The Project Pad

LeafBox wrote:Shit, are those knock-sensors interchangeable? On all engines?
They're such an eyesore

That's what I've been told!

( I know nothing... going on the advice from fellow audi addicts!)

Yeah, they're interchangeable and much easier to work with. Not to mention easier/cheaper to find.

So the welding is about 95% done in the engine bay. I just need to do the small tab next to the hood support.

I've been working hard at welding in the hand bent angles into the corners. Again, the welds don't make me all that happy but it's better than nothing and I"m learning a lot about welding in the process.













Hopefully will be finishing the welding tonight, then turning my attention to POR15ing the underside welds and then painting the engine bay. Then MAYBE FINALLY I'll have the blank canvas on which I can paint a rally car.

I'm still messing around with the engine bay.

I've been watching too much project Binky on youtube and as a result it gave me renewed confidence to buzz out unnecessary parts in the engine bay. First time through, I left the welded pieces of the battery tray, the seatbelt restraint brackets and another bracket on the driver's strut tower simply because they looked like they'd be a pain to get out.

So anyway, I spent a morning doing my due diligence in the engine bay. Overall pleased, I only cut through the strut tower in one place I didn't want to...

I think this is where the ABS used to connect?


Old seatbelt cable bracket mounts (wrapped around the tranny)


Battery Tray




I definitely should have done this before welding in those angle pieces... but hey, I'm learning... there's A LOT I would've done differently and I haven't even really started building the car yet... oooph, that was a sobering sentence...

I also gave some love to the bag-o-snakes header I have. You can see I had to cut the two pieces apart... Need to fix up that one flange there



In the process I managed to put a wire from my wire wheel through an 8 foot fluorescent light above the vice... damn...


That's it for now. I decided to recheck the torques on the head after some advice from friends. So new IM gasket and valve cover gasket have arrived for that too. Need to spend a little more time in the engine bay looking over bad welds, prepping for paint, welding up some newly exposed sections... etc. etc.

So whats up with the angle iron in the corners? Justed added strength?

Are you going to get a fully cage? Welding in a cross member between the strut towers and down the front sides of the engine bay would give you a lot more stiffness.

lorge1989 wrote:So whats up with the angle iron in the corners? Justed added strength?

Are you going to get a fully cage? Welding in a cross member between the strut towers and down the front sides of the engine bay would give you a lot more stiffness.

Yeah exactly, angle iron is just in replacement of seam welding the joints in the corners. It's a lot easier to pound in a the angle and weld on the two sides than get in there and clean up all the tight spaces. Suggested on the rally forums.

Eventually, yes, the car will be fully caged. I'm doing these parts now since the engine bay is open. I'll make up an adjustable strut tower brace later. I'll also be looking into welding a support from the strut tower to the piece of steel just below the windshield. Front side bracing would be awesome too. I guess I'd have to rethink the airbox and radiator for that though.

The build is on a really tight schedule to be running/rolling by end of June so I'm doing what I have to now, then I'll paint it up to protect it, then get the motor back in ASAP.

Ok so I've been going at it hard while I can. but the clock is officially ticking. Seattle is about 80% certain at this point, which means I have 7 weeks to make this thing look and maybe even drive like a car. In that time, 5 weekends are booked up with weddings, and stuff so it'll be a lot of late nights I think. Anyway, here's where I'm at.

Used weld to build up and grind down the surface I ruined when pulling the Bag-o-snakes apart:


I decided to go in and check the head torques because my friends had started to make me nervous and of course they were fine. but in the process I did the IM gasket and head gasket and replaces all the hardware with new stuff





back on, and cleaned up a little - at least it doesn't smell like mouse poop anymore...


I decided to wrap this thing... holy hell I'll never do that again, took hours and hours and it was my first one so I didn't know about soaking it until there were fibers everywhere - just awful.







Also got all new orings for these new injectors, there's a whole other thread for that. to be honest I Still don't like the fitment, we'll see if it hold pressure



Put the engine all back together and mounted up the header. some of those nuts are a serious pain in the ass now!



