Truth be told I LOVE hole in the wall, mom & pop restaurants. While the rest of the world splendors over the latest and greatest new restaurant, I seek the old hidden gems, the kind of places that stir up nostalgic memory’s of the good old days.
Today I stumbled into a small saimin shop called Janes Fountain in Liliha. I’ve seen this place in passing many times in the past however to it called out to me.
The simple sight that reads Saimin caught my eye and I quickly made a U turn to go check it out.
Upon closer inspection of the outside, a broken neon sign sits above the shop going unnoticed to most passerbyers. I could only imagine what this sign would have looked like in it’s glory days.
There was a feeling of magic as stepped into this place. Thoughts of grandmas kitchen and Tanoyes popped into my mind. My mind was on auto pilot with a predetermined meal in mind. Won Tun Min and a hamburger. After taking notice of the menu, I saw many other favorites that I must come back to try.
The food came out just the way I liked it. Nothing fancy, nothing special… Just the nostalgic goodness of a familiar past.
As I soaked in the atmosphere of an disappearing era, I noticed an old school jukebox. The jukebox was wild and was filled with songs from a younger day. Awesome!
Just wished I had loose change. 25 cents for two song selections. Mental note, must come back and do try this!!
Also noticed this functioning olden day cash register! The lady said its 63 years old!!
After all was said and done, one thought remains… “I think I just found my new old favorite place to eat.”
Janes Fountain
1719 Liliha St
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 533-1238
Filed under: Grinds | Leave a Comment
Audi A3 Torn Stock DV Diaphragm
- Forge vs OEM showed no significant improvement in boost holding capability
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Forge vs OEM showed no significant change in boost ramp-up
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Forge exhibited no improvement in mid-range and upper RPM boost over OEM
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Forge showed a ~.3s decrease in response over OEM when recirculating boost
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Forge exhibited comparable rate of releasing boost to OEM
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Forge increased backpressure on turbine compared to OEM, as observed by a 3-5psi pre-throttle body spike.
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The Forge valve is still a mechanical diverter valve and still relies on vacuum from the throttle plate for recirculating boost, whereas the OEM DV relies on electricity to retract the piston and recirculate boost.
- Although it took 25K miles for the original stock DV to tear, I know it will happen again and I didn’t want to be bothered replacing in the future.
- The ~.3s decreased response found in the Forge DV was minimal for everyday street driving and in my honest opinion, you would probably never notice this latency.
- The Forge DV is adjustable to accommodate various boost pressure should I chose to remap the ECU or upgrade to a larger turbo.
Complete Forge DV Kit (MFG Part #: FMFSITV)
Close up of Forge Diverter Valve
Close up of Vacuum Tap
Close up of Solenoid
Close up of Bracket
Close up of Extra Yellow Spring
Close up of Silicone Tubing
Tools
Blue LocTite
- Install the vacuum tap
- Run the silicone tubing from the vacuum tap to the DV.
- Remove stock DV
- Install new Forge DV
Remove engine cover
Disconnect PCV hose at the intake manifold
Connect silicone tubing and nipple plugs to vacuum tap
Clip the vacuum tap onto the Intake manifold an reattach the PCV hose
Route the silicone tubing from the vacuum tap to the DV (Highlighted in Red)
Locate stock DV from under the car, passenger side rear engine
Unscrew stock DV. (Helpful hint: Screws will come out easier if the engine is completely cool )
Turbo casing w/ Stock DV removed.
Attach solenoid bracket and tubes to the Forge DV
Mount Forge DV to the turbo housing using the original screws and attach the vacuum tap line to the solenoid
Filed under: Audi A3 (8P) | 6 Comments
Tags: 2.0T, 2006, A3, Audi, Diaphragm, Diverter, DIY, Do, DV, Forge, install, It, Review, Torn, TSI, Valve, Yourself
Bulb Comparisons
Stock vs. Xenon Superwhites vs. LEDs
| The Challengers | ||
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| Stock vs. Xenon vs. LED | Stock vs. Xenon vs. LED | Stock vs. Xenon vs. LED |
| Dome | Map | Glove Box |
| Dome Light Comparison | ||
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| LED vs. Stock | Xenon Super Whites vs. Stock | LED vs. Xenon Super Whites |
| Map Light Comparison | ||
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| LED vs. Stock | Xenon Super Whites vs. Stock | LED vs. Xenon Super Whites |
| Dome Light Comparison | ||
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| Stock | Xenon Super Whites | LED |
| Glove Box Light Comparison | ||
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| Stock | Xenon Super Whites | LED |
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: A3, Audi, challenge, comparison, Stock, Super, Superwhites, vs. LED, vs. Xenon, Whites
The goal of this install was to have a clean install with that maintained that stock look. I decided to that I wanted to keep my steering wheel track and volume controls so I opt to stick with the factory Concert II head unit. I wasn’t impressed by the factory subwoofer so I decided to remove it and build a custom fiberglass stealth sub enclosure. I wanted to keep my cargo area available and not have a clunky speaker box to contend with.
