The Project Pad

Camouflage wrap and some Cummins badges

ha, yeah... a high $$ porsche in the sticks of PA probably doesn't blend in too well!

Congrats on the new gig, though. Hopefully they don't work you TOO to death here

Haha the camo might draw a little too much attention! XD

Now a cummins badge... that might just work! I think my plan might just work out alright. They'll definitely work me hard, but that's a good thing. It makes it so that I don't have any time to blow money on cars. Should make finishing up the Audi go much faster. I'll have lots of time to think though... and that is never good!

Ed, I had seen that external mount, but damn is it ugly and as was pointed out, they are not exactly plug and play. I'd go with a roof mount before that. I don't like the idea of anything that hurts fuel economy though as this thing is not exactly economical. I got 13mpg towing the uhaul up here. My dad is borrowing it this week and he told me it is getting significantly better than that. I think he said almost 20, so that is much less painful.

Yeah, I was hoping to find an aluminium replacement bumper with tire rack :-D

Lol. I'm not sure that black badges are going to fix you standing out like a sore thumb. At least up here it's cottage county so we have lots of fancy cars mixed in with the rest of us rednecks.

man you have some cool cars.

you wouldn't find a porsche cayenne s in AUS for under 80k (one worth owning) or thereabouts.

Thanks for the comments guys. I love to share this stuff, so I hope you enjoy it!


OK, here we go with a summary of the past month or two, or at least what I took pictures of.

The E30 M3 I bought had a few issues which needed to be addressed. One of which was the rear shock mounts. These are notorious for failing on E30s, E36s, and E46s. I guess BMW was too lazy, stupid, or cheap to fix that over a 20 year period! There are many aftermarket rear shock mounts (RSMs) available for purchase, but I've found that I really prefer one in particular. The Rogue Engineering RSM is great because it addresses the ALL of the design issues of the original mount, changes the way the strut mounts (service from the wheel well instead of in the trunk) plus it's made in the USA. Here they are installed in the M3 (it came with Bilstein sports in the back, not sure about up front).




The car also made a funky metallic noise the whole way home. I could hear it while going over cracks in the road, etc. and it seemed to be coming from the driver rear wheel of the car. I inspected the suspension and found a loose plastic cover that seemed to be making a similar noise, but tightening that up didn't fix anything. I felt that the car was still safe to drive, so I made the trip home with it the way it was. I suspected a brake pad issue as I've heard this noise before when the anti-rattle clip was missing on my Dad's E36. Eventually I took it apart and one of the brake pad "springs" was broken. A new pad fixed the issue. That was very nice to get out of the way as it was super annoying and embarrassing. The only thing more annoying than that was the rear view mirror jiggling around. More on that sometime later.



Around the same time, I replaced the rear shock mounts on my E46 as they were blown (same as E30 and E36) and one was being held together by a vice grip as seen on a previous page. Well, I stripped the threaded shaft on one of the struts while taking the top nut off, so I put some new Koni reds in there while I was at it.






At this point it was nearing the time that I needed to be getting ready to move up to PA, so I wanted to close out some lingering issues on the various projects. For one, I re-sealed all of the door panel vapor barriers on the E46. Without them being completely leak-free, the inside of the car will pool up with water! What a stupid, stupid design. Luckily it isn't very hard to re-seal them.

Another thing I wanted to do before leaving was fix the idle on the M3. It has idled roughly since I bought it. I thought it might be due to a vacuum leak, so I ordered just about all of the parts needed to re-seal the intake tract of the S14 engine. These engines are known for leaking at the seal between the throttle bodies and the head. The gasket there is a big rubber-coated metal block probably .5" thick. Over time, the weight of the intake manifold and TBs will warp the gasket. The problem is that the gaskets for the 2.3l S14 are NLA. Therefore, you have to buy the 2.5l sport evo gaskets which are made for the ported head on that car. The mismatch doesn't seem to hurt much as guys have been doing this for a long time. The big problem is that they are about $80 a piece! To prevent the problem from happening again for a long time, one can purchase paper/fiber gaskets to go on either side of the stock TB gasket/block. So I purchased new blocks, new additional paper gaskets (from an S38), new o-rings for the TB to trumpet connections, new gasket for the trumpet to plenum connection, new vac hoses for everything, even down to the o-rings in the idle adjusters, etc. I believe it is sealed up pretty damned well now!

