S2 Coupe restore thread.

[bobby singh]

Very nice work mate - did you install the O ring for the intercooler pipe?
Mine had a silicone hose there but was leaking as it wasn't sitting right.
The OEM O ring is a much cleaner method but heard it leaks often with boost

Cheer

 

[B5NUT]

Yes I installed a new o-ring. My car is only making stock boost so the standard o-ring should be good enough, the pipe that goes onto the o-ring is also in good condition and had fresh paint so should not leak. However If I was running more boost then I would be looking at the sleeve modification as I don't think that single o-ring could handle much more.

 

[B5NUT]

Finally after 8 weeks the car is on it's wheels... Just got to fit a new piece of VAC pipe, refit the ECU & battery then I'm going to start the engine!

As expected the standard 16" OEM wheels are back on with new Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres

However my new shot blasting cabinet has arrived so that's now taking priority.

 

[B5NUT]

finally refit the front bumper so I could engine started again and turn the car around, and start on the rear.

There are still jobs to do like sort out the aircon system, need pump and front pipes.

Now on to the rear of the car, and so far I'm presently surprised! I was expecting the rear to be far worse than the front but it's a hell of a lot better.

The strut still has black paint on it, the brake shield are in excellent condition, and even the calliper is in very good condition compared to the front.

On a slight down side the slider pins were rusted stuck, which as most things on this car is down the lack of servicing, but a few minutes with penetrating oil and a mapp torch and they were all free.

After a few hours of work the brakes were off both sides I just need to figure out the strip down order, in respect to the subframe, diff, exhaust & prop.

 

[B5NUT]

Had an interesting day removing the uprights and the rear subframe. First issue I had and still have is removing these trim pieces

If anyone has any instruction on how these are removed I would be grateful.

With the trim still in place I managed to get a 22mm spanner and 7mm allen key in and removed the uprights. While I was in the boot I decided to strip it down as I did find a few issues. First the near side light bar was only held in place by the trim as the clips were missing to hold it in place. Second issue was the fuel tank, looks like someone has removed this before as there were a few bolts missing that hold it in place.

Whatever garage (cowboys) did the work on this car, they should be ashamed as the quality of the work is appalling. The replacement copper pipe fuel lines just appear to be a right bodged job, and the cheapest parts have been used. So I will also be replacing the fuel lines while they are easily accessible.

Next issue was the overflow pipe, it was just dangling in the boot, so if you splashed any petrol near the filler neck it would have just drained in the boot!!!

So on to taking the propshaft out, with the car on axle stands I don't have much room to work so it was a tad difficult removing the bolts. 2 came out easy and the rest did not. So I found hammering a 12m multi spline socket over the bolts took them out with ease. Then the propshaft would not come away from the diff so I used a lump hammer and an old woodworking chisel which did the job. So finally ready to remove the subframe, however one of the bushes had other plans. The bolt had rusted sold inside the bush and I snapped the head of the bolt. Then had to use a drill bit to destroy the rubber in the bush enough so I could remove the subframe & diff.

Another job added to the growing list

All the rear bushes on the car are in a far worse condition that the front surprisingly, and it looks like I will have to go down the heritage poly bush route as I cannot find any standard rubber bushes for the rear end.

The rear subframe is in good condition with the only rust issues that I have found to be around the arb mounts. But I will have it blasted and see if there are any other issues, but after smacking it with a hammer in several places it's very solid.

With the diff of the car I checked to see if the drain & filler plugs could be removed and thankfully both removed with ease. However I am going to have to sort out some oil leaks.

The leak on the left is 100% the output shaft seal, and the leak on the right is from the rubber boot. Now I figured it was split however it appears that the clip at the end has long since given up.

Another pig of a job to sort pin is rusted to the metal. I cannot use heat due to the rubber boots & the arm is plastic.

 

[B5NUT]

So with the subframe off to the blasters it was time to look at the pin again. Tried twisting using the bottom of the pin but it was still stuck and it finally snapped off. So I filled the top of the pin and that appeared to free it up!

