the weekend. I know for a fact I will not be able to drive my car without that wheel on it if it's in my possession.

I may actually have to go with the two-tone until I get a replacement.

There was a black one on ebay for $76.99 with a 'make an offer' button, so I offered him $50. He sent me a counteroffer within the hour for $75.99. Like, why the fuck do you even have that button on there if you're going to do shit like that. So i countered his counter with $2.50. He has yet to respond. Considering buying it at full price just to leave negative feedback.

[earhythmic]

So i countered his counter with $2.50. He has yet to respond.

LMFAO

[Lambda13]

Weak.

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[ECDT]

Did you have any luck dying it? My wheel is in NYC right now so I imagine it'll be here by the weekend. I know for a fact I will not be able to drive my car without that wheel on it if it's in my possession.

I may actually have to go with the two-tone until I get a replacement.

There was a black one on ebay for $76.99 with a 'make an offer' button, so I offered him $50. He sent me a counteroffer within the hour for $75.99. Like, why the fuck do you even have that button on there if you're going to do shit like that. So i countered his counter with $2.50. He has yet to respond. Considering buying it at full price just to leave negative feedback.

I opted to order another cover from the aliexpress link I saw a few pages back on here or another thread hence the " oh God please no " I tried some black interior spray dye from vht I think but didn't care for the finish and didn't another $40+ for a cover. That seller who countered you I have dealt with in the past and had a similar counter offer which I accepted and he ended up selling it to someone else who transferred the funds faster than the 30min it took me then nagged me to cancel transaction. So fingers crossed my cover that has shipped already is black

[lettuce]

Best mod ever.

[earhythmic]

Sexy. I agree. Completely transforms the driving experience.

[Alex1188]

Best mod ever.

So did this wheel end up working with the factory 4 spoke airbag? Did you need that different airbag cover?

Looks very great! This is hopefully gonna be my next mod on my list

[lettuce]

So did this wheel end up working with the factory 4 spoke airbag?

Not exactly. If you'll scroll up a bit you'll see that the 3-spoke airbag cover I ordered was the wrong color, since the seller so graciously had posted pics of a black one uploaded on his store page. So for now I just took a pair of cutters and snipped out a wedge in the bottom of my 4-spoke cover to fit it on the 3-spoke wheel. The side spokes don't exactly line up and I have a small gap where the lower spoke holes are in the cover, but it fits on and works as-is. It's enough to hold me over until I'm able to source a real black 3-spoke cover.



But yes, the airbag itself works fine, and I'll be using it with the new cover when it gets in. All you need is the new cover. Or your old cover and a cavalier attitude.

[b6Hate4]

That looks fuckin' DECENT.

[lettuce]

This is up there as one of the best mods I've done to this car. The craftsmanship and artistry that has gone into this wheel is incredible. The guy who makes these is seriously the Hattori Hanzo of steering wheels. I'd have paid double what I paid for this again in a heartbeat. If you're on the fence, just do it. You will be blown away.















Disregard the airbag cover fitment in that last pic. I had some issues with the 3-spoke cover I purchased (see a few posts up) and had to modify my stock 4-spoke cover to get it to fit temporarily until a new 3-spoke cover comes in the mail.

Overall I couldn't be happier with this wheel. I've held an OEM S4 FBSW in person and this wheel blows that shit out of the water. At a fraction of the cost, it's a no-brainer. Not to mention it could easily become a collector's item if the guy stops making them.

Each wheel is custom made to order to your exact specs and takes at least 3 weeks (depending on how backed up with orders he is at the moment) to get made. The seller has an ebay store by the name of fly-designs and works out of Poland. Once he gets backed up with enough orders he shuts down his store until he's caught up and reopens it once he's ready to accept new orders, so if you check it out and it's down, just keep checking back. It'll be worth it.

[avantagg]

This is up there as one of the best mods I've done to this car. The craftsmanship and artistry that has gone into this wheel is incredible.

Damn that looks awesome! Congrats.

[VNA4]

Yo Lettuce,
How do you know for sure 100% that upon replacing a non OEM steering wheel the airbag will deploy?
I wanted to get a S.wheel from eBay but was sceptic about this


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[b6Hate4]

Yo Lettuce,
How do you know for sure 100% that upon replacing a non OEM steering wheel the airbag will deploy?
I wanted to get a S.wheel from eBay but was sceptic about this


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Because it's an OEM airbag...with oem electrical connections. Steering wheel has nothing to do with the bag.

[petraman]

That steering wheel is amazing but I've only been able to find that particular one with paddles... Do you think there would be pretty visible openings if the paddles were removed?

[lettuce]

Yo Lettuce,
How do you know for sure 100% that upon replacing a non OEM steering wheel the airbag will deploy?
I wanted to get a S.wheel from eBay but was sceptic about this

The airbag is totally separate from the wheel. I'm still using my stock airbag and it's still plugged into the same harness that it was plugged into before. I had to disconnect it to remove the stock wheel, and then reconnect it after the new one was in. There is literally zero difference in my airbag system now compared to with the stock wheel.

That steering wheel is amazing but I've only been able to find that particular one with paddles... Do you think there would be pretty visible openings if the paddles were removed?

