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California Speedway - March 17/18, 2007

Went early to be sure to get a decent spot as this events really fills up. Found Pat Lindsey's big rig and pitted along side his crew. He has his two cars along with Eric Fletcher and 3 other guys helping set up his cars. Terry Tang came out to run his car in HPDE. He doesn't do any timing. Later in the day Danni and Bryan came out for a couple of hours as did David Kan and Michael Kim.

The guys from Twins Turbo, Eric and Mark, brought out their shop's Supra, running our new Brembo six piston front and four piston rear. Had a chance to meet their customer/driver of the Supra, Steve An****.

After practice the car felt like it was pushing quite a bit. After talking to Pat, he said that was normal at this track. Regardless, I tried running more pressure in the rear tires to reduce grip. The times I was able to run in TTB seemed pretty competitive, and we were able to run a fairly comfortable gap over the rest of the TTB field on Saturday.

Sunday, everyone seemed to crank it up and times were faster for the entire field. Everyone was able to set a time under 2 minutes in TTB. With the car running really well and with me more comfortable with the track layout, I was able to run my best time of the day at 1:57.5. Unfortunately, on the last lap of the last session the car mysteriously quit while going flat out on the front straight. It would not restart and had to be flat-bedded home.

Motor Rebuild 2/19/08

Spoke with Hugo at PES, the guys that wrote the software for the Audi. The software is designed to run 18 PSI so it's obvious something is wrong with the current tune as we are seeing 24-25lbs of boost. Hugo suspects that we have the wrong wastegate installed or have a bad actuator. Performance Turbo, when they did the rebuild, installed a new, better, wastegate as the old one had a dent on it. Will need to chase that down and find out what actuator they installed. PES would recommend a 7.5 - 9 PSI actuator. Hugo guessed they installed a 12 PSI unit.

Testing Actuators: Remove N75, pull boost line from turbo and hook to actuator. That will make it run on mechanical boost only. Do test run and watch the boost gauge which will show true boost levels.

Performance Turbo 2/19/08

They can't identify the wastegate from the paperwork. They'd like to have the car brought in so they can test it. (How hard will it be to swap out the wastegate while it's on the car?)

Research 2/22/08

Looks like ATP turbo has several internal wastegate actuators. Have a 6, 7, 11, 12-14, 14 and 18 PSI although I doubt all of them would bolt up to the GT28RS.

Weekend Update 2/22/08

Removed sliders to lower drivers seat. Redrilled the lower bracket to move forward also. Redrilled side mounts did not allow a lower position due to interference. Found the oil temp gauge in the passenger seat. Don't know why there is a plug in it's place. Will install later this week!

Performance Turbo/Wide Band 2/23/08

Nicholas called. Should be able to adjust the actuator by turning it out 3 - 6 turns counter-clockwise. Will have to remove the rod linkage in order to make the adjustment. Recommended installing a wide band.

Lengthen Rod for Less Boost

Shorten the Rod for More Boost

Zeitronics arrived today. Installation details specify probe location must be 16" from turbo and before the cat! Hope that will work out. Need to call Zeitronics and see if they have a recommended installer, just to see.

Weekend Update - 3/9/08

Installed the oil temp sender. No problems.

Adjusting the wastegate was difficult. It's impossible to get the spring clip off the actuator but it can be adjusted by removing the actuator off the turbo case. Rotated it and lengthened the rod six turns and did a test run. Only ran 8-10 lbs of boost. Removed actuator and reset to three turns out. Bit of a disaster as both threads going into the housing stripped despite doing everything within our power to NOT have them strip. Everything is back on hold until they can be repaired. Should be able to access the turbo with the bumper off.

Current Projects - 3/9/08

1. Fix turbo threads
2. Install Wideband
3. Check wastegate adjustment
4. Research, buy and install rear support
5. Exhaust flex joint, turbo support, probes

Issue with Zeitronics - 3/10/08

The further back from the turbo the better, but 6-8 inches away will be OK. May shorten the life of the probe. Per Mark at Zeitronics.

Projects Status - 3/15/08

Pulled bumper and repaired turbo wastegate by replacing with longer bolts and loctiting. Test drove with reset actuator at three turns out but still no boost, only 5-8 lbs. Should have marked beginning point. Tried again to remove actuator rod, can't reach. Decided to have Moss do that when he's tuning. Will call this week and see if he wants the wide band installed first.

Pulled old pads out and installed new Hawk pads to test for RT. Found the reason the discs were destroyed and so much dust was being produced. Still had the ST42 race pads in the calipers.

Questions on Manual Boost Controller

Moss - Best to run the MBC, but need to reset actuator so that it's back up to 25 lbs of boost.

Bryan - Runt the MBC, but set the boost to 8-10 lbs., the MBC will fool the actuator and run whatever boost it is set at.

David - Questioned if the MBC would be compatible with the software and the stock N75 valve. Both are trying to set the boost along with the software.

