Eric's '90 80QT: rustic bits

[elaw]

So... as previously discussed it's time to replace my front strut bump stops, and I've got my hands on a Sachs 900 002 kit which hopefully maybe might be the right thing. :?

The last kit I used had dust covers that looked kind of upside-down plastic Dixie cups and it was fairly clear how they attached to the bump stops (the covers had a lip that sat in a groove in the bump stops).

With these... it's not so obvious. I actually ordered some other parts (FEQ that I decided were junk and don't want to put on the car) that have a bellows that apparently covers the entire bump stop. But I'm not sure these are supposed to be set up that way.

Does anyone know for sure?

Since the car is lowered (not a lot... 3/4" or so) I'm debating cutting a bit off the bump stops and putting the bellows in the highest possible position. But before I do things "wrong", I'd like to know what the right way is!

[DE80q]

That looks just like the kYB ones I picked up for mine before I went with the bilsteins. You will want the bellow as high as you can get it, so the bumper will be down in the blow. You should also have 2 different types. The one you have there, and the ones you described as the upside down Dixie cup. I don't remember off hand which is front or rear.

And yes, you should cut some off due to being lowered. With being down about 3/4", I think you need to ahorten them by about 1/2".

[elaw]

So here's an interesting one for you B3 lovers out there: without tearing the entire car apart, has anyone ever tried to get access to the underside of the fusebox and lived to tell about it? And had the car live too?

I'm putting a new wideband O2 sensor in the car, and I understand it really should be powered from the fuel pump circuit rather than the ignition, so it's only powered when the engine is running. On a spare fusebox I have I've identified a terminal (87a) on the underside that comes off the fuel pump relay... the question is how to get a wire onto it! As I'm sure you all know there's a huge mass of wires under the fusebox... I've tried to get my hand up through the mess to that terminal but can't make it happen. I'm concerned about moving the wiring mess too much which I'm afraid could cause cracks in the insulation resulting in the Audi's transformation into a bar-b-car which I definitely don't want!

Anyone BTDT?

[DE80q]

Lift the fuse box out from the top. It's really not that bad.

[elaw]

Does it just snap into the "frame" or enclosure or whatever its housing is called?

I looked around for fasteners holding it in and could not find any.
Edit: never mind! I looked at the car and it's pretty obvious. Looked at the Bentley too and it's no help, although they do tell you how to remove the fuses.

[elaw]

I think almost everyone here is familiar with the concept of "spec creep" and I'm sure not immune to it!

Does anyone remember the cute little LCD display I was working on for the 4KTQ?

If you're reading this on a PC, the image above is probably larger than actual size. That display was 1.9" diagonal and was meant to go in place of the trip computer display on the 4K.

Well, the 4K went away, the thing sat around for a bit, I considered putting it into the 80 but hated to do surgery on the dashboard, and there were a few other issues. So it mostly sat around, but I did fool with it a bit and added a CAN module so it could receive some parameters from the Megasquirt.

They say all things change with time, and this is no exception. Here's a couple of photos of the project from this weekend:



The little 1.9" display has morphed into a 7" touchscreen! And the Megsquirt guys have upgraded their code so it now broadcasts a ton of parameters over CANbus... I don't know the exact number but I'm guessing it's around 200.

The diff-lock graphic in the middle isn't static either... it's not only going to display the status of the diff locks, but will actually control them via the touchscreen.

The only real hangup, other than finding the time to write code and build hardware to make all this happen, is getting an enclosure for the display. There are a few 3D printing files out there for (maybe) suitable enclosures, but I priced out making one of them and it was 300 bucks! So I may end up with an ugly off-the-shelf case. But at least the display itself will look pretty cool.

[audifreakjim]

Like!

[PRY4SNO]

[Dan McBoost]

great work.

[elaw]

Thanks guys!

Because this thing isn't complicated enough already, I'm actually considering adding a boost control function to it.

The boost control on the Megasquirt is already pretty sophisticated... there are two boost-target by throttle-position and RPM tables blended according to which gear the car is in. What I'm thinking of adding is a slider on the touchscreen which would blend between that and another set of tables, to tailor the boost level and response to road conditions. Very low boost until you get to the highest gears for snow, way more for dry roads, and somewhere in the middle for when the road is wet.

[elaw]

Hey, does anyone have an urquattro (or early 4KQ) diff out of the car they could take a couple of measurements on?

Why? Well there's a story...

2-1/2 years ago when I redid the 80 I replaced some of the diff-lock actuator hardware:

As you can see, the hardware between the diff-lock actuator and diff was all brand-new "quality" OEM stuff.

Here's how some of that same hardware looked when I worked on the car this weekend:

Although not shown in the photo, the part that clamps onto the shaft on the diff was just as rusty or even a little more so.
I sanded most of the rust off, reinstalled the hardware, and gobbed it up with grease but that's not going to keep it working for very long. So what I'd like to do is make my own hardware, from materials that don't corrode. The clevis on the end of the actuator shaft I might make from stainless, or maybe plastic. The pin and clip will be replaced with stainless.

The part that goes on the shaft on the diff is the tough one... I'm not quite sure how to fabricate a replacement but some measurements would be a good start and if someone has one of these diffs lying around, I'd love not to have to jack the car up again to get them!

I'm looking for three things: the diameter of the shaft, how far it sticks out of the case, and the distance between the shaft (either the center or edge) and the hole the clevis connects to.

Thanks!