I also ran a new vent line, this used to go to the charcoal canister which is long gone, now it dumps out of the sunroof drain on the right side of the hatch. conveniently, the sunroof won't bee needing it's drain anymore...





Then I also ran the supply and return lines up to the firewall. I welded in little nuts so that I don't have nuts on the underside of the car...





I also made up and welded in some new M12 Grounds for the firewall





Then I decided to open up a bad rocker corner. As you can see, the previous owner must have really smashed this on something, then i started to rot. not cool.













I haven't welded that piece in yet but this comes directly from watching Project Binky, check it out if you haven't seen it yet. A must for car enthusiasts who don't know where to draw the line.

Tons of smaller jobs too like prepping the engine bay for paint (fuckkkkk that, so time consuming and awful). Also welded in some nuts for fuel filter mounting and front brake lines in the engine bay.

Back at it tonight.

7 weeks.

sweet!! Maybe I'll make it out there with my lifted coupe to come watch.

What event in Seattle are you doing?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Oh, I guess I didn't make that clear. I'm actually moving to Seattle at the end of June. GF and I are ready for some different scenery, and seeing as I'm a diehard Seahawks fan and we both love the outdoors and have internal transfer opportunities, it just makes sense!

Oh! you got the transfer then, sweet! I completely assumed you were coming out for an event too. Let us know when you get here!

Awesome! Join our Facebook group, "Old School Audi Club Seattle"

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

You will love Seattle!!

Awesome! I'm excited to see how this all goes down. It'll be great to be in another old Audi enthusiast environment - I'm sure I'll need the support at some point!

So as it turns out, I don't have a secured job in Seattle, but we're going for it anyway. So... if there's anyone who knows of someone looking for a mechanical engineer in the greater Seattle region... let me know!

But anyway, who cares about the serious stuff, let's look at the project.

I've been busy since my last post although my pictures don't really tell the story....
I've got the motor and trans mated up again which is nice. only waiting on new mounts to call it ready to be dropped in!



meanwhile on the chassis side of things, I've got the bay painted, and I've started installed pieces. It actually goes together quite quickly... steering rack and booster in.



I've also been getting the fuel lines tidied up, AN sure looks pretty but DAMN it adds up so fast... $$$





I forgot to take a picture but I've got the 4 coilovers (OEM) built up and ready to be dropped in. Man I hate spring compressors...

I got the front brake lines routed. I had to sort of guess where a good spot for the bulkhead fitting would be... we'll see how that goes later when its time to order the last few feet of brake line to the caliper.



Also had to make up a temp blockoff plate for the climate control intake. I eventually would like to get a manual set up but theres no time for now.



I'm also making this fuel line cover for where the fuel fittings leave the fuel tank then get immedietiely rerouted into the car. There's about a 5 inch hole in the underside there that needs to be protected from the gravel machine gun. Just need to weld this up and add a fitting so I can see if/when I have a fuel leak from that area.

Alright so I still don't have a job in Seattle and I'm still moving to Seattle and now it looks like it will be without the project car. Womp womp I guess but that doesn't mean I'm giving it up! not by a long shot. I'll have to come back for at least 2 work trips, 4 weddings, 1 bachelor party, 1 or 2 racing events... etc. etc. so when I'm back, I plan on essentially just sleeping in the garage until the project is done. I will "finish" this thing damnit!

enough bitching... car stuff.

So I made this little cover thing to protect the opening where the fuel lines used to come through. Now that's like an access hatch for the two fittings in there. I made this cover with a steep draft so if I have fuel leaks at this point, I can tell without having to remove the cover. Welded in a little fitting and I'll attach a small clear hose. protection and information!







I also had to get my hands on a steel sunroof to weld the opening left by my glass roof. I bought one from a fellow audi enthusiast only to find that he was talking about a sunroof off a 90 not a CQ, NOT the same thing... so luckily someone pointed me at a CQ in a junkyard. 50 bucks and one disgusting, insect infested hour later....

first time I found a CQ in worse condition than mine!




and of course to get it to sit like that I had to do much hammering and unrolling of the seam around the edge of the panel. pic of the first go around, had to do 2 more.