Audiworld Research - The S4 BT guys are running the MBC and the N75 in parallel.

Unfortunately, that would mean I have to reset the actuator again to regain the 25 lb boost level for it to work properly.

Information from Bitterchild - 3/28/08

There are a few options. Could run the same actuator and go with 25lbs of boost. Need to have the right intercooler, downpipe and fuel. 100 octane or better.

1. Could run that actuator, with the spring reset to produce 25 lbs of boost and then run a MBC in parallel, as shown above to reduce the total boost.
2. Pick up an actuator from ATP or Garrett that runs less spring preload (7-8 lbs) to go back to the way it was originally. Then the N75 will work properly to control the boost.

Adjusting the spring tension to control boost doesn't work on the Audi. I'm guessing because the N75 and the software are supposed to do that? The MBC alone also won't work, you'd lose all the low end and mid range driveability. It would be all or nothing for boost.

Tony is able to pull that stupid "C" clip on and off while the turbo is mounted. So it's possible!

Status - 03/30/08

Pulled the circlip off. The rod still has a lot of tension and I don't see how the rod end would ever go back on.

• Why does the rod need that much tension? Seems like it should only need a slight amount to work.
• Why didn't it actuate or move when I blew pressure into it?

3/31/08 Nick at Performance Turbo says that amount of tension is normal. Apply 15-20 lbs of air pressure on the wastegate to actuate it. may still need to use a vice grips or long needle nose to get it back on the pin. He said they could do it for me. But they don't even have a lift. Custom Turbo in Sante Fe or Sam at SRT Motorsports. Talk to George at ATP if I am working with ATP out of Fremont.

Wastegate Resolved? - 04/09/08

David and I worked on the wastegate issue. Since it wouldn't move under pressure we removed it. Once removed, the rod moved after pressure was applied. We also straightened the bracket. Reinstalled and reset the rod length with the help of pressure.

• Ran with no hose connected to actuator. Actually ran great, made 23 lbs of boost and acted OK at partial throttle.
• Ran with rod off the flapper. Makes zero boost.
• With Rod under pressure, fully extended. Making 20 lbs of boost. Shouldn't need a boost controller.

With the help of surgical locking clips, and the actuator under pressure, Marie was able to get the clip back on. Lost the original clip and had to use a modified clip from Ace Hardware.

Exhaust Update - 4/12/08

Huge debate between Manuel at A-1 and Ziggy at Zeitronics about the wideband sensor. Ziggy maintains that it must be mounted 16" from the turbo or it will burn out. Manuel insists that it's no different than any other O2 sensor (VW mounts the same wideband sensor on their production cars) and we'll be OK to mount it 6" from the turbo. Rebuilt the high flow cat so it could be smogged and run in street class at Redline. Also set up test pipe with bungs in proper positions. Idea is to put a plug in lieu of the O2 sensor when not in use or to swap back in the test pipe after the smog check. I trust Ziggy and the guy at EGT.

All is Well - 4/16/08

Been driving daily. Boost is reliably hitting 20 lbs. No surging. EGT and Air/Fuel look perfect.

Redline Time Attack Planning - 4/23/2008

The best times at the 2007 Buttonwillow Time attack for street cars was 1:57.201, third place was 2:02.467 Redline Times

Since NASA is running there, hopefully in the same configuration, I'll be able to see if I can run a competitive time. The last time I ran at Buttonwillow is was with the K04 and the Koni suspension. A long time ago, but only ran a 2:17. Lots of time to make up! Checking the NASA TT records for TTB, running #13CW the current record was set by Dan Rose with a 2:01.96. That was in an M Coupe with R compound tires. Wow.

Audi Club Angeles Crest Run - 4/26/2008

Good test run for the Audi. Ran great, except needs more octane! Pinging even with 4 gallons of 100 octane. Only mis-hap was the bumper side came off. Duct tape to the rescue. But this brings up a better long-term solution. As seen on the 034 Motorsports car, I'd like to copy the Dzus fastener install.

Dzus Fasteners - Bumper Installation

Best description of installation

Will need:

• two of the self ejecting fasteners (size tbd)
• four silver solid rivets
• two of the larger weld plates
• two of the springs (size tbd)
• two of the backing plates for the fasteners
• Misc hardware to mount the backing plate
• Panel thickness = 5mm (.1968 in)

Upcoming Track Date - May 30 Streets of Willow/Speedventures

Shake down the Audi and do a little private instruction for two drivers/programmers for Skyworks.

Prior to the event:

• Oil Change (done)
• Remove air/fuel probe
• Possible alignment

Car wasn't ready for the Speedventures Event.

A new issue. A nut from the manifold to the block backed off. Also a nut from the turbo to the manifold fell off. Stripped the stud off so it had to go into VW Specialities to be fixed.

Page 2 (2008)

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