Components Used:
Head Unit: Stock Concert II
Amplifier 1: Alpine PDX 4.150
Amplifier 2: Stock Amplifier
Subwoofer: JL 10W3 v3
Power Wire: 4 Guage
Front Seperates: Focal 165 v2 6 1/2″ Components
Rear Seperates: Stock
Interconnect: Monster Cable Interlink 400 MkII 4m
CD Changer: AUDI USB/MP3 Interface Model V (Xcarlink)
Lineout Converter: 2 Channel lineout converter
Head Unit
The Facotry system is composed of a Concert II (Non Bose) head unit. The biggest problem with the Concert II is that there are no RCA outputs to supply the signal to the aftermarket amplifier. I used a simple line-out converter to solve this problem. I was very hesitant with this solution as it could introduce noise or produce a dirty signal to the amplifier. After fine tuning the gains on the LOC, I was able to produce a clean signal to the amplifier.
Stock Wiring Diagram
New Wiring Diagram
Speakers
Although the stock seperates were decent, the 4″ Factory Boot Sub was less than par. I decided to keep the stock rear speakers to be used for rear fill and to upgrade the front speakers to Focal 165-v2. The Focals to me had a smooth mid range and smooth crisp highs. Normal power handling is 75 Watts RMS with a Peak of 150 Watts with a mounting depth of 2.83″. The Cross over provided is a 2-way 12dB/octave (with adjustable tweeter level).
For the Subwoofer, I chose to run JL Audio 10W3v3-4. The speaker only requires 1.14 cubic feet and the mounting depth is perfect for a smaller stealth enclosure. The sub is rated at 300Watt RMS at 4 ohms.
Amplifier
I chose the Alpine PDX 4.150 digital amplifier for its Ultra Efficient, Ultra Powerful, and Ultra Small form factor. This 4 channel amp has plenty of power to give with a 150 Watt RMS per channel. It handles both 2-Ohm and 4-Ohm loads with the same power handling, or 300 Watts RMS Bridged x2. Let me tell you, with this amp, size does not matter. This is a Class-D amp in a sub compact frame. Clean crisp power running at lower temperatures than a analog amp.
The Install
I started the install by dissecting the car. Removed the door panels, bottom dash covering, glove box, both kick panels, both side door sill, backseat, and everything in the trunk. The front door speakers had to be removed. The stock speaker boot could not be removed since its actually glued to the speaker so I had to fabricate my own speaker rings. I made a couple MDF speaker rings and put foam on the back side of it and mounted it to do the door panels. The MDF rings when attached to the door made for a solid foundation for the speakers to kick. The stock speaker wires are worthless so I replace it with heavier gauge silicone insulated speaker wire. Getting through the rubber grommet on the door was a difficult however it just had to be done.
The tweeters were a little difficult to get in and out of the A-pillar. The plastic is very fragile and took careful maneuvering to remove it. The Focals did not fit in the stock mounting bracket. I ended up gluing the focal tweeters to the plastic speaker grill. I’ll need to figure out a better way to do this later. I was thinking about making fiberglass speaker pods but thats another project down the road.
I ran the power wire through the engine compartment firewall through a grommet found under driver side dash. You’ll have to remove the rubber floor insulation to find the gromet. I used a 4 gauge power cable to supply power the Alpine PDX 4.150.
Here are more pics of the wiring behind the glove box. To get the large power wire to the amp which is located in the trunk of the car, I had to dremel out a hole in the back seat frame.
The 4″ factory sub was removed. The factory amp is found inside of the of the sub enclosure. This amp powers both the sub and rear door speakers. I removed the amp from the factory sub and built a case for it using a plastic Project box found at Radio Shack. I will be using this amp in the final install to power the rear stock speakers just for rear fills, nothing fancy.
The new Stealth Enclosure will house a 10″ JL 10w3 which means it will be a lot deeper than the factory sub boot. In order to accommodate the depth of the new enclosure I cut out a metal panel in the left side trunk where the factory sub was previously. Behind the cut out is a large cavity however the new fiberglass steathbox will need to have a contoured fit to be able to slide in and out of the slot that was cut out for it. I taped of the area and filled the rear cavity with expanding foam. After the foam hardened, I shaped it using a knife to the mold of rear of the fiberglass enclosure. After shaping it, I added more tape to cover the foam. Now that the mold is ready, I started the fiber glassing. NOTE: DONT FORGET TO PUT MOLD RELEASE BEFORE YOU START FIBERGLASSING!! I FORGOT AND HAD A HELL OF A TIME removing the hardened rear shell. For the fiberglass work, I used heaviest fiberglass chopped strand mat that I could find and laminated with marine resin. Layer after layer of fiberglass was applied until I had a thickness of about a 1/4″.
