Yup, you can especially tell on the right side of that pic.
Hmm…interesting, wonder if the rest of the piping is like that…should the weld penetrate from the outer side of the piping to the inner side?
On the other hand, the car was doing 0-60 in 4.5s repeatedly last night so thats kinda cool. Of course now it doesn’t run, when I need it, to go to the final dragstrip day…
Have you had the chance to go head to head with and RS4 up here yet? If be willing to be that would be a very close race.
Yes. It looks like they had too much cleaning action and should have adjusted the balance on the welder for more penetration. If you look at the edge of the tube where it broke, you can see that the weld bead is basically laying on top of the metal and did not penetrate down into it. The fuzzy area on either side of the weld is the cleaning done by the AC arc. It’s bigger than it needs to be, and as a result, penetration suffered. Hard to say if they were using enough amps also.
Hmm I’m going back today to get it fixed, we will see what he says.
Yeah, a few of them. On the highway I can overtake them, never done a 0-60 with one though, they really suffer up here at altitude, at 4.5s I might be neck and neck. None of the rs4 guys ever want to go to the dragstrip, they really baby their rs4’s so I haven’t been able to see what one will really do up here, but I do rememeber seeing a few dynos at elevation, think they were making like 260-280 wheel hp…its not the fastest car up here, but they are still so much fun, and such a great car.
I’m going on a cruise, I’ll try to get some video of me vs an rs4. Unfortunately I will probably lose, I’m getting a really strange misfire…been tracking it down for weeks but I can’t get it figured out. Engine misfires, throws two codes for the rear heater core and the coolant temp sensor and all power is cut. I thought it would be plugs, in fact I found a thread with a few other guys who had the same codes and it turned out to be coil packs, but i’ve tried plugs and coil packs and it hasn’t helped…thinking it might be injectors since its in all the cylinders…either injectors or fuel…
A stock rs4 would probably run 13.8@102 with a good driver at bandi.
ya that weld wasn’t holding anything. when u do aluminum it has to be clean clean clean. he needs more heat and to make the end of the tungsten blunt almost like a little ball instead of a point. I also find that going slightly uphill when welding it really penetrates well and if u can help him turn it while hes welding u wont have any stop starts making the weld that much stronger. ive done the plumbing for 7 second cars running retarded boost and never had a weld break. its a bit of an art doing thin wall aluminum.
when he does it again feel the inside of the weld if u can still feel the edge of the pipe then the weld is no good.
Thanks for the tips, I will let him know and double check his work this time.
All the information on welding is right. He needs more heat and more consintration in the one area. Also if your putting a bead line at the end of the pipe to stop the coupler from coming off you need more then that
On the misfire how are your grounding points check there
Got it fixed tonight, had him weld it much better, the bead is stronger, and penetrates fully, he went through and redid all of the welds.
On the misfire. Grounding points in the engine are good. Its weird, the car runs great, 0 timing pull, then it hits 4600-5000, and boom pulls 9 degrees…its so weird to me bacause its not gradual, its something very instant. I am waiting for the DTC to return, I put new coils in and I haven’t seen the code return, but I still feel it just the same.
Reassembly steps:
Step 1: Clean all the parts and the transmission housing. - CHECK
Step 2: snap the 1/2 inner synchronizer hub while installing it back on. - CHECK
Step 3: call it a day and have a beer. - CHECK
Good thing you have like 3 transmissions! You should be able to get one of them rebuilt with all those parts.