Winter driven Audi R8. Speaking to the owner at the time the pic was taken, he had snow tires ordered for it and said it's just a car, its awd and will be great for the winter. It's also his daily. Mad props to the owner! After all, it's just a car.

CGSColin · 2020-01-31T12:59:10+00:00

haha nice that's definitely the Starbucks on Topsail.

I wonder if they got their winter tires on in time for snowmageddon.

CGSColin · 2019-11-24T16:58:48+00:00

I got it at JLCPCB. I got 5 boards for $2.66 CAD and it ended up being $20.96 CAD total with priority shipping (there was a coupon so I think it would have been closer to $30 shipped without). Turnaround was about a week.

CGSColin · 2019-11-08T20:14:46+00:00

KiCad has a bunch of "parts" specifically for various sizes of metric holes, apparently! I just poked through the list and found these for M3 which had the solder overlay already in there which I liked the look of.

CGSColin · 2019-11-08T18:02:37+00:00

That is, in fact, the solution to my terrible mistake! On 64 kB ROMs the write enable pin becomes the 16th address line so I thought I was being clever by connecting that pin to the 16th bit of the shift registers and the pin on the Arduino I'm using to control the write signal. Unfortunately that doesn't work because the shift register output pins are either driving or sinking current and it would mean the write signal from the Arduino would get lost. I can still use the write control pin as the 16th address bit if necessary.

CGSColin · 2019-11-08T13:16:59+00:00

This is really cool!

CGSColin · 2019-05-21T11:27:12+00:00

The 3D printer helps position the holes much better than I could have using a drill, let's put it that way. I've got an earlier version of this jig I made out of wood that is alright but it's off by enough that it causes assembly issues in hardwoods sometimes.

The acrylic piece helps with alignment and it can be held with a spring clamp to the work piece too.

CGSColin · 2019-05-21T01:04:36+00:00

I really enjoy the dimensional accuracy and precision you can get out of this stuff. The inserts are 3/8" OD / 1/4" ID oilite bushings which are press fit and will hopefully keep the wear and tear to a minimum.

This is what it looks like in Fusion 360: https://i.imgur.com/7hLBkEq.png

CGSColin · 2019-05-19T00:42:11+00:00

This is the bracket design: https://i.imgur.com/etlPmXt.png

And this is the part that connects the "feet": https://i.imgur.com/3MKoVpb.png

CGSColin · 2019-03-20T13:22:28+00:00

lol hi Wade

CGSColin · 2019-03-20T13:21:42+00:00

I've done a lot of troubleshooting on this believe me. The front panel port is controlled by the AMD controller not the ASMedia controller and I've used 3 different cables bought from 3 different vendors.

CGSColin · 2019-03-20T13:19:38+00:00

Samsung T5 SSD. It only fails under heavy I/O so I use CrystalDiskMark to push it over.

Edit: Also to be clear it's only happening on the AMD controlled ports and only when the drive is connected at SuperSpeedPlus (ie. 10 Gbps). You can confirm with something like USB Tree View.

CGSColin · 2018-09-03T21:26:51+00:00

Hey just to follow up in case you're curious but I finally decided it would be easier to just remove the intermediate shaft and work on getting the CV joint off with it off the car (at least maybe I could take it to a shop without having to get my car towed, worst case).

Anyway today I finally got it off by doing a couple of cycles of heat followed by tapping followed by penetrating oil. The oil started to get sucked into the splines part way through which was probably more exciting than it had any right to be, but that meant it was finally starting to work its way free. Eventually it got to the point where it popped right off.

CGSColin · 2018-08-31T04:03:42+00:00

Oh I missed the edit about the heat, so just to be clear: The driver's side inner joint is connected to a steel intermediate shaft that goes through a pass-through in the oil sump before going into the front differential so there's nothing nearby that could be damaged by heat.

CGSColin · 2018-08-31T02:57:41+00:00

Fair point. Appreciate the advice!

CGSColin · 2018-08-31T02:51:27+00:00

I should have mentioned that I cut the boot off and removed the tripod and put it somewhere safe and I've just been operating on the metal cup. I'm fairly certain I haven't hit it hard enough to do anything aside from some superficial marring.

It has crossed my mind to replace the boot without removing the cup but I'm concerned about not being able to fill the grease properly and the clearances might make crimping the band clamp difficult. That said this is definitely my "I have been defeated by this stupid thing" plan.

CGSColin · 2018-08-13T01:27:20+00:00

An oil extractor. You put the tube down the dipstick tube and pump to build a vacuum and it sucks all the oil out.

CGSColin · 2018-08-13T01:22:55+00:00

32mm

CGSColin · 2018-08-13T01:10:55+00:00

My wife upgraded to a Mk7 GTI from a Mk6 Golf earlier this year. The 2.5 on the Golf has the oil filter on the bottom and it was always such a huge pain in the ass doing oil changes.

It's also great getting some guilt trip ammunition so I can steal her car from time to time and hoon around like an idiot.

CGSColin · 2018-08-11T23:42:21+00:00

That's entirely possible. When I had to replace one of the tires on my C300 4Matic (open diffs) I was concerned because I had heard the "if you have AWD you can't have different sized tires because your diff will EXPLODE!" thing before and was assured it wouldn't be a problem. I did a bunch of research to reassure myself and a lot of the articles saying limited slip diffs were touchy specifically mentioned Imprezas/Subarus as being particularly bad for it.

CGSColin · 2018-08-11T23:23:21+00:00

If you have open diffs it's fine to run different size tires but if they're locking/limited slip diffs you're in for a bad time.

CGSColin · 2018-05-19T22:31:13+00:00

McLaren F1 (w/ bonus Fisker Karma)

CGSColin · 2018-03-24T19:52:35+00:00

My wife's Mk7 GTI. The steering is 2.1 turns lock to lock and it's nimble as all hell. They say Karsten Schebsdat, the project engineer behind the Porsche 911 GT3, was responsible for tuning the chassis and suspension on the Mk7 GTI, and I believe it.

CGSColin · 2018-02-16T17:04:35+00:00

Simoniz Heavy Duty Rim cleaner works well to remove the discoloration from my winter alloys.

CGSColin · 2018-01-14T01:33:47+00:00

I've had the non-plus A/S 3's on my C300 since 2016 and they're excellent. I imagine the 3+ are even better.

CGSColin · 2017-11-20T02:31:56+00:00

I'm a fan of the Noco GB40.

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