The Project Pad

Well it's about time I start a thread on my car.
A few months ago I had some extra cash laying around and wanted a car project to work on. I had decided to buy an engine and transmission from an 89 RX7, run a turbo, and then transplant it into a body. I was a few weeks away from doing so when a buddy of mine up at school asked our group of friends if anyone would be interested in buying his old Audi. At first I was a definite no, not too much of an Audi fan. A week or two later we were helping him put insulation up in his garage and I spotted the car he was talking about. Upon first glance, I wasn't very impressed. Large, diving boards off the front and rear, massive wheel gap, and chrome to top it all off.

The next weekend it was in my driveway. 167K Miles, completely and utterly bone stock, except for the radio!


That is how it all started.

I've been a little sloppy about pictures so far, but I hope to start documenting my work a little better.

First fix was a non functioning speedometer and odometer. Pulled the dash, read an article about a common connection problem on the panel, soldered it back up, fixed. I still can't source an odometer gear if anyone can help!






Found some 7075 laying around. Buddy up at school made this for me.

Great post.

Glad you made it, there is no stopping point around here so be prepared to go big off the bat and skip the small steps if you can afford it. You always want more in the end so just save yourself the trouble of doing it over and over.

Just my $.02

ringbearer wrote:Great post.

Glad you made it, there is no stopping point around here so be prepared to go big off the bat and skip the small steps if you can afford it. You always want more in the end so just save yourself the trouble of doing it over and over.

Just my $.02

HUGE second. And nice work!

These guys are very wise... take their advice in stride! I think you are on the right track by going VEMS though

I didn't realize that you were from Stanceworks. Glad I could help encourage some 200 20v action

Responded in detail via PM about the clutch stuff. Southbend or ClutchNet are what you want to look into. I'm really curious what turbo you will end up with. You really need to figure out what you want in terms of really torquey and ~350 whp, or 400+ and less torquey. I'm tellin' ya, if you can make it to Carlisle DO IT! You can try all flavors of power

Waiting on the Injector and VEMS in the mail is like Christmas! I have lost sleep over the last few nights because of the excitement! USPS is pretty bad with tracking updates so that doesn't help either...

Anyone have any advice on starting off on VEMS? This is my first project car and at 20years old I have zero experience and don't know anyone with a aftermarket ECU...

Well, it should come with a base map that is good enough to run all out on. From th ere, you can tweak a little. You will have different injectors though so you might have to do some more tweaking than a regular base map for a standard setup. Tuning fuel is easy and you won't have to touch the spark map which is the most dangerous part. I will write a short summary of tuning fuel when I get a minute.

IT'S HERE!
VEMS arrived today, luckily on one of my off days from work.
Sat at the door and waited like a puppy.



Still waiting on the injectors and a few sensors that looked like they needed to be replaced, however.....

A big to Marc at EFIExpress (efiexpress.com) for the quick responses and delivery! Along with a few adapters he in threw in!

Now I get to sit and stare at the ECU all weekend...

As promised:

Tuning 101

You will be sent a base tune with your ECU based on what you setup is like. The timing map will be pretty good and you should not mess with this unless you really know what you are doing, and even then you should preferably tune timing on a dyno. What you are left with then, is tuning fuel. You can start tuning fuel without really knowing much. You just have to know a few basic rules.

Since you are pretty new to this whole thing, I'll start with the basics. For gasoline, the ratio at which the fuel burns completely is 14.7:1 (14.7 parts air to 1 part fuel). More air than that (above 14.7) means the car is running lean(er) and less air than that (and thus more fuel in relative terms) means the car is running rich(er). You will adjust the AFR (or lambda... I'll expand on that later) in VEMS by pulling up the VE (volumetric efficiency... its stupid I know, just think of it as the fuel table) table in the tuning drop-down menu. The VE table is set up with manifold pressure on the y-axis (in kPa rather than psi.. get used to it!) and RPM on the x-axis. You will see various values in each cell which correspond to how much fuel the injectors will deliver to the cylinders in that particular load cell. If you want the car to run richer, you simply increase the value in that cell. If you want it to run leaner, you just decrease the value. That is pretty easy while just cruising or idling where you can hold the engine at a specific RPM and MAP pressure, but it takes some practice to track the path of the engine across the map at wide open throttle and then make adjustments to the map accordingly. So now that we have the basics out of the way, lets move on to how much fuel you really need in any given situation.

As a rule of thumb, you should tune idle, cruising, and anything light load at 14.7:1 air to fuel ratio since that is the ratio at which the fuel burns the most efficiently. It'd be great if we could keep the mixture that lean under all conditions, but that just isn't the case for various reasons (mostly to do with heat).

Now... before we go much further, lets switch over to talking about lambda rather than air to fuel ratio because that is what you are going to see while tuning with almost any standalone engine management systems. The conversion to lambda is xxx AFR/14.7 = lambda. So if your current AFR is 14.7, then lambda is 1 (14.7/14.7). If your current AFR is 10, then lambda is 0.68.