The state of the actuator was also not the best. I'll just use longer self tapping screws to get around the issue

I then finally got to use my blasting cabinet, first up was the mounting plate for the actuator. I was please with the result but disappointed with the condition of the plate. It's got far too many holes so I'm going to have to make a new one

So made a template and will make one out of 1mm steel.

Next I had to making a tool to bend the lip of the bracket, a bit a 12mm bar did the job with a 8mm cut in the middle and a slight curve on one side.

Next to cut out the metal using the card template.

Then was to put all the bends in the metal, Used the home made tool for the lip (project binky guy's made this look soo easy and it was a right pain to get right), for the large curve I found a hole saw that was near enough the right size and for the other 2 bends a vice & hammer was used.

After about an hour of bending & hammering it came out OK. (excuse the wood screws they were used to temporally hold the actuator)

Now need to give the diff a good clean and get some new seals on order.

 

[B5NUT]

Cleaned up the diff to start getting it ready for paint and to stop any dirt getting inside when I removed the input & output shafts to fit replacement seals. It was in a bit of a state, and when cleaning I was surprised Audi had the diff painted from factory (thought the black was just 26 years of dirt), so it will be repainted in black epoxy.

There was an unbelievable amount of dirt, grease and oil stuck to the diff. All this came out from the offside

came up well after the first clean

Will be going over it with thinners to clean the rest of the grease & oil off the diff.

Taking about oil this was all the oil that came out of the diff, a mere 400ml. Have been told it should have had 1.3 litres inside! No wonder there was so much dirt stuck to the diff.

I now need to deal with this nut. It's hammered quite tight to the pinion so not sure what is the best tool to get that out with.

Got the stuck subframe bolt out, by the time I had cut this section out from the old bush I was able to remove it with mole grips.

The diff was degreased and repainted in two coats of epoxy. Still surprised the diff was painted from the factory.

Shot blasted and painted some of the rear end parts.

Then removed the stainless exhaust system. Most of the bolts came out with ease, and a few snapped due to rust.

Then finally got the prop out and with only one bolt rounding & having to drive a 12mm multi spline socket to remove it. The centre bearing is past it so may as well replace the cv joints while I'm at it.

 

[B5NUT]

So today I went to remove the fuel tank, and I knew that someone had removed it already when they had replaced the fuel lines. So after removing the plate that covers the tank I was presented with this. This is a single picture that captures the quality of the work done to this car in the past. Half *****, half finished, half a job, that'll do.

It took almost no effort to remove that securing plate.

Sums up the work done on this car over the years quite nicely

 

[Charlie Farley]

Yet another Great project , really enjoying this one too.
Some nice "special " tools aswell.

 

[B5NUT]

So over the last few weeks I started work on the underside of the car, and rust wise it's not that bad. There are a few patches of rust on some of the edges but nothing major and no holes which is a bonus.

So far I have spent about 3 days under the car, washing it first then going over it and removing the rattle can underseal that has been sprayed on.

Rear wheel arches are also in excellent condition.

While under the car I kept getting a smell of fuel, I've got the tank out and that is dry and no damage. So it's got to be down to the bodged pipe work. It's a mixture of old and new so I'm looking to replace the lot.

Not sure what is going on here

Looks like they were having trouble refitting clips as a few have been bodged

The fuel line coming from the tank going to the filter is original and looks to be in good condition, however the line come off the filter is not in a very good condition and needs to be replaced. I also want to get rid of as many joints as possible.

Also got the subframe back from the blasters. It was in good condition except for the offside ARB mount. So got out the grinder, purchased some 2mm steel sheet and hoped it was going to go well! Started of by cutting what was left of the cover off, then welding in 2mm steel to strengthen a couple of area's.

Next replaced what was left of this captive nut

Finally put a new a new cover over it.

Other side was was ok just a bit thin in a couple of area's on the cover so welded in some new steel.

With the steel being so pot marked due to the rust hopefully no one with notice the pot marks left by my welding

Also started on the diff seals. One done so far and the seal was a complete sod to remove, I just know the other 2 are going to be as bad.

 

[bobby singh]

Excellent work going on here
Its crazy the bodge you find on old cars and yet the previous owners think they done a great job.

