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[Storx]

Hey everyone.. Everyone calls me storx and i am going to be joining you guys in the great city of colorado springs for the next 3 or so years.... I dont know much about the area but i sure hope there is a few peeps out there that like to tinker on things as i have alot of work going on once i arrive.. I am currently in Korea.. and i been here for 3 years.. and i feel like its been light years since i driven a car.. so when i get there dont dig on me.. if im stumbling around the clutch for a few days.. haha

Anyways.. i will have 2 vw/audi cars with both needing work done to them..
1) 2004 VW Touareg V10 TDI * currently has a fck'd cylinder head that needs to be taken apart and possibly machined... picked it up while in korea for almost free cause had a broken timing belt..im having it shipped out since its not drivable at the moment.. and i plan on totally taking it apart to learn the engine and get the beast back on the road... hopely without running a whole in my pocket..


2) 2001 Audi TT 225... its been my beloved daily for a bunch of years now.. and its going to be going under the knife also... i have an assortment of mods that are going to find its way on her.. aswell need to still find some.. (still looking for AWP ecu and an AEB head)...


Plans for it in the near future..
tear apart the ALH TDI block i will be shipping with my household goods.. and boring her out to 83mm...
Integrated forged 159mm rods..
JE 83mm 9:1 piston...
AEB head (when i source one... last one was cracked)
AWP ecu.. Self tuned with TunerPro RT
narrowband to wideband harness swap..
HE351ve 88mm Turbo...
custom intake manifold w/ 75mm TB.. if i can find someone with reasonable priced welding or.. toss them beer...
1200cc injectors...

Recently finished a build here in korea for a friend.. with an 2002 Audi TT with similar mods and turbo.. and @ 2bar it thru down


picture of the HE351ve turbo.. haha

[Storx]

does anyone know how well the auto shop is on fort carson.. and if they have welder.. cause i would need to weld up all my tubing.. and such..
Also.. if anyone wants to drop down with me and help on the projects when i arrive.. be my guess.. im still learning actually on it all.. i am more inclined in the outsides of the motor.. and understanding how the engine and the motronic ME7.5 ecu functions..... i would love to have someone who is skilled in like the valve-train to help me build the head.. instead of taking it to a machine shop like i have in the past..
I'll even throw like an BBQ or something later on feed all us... haha..

[Scott]

The craft shop on Carson is pretty bad ass... they have a comlete welding shop, complete paint booth, frame machine, and LOTS of bays.  It is oneof the best craft shops I have ever used. 

[scurvy_bandit]

Where are you going to be working on Peterson? We have a 6 bay shop and do a lot of work here in the shop after hours and on the weekend.  Peterson also has a decent auto hobby shop as well.  Looking forward to you getting in!

[Smokestack]

Welcome! I've always wanted a V-10 TDI touareg to play with. Good find! That TunerPro looks neat. I might have to find an excuse to play around with it on a car.

[Giggidy]

Welcome, what's your AFSC?

[Storx]

going to be working at norad

[Giggidy]

NORAD is CMAS. Do you mean NORTHCOM? Bldg 2?

[scurvy_bandit]

actually they are both at Bldg 2 now matt...

[Storx]

The craft shop on Carson is pretty bad ass... they have a comlete welding shop, complete paint booth, frame machine, and LOTS of bays.  It is oneof the best craft shops I have ever used. 

awesome.. cause i got alot of welding that i need to be mockup'd and welded...

[Storx]

Where are you going to be working on Peterson? We have a 6 bay shop and do a lot of work here in the shop after hours and on the weekend.  Peterson also has a decent auto hobby shop as well.  Looking forward to you getting in!

this 6 bay shop.. are you talking about on peterson.. or offbase??

also i look forward to meeting you all.. i will need some of yalls help if you dont mind lending a hand from time to time....
Also know anyone that knows how to build Cylinder heads.. i really want to learn... instead of always throwing it in a machine shop... i just been more of an assembler and tuning guy lately.. and i really wish i knew more of the internal details on the motors..

[Storx]

Welcome! I've always wanted a V-10 TDI touareg to play with. Good find! That TunerPro looks neat. I might have to find an excuse to play around with it on a car.

Oh.. there out there.. but this one was abused and ridden into the ground.. while i was here in korea.. an officer had it.. and he put 271k miles on it never changing the timing belt.. and it just gave up... but luckly he was idling in the parking lot warming it up during the winter months when it happened.. so it only damaged 1 head.. when he went to have it fixed noone in korea told him they have the knowledge to fix it.. even the audi dealerships here.. said they couldnt.. i read into it and found out there are insane amount of special tools listed just for this motor.. so i will be learning as i go.. i guess.. haha but i am willing to try to fix it.. i only paid $3,500 for it... as that was how much they offered for him on a trade in when he bought a new car... it does have some mods done to it.. like rocketchip tune.. not sure stage he said.. but he said it had it.. aswell transmission was rebuilt 2 years ago he said and the turbo on the drivers side had been replaced.. so it not all bad of a deal.. just going to take some tlc to do it all..

