Michael's Silverbullet Timeline

[MarcMiller]

Car looks real good..i love the black grille look on silver b5s..im deffinally gonna do it.

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

well good news tonight is that i was able to save the o2 sensors and new cat is in.....bad news is that one of the studs from the exhaust mani broke off and thats going to be a job for my friend so more $$$ i swear i will stick to west coast cars from now on....

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

hey everyone...doing a small update...nothing exciting just changed both my valve cover gaskets....seems all i'm doing lately is catching up on odds and ends...enjoy the pics


now to start off i broke the pcv hose...yay




it was so damn brittle all i did was look at it and it snapped.....ofcourse you will see why when you see the state of it.....



ewwwwwww.....here is a better pic of the crap that was inside



anyways as i started to get moving ofcourse i broke something else.....
this little airline very very easily snapped.....



was gettin frustrated by this point but i kept pushing......

yay first valve cover off



not too much gunk or dirtyness....nonetheless i needed to clean the edges to ensure a good seal with the new gasket..




some of my sparkplug recesses were absolutely flooded with oil ...i was rolling up tissue paper to put in there and suck it up



i tried to get a pic of the inside....this was after i sucked a ****load of oil out



passenger side valve cover off....yay!



old gaskets just disintegrated when i tried to pull them off....guess it was time....lol




clean clean clean



the edges where the seal will be made should hopefully look like this at the end....the hardest part ofcourse is cleaning margins of the head where the valve cover bolts into with the same precision.


all back together yay......this took me a lot of time so if it seems like im jubilant it is because I am!



ofcourse i wouldnt have had the balls to attempt doing a job like this if i didnt have a back-up car so luckily my beater was on hand




well thats it for now....i can do a write up if the other 2.8 fellas out there need it.....but honestly be prepared to spend some time and not rush coz thats when things get broken...now i can concentrate on gettin out of winter-mode and putting on the s4 sides

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

hey guys i been driving around for a day now and it still idles kinda uneasily...like it will be smooth with these sorta hesitations in between....when i did the gaskets i also put new sparkplugs in to quell the misfires.

The car runs much stronger but the idling still feels weird......sparkplug leads looked good and even put dielectric grease on the tips of the sparkplugs. The car is at 185,000 km and this uneasy kind of idle has been going on for the last 10,000km

Any ideas guys?

[krandy09]

could be a leaky pcv system. when i had my mk3 gti i had similar problems but it seemed to have been caused by a crack in the one of the pcv hoses (block breather tube).

also my mom has a b5.5 passat with a the 30v (with about 110k mi on it) in it and she was experiencing similar problems. she just had to get her valve seals replaced and it seems to be fine now. the vw tech said that caused the rough idling and the excess oil around the spark plugs.

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

hmmm...the pcv hose that I broke (the long one going from valve cover to valve cover and then down behind the engine) i have replaced.....and the valve cover seals are new now.....i wonder what it could be....anyone else have any ideas?

[James Himself]

Valve seals =/= valve cover seal

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

my next oil change.....which will be very soon I will do fuel system treatment and oil system treatment and see if that helps.....i guess most ppl's 2.8's out there runnin well? or maybe no one has seen my thread heheheheh

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

Well I hope we have no more cold snaps coz I'm rolling on summer rubber now.....here are some pics of me trying out something....hehehehhe


hmmm what's wrong with this picture



lol they were huuuge








for once my height was not a source of annoyance as the fender just cleared the tyre



needless to say they looked monstrous




the tyres were soo meaty that my 12mm spacer was not giving enough inner clearance, so i doubled them up :




Money shot!!







she shall go lower very soon

[iraudi]

clean car man....i didnt know that there was any PROUD 30v owners out there ( i should feel ashamed for trying to get a 1.8t lol) but u def inspired me to start a timeline when i start doing more mods. keep up the work though

[MarcMiller]

clean car man....i didnt know that there was any PROUD 30v owners out there ( i should feel ashamed for trying to get a 1.8t lol) but u def inspired me to start a timeline when i start doing more mods. keep up the work though

i also have a 30v. my car doesnt look this good tho. its looking real good..your on coils right?

[iraudi]

really lol....damn more 30v people need to "come out" lol and i, on springs/struts...h&r coils actually came today ....installing this week...probably do a timeline for it

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

i also have a 30v. my car doesnt look this good tho. its looking real good..your on coils right?

coils shall be very soon i feel...i think i have changed my mind from vogtland to ST's

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

hey guys a quick question......when i get ST's and inevitably start to wind them down....will that change inner clearances for my wheels? I was just thinking as the car gets lower the wheels will start to camber out more right? I am just asking because I want to be prepared once I buy them since I will then have to probably buy bigger spacer and longer bolts..... I already have 12mm spacers up front and 15mm in the back and right now my specs are :

wheels : 18 x 9 ET 40 front , ET 37 rear
Tyres: 235/40/18

someone care to weigh in?

[Lazer Viking]

no, camber will not change the inner clearance for your wheels.. the only thing the tire would interfere with is the suspension uprights, and those house the hub for the wheels, so when you camber, those camber along with the wheel.. if that made sense ?

