You Learn a Lot About Cars When you Ruin Them (on Purpose)

[Mike Tries]

Whew.

I took this thing to task yesterday. Rear tubes are in. I made a diagonal brace for those. I also made a horizontal brace for them. Harness bars are in. Everything you see is welded in fully. The cage is, I think, complete. Needs paint. I'll add a bit of bracing between the main hoop and the rear tubes, but it's not required. I just think it'll look cool and make it stronger.

I also plan on adding some gussets, but that's just extra too.

The seat is not installed at this point. I just set it down in there because I wanted to see it. Same with the harness.

[Mike Tries]

Yeah, so it started. Apparently. Without all these wires plugged in. No idea what they do. They are probably for all of those features that ended up in a landfill somewhere near York. I guess the drivers side headlights don't work... that is probably one of these harness plugs (anybody know which one?). ABS is probably not working either but I don't know yet.

So.... yeah... time for a victory lap!

[Danisson]

Yeah Congrats man ! Personally, I find nothing as joyful as the feeling of having done some work on my B6... no matter if it's just a wash or a replacing a bulb; not to mention taking apart something in order to repair or modify it and succeeding. She's (almost) everything I've got at the moment, even if it sounds a bit extreme That's just me and I assume that everyone who shares this great passion is feeling this. (more or less ;)

[Mike Tries]

Thanks! There is still a long road ahead, but it should be more relaxed from now on.

[Mike Tries]

I accomplished quite a bit in the last week or so. I was able to get the safety harness mounted--a silver Stroud 7-point unit. I used the clip-in attachments for the lap belts, anti-submarine, and center belt. The shoulder belts just wrap around the harness bar (that's what it's for, after all!). Installing the eye bolts for the harness was a bit of a challenge. Two of them just screwed into existing holes that were secure in the car. The other three had to be drilled, and I have those giant washers on their undersides to prevent pull-through in an accident.

I put the seat in afterwards for a bit and got everything lined up, ran the belts, adjusted their lengths, and lamented getting pull-down lap belts. Picking a harness is hard, if you've never done it before, and there isn't a lot of guidance available to help you even ask the right questions unless you know people. (It's hard to search for or ask on a forum if you don't know to ask in the first place!) It's good though--I am able to adjust the lap belts sufficiently because I have enough elbow room in the car for it. I might call Stroud and ask if I can swap belts though.

Hey, I like your shoes. I have the same ones! I liked the styling of them, and they're surprisingly-light! I like the dark color on mine because it doesn't show dirt as easily as white. High five for good style!

I also decided that I wanted to get the window net mounted. I tacked the front buckle onto the cage and fastened the rod onto it. When I clamp the rear part of the rod where it passes over the mounting point I've chosen, it looks like it lines up perfectly! I ordered a female-threaded heim joint online after visiting every hardware store in town in search for one. I'll mount the joint, measure and cut the rod, then drill out the threads in the heim joint. I think I want to slide the rod into it, and then secure it simply with a hair pin or cotter pin--that way the whole thing can be dropped quickly to allow for emergency egress or, more likely, routine maintenance. A little addendum to this section: I got the inside net mostly figured out too. I just need to tighten the straps on it, once the seat is in and it'll be done.

I got those rear bars made and welded in, too. I wanted something to join the bottoms of the rear main tubes to the bottom of the main hoop. It looks cooler, but I also think they add to the torsional rigidity significantly. Plus, they were fun to make. The bars were straight, but the copes were at different angles with respect to their joining tubes. They also needed to be clocked by, I think, about 10 degrees axially to each other. The first one went on perfectly, but I made a mistake and left the hole saw adjusted for the wrong cut and ended up with a too-short passenger side bar. It still fit, after recoping, but it wasn't even with the other, so I remade it. Now the cage looks like what I wanted, so I'm finished with making tubes!

