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

[STA4]

Fucking ****s. Placed an order for a new FMIC 10 days ago and they said it would ship out today. Just spoke to them and apparently now it's not going to ship out for another two weeks.

Gah I'm so angry.

Not happy with the TDI IC?

[lettuce]

In this Bikini car wash photo shoot, Will it be more then just your mom and your sisters friends ?

Yeah I think your girlfriend mentioned something to me the other night about swinging by. I'll have to ask her if she still wants to do it next time she's over.

Not happy with the TDI IC?

I was very happy with it when I was stage 2, but with the new turbo it's heat soaking pretty bad. It was perfect for the K03 but with the K04 I need something bigger.

[STA4]

I was very happy with it when I was stage 2, but with the new turbo it's heat soaking pretty bad. It was perfect for the K03 but with the K04 I need something bigger.

Wow, I some how completely missed the fact that you went frankenturbo. You work fast!

How are you flashing your own ECU?

[lettuce]

Wow, I some how completely missed the fact that you went frankenturbo. You work fast!

Hah, yeah I can be pretty impatient. I thought I'd be able to put it off, but saw Jerry's for sale and just couldn't pass it up. Then a week after that it was in my hands and on my car.

How are you flashing your own ECU?

I'm flashing my ECU with the included flashloader and software from Eurodyne with their Maestro Suite product. I've just been using the base files so far and it's really simple, just like flashing a new ROM to your phone or new firmware to your router or motherboard. Just hook up my laptop to the OBDII port with their included cable and load it up with their software. I haven't had the need to really get into fine-tuning it yet as the F23L file it comes with has been running just great with my current setup. It runs even smoother than the car did when it was stock. The stage 1 and stage 2 tunes were a little rough around the edges though, mostly concerning part-throttle high-RPM stuttering, but that could have been caused by or at least exasperated by the loose wastegate in my stock turbo. But as far as the Frankenturbo and tune is concerned I couldn't have asked for a better setup, especially considering it cost me less than 1/3 of the price of the APR K04 kit.

[AUDIMAN33]

Yeah I think your girlfriend mentioned something to me the other night about swinging by. I'll have to ask her if she still wants to do it next time she's over.



I was very happy with it when I was stage 2, but with the new turbo it's heat soaking pretty bad. It was perfect for the K03 but with the K04 I need something bigger.

My GF doesn't do anything for free so.... Tip her well or buy her something nice and Expensive after you're done with her...

[AUDIMAN33]

Remember that one comment you made, that wasn't douchey? Yeah, neither do I.

That's just me......

[lettuce]

My GF doesn't do anything for free so.... Tip her well or buy her something nice and Expensive after you're done with her...

I specifically remember her saying it would be "pro bono", or something along those lines.

[4ringnut]

I think what he means is you'd have to visit NY Dolls if you want to pick up his "GF". Tipping is a requirement.

[4ringnut]

That's just me......

Well, I do respect your self awareness.

[AUDIMAN33]

I think what he means is you'd have to visit NY Dolls if you want to pick up his "GF". Tipping is a requirement.

Bro, Vist the local louis vuitton she'll be there...

[4ringnut]

I think I saw her working the McDonald's drive through again. She looked very fancy.

[AUDIMAN33]

I think I saw her working the McDonald's drive through again. She looked very fancy.

Well that is my Mcdonalds so.... I promoted her to manger...

[lettuce]

In case anybody from the future is reading this looking for info on the Hotchkis sways, the scraping noise I was hearing very intermittently was from my loose belly pan hitting the ground. Had nothing to do with the sways other than the fact that I had to remove and reinstall the belly pan to do them, and every time I do this there's roughly a 30% chance I either lose a belly pan screw or put the wrong screw in the wrong hole and it falls out 5 minutes into my next drive.

When I bought the car it came with maybe 6 out of the 12 belly pan screws installed. I'm currently down to 4 and a pair of zip ties, so I decided to just keep both my pans off until I can order more screws. They've been more trouble than they're worth so far so fuck em.

[b6Hate4]

Those belly pan screws suck.



To hell with them.

[lettuce]

Those belly pan screws suck.