[James Himself]

The wheels will camber in not out

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

ok so if my wheels clear the way they are now.....the geometry of the uprights stays the same as I go lower? That was the issue i was trying to get at i guess....because from what i can see... the tyre just* clears the upper control arm....im hoping the distance between the tyre and control arm does not change when i go lower....

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

little update......yahoo!

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

it is going to take something really special to get me to change my mind on my wheels....ill have to wait till i pull them off (properly ) ..... that being said, these kinda caught my eye...shame they are not in 5x112 (Wedsport SA-67R)

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

oh btw...i see you guys talking about the 'helper' springs on the ST's. Are those them?... the thinner spring right under the big coil??

If that is them...it appears they slide right off...how much difference does it make to ride height if I leave them on and then wind the coils down all the way...has anyone proceeded like this? or ppl just leave them out?

[MarcMiller]

oh btw...i see you guys talking about the 'helper' springs on the ST's. Are those them?... the thinner spring right under the big coil??

If that is them...it appears they slide right off...how much difference does it make to ride height if I leave them on and then wind the coils down all the way...has anyone proceeded like this? or ppl just leave them out?

yes your right the small springs are the helper springs. If i get around to posting a picture of my car from show n go youll see STs all the way down in the front with helper springs in. No bumpstops in the front but still in the back.

Before i put my helper springs on i had a good 1in 1/2 left to go down up front and maybe half inch in the rear.


the ride difference is barely noticeable at all...i will be removing my helper springs again soon.

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

hey dudes....i have spent about 6 hours today doing my coils....bit of a pain since i dont have any airtools but as i moved on to the rears and was beginning to breathe a sigh of relief as it should have been easier from then on.....then disaster struck!

the rear shock housing that are made of metal and kinda come over the top of the spring are rusted to **** on the backside....they are basically falling apart..i could put my fingers through them. If it is only the backside that is affected ie: the side that actually makes contact with the body of the car when bolted up....can i leave it like that?? I naturally want to replace the whole damn thing....

im kinda pissed off.....i could almost taste it since I was so close to finishing it today

[audi-quattro 2.8]

i had the exact same thing happen. took it off and if i touched the back of it in crumbled to nothing. i bought a new one and id suggest doing the same, better safe than sorry. i cant believe it was as bad as it was and nothing happened

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

damn they are not cheap....about $300 a side im looking at

anyone ever try to get them fixed like getting a new metal backing welded on??.....the metal plate where the the bolts go into is fine...only the cylinder where the shock slides up in has rust on the backside..

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

well....coils are on will get some pics very soon....i just have to get the car sittin where i want it. Funny how the front has about 1.5" of threads left and the rear has only 5 threads left to go....but rear is definitely lower by about 1/4 inch

Now for some questions.......how exactly do you go about trimming the fender liner in the front? just unscrew the bolt that holds in to the fender and cut away?? what do you use to re-secure the fender liner to the fender after you roll the fender?? Thanks guys!!

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

dont everyone jump in to offer advice or anything

anyways i went ahead and rolled my front fenders a bit after trimming the liner.....now the car sits 24.4" gtf in the front and 24.5" in the rear......gonna drive it like this till they settle and until i get smaller tyres lol.....i have no idea how you guys drive under 24" gtf!!!

anywayz here is a pic i took just before i had to go to work.....(only had the camera bag to lean the the camera against since it's quite dark in my parking..hence the funky angle!! enjoy and as always...any feedback is welcome!!

[-melloman-]

Only 6 threads left? Your running 18" wheels then?
I am at 24" GTF on 17" wheels, and have 10 threads left in the rear

I personally think I should've gotten 18's but the deal for my AMG's was too good to pass up.

Car looks good though buddy

[James Himself]

that looks sick dude. you really need smaller tires though

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

thanks melloman yes they are indeed 18's

and james....my right fender has already munched on my tyre before i rolled them a bit today....definitely my tyres are a big thing holding me back right now but i honestly love the tyres so much and also dont have cash to get something else......i do think some 215/40s are going to make a huge difference to the amount of room i have...only problem is ill need bigger spacers if i do that then longer bolts...lol it never ends!

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

as promised...the first of many pics to ensue.....might bring the front down a smidge as soon as i get my front fenders properly rolled...already having enuf trouble with parking lots and speed bumps

while i was helping my buddy put in some bucket seats into his m3 i snapped some more pics!! enjoy..

[LeeHech]

looks really good man, those wheels really do go well with the lines of the b5. i think a set of 225/40's will go a long way as far as clearance/rubbing is concerned.

[fbm93]

looks really good! and I like the wheels too.
now drag those flaps!

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

looks really good man, those wheels really do go well with the lines of the b5. i think a set of 225/40's will go a long way as far as clearance/rubbing is concerned.

yea true but if im going to get different tyres i might as well do 215/40s right now i have 235/40s

thanks for the nice comments! I am over the moon! i have a big smile on my face whenever i walk out to the car now!

oh and wes....my mudflaps are definitely starting to get a workout it's always weird how the pics dont show just how low it is now....when i see pics of your car and lazer's and others you guys must be close to dragging flaps

[kdf8454]

wow, superclean

[Mihai_A4-B5_]

thx ^ will try to keep as clean as possible..


oh and here's more !!