A while back, I cut out a taco gusset. A 100-thou-thick plate. It was a crude first attempt, and it's not perfectly square, so the plan was simply to remake it. But in the meantime, I thought I'd try to smash this one over and get it into shape (like a taco shell, if that's not obvious), just to see how that all worked. I heated it up, put it in my vice, and beat the piss out of it for a while until... hey, it actually looks taco-like. I pulled it out, and smushed it with the vice a bit to get it more in-shape. Stuck it in the car and.... woah... it looks great! So, to fix the non-squareness, I just cut some of the excess off and as far as I can tell, it was a perfect fit. I just welded it in there. Good enough!

Wiring? Yeah. Lots of wiring. I found the amplifier and radio antenna wires. There's a Y shaped set of wires that follows the center console, then splits under the rear seat, heads over to the door arches, and then goes up and over the wheel wells into the trunk. The driver's side wires go to the antenna tuner. The passenger side goes to the amp and sub. Well... they did. Now they're yanked out and sitting on my garage floor. There are no longer any wires going down the center console. I haven't cut them, but I will follow them as far as I can and try to depin them or unplug them from the car. They probably terminate inside some of the stereo connectors that are just... chilling there... so they might not even be plugged in anywhere. The wires are surprisingly heavy, so removing them will help in the overall mission. Scope creep, though! This is stage 2 stuff--for after the first racing season... why am I doing it now!

Gee whiz, what else? I'm trying to get the car set up to be safe for an HPDE in a little under two weeks. Part of that is getting the windshield removed this coming Friday, making and installing gussets for the windshield frame, and having the new windshield installed a little later. I would love to get some of the black schmoo off of the floor, but that's probably a future-me problem.

Oh! The brakes! I ruined those godforsaken rear calipers finally! Last brake change, I couldn't get the pistons to spin in. This isn't my first rodeo with rotate-in rear pistons--my Viper had them--but the Viper was easy to work on, and so the brakes were smooth. The A4? Well, early this year, the only way I could get them back in was to extend them all the way out, until after they popped off of whatever they thread onto, and then thread them back on. The seal, the piston, and everything looked clean and fresh--no idea why it was like this, but after doing that to BOTH calipers, the process was smooth. Well, it happened again this weekend. They wouldn't screw in, and I'm using the tool that was made for this. So I popped the driver side out first and..... ruined it. I got the piston back in, but it's sucking air now. The brakes are totally shot. So I just ordered new ones. I'm putting EBC Bluestuff NDX pads on there, so these will hold up nicely at the track.

Fun fact: EBC makes Bluestuff NDX pads for the front calipers of our cars now! The only place I saw that had them was ECS Tuning. I went ahead and ordered them. Bluestuff all around this time. I had Yellowstuff pads on there before, and they worked extremely well, but having a higher temperature tolerance won't hurt me!

Things to do in the coming weeks:

Install the Summit Racing heater - I need a pair of hose barbs to reduce the size from whatever Audi uses for heater hoses down to 5/8" to plug into the heater core in the Summit Racing heater. Doing this will also allow me to extend the hoses a bit to make them reach the heater. Should be a couple hours of work--it doesn't have to work right now, electrically--it just has to seal up.

Pull windshield, install gussets, paint that part of the cage real quick, have the new windshield installed. Safelite repair, Safelite to race... isn't that the jingle?

Clip the belts back in and reinstall the seat.

Replace front pads, rear calipers and pads, and bleed brakes.

Oh, the doors. Always forgetting about the doors. Gotta bolt those guys on. Maybe I'll gut them, too.

It's not done, but it's passable for now, and I think it should be fine for an HPDE. A couple of these tasks are routine maintenance tasks, and so they should be manageable. Oil and coolant are good (and full), and I refuse to touch them now.

Enjoy a few pictures! (If they ever display...)

[Mike Tries]

Today was my day to try to get a lot of the work that I need knocked out so that I can have a chance of doing an HPDE next week. And also a day to watch a movie or two.

Moana, by the way, in case you were wondering. That was the movie for today. My little one came out and hung out in the garage, and we watched this movie together.

So, I got the new calipers installed and bled; had the windshield removed; measured, cut, and holed the gussets for the windshield frame; and installed the little heater and its heater core. I have a lot to do, but it looks like I can get it together to do a test day with it.