To hell with them.

Not to mention a full set of em is around $80 or $100. Those stupid looking ones with the short corkscrew threads are like $10 a pop. Fuck that.

[jmeenach]

I specifically remember her saying it would be "pro bone-o", or something along those lines.

Fixed it for you.

[blbroo]

Latvia FTW

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-BMW-UNDE...6622c4&vxp=mtr

[DPD314]

Not to mention a full set of em is around $80 or $100. Those stupid looking ones with the short corkscrew threads are like $10 a pop. Fuck that.

Dealership didn't put mine back in one time. I was pissed but was gonna replace them myself till I looked up the cost. I ducktaped it till I got to the dealership but was dragging my pan around down the Garden State Parkway getting some strange looks :D

[Lambda13]

Latvia FTW

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-BMW-UNDE...6622c4&vxp=mtr

"Made in Europe"

[lettuce]

Latvia FTW

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-BMW-UNDE...6622c4&vxp=mtr

I knew there was a reason Latvia was my favorite Eastern Bloc country. Might just have to grab a set of these.

Dealership didn't put mine back in one time. I was pissed but was gonna replace them myself till I looked up the cost. I ducktaped it till I got to the dealership but was dragging my pan around down the Garden State Parkway getting some strange looks :D

The worst was when I removed the front belly pan but left the transmission belly pan thinking it would be alright. Nope, any speed over 40 and that thing would get sucked down to the ground and sound like I was dragging my rear bumper down the road. Had a fun commute to work that day.

I want to set up a NACA ducting system from the belly pan to get some airflow to my brakes at some point in the near future so I'll have to get it back on eventually, but for now it can sit in the corner of the garage and think about what it's done.

[lettuce]

Did a little minor work on my car this afternoon. Got some new fog grilles and used a die grinder with a cutting wheel to cut out the little squares in between the lattice of the grilles.



I did this for three reasons. One because I have been looking into adding some sort of brake ducting to improve airflow to my front calipers, and a front ram air inlet seemed like a better solution than undercarriage NACA ducts, so I'm going to appropriate the outermost third of the new openings for this. Second, because I've noticed my turbo gets pretty damn hot and have been looking at ways of adding some more airflow to the engine compartment, and this should hopefully do the trick. At least it's a better option than the other thing I was considering which was adding a mesh hood vent over the turbo. And lastly because I've always had a hard-on for the look of cars with visible IC and piping in the lower grilles (something like this):



I figure it won't be too obvious due to the layout of the pipes and the fact that they're black, but should provide a subtle boost in the aesthetics department. Here are some pics of the result. Should look really nice next week when the new IC finally comes in the mail and I can get it installed with the new silicone inlet and outlet hoses.







The cuts are still a bit rough around the edges but I'll get em smoothed out with a dremel tomorrow. You get the idea though.

[blbroo]

Dude, you should just order a bigger intercooler. ;-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[b6Hate4]

That looks really good man!

[b6Hate4]

Visible intercoolers for the win.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lettuce]

Dude, you should just order a bigger intercooler. ;-)

A wise guy, ey?

Visible intercoolers for the win.

That looks really good man!

Thanks, is that your old BT B6? Looks sharp.

[lettuce]

So, after a very short wait during which I was very patient and calm I have finally received and installed my new intercooler. In case any of you missed it, my 3.0 TDI intercooler was great when I was stage 2, but since I upgraded to an F23L I've been getting heat soak pretty bad. I had originally ordered a Spearco 5-378, but after a few delays in its shipment I decided to cancel my order and go with a Treadstone TR8 instead. Of course now that I have received the replacement the Spearco is no longer backordered and would have shipped today. Oh well, I'm very pleased with the one I got and I'm sure it'll suit my needs just fine. Onto the pics.





The Treadstone was actually $100 cheaper than the Spearco ($250 vs $350) so I ended up saving a bit of money as well. These intercoolers are universal unlike most of the ones I see around here like the Eurocode, Wagner, CTS, Unitronic, RAI, AWE, etc. You can get the same quality as those other big $$$ units (if not better) for a fraction of the price if you're willing to fab your own brackets and get your own tubing (an additional $50). You also have a much bigger selection when it comes to size, volume, inlet/outlet size, etc. Of course the best part is not paying the Audi tax.