Also... tunerpro... it is an open source.. donate as you want tuning platform.. and its incredibly easy to use.. if you have an XDF definition for your ECU to import... nearly all the tuning shops here in korea use it on everything.. and i wish i could like ship my car to them to have it tuned.. if it wasnt so expensive.... cause they do some incredible tuning adjustments with this software... i watched a guy at the dyno run unitronics 630cc file on a GT3076r turbo make 384whp@1.7bar... and he wasnt happy with it.. cause he expected more.. out of it.. so they scratched it all and built a custom tune with tunerpro for him.. and it threw down 455whp@1.7bar with nothing done to the car.. just pulled the ecu and switched tunes.. thats all...the korean guys showed me the basics... and even let me play around with it.. on a shop car they had.. and just yelled at me when i was doing something wrong.. haha.. but it worked out perfect.. showed me how to understand what was happening and needed to be adjust by looking at certain logs on its datalogging record playback..

I asked them if they so kindly let me have or sell me there XDF for my ecu.. but they said that they couldnt... cause its an investment thing.. and they said they rather me learn how to make one myself.. cause if i can do that.. then i understand the program enough to be good tuner...i guess they just didnt want me to fck up something by just using there files.. but heck.. ima going to try to learn it myself.. and not afraid to try.. just going to work at it.. 1psi at a time.. like they did..

[Storx]

I'll try explain what an XDF file is..

When you read an ECU and pull the file that controls the engine out its nothing but lines of numbers and letters. I mean thousands on some ECU's...
unless you know which bit an every line does then you need something that structures this data to something more simpler to understand known as an XDF for tunerpro...
what this file is.. it is basicly an structure/guide of all that data...
example.. the 2002 1.8T AWP ECU is nearly 4,600 maps that control the engine
but when you look at it how do you know where each of these maps are and what is what...
that is what the XDF is for.. it would break up sections of that data so the tuner platform can view it in a more friendlier view to make tuning easier.. like 2D and 3D maps..
but the issue is.. not all ecu's have the data in the same areas.. or have all those maps.. so you have to have or build an XDF to cut up these maps and import it into the Tunerpro platform so you can make it can go from numbers and letters to graphical visuals like this..


to this...

[Giggidy]

actually they are both at Bldg 2 now matt...

No shit. What is CMAS considered now?

[719MKV]

Hi. ^^^WTF is all that shit!? lol, i dont like to read, i saw weird pictures and was like whoa...

[Smokestack]

So basically you whip out your machine code skills, play around with a hex editor, and create a file to tell Tunerpro what each memory address should contain and what it is supposed to does. Sounds like a lot of fun for the mad scientist type, and I can understand why the Korean people don't give their files away for free. I run MegaSquirt in my ride right now, but if I ever pick up another Motronic powered car I might play around with this.

[scurvy_bandit]

The 6 bay garage is at my shop on base. We have a welder and an A-frame... also a few roll around snap on boxes and air tools.

Dude this stuff looks insane... and fun!

[Storx]

So basically you whip out your machine code skills, play around with a hex editor, and create a file to tell Tunerpro what each memory address should contain and what it is supposed to does. Sounds like a lot of fun for the mad scientist type, and I can understand why the Korean people don't give their files away for free. I run MegaSquirt in my ride right now, but if I ever pick up another Motronic powered car I might play around with this.

kinda.. the tunerpro program already knows how to read the values and give you advice on how to correct it with blue to red shading... the XDF is just there to label which section of the code is what.. tunerpro.. literally tells you what needs to be changed.. and even gives you recommended changes.. its just all falls back to the XDF... once someone builds one.. it can be used on all ECU's of that type... the reason there isnt one already openly available.. to the public on there site to download free is because tunerpro.. is really a clone replica of HP Tuners for chevy... someone took HP Tuners.. and made something that was free to the public that performed what it did and more.. so alot of the tunes and help you will fine on there site apply to chevy and GM really.. and a few BMW, DSM, and Subby guys have already been messing with it and posted XDF's for there ECU cause there not nearly as complicated as our motronic ecu's... plus european tuners tend to be stingy on there info and files.. cause of the money value... they make from USA... if you go to Europe.. The big tune companys you see here in USA bought are not that common.. you see more custom tunes then anything..  but i still want to make an XDF and get it out to the public.. cause im tired of how Audi and VW cars are so behind the curve on tuning..cause noone really does it for performance anymore.. they make parts and such for profit and money.. unlike Honda and EVO/DSM scene....once more people merge to open source ecu tuning.. the cost to HP value will become alot better and performance will not be such an hassle like it is these days...

Also.. they have alot available for the DSM guys already with already tuned files posted.. you could just use one and alter it to your setup...