If you are determined, then you can accomplish a lot more than you might think. Like Moana's journey to restoring the Heart of Te Fiti, my journey to next weekend's HPDE is fraught with challenges: figure out how to dimple die the gussets without a press (not happening in a vice), figure out who I can go to who may have a press that can properly dimple die the gussets, fight a giant treasure-hoarding crab in an air pocket under the ocean, and seal up the cooling system in a way that both satisfies regulation and provides warmth if needed.

Did you know that the events portrayed in Moana, though fictional, were set around 3,000 years ago? Although their specific island is fictional, the culture, language, and location place them in or around Polynesia (not Hawaii like I had assumed!).

What's left before a test day? Well, doors would be nice. I'll get the other two doors cut out if I have time and install them. I'll reattach the dash pad, get those gussets done, and have a new windshield installed. I also want to get an Aluminum panel (Aluminum for all you non-Americans) installed on the roof, but I wonder if I will have time or the need for that before next weekend?

[Mike Tries]

Oh, I did another thing! Yesterday, actually. I got the window net hung. I really wanted to try for one of those heim joint- mounted window nets, so I bought the parts and went for it.

I mounted the buckle onto the cage at the front, bolted the heim joint to the B Pillar, and then measured the rod length. Then, I cut the rod, drilled the threads out of the Heim joint, and slipped the rod into it. Good fit! So, how to attach the rod to the heim joint... how about a gigantic hair pin! I drilled a hole through the heim joint, installed it in the car once more, and slipped the rod into it. I clicked the front of the window net rod onto its buckle, and with everything where it should be, I drilled a hole through the rod while it was in the heim joint, using the hole in the heim joint as a guide. It fits really nicely now, and it should be easier to deal with than the style that drops down completely.

[Mike Tries]

You know what movie is great this time of year? Hocus Pocus. Indeed, folks, it's nearly Halloween! And you know what that means?

That's right! Windshield gussets!

I got the gussets dimpled. I ended up just using my vice to crush down on them and whacked the handle a few times to get them squished real nice. #reckless

I stitch welded them in and installed the dash last night. Today, I painted them before the glass guy came (thanks, glass repair guy, for being awesome!).

Enjoy some pictures!

[Danisson]

That heater core looks very interesting. Cool ideas you're juggling between ! Keep up !

[Mike Tries]

Almost done! I installed the seat for the last time (for now at least), safety wired the seatbelts, wired the heater, bled coolant, bled brakes, installed EBC Bluestuff NDX pads all around (they are available for our calipers on both axles now!), put the doors on, zip tied up a WHOLE bunch of wires and things so they don't flop around... a long list of things was knocked out.

I also watched Star Wars, the Force Awkaens. My gosh that movie was good! It's a shame that they allowed the next movie to be made by a different director. It feels like they were trying out some weird experiment in tandem writing. I don't want to say that it ruined that trilogy, but J. J. Abrams had a theme started there, and it looks like Rian Johnson spent a good portion of Star Wars 8 dismantling that theme, and then only had a short time to tell his story. 8 was still good, but it seems neither director had control of his trilogy.

Oh! Speaking of zip ties, I zip tie engineered a solution for installing some of the under body covers. I... won't be showing pictures of that. Haha. (I actually just didn't take any.) Anyway, they won't be flopping around or falling off.

Roll bar padding went on easily. I had to buy 3 sticks of it at 3 feet a piece. The stuff is $10 per linear foot, so holy cow is it expensive! But I prefer that over unnecessarily-broken bones or being dead.

All that remains is to install the sunroof close out panel today (easy enough, I suppose), and install the aero cover under the engine which I keep telling myself I'll do, but I probably won't bother and then I'll overheat tomorrow and I will blame it on my laziness.

[Mike Tries]

Audi peeps, which hose supplies water to the heater core? Is the return line the one that has the weep hole in it? I think I have the one with the weep hole going into the top of the Summit heater core, but that is labeled "Inlet". I don't know if I am getting adequate heat out of the thing, but then again, the instructions for this heater said that routing only matters for the larger units (which I didn't buy). I did it this way to try to get as much air out as possible.