So as I was saying before, tune your light load, cruising, and idle to run at 14.7:1 AFR or 1 lambda. Just increase or decrease the value for the cell (on the VE map) in which the car is currently operating, and watch to see how your lambda reading changes. It should go down as you increase the fuel you are providing the engine (less air and more fuel = richer... richer = lower lambda value). Now, as you increase manifold pressure, you will have to fatten (make richer) the mixture up. Use the following as rules of thumb:

-Anything below 120 kPa, keep lambda around 1
-Between 120 and 200 kPa (15 psi), shoot for 0.9 lambda
-between 200 kPa and 250 kPa (22 psi), shoot for 0.85 lambda
-above 250 kPa, start to fatten up to 0.8, continuing to as rich as maybe 0.78 or even richer as you approach 300 kPa (29 psi) and above

That should keep you in a pretty safe place, yet still make decent power. Others, feel free to comment on my numbers there... it's been a while since I have tuned anything unfortunately :( I guess it has been less than a year, but it feels like forever!

So basically, you are going to go out and make a bunch of wide open throttle pulls, watch your wideband 02 sensor, and make adjustments accordingly. If you start going too lean, let out of the throttle and add more fuel immediately. Don't keep beating on it while it is lean

There is a lot more to learn than just this... you will have to know how to increase boost, set limits on boost and fuel, etc., etc... it might seem a bit daunting at first, but don't worry! It will come with time. I'd love to help you figure it out via phone, but that isn't really an option at the moment. Lots of great help on this forum though, so ask away and I'm sure there will be people willing to remote tune for you or talk you through some of the steps involved in starting to tune for yourself, recording logs, reading those logs, etc.

Good luck, and I hope you have fun with it!


Oh, and don't just stare at the VEMS all weekend. Download VEMStune and get familiar with the tuning interface! Oh... and make sure you have a good USB to serial adapter unless you have a serial port on your computer.

Great write up Chris! Come to think of it, maybe we should have a Tuning 101 in the Standalone section...

loxxrider wrote:As promised:

Tuning 101

You will be sent a base tune with your ECU based on what you setup is like. The timing map will be pretty good and you should not mess with this unless you really know what you are doing, and even then you should preferably tune timing on a dyno. What you are left with then, is tuning fuel. You can start tuning fuel without really knowing much. You just have to know a few basic rules.

Since you are pretty new to this whole thing, I'll start with the basics. For gasoline, the ratio at which the fuel burns completely is 14.7:1 (14.7 parts air to 1 part fuel). More air than that (above 14.7) means the car is running lean(er) and less air than that (and thus more fuel in relative terms) means the car is running rich(er). You will adjust the AFR (or lambda... I'll expand on that later) in VEMS by pulling up the VE (volumetric efficiency... its stupid I know, just think of it as the fuel table) table in the tuning drop-down menu. The VE table is set up with manifold pressure on the y-axis (in kPa rather than psi.. get used to it!) and RPM on the x-axis. You will see various values in each cell which correspond to how much fuel the injectors will deliver to the cylinders in that particular load cell. If you want the car to run richer, you simply increase the value in that cell. If you want it to run leaner, you just decrease the value. That is pretty easy while just cruising or idling where you can hold the engine at a specific RPM and MAP pressure, but it takes some practice to track the path of the engine across the map at wide open throttle and then make adjustments to the map accordingly. So now that we have the basics out of the way, lets move on to how much fuel you really need in any given situation.

As a rule of thumb, you should tune idle, cruising, and anything light load at 14.7:1 air to fuel ratio since that is the ratio at which the fuel burns the most efficiently. It'd be great if we could keep the mixture that lean under all conditions, but that just isn't the case for various reasons (mostly to do with heat).

Now... before we go much further, lets switch over to talking about lambda rather than air to fuel ratio because that is what you are going to see while tuning with almost any standalone engine management systems. The conversion to lambda is xxx AFR/14.7 = lambda. So if your current AFR is 14.7, then lambda is 1 (14.7/14.7). If your current AFR is 10, then lambda is 0.68.

So as I was saying before, tune your light load, cruising, and idle to run at 14.7:1 AFR or 1 lambda. Just increase or decrease the value for the cell (on the VE map) in which the car is currently operating, and watch to see how your lambda reading changes. It should go down as you increase the fuel you are providing the engine (less air and more fuel = richer... richer = lower lambda value). Now, as you increase manifold pressure, you will have to fatten (make richer) the mixture up. Use the following as rules of thumb:

-Anything below 120 kPa, keep lambda around 1
-Between 120 and 200 kPa (15 psi), shoot for 0.9 lambda
-between 200 kPa and 250 kPa (22 psi), shoot for 0.85 lambda
-above 250 kPa, start to fatten up to 0.8, continuing to as rich as maybe 0.78 or even richer as you approach 300 kPa (29 psi) and above

That should keep you in a pretty safe place, yet still make decent power. Others, feel free to comment on my numbers there... it's been a while since I have tuned anything unfortunately :( I guess it has been less than a year, but it feels like forever!