Of course, after all of this, it still idles exactly the same! haha

During the job



So the next step was to tune the throttle bodies. I posted a pic of my friend Justin's awesome electronic TB vacuum measuring device. Here it is in action.



The valve cover REALLY needs a refresh



Here's the M3 after a quick test drive/exercise run. That's my Dad driving. He loves cars just as much as I do



The car does drive nicely at anything but idle, and idles a little more nicely when warmed up. I've changed plugs already, so the only other things I can think of to adjust at the moment are the valves (shim over bucket), fuel injectors (clean them), maybe 02 sensor, and adjust the "base CO" which is something I haven't fully grasped yet. I think it is basically a "knob" you can turn on the stupid trap door air flow meter which adjusts the mixture at idle. It may just be too rich at idle due to the trap door being out of whack. To that end, I may just buy a Miller MAF setup to eliminate it altogether.

OK, now time for some parts PRON! I have started buying up some of the E30 M3 Sport Evolution-specific parts as those cars are extremely valuable and rare now. I'm talking sport quattro value (~$150-200k). I'm not going to waste my time on body panels and mechanicals as those can fairly easily be refreshed, and I quite frankly don't have the space or funds to stock them. However, I do have some fundage and space to buy up the extremely high-wear interior items that were Sport Evo specific.

I figure when these cars are worth well north of 1 mil when I'm middle-aged, I can get a good return on investment for these NIB, but NLA and extremely rare parts. If not, then I'll still have some really sweet parts for E30s!

1) Sport Evo illuminated "leather" shift knob. There are supposedly fewer than 10 of these left in stock... I bought one, and will probably buy another soon. One cool thing about these is that they aren't made from Alcantara from what I can tell. They appear to be made from true suede. That agrees with the fact that they are called "leather" in the part description.






2) Sport evo Bison leather shift boot to go with the Sport Evo shift knob.





3) Sport evo hand brake assembly (leather and suede). This part is officially NLA. I was really lucky to get the ABSOLUTE last one VAC Motorsports had. They thought they didn't have any after checking in the warehouses, but apparently found this one behind some random desk in their showroom or something like that. I feel very fortunate to have gotten my hands on this

This includes all of the mechanicals by the way, it isn't just a boot and a handle.








4) Sport Evo Steering wheel (Mtech 2) in suede. These are still available at a steep price. The Mtech 2 steering wheels were more common in the configuration used on the later E34s, all E36s, etc. The Mtech 2 which can fit on E30s, E28s, E24s, etc. is much more rare. There also came in various diameters. This one is the most desirable 370mm wheel. I'm not sure if it is also the most rare, but certainly the most sought after.

These don't come with the horn buttons, but I do have one on order.






In addition to these pieces, I have some duplicates on order as well as some of the stock E30 M3 (US spec) leather goods coming for when it's time to sell mine. More details later, but I also ordered more 370mm Mtech 2s... one in suede like the sport evo, and one in leather. I prefer leather for daily use so I don't have to constantly stress out about messing up the suede. The suede feels so good tho :(

5) OEM valve adjusting tool for the S14 and S38. There are copies out there, but they are apparently not nearly as nice to use as the OEM. The OEM part is way too expensive and also very hard to find, but I found one and thought it'd make a nice addition to my toolbox. I see more S14 and S38 in my life at some point so having this can't hurt, especially when valve adjustment intervals are roughly every 15k IIRC.







That's pretty much it for now. I plan to take some detailed pictures and do a little write-up on the Cayenne soon. It's so cool in so many ways. I love it for the mechanicals as well as the craftsmanship. It should be shared!

Oh, and I need to talk about the C63 AMG I drove while in the process of purchasing the Cayenne. What a car. I'll be sure to include that in the next post

Here's one last pic of some of the cars at my Dad's place in Florida. What a cluster!