Here's all I really had to do to mount this thing. Basically just used a couple of right angle brackets and drilled a hole straight through my crash bar and put a long bolt through it, tightened down with a nut on the top. it's snug as a bug in a rug and fits great under the crash bar.





I could have cut the outside holes off the bracket to clean up the install a bit but I didn't really give a shit so I didn't. I mounted the front of the intercooler flush with the front of the crash bar. This was the most convenient place to mount it and hopefully it'll make it somewhat visible with the bumper on. I also epoxied a couple little rubber squares under the crash bar where the tank welds were contacting it to prevent any potential vibration or rattling.




Overall the install was pretty straight forward. Probably actually took less time than the 3.0 TDI FMIC install, mostly due to the fact that I had now done it before and was able to breeze through 90% of the install. The only thing that really took any time at all was figuring out how best to mount it, but once I did that I was able to drill the holes and mount it up fairly quickly and painlessly.




So once I was all done and everything all buttoned up I took it for a quick test drive. About 2 minutes in I blew the inlet pipe right off the coupler so I limped it home, retightened the hell out of all my clamps, cleared my codes and now I'm inside watching football. Hopefully they hold up on my ride to work tomorrow. I'll try to get some better pics during the day too to see what it really looks like in normal outdoor lighting.



Edit: Be sure to check out the logs I pulled with this setup here.

If you're looking to get something similar, here's what I ordered:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o02_s00 - Need two of these silicone elbows.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o02_s00 - Need two pairs of these 2.25" T-bolt clamps.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o02_s00 - Just need 1 pair of these 2.5" T-Bolt clamps.

https://www.frozenboost.com/turbo-pi...8dc484643c58f7 - Need two of these 2.25" SS joiners.

blbroo got me headed in the right direction with these. He sent me a PM with links to similar hardware but I generally prefer to order off Amazon instead of Ebay. If you'd rather go the Ebay route here's a post of his which lists out the hardware he used for the same IC install: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...1#post10701763

[blbroo]

TR8 club!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lettuce]

TR8 club!

TR8bros4lyf. Now you just need a K04.

BTW I was really impressed with the build quality of this FMIC. The thing weighs at least 15 lbs, has big beefy welds, heavy duty cast endtanks and a really nice bar and plate design with staggered fins.



Definitely worth the price, and the size and dimensions make it a much better option than a lot of the direct-fit models for this car that cost upwards of 3-4 times more. The entire core is open to airflow as opposed to being obstructed by the crash bar like many other units. The only complaints I have is that I'd have liked the end tanks to have had baffles inside to better direct the airflow over the top half of the unit and for it to be a bit wider. The Spearco I had originally ordered had mid-inlets instead of bottom inlets so wouldn't have needed baffles, and had a 24" core as opposed to the 22" core of the Treadstone. Overall these are minor annoyances though and probably won't make much real world difference. In fact, the Spearco may have been a bit too large for my F23L at 12.7 liters, with the Treadstone being 9.8 and rated to 500hp.

[blbroo]

K04 will happen.
I had the same thought about baffles, but minor compared to how solid the thing is


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lettuce]

Hit up the drag strip tonight.



I'm very happy with my car's performance, but not so much with my own. Despite practicing this over the past few weeks around town late at night, I couldn't launch the car for shit at the track. My best 60' time was 2.130. This led to a pretty disappointing best ET of 13.172, but I could tell the car wanted to do more as I was trapping at over 107 mph. I was getting better and better times as the night went on, and I feel like my transmission was adapting to being at the track. The shifts were getting harder and harder with every run, and even on my ride home driving around town they were harder than they've ever been. 10 minutes before close I had one more run lined up where I was sure I'd hit a 12, but some jabroni dumped fluids all over the end of the track as I was next in line and never got to make it. So for now I'm forced to hang my head in shame with my 13.1 second slip. At least my trap speeds show lots of promise.

