The Project Pad

I actually have a guy that comes in with a mint 1991 titan grey coupe that still has the belly pan intatct! Might see if I can borrow it for patterning.

savagerocco wrote:I've been thinking of making a few for my cars maybe we can make a few extras. Aluminum was the first thing that came to mind after that I considered transparent aluminium but alas it has yet to be invined/discovered....

Except in the movies!

Hey... so has anyone here installed a keyless entry system into a B3 (or a B2 which would probably be the same)?

I bought this nice little remote-start box that also has a keyless entry feature I'd like to use... but it doesn't seem like the car has any provisions for adding one?

Edit: Never mind! It's not as tricky as I thought... should be doable with two relays.

savagerocco wrote:I actually have a guy that comes in with a mint 1991 titan grey coupe that still has the belly pan intatct! Might see if I can borrow it for patterning.

I have a b3/b4 one as well as a C4 one.

elaw wrote:Hey... so has anyone here installed a keyless entry system into a B3 (or a B2 which would probably be the same)?

I bought this nice little remote-start box that also has a keyless entry feature I'd like to use... but it doesn't seem like the car has any provisions for adding one?

Edit: Never mind! It's not as tricky as I thought... should be doable with two relays.

There is a pretty good write up on 20v.org you just tie into the vacuum pump for door lockage....

I think at some point earlier in this thread I had lamented the lack of center caps for my winter wheels. Well I've found a solution to the problem!

It turns out I just needed to employ a simple 2-step technique:
1) Remove caps from summer wheels
2) Install them on winter wheels
It's important to perform the steps in the correct order otherwise it doesn't work.


The color and design match isn't exactly perfect but they should keep salt-laden winter slush from getting into that area, which is my primary goal.

That's one solution. Too bad you couldn't find a set of the old school black ones that stick out from the face farther.

True!

Although I have to say if the caps I'm using were the right color (or maybe just stained more by brake dust ), and a few MM smaller (so they'd meet the ridge on the wheel rather than overhang it) I think they'd look really good.

Well this morning something interesting happened...

The forecast was for very cold temperatures overnight, so I left the car out (it's usually garaged) to see how well it would start in the morning (I don't get many changes to tune starting @ very low temps).

Well it turned out to be reasonably cold - about -5 F. And it started pretty well... it took 2 tries but I suspect if I'd stayed on the starter for a fraction of a second longer it would have kept running on the first.

After that it ran fine but something very strange happened on the way to work. While sitting in the drive-thru line at Dunkin' Donuts, the brakes lost power assist! It was as if the booster lost its vacuum source - over several applications of the brake pedal the assist became less and less. And they stayed unboosted the rest of the way to the office - although that was only about 5 minutes.

We'll see what happens later in the day when the weather's warmer and everything under the hood has had a chance to be warmed by the engine but I'm curious - has anyone else ever had a problem like this in cold weather?

So... it's now later in the day when the weather's warmer and everything under the hood has had a chance to be warmed by the engine. And... the brakes are happy again!

My theory is some moisture was in the check valve between the intake manifold and the brake booster and it froze, causing the check valve to stick shut. I've read about Subarus doing that... maybe my car thinks it's a Subaru.

On a completely unrelated note: now that the not-at-all-warm season is upon us, my seat heaters have been doing something interesting. Often (but not always - maybe 75% of the time) a while after they're turned on or the car is started, the control relays will start chattering - like they're trying to send a message in Morse code to the mother ship or something. It only affects seat heaters that are turned on, tweaking the temperature setting will often stop it for a while, and it seems to affect both seats independently. By that I mean that if both heaters are on, either or both may be chattering, but if it's both they don't do it in sync (which to me might rule out a common ground or power-supply issue).

Has anyone ever seen something like this?

My relays are clicking as well. That is how they regulate the temp. I know in V8's they use a reostat in the adjustment button in series with heating element.

I'd rather have clicking relay. It is not that loud though. If it is buzzing, yes it is a problem and there is a cold joint or something like that. Does the clicking stop with full power of heater?

I would say it is normal.

No, I know what you mean and this is different.

Normally they'd cycle on and off regularly every few seconds or tens of seconds to maintain the temperature. This is more erratic, and usually several times a second. Like you'd expect with a loose connection making and breaking when the car goes over bumps or something, except that it seems unrelated to the car's motion (including that it will happen when the car is not moving or even not running).

Mine was clicking this am going to work; both my cars do it. I thought it was a sticky lifter or a noisy diesel injector at first. My seat was so toasty I wanted to just keep driving. It was -3.

pull the relays then and resolder the joints. should help
or touch the relays with your fingers, shake/hit them - if that goes together with clicking then the relays need some work. Easy fix normally.

domas wrote:pull the relays then and resolder the joints. should help
or touch the relays with your fingers, shake/hit them - if that goes together with clicking then the relays need some work. Easy fix normally.

It stops when I move it down 1 digit. Not an issue really. It heats very well.

Hey folks I'm back again!

Well actually of course I never left, but in general there's been nothing to say about this car... it just works. Plus I've been spending all my time working on the wife's A4...

Anywho, one issue that's been around for a while now and is getting worse is brake pulsation. Nothing really nasty but one or more rotors is definitely suffering from a lack of straightness. Which wouldn't be surprising except that all the pads & rotors were brand new about 3 years and less than 15K miles ago!