Very nice, but what about that 200?

It's not in my hands!

how abouts some audi progress, eh?

:( I wish there was progress to show. I haven't heard from Gerner in a while. I need to do some planning for the 200 to figure out what else needs to be done. Maybe we can have some discussion in that thread once I jot a few ideas down.

God I love the box flares and ITBs on that M3.

And nice score with the NIB NLA parts.

ITB's are just …. GALALALALALALALADADALDLALDLADLALADLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (ITB noise) the m3 must just be an absolute hoot to drive, it is the around town hoon machine.

I also cannot wait to see your 200 updates, and I love your direction of what your build is around (HIGH RPMS GARAGRARARARARARRA) but... at this rate I think I may be done with a BT build before you

Wow Chris, you have not been sitting around. I finally got around to reading through this thread. Mad respect for all the work you have been doing on the 635 and the other cars. The M5 is almost the perfect muscle sedan. A very good friend of mine has one too. Just love the instatorque on it.

A Cayenne Turbo S? JELLYYYY

We talked briefly on fb about your PA move. Considering your work schedule, I think it will be difficult to meet.
So now you will be making mad hours and mad money in the US. Good stuff.

As for your car storage ideas, I'd would go for option 2. Can you really build your own facility on the family farm?
Cars downstairs, storage/living upstairs. Do I see a car elevator in your future? A car viewing balcony?

Good luck with your new job!

ChrisAudi80 wrote:Wow Chris, you have not been sitting around. I finally got around to reading through this thread. Mad respect for all the work you have been doing on the 635 and the other cars. The M5 is almost the perfect muscle sedan. A very good friend of mine has one too. Just love the instatorque on it.

A Cayenne Turbo S? JELLYYYY

We talked briefly on fb about your PA move. Considering your work schedule, I think it will be difficult to meet.
So now you will be making mad hours and mad money in the US. Good stuff.

As for your car storage ideas, I'd would go for option 2. Can you really build your own facility on the family farm?
Cars downstairs, storage/living upstairs. Do I see a car elevator in your future? A car viewing balcony?

Good luck with your new job!

Yes, lots of work on that 635 up to this point! Sadly, it won't be getting much attention for a while. The good news is that I will not sell it. I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy it in the current condition without the rust being fixed. Hopefully at some point in life I will have time to work on it again though. Luckily it is still extremely satisfying to drive in it's current condition.

The M5 is definitely one hell of a car. The throttle response and insta-torque is unlike anything else I've driven. That's what makes it so great!

The Cayenne (CTTS) is crazy. It amazes me every time I drive it. I do have a few things planned for it though. When I bought it, it ticked ALMOST every single box I could have wanted as far as options. There are a few things I want to change though. Here's a post from Rennlist where I detailed my plans for it.

So, on to the cayenne. I needed something to take to the rig site when I took my current job. The criteria were that it be AWD, have decent ground clearance, and be reliable. After much research, I settled on the CTT as a good candidate for the job. They are great offroad, can tow decently, have plenty of ground clearance, and from what I've read, are relatively reliable. Maybe not the most practical or cost-effective, but I think it's about as justifiable as some of the 60k trucks most guys have out here!

After a few weeks of intense searching (I had a deadline) I found what I felt was the perfect candidate. There were a few options I REALLY wanted on my Cayenne. Since I'm a diehard gearhead, I had to have a CTT or GTS of course. Secondly, I found that I really liked the way the 957 GTS was finished off with sport seats with Alcantara centers like this...





I would have loved to have gotten the CF interior bits too. Finally, I wanted the towing package for towing boats, a uhaul, or car trailer. Panoramic roof wouldn't hurt either I suppose.

Luckily I lived in south Florida at the time. South Florida has some of the best deals around in the luxury car market. You just have to make sure the drug dealer who owned the car before you didn't leave anything behind :eek: There were a few nice Turbos around, but they were all missing one of the three major options I wanted. I would have loved to try a 6 speed GTS, but there weren't any around. Eventually I found a Cayenne Turbo S that ticked ALMOST all of the right boxes! It had a panoramic roof (for better or worse), sport seats with gray Alcantara centers, and the towing package. The ONLY thing it didn't have which I would have really loved to get was carbon trim.