 

[Sandra]

Great progress Lee, keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next update.

 

[B5NUT]

While the underside was being worked on a few other things happened. All the rear end parts went to get blasted & powder coated.

All the rear end bolts have been either shot blasted or replaced and given a coat of 2k clear etch

Brakes shot blasted, painted and new seals fitted.

Pressed in the rear diff mount and then paint the alloy mounts in clear etch

Driveshafts blasted painted and rebuilt both ends

Brackets, washers and clamps all blasted and epoxy painted.

Cleaned the plastic cover that covers the fuel filter, found it to be cracked and the holes that hold it in place to be damaged, it takes a special kind of cowboy garage to damage the cover like this as it's thick 5mm plastic.

For the crack I've just used a hot knife to melt the two parts together again, going to have to find some filler for the plastic holes.

Next up is to clean & paint the prop and continue work on the underside of the car

.

 

[B5NUT]

So again I'm back under the car finding the rust on the underside and to be fair it's not that bad. However it also involves days and days of cleaning the rattle can schutz that has been pointlessly sprayed over the underside of the car, and the lower arms, brake lines, subframe, diff, heat shields, springs etc etc. Why you would ask a garage to do that sort of job with all the running gear on under the car I will never know, and even more so why a garage would agree to do such a **** poor & pointless job is completely beyond me!

So It's been almost a week on and off laid under the car with thinners cloths and various brushes to remove it all so I could find and treat all of the rust.

One of the only issues I found was a corroded bracket that holds a rubber stopper for the rear silencer, it was corroded away on one of the edges and snapped

So new bracket made & welded to the car

Few underside shots are after days of cleaning

This was a before of the middle of the car, only just finished cleaning that today, and never got around to any pictures as yet.

Over the last few days I've been looking at refurbishing the rear track rods. The bushes are not in the best of condition around the edges and the rubber covers are also starting to fail as the rubber is starting to crack. Could be due to the fact some idiot sprayed them with schutz and it's affected the rubber over the years!

So for the replacement bushes I found that they are still used on the A8 D3 rear ARB coupling rods. The Lemforder part number is 2677601 or 2677701 comes in a handy twin bush pack

You can also buy cheaper febi version, but at £21 for the OEM Lemforder version it was worth the extra few quid.

For the dust covers I found this company and they sell as close as I could find the correct covers Vehicle Rubber Parts (ej-parts.co.uk) The item numbers are PL-2807& PL-2805.

Now just need to finish cleaning both track rods, get them painted and press the bushes in.

Received the rear parts back from the powder coaters.

Coating has for the most covered my pot marked welding

With the rear subframe comes another interesting issue, well it's interesting to me anyway! So the rear M10 subframe bushes are NLA from Audi & other third party manufactures. So as the rear subframe is the same as the front just with some extra bits welded to it, so why not use the front bushes for the rear. Now I know the fronts are M12 and the rear is M10 (answers on a post card as why the hell Audi did not use a M12 nuts of the rear of the chassis rather than M10) So I've had some sleeves made up which are pressed into the bushes to reduce them down to an M10. I'm at a loss as to why this would not work, if anyone knows of a reason then please let me know.

So these are the sleeves I had made up.

One pressed into the bush

Hoping they will do the job. Also keeps the costs down

Also been pressing the bushes into the arms, a sleeve kit and a 10ton press makes quick work of the job

Bearings get pressed in as well

At the moment I'm now working on the input seal for the diff, finally got a 36mm socket for the nut and came off easy with the impact gun.

Tried to wiggle the shaft off but no luck so used a puller to remove it

Then using a couple of wood screws the old seal was pulled out. It had been leaking but not badly, but I think that was down to the fact 70% of the oil in the diff had already disappeared, so there was not much left to escape out of that seal.

Next I'll finally get to start painting the underside of the car, and I'll finish off the diff and get the struts rebuilt plus whatever else I can do while the epoxy paint dry's.

 

[B5NUT]

With the cleaning finished the rust and schutz removed from the underside. It's had it first coat of epoxy and so have the arches.

