85 UR quattro

I took the wiper mechanism out of the car today because it was running slow. Typical of this car: you can see it, can remove the bolts but have to jiggle the crap out of it to extract it! Will be fun putting it back.

The theory is that the spindle bearings and joints seize up over time. I sprayed the joints with grease and greased the pivots. I couldn't say that they were seized but I believe they are now free-er at least.

Another theory is that the gear lube gets old and dry but I have to drill out rivets to get inside. Not sure about that yet.

I then installed the replacement coolant reservoir.

Very nice! She's really coming along

Hungary Bill wrote: Very nice! She's really coming along

Thanks Bill. I'm starting to feel that way too. I am addressing all sorts of other issues as part of the "It doesn't run right" project. Maybe I can reduce the list to a more manageable size after all this.

I reassembled the wiper mechanism today and put it back in the car. Seems to work.

https://youtu.be/6jk4rw96TQw

As I had to remove a couple of relays to make enough room I cleaned the fuse box and coated all the relay contacts with dielectric grease.

Inspired by my electrical prowess I might tackle adding relays to the headlights tomorrow. I seem to remember reading about a simple plug and play kit that was available. Anyone have a source?

I've done quite a few cars using a kit from Daniel Stern Lighting. You do have to provide your own wire, but that will give you quality relays, connectors that will accept heavy gauge wires, inline fuses and such.

I've seen other kits that are made to a low price point in Asia, but I wouldn't even bother.

VClassics wrote: I've done quite a few cars using a kit from Daniel Stern Lighting. You do have to provide your own wire, but that will give you quality relays, connectors that will accept heavy gauge wires, inline fuses and such. I've seen other kits that are made to a low price point in Asia, but I wouldn't even bother.

Thanks, I'll look into using them.

Oops, seems like tomorrow turned into two months. Sorry about that. Got a little distracted by wheel sales, 911 mods and this:

An 83 that looks like it wants to be a rally replica build. I'll post a link to it's buid thread once we get stuck in. But first we have to finish this one right?

So what did we do lately in that regard? Well, we received our rebuilt turbo. Like with the steering rack we asked them not to bead blast the housings.

Then we tackled replacing the Hall sensor on the distributor as ours had brocken it's connector.

We did add the headlight relay kit we got from Germany but we haven't tested it yet so perhaps we'll address that in the next update. Hopefully not two months from now.

Happy New Year!

I didn't test the headlight relay kit today as I thought better of it. With so many wires detached from there things I didn't think it a good idea to introduce some live electrons. I did put back the lower console hiding the relays etc. and lubed the hood/bonnet pull handle so it no longer makes that awful noise.

What I next was take stock of what's left to do and what I need to do it. I'm actually close to the point where I will be stopped for lack of parts, some of them apparently hard to find. Here's what's still to do:

28 Refurbish CIS 29 Refurbish hydraulic system 31 Refurbish front struts tops, bellows 32 Install down pipe and turbo 33 Engine Oil 34 Transmission oil 35 Compression test 36 Attach sub-frame to transmission 37 Torque crank bolt 38 Clutch slave cylinder line 39 Install engine, trans, sub frame 40 Reconnect ancillaries 41 Bleed brakes 42 Hydraulic fluid 43 Fire up 44 Test drive 45 Alignment

and what I'm still missing:

CIS vacuum lines and god knows what else Hydraulic lines, being remade by a friend Strut Bellows 2 431412135 clutch slave cylinder hose 1 431721465 NLA subframe bushings rear 2 857199419B discontinued belt alternator 1 055903137G 9.5x850 front brake line 2 433837400A

any suggestions on where to get this stuff? Would prefer original Audi.

As I'm starting to run out of chronologically logical tasks I'm going to be jumping around a bit. First such worm hole leap: sub-frame bushings. Not all four though, just the front two. The rears are NLA and I haven't sourced an alternative yet. So here we go.....

Drill

Cut

Pry

Succeed

Sleeve still in :(

More cut and pry

Squeeze

Fail

Succeed a bit then fail

Win

Repeat.

After lots of back and forth and soul searching (as well as part searching) we made some part-ial progress: [B] CIS vacuum lines and god knows what else[/B] I printed out four parts diagrams from vagpart.com and marched them up to the shop with the plan that I would go through each one and highlight (with a hiliter) everything that I wanted to replace. This would mostly be vacuum lines and clamps but there are quite a few different sizes and types so I wanted to make sure I got the right ones and didn't miss any. Well, guess what? I could barley even match the diagrams to my car! It's like the car and the diagrams are for two different cars, not even the same manufacturer. I found one common part; a bubble shaped vacuum bottle, and followed it's line back into the engine bay and at the first connector it departed from the parts diagram completely! We are going to have to rethink this approach. This is one of four vacuum line diagrams vs the real world.

[B]Hydraulic lines, being remade by a friend[/B] Still waiting on these. Might be a while.

[B]Strut Bellows 2 431412135[/B] I found they match a Porsche 944 part so ordered a pair from one of our customers: [URL="http://www.pelicanparts.com/Porsche/index-SC.htm"]Pelican Parts[/URL]. Will see next week if Porsche and Audi were on the same planet back in the 80s.

[B]clutch slave cylinder hose 1 431721465 NLA[/B] I got close but quit. I found an ATE hose that matched but it proved to be a unicorn. Couldn't find one anywhere. Then I got a quote from our local fancy custom line shop for braided stainless made from my original fittings but baulked at the price ($140) and the lack of originality, then decided the original one was in good enough shape and installed it on the clutch cylinder.

