The Project Pad

Thanks for the info Justin. So OEM, then?

Also, I could be wrong, but I think the clutch is slipping. Damn! There goes another $600.... Not gonna do it for a bit and I'm thinking an RS4 clutch and pp is gonna be the easiest and cheapest route.

And so it begins

O ya, valve cover gasket change, no big deal, just bang it off in an hour or so

The instructions from Blauparts (why did I even look at them?) fucked me over last night. I worked on the car from 7-10, way too tired, and started looking at the instructions for some reason and stopped using my head.

The general consensus is don't change the front cam seals if they ain't leaking. I found this out last night after doing some reading, after I stopped working on the car. I started removing (just loosening) the cams and thankfully my dad came to pick me up and said, "why u do dat" and so I stopped and realized I didn't have anything timed or marked. wtf! Good thing I hadn't moved anything timing wise, just loosened the exhaust cam off a bit. The instructions from Blau are hilarious. Some of them are so detailed, talking about all the screws and special tricks, and then it comes to "remove the camshaft gear" and that's it. What? You mean the gear behind the timing covers and boost piping that you didn't mention anything about? Seriously? I didn't do that. Perhaps I'll change the cam seals when I do the timing belt in 50k.

Lol.

Spent 9-530 working on the car today. One side is 100% done, other side is almost done, just needs the valve cover and gasket dropped on. I think that swapping the cam seals, specifically the exhaust, eats up a huge amount of time and to be honest I don't think many people do it. My vc gaskets may have been changed but I'm not sure since one fell apart upon removal and one came off clean. The intake cam seals may have been changed, they were supple. I don't think the exhaust cam seals were, they were hard as rock. No RTV on the cam plugs so if they were changed it was a long time ago. The tensioners were actually easy even without the tool.

Things that are frustrating for someone coming from I5 experience:

1) the cam bolts won't come out without the front of the car being in the service position, so bumper off and front assembly pulled out.

2) there are no timing marks. Like anywhere

3) the combination valves are in a really stupid spot, specifically the driver's side

4) hard plastic vacuum hose is stupid

5) "valve cover job" means removing pretty well everything off the engine that's above or in front of the valve covers

6) spark plugs don't last forever

On that last point... Can plugs do 147k miles? The "flat" ones are from cylinder 1 and 4, the two at the front of the engine. My guess is they get a little more air







Lookit all dis shit. New air filter going in lol

I really think audi had a major change in engineering philosophy whenever this engine was being designed. The AAN and 3b era engines are so much better designed in every way imaginable. It's like they are from two totally different organizations.

Wow - and I thought working on a transversely mounted engine was a pain... gues it could be worse. Much worse.

Seems like a single turbo conversion would really simplify that engine bay for you...

Done. Holy crap. I broke the two way check valve stupid thing... pics coming in a bit. And perhaps forgot to plug in the cam position sensor on the driver's side (non plausible signal code thrown). Fak. Of course it was too hot by the time I checked codes to really put my hands back there. I'll check in the morning or later tonight.

I have never had a single car task/job take 3 days before. Effin crazy. I did change the oil, coolant tank, spider hose, vc gaskets, and all associated gaskets/seals. So it WAS a lot of stuff, and I had to clean everything I took off, but still. Man. What a marathon.

And the clutch still slips, but I'm hoping it's just from oil. Hopefully it burns out and starts holding again. It's totally driveable too, RPM doesn't spike up, it grabs again after a second. So I can leave it for now.

loxxrider wrote:The AAN and 3b era engines are so much better designed in every way imaginable.

How do you figure? Honestly I have no issues with the 2.7t. It is easy to work on in my opinion. The only issue is when you have to change the turbos/etc which are tucked down on the sides of the motor...obviously those tasks are infinitely easier on inline motors. Everything else is just as easy as any other Audi motor.

EDIGREG wrote:

loxxrider wrote:The AAN and 3b era engines are so much better designed in every way imaginable.

How do you figure? Honestly I have no issues with the 2.7t. It is easy to work on in my opinion. The only issue is when you have to change the turbos/etc which are tucked down on the sides of the motor...obviously those tasks are infinitely easier on inline motors. Everything else is just as easy as any other Audi motor.

They all have their quirks, but agree - they really aren't that hard to work on, just REALLY shoehorned into the car, making it tight to work on.

One of the boner things the drunken German engineers came up with that I still question is the fact you have to remove the P/S pump to change out the WP on the V6 motors - not the 12valve, but the rest. Why, Audi? I mean... really.

You guys should work on a 944 turbo, then you'd complain less about B/C5's!

Shit, looks like I'll have to take the drivers side valve cover off.

The 16730 code I mentioned earlier is likely cam timing off one tooth. I did some tests today and with the passenger side sensor unplugged the car won't start, but with the driver's side unplugged it will. And unplugging them gave a different code.

It's really weird because the passenger side intake cam "snapped" into rest position when I loosened everything, and that side is good after returning the cam to where I had marked it (but not timing it counting teeth). The driver's side didn't even move when loosened! It did rotate though because my mark was off and we relocked it exactly like we did the passenger side - to my mark but not counting teeth. Bugger.

The good thing is it's only a few intake pipes and hoses to come out and not the whole service position crap. I'll just have to clean the gasket really well.

I agree it's not that bad to work on, I just wasn't expecting all that on the first round. Expectations were off, that's all. I have the crazy little 4 port check valve thing on the way so I'll fix that and do the cam timing at the same time.

