I live my life one quarter mile at a time.

Well I finally had success (partial) in the 1/4 mi.

The Past
Earlier this year I had my first attempt at the quarter mile, I went with a few other 2.0t B7 guys. I ended up making a rookie mistake that made me realize I needed to swap out my clutch disk.
I had been running a Vast Stage 3 clutch disk sandwiched in between a JHM flywheel and pressure plate. Well I broke rule #1, always turn off traction control before launching. I went into a 6000 RPM launch, with traction control on, and instantly the gears felt destroyed. It was impossible to get into gear, Well after spending an hour or so with Jake@JHM on the phone, we both decided it would be best to take it home and figure out the issue. I took it home, dismantled and found two issues. My pressure plate bolts had come loose, I was shocked, I had used blue loctite. The second issue was much more serious, the Vast clutch disc had begun to separate, the rivets weren’t holding it together (a common problem with the in house riveting). So I ordered up a JHM stage 4 clutch, Installed it, broke it in over the past month or two, used red loctite on all the bolts, and I’m glad to say she held together this time. Luckily the JHM kit took the beating like a champ, the weak link was that vast disc.

Pics of the JHM stage 4 kevlar/ceramic disc.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/12/yvumyze5.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/12/9ypyqute.jpg

Fast Forward
I woke up today, its a wednesday, Test and tune at Bandimere speedway, $30 entrance. Jeez I’d love to go but 8500-8900 DA all day…101* F weather…Of course its been like this for a month. And I’m feeling good about it. After all its a beautiful day today.

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Well I finished up work early today, and took off on a 100 mi drive into Denver. Right off the bat, bad luck, one of my intake couplers blew off. I haven’t touched the car in a week or so, injury related so I figured standard maintenance yada yada. Pull over and fix it. Luckily I had my trusty bag of tools.

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Cool no more issues all the way into Denver.

Drop off my tools at home(MISTAKE!) my laundry, and just take my laptop in case I need to VCDS.

Results

I got 5 runs in, First run.

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Yikes…slower than Jake’s car in time and speed, then again it is 8700 DA vs Jakes 233 DA…Then Jake texts me to remind me how much I suck at launching. 2.8 60FT!!!

Alright second run, try to launch a little harder then this happens.

Blown coupler…

Watch in Fullscreen, mute to hide my pottymouth :slight_smile:
http://youtu.be/verHCjNpCbA - Click for video

Third run - same results as first run, better launch, miss fourth gear…noob

Fourth run - MONEY!

http://youtu.be/vME4WxchAb0 - Click for the video!

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Much Better! Pick up a ton of speed and cut almost a full second off my original time. But my launch still needs work. Launch even harder for run 5

Fifth run - damage.

http://youtu.be/L55xUUBds7A - Click for video.

So much for needing a helmet, blew the same intercooler hose for a third time in that day. I had just tightened it as much as possible. Time to get a new clamp. But wait…whats that at the end? Low coolant light!!!

Good think I left all my tools at home or else this wouldn’t be a challenge.
Well I’ve got the basics. a t30 driver, a 10mm deep socket with extension, a 3/8th socket wrench, and some channel pliers that the Bandimere parts store employee was kind enough to let me borrow.

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I need to remove the intake manifold, and fuel pump to get to the back of the engine to see where its leaking coolant. This is not going to be easy…

But somehow it’s doable.

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here’s the culprit…I must be making so much coolant pressure that the hose that goes to the heater core exploded right off and drained my coolant reservoir, luckily it doesn’t seem like I lost much, so the block should still have some coolant.
Greasy Iphone pic.

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Might as well check that cam follower while I’m in here.

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Definitely needs replacement. Not bad 15k life.

Put the car back together, filled up with regular water(need to flush it and refill with g13).

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And the car was back to running great, even saw a double rainbow on the way home.

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