The Sauce

Nostalgia Found at Jane’s Fountain

tadasauce — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 04:28:45 +0000

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

The Longest Blog Post Ever

tadasauce — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 20:35:58 +0000

Hello Earthlings!

Audi A3 – Forge Diverter Valve Install

tadasauce — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:43:19 +0000

Problem:

A couple weeks ago my Check Engine Light (CEL) came on while driving. Initially I didn’t notice any performance problems while driving under normal conditions. After driving a little more, I noticed that the turbo blowoff/diverter hiss was a louder than usual. Upon hooking up my VAG, I saw an error code of – P0299 Turbo/Supercharger Under Boost.

Diagnosis:

I did a quick physical inspection of all the turbo hoses from end to end and found no visual holes or leaks. The next thing I checked was the stock turbo diverter after reading numerous post from other 2.0T FSI owners having the same problem.

The turbo diverter valve (DV) is located directly on the turbo housing near the rear passenger side of the engine and can be accessed from the underside of the car. Upon removal and inspection of the stock DV, I found that sure enough, the diaphragm was torn.

Audi A3 Torn Stock DV Diaphragm

Analysis and Decision:

I found some great info on various Audi/VW forums about the various solutions to this problem as well as performance testing of the Forge DV valve. Out of all the info I came across, there was only one review that stood out above the rest which is well worth mentioning. Crew219 in the vwvortex forums posted a very thorough review of his test in comparing the Forge vs. Stock DV. His tests was conclusive that the stock DV had less latency in boost when compared to the Forge DV. This was primarily attributed to the stock’s electronic controlled solenoid being faster than the vacuum operated solenoid and manual piston/spring operation of the Forge DV. In his write up, Crew219 ultimately ended up removing the Forge DV after evaluating his data.

His basic findings were:

Forge vs OEM showed no significant improvement in boost holding capability
Forge vs OEM showed no significant change in boost ramp-up
Forge exhibited no improvement in mid-range and upper RPM boost over OEM
Forge showed a ~.3s decrease in response over OEM when recirculating boost
Forge exhibited comparable rate of releasing boost to OEM
Forge increased backpressure on turbine compared to OEM, as observed by a 3-5psi pre-throttle body spike.
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.

(His write up can be found here: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3336171)

From the results of his testing, I chose to go with the Forge DV regardless of the performance variance for the following reason:

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.

I’m not racing my car in any timed events nor do I plan to in the future. What I am looking for is a reliable valve that can be adjusted to accommodate future boost updates most likely from a Stage I or 2 ECU remap.

Forge DV Purchase:

I found the cheapest Forge Valve at Parts4Euro.com. they were $20-30 cheaper than the other popular Online Euro car shops and they even offered free shipping to Hawaii.

Let you be warned.. Parts4Euro has terrible customer service and they are not a reliable company. I don’t think I would ever do business with them again (however that’s a different story).

My suggestion is that you buy your Forge DV from somewhere beside Parts4Euro and be assured you’ll receive your part in a timely fashion. The BS is not worth the $20-30 you save.

Forge DV Install:

The Forge DV came with mostly everything needed to do the install except for tools and LocTite. They gave plenty of silicone tubing to do the job, even room for mistakes.

You will however need extra zip ties to secure the silicone tubing from the PCV pressure tap that sits on the top of the engine to the DV that sits on the turbo at the bottom of the engine.

I would have loved it if the Forge DV kit came with metal hose clamps instead of nylon zip ties. I tried searching locally at various shops for small metal hose clamps and no one had them. I check gardening shops, moped shops, auto repair shops and hardware stores. I did find a pinch type metal hose clamp that would work great at Kargen/Checkers Autoparts however it could only be purchased in a assorted pack which contained only one or two of the right size clamps. It would have cost me $20 bucks for 8 stupid metal pinch clamps. I ultimately ended up using the nylon tie straps included in the kit. I figure if that’s what Forge included then its good enough.

As of May 2009 the kit is supplied with an additional uprated “Yellow” spring in case you upgrade your boost. The DV is sent with the standard “Green” spring for standard stock boost pressure.

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

To do this install you will need the following tools:

5mm Allen wrench (**Do yourself a favor and get a 5mm Allen Socket**)

3mm Allen wrench

Razor blade or Xacto knife – to cut vacuum line

Blue colored medium strength semi-permanent Loc -Tite liquidthread locker

Tools

Blue LocTite

Four Step Install

Install the vacuum tap
Run the silicone tubing from the vacuum tap to the DV.
Remove stock DV
Install new Forge DV

Step 1 – Installing the Vacuum Tap

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

Step 2 – Silicone Plumbing

Route the silicone tubing from the vacuum tap to the DV (Highlighted in Red)

Step 3 – Removing Stock DV

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.

Step 4 – Install Forge DV

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

Finished with the Install.

NOTE: In my case, I had to erase the error codes on the VAG to turn of the Check Engine Light.

Enjoy!

Bulb Comparisons Stock vs. Xenon vs. LED

tadasauce — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:56:41 +0000

Bulb Comparisons

Stock vs. Xenon Superwhites vs. LEDs

The Challengers

Stock vs. Xenon vs. LED	Stock vs. Xenon vs. LED	Stock vs. Xenon vs. LED
Dome	Map	Glove Box

Dome Light Comparison

LED vs. Stock	Xenon Super Whites vs. Stock	LED vs. Xenon Super Whites

Map Light Comparison

LED vs. Stock	Xenon Super Whites vs. Stock	LED vs. Xenon Super Whites

Dome Light Comparison

Stock	Xenon Super Whites	LED

Glove Box Light Comparison


Stock	Xenon Super Whites	LED

Audi A3 – Custom Stealth Audio System Install

tadasauce — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:21:34 +0000

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.

4-channel car amplifier

150 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (150 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms)

300 watts RMS x 2 in bridged mode (4-ohm stable in bridged mode)

variable high- and low-pass filters (30-400 Hz, 12 dB/octave)

Class-D amplifier design

stackable installation design with front-panel controls

quick-connect speaker connectors

preamp-level inputs

MOSFET power and output stages

CEA-2006 compliant

10-3/16″W x 2-1/2″H x 8-7/8″L

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!

Audi A3 LED Interior Light Upgrade DIY

tadasauce — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:04:57 +0000

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)
2 – DOME 6411 41mm – Hyperwhite – 2WATT (Usage: Main Dome Light)Purchased from TunnerDomes.com
4 – DOME 6418 37mm – Hyperwhite – 1WATT (Usage: Vanity, Rear License Plate Lights)Purchased fromTunnerDomes.com
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

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.

Dome Light Cover Removal	Map Light Cover Removal

Stock Dome Bulbs	Stock Dome Bulbs

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.

Removal	Light Removed

Front View	Rear View

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.

Removal	Light Module Removed

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.

Removal	Light Housing Removed

Light Housing	Stock Bulb with Cover Removed

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.


Removal	Light Housing

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.

Removal	Bottom of Light

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.

Driver side Glowing light problem	Close up of Installed 100 Ohm 1 Watt Resistor

Close up of Installed Resistor in Dome Light	Temp of Stock Dome Bulb

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.

	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

Enjoy!

Hello world!

tadasauce — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:46:36 +0000

I go by tadasauce however IRL, they call me Brad. Exciting ramblings and rants to come.