I also started to lay in some of the wiring. This actually feels premature but I wanted to get the two harnesses that go into the engine bay in now before the engine goes in, and then I basically just got carried away. SO far, much of it has gone pretty easy thanks to Audis decent organizing and my own labels. BUT, of course, I do have some confusion that needs to get sorted out. it lead me to find this gem:



BS? wtf is BS? and why does a wire go to it? Actually if someone has a picture of a fully hooked up fuse panel underneath. That would probably be pretty helpful. I took some shots of mine when I pulled it out but there was an issue with the fuel pump signal when I got the car, the relay wasn't getting the signal to turn the pump on so I almost don't trust the wiring from when I got the car... Other wiring pics:





I took those pics pretty early on, most of the wiring is now in the car, for better or worse.

I also took my calipers to a place that came recommended to me and I'll recommend them to you all as well. King Kaliper is the name of the place, and they're a cash only old school caliper rebuild shop. Good service, very knowledgeable and really fast turnaround. I don't have pics before but you can imagine the hell these calipers looked like, probably because yours look like that now. It cost me 270 for a full R+R of all 4 calipers. They look new!







Also got the driver regulator in... not nearly as bad of a job as I expected.



Next projects:
Confirm window reg works and get window up
Weld in and prime sunroof panel
Figure out wire confusion and label appropriately
Install Engine (waiting on mounts)
Start building Subframe assems

Was great meeting you today Dave, can't wait to see this thing in person!

alxdgr8 wrote:Was great meeting you today Dave, can't wait to see this thing in person!

Yes! you too Alex. Hopefully you'll get to see it turn some laps in Anger sometime soon.

Quick project/life update - I'm now pretty settled into Seattle, have a job and a place.

2 big project blockers:
I need a workshop in the greater Seattle area, have a few leads but nothing signed yet.

The CQ (located in Boston still) has no wheels or anything related to a suspension on it. I'll be back in boston on 8/2-8/5 and I will be working furiously to get it rolling, sealed up and the motor/trans installed. I need HPR to ship my mounts! hard to put an engine in with no mounts!

Other than that, I also need to move my BRZ out west and think about how to tie up my garage and get all that stuff west. Oh, and then there's my B4 90 too, that'll probably just be my east coast car for now.

Alright! So work on the project is kind of tough right now since we're about 3000 miles apart. The car remains in Mass, while I'm fully moved on to Seattle. Worry not though, the rally car will soon be following.

I'll be setting up an auto transport for my BRZ and the non-driving Audi CQ for the beginning of September. The transport company required the car have brakes and steering, and I guess I'll give them a seat too...

But anyway, I was back for a week for work and got a few long nights in.

First, I was trying to press in new OEM style CA bushings. I'm doing solid subframes and hard poly trans/diff/motor but I plan on treating the control arms as practically disposable since I just have this feeling that I'll be going through them. So that's why I'm going with OEM bushings in the arms, we'll see how they perform.

I started by removing some paint...


Now, the sharp ones of you will notice that what you're seeing is not actually the ID of the arm bushing mount surface, its actually the ID of the outer race of the old bushing. The arms were so crust that I didn't realize I had left the old pieces in there when I refinished them.



So...


That made them go in like butter... glad I reached out for help on FB before I broke something. This was the install strategy:


The next night, I spent time assembling the front and rear suspension assemblies. Take a close look, not sure if I got it right, the rear arms orientations are confusing




I also took care of the tail lights. I want the car to be watertight for the transport out so I need to plug all the obvious and some of the less obvious holes. Using Buytl tape here, that stuff is strange...




I found a new spot here in Seattle for the rally car to be stored/worked on. A garage full of Porsche enthusiasts with some space right in the heart of Seattle. Big shout out to a PP member for the help finding it!