I suspect my heat issue is due to constrictions in the hose. I will shift it around a bit, but it does seem like coolant is flowing, so I am not terribly concerned. Actually getting heat out of this thing isn't as important as controlling the flow of coolant such that it cycles through the car instead of onto the ground.

[Mike Tries]

[Mike Tries]

It had its first track day, and I think it was a success! I broke it getting it off the trailer, which is nice, but it just suffered a severed flex pipe. Nothing fell off, so I just went out with a louder exhaust system. I'll get it up off the ground here soon and make sure I didn't ruin anything else.

Things I noticed:

1.) It needs hood pins. The hood pop lever had to be detached and it's just flopping around in there, and it requires both hands to actuate. That's dumb and hood pins will fix it. In fact, during tech, when they asked me to pop the hood, I couldn't even find the darn thing! It's not like it could have gone anywhere--it was contained to a volume smaller than a grapefruit--it was just hard to find it behind the tubes and wires. We got it after fumbling about for 10 minutes though. Thanks to the inspectors for being patient!

2.) It's fast. Well... faster than it was, and noticeably so. It accelerates like hell now, and I think there's more to be had from the engine and from weight reduction.

3.) Louder is better. It was super loud since the pipe broke. This is encouraging, so it's definitely losing the mufflers and cat when it's all said and done. Plus, the noise helped drown out the sawblade-on-metal sound I was hearing while turning left.

4.) Brakes were good. Not great, but good. EBC's Bluestuff NDX pads were mounted front and rear to stock 3.0 rotors and calipers. Brake fluid was Motul RBF 660 or whatever it is. The only issue I had was that vacuum was struggling to keep up since the car was almost always at full power. I'm not sure how to remedy that. When I had vacuum boost, they were great. But a common tactic as you approach a brake zone is to tap the brake pedal briefly (while still at WOT) to push the pads up against the rotors. Well, that was often my one actuation with vacuum unless I lifted off the throttle and waited a couple heartbeats while it caught up. But that's slow. So, by the end of the day, I was just mashing the brakes the old fashion way--with no assist. Maybe a change in habit would help. Seat time will help me refine this. No fade, though. They held up great!

5.) I'm happy with the design of the cage. I still need to paint it, which I don't look forward to. But I'll just brush off the weld rust, gloop some paint on, and be done with it. I have room for myself, room to get my helmet+HANS on and off without detaching them from each other, access to the fan switch, etc. Good visibility, too.

6.) Ingress/egress was hilarious while the car was on the trailer. Getting in? Window. Getting out? Not the window. Traditionally, since I can't open the doors on this trailer, I had been climbing out the trunk. Now there's a jungle gym of cage in there to crawl through. So, after I loaded the car on Saturday night, I couldn't figure out how to get out of the car! I tried the window, but at the time, I couldn't figure out a good way past the new seat and its halo. I went through the top-center of the cage's main hoop, over the diagonal on the rear main cross brace, and out that way. Getting into the car on Sunday revealed the contortions I needed to do to get out of it while on the trailer in the future--the window is the best way, I just had to figure out how.

7.) The car doesn't overheat anymore. But it gets warmer than I'd like. Early on in my time with this car, I'd go out, do four laps, and then get the overheat warning and see my gauge climb near the red. Backing off the pace cooled it. The cooling system was just old and crappy. The rebuild fixed that issue with new parts all around. Now, 20 minutes into a serious flogging on an 80 degree day, I can see the needle move above center. About a needle's width. The first time I saw this, I backed off a bit and it dropped down. I also kicked on the heater in the cabin--full power. Later on, I decided to test whether this would keep rising, or whether we were going to see a greater level of efficiency from the cooling system since the delta between the coolant in the radiator and the outside air was now greater... so I just kept pushing it while watching the temps. It didn't go higher, but that was an 80 degree day. I want to be ready for 100 degrees, so it's time for hood vents.

