Never ending quest of badassery

[kittenpuncher]

Can't believe I just found this thread and I usually keep a close eye on all VW thread on SW. Work is unreal so far..... keep it rolling. Finished product will not dissapoint

[Tuck&Poke]

I had a lot of issues with the turbo backing out the nuts on the manifold from vibration. Mind you my turbo sort of hangs off the side of the manifold but you may want to look into anti-vibration washers. Nordlock is one brand, Full-Race sells a stud kit that I bought off of them that worked out pretty good. I would also suggest ceramic coating the turbine housing and downpipe, so much heat back there. I was cooking the paint on my frame rails.

Looks real good so far man, excited for more progress.

[way2fastx3]

Coming together great! Love the color of the bay.

[mrkrinkle]

I had a lot of issues with the turbo backing out the nuts on the manifold from vibration. Mind you my turbo sort of hangs off the side of the manifold but you may want to look into anti-vibration washers. Nordlock is one brand, Full-Race sells a stud kit that I bought off of them that worked out pretty good. I would also suggest ceramic coating the turbine housing and downpipe, so much heat back there. I was cooking the paint on my frame rails.

Looks real good so far man, excited for more progress.

Yeah that is a concern of mine. I bought a bunch of turbo/manifold nuts from 034 that they've used in their time attack VRT with ought backing out issues. If I end up having issues I'll prob just v-band everything. I plan on Ceramic coating the hot side and manifold, but wrapping the downpipe in header wrap, and covering nearly the whole firewall in Reflect-a-Gold.

So I did a little tinkering today. Ended up buying a Fuel Lab mini FPR from a local shop, I need a gauge for it. Any reccomondations? Fuel Lab says not to use a liquid filled gauge as they can be inaccurate?

Integrated Engineering is back ordered on 870cc Siemens injectors.. Had to cancel my order for those, but still have the pump and some other goodies from them on the way.

I also think I'm going to have clearance issues with my hood and the IE intake manifold.. I had to use the transitional spacer because I have an AWP head and the manifold is made for a big port head.. But that only raises the intake manifold like a 1/4".. So I'm kinda lost here. I don't have motor mount spacers, so I don't really understand why it's sitting up so high. Unless I have my motor mount bushings in backwards? That's the only thing I can think of. I'll know for sure on Thursday as I'll be picking up my hood from the body shop then.

Also got around to putting the new Airlift Performance struts in tonight, and a super big :thumbdown: to Airlift for the fact that you have to drill new holes to install them. I ended up just making 2 of the 3 original holes larger, and drilling one new hole in my freshly painted bay



But paired with the IDF LCA's I'm getting -2.4* of camber at the front wheels. I think I found the limit for wheels up front with these struts too. My CCW LM5T's are 9" up front ET25 and are about 2-3mm away from the strut at full compression, and about 5-7mm away at full droop. I mocked a fender up with the wheel on there and it definitely tucks up behind the fender really well. Would be easy to fit another half inch on the lip and it would sit just like my rears do. ****ing pumped for that look.

Made a quick template to hide the old bolt holes from my slam series struts tonight too. Hopefully going to have Matt at Haggard Fab make a few up, so if you're running into the same issues as me with these struts, give him a shout and he'll set ya up with some of these, only made out of metal not cardboard lol.

[mrkrinkle]

Got a Nardi in the mail today. She so purdy..



Had to buy an adapter to get my Momo hub to work, so that should be here any day. How do the trim rings work that cover the hardware? Do I have to use 3m foam tape or something?



Matches pretty damn well if you ask me!

[mrkrinkle]

Should be getting my air setup back from Greg (swoops) sometime next week. Here is it nearly completed. Can't wait to get this back!

[DER E30]

The air set up is gonna look goooood!

[mrkrinkle]

Annnnd the finished product:



Super pumped on this setup.

[DER E30]

(where's the thumbs up smily)

[mrkrinkle]

:thumbup: lol

[mrkrinkle]

Ran the power cable tonight, wish I would have done that before I put the ABS unit and booster in. That was a PITA to run through the frame rail. Gonna have to figure out a clean way to run a 4ga wire through the passenger side for the alternator to the rain tray where the factory fuse block is now.

Ordered a eurojet FMIC setup. Got my wheels off to the powdercoater. I HOPE I can get this thing running in a few weeks or I'm going o have to wait until after SOWO.. I really don't wanna do that, but t he pace things have been going that might happen.. *knocks on wood*

Got my air setup from Swoops today. Oh is it glorious.

[mrkrinkle]

Decided to say fuck it and go ahead and get the entire interior re trimmed before it's done this spring. Sean at Top Stitch is going to be handling that. Grey suede pillars and headliner, grey tweed seats with matching door card insets, center arm rest, and rear parcel shelf all of which will incorporate a square, double stitched pattern in them. Sean said the interior will be done by the first week of April.

Also coming to realize that I'll be lucky to have this all done by early May. So driving it to Georgia for SOWO may be a little bit of a challenge. I really need to get cooking on this.

My short list:

-finish plumbing the fuel system and get power to the pump.
-route 4ga alternator cable through upper passenger frame rail into the rain tray.
-final tourque on all accessories, and install belts.
-paint tensioner
-paint or polish throttle body
-final assembly of exhaust manifold
-final instalation of turbo
-final instalation of waste gate - need shorter hardware.
-order boost and wideband gauges and install.
-order tune
-final assembly of ABS module and appropriate lines, reconnect calipers.
-final tourque of trans bolts
-run oil feed line to turbo
-hook air setup all back up
-make bracket for fan relay
-make bracket for mini fuse box that was relocated to rain tray.
-new windsheild
-wrap firewall in "reflect-a-gold"
-heat wrap the downpipe
-final motor/trans instalation
-install coolant ball delete solution
-install entire coolant system
-new front wheel bearings

ok I guess it isn't much of a short list, but the little things are piling up and it's fucking stressful.

[DER E30]

I'd **** to see the long version! You can do it!

[mrkrinkle]

Really kinda lost all motivation to work on her for the past week or so. Broke up with the woman this past week and really didn't care about much. Over that shit now, and it's really time to get crackin with this.

My buddy really helped me out last Saturday by going up to the shop when I had no desire to and finishing the rain tray mess, and a bunch of other little stuff. True friends I tell ya.. Hopefully the motor can go in this Friday for the last time. Just need to bolt up the manifold, turbo, waste gate and plumb all the various vaccum lines together before it goes in. Really seeing this all come together within a couple weeks. Not going to rush it, but if I put a solid 5-7 days in, I should be pretty much set on the right path.

Dropped the interior off last Friday at the upholsterer too. Should be done in about 3 weeks.

Stay posted for updates later in the week.

[mrkrinkle]

heres a little teaser of the interior so far..