I did want to test drive at least one other car before buying this one, so on the way down I drove a 2006 Turbo S with 50k miles at Hoti Motrocars. They probably still have it. It had a crazy soundsystem in it, was modified with IPD plenum, exhaust, intakes, wastegate springs, intercoolers, and a tune that was supposed to put it somewhere in the 600+ hp range. To be honest, it was a little disappointing! I couldn't believe it, so I drove down to see the 2009 Turbo S.

As soon as I saw the car I knew it was the one. The interior was in spectacular condition. It felt MUCH faster than that modified 2006 Turbo S, even in stock form. Oh, and as a bonus, it came with a Passport 9500ci laser/radar detector and laser jammer. Sweet! I bought it that day, installed 4 new all-season tires and drove it up to Pennsylvania for my job the next.

I will try to get some more pictures soon, especially of the interior, but here she (he?) is.










The only things I really wish it had are carbon trim components instead of leather, black exterior trim, and the armrest embossed with "Turbo S." I saw the arm rest thing while I was shopping for the car, and now I just have to find a way to have it! I'm sure it's a longshot, but would anyone with CF trim be interested in my wood trim? It's Walnut, and I have the grab handles, door pulls, and shifter in wood as well! I'd like to end up with all carbon trim, but leather door pulls and grab handles. I do have CF grab handles on the way from Germany as well, but I'm not sure if I'll like the look with the center console being CF as well. I'd love to hear about anyone interested in a trade or to just buy my wood trim. Let me know!

Another note, I don't really like the wheels it came with. It looks like the previous owner sold it to the dealer with 19" snows on it, and kept the stock 21" wheels! Dang! :banghead: That's OK though, I will be doing a lot of offroading and the 19s are better suited for that. Also, since I don't like them much, I don't mind them getting beat up.

Ah, I guess I should mention my plans for the car. It currently has around 81k miles. I bought it with around 76k a little over a month ago. As you can tell, my job requires lots of driving! It should start to level out to only a few thousand miles a month though soon. As a result, the main things I will be doing to this car will be preventative maintenance work and repairs. However, I also have to protect this car from the nasty environment that is the oilfield.

The protection plan:
-Weathertech floormats (installed)
-Covercraft custom fitted windshield shade (use it every day)
-Lamin-X headlight covers in clear to protect from UV and rock chips (installed)
-Vinyl wrap or plasti-dip the whole car for protection from rig chemicals while parked on the rig site... this is very important!
-plasti-dip badges and logos to stay as incognito as possible... I don't need people in depressed areas of WV or PA thinking I'm trying to flaunt my Porsche at them :rolleyes: Stealth is the only way to go out here. If I could disguise this thing as a Ford F150 I would!

Also, because I have the gearhead sickness, I can't leave it stock. So...

The go-fast list:
-EVOMS intakes (installed)
-Fabspeed Cat Bypasses (ordered, but haven't received yet)
-Diverter valves of some sort (I'm thinking APR R1s for ease of maintenance)
-EVOMSit 620hp tune to go with the above components (waiting for cable-based tune to be available for logistical reasons)
-IPD plenum (if the stock one splits)

That's it! I might add some 21" wheels to the list if I keep it after I'm done with the field work. That's a few years off though.

The vanity list:
-Gloss black trim (I didn't even know this was an option when I was in the market. I love the black trim!)
-"Turbo S" embossed armrest (this will be very hard to find)
-Carbon interior trim (will either buy from Suncoast new or try to find a used set for sale or trade. Either way, I will be trying to get rid of my wood stuff to recoup some of the cost).

Preventative Maintenance:
-Replace all coolant pipes with updated parts as needed
-Oil changes every 5-8k (every few months for me)
-New plugs (ordered)
-New serp belt
-Water pump and thermostat along with new fitting with updated o-rings
-JB weld rear coolant pipe connection to avoid it coming loose as has been documented here several times. This is the fix many Porsche dealerships use.