After removing the rear shell from the car, I continued to apply more glass to the inside of the box until I built up the thickness to about 1/2″. For this step, I used a mat that consisted of half weave and half chopped strands. Now came the “fun part” of trimming the fiberglass with a grinder and cut off wheel. The full body tyvek bunny suit I purchased was money well spent! 
After the glasswork was complete, I fabricated an MDF Speaker ring to accommodate the 10″ woofer as well as a mounting bracket for the enclosures speaker connectors. Did more glassing to lock the speaker ring in place. After the ring was glassed in place, I started on the front of the enclosure. Started by stretching black fleece over the front of the enclosure. Applied several coats of resin and continued with the glasswork to build up the front thickness of the enclosure. **For the final coat of resin, I used finishing resin and coated the entire enclosure inside and out. The finishing resin dries hard and allows for easier sanding as well as to trap any smell that the tacky laminating marine resin was emitting.
More fun grinding fiberglass and sanding! Don’t forget to wear a good quality respirator filter and goggles. A little bit of Bondo auto body filler was added to smooth the face and a whole lot more sanding gradually working it to a wet sand finish. Sprayed several coats of Primer, wet sand till smooth and then sprayed several coats of color enamel. Applied a clear coated it to finish it all off.
After removing the tape and expanding foam from the trunk area, I added cushion foam to fill the cavities and applied Dynomat to the body panels in the surrounding area. I should have applied the dynomat prior to the initial mold/glass work but what the hell, it still works and everything still fit.
Here’s a pick of the finished stealth sub enclosure with the factory amp mounted in a surround of cushion foam in an empty cavity next to stealth sub enclosure.
Built an amplifier rack out of MDF complete with AUDI Styling rings. The Audi rings made for a good heat vent! 
Finished off the amp rack with some matching charcoal carpet. The rack is actually recessed into the foam trunk lining for that stock look. It can be easily removed for access to the spare tire beneath it. The stock trunk floor panel fits right over this for a flush stock look. Only when you lift the trunk floor panel will you see the amp rack.
I wanted to complete the stealth box enclosure with a carbon fiber Audi Emblem Bezel used as a functional speaker grill. I laminated carbon fiber over a thin piece of MDF until I got the thickness I desired. Added a final coat of epoxy resin for the deep gloss look. After everything hardened and cured, I drew on my template and Rotozipped the Audi Rings.
I applied several layers of fiberglass to the inside of the rear panel that the stealth enclosure would sit behind to strengthen and reduce possible vibrations from the hard hitting sub inches behind it. Rotozipped the cut out for the speaker grill and mounted the carbon fiber bezel with a metal mesh behind it.
Added a couple strips of RED LED’s behind the panel to illuminate the speaker just for show. :)
Enjoy!
Filed under: Audi A3 (8P) | 20 Comments
Tags: 10w3, 2006, 4.150, A3, alpine, amp, Audi, Audio, Box, carbon fiber, concert II, custom, enclosure, fiberglass, head unit, hidden, install, JL, pdx, Stealth, stereo, sub, subwoofer
Audi A3 LED Light Conversion – DIY
Finally got around to upgrading my interior lighting in my Audi A3(8p) to LED Superwhite bulbs and I have never been happier. I considered using xenon gas super whites however I made the choice to go with LEDs. After doing hours of research, I couldnt really find anything comprehensive about Audi owners doing this upgrade. What I got were bits and pieces of information from various forums so I decided to do my own RnD and overcome the challenges of this project.
THE CHALLENGES:
The interior lighting is computer controlled. This made for some challenges due to the cars computer either freaking out or reporting bulb failures.
The next challenge was finding bulbs that would be perfect for the job. I saw many companies offering ton’s different products. ESC Tunning sold LED Bulbs that were ridiculously priced and it was only for the rear license plate lights.