[Mike Tries]

OK, I know that this is something that gets covered a lot in various ways, but I feel like I'm in uncharted territory because I really don't know how to center myself and look for information like this. I'm looking at a very unhappy cluster when I get into the car. I know why it's unhappy (because I ruined it--it's right there in the title), but I want it to shut the hell up about the stuff I broke on purpose (again, it's in the title), and focus on how we can be a great team going forward.

I have various warning lights on that don't need to be on. The airbag warning light (the very light that kind of triggered this whole endeavor back in April by coming on briefly while I was out driving) is on all the time. Why? I don't know. Perhaps it's because the airbags in this car are sitting on the garage floor nearby. Or more likely, perhaps it's because the airbag control module was removed, disassembled, and turned to plasma by my laser in the ensuing months. Yeah... I uh... was curious what was inside a microchip.



I don't need the car to constantly tell me what I already know--that I ruined the airbag system.

The Check Engine light is also on. Why? Well, that one is more simple and also annoying: the catalytic converter is operating inefficiently. Do I care? Not a lick. I already have a test pipe to replace it. The car will never again see the inside of an inspection station, so it doesn't matter. Why is it important to turn this light off? Because it annoys me, yes, but more importantly, if there IS a problem that I need to know about, I won't learn it by staring at a light that's on all the time. I need this thing to kick on to tell me something I don't already know, if that's possible, and then shut the heck off when there isn't a serious issue.

Those are the two main ones for now. So what do I do?

I read through the Ross Tech VCDS manual. It's pretty thorough, but exploring the software can be a little scary. Plus, there's nothing in there to support my scenario: "So, you removed all the systems that keep your car operating normally and want to turn off all the lights because you're a moron". I think that I need to be interacting with the cluster, but I'm not sure if there's really anything I can tell the cluster to shut it up about the problems it seems to care about.

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm starting to get a better handle on exactly how these cars are built. I had always thought (until literally today) that there was a central computer in the car that sort of consolidated information and handled communication with modules for you. I thought that when you plugged in your OBD 2 computer dongle thingy, you were talking to a computer on the other side that would handle all the "behind the scenes" stuff for you. Now I think differently (at least for this car and older ones). I get the impression that we're interacting directly with each module, that the modules interact with each other, generally, but that there's nothing in there that's the sole gatekeeper, decider, or computer. Will the engine start without a valid key? No, because the engine control module relies on information from... what... the cluster or the central convenience modules? Sure. Maybe. But those modules aren't central--they're just components in a sort of distributed network of individual components that all just do their job and don't worry about what anyone else is doing, unless it affects them.

Does anybody kind of see where I am and where I want to go? The car works, somehow, and works quite well. The lights all even work, and, honestly, that's amazing (for a while, before I stripped it down, the headlights had a delayed activation sometimes; and after the build, the fog lights didn't work anymore... but now they do and I don't know why). I mean, everything that still exists works as intended (which is pretty cool, considering).

[Mike Tries]

This. This is what is inside that chip.

[Mike Tries]

Gee whiz this weekend was a whirlwind of work on the A4! I wanted to get the fire suppression system installed, and I made a bracket to hold the kill switch (which I have no idea how to wire in...).

The fire suppression system consists of a bottle, 5 nozzles, tubing to carry the gas or liquid, and two pull cables. The idea behind the cables is that they would be accessible to emergency workers, but also to me, so one is within easy reach to me, just above the light switch (also easily reachable by a corner worker), and the other is at the base of the windshield. Pulling either will release the fire killing chemistry all over the engine, and all over me.

2022-Mike Tries might have carefully bored holes just big enough for the cables to protrude through into some plastic object, maybe backed it with a washer or whatever (so it didn't just pull right through), and called it a day hoping nobody would ever check it.

2024-Mike Tries built brackets!

I still need to secure the lines, install the dash again, and then hook up the dash mounted cable. I want to get the kill switch wiring figured out first though. Chris Fix to the rescue! I will also build a bracket for each of the nozzles in the engine compartment. The nice thing about this project is how much spare steel I have after having the car to bits!

Anyway, it was fun work--moreso than I had anticipated. Enjoy the pictures!

