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Full Version: Teh Official "Dude Where's My Forum?" Thread
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Box
Because I'm nice I guess I'll be going on a 12 hour round trip so my brother can get a 2006 Audi A4 he doesn't particularly need.
Bitter
You'd get along better and be more accepted in Zaire than Japan. laugh.gif

The newer generation is more accepting but they're not the ones that are going to be dealing with you for work visas, housing, employment, vehicles, transit, taxes, etc, those are old people or people working for old people who are super xenophobic.

But it's not like you're moving to Japan, buying an AE86, and drifting mountains with your anime girlfriend.
Box
I guess I could always ask the one I bought the Firebird from since he lives and teaches there now.

Pssh you know me, I'd try and get a new Camaro SS over there. laugh.gif Speaking of that reminds me of an ad I found, I could only wonder who they were marketing to:



Anyhow the devastating aftermath of the winter storm that swept through mid-north Alabama:
Bitter
You gonna be OK? I mean you might be stuck in the house for 2 or 3 weeks with a snowfall like that!
Box
I know right, good thing there's bread and milk. laugh.gif
Bitter
As long as Waffle House is open there is hope!
Box
We have a Waffle House, can't say I'm a fan.
Bitter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index is what I was referencing.
Box
Omg that's fantastic. laugh.gif
Bitter
What's amazing is the picture of a Waffle House they showed was still open.
Box
Helped brother finish up dampening the trunk, huge improvement as all the bass hits nicely now. Even higher up bass that wouldn't come through at all. Exhaust is a good bit quieter too. If it's decent this upcoming weekend will probably tackle the interior then. 12 hour round trip to get the Audi tomorrow, 2006 A4 6-speed black on black with like 120,000? miles on it. Looks really clean from the pictures he showed me and between talking to that tech and researching what to check for hopefully won't be the atypical Euro nightmare.
Box
He's officially the proud owner of an Euro thing. Needs a few things here and there, typical used car stuff where the previous owner wasn't an OCD freak. Really the biggest thing is upon getting home the plastic coolant crossover gave up the ghost and cracked dripping out coolant, at least it did it after the 370 mile trip home. I'll have to try and snap a picture of the car tomorrow.
SwissFerdi
"2006 A4"

"Needs a few things"

"Typical used car stuff"

One of these things is not like the others...
Bitter
Ja ja ja, is ok no leak just steam is ok promise.
Box
The coolant passage is the only real issue, the rest is like the leather and paint hasn't been taken care of to our standard and then the fluids are due for a change/flush. He still has ties with the VW/Audi dealership he worked at so he can get all the parts at cost plus ten for it and he's familiar with them, he was going to have them pull records and do timing and the cam follower as preventive maintenance if they hadn't been done recently. It's what he was wanting and likes how it drives, anyhow a couple of quick pictures:

Bitter
Well thankgod it's not the 2.7 TT V6.

Looks like the headlights need to be clear coated and buffed.
SwissFerdi
Jesus monkey-****ing Christ, you should have started with the fact that he's a former brand mech.
Box
Yeah outside of finding the A6 with a manual it just really seemed hit and miss on the 2.7TT V6 from what I had found anyway, the 2.0T FSI outside of the cam follower ordeal seem solid enough. The driver side headlight is ok but the coating on the passenger side had started yellowing, I wiped them down real quick earlier and used some White Diamond to keep it from getting worse until they can be buffed out more thoroughly and that removed the discolouration.

