You Learn a Lot About a Car When you Ruin it

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...)

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

Glad to see it survived its first outing!!

As a loyal/insane vw guy, one big thing that helped my boosted R32 was a the CSF aluminum radiator and going with a set of spal fans, definitely helped while beating on it up in the mountains, which can be equated to 10-15 track sessions.

If you haven't already done so, you should be able to find a lower temp thermostat, or you could choose to just remove it and run the system wide open.

Oh, closing thought, trailer loading/unloading, do you have a winch?  you could drive up to the  point where you can open the door and then just pull it the rest of the way forward.

Love the build, very cool car for a track toy!

The trailer has a winch, but we didn't end up using it this time because the battery was dead. That would have helped load it for sure!

Isn't running without a thermostat actually a good way to overheat? Something about the coolant not being held in the radiator for long enough? I don't really understand it... just that at least on old cars, the thermostat kept things in check. Plus, this thing has an electronic whizbang thermostat that the car likes to control. I can be convinced otherwise though. 

confuZion3 said:

The trailer has a winch, but we didn't end up using it this time because the battery was dead. That would have helped load it for sure!

Isn't running without a thermostat actually a good way to overheat? Something about the coolant not being held in the radiator for long enough? I don't really understand it... just that at least on old cars, the thermostat kept things in check. Plus, this thing has an electronic whizbang thermostat that the car likes to control. I can be convinced otherwise though. 

winch, gotcha!  might be an option in the future!

I'm not sure on the thermostat honestly, thats a good question...might be a fun rabbit hole to go down, I might have a new lunch hour research project

Nice job out there.

Have you considered putting in universal hood vents? Especially with a turbo car it can really help let out heat soak. 

In reply to OjaiM5 :

Yup! I am excited to get to this little project. Less heat, maybe less lift... way more awesomeness! 

In reply to fouckhest :

Rabbit holes are fun! 

What have I done to this brake pad? This was an EBC Bluestuff NDX pad when I bought it. Now it's not blue anymore. It looks like it may have spent some time being on fire. Did I kill it, or is this just what brake pads look like after an Audi eats them? Should I toss these in the garbage and get another set, or will they be safe for another event? There seems to be plenty of material left on them--they just... changed color.

For that matter, how about those rotors? That's two track days, but also some time just hanging out not doing anything.

Hi Mike, just checking in, haven't read through yet

The rotors are pitted from storage and the pads look pretty normal, about 1/2 worn. They have been overheated, but not destroyed. Close call, a couple more laps and they would have gone away. They should be replaced with the new rotors because they have run on the pits. If they are easy to change bring new rotors and pads to the track and be ready to change them. Check after each session. They are wearing faster and working less efficiently due to the rotor condition. Plug off the vacuum booster and reinforce (lengthen?)the pedal, excercise your leg and the brakes work. Add brake cooling ducts now so they work longer, you want to be able to run hard for an hour at least. 

Thanks, Bill! New rotors showed up yesterday. Pads will be ordered next.