More Upgrades and Additions--The never-ending project continues.
Safety Devices Roll Bar--This is the only pre-fabricated, bolt-in bar available. It is made in England, and offered here by Stable Energies. Nice folks to deal with, though the cost is a little on the high side thanks to the ocean voyage and so forth. While the actual listing says "quattro coupe" the CGT is the same and the bar fits perfectly. Very nice fit, actually. I was impressed. The main hoop requires welding in two brackets that the bar then bolts to. Unfortunately, the floor isn't flat where the brackets go, so you either have to pound the floor down so the nuts can be attached to the bolts or drill through the floor and attach the nuts from the underside, which calls for making backing plates (this is what I did).
About the rear seat; you can still use the seat back but I had to cut out two pieces of the frame and some foam so it would clear the rear bars. The seatback will then have room to crease around these bars. I originally was going to take it to an upholstery shop and have them try to 'fit' the back around the braces but my leather is getting pretty stiff and I figured it wouldn't be worth the attempt. The diagonal cross brace is removable with some difficulty (easy until I put the seatback in).
The removable harness bar and seat back brace are not shown in the photos. Both are available from Stable Energies.
Addco Rear Sway Bar--This thing was kicking around in the garage for a couple of years, and I don't have a good reason why I didn't install it before. I purchased it from a 4000 owner who only had it on his car a very short time and wasn't happy with it. He claimed it made the tail too loose. Well, yeah, it will...if you don't change the front bar! With the 4000 quattro front bar installed already, this addition seems to at last have dealt a lethal blow to the body roll on the CGT. It's good quality and not hard to install, though I did have to stare at the underside of the car and the mounting brackets to figure out how best to install it (there are four holes you must drill). The thing to note is that the end link brackets need not be mirror image from side to side. This is mentioned cryptically in the instructions. I'm quite happy with it and would recommend it without reservation. I have not felt the back end get loose even on the autocross course; it just feels controlled.
Problems encountered
At the 2001 Tennessee ProRally where I went to spectate, the car developed a scary handling problem. The steering would go slightly off center sometimes, in addition to an audible 'clunk' and a jolt in left turns. I suspected it was the subframe bolts, as I had trouble with at least one of them when I put it back together, and indeed two of them were stripped, which meant the captive nuts welded inside the frame rails were too. This is correctible; an access hole has to be cut in the rail, the nut replaced, and the hole covered up. Welding it shut is best; my shop chose to rivet metal plates over the hole I assume to allow future access. I would have preferred it be welded shut, and I may do this myself (heck, I should have done the hole job myself...but I digress).
Unfortunately, this did not solve the goofy handling. What I finally discovered was the lower ball joint nuts were loose, allowing the ball joint to shift inside the lower control arm. After talking with one of my favorite Audi techs, this is apparently not unusual. The nuts should not be re-used, and they should be tightened as tight as possible, not necessarily what the torque spec states. The Tennessee problem was the right side ball joint. After having that fixed, the wheel went off-center again after an autocross, and I found the driver's side nuts less than really tight too. I fiddled with it a bit at home and got the alignment close enough that the car again tracks straight. There is enough stud to double-nut the ball joint, which may solve the problem...?
Shift light--Yup, the ultimate ricer mod. Sadly, I almost need it, since the much smaller Momo wheel completely cuts off my view of the tach. I mounted it to the right side of the instrument pod where the little fake vent thing is. (Photo coming). Shift lights are made for 4, 6 or 8 cylinders...so how did I make it work with a 5? Simple. I got one that is infinately adjustable throughout the rev range. It doesn't matter what the knob says, it's when the light comes on that matters. Mine is a cheap thing from Proform I found on Ebay. I have it set for 4 cylinder operation and used the same 'formula' that I used to figure the dyno run. Note, the light doesn't get set at redline, but at your shift point, which would be peak horsepower. In my car, according to the dyno graph, this is right around 5000.
Unfortunately, neither the Proform nor the sequential light I also tried will work reliably. Though it makes no sense to me, the light will only work sometimes, apparently dependent upon where the firing order is when the engine first starts. I may talk to the folks at Autometer and see if they can program one for me with the I-5 (as they will do this for their tachometers).
Step-by-step instructions on removing the door panel and replacing the window regulator and glass run channel. Click here.
Mobil 1--The Audi community is very sold on Mobil 1 oil to keep those annoying lifters quiet. After the break-in period, I replaced the regular oil with Mobil 1. It seemed to work wonders...for about the first 1500-2000 miles. Now the damn things are clattering like they always did, and I'm not even to a normal 3000 mile change interval (synthetic is supposed to last 5000 or more). Unimpressed by the noisy lifters, the leaking drain plug (synthetic will leak out wherever it finds a weakness) and the high price, I was ready to go back to regular oil. I was told Amsoil may be the solution, so poured that in the crankcase. While it made it a little further, it wasn't much of an improvement. Ultimately, I went back to 20-50 Wolf's Head regular oil, and it seems to do the trick, even during race conditions.
Corbeau Forza Seat--I chose the Corbeau seat based on price, fit and appearance (pretty much in that order). I was going to go with a Sparco until I sat in one and felt it was too narrow at the shoulders. The Forza is slightly wider in several dimensions so I figured would suit me perfectly, plus it was available with custom mounting brackets for my car. I bought this before trying one, and it is nearly right for me. In regular clothes it is just a bit wide in the hips, but with my driving suit I think it will be perfect. The height and shoulder width is right on. Padding is a little sparse; I wouldn't want to take a trip in this seat, and it doesn't recline or tilt forward (meaning, if I had a pair of these, I couldn't access the rear seat). But, it is only a few minute job to swap this one for the stock seat, thanks to the track design.
I had the seat apart to install the seat back brace, and there isn't much to it when you see it in skeleton form. I actually welded in a piece of sturdy steel for the brace as I didn't feel the metal in the seat was sufficient for those forces, plus it didn't line up with the brace at all.
The Corbeau brackets are very nicely made and appear sturdy, and allow fore/aft adjustment of the seat. Unfortunately, the seat mounts too far to the rear, and even adjusted fully forward is a bit far back for even 5' 11" me. I had to make spacer plates out of steel to move the seat forward about two inches, which was annoying but not difficult. This is a tricky car to make mounts for until you see how they did it! If I had to do it again I'd make my own mounting bracket, but the ratchet mechanism you may still want. It's rendered nearly useless with the back brace though (SCCA requires it for some racing).
Note: since the seatbelt receiver is mounted to the side of the stock seat, any aftermarket seat will make purchasing a proper harness setup a necessity.
Note: the roll bar main hoop makes re-installing the factory seat belts a real challenge at the floor level. Not impossible, but great patience is required!
Interior Accessories--just a shot to showcase all the Momo stuff (steering wheel, shift knob). This stuff is not just for looks; both the wheel and knob greatly improve feel and control. The smaller diameter wheel quickens turning but also blocks the tops of the main gauges, meaning judging shift points is nearly impossible. I've installed a shift light (and no, not one of those monster things).
The Razo pedal pads may look ricey but I had them way before pedals became trendy. The accelerator pedal greatly aids in heel/toe downshifts and the raised areas around the holes actually provide much better grip than the rubber pads. These clamp onto the stock pedals with threaded fasteners and have never become loose since I installed them.
A non-turbo quattro coupe. Note the Mobil 1 sponsorship...wonder how noisy his lifters are? (Can't be--they are non-hydraulic!)