I think I had mentioned it when I first said something about him looking at the A6 but maybe since he never worked on those as far as I know I didn't, I do know the 2.0T FSI was in all the time with Passats and A4s. I'm honestly still surprised he bought one since all I ever heard was how he'd never buy one. laugh.gif
Bitter
Those have the weird water pump on the back of the engine on it's own belt don't they? I did one in an A5 a while back, very odd but not a bad job. Sent her to the dealer for the cam follower thing since we didn't want to deal with possibly replacing a cam in it. Her fuel pump was leaking gas into the engine oil setting fuel trim codes for too rich, as it was sucking fuel vapor through the PCV system.
Box
From the video I found on the '06-08 A4 2.0T at least the water pump is inside the timing cover and driven by the belt. The whole cam follower thing I don't get why they did that, maybe that aside it'll ease Euro stigma like the Firebird eased domestic stigma but I'm not so sure.
Box
I had some time to polish out the Audi headlamps by hand, sanding and removing the coating would just open a can of worms and they're actually pretty clear now. Which he was saying they sucked on the way home but I imagine the bulbs are original so new bulbs and an alignment it should be pretty decent, which if it were me I'd look into the o.e.m. LHD Euro HID housings but I guess a bi-xenon D2S conversion for low/high on the DOT housings would probably yield satisfactory results too. Anyhow:



I have to say for a sedan they're pretty sharp looking.
Bitter
Odd, the A5 had it at the back, but I think it was a 10.


Best bet would be OEM HID housings from the US, but being a VAG he probably would have to get some module reprogrammed to get them working correctly.
Box
I'm guessing they could've changed it starting in '09 since the video was only for '06-08.

From what I saw on eBay the o.e. DOT HID housings aren't that expensive, I guess it boils down to what's easiest and what he's wanting. Right now doing the timing and bringing all the maintenance items up to date is the first stuff to do, fun fun. Now there's muscle, tuner, and Euro all in one place so everyone will like us. laugh.gif
Bitter
Get to see what's more durable, hint: It won't be the Hyundai or the Audi cause mods.
Box
The Hyundai drivetrain wise the extent of mods is an aftermarket intercooler, BOV, & intake, an aftermarket tune, and the turbo-back exhaust. He is wanting to do a turbo upgrade soon though, but personally I'm not so sure with the early engines not having forged internals and the turbo upgrade puts them toward the limit of safe power. Then he did the coil-overs and added factory track model Brembo brakes and Torsen LSD. I think the Audi he'll only do a tune and cat-back exhaust, and was looking into lowering springs that would also improve ride quality or at least not effect it negatively. Personally as far the Firebird goes I'm content with the drivetrain performance as it is, I'm more concerned with suspension and brakes. After moving I plan on finally upgrading brakes since the new place has a basement/garage that'll make life considerably easier.
Box
Had some guy in a 350Z stare me down earlier at an intersection while waiting to turn onto the road I was on as I was waiting to turn onto the road he was on, I guess he didn't know what the Firebird was. laugh.gif

Because I'm actually a girl I took some pictures of the sky because I thought it was pretty while on the way home from visiting our grandmother Sunday, had a cool blur effect on the first few but I guess that happens you take pictures from a moving car and don't have time to mess with the settings:






Box
So I thought I'd actually look at the wiring that comes off the battery and from the factory it appears 10 AWG was used from the alternator to the battery, 8 AWG from the battery to chassis ground and battery to positive terminal junction, and then 6 AWG from the battery to engine ground and battery to starter. Something else to throw onto the list of things to get to eventually.
Bitter
I got a package from China (projector shrouds).



Srsly.
Box
laugh.gif You can't come up with that kind of stuff. laugh.gif
Bitter
Finally got projectors that seem like they fit the Mazda head lights correctly, now to see if the shrouds will work or not. My old ones are not very good and feel like they're getting dim lately, could be the bulbs wearing or it could be the finish inside getting burnt from running them at 45W for several years on end.
Box
German cars. The cam follower had been replaced at one point since it wasn't a shattered mess but the coating was worn through and was dented in fairly badly. Thought that was the worst of it but I spun the motor a few times while he looked and the lobe is gouged some so the cam needs replaced. The fuel pump looks new though and from talking to one of the techs still at VW/Audi the cam is only $100 something their cost, so financially it's the cheapest fix but the biggest pain to replace. For now he's just throwing in the follower he bought and will replace it again and the cam when he does the timing. German engineering at its finest.

