The Project Pad

A machinist friend is a priceless resource.

oil_me wrote:A machinist friend is a priceless resource.

I do what I can, but trust me, having someone that can do the electronics part of things goes a very long way. Eric has saved my but a few times now with my build.

oil_me wrote:A machinist friend is a priceless resource.

That is *so* true! :-)

Well today's theme is "frankenparts"! :wink: All manner of Audi A/C parts, reworked to be usable in my new system.

First we have fittings:

The two with threaded bits on them are hose ends for the inlet and outlet of the accumulator. The l-shaped one will connect hose to the outlet of the evaporator.

The one with the three fittings is the one that formerly was at the top of the Audi condenser, and will go on the new condenser outlet like this:


And we have a new accumulator bracket. Actually it's the bracket that came with the car, modded to attach to the firewall:

They're mostly hidden, but there are 3 "struts" coming off the back - two piggyback onto the studs that hold the HVAC box, the other goes to one of the studs that formerly held the coil.

And a bit more progress!

Here's the a/c accumulator in its final resting place:

The "inny" is the fitting on the rear - it will have a j-shaped hardline connected to a hose that goes to the evaporator. The other of course is the "outy", it'll have a 90-degree elbow fitting to point more or less downward, then hose to the suction side of the compressor.

Oh and speaking of compressors... this:

That would be a Saab 9-5 A/C compressor mounted to the compressor/alternator bracket of an AAN engine! With the help of some creatively-built hardware that Dave and I built. Basically there are two pieces of 3/4" square bar stock with holes bored and counterbored to accept bolts that go into the AAN bracket. Then there are two threaded holes in front that the compressor mounts to, with spacers because the design of the compressor is annoying.

In the back, there's this:

The compressor has only a single mounting point in the rear. So there's a SS crosspiece bolted between the aluminum adapters. The photo shows bolts going through from the top for positioning - in the car they'll go in from the bottom. Then the crosspiece has a hole drilled and an M10 nyloc nut tack-welded in just the right spot to mate up with the third bolt from the compressor. The washers are so that while test-fitting, the bolt doesn't go into the locking part of the nut. I'm super-paranoid about all these bolts coming out... I've seen it happen too many times on A/C compressors. So I don't want to create any wear on the nylon thingy in the nut before I do the final installation.

Well I installed the radiator plug just now, and it's a success! Of course I haven't installed & pressurized the radiator yet so maybe it's a little early to declare victory...

Here's what it looks like from the end:


This allowed me to cut over 6/10" off the nipple, which translates into extra clearance for the A/C condenser:

Today is a sad day.

This has nothing to do with the car of course, but I lost a friend yesterday:

Yoda was a member of our family for just under 15 years, and always brought us great happiness. He had been in poor health for quite a while and yesterday we took him to the vet and decided it was his time to go. :(

Luckily we still have his two younger sisters (also pugs, and like Yoda, completely insane) to keep us company.

I'm really sorry to hear about this. I know all too well what its like to have to out a pet down.

i just love when people keep/add systems like a/c and abs on their project cars.
Most of folks do get afraid of things like clearance and extra weight.

Sorry to hear about the pet, but his time has come, and that is what it takes

domas wrote:i just love when people keep/add systems like a/c and abs on their project cars.
Most of folks do get afraid of things like clearance and extra weight.

What's really funny is what led to all this...

Around 1992 I got my first Audi... a 4000 quattro, and absolutely loved it. A few years later it was starting to show its age and I bought one I thought was in better condition (but actually wasn't) to replace it. But then we moved and I ended up not taking care of both cars for various reasons and ultimately ended up junking them.

A few years ago I again found myself wanting an Audi and did some research that indicated the newer cars were much heavier... so I got another 4KQ because light = fast and it had a turbo engine installed which = faster. But oddly enough it had rust problems - being a 24-year-old car and all. I knew the newer models had galvanized bodies so I started looking at them again and realized if I got a stripped-down 80Q it wouldn't really be much heavier than the 4000. So that's what I did. And ever since then I've been doing stuff that makes it heavier!

But the good news is the horsepower I've added more than makes up for it...

Hey on a completely unrelated topic: if water drips inside the car from the trim at the top of the windshield during heavy rain, is a windshield leak the only possible source?

We haven't had much heavy rain this summer but a couple of months ago this started happening. I put a pretty good bead of RTV on the gap between the windshield trim and the roof, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference... and we've got some serious rain coming tomorrow. I'm just wondering if a sunroof leak maybe could cause this?

I'd check your drains, see if they're clogged.

Blown away with the work you've put into the A/C and ABS! I'm sure I'll be harassing you when it's that time for my build.

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your Yoda... I'm a pug lover myself, and hearing that just breaks my heart.

Here's a fuzzy pic of my 5 babies:



One of my 2 puppies had her cornea punctured late last week by her sister while they were playing. Thought for sure she was going to lose her eye, but she's been healing up nice and quickly. We've had to keep her segregated from her sister and the other pugs, and that's been tough, as she just wants to play and have fun, and as I'm sure you know, there is no reasoning with a pug!

Ha... that's great!

We've had a total of four, two of which we still have, and I always worry about eye injuries when they play. But so far we've been lucky (crosses fingers).

And... tonight, a few more steps are complete! Very small steps, but steps nonetheless.