Once the epoxy has had a couple of days to dry I'll apply the seam sealer followed by a further coat of epoxy and a coat of schutz for the underside, and for the arches it will be base coat followed by clearcoat.

Also got the rear subframe bushes in, they were pressed in without the reducer sleeve fitted along with the new diff mounts.

Once all the bushes were in the sleeves were pressed in.

Once the first coat of epoxy had dried, it was time for the seam sealer, it's horrible stuff to apply and impossible to get the factory finish. This was applied to all the area's when the factory underseal had been removed.

That was left for a couple of days before another coat of epoxy was applied.

Then the car was masked up so the schutz could be applied with the schutz gun

All the sill edge were masked off as I will be painting that a 2K satin black, and you cannot over paint the schutz.

Well this may not be to everyone's liking, and if I ever need to remove this stuff it's going to take many days, but it will protect the car and it's been applied with everything off the underside and the rust removed! It also give a kind of factory finish V the brushed on affect of the seam sealer and epoxy.

That will now be left to dry for the next couple of days, then I will make up new brake lines and the all the fuel lines & connectors should arrive by early next week along with the heat shield material.

 

[B5NUT]

Another job ticked off the list today was the rebuilt of the track rods. All the parts I talked about above worked very well and the bushes were a perfect fit.

For the larger of the two boots it was fairly easy getting the old metal clips back on

However the ball joint clip was a complete pig to get back on. Found that securing the boot with copper wire first then running the metal clip around the boot did the job.

Few other jobs also done. Removed the larger of the output oil seals on the diff, using a wood screw again and a pry bar.

To press the new seal in I got the same engineering firm that made the sleeves for the bushes to cut a bit of steel plate the same depth as the seal which made putting the seal in easier, and I know it's gone in square. That's all the seals done just need to give the output & input shaft a clean up and a lick of paint.

Rebuilt the rear struts

Then rebuilt the rear struts again, this time correctly, I'll leave this one a spot the difference!

 

[B5NUT]

I got on with fitting the new brake pipes I had made, as it finally stopped raining and it's nice and dry.

Offside pipe fitted without much issue

Nearside pipe was a complete sod and had to remake it 3 times before I was happy with the fitment and wanted to make sure that it was not touching/rubbing against the chassis

For the most I just cleaned and reused the clips but some where damaged and replaced. I also just cleaned up the old distributor as it was still in very good condition

Pipe to the front of the car is a little wavy, but that's the best my pipe straightener will do

Then replaced the original connecter that Audi used and fitted a female to female union.

So today I will be hand sanding (going to give the grinder a miss on this one) the filler neck and a quick spray with epoxy to get rid of this rust, before it's refitted. Then I can start on some of the fuel pipe runs. I've got a funny feeling I should have purchased 2 roll's of pipe, as I'm sure I'll muck one of the lengths up.

 

[B5NUT]

Found more rust on the tank around the connectors so that also had to be stripped back.

With the rust all sorted on the tank, I found yet more rust in the boot area after I cleaned it out! All the area's painted in light green epoxy had either paint rubbed away or rust was found.

Main area was the near side corner, it was mainly surface rust and bubbling paint. It's not a nice finish but it's not going to be seen, and it's now well protected. At some point I will look to spray the entire boot area, and get a far better finish.

 

[bobby singh]

How are your jacking points? on mine they were flattened over the years and did my best to straighten them.
Still not perfect but alot better

Keep up the excellent work

 

[B5NUT]

They are in very good condition, but there is slight damage where someone has used the sill and bent it slightly, rather than the jacking point. I'll get it repaired as some point.

 

[B5NUT]

Got the fuel tank in the car today. It's pleasing to get big chucks of metal back in the car.

Even managed to fully secure the clamp, using an inexpensive, ready available and simple to use bent bit of metal bar....

I've said it once and I'll say it again, the garage that worked on this car in the past were a bunch of cowboys.

 

[B5NUT]

Just been looking at the old pipe work and the cowboys that made them up could not even be ***** to remove the burrs. bodge it and scarper at it's best. Will have to remove the high pressure fuel regulator now and see if any bits of pipe have got in there as I've checked all the pipe work and none of them have been deburred.