In spite of having eleventy-seven gazillion horsepower etc. in general I drive this car like a grandmother. 95% of my driving is on side roads, and I can count the number of hard stops I've done from high speeds on my fingers... on one hand. The car is garaged almost every night so rust should not be a factor and I *always* tighten the lug nuts with a torque wrench.

So what I'm left with, unless anyone has any other ideas, is I must have used lousy pads and/or rotors. Thing is, the pads were Textar which I thought was a good brand, and the rotors were cross-drilled (at the factory) Zimmermann which I also thought was a good brand. Was I wrong? What are good OE-equivalent pads and rotors these days? Is dealer stuff better than aftermarket?

Oh and as to actual condition, there is no rust on the friction surfaces of the rotors, but they are worn a lot - way more than I'd expect in 15K miles of easy driving. If you've read this thread you know I've had a couple of caliper issues along the way but that was one or two wheels, resolved quickly, and I think only in the rear (gawd I can't remember)? The rotors are all worn about the same amount, and I can feel vibration in the steering wheel so at least some of the warped rotors are in the front.

No idea on the pads but I've never had an issue with zimmerman rotors and I'm a firm believer in using the highest torque generating system of the car to it's full potential If you have the spare change, I like the pagid yellows alot.

Okay, time for me to use another lifeline... what is it, about 100 I've used already? :-)

Does anyone have any insight into how to remove the top panel of a tilt/slide sunroof on a B3 sedan?

I suppose at some point I'll have to redo the whole thing but right now the fabric on the tilty part keeps trying to mount an aerial attack on me while I'm driving. And if it isn't too much of a nightmare to remove the upper panel, I figure the fabric work would be much easier to do on the bench.

I've seen some things on the web that say the bottom trim panel can be released and moved out of the way by sliding it to the rear, the Bentley says the same, but that panel doesn't seem interested in moving. The Bentley also refers to pushing down a deflector panel or somesuch at the rear and removing a couple of springs - this sunroof doesn't seem to have any of those parts?

From what I remember of the other cars, this sunroof mechanically looks like the ones on the 4KQ's I used to own if that helps any.

And also if it helps any / makes any difference, this one has a hand crank, not an electric motor. Although I suspect the mechanism of the sunroof itself is the same?

Anyhow, any insight is appreciated!

Not much help, but the flap is held to the front of the sunroof with a pair of springs. When I had to replace the lift arms on mine, I had to tilt the sunroof up, unhook the springs, and slide the interior panel back into the roof. To get the whole panel out. You would need to to move the headliner.

I don't remember the flap being able to come out separately. I will look at mine again, and also see what the Bentley shows.

Removing the headliner is not necessary nor will it help with removing the sunroof covering.

Nobody has any more insight on this?

I realized I was wrong about one thing the Bentley said (and this goes along with what DE80q said) - the panel held up by springs does indeed exist, it's the one you see tilt up from inside the car. It looks pretty easy to push that panel down when the roof is tilted up and disconnect the springs, but what next?

The Bentley seems to indicate the larger bit on the underside of the roof (with the cloth on it) is a panel that can be disconnected by sliding it to the rear. To me it seems like what you see from inside the car is a metal panel with the cloth directly attached to it?

If it helps any, right now I'm not trying to replace *all* the cloth on the underside of the sunroof... just what's on the flap that tilts up.

Once you unhook the springs, you can slide the panel into the back. Takes a small bit of force, but its all thats needed to slide it back

Well, folks, it's finally happened.

I took a little road trip on Saturday and came home with this:

For those not in the know (and I'm to a great degree a member of that group), that's the so-called "07K" engine - the 2.5-liter 5-cylinder engine used in late Rabbits and Jettas and such. It's smaller front-to-back and lighter than the old-school 20V 5-cylinders, and in the hands of talented folks like Hank, can make some crazy horsepowers. I'm hoping for a more moderate increase in horsepowers, and some more torques, and maybe a little quicker turbo spool given its larger displacement.

There are some serious challenges (and spending) ahead that I won't outline here as they're pretty well documented in the 07K build threads here and on "that other forum".

But because I'm a total masochist, I'm going to throw another challenge into the mix. The "powers that be" claim it's difficult to impossible to mate this engine to an 016 transmission... but I'm going to try! I really like my 016 and its locking diff, and really want to keep it. So to paraphrase officer Barbrady, I'm going to "get right on this with thinking" and see what I can do...

Okay so it's been 5 minutes and I already have a question.

I'm probably going to post most of my 07K inquiries on PP, but I know there's a lot of 016 knowhow here so...

Today's subject is pilot bearings. And my question may be simple: do all 016s use the same one? Or more specifically, are the ODs of the input shafts where they ride in the bearings all the same, and the diameter of the holes in all the crankshafts the same?

I was looking in ETKA yesterday and it looks like there are two different bearings and it's not terribly clear which bearing was used with which engines/transmissions. I always thought they were all the same, but most of my experience is with older cars like urquattros and 4KQs. Did later cars maybe use a different bearing?

The reason I ask is I'm probably going to have to have the 07K crankshaft machined to accept one of those bearings, and if they come in more than one size I'm going to have to decide which one to use.

There are two different sized pilot bearings and input shafts. But I believe the O.D. is the same on both since they fit into the same I5 crank. I think I have two new ones of each here so I can check to confirm but I am 99.9% sure.