Mcandmars Avant Project

[lind4hl]

btw, did you sort out the transfer issue?

should i e-mail you an print-scr of the transfer??

[mcandmar]

Your car looks like to have the same color as mine: Ragusa Green

Nice work mcandmar!

Cheers Bram, it's actually Emerald Green, just looks very dark in the photos

[Bram]

Cheers Bram, it's actually Emerald Green, just looks very dark in the photos

Ow, OK it looks dark indeed But still looks good!

[S2central.net]

Nice one Mark... very inspirational and hard work there !

Looking really good.

[mcandmar]

Fitted the B3 rear panel today

Bit of a fiddle modifying the handle and linkage to work within the restricted space, easy job just a little time consuming. Really pleased with it, makes such a difference to the look of the car.

[Jamo]

liking your hardwork and dedication to keeping an Avant running.

Far too many being considered to be broken to make a fast buck rather than keeping them on the road, I applaud you sir!

[robert_n]

Fitted the B3 rear panel today

Bit of a fiddle modifying the handle and linkage to work within the restricted space, easy job just a little time consuming. Really pleased with it, makes such a difference to the look of the car.

Looks good!

How much fettling is required to do this? I've always like the look but would always like the option to return my avant to stock.

[mcandmar]

Nice one Mark... very inspirational and hard work there !

Looking really good.

Cheers Paul, still getting used to the car but i cant wait to plug in my homefried ecu

It seems totally stock, following the info on your site if i floor it in 4th @40mph it hits 1.2bar, 1bar ~5krpm and drops off as the revs increase. Rest of the time its a consistent .8bar. Does that sound right to you?

Cheers,

Mark.

[mcandmar]

Far too many being considered to be broken to make a fast buck rather than keeping them on the road, I applaud you sir!

How could anybody kill one of these, there a fantastic car. Have to say i am a converted believer, avants rule

[mcandmar]

Looks good!

How much fettling is required to do this? I've always like the look but would always like the option to return my avant to stock.

The only permanent bit is the grab handle, you have to cut the front face off it that holds the plastic trim on because it now has to sit in behind the B3 panel. Because of this the handle only has ~1/2 inch movement so you have to remove the slack in the mechanism. You can get most of it out by turning the adjusters on the link rods to each lock. I think i shortened mine by 8 turns each.

The handle itself is also slightly damped with a spring that cushions the first 4-5mm of movement. I stuck three small washers in to close this gap up and remove the slack.

The final mod is the piece of plastic that pushes against the release mechanism. Its a round lump ~6mm in diameter, all i did was fit a piece of hose pipe over it so its now ~8mm in diameter. That removes most of the free play in the linkage and gets the job done.

When all said and done the handle only moves ~1/2 an inch with a very positive click half way through the movement. I prefer the action of it now, feels much more precise.

Mark.

[S2central.net]

Cheers Paul, still getting used to the car but i cant wait to plug in my homefried ecu

It seems totally stock, following the info on your site if i floor it in 4th @40mph it hits 1.2bar, 1bar ~5krpm and drops off as the revs increase. Rest of the time its a consistent .8bar. Does that sound right to you?

Cheers,

Mark.

Sounds bang on for factory behaviour. You did well there Mark... I'm getting a hankering for an Avant - so I can have a full set of B3/B4 machines - aww I'd need 10V engined Cabrio as well for a full house though

[mcandmar]

Little update, fitted the homefry a few weeks back and can fully appreciate the difference. The way the car takes off on part throttle is fantastic, its just so effortless to drive. And good riddance to the overboost mode, nice to know your getting full effort from the engine room when you ask for it. Flat out through the gears is obviously a lot better too, but performance boost aside its worth every penny for the added drive ability day to day. Cheers Paul

Next up was the RS2 airbox which i fitted today to see what all the fuss is about, i did a quick test run and noticed a bit more intake noise which is nice, but i can hear the diverter valve now which is not so nice. Will have to clock up some miles to gauge any difference in performance..

[pixsaudisex2]

How could anybody kill one of these, there a fantastic car. Have to say i am a converted believer, avants rule

[mcandmar]

Last night i was introduced to what i assume is overboost protection, bloody violent it was too

After fitting the homefry i noticed the car isnt happy on WOT, i could feel it holding back and the performance was inconsistent. First thing i did was clean the MAF just to rule it out and went for a proper test drive last night. At first it seemed better as i did lots of runs through the gears experimenting with different throttle/boost levels. Sometimes it would hold back, sometimes it wouldn't. Eventually when trying another WOT run from 2nd all went well, then into 3rd it gave a small stutter @4000rpms, then at 6000rpms it cut with a bang. For the rest of the journey anything over 1 bar resulted in the same.

Park the car up for a few hours before returning home and it ran fine initially. Only after about 30mins driving it started playing up again, this time in 2nd gear ~4000rpms it impaled me against the dashboard without warning.

I'm going to pressure test the system again as thats a given. But i also suspect the issue might be caused by low grade fuel.

Looking for suggestions really, what is the more likely problem, Airleak, or dodgy fuel, or something else?

Cheers,

Mark.

[S2central.net]

I'd have to say airleak or MAF if you are getting harsh cutouts like that... You might find the additional boost has found a weak spot in original boost hoses. Pull the fault codes to confirm if protection has kicked in.

After resetting the ECU its always worth trying a different MAF as well, but an air leak seems likely.