The Project Pad

audifreakjim wrote:

I just finished doing an aluminum version of that using the factory bungs from an old coolant flange. Yours looks great, welding old oil soaked cast aluminum, yeah..

thanks! yea, ive witnessed people trying to weld the old nasty factory aluminum, looks like a huge PITA. Mine is just some DOM tubing with a 12x1.25 metric nut welded to it. is yours going to be downstream of the coolant outlet flange like this? Hopefully it reads accurately. Seems like it should be fine.

I put it in the feed to the heater core since that will always have coolant flowing to it, unlike the radiator feed that is controlled by the thermostat. The 07k only has one coolant outlet on the rear of the head that is them split to the heater core and the radiator so my location will see the temps coming out of the head.

that makes good sense, i was wondering if my placement wasn't great because there wont be flow in that loop until the thermostat opens. The stock MFTS location on the 7a is in the outlet flange, but that might get warm from convection during warm up being so close to the head. Heater core hose is a good idea. I think I will leave mine where it is for the time being since it worked out perfectly since there was an uneeded"t" there in the hose I used, so it made a natural spot for the adapter.

It should be fine. My worry was if the thermostat ever gets stuck and fails to open you would never really know the engine was overheating, but there is always the ECU sensor which may or may not have any protection features built in.

audifreakjim wrote:It should be fine. My worry was if the thermostat ever gets stuck and fails to open you would never really know the engine was overheating, but there is always the ECU sensor which may or may not have any protection features built in.

Yes, exactly. For a street car, i think its fine, especially a 120hp diesel, but on the track with a high hp monster, that could be a major issue!

Hi Dana ! Any news on your 90 ?

Nothing very exiting. The engine bay is 95% complete, and looking great. I dont think I have any current pictures of that yet.

I have switched over to doing body work so I can get that done before the cold and nasty weather hits.

I haven't posted much since body work is tedious and not to exiting. Basically, I discovered the car was hit at some point early in its life and the right rear frame rail and at least part of the quarter panel were replaced.

It was very hard to tell what was done since they matched the factory seam sealing and undercoating really well. I started working away at a couple small rust spots and uncovered a labyrinth of rust and rot in the trunk area. Thankfully the car is in very good shape from the back seat forward.

I have been systematically cutting out rust and welding in new metal from junkyard cars and sheets of 18 gauge metal.

I'm about half done with the bodywork, then I will rebuild both subframes and swap in the 01e 6-speed.

Still planning on driving it this winter. I will likely miss the first snow, but I should get some quattro fun in before spring.

Here is a few pictures showing what i found when I tore into it. I'll post some more when I get it done. The dogleg at the rear right door is totally done aside from paint, and came out very well. I was able to splice it in and get it smooth without the use of any body filler.













zip confirming that the remaining metal was solid


junk audi heaven


hacking apart this non-rusted b3 fwd 90.


new dogleg





the right side lower quarter was replaced and i totally rebuilt the trunk floor with sheet metal. What a pain. Took me a lot of hours for that work. Also the rear dogleg is replaced in this pic. I had to borrow my second set of jackstands, so these 4x4 posts held the car for a day. Sketchy.


I was very lucky that this cancer had not gotten into any of the painted surfaced visible when the bumpers are on (aside from the little section of the dogleg below the trim). This allows me to weld in new metal and paint it with whatever I want and not have to repaint the car. I am going to try pearl paint in spray cans to paint the dogleg and door jamb. I made the seam under the mid-trim so it wont be so obvious. We all know its impossible to match pearl paint, especially from a rattle can.

Oh that dog leg was nasty The lower body frame (can't find the accurate word) was fine ?
As well as the trunk ... I'm not that impressed about the pain on the trunk floor !

I loved photos in "Audis heaven" and Zip cheking the job

The "jackstands" however

Thanks for pictures & comments !

yes, the rust was/is maddening. Hopefully I have the problem stopped/fixed.

The jackstands were not as wobbly as they look, but I never got under the car. Just needed to borrow the other stands for a last minute project.

good god, just ordered everything to replace brakes, wheel bearings, ball joints, swaybars, mount 6-speed etc etc etc. Parts are NOT CHEAP to do this all at once. I shudder to think at the total cost of the undercarriage of this car with the tdi 6-speed, all new running gear, koni shocks, ST springs etc.
This car is shaping up to be a 10,000 "winter beater".