Anyway, here are my two best slips:



I'll be tweaking a few things and really trying to get my launch control technique down before heading back up there sometime over the next couple weekends. I'm not going to rest until I'm in the 12s on 93 in full stock trim.

[ParadigmTony]

Wait.... So theres no Girls?!? I just read this all for nothing?

[AUDIMAN33]

Wait.... So theres no Girls?!? I just read this all for nothing?

You got that right...

[Jacon]

Hit up the drag strip tonight.

Top Gun soundtrack?

[b6Hate4]

Thanks, is that your old BT B6? Looks sharp.

Yessir that was my pride and
Joy. It was all function, Zero fashion. Stance kids hated it. It was awesome.


If you look close my ignition coil heat sheild is my avatar. Its the only part I have of it still

[lettuce]

Top Gun soundtrack?

I don't understand. What else would I be listening to?

The best part of the album/night was when Take My Breath Away came on right as I was next in line. I have fond memories of driving extremely fast to that song on a hot summer night a few months ago with all my windows down and a lady friend in the passenger seat laughing her ass off as she held on for dear life.

I did have some Motley Crue blasting a little later; reminded me of when I used to spend my nights drag racing in my old '81 Z28. Of course the nazis at the track never let me race with my t-tops off.

Yessir that was my pride and
Joy. It was all function, Zero fashion. Stance kids hated it. It was awesome.


If you look close my ignition coil heat sheild is my avatar. Its the only part I have of it still

Looks more like a fine gentleman sipping a glass of cabernet while contemplating taking his schooner out to the Vineyard for the long weekend.

Oh and as I'm sure you can tell I can certainly appreciate the 'all function, zero fashion' approach.

[VMRWheels]

Wow! I love everything about this build. The attention to detail and depth of this build is really fantastic! Such a sleeper!

And those who keep coming in here to try to look for fast women made me LOL

Anyway awesome thread! Definitely going to follow your build for sure!

[VMRWheels]

Oh also on a side note because I noticed you were considering our V710 wheel design, one possibility to reduce weight would be running any wheel from our Flow Formed line up. They are typically a few pounds lighter than the equivalent cast wheel.

[blbroo]

I don't understand. What else would I be listening to?

The best part of the album/night was when Take My Breath Away came on right as I was next in line. I have fond memories of driving extremely fast to that song on a hot summer night a few months ago with all my windows down and a lady friend in the passenger seat laughing her ass off as she held on for dear life.

I did have some Motley Crue blasting a little later; reminded me of when I used to spend my nights drag racing in my old '81 Z28. Of course the nazis at the track never let me race with my t-tops off.



Looks more like a fine gentleman sipping a glass of cabernet while contemplating taking his schooner out to the Vineyard for the long weekend.

Oh and as I'm sure you can tell I can certainly appreciate the 'all function, zero fashion' approach.

I hope you are not being sarcastic about your music.


Sent from my toolbox using triple squares

[b6Hate4]

Motley Crue


I love me some RATT. Also sanctuary by Cult is a glorious crusin song.

[lettuce]

Wow! I love everything about this build. The attention to detail and depth of this build is really fantastic! Such a sleeper!

And those who keep coming in here to try to look for fast women made me LOL

Anyway awesome thread! Definitely going to follow your build for sure!

Thanks, I know being a wheel company you probably don't make much money off people driving sleepers but I'm glad you like it.

Oh also on a side note because I noticed you were considering our V710 wheel design, one possibility to reduce weight would be running any wheel from our Flow Formed line up. They are typically a few pounds lighter than the equivalent cast wheel.

Yeah if I ever do get wheels for this thing it'll be the flow-forged version of the V710s in hyper silver. But then I'd have to drop it, and the roads around here are terrible. And I'd have to get a bigger brake kit, and then at that point I'm basically spending enough to big turbo this thing instead. I never say never though.

I hope you are not being sarcastic about your music.

Completely serious. Here's a picture of my old Z28 next to my 86 Monte Carlo SS. Back when I could actually fit two cars in my garage. Both of them ended up with built small blocks. I used to spend all my weekends in my garage and cruising around listening to classic rock and hair metal.