[Dr.B6Banter]

Regarding your questions in post #54, I can't help much with the lights and beeps associated with the airbag system not being present other than physically removing the lights and buzzer from the cluster (buzzer would be useful for low oil level or pressure warning when on track) or perhaps identifying if there is a fuse that handles that system that could be pulled to stop the self test it runs during key on.

On the CEL side of things, if the lack of cats is the only thing causing the code, pop a spacer on the secondary O2s after the test pipe(s) and that code should go away. I have Eurodyne tune on my B6 and the associated tuning suite on my computer which allows me to adjust the behaviours of each code (whether it is just a logged code but no CEL, or a solid CEL or a flashing CEL) and I've set all emissions related codes to not log and not illuminate the CEL. Obviously, this doesn't help you much if you don't have the Eurodyne tuning suite, but the same should be achievable through a custom tune, but I never had the patience to go through NEFMOTO and decipher the strange table layout of the Me7.5

[Mike Tries]

Tuning this car is a challenge, that's for sure. I understand that aftermarket ECUs are as easy to tune as opening any given table and adjusting values (as opposed to opening three different-but-related tables, and tweaking values on all three related tables, hoping that the right behavior comes from it).

Good idea on the O2 sensor spacer. I'll look into that when I install the pipe.

[grayjay]

Relevant settings for disabling rear 02 sensor (using nefmoto tools to read and edit the tuning .bin file) is at;
https://s4wiki.com/wiki/Tuning#Rear_O2_Sensors

An O2 spacer may help with getting a high-flow cat or a poorly functioning cat to not throw codes but I am skeptical it would work as well if you have cat entirely deleted.

[Gunnarrrrr]

when catless a spacer works for the first maybe second drive before throwing a cel. even with a high flow cat they’re still mostly useless. code it out


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine Forum

[Mike Tries]

Cool! That should be straightforward enough. I'll try it this weekend. Thanks, gents!

[Mike Tries]

It's officially a race car!

After a crazy all-out rush to finish the last bits yesterday, my dad and I took it to the tech day this morning to get it inspected and get the log book. I expected to come away from today with a list of things to fix: redo this part of the cage, reinstall that hydroburner coil, ensure dice are fuzzier. Nope. It's good. That was a hell of a journey, and I thus declare the car "done".

Er, well, you know. Stage 1 done. Good enough to get out there. I will address making it fast (you know... like race cars should be) in stage 2.

But for now, I'll grab a Rita's Italian Ice and go play Halo with my little ladies.



(I suppose that, since I am now on the OTHER side of the ruinous valley, and the car now has value again, I can also say that the car is officially unruined!)

[willemml]

Awesome! Must be nice to have it at stage 1 finally. I like Halo.

[Dr.B6Banter]

Excellent! How much longer till there are lapping events where you're at?

[Mike Tries]

Well, if I had been thinking a little harder on Sunday, I probably could have gotten a couple laps in when I had the car inspected. They had an HPDE over the weekend. I would have been easy on it, just a few laps to be sure it wasn't going to overheat, and maybe to get some heat into the brake pads. It didn't really occur to me to ask the registration people about getting into that day's activities.

As it stands, the race school starts 14 March, so 15 and 16 March will be on-track.

[Danisson]

It's very cool how these kind of events are happening in the US. I do regret many times I don't live there... you know, the classy American Dream :) Congrats for all your work Mike, all the best wishes regarding all of your future race events ! Always 1st place and no bad accidents => fender-benders allowed from time to time ;) Have a good one !

[Mike Tries]

Stickers! Now it looks the part! Series sponsors are in the mail, so more to come. I might go full F1 and make up a bunch of fake companies too. Rustix Brand Fastener Adhesive ("Nothing sticks like Rustix!"), Must-Gos Restaurants ("Leftovers, the European way"), etc.

[Mike Tries]

The thing survived the weekend. 200 or so miles at maximum beans, and the temp gauge didn't budge, the tires didn't explode, the brakes didn't catch fire (or get stuck on), and nothing fell off. Also, I didn't crash it. We had some rain, and that was a hoot. The school was excellent, and I'm looking forward to seeing those former students on the track.

