Nope, I didn’t have that on my bingo card, not that it would have fit in one of the squares.

AI woman clearly excited by the product? That’s just a bonus.

I think I’ll make a quick Photoshop tutorial on “free transform”, there appear to be some people who could benefit from it.

Now for my public service, I’ll save you $2.39 (or $3.99 if you miss the sale): head over to my original post and get the files for free.

I finally replaced the factory setup on my Shapeoko 3. The controller used to be mounted on the back of the gantry with wires zip-tied out of the way (yes, per the instructions). What it really needed was drag chains. Drag chains or more zip ties. Zip ties work fine and will be faster. Drag chains, however, look cool. [cue guitar riff]

I spread it across a weekend, but it only took me a few hours. Now everything is neatly out of the way and the controller is safely mounted on the outside of the frame, well clear of any moving parts.

She expressed her displeasure by sitting on her mat facing the wall and refusing to look at me. Ever wondered what the silent treatment from a dog looks like? This is it.

Where was I? Oh yes, flames and racing stripes.

While the nature of the car is not entirely disguised, I am aiming for more sleeper, less speedster. That said, I decided it was time to lose the 1.8T badge and put the real displacement on the back. I don’t think most people will really know or care that my generation ofA4 never came with the 2.7 liter V6, but it makes me happy, and that’s what really matters, isn’t it?

My rough process:

1. I marked out the original positioning of the 1.8 T badge
2. I dry fit the 2.7 T badge using the residual adhesive from the previous owner.
3. Yep, not enough adhesive left.
4. Laser cut a template to align the new badge, realized the quattro badge is upside down, flipped it.
5. Threw a tarp over the car and cut a hole around the A4 badge
6. Applied lots of masking tape, wondered if I should degrease the old badge first, then YOLO’ed it.

I may have left out some steps, but I’m sure you can do it just like I did… totally wing it and hope it works out.

Wait, Wagon Fest is tomorrow?

No, I’m not trying to compensate for something, why do you ask?

I have my calipers back from the powder coater, I have all the parts, and I have some free time. Time to get to rebuilding; the A4 needs a new pair of shoes.

And they are so pretty, how could I not try them on?

Yeah, you caught me, the stock caliper is just hanging back there on a zip tie. I probably shouldn’t drive it like this.

First things first, I tackled the front seats. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Upgrading seats is a no-brainer.” But trust me, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I encountered my first hurdle when I discovered that the driver’s seat was giving me an airbag warning. I went through all the connections, all looked good. There’s a service bulletin on the seats because a connector can fail… not that, already fixed. After tearing my hair out (what little I have), I took another look at the connectors. Driver’s side plug didn’t look like it was seating all the way. Turns out there was a small piece of broken plastic sitting in the bottom, just big enough to make the connection sporadically blip. It took some digging to remove the culprit, but problem solved.

The good news is that both front seats are now up and running smoothly, and I’m loving the added warmth courtesy of the seat heaters – perfect for those chilly mornings or cozy evenings behind the wheel. The Recaro seats are a huge upgrade from the base seats, with much better lateral support, and the passenger seat is now motorized.

However, not all is rosy just yet. The rear seat backs are a bit more high-maintenance than I anticipated. Specifically, both passenger and driver sides feature latches that require a key – which, of course, I didn’t have. No worries, though; the keyed portion of the latch is all in the plastic handle, a simple swap in from my stock seats fixed that.

Additionally, I found the latch on the rear driver’s side would not latch. I found that if I manipulated it by hand, it would fully latch, but just didn’t spring into place. I was hoping it was just in need of lubrication, but unfortunately it is broken.

The original seats from the car, however, provided a working spare. I transferred the latch mechanism from the old seat to the new one, which was actually quite straightforward once I understood the process. YouTube, once again, kept me from failing.

The passenger side rear seat back still needs some TLC, but it’ll have to wait for now – there’s a pesky wire in the way that’s making it tricky to remove.

All in all, I’m thrilled with the progress so far.

Since I haven’t listened to a CD in at least 10 years (and am not sure where my tapes are), it’s time to take a leap forward… on a budget. Three cheers for inexpensive Chinese Android head units that are tailor-made for my car model. They even preset the button LEDs to match Audi’s red buttons.

Time to order a backup camera…