The Project Pad

paradox11235 wrote:I thought about the back up camera, I'd probably never use it though... Haha.

So do I keep this ecu and buy a tune for my Volvo turbo and be out $6-800, or do I resell the ecu and drop the money on VEMS?

VEMS

That's what I'm leaning towards... So much for a trip computer

Mine actually doesn't work anyways... Haha. I think I'll convert over to AAN management with this ecu and save up a bit for vems.

Also it's about time to quiet this thing down...

I love how quickly this is moving along! As for VEMS vs AAN management, I would just base it on exactly that: how quickly do you plan on changing your setup?

Obviously VEMS is far more versatile (heck, it's in the name), so if you've got plans in the foreseeable future of moving to a bigger turbo/injector setup that isn't already supported with a chipset, it may be advantageous to bite the bullet now. That way, (if you don't already have experience with it) you can fiddle around with it at a lower power level, where you have less of a chance of blowing it up, before moving up to play with the big boys.

On the other hand, AAN management will offer a limited range of tuning options, with the advantage obviously being the entry price, as well as the utilization of knock sensing and code-storing that would facilitate a more long-term dependable setup. If you're getting a custom tune, unless you plan on running that setup for a good while, the similar price points would tend to push me towards VEMS.

You really can't go wrong either way, though, as you can simply sell off your AAN setup later on when/if you decide to move to VEMS.

Aktapod wrote:I love how quickly this is moving along! As for VEMS vs AAN management, I would just base it on exactly that: how quickly do you plan on changing your setup?

Obviously VEMS is far more versatile (heck, it's in the name), so if you've got plans in the foreseeable future of moving to a bigger turbo/injector setup that isn't already supported with a chipset, it may be advantageous to bite the bullet now. That way, (if you don't already have experience with it) you can fiddle around with it at a lower power level, where you have less of a chance of blowing it up, before moving up to play with the big boys.

On the other hand, AAN management will offer a limited range of tuning options, with the advantage obviously being the entry price, as well as the utilization of knock sensing and code-storing that would facilitate a more long-term dependable setup. If you're getting a custom tune, unless you plan on running that setup for a good while, the similar price points would tend to push me towards VEMS.

You really can't go wrong either way, though, as you can simply sell off your AAN setup later on when/if you decide to move to VEMS.

I'm not sure I'll be changing this too much, I wanted to keep it fairly mild for DD duties, but I wouldn't mind being able to tweak the tune for things down the road like water/meth, and be able to set up different maps for different fuels and stuff. Basically I wasn't planning on doing rods on this motor, although I may do them anyways. Who here daily drives a VEMS setup? I'm not super worried about the codes since I'm basically going to go through the entire car slowly. That and I think being able to actually log sensors is probably more useful than the motronic codes anyways.

It's so nice being able to move this quickly, I've been accumulating parts and ideas for it for a long time now... If only I could do the body work sooner rather than later. I want her nice and pretty...

I daily drove vems in college and will be again with my avant for work. I drive over 20k a year for work and I'm confident vems will be just fine for me. II don'tknow why everyone is so scared of it.

Easy for you to say, you are on e of the go to people for troubleshooting

Finally wired up the lighting for my boost gauge, and hopefully fixed my intercooler-to-cross pipe leak. I replaced the o-ring first time I got the car running, so I hope it's sealed now. I also finally pulled codes and found my g62 sensor was shorted, I found a good used one and the connector crumbled on me, grabbed a connector off my 90 and put the used sensor in, hopefully she runs better.

Also the car is hitting 24 psi and misfiring... This tune never pushed that kind of pressure on my sedan. Guess I should go to a stock wastegate spring and see if that helps, the perch is already unscrewed all the way.

Also, yay!



Now I just gotta find some springs for the front...

ringbearer wrote:Easy for you to say, you are on e of the go to people for troubleshooting

Lol yeah, but I wasn't when I first started using it in college. You can get it with a base tune from Marc and never have to touch anything honestly... on stock turbo anyway. Then you can experiment from there if you want. Also, you can carry a stock ECU with you to hot swap back to stock if needed as long as you aren't running bigger injectors.

Welp. 034 track density inner diff carrier mounts and apikol poly outers installed, and still clunking. Not as bad at least, next is trans mounts and poly snub, and maybe the pony mustang engine mounts.

Oh yeah, and it turns out my frame is bent, passenger side frame rail in the front. The right front (headlight/fender/hood) sits noticeably lower than the left. Looked underneath and the rail is kind of crinkled, looks like a half assed straightening job. I'll probably just cut the rail out of my parts car and weld it in eventually. Ugh

Damn, that's unfortunate... it isn't easy to straighten a car out.

Yeah, I'm going to have to figure out some way to measure to get the new rail on straight. Probably bolt it to the front cross member and find another reference point. Maybe just corner balance the suspension so it's set up ideally, set the tire pressure, and measure from the ground

Well three times pulling the P/S pump later I have it all rebuilt and sealed up. Nice that the rebuild kits are still $6...

Going to be doing 911 motor mounts, my stereo install, and some sort of breather this weekend. My breather hose is collapsing, I'm trying to decide between the 034 silicone setup or for the time being I may just cut the collapsed part off and replace it with the metal bit from my NG motor, looks close enough to act as a band aid fix.

Shortly after I get back from my road trip next week I'm hoping to get the AAN conversion done and the suspension all installed. Forgot about sourcing a 4 bar FPR... damn.

Hmm, I'd just rig it for now, but I'm thinking about doing the 034 silicone setup too just as preventative maintenance. Mine is still in tact, but soft.

The other dilemma I'm having is buying coils for the AAN conversion. Viable options are the tfsi coils, but for nearly the same price I could get LS2 coils, but then the spark plug wires become an issue...

For what it's worth, Marc told me we're going to run the tfsi coils on my revver engine... I don't see any advantage to LS2 coils.

I suppose that's true. Part of my wanted to keep the cover on the 3b valve cover...

The only reason I went to the LS coils in my conversion was because I liked the 20v turbo little spark plug wire cover that's on the 3b.
In hindsight, it was a waste on my part, but oh well.

That's what I'm thinking. That said, the 3b cover doesn't look bad with the coils on it

Got most of the way through installing my stereo system.

Didn't like how the factory speaker mounts to the flimsy door card, so I built a mount, there's a ton of room in the rear doors


The speaker won't line up perfectly with the hole in the door card but it's pretty close, I'll just get a grille for the door and it should sound decent.

I just mounted some 3.5" speakers in the dash and I'm still working on something for the front. If there's room I'll probably just do the same thing I did in the rear.

Finally a picture of the avant rear door like I requested! You think there is room to make a custom little enclosure there? I don't mind that it doesn't line up perfectly with the door opening because I intend to only use this for midbass.