BULB INVENTORY
Front Dome Cluster
2 – Map Lights (BA9S) note: Sylvania list these as 64111
2 – Dome Lights (6411)
Rear Dome Cluster
2 – Map Lights (BA9S) note: Sylvania list these as 64111
Sun Visor Lighting
2 – Vanity Lights (6418) note: Sylvania doesnt list them on their website
Glovebox Lighting
1 – Glove Box Light (194 Wedge) note: Sylvania list these as 2825
Trunk / Cargo Lighting
1 – Trunk Light (194 Wedge) note: Sylvania list these as 2825
| NEW LED LIGHTS The new LED lights were purchased from 2 different places.-TunerDomes (http://www.tunerdomes.com)-LEDLight.com (http://www.ledlight.com) |
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| 2 – DOME 6411 41mm – Hyperwhite – 2WATT (Usage: Main Dome Light)Purchased from TunnerDomes.com |
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| 4 – DOME 6418 37mm – Hyperwhite – 1WATT (Usage: Vanity, Rear License Plate Lights)Purchased fromTunnerDomes.com |
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| 2 – DOME 194 (T10) – HyperWhite – Hight Power (Usage: Glovebox , Trunk/Cargo Light)Purchased from TunerDomes.com |  |
| 4 – LED Side Firing BA9S -90 Degree Offset – 1WATT Color: SuperWhite (Usage: Front and Rear Map Lights)Purchased from LEDLight.com |
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LED Replacement – Do It Yourself Guide
| Main Front Dome | |
| Use a plastic trim panel tool to remove the Dome light cover and Map Light cover. Remove the 2 map lights (BA9S) by twisting them til they disconnect and put out. Remove the 2 dome lights by spreading the clips a little why pulling the bulb downward. Remove the 2map lights (BA9S) by twisting them til they disconnect and put out. Replace with the new LED bulbs. | |
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| Dome Light Cover Removal | Map Light Cover Removal |
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| Stock Dome Bulbs | Stock Dome Bulbs |
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| LED Dome Bulbs | LED Dome Bulbs |
| Sun Visor / Vanity Light | |
| Use a plastic trim panel tool to pry out the light housing from the head liner. Remove the back metal retainer and slide the bulb (6418) out. Replace with the new LED bulb. | |
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| Removal | Light Removed |
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| Front View | Rear View |
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| Stock Bulb | LED Bulb Installed |
| Rear Dome / Map Lights | |
| Use a plastic trim panel tool to pry the dome module out from the head liner. Twist and remove the stock (BA9S) bulbs. Replace with the new LED bulbs. | |
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| Removal | Light Module Removed |
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| Stock Bulb | LED Bulb Installed |
| Trunk / Cargo Lights | |
| Use a plastic trim panel tool to pry out the light housing from the left trunk panel. Remove the black plastic rear cover and slide out the stock (194) bulb. Replace with the new LED bulb. | |
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| Removal | Light Housing Removed |
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| Light Housing | Stock Bulb with Cover Removed |
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| LED Bulb Installed | |
| Glovebox Light | |
| Use a plastic trim panel tool to pry out the light housing from inside the glovebox. Its a small space to work in but just take our time. Remove the black plastic rear cover and slide out the stock (194) bulb. Replace with the new LED bulb. | |
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| Removal | Light Housing |
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| Stock Bulb with Cover Removed | LED Bulb Installed |
| Rear License Plate Light | |
| Use a philips screwdriver to remove the the light housing. Remove stock bulb (6418) and replace with the new LED bulb. Do the same on the other light housing. |
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| Removal | Bottom of Light |
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| Stock Bulb | LED Bulb Installed |
PROBLEMS AND RESOLUTIONS
| Front Dome Light ProblemAfter replacing the front dome and maps lights, the two driver side LEDs glowed very dimly when it should have been off. Only if I manually turned the dome light switch to off did it turn off completely. I believe the dimming circuit was very sensitive to the amount of resistance of the new bulbs.To resove this issue I went to Radio shack and bought a couple of 100 ohm 1watt resistors. I filed the side of the bulb so that the solder had a place to grab and soldered a single resistor in parallel to help reduce the resistance of the bulb. I only had to do this one the driver side dome light bulb since this was the side that had issues. |
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| Driver side Glowing light problem | Close up of Installed 100 Ohm 1 Watt Resistor |
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| Close up of Installed Resistor in Dome Light |
Temp of Stock Dome Bulb |
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| Temp of LED Bulb without Resistor | Temp of LED Bulb w/ Resistor |
| Trunk / Cargo ProblemAfter plugging in the new LED bulb, the light did not turn on. I learned that in order for this light to turn on you will need to close your trunk and open it again. When you press the electronic trunk latch release from the outside of your car, the computer sends current to the light. The new LED bulb had a much higher impedance than the stock bulb and the computer thinks the bulb is out. The LED light blinks 5 times then turns off. I think the computer is tries 5 times to fire up the bulb and gives up. In order to fix this, you must lower the impedance of the bulb. I used a ceramic 100 Ohm 10watt resistor. |
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| Ceramic 100 Ohm 10 Watt Resistor | |
BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS
| Before and After Shots | |
| Before and After Shots Before and After Shots Before and After Shots Before and After Shots Before and |
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Enjoy!
Filed under: Audi A3 (8P) | 13 Comments
Tags: 2006, 8p, A3, Audi, Bright, Bulb, DIY, Guide, LED, Light, Resistors, Super, Superwhite, Superwhites, White
Hello world!
I go by tadasauce however IRL, they call me Brad. Exciting ramblings and rants to come.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
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