Project A4

[Mike]

whoa that sounds retarded.

[Andy]

whoa that sounds retarded.

LOL. :lol: You're such a douchebag. I love it.

[ScottyB]

got all the ingredients for my home-brew (probably a total failure) SMIC sprayer. should be pretty simple, i'll have pics along the way.

stopped by Eurotech Atlanta to get my forever-lit CEL diagnosed for free:

#17544
Fuel Trim: Bank 1 system too lean

so now i'm on the hunt for a new MAF. my fuel system is fine, and a few guys have had bad MAFs according to a super-knowledgable tech. i had been experiencing some mild, barely audible pinging lately, which i thought had to do with just a bad batch of gas (or something like that) combined with the weather turning hot down here. my idle was pretty sloppy too. i think running the K&N filter in the past killed it....it was probably over-oiled and got gunk all over the MAF element, sending it to an early death.

in other news, my "custom" boost gauge mount is nearly done. pics to follow for that too.

[WRXtranceformed]

Have you tried cleaning off your MAF with chloride-free brake cleaner Scotty? That worked for me when mine got coated in oil hah.

[ViPER1313]

Go get a can of electrical contact cleaner and spray the MAF down - see if that takes care of it.

[ScottyB]

thanks for tips fellas, i'm already checking that option out too. Adam, where would you find electrical contact cleaner? i can think of a few possible stores but is there any you can think of off the top of your head?

[Andy]

Advance auto parts sell electric contact cleaner as well as MAF cleaner which I assume is the exact same junk.

[ViPER1313]

I got my can in the electronics isle of Home Depot, although I'm sure any auto parts store carries it.

[ScottyB]

thanks for the tips guys. CEL came on early yesterday so it wasn't a freak occurance. so, i got me some contact cleaner spray, doused the MAF and test drove it last night.

idle is way better and it's pinging much less, but i can still hear a little if i'm trying to pull away under 2000 rpm's. now, i'm not "lugging" the engine at those rpms but i need to get out of my own way, know what i mean? is it common for even well-tuned cars to exhibit some ping under those conditions? i just want to be sure i'm giving my MAF a chance and not wasting money on a new one yet.

on the other hand, i'm sure as hell not screwing around with a lean condition on my car what with summer heat on the way. what do you guys think?

[ScottyB]

the de-greased MAF got some life back but it was still sketchy at low rpms. got a reman MAF from ecstuning and plugged that in...what a difference. much smoother, more power down low, better milage already.

when i took the old MAF out, i accidentally rubbed my hand over the screen on the intake side and got some gross crap on my hand. turns out it was covered with a greasy gime layer, which kind of explains why the MAF died...K&N oil. i don't know about other cars, but i don't think VW's like K&N filters at all the alternative is to not oil the filter as much, but then you might as well just put a sock over your MAF for all the filtering capacity you'll get with just gauze.

i was waiting for the nice weather this weekend to take off the front bumper and do my SMIC mister, but with my car getting boinked in the parking lot, and now the explorers tranny going south real fast, looks like modding season may be put on indefinite hold for a while. yay for cars!

[Sijray21]

i want pics

i want to see this thing fully disassembled and then the process of being reassembled

[ScottyB]

i want pics

i want to see this thing fully disassembled and then the process of being reassembled

ha, just getting to the air filter is a DIY write-up in itself.

what will end up happening with the mister install is seeing a before and after picture of the front bumper, with the "after" part looking like someone kicked it and halfway falling off

[ScottyB]

wow, i actually did something worth updating!

before he left, Chan hooked me up with a sweet boost gauge! thanks dude.





A4's have like no room at all on the dash, and i wasn't going to do a pillar gauge so when i found out how easy it was to pop a vent out i couldn't resist. had some extra plexi laying around from my aquarium project which made fabbing the mount a no brainer. go dremel go! it's pretty much all press fit, so that if i need to yank the gauge to get to the connections it will be an easy process.

even though the white lettering doesn't quiet match, it's not distracting to me at all so i'll probably just leave it. i will have to look for some kind of inline filter though, because i get alot of buzzing through the air line at certain rpm's. oh well, i guess i needs to get me some mad bass to drown that out!

[Chris]

looks good Scotty!

[JustinG]

very clean

[Mike]

not bad... you can probably find a reddish filter to just put over top of it.

[ScottyB]

not bad... you can probably find a reddish filter to just put over top of it.

thanks...yeah im thinking a filter too. wish i knew someone that carried a red bulb that would fit. maybe if i spray paint the bulb red.... :lol:

[Sijray21]

your projects never cease to amaze me, that's sweet!

[ScottyB]

ha, thanks...really though, it's not amazing. i just jammed a piece of black plexi in there and drilled it for a gauge

[ScottyB]

impulse buys own me

got a killer clearance sale price on an FK grille to complete my ricer image (not my car if you can't tell).



im actually pretty excited, now that i have a 4 rings front plate i don't like seeing two sets of rings on the front of my car. plus the OEM chrome is just too much.