u/hpshaft

Friday shenanigans before the fourth. Car was converted and we dug into AC not working. Customer wanted us to look into an oil leak on the PRV V6 (in progress) and we're gonna look into flushing the coolant system as it's accumulated a lot of corrosion (likely from tap water mixed into the coolant).

Weird stuff makes us really excited, as we are starting to do more and more exotics. The owner is one of the coolest enthusiasts we locally know, and also owns a Renault Clio V6 and an Alfa GTV.

Wildly different from our normal portfolio of cars, this customer brought in a survivor 1983 Rabbit Cabrio 5-spd. AZ car, 144k miles but needed some love. Was taken out of storage and they wanted it to be a driver again. R12 AC car and miraculously it still works.

This person approved more than the average R8 owner spends each visit, but they love the car and we intend of taking really good care of it and making a cool little bitch basket. Full servicing, gearbox reseal, shifter rebuild, full suspension, arms, mounts, bushings. Hoses, battery connections, we're gonna reattach some trim and spruce up the interior/exterior trims.

Working with the owner of my new (ish) Indy shop to improve the air conditioning in our shop. He's been really good about investing in tooling, comfort and productivity but he's a bit out of his depth with hvac and he's getting mixed answers.

Anyone here have a shop (or even a personal shop) using mini split AC systems for main or supplemental cooling?

Our shop occupies two units in an industrial strip mall type setting. 30ft ceilings. Insulated and mostly sheet rocked in. We have two 5 ton units that do OK, but as the highs get above 100, and our doors open/ close they are not able to keep up with hot cars, etc. size is around 4000-4500sq ft.

Would you invest in additional full scale units, or use 3/4 mini splits in work areas to help mitigate the temps. We have rolling evap coolers that help when it's dry, but 1/3 of our summers get a bit humid and we can't use them.

Thanks for any input and I appreciate the help!

PFA:

These cars are so damn cool. Local Audi collector brought this to us as the dealer don't touch it. Getting PCV upgrades, new coolant fittings, all new fluids and filters. We have 034 engine mounts and trans mounts on order and stainless lines yet to ordered.

Customer complained that the car was blowing gear oil out of the vent tube (near the RR wheel on 2013+ GTs) and went to the local dealer a year or so ago. Guy paid 6 hours of diag and the tech opened a DISS case. Was told the diff oil was overfilled and was then reset released.

Came to us with the same concern. Car only has ~4k miles on it. Car looks new. Perfect condition. I did my own checks and couldn't find anything obvious. But I did notice the enormous aftermarket wheels. Tires were rubbing during the road test so I decided to look into getting him correct tires for the wheels.

Then I noticed it. Tires are 22s. But the fronts are 265/35, rears were 295/30.
Nearly 20mm (measured) difference in rolling diameter front to back on a mechanical AWD Quattro system. Asked around and the guys I talked with said that it certainly overheat the center diff and cause the fluid to burp out the vent line.

Swapped his original 21's on it and drove it 45 miles. Zero fluid ejection and vent hose was bone dry. We're gonna have him drive it another 250 or so miles and recheck.

Featuring $1200 worth of spark plugs. Turns out the NGKs for the Speed and Super Sports are proprietary and bespoke to Bentley. As far as we can tell there is no crossover part in NGKs catalog. Local dealer charges us nearly $98/each OUR COST. Retail at the dealer (if you bring your car there) is nearly $120/each.

Also known as "even though I wear gloves and wiped down all my tools, there's fucking dirt appearing on this white trim."

Fun fact, the flap motors are the same as TT Gen 2 flap motors. Still got them from Bentley, because warranty on parts.

I forgot how much shit has to come apart to remove the side trims, and how nerve wracking the wood panel is to remove.

Friend purchased this 1984 Starion narrow body turbo a year or so ago, non running but mostly intact. It had not run in around 7-8 years, was last registered in 2011. It needed a new fuel tank, window glass and a full refresh but was in really good shape. Fast forward to beggining of the year - we registered the car to attend a pre-1999 car rally in central CA.
We ended up finishing the car just in time. We had to swap the turbo, all fluids, belts, fuel system and plugs/wires/cap/rotor. Otherwise, just new tires on Enkei's he had.
The car suprised us both, making it from AZ to CA, through the rally, and back to AZ in 100F heat. Zero issues, save for a tiny intake leak we solved day 1. Burned only a 1/2 qt over 1500 miles, used zero coolant, and averaged nearly 20mpg.
Old cars are fucking cool as shit.

Older Jags all have airboxes in the front fender wells. However, they had access panels to slide the filters out and service them.

Fast forward to this 2019 F type. Yeah, the airbox needs to be physically split in order to remove the filters.

Not the worst plugs I've done. But easily top 5. Top compartment cover was easy to get out, but holy shit these coils are stuck GOOD. Also, had to deploy a Rube-Goldbergian contraption to install and torque the front two cylinders on each bank, as my torque wrench wouldn't fit in the space.

Ferrari homies, drop your tips here.

Still makes me laugh how tiny these things are. Still, it only cost $65 from Ferrari!

Also, not pictured is the (also comically small) washer reservoir cap. Which is about the size of a 20oz bottle cap.

Customer noted a noise from the front suspension when turning. Noted he had front struts and all new arms installed a year prior, by another "euro specially" shop.

We found both rear upper arms not tightened. eBay Chinesium knock-off A8 spec arms installed (bought as a kit). Shock perch triple square bolts were loose on the drivers side. Both lower straight arm bolts at the subframe were not tight, and the lower arm balljoint nuts were also barely tightened.
The fuck?

I attached pictures of what the difference is between 4H0 and 3W0 parts on these cars. It's easy to say "iTs JuSt An AuDi", but the weight difference is massive and the control arm bushing that attaches to the shock form had already collapsed.

Service, all new arms. All new hardware. Coolant exchange. Alignment and the car drives like new.

*insert joke about you ain't got no engine*
Local customer who has an insanely dope collection (including an R5 Turbo). Stopped by to have the AC evacuated, as he is dropping the motor over the summer to service the belts on the car. Car is insanely clean and intact. We have 3/4 supercars and 3 Bentleys on site and everyone flocked to this.

Used to do these all the time on D4 A8s. Bit out of practice but I still hold a grudge against the lower hose clamp below the valve.

Not sure how guys did this without pulling the cowl, but there are people out there doing it that way.

Anyways, enjoy some A8 carnage.

Owned by a current client, he kept it under wraps for a few weeks. German car, just worked over by TWR before being shipped out to the US. We had a cars and coffee/open house paired with Avants car club.

This car is stunning. Customer left and took his wife to lunch. True G.

I've only seen others at the Petersen and in videos.

N63 motors go crazy. This guy had the customer care package done and the car still uses a quart every 5k miles. Left side mount was blown so bad he thought the car had a bad torque converter. Compared to the VW/Audi mounts I'm used to doing, these are not bad at all. Just make sure Worldpac sends you the right Corteco mounts. 🙃

Had a chance to do a service, filters, battery and alignment on a super low mileage BMW Individual Frozen Blue M3. Car has less than 20k miles, original owner and is in crazy good condition. Also, peep $800 worth of rear brake air guides we installed on Vins old GT3RS, along with an annual service. Red NSX in the back is in for a clutch hydraulics rebuild.