If the bulbs are a few years old and if you do a lot of night driving they're probably due for changing. I've noticed my brother's aren't as bright as they used to be after a few years, but they're cheap OPT7 stuff.
Bitter
Haha, the money pit begins!

Yea the bulbs are about a year old, 45W burns them up faster for sure, it could be bulbs but also I've been running the projectors at 45W for almost 3 years so I'm 90% sure the bowls are burning.
Box
Which I guess it could be worse had the follower shattered or the pump also needed replaced, so there's that I guess. I still want to know what the engineers were thinking on that one.

Hmmm, new bowls and bulbs and good as new eh? When I was looking I noticed there are 75W ballasts now and I'm like, I don't even... laugh.gif
Bitter
The chinese ballasts are rated on input, figure 80% efficiency, 75W is about 60W output which is just a bowl killer in a head light but can be used in a large bowl like a search light, flood or spot beam, etc. My F5 "50W" put out roughly 45W which is still a nice boost over 35W since the light output of a HID bulb ramps up on a curve with input power, 10W more is closer to a 50% increase in light output than the 30% power increase. So roughly 4500 lumen from a bulb vs roughly 3000 lumen, it's not a small bump and it's really noticable, downside is the decrease in bulb life and increased chance of burning the bowl, that can be mitigated with larger projectors that sink away more heat or even just adding heat sinks to the bowl itself, something I only speculate about and have yet to try but I think I will. Affix some copper or aluminum sinks on the top of the projector by filing down some flat spots and using something thermally conductive, I don't think the reflective bowl coating would tolerate aluminum brazing, to adhere them to it, that should keep the most likely areas to get heat damage cooler and prolong the bowl life. UV output also increases with visible light output and that too can damage the bowl over time, nothing much to do about that.
Box
Yeah I was like who the hell needs 75W for the street. I toyed with the idea of 50W had I gone with some HID setup but 100/80W of halogen seems to do the trick and I have no plans of doing any more.
Box
So I trimmed the dash cover to shape of just the dash pad, turned out fairly decent and looks the best it has since I decided it was a good idea to mess with the dash in the first place. I would leave it be but the grey reflects too much light and causes a glare, then again so did the factory grey which was a second reason in removing it and causing this whole mess. Since you can't dye polyester based materials like microsuede or microfiber without special dyes and boiling I had a thought, what if what I used to change the colour wasn't a dye or paint but a coating. So I grabbed a can of black Plasti-Dip and experimented with a scrap piece leftover from trimming and lo and behold if you do it just light enough it does a great job of changing the colour without making the microsuede feel hard and yucky, yes it feels different but unless you did a side by side none will be the wiser. Next time there's a clear and not windy day I'll do the actual piece and then I'll call it real until I have money and time to replace the entire dash. I'll have to get pictures once done.
Bitter
That sounds pretty cool.


Still waiting on my other shrouds from China, as eager as I am to get new projectors and headlights on the car I want to see what different shrouds look like on the car.
Box
I'm still surprised it worked as well as it did, came out to a nice charcoal/dark grey instead of black so that's an added bonus. I have that black flocked velvet but all the sewing stuff has been packed up and it was pitch black, at least this should match the rest of the interiour pretty well and still not throw glare. It doesn't look perfect like a new plastic piece would but it's better than nothing and was a fraction of the cost so meh...

More shrouds from Wang Gang?



Bitter
Might be from his cousin, Penis Party.

Tiguan shrouds and some aluminum ones with a rough finish.

Projectors
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Car-Styling...0608.0.0.xqxN99

Shrouds
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Tinguan-A-s...0608.0.0.xqxN99
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Aluminum-A-...0608.0.0.xqxN99
Duplicates of what I have now that I'm eh about, use them flipped upside down from how they go in a BMW.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2X-Small-ZK...0608.0.0.xqxN99

Box
I like how we have the same tastes in projector shrouds, I like the really basic and smooth kind too. To me the really busy looking ones are kind of gaudy.
Bitter
My choice is strictly what will fit. If I could do a busier one with some LED halos I probably would. Have them lit with parking lights and go off with low beams on.
1994Celica
Haven't been on here in awhile what have I missed? Also I'm sadly banned from driving again kindasad.gif
Box
My brother bought an '06 Audi A4 Quattro 2.0T, so that's about it from my side of the woods. Oh and I changed out the speakers in the Firebird and put in Hella headlamps, but that's it off the top of my head. Banned? Medical reasons again?