I will add some driving impressions and general commentary about how the car has been suiting my needs so far later on. For now, suffice to say I love it!

And yes, I can definitely build anything I want on the farm. I love your ideas! That'd be amazing haha. I think I may be better off just trying to seal the current area off better for now. That mostly involves pouring some new concrete and putting a better big door on.

I really need to start thinking about doing the responsible thing and purchasing some property soon. I think I will buy in south Florida and rent it out. Seems like the best place to invest in property to me. If I stick with this company for the long term though, I will probably buy something near Pittsburgh as that is pretty central to the field locations we have as well as the office if/when I go there. I think that probably isn't the worst place to buy property either. It's a great city.

The valve adjustmemt tool is key. I dunno about the s14, ut to adjust tbe exhaust valves on my m5 i had to cut the tool in half because the ecu housing interfers with cyl 6.

I liked Sewickley when I spent a week there. Super nice spot just outside Pittsburgh, lots of great restaurants. Go to the Sharp Edge Bistro sometime, superb craft beer and food. And the place has plenty of really cool Audi enthusiasts whom I met while in the area.

[quote ="roortube"] tool is key. I dunno about the s14, ut to adjust tbe exhaust valves on had to cut the tool in half because the ecu housing in get fers with cyl 6.[/quote]

I don't think that's an issue on the s14. I'm looking forward to working on it next time I go home. I'm betting my rough idle problem is due to the AFM so I'll likely get the Miller MAF setup for it. Then I can get rid of that POS

PRY4SNO wrote:I liked Sewickley when I spent a week there. Super nice spot just outside Pittsburgh, lots of great restaurants. Go to the Sharp Edge Bistro sometime, superb craft beer and food. And the place has plenty of really cool Audi enthusiasts whom I met while in the area.

Good to know thanks, I'll check it out!

Welp, one is down for the count... at least temporarily.

I got a phone call from my girlfriend today telling me that "her car" the X3 was stolen! She was getting gas at the gas pump somewhere in Baltimore when some "little punk" beelined toward her and asked for some change. She said she didn't have any and turned around. This is an every day occurrence in Baltimore (Don't even get me started about that piece of #*$&*#&$ city), so she didn't think much of it.

Well, the next thing she knew, she felt the gas hose pull and looked to see her car driving off! The X3 has a push button start and you don't need to put the key in, so it was super easy for the thief to start the car and drive away. The keys were in her purse on the passenger seat (apparently she doesn't do that often). The fuel nozzle ripped out and off he went.

A little later she told me her purse was returned to her by the police. Some old guy apparently found it in the middle of the main road and was kind enough to return it to the police who returned it to her. Luckily only $30 was missing! Of course, my car is still missing and I'm sure the thief took the expensive pair of headphones and sunglasses in the center console. At least my girlfriend was OK and there wasn't much else in the car.

I JUST gave the car a 2 hour wax job and detail with the best paste wax I could find at the store on Friday! I also JUST installed brushed aluminum trim in it the day before! DAMMIT!

The interesting part is that the car has BMW Assist which can track the car. It took a while to get everything sorted out, but now BMW has provided the police department with the location of the vehicle. Hopefully they recover it in good shape. If I was there, this mofo would be

Wow wtf, that is ballsy! Hope that douche is caught in it!

Ballsy for sure!

Just got an update that the police are with it. Apparently the keys are in the center console and we t is unharmed. We will see about that. They think he left it there to get it tomorrow, but why would he leave the keys in it? I think he just ditched it.

I'm hoping they are taking fingerprints... but it doesn't sound like it since they're already ready to release it to my gf... weird.

Dude, that's crazy. At least it has been recovered and hopefully it made it through the event unscathed.

Sounds like it is fine as far as anyone can tell. The last text I got said the whole thing is covered in fingerprint dust lol. Glad I didn't clean the interior last week as well!

Crazy shit!

Glad she is okay