[B]subframe bushings rear 2 857199419B discontinued[/B] A friend pointed out that I could used the Audi 80 M12 version with a 10mm sleeve so I went on a quest for those. They proved only marginally less rare than what I need so I orderded two proper ones from Audi Tradition. They have to be shipped to my friend in Germany and then to me so probably 2017 before I see them LOL

[B]belt alternator 1 055903137G 9.5x850[/B] This can wait. I'm tired. [B] front brake line 2 433837400A[/B] Hours more research and all I could find were aftermarket braided stainless or some really inexpensive rubber ones from Centric. I've ordered both. The centric ones look like the real deal apart from not having the rubber dongles on though it does have two mounting grommets. The OE mounting grommet should slide off over the ends if one of these doesn't work but there's no way the big rubber dongles will. I have a few spares from our 83 so will cut one and see if it is possible to glue them back together over the Centric lines.

teamilluminata wrote: First such worm hole leap: sub-frame bushings. Not all four though, just the front two. The rears are NLA and I haven't sourced an alternative yet. So here we go.....

That is... unfortunate. I have two spare subframes with good bushings but a friend of mine scrapped 6-7 subframes during a shop cleanout

Have you seen the Facebook petition? Apparently Audi Tradition will no longer ship parts to the US because they are German district and they will not ship to Audi USA's distribution area.

http://theprojectpad.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1979&view=unread#unread http://theprojectpad.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1980&view=unread#unread

Knurled wrote:

teamilluminata wrote: First such worm hole leap: sub-frame bushings. Not all four though, just the front two. The rears are NLA and I haven't sourced an alternative yet. So here we go.....

That is... unfortunate. I have two spare subframes with good bushings but a friend of mine scrapped 6-7 subframes during a shop cleanout Have you seen the Facebook petition? Apparently Audi Tradition will no longer ship parts to the US because they are German district and they will not ship to Audi USA's distribution area. http://theprojectpad.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1979&view=unread#unread http://theprojectpad.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1980&view=unread#unread

:( indeed.

I have seen it now. Thanks for sharing. I have friends in Germany in the car industry but it's still a PITA and supply of last resort.

Wow! This thread is awesome!

In reply to Tom Suddard:

Thanks Tom :)

impressive build

Finally got chance to install the rear subframe bushings. To be fair I did have to wait for them to come from Germany. I might havre to wait for another one now. Read on.........

Easily removed the old bushings and cleaned up the holes.

But my previous method of pressing them in failed

So got the press out but that didn't help

Now the bushing is all squished

It seems that a) these bushing won't squeeze into a hole the same diameter as the body and b) why did the front ones press in so easily?

This didn't help

But this did

Now I just need to order another one from Germany :(

To get rubber parts to assemble, coat with liquid soap. Same with hoses and any other rubber parts.

But sometimes bushings like those will put up a fight. It is odd how one will go in and the next one just refuses.

TED_fiestaHP wrote: To get rubber parts to assemble, coat with liquid soap. Same with hoses and any other rubber parts. But sometimes bushings like those will put up a fight. It is odd how one will go in and the next one just refuses.

Thanks. I did use some Dawn.

Long live the hydraulic press :)

It's been over a month since I updated this thread so, even though not much has happened I will document it anyway. Actually, looking at my Flickr album there's been quite a lot of little incremental progress :)

First off I received a new and spare bushing from Germany and wasted no time pressing the last one home. You just have to make sure it is being pressed true then squeeze with confidence, after first lubing the sh*t out of it.

Then I replace the front strut bellows which arrived the same day as the bushings. Incidentally these are for a Porsche 944! Same part though.

More bloody squeezing. GGRRR

Then I installed the turbo, manifold and down pipe.

Need to find a suitable hanger for here.

This stainless steel beauty from Vibrant should do the trick.

Next job is to attache the subframe then it's ready to go back in the engine bay. However, the engine bay is not yet ready to accept it as I still need to reinstall the steering rack and refurbish the CIS system. I may reuse the existing hydraulic lines as my supplier's are not in production yet and I want to be driving this in April.

This thing is going to be a bunch of awesome

I went through my parts bin to see what still needs to bolt on the engine before it goes back in the car. I was worried I might miss something and I was right. Found this heat shield

and a temperature sensor that goes in the back of the refurbished head but this plug won't come out and I'm afraid of rounding out the Allen socket. Worst case I have to drill it out and retap it but then the head would have to come off!

Tried this to no avail

So resorted the the impact gun which thankfully worked. I forget how effective they can be.

Then I celebrated by reinstalling the subframe.

Bought some inspiration over the weekend.

image by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

It inspired me to go on a spending spree. Ordered air box grommets/mounts and filter.

Oil can gasket

Bomb mounts

Trans oil

and about $300 worth of vacuum hose, clips and copper washers!

As I can now see light at the end of the tunnel I also turned the engine round on the hoist so it's ready to go in. A little optimistic perhaps?

I thought I'd check as many sensors as I could before popping the engine back in. Seems like a reasonable plan. There are like twenty separate temperature sensors on this engine! OK, there's six but still........

Fortunately Audi stamped the range or trigger point on them. Well, most of them.

I didn't check change over temperature. I just had hot water or no water but I think I proved they all do something so I'm going with that.

This one tested good too but didn't want to go home :(

Need to find a seal washer for this one. How hard could that be?