 

[bobby singh]

The more I work on these old cars the more I realise I have OCD haha but if you going to do something do it right imo
I've been having with the sunroof on mine

 

[B5NUT]

Thing is this is basic mechanical engineering, if your cutting pipe you get rid of the burrs. You also remove any coating on pipes before you fit any compression fitting. That brown stuff you can see is the factory coating on the steel lines, it should have been removed so the olive secures to the metal and not the coating.

I've also got the sunroof to do, the current panel is badly rusted, I have a good replacement but when I fit it I will buy a new seal.

 

[Rs31981]

Brilliant thread!!

 

[B5NUT]

Started the fuel lines today. Thanks goes to @Baldyone for looking into connections between the hardlines and the flexi. Hopefully next week I will have a solution

Started making up the fuel lines today, started with the feed pipe. As I don't have the original factory lines I'm left with the bodged pipes which look they have been hand bent.

So I'm not wasting the Kunifer pipe I'm using the old pipe to make bend templates. Right is the bodged hand bent one, middle is the tool bent pipe with hand mods and then the final pipe is just made up using the tool.

To bend the pipe I'm using blue-point TBS200A pipe bender. I purchased them a few years ago for the brake line on the B5 A4, but the radius on the blue-point tool is quite large compared to the bends on the brake pipe, so used a small cheap pipe bender I got off ebay for the brake lines and the blue-point benders got chucked in the tool box and never used again until now.

So first pipe bent, just need to sort the ends now.

Also fitted the feed line from the tank, that did need a little work however before it was fitted. The banjo union was rusty and the alloy pipe had also a very small amount of pitting where it was clamped to the car.

So it was all cleaned up and sprayed yet again the 2K clear etch.

With the weekend forecast for rain and even more rain, that's the end making pipes for the car for the next few days. Think I'll see if I can clean up the old heat shields as I got some bits to repair them today.

 

[B5NUT]

So not a drop of rain turned up yesterday, could have continued with the pipework, but got on with the heat shield as they needed doing before I can fit anything to the car.

Started with this, cleaned it up a couple of weeks ago, just needed a little hammering back into shape

Also removed all the fiberglass material & tape around the edges.

To repair the mounting holes on my heat shield I was given some old heat shield material from another S2 that I know is being restored.

I would like to say I thought I was hard done by with the rattle can schutz on my car, but what had been done to that S2 was another level, the mind boggles as to why you would remove the exhaust and then spray the entire heat shield in schutz is beyond me, it's next level bodging

.

I did try an start to clean this mess up but gave up in the end so I'm cleaning up the sections that I cut out.

With patches cut out and bent into shape, low profile pop rivets were used to secured the patches in place

Back of the rivets were ground down to stop them rubbing against the underside. Out of the 12 mounting holes on the middle shield 8 of them had to be repaired in the same way.

Was looking around for a solution to replace the fiberglass. I eventually found material that was cheap enough form these guy's. Car Safety (turbozentrum.co.uk) It was still not cheap at around £30 for a 60x90cm sheet, but some of the prices I was seeing was over £100 for similar size sheets (slightly different material) I only got one sheet as I want to make sure it was going to do the job before buy more. The material was a bit too thick @8mm but was easy enough to peal it in half so I now have a 3-4mm thick which is still thinker than the OEM material Audi used.

I attached the fiberglass in 3 section as it's not self adhesive, and used heat shield tape to secure it to the back.

End results look like this

I'm still undecided if I should continue to clean them up any further, think I have 3 options.

1. Leave then as is now, finish is good enough.
2. Get some wide heat shield tape and cover the surface
3. Spray paint using rust oleum heat resistant paint, only concern would be it flaking off and then looking worse than what I have now.

Decisions

 

[B5NUT]

Second heat shield is now complete. Every mounting point on that shield was corroded away

Got some new speed nuts as well, these are larger than the original ones, and I'm going to coat these with epoxy to try and stop the galvanic corrosion that takes place.

Received my new Mercedes door lock actuator yesterday. So had to convert this

to this

First started by putting the plastic end in the vice cracking the plastic connector away.
Then using an M4 tap to put a thread on the end.

