Allie's 1996 Audi Cabriolet 5spd: It's BAAAACK!

[loxxrider]

Nice work. I also have an ABZ I'm trying to get rid of. If it wasn't such a hassle to ship, I'd send it your way.

[WOMBAT]

Update!

The motor is back together and running smoothly/quietly. I ended up grabbing some clean lifters and cams from the junkyard and they're working well.

The damage came to 2 exhaust valves, one on each head so I had those replaced and the heads cleaned.



Then it went back together smoothly.




The car then received some smoked corner lights and a set of fog lights to complete the front end


From there I move to wiring up the reverse lights which was incredibly easy with this photo write up

So I just copied it, here with the starter jumper installed


Then with the wires run from the transmission connector to the relay as shown above...


We have light!


The next purchase was hard to swallow.. We decided to buy new lower moldings, front to back. They're unused, but we did buy them second hand so there was a small decrease in price but still steep for what they are. After installing them though, what a difference!


Before:



and after (sun decided to go down during dinner :x go away winter!)




I also decided to try some Meguiars Plastix polish on the opaque rear window and had some really good results considering it was a 'wax on, wax off' product. I left the patch untouched so you can see the difference.

Before:


After:


That's all for now! More updates soon...

[loxxrider]

Nice progress dude! That thing will look great when it's all one color

[WOMBAT]

Hopefully it will be later this week

[WOMBAT]

Drove it to work and back yesterday with no issues. No oil on the ground either! Replaced the cam seals, valve cover gaskets and oil cooler seal. Also found a bolt on the oil pump housing that was loose and puking oil.

Looking respectable these days! Should be all one color this evening...


Rear brakes sounded funny and looked low on pads, so I did those last night...

Yup, definitely bad. Pad and backing separated.


Realized at this point I forgot my big c-clamp to push the caliper piston back in. After hurting myself, the creative juices started flowing. I took apart my 3 jaw puller and voila!

[chaloux]

Dude that's a really good idea. Now weld a straight piece of steel on so it turns it at the same time.

[WOMBAT]

If only I had a welder.. I just tightened the puller and twisted the piston with some channel locks. Worked really well! Towards the bottom of the piston movement it started spinning itself.

[gtn116]

I usually just put a set of needlenose pliers in and push and twist.

[loxxrider]

I've done it that way too ^^^ (the manly way) it sucks though.

[WOMBAT]

I've done it that way too ^^^ (the manly way) it sucks though.

That's how I hurt myself. Usually works but not this time.

Here she is with a wrap from rubber-wrap.com!

[Clem86]

Woaaaw .. This color is really beautiful, subtile and looks very good with silver rims and black roof

[loxxrider]

Nice! I bet she is happy now.

[WOMBAT]

Nice! I bet she is happy now.

Crazy happy has a stereo now toi

[WOMBAT]

Wow, time for an update!

Time for an update! A while back I tackled the unfortunate job of repairing the hvac box. It was good to have heat again during the winter months and the heater core looked like it was ready to blow so it was replaced. Chose a warm day to get started and had the top down on the way to the garage 8)



It was clear the foam was no longer any good...


And the dash and box is out! What a pain..


This was ready to blow


Repairing with the self adhesive foam from the hobby store




Put it all back together and we have heat again!

Then this past weekend I repaired the exhaust which had been leaking and hitting the car in several places.

Here's where we started. Lots of muffler putty


And here's why there's a code for a rear O2 sensor..


Started cutting and found some flow friendly piping




Check out all the shiny spots where the car was rubbing against the exhaust! Should probably change the trans fluid..


I ended up spinning the cat 180 for a better fit and will have to relocate the rear O2 bung, but the fit was much better.


Also removed this crushed section from the downpipe


Also found a crack in the weld of the other cat so I drilled and welded that shut. The car is now leak free and quiet! Also replaced a front O2 and the car is very nice to drive once again.

I also have a new top on the way and should be here tomorrow! Replacing that will be fun to document.