In happier news the replacement dash pad turned out nicer than I thought it would, updating project thread now.
1994Celica
Nice! How are the lights?

And yes, I had another seizure and I'm now banned for another 3 months.
Bitter
Can you set the Celica up like a driver Ed car and drive from the rhd side like jdm style with a "driver" in the left seat? :lol:

Not driving my Celica would kill me slowly, it does every winter. I could get along ok not driving in the winter so long as I get to run the stereo.
Box
QUOTE (1994Celica @ Jan 25, 2017 - 11:58 AM) *
Nice! How are the lights?

And yes, I had another seizure and I'm now banned for another 3 months.

They're great: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showto...6748&st=180 Half way down the page are some pictures. I can see really well with them, probably the best optics I've had in a car and better than most I've been in that I can think of. Tremendously better than the stock setup is an understatement, good bit better than the AutoPal lights as well.

That sucks... Three months seems kind of overkill, a month sure I can get that but three months?

QUOTE (Bitter @ Jan 25, 2017 - 12:09 PM) *
Not driving my Celica would kill me slowly, it does every winter. I could get along ok not driving in the winter so long as I get to run the stereo.

The one upside to living in the south is I get to drive the Firebird year round, I feel sorry for those up north for not only that but the rust bull**** you have to contend with.
1994Celica
It is killing me. I was really hoping to my celica out soon and use the beams more. I'm hoping I can sneak in some drives here in there but with my condition it's risky since I lose control of body and have no recollection of what happened during an episode. During this time though I'm going to try to swap my Subaru to rear discs since down time doesn't really matter.

Those lights look great by the way box! I really like them.
Box
That sounds terrible, hopefully they can figure out what's causing them and a put a stop to it. I know cannabinoid oil has helped some children with bad epileptic seizures where nothing else would, so maybe that's something to look into. Rear disc conversion, doesn't really sound fun at all. After I get moved and will have somewhere to do it semi-comfortably I need to put together a C5 Vette front brake kit myself for the Firebird, sure factory setup works on the street but I think at autocross and especially any HPDE they'll want to fail on me.

Thanks! Bitter talked me into getting them over the AutoPals I had or doing a bi-xenon HID conversion, good thing I respect his opinion. Which it's not an entirely fair comparison but honestly I see a lot better with my setup over my brother's Genesis with a H11 retrofit HID in halogen projectors and H1 mini HIDs, and he has it where both are on for low beam with high only triggering the H1 solenoids. Of course I'm also running 100/80W bulbs on a 12 AWG harness, but still that's just two "dinosaur" lamps versus that onslaught. He wants to redo his lights and I'm trying to talk him into doing an o.e.m and/or Morimoto D2S bi-xenon setup on both lights since he's insistent on dual projectors and not having the halogen H1 high beam, personally I'd run a D2S bi-xenon on the outside in conjunction with a relayed harnessed H1 halogen but I'm thrifty like that.
Box
I was underneath the car yesterday afternoon to clear out the A/C evaporator core drain and noticed the sway bar bushings had a sheen to them, so I started poking and smooshing them and sure enough they're either poly or a really hard rubber and same with the rear bushings. I also measured the front and rear bars and the front is 32mm and the rear is 21mm(stock Trans Am/Formula is 30mm and 19mm), so I guess when the previous owner changed the shocks out they must've done this as well. I guess that explains why it handles through corners as flat as it does and handles as well it does for otherwise stock suspension, I knew it handled better and felt firmer than my father's '96 Z28 for some reason(I knew shocks were part of it since his had DeCarbons, but surely that wasn't all of the equation) but now I know why.
Bitter
Bonus find!
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