[Smokestack]

Aww... You took all the geeky fun out of it for me. 

The Honda/DSM/Subbie scene has easier chip tuning because their ecu's have fewer encryptions placed on them to prevent people messing with them. The only company I can think of that ties their vehicle security into the ecu is VAG, which tends to make it a PITA to get to the guts. I wouldn't be surprised if BMW and Mercedes do the same thing seeing as how they use Bosch Motronic ecu's (at least they did through the late 90's and probably still do since Bosch has had a very healthy relation with all three). Besides, VW people aren't as concerned as others when it comes to going fast, which could also be a reason why this hasn't developed. The few that are either have good relations with chip tuners or just run a SEM (check out megasquirt and all the info that's there on just VW's). It's definitely nice to be able to keep adding sub-systems on an SEM to control things like launch control, nitrous, E85 switching compatibility, etc. which a modified OEM ecu wouldn't be able to do without trying to integrate piggy-back systems (make's things complex and never really works as well as it's intended).

Tunerpro definitely has the potential to be an easy way to start getting into tuning without dropping the dough on an SDS, Megasquirt, or other SEM. All it looks like it needs is people like you laying out the ground work with the XDF files for VAG products to get the ball rolling.  I know I'll be watching with interest.

[Storx]

i been talking with a few people to help me out on this.. but it is looking to be a long and painful journey before i can finish this.. i dont mean years.. im just talking about lots of studying as most of the stuff out there explaining the charts are in German.. and im not that knowledged in German

[AutoUnionB7]

Welcome, let us know when you get in town. I am at Peterson as well for another 5 months, then back to civilian world, as Army + Peterson AFB= Bad taste in mouth.

[Storx]

Welcome, let us know when you get in town. I am at Peterson as well for another 5 months, then back to civilian world, as Army + Peterson AFB= Bad taste in mouth.

care to share man?? just curious

[Barry]

I think the key ingedient to his bad taste was ARMY....


I'm not a hater... I know we all play our own roles in the military game, but I will say a lot of the douchieness in Colorado Springs is thanks to the Army.


and yes Nick... if you are lurking.... I am allowed to make that claim.


Peterson to me was one of those bases that once you are there, good luck leaving. I knew people that had to put in for Korea to get out of CO, and myself, I had to seperate to get out... Oh well... Some love it, and some hate it. It's all what you make of it... the 1st 5 years. 

[Storx]

im just wandering what it is.. that is so bad.. you said douchieness but what did you take from all of it.. that you hated the most.. i understand that difficulty to leave part.. but im not to worried about that.. im in korea now.. and i actually love it here.. i plan on coming back after some time back in the states.. i just hate how the command is here.. I'll just say.. this.. there is more things happening in the top of the chain of command that are illegal by all means in the army.. then there is good things.. just watched 2 people get arcom's for PCS award that both cheated on there wifes that are back in the USA.. while here.. but noone said anything cause it was WAY to high anyone to make issues out of it..

[Barry]

I think you just hit the shitty nail on the head for me. At Peterson, it was a shitty command. The problem with Colorado Springs (from an Air Force point of view) is that the 2 main bases have different agendas. The AF Academy, obviously has its very own agenda, aside form every other AF base in the world. Everything has to look perfect on the base. I get that... the Academy gets a lot of visitors, and it is a chance for the AF to showcase the base to the public. Cool. What I dont agree with is spending XXX hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to make sure every blade of grass is green. Its fucking CO for christs sake. The natural enviroment is brown grass.... Accept that, and spend the money elsewhere. The final straw at the Academy was when tey repaved a 6 mile section of road that had not one single pothole. Yeah... it had a few cracks that they spent the previous year sealing, but fuck man... I can only imagine how much that shit cost. I just had an 8000 sq ft driveway paved, and $10K was the low estimate. What a fucking horrible waste of money.


Peterson... well, normally, at a MAJCOM Command base, you have one command. Not Peterson. Not only do you have Space Command there, but also NORAD and NORTHCOM commands. Way too political for my taste. I'll take Tinker AFB, and the mission over the command bullshit any day of the week. Oh yeah... wing fitness days, and 1200 people crammed into the gym becuase it was too windy outside pissed me off too, but that was only one day a month, and the last 8 months I was on Active duty, I burned that day up with leave.


I think the worst taste in my mouth for active duty came at the hands of the "new" EPR system. I had a career year in the AF, and got thanked with a 4. All becuase Peterson wanted to be at the leading edge of the Space Command, and by setting a trend for the rest of the AF to follow. What a bunch of bullshit, and the only people that thought that actually meant something were the ones that were ate the fuck up anyways.


Oh well... I am a civilian now, living back in my homestate, and working as a defense contractor. I guess it all works out for those that want it to. Ask Dave (scurvy). He fuckin loves Peterson AFB...