Tonight's theme was "mount the condenser to the radiator". The bottom mounts don't use bolts, they're sort of a clip-on arrangement, and the right-hand (as viewed from the condenser side) is the easiest:


The other bottom mount is a little tougher because a) it's larger and b) it has to hold something in addition to the condenser. Here's the mount:


What it has to hold is the block that has the service port and pressure switches. The whole bit assembled looks like this:


The top mounts have some issues but are generally easier since they mount with bolts. Here's the left one:


And the right:


Here's a photo of the whole setup:


As you can see the condenser is a bit tall and will stick up above the top of the radiator. But I've checked clearance and it should be okay. If not, I'll grab a hammer and make a "power bulge" in the hood.

That bit almost looks like it's meant to go together!

Almost!

Besides, I can make anything go together if I've got a big enough hammer...

It looks like the condenser would be fairly easy to modify; i.e. lop an inch or two off the top and weld it shut...

That's true... I hadn't thought of that!

Although since the thing's pretty small to begin with, I think I'd still rather have the tubes there with less-than-optimal airflow than not have those tubes present at all.

Gah! Did you ever have one of those days when nothing fits right? :x

I took off work early today to see how my handiwork would actually work on the car, and got denied at almost every turn.

First step was to install the compressor adapter setup:

The brackets do fit nicely, and with the amount of red loctite I put on the bolts, they're now a permanent part of the engine. What you can't see in the left side of that photo is the intercooler. Why does that matter? Because the clutch on the compressor hits it! :( I think I can sneak the IC forward enough to make it work - it only needs maybe 3/8", but the bumper has to come off for that to happen. And moving the IC 3/8" forward will probably make it hit the bumper, so there may be significant creativity required to make it all work. BTW if you're ever thinking about putting a Nissens radiator in your car, take a long hard look at that photo. Yes that *is* rust on the end of the core of that 2-year-old radiator.

Next was to test-fit the condenser, and problems quickly surfaced there too. At the top, it just kisses the throttle cable - I think I can make some changes to move the radiator back enough to fix that:

You'll also notice the support bracket has no hole to attach to on the radiator. Nissens radiator != Behr radiator... gotta love it. While eventually the Behr radiator is the one I want to use, I was thinking about keeping the Nissens in the near term to save some work.

Moving right along... you know that lovely setup I had with the block that holds the pressure switches and service port? That puppy's got major issues:

(Pardon the crummy photo, it's the best angle I could get) Actually, ironically, it fits perfectly as-is. But put the switches on there and it'll be nowhere near clearing the engine - or more specifically the alternator/AC-compressor bracket. And the space is so tight you could never get a hose onto the service port. So I'm going to have to find another place for that.

There is a light at the end of one tunnel that I don't *think* is an oncoming train. I got a different accumulator (actually the "right" one for an 80, the other was a CQ one) with fittings located in what I think are better positions:

I've got a 90-degree fitting on order that hopefully will plug into the port on the rear and then I can just have a short hose run to the evaporator. I may have to move the electrical box to the left a little, but that should be easy compared to the other stuff.

Hey speaking of removing the bumper, can anyone tell me in terms that a geranium could understand, exactly how to release it near the wheel arches?

I know all about the 2 bolts in the front. And I know at the rear/sides it's held in plastic clips. Last time I removed it I just pulled outward until the clips let go, but that broke some of the clips' attachment points to the bumper. I can't help but think there's some specific way to release the clips other than just yanking on the bumper?

I did look at the Bentley but it's not much help. :(

Try 'peeling' the corners downward

Yup, when I put em on bottom goes in first and flex the bumper vertically to slide the top in.

Well... my karma seems to be improving today!

I pulled off the bumper (thanks for the tips, guys!) and intercooler, and got the compressor bolted up for a test fit:

Other than the IC, there don't seem to be any clearance issues. Yay!

Next I set out to figure out what length of serpentine belt I'd need with the new setup. That was no fun the first time around... measuring those things and translating to a published size number isn't as easy as you'd think.

Well in this case, it was *easier* than I thought. Behold:

When I bought the AAN engine, it actually came with a belt. No alternator or PS pump, but a belt... go figure. Anyhow, *the belt fits perfectly*! :-) It seems like all the customizations I've done (smaller than standard diameter idler, different compressor mounted on adapter brackets) cancel each other out and the stock S6 belt works. Not that I'm going to use that worn-out old thing but with the number off the belt I was able to easily order a new one that I know will fit.

And lastly, a screwup I made 2 years ago turned into an advantage today! When I initially did the conversion I made up a crossmember with a couple of welded-on tabs to hold the intercooler, but they were in the wrong position. So I had to make up an adapter bracket to reposition the IC. Well long story short, I remade that bracket today to position the IC out a little farther and make it more vertical (it originally tilted toward the engine at the bottom) and here's the result:

There isn't an abundance of clearance between the compressor clutch and the IC, but at least the offset is positive instead of negative. The actual clearance is just about enough to slip your pinky in there which I think should be enough.

Now all I've got to do is fit the bumper back on...

Looks like you are figuring it out. I was thinking twards the end of the last post that I hope the bumper still fits on there. I know anytime I made any little movement with my IC I ended up having to reclearance the bumper to make it work.

Keep at it, you will have this ready in no time.