I hope its as good as I am thinking it will be!

Then stop upgrading things "while you're in there" and wait for them to break first

hahaha

Just close your eyes when you have a bill "in sight" and it should be fine !!

PRY4SNO wrote:Then stop upgrading things "while you're in there" and wait for them to break first

thats the problem....everything is broken/worn out. It looks like the diff mounts on the front of the diff might be re-usable.....but that is literally it.

I spent so much time getting the engine bay dialed in as good as possible, I cant stand to have worn out crap under the car!

Foscora wrote:hahaha

Just close your eyes when you have a bill "in sight" and it should be fine !!

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I was able to justify dropping a huge pile of cash to get this thing buttoned up this winter.

I'm still busy cutting, sandblasting, welding, painting, resealing, cursing and beating at on this project. Lots of work going into it every week, but nothing all that interesting to look at.

The ass end of this car appears to have been suspended in the ocean for a decade. So strange, because everything forward of the rear seat is well above average in cleanliness. This car has become a full backyard resto project.

Picture documentation is sporadic and incomplete, but I guess I've just enjoyed the hell out of working on this and forgetting to document.

Anyways, a couple random pics:

crusty, leaking rear subframe


teardown


one of the rear subframe mounts was rusting out. i removed it, sandblasted it down to bare metal and rebuilt it and reattached it to the car. Strange the other 3 were in perfect condition.




subframe and a-arms getting ready for blasting. trans cleaned up, driveshaft apart waiting for new hanger bearing


will the taco troll spot his product? Fits well, I'm pleased with it and the subframe mounts thus far. Rear diff re-sealed, actuator being replaced, some paint and fresh fluid.


never seen this before, subframe had a soft spot right here?? More cutting and welding. I love rust.


had an epic and horrible wind storm on the mountain last night and this morning. Had to batten down the hatches and ride it out. This morning a tree fell on me whilst I drove over the mountain at 50mph. The old Shitwagen had a bit of a windsheild malfunction. Also lost both side mirrors, badge, roof rail parts, and rearview mirror. New dent in the hood, add it to the collection. I basically blasted right through the canopy of this huge birch tree completely blind. No time to react, and a car in the other lane prevented swearing away. Pretty awesome, glad it wasnt the audi.


Been driving sort of like this until I get get it replaced.

Lol. I can see it now... That's amazing. Good work on the car too!

Great job on the rear refurb... that's what I'm in the thick of right now.

Did you do all new seals on the diff, or just a spit shine and paint?

i did the two output shaft seals, but left the pinion seal. It didnt appear to be leaking, and i figured i better leave well enough alone. Output shaft seals were purchased at partsgeek for a couple bucks and very simple to replace.

thats an awesome project I really like my golf alh these engine are very good.

shark_22 wrote:thats an awesome project I really like my golf alh these engine are very good.

yes, I have taken quite a liking to the rotary pump TDI engines. My daily driver amazes me with its efficiency and reliability. It has 275k miles and never uses a single drop of oil between 7500 mile oil change intervals. Not a fan of the FWD vw driving experience, but the mk4 chassis is pretty simple and tough. I cannot wait to have this quattro to daily drive though. I love the older audi engines, but the TDI is also a VERY good engine for very different reasons.

I wish my pos jetta TDI was a ve engine. PD sucks dong in comparison. Shit fuel economy, stupid pumps, shit turbos etc. Ugh. Drive until death

My ONLY complaint about the VE engines is it seems like I always have a slow leak from the injection pump somewhere. I could have solved this by resealing the whole thing when I had the pump out on the mk4. I just replace the single seal and move on, then in a couple months, something else leaks.
I resealed the whole pump on the AHU before installation, hopefully no leaks on that one.

dana wrote:yea, bbq 2016, see ya there!

this is now a real goal for this car.

rear subframe is looking better. Lots of sandblasting, scraping, needle scaling and painting later.







picked up a fluid film application kit, have a few cars to do with this, and I'm pretty excited to have it.

dana wrote:

dana wrote:yea, bbq 2016, see ya there!

this is now a real goal for this car.