Matt - For that clutch I have a nice mage-ism for you to try:

Get a can of brake cleaner, connect 2-3 of those red straws and douse the ever living shit of the clutch through the flywheel inspection hole. Look underneath to see if the fluid drips down is full of black oil and let it dry overnight (Not necessary) take it out for a spin, if it holds yeah you probably have an oil leak to resolve. If it still doesn't grab then you probably have an old clutch.

jretal wrote:One of the boner things the drunken German engineers came up with that I still question is the fact you have to remove the P/S pump to change out the WP on the V6 motors - not the 12valve, but the rest. Why, Audi? I mean... really.

You don't have to remove the PS pump, you only have to loosen the bracket. 3x 6mm allen bolts, no big deal.

I took 10 minutes and replaced the check valve thingy. Buttery smooth idle once again. It really sucks about this stupid cam timing because the car is running and driving so good.

Thanks for the tips re: clutch Mage. I'm gonna try that when I do the downpipes. I noticed a little putter near the front end tonight, there's probably an exhaust leak either on the flex joints or somewhere else on the downpipes. So I'll probably put those in as soon as they arrive.

Also received the rear bag. I've been leaving it on level 3 so it doesn't leak. It definitely drops on level 2.

EDIGREG wrote:

jretal wrote:One of the boner things the drunken German engineers came up with that I still question is the fact you have to remove the P/S pump to change out the WP on the V6 motors - not the 12valve, but the rest. Why, Audi? I mean... really.

You don't have to remove the PS pump, you only have to loosen the bracket. 3x 6mm allen bolts, no big deal.

Remove/dislodge/move... same difference in my book. You have to take it off its mounts to get to a single hidden bolt

No hoses need to be disconnected though, so I guess that's a plus. The 2.7T was easier in the fact that you just had to lift up a little to get to it. On the 3.0, I had to really pull it up and out of the way to get at that bolt.

RS4 clutch ordered from Europaparts as they were the cheapest.

I haven't had time to do anything with the car since I swapped that check valve out. Clutch is absolutely slipping and engages extremely high, I'm assuming it's just worn out. It also seems like I may still have an oil leak on the driver's side, I'll have to look into it when I pull the valve cover again. I'll be installing my downpipes and clutch at the same time whenever they come.

I'm trying to figure out whether or not I have to remove the whole engine. I'd really rather not. I'm pretty used to being able to just pull the tranny to do clutch swaps, I really can't see how dropping the engine would be "easier". I plan to at least loosen or possibly remove the subframe fasteners to tilt everything down, and then just slide the tranny out. Then I'll have good access to the downpipes as well. This will have to get done in a weekend and ideally before Carlisle.

I might have to sell this and buy a C4 Avant...

All the hard work will be done, enjoy it.

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

Carlisle prep.... clutch arrived yesterday, now just waiting on the downpipes. They're in Memphis, so I REALLY hope they arrive by the weekend. That would be fantastic, and I'd do it all this weekend. I would also consider doing the cam timing, but it's not imperative right now as the car is running/driving fine and not leaking any more oil.

Other things I'm fixing:

- cruise control - probably module but potentially in the stalk. Definitely needed for an 8+hour drive!!!

- putting a fuse in the cig lighet fuse - it would be nice to be able to charge phones. I wonder why it's out. Perhaps it was blowing fuses.

- replacing the buttons on the a-pillar (link...) for motion sensor deactivation and to pop the hatch. A member on QW just said he had both. Excellent!

- later on the list is the passenger side door switches, I doubt I'll have time to get to them. Neither passenger side switches work so when you open the doors, they don't trigger the cancel for the re-lock countdown and puddle lights don't come on.

B pillar?

Yeah whatever pillar that is, a, b, same thing rite

Lol yes. You're welcome for the extremely useful post.

Good luck getting this all done before carlisle!

Well the tranny is down. The good news is that installation should be much quicker! hah! I may have to eat crow, dropping the whole drivetrain *MAY* have been easier. Or at least quicker. There's just so much fiddly shit dropping only the trans(heat shields, needing to "crack" all the tranny bolts, etc etc...). Makes me miss the 4k in a big way. Or any inline motor. I'm looking forward to never doing this again.

The clutch "self adjusting springs" are maxed out, no wonder it was slipping. The clutch is simply at the end of it's life. I didn't pull the pressure plate, had to go for mother's day dinner My plan is to simply use a scotch brite pad and scuff up the DMF as best I can for the new clutch.

Unfortunately the Silly Rabbit Motorsports downpipes did not come with v-band clamps, so I have to wait until Tuesday while the clamps ship to finish off the reinstall of the exhaust. I'm pretty stoked to have Aaron (stuklr) get his hands on this thing. Gonna go for a nice conservative tune but try to make the most of the kittie removal.

You will LOVE Aaron's tune, trust me. It will be even better since your car is a manual!

I know what you mean about working on this thing. I got a bit spooked which prompted me to sell mine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0e3dLJCpt4[/youtube]

Wow. Either it's the clutch not slipping or the extra oomph from having no cats (probably both), but this thing is actually decently quick!

RS4 clutch feels great and engages where a normal clutch should. The silly rabbit Motorsport downpipes fit OK, but the midpipes needed to be cut and welded and came with no vband clamps. Wtf! A bit of a pain but not too bad. We also replaced the front driver's outer CV boot, new tranny fluid, and removed the rear 02 sensors.

This thing is becoming a serious grocery getter!

I'm wondering if I should put Aaron's tune in before the trip down to Carlisle... Hmmm.