So basically, you are going to go out and make a bunch of wide open throttle pulls, watch your wideband 02 sensor, and make adjustments accordingly. If you start going too lean, let out of the throttle and add more fuel immediately. Don't keep beating on it while it is lean

There is a lot more to learn than just this... you will have to know how to increase boost, set limits on boost and fuel, etc., etc... it might seem a bit daunting at first, but don't worry! It will come with time. I'd love to help you figure it out via phone, but that isn't really an option at the moment. Lots of great help on this forum though, so ask away and I'm sure there will be people willing to remote tune for you or talk you through some of the steps involved in starting to tune for yourself, recording logs, reading those logs, etc.

Good luck, and I hope you have fun with it!


Oh, and don't just stare at the VEMS all weekend. Download VEMStune and get familiar with the tuning interface! Oh... and make sure you have a good USB to serial adapter unless you have a serial port on your computer.

This should be in the DIY. Its a great intro to VEMS, to noobies to audis like nick and myself. Keep up with the good work nick!

Those instructions should have SEO directing google searches for "DIY VEMS". Nice one loxx.

Update:
VEMS and wideband are all connected and ready to go. Unfortunately still waiting on a replacement knock sensor and the fuel injectors...
Should all be here tomorrow and should hopefully be running by Sunday!
Forgot to pick up a RS232 to USB so I have to find one of those too..

Rather nervous about starting VEMS but cannot wait to be acquainted!

Consider buying the one Marc has on his website (you can order from anywhere or try to find it in a store.). I have had mixed results with others. The one he has is the most reliable I've used. You can get started using another, but if youhave some weird issues just keep it in mind.

I forgot to say that I know where you can get an odometer great. I posted something about it in my thread when I replaced mine but I don't have the time to find it right this second. Just got back from working 16 hours :(

Well folks, it ran!
Got the new injectors in with no problems.
Hooked it up to the computer and it started right up.


Here are the problems...

Idles really high (1200RPM) so we set it to 700RPM, no change.
Drove it around neighborhood... let off the throttle and it revs to 6000RPM
Can't figure it out but realize that the plastic round piece(see picture) attatched to the throttle is broken...

This explains the high idle also, wasn't being shut all the way.
So here's my problem...Where do I get this part or what can I do to fix this???

034 makes them billet. Even a simple piece like this isn't perfect from them, but it does get the job done.

Damn, $115.....I guess you gotta do what you gotta do...

Any suggestions on why it would be sticking?

It's a return lever and you can see from there it is broken at the very bottom. You could always find one in a yard for 5$ I would at least coat it in a simple layer of epoxy if you want to forget it forever.

When mine broke, I fixed it in a pinch with a zip-tie... used it like that until I took it off for the new intake manifold lol (over a year).

Well, I already ordered a billet one...

Not many yards around me have any Audis much less older ones...

Is there supposed to be slop in the cam? When the valve is shut completely, the bottom edge of the throttle cam has about .25 in play where is is not touching the stop.

I don't know if something shifted during re-assembly, but I did not even take the springs or anything off...

When I would hit about 4000RPM it would stick and even rev it up to 6K and stay their, something seems off.

I'm sure it's the cam causing the problem. Get it fixed first, then we can look into it further. I remember mine having slop in it.

It's weird that broken parts are causing problems...
hahaha...

Kind of a bummer though, it sounds like a whole different car with that massive air box gone. Quite the cavern it opened up.
Gotta love turbo noises.

Also,
In regards to Carlisle.
Does one need to have a car, or can I just show up to browse? Not sure if the 200 will be driveable by then...

Ah, come on... of course it will be driveable by then! When you get that throttle cam installed, I'm confident you'll be able to tune the car with ease. Just get that thing installed, start the car and see what happens. If you need help tuning, just call up one of the friendly project-pad tuners (Ed D., me if I was home, Marc, etc.)and they will at least be able to get you through making it run and drive smoothly on idle and cruise. From there, you can just take logs while driving the car and send to someone to tune it for you. All it will need is a fuel tune. That is very easy, don't worry! If the car isn't running exceptionally within a week of getting that throttle cam, then the problem will not lie with the VEMS as long as you reach out for a little help. Don't be afraid to ask for it! We don't bite

Oh and you can definitely come to Carlisle without a car. No matter what, you will absolutely not regret coming! It is a blast and like I said, you can get rides in some sweet cars

Gotta love the space in the engine bay sans airbox too It truly is a cavernous space.

I just have no idea when I will get the throttle cam from 034.
Seeing how Saturday is my 21st I feel like I shouldn't be working on the car this weekend.
But if it is here i'll probably skip dinners to put the throttle cam in!

I have intentions of showing up but will only be able to make it for Saturday/Sunday.
As far as camping goes, I have an Avant!

I made sure your order shipped today and you should have received a tracking number from our shipping department. If the Fed-Ex estimate is correct, you should receive your parts on Friday of this week.

With regards to fitment, you will need to take the metal sleeve out of the original throttle-cam and insert it into the new 034MS part. This will ensure the new part fits just like the old one. There is also a plastic piece that the spring sits on you will need to transfer to the new part. Make sure you are careful when you remove the spring as well since it is under pressure... you will need to set it up just as it was originally.

If you have any additional questions about this product or any others, please feel free to e-mail me at sresnick@034motorsport.com.