The guy that makes these should be able to get you one without paddles no problem. I think he'd even take a couple bucks off.

[ECDT]

Well I got lucky

And fly designs makes amazing wheels shame mine is collecting dust and is still not installed




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[zokissima]

Well I got lucky

And fly designs makes amazing wheels shame mine is collecting dust and is still not installed




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Will you install it, or, willing to part with it? lol

[ECDT]

Will you install it, or, willing to part with it? lol

I will be installing. When I first ordered the air bag cover it was gray and the black one just got delivered yesterday

[frameshift18]

Man, didn't realize I would have to disassemble the airbag entirely to swap the airbag cover. feels like the bag itself will just fall out with how tightly it's packed in there.

Edit: That was a stressful time haha. Take your time, make sure the new cover goes on smooth and doesn't catch on the bag anywhere.

[lettuce]

Lol I got 38 mpg on the way to work today, up from my usual of 20. Ask me how I was able to do this with just one weird trick. (gas companies hate me).

[blbroo]

Lol I got 38 mpg on the way to work today, up from my usual of 20. Ask me how I was able to do this with just one weird trick. (gas companies hate me).

haha!

[KFizz]

Lol I got 38 mpg on the way to work today, up from my usual of 20. Ask me how I was able to do this with just one weird trick. (gas companies hate me).

Oh! Where do I click?

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[VNA4]

Share! :)


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[lettuce]

Share! :)

Running on only 3 cylinders at the moment. Number 2 crapped the bed yesterday evening, not sure why yet.

Also I repainted the lip on the diffuser you sold me over the weekend. Hyper Silver to match my wheels. Looks boss.

[Lambda13]

Running on only 3 cylinders at the moment. Number 2 crapped the bed yesterday evening, not sure why yet.

Also I repainted the lip on the diffuser you sold me over the weekend. Hyper Silver to match my wheels. Looks boss.

Thanks for the assistance yesterday man. I'd have been sunk if not for those tools.

[VNA4]

Running on only 3 cylinders at the moment. Number 2 crapped the bed yesterday evening, not sure why yet.

Also I repainted the lip on the diffuser you sold me over the weekend. Hyper Silver to match my wheels. Looks boss.

Here are I found some old pic of the car with the diffuser silver






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[b6Hate4]

Stay tuned for forged bottom end!

[lettuce]

lol k, so this is neat.









Valve springs are fine so I doubt there was any physical contact.

Intake:


Exhaust:


No codes at all besides the permanent cylinder 2 misfires and subsequent shutdown.

Did a quick and dirty leakdown test with 90psi and was surprised to see cylinder 2 was holding a decent amount of air. Couldn't even hear anything coming out of the oil cap.

https://vid.me/qF0j

Remember this was the cylinder with the super bad plug when I pulled em a month or two ago.

So now I'm sitting here doing two things. Trying to figure out how the hell this happened, and trying to decide what to do next. I'm almost positive my methanol system has something to do with this. And I'm almost positive the missing electrode/ceramic from the plug somehow found its way safely out of my car, considering I drove the car about an hour home after this happened yesterday. I only drew a soft limp mode EPC light at first. Then this morning the CEL would blink at idle and go away at speed, then the CEL became permanent after I idled for about a minute and that deactivated cylinder 2. And I had to go to work, so I said fuck it. Ran pretty good considering it was only on 3 cylinders. Turbo was spooling and hitting what felt/sounded like normal boost, car was still faster than stock, and sounded like it had a nasty cam in it.

Regarding the cause of this, yesterday when starting up my car I got a 'low washer fluid' light. This actually translates to 'fill me up with methanol' since I use the washer tank to store my meth. Thought that was weird since I just topped it off the other day, but said whatever and went to fill it up again. Well, the thing was basically full. Could only pour in maybe a couple ounces. Restarted the car, light stayed on. Thought, hm, weird. Maybe the level sensor doesn't like meth and decided to crap out. That sucks. So I started driving anyway. Car drove fine, no issues. The light was freaking me out though. So I pulled the meth line out of the TB nozzle and checked inside. Empty. Hm. Started to get a little worried. I realize the lines aren't exactly pressurized so they probably aren't packed full of meth at all times, but I'm only running a 93 tune so I figured that disconnecting the power to my meth system won't do anything bad, and will save my pump in case it's running dry. I'm thinking that was a mistake.

Right after that is when this happened. I was told my 93 octane tune wouldn't adapt to the higher octane of the methanol. Is it possible it had, and the shutoff of the system is what caused this? Blown off electrodes and ceramic insulators is a tell-tale sign of detonation.

Luckily my piston seems fine. I could be extra cautious and pull my turbo, intake manifold and head to try to find this lost electrode chunk, but methinks it's long gone by now and if it's been in there smashing around this whole time then I'll probably need a new motor anyway, so whatever. Realistically it probably got smashed into and embedded in my cylinder head and is just going to be there from now on.

Just another day in the life of my car.

[lettuce]

Just replaced the plug, cleared the CEL, and went for a 20 minute drive. Purring like a kitten. It's never ran better.

So that was fun. Now let's never speak of it again.