Next: new tires and wheels. The wheels on it are, apparently, 26 pounds a piece! That is--and this is true--more than twice as much as an NA Miata's wheel. I can trim that by almost 11 pounds or so per wheel. And then... iunno... a splitter and wing? I might put one of those dog decals on the back, where the rear wiper is his tail.

[Dr.B6Banter]

Glad to hear you finally got it on track! Finally getting the rewards of all those hours of wrenching. I'm in the same boat as you in wheels as the 19" peelers I had on my B6 last track season weighed almost 30lb a piece if you can believe it.

[Mike Tries]

30 pounds? That's really heavy!

[Mike Tries]

Well then. I had an opportunity to wrench on the A4 this weekend. I received the series sponsor decals for USTCC, and so I got to channel my inner 5-year-old and go HOG WILD playing with stickers. Before I put them on, I broke out the orbital polisher and went after the blemishes in the paint with a vengence. There's a little before and after of the back bumper for you... if you're into that kind of thing--hey, I'm not judging!

[Danisson]

Those sponsor decals really bring a sporty and kinda "true race car" feeling to her. Nice !

[Mike Tries]

Yeah, it's funny... it totally changes the character of the car. Plus... as we all know, stickers add like 5 hp each! Lol

[Nate_Conner]

The thing survived the weekend. 200 or so miles at maximum beans, and the temp gauge didn't budge, the tires didn't explode, the brakes didn't catch fire (or get stuck on), and nothing fell off. Also, I didn't crash it. We had some rain, and that was a hoot. The school was excellent, and I'm looking forward to seeing those former students on the track.

Next: new tires and wheels. The wheels on it are, apparently, 26 pounds a piece! That is--and this is true--more than twice as much as an NA Miata's wheel. I can trim that by almost 11 pounds or so per wheel. And then... iunno... a splitter and wing? I might put one of those dog decals on the back, where the rear wiper is his tail.

check out the APR 01s, if their your visual style. APRs site has them at 18.5 lbs for 18x8.5, and 21.5 for 19s, which is about the same weight as Enkei RPF1's and their not too expensive at $325 each.

I currently have the black set in 18x8.5, on PS4s, and my stage 2 car is noticable faster when i have them on vs my knockoff TE37s I have for winter wheels. their not everyones style but they do look nice on our cars

[Mike Tries]

Ahh, they're very nice, but I'm going to stick with 17". There's another wheel that a friend pointed me to, but I forget which one it is. I'll post it here when I find out tonight. His look pretty good on his Civic, they're about the same weight as the Enkeis, and they're also cheaper. Really, just getting down from 26 pounds will make a huge difference. I'm glad to hear that you can tell the difference in weight.

[Mike Tries]

I got my AiM Solo 2 DL hooked up! I needed a CAN bus connection to the power train. You guys helped me figure that out. I found a twisted pair of wires right where I expected them to be (wiring diagrams are great). Green connector on the back of the instrument cluster, for anybody searching later.

I took a length of one of the other CAN bus twisted wires, cut it away from wherever it had been running, and tapped it into the cluster wires. I threw some pins on that for OBD 2, jammed them into the CAN high and CAN low ports on the OBD 2 port (they were unoccupied), and plugged the AiM in. Data! Hooray!

[Mike Tries]

I also dorked out with tape this weekend! I laid down a bunch of blue painter's tape to represent the blue that I want to do for my livery. It will be darker and glossier when I do it in vinyl, obviously. I then laid down some yellow duct tape for the accent colors. Pro tip: cover the areas you want to do in duct tape with painters tape first so that it releases cleanly when you're done.

This is meh, but it was fun to mess around with it. I'll need a real design in the back. The random decals on the tape were just some I had lying around just to see if it would look different with stickers.









This one below is my favorite. The little dip of silver at the back is fun (and more true to the concept), plus the later iterations have too much yellow... or just... yellow in the wrong places.

[Mike Tries]

This is the AI-generated image that sparked the design.

[Ryes7]

New fave thread

[Danisson]

New fave thread

Exactly ;)