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[mjohnson]

Ok, so I've placed a couple more orders and am about to order a couple more things I think.

Ordered:
Hybrid pan (turns out cast aluminum doesnt like hitting huge rocks at 50+mph)
HIDs 35watt 8000k (dims) 55watt 6000k (brights)
AEM wideband a/f

After thinking it over and talking with Jeff, my limp mode seems to make sense to be caused by running lean as apposed to "too much boost".  After going with a mbc my boost doesn't bleed off, it maintains 23psi.  So needless to say, in "race" mode on the mbc, the ko4 is being raped on a regular basis.  Because of this, I am kind of thinking that I must be pretty darn near the capacity of the stock injectors.  This will be verified once the wideband is installed, but since a set of 630 injectors is only $220, I think I might order up a set of those now, that way I've already got em for BT.

Anyone happen to know what the stock fuel pump is rated to?

Oh, I also replaced the coolant expansion tank with a brand new one.  Last time I replaced it with a used one, which has been fine, but the plastic was starting to turn different shades of brown and turning brittle, so I figured for $18 it'd be a nice reliable fix plus look a whole lot nicer. 

[mjohnson]

Well, the ole girl has been racked up at Gabe's for the past week getting some tlc.  I told him I had a laundry list of things for him to do, and when I dropped her off, he said "wow! you weren't kidding about a laundry list.." 

Here's the jist of what he is working on.  A bolt on the transmission mount sheared off, so the motor would rotate forward when put in reverse, which in turn cracked the exhaust manifold, giving me a retarded exhaust leak.  He drilled out the old bolt and then replaced the stock tranny mount with a vf dogbone.  Had him install the wavetrac lsd.  While in there, had him inspect the tranny, come to find that my throw out bearing was shot.  Good eye Gabe! Also found a torn cv boot.  Found it'd cost about the same to replace the whole axle as opposed to just a boot.  Decided to go that route.  He is adjusting the ebrake, and tranny cables.  Relocating the battery to the trunk.  Relocating the w/m pump to a more secure location.  Making some brackets to secure other components inside the engine bay.  Running the wires for the a/f gauge.  Installing the hybrid oil pan.  He is also taking a look at my various electrical issues, to include the limp mode that I've experienced on the highway (more constant speeds).  There's more that he is doing, but they are small.  Gabe and Andrew have been a big help in taking care of a bunch of stuff on the car.  Having Bluewater Performance as a title sponsor is a great thing for DATR!!  for those guys!

[Barry]

Gabe is an awesome asset to the CO VW scene.

I am glad he got title too. Great guy, that provides great work to the community, and actually cares about the local scene

[scurvy_bandit]

Did you talk to nat (punkrider) on here about he AEM? He could prolly hook you up.

[mjohnson]

If you're talking about an AEM wideband, I've already got one. I'm just having Gabe run the wires to the cab since he's already in the area with welding the bung and relocating the battery anyway.

I still need to do the timing belt, build a box to put the subs in the spare tire well and start cleaning some stuff up for datr.  Anyone have experience building custom sub boxes?  I'll likely use the fiberglass diy on the tex unless someone has experience/a better idea.  The goal is have both subs and the battery in the spare tire well and mount the amp to the top of the trunk (next to the stock amp).  Other option is to put the amp in the tire well and have the battery somewhere else in the trunk.

[mjohnson]

Picked up the car from Gabe's yesterday (sat) and the sucker runs pretty nice.  Not sure if it was just the lsd or the new throw out bearing as well, but everything just feels so solid and pulls so smooth!  The lsd did reduce quite a bit of wheel spin, but even so, I still spin in 1st when 22psi is dialed in.  I toyed with pretty successful launches with the low setting (9psi) in 1st and then switching to hi (22psi) just after the shift to 2nd.  The nice thing about the wot box is that I don't have to rebuild that 9psi in 2nd, it's already there and after the switch to hi, it climbs nicely to 22psi.  I've got a pressure switch that I'm gonna wire up that'll keep the bc in low while in 1st and then allow hi in 2-5.  Perhaps after afghanistan I'll throw a bt in, but that's low on priority right now.

First up, I'm having fuel issues. Every once in a while, the car sputters and dies (whether at an idle or driving).  I suspected a bad pump.  Talked to gabe.  He says it could be a number of things, to include the pump, clogged filter, or bad injectors.  I'm gonna drop it back off for him to check out while I'm down in TX next week.  That'd be real nice if it's something simple like the filter, but if it's the pump then I think I just might put in an upgraded 255lph one in preps for bt.

Once I get back I wanna start cleaning up the bay.  With the batt in the trunk now, my thought's are no longer as cluttered.  I can now focus on relocating the coolant/power steering/washer fluid tanks, and tucking the wires.  Gabe was pretty informative and had some good suggestions on how to go about doing these things.  I'm also referencing http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4770851-FAQ-Clean-Up-Engine-Bay.-Relocate-Battery-Fuse-block-Coolant-Ball-EVAP-WS-Washer-Power-Steering and http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4368818 which has given me some great ideas and hints on how to make this happen.  We'll see what I can get done for datr!