There will be a small gap between the two section of threads, it machined like that from the factory

Tapped an M5 thread into two of the mounting points

The third mounting point is a little interesting, the middle hole is in a slightly different location, so will need to modified the bracket and the third hole is only 6mm deep on the new actuator.

All done and just hope this Merc part works.

Also continued the work on the fuel filter cover

Cut some of the plastic away so I could build up the repair

Using black milliput epoxy putty to fill the holes completely

I've filled either side of the hole so it has something to grip to and won't just crack away if it's too thin.

I'll give it a couple of days so I know it's completely cured, before I machine it flat and drill the holes in.

Also started replacing the hose's on the expansion chamber. They are not damaged, just figured while I'm there I may as well replace every rubber fuel hose possible. I also want to change all the engine bay fuel pipes & hoses at some point.

Just need to sort out some new clips now as the old ones look a bit rotten

 

[B5NUT]

Few days ago got on making further fuel pipes. Again made up a template of what bends were needed for the return. If only that clip was a few cm further inboard would have made it so much easer.

Got the pipe made up and some protective sleeving, in the same place as the OEM pipe.

 

[B5NUT]

Finally got finished with cutting and bending hardlines, just need to tighten the compression joints and fasten the final 2 clips. Then connect the flexi pipes to the tank & breather.

For the feed line I took the pipe I had made up to my local Pirtek, and they fitted a couple of compression joints. Nice helpful group of people.

Not 100% OEM but far better than what was there before.

This area still need a slight tweak

For the rest of it, I'm happy enough with the fitment

Got the rear heat shield on. It's not great looking but it will do the job for a good many years to come

Once the handbrake cables are on and the other heat shield fitted, I can finally start getting parts bolted back on to the car. If weather is kind to me for the next couple of weeks!

 

[B5NUT]

So I've just been caught out by the new handbrake cables I purchased last year. It would appear the quattro ones an NLA except tradition. Now the quattro handbrake cable part numbers are 893698722E and 893698721E. However most sellers on ebay and Autodoc cross link them to these part numbers 893698722F and 893698721F which are for front wheel drive models, and they are slightly longer by around 50mm and have moulded rubber part which could easily be cut away.

So now have two options either try and find some correct cables or see if these longer cables will work! The ends are the same so it's just the case of getting the extra 5cm to fit without rubbing on something. Why is nothing ever simple on this car!

 

[bobby singh]

So I've just been caught out by the new handbrake cables I purchased last year. It would appear the quattro ones an NLA except tradition. Now the quattro handbrake cable part numbers are 893698722E and 893698721E. However most sellers on ebay and Autodoc cross link them to these part numbers 893698722F and 893698721F which are for front wheel drive models, and they are slightly longer by around 50mm and have moulded rubber part which could easily be cut away.
View attachment 250255

So now have two options either try and find some correct cables or see if these longer cables will work! The ends are the same so it's just the case of getting the extra 5cm to fit without rubbing on something. Why is nothing ever simple on this car!

Use the longer cables and fit b6/7 S4 rear brake set up - the longer cable comes in handy

 

[B5NUT]

I'm just sticking with the standard caliper, had them refurbished. and I'm getting sick of spending money on this car.

 

[B5NUT]

So with the quattro handbrake cables no longer being available, the front wheel drive cable just about fit. They have the same connectors just 50mm longer.

As usual with some aftermarket parts the quality is not always that good. This burr stopped it fitting so had to be filled back

Handbrake cables fitted

Also fixed the issue of these pipes getting a bit to close

Nice sunny day today so just fitted the heatshield, next up will be the diff & subframe

With the sun shining and little to no wind for a change, the diff & subframe was bolted to the car. It's been in my workshop for a month so it's good to start clearing the parts from the workshop and bolting them to the car.

Modified the bracket to if the Merc actuator, just hope I have no more leaks and the actuator works.

So I could get the jack under the diff and raise it to the car had to come up with a way of raising the subframe/diff it up a little.

Suspension fitted next

Final part for the evening was the hub.

Car is so much nicer to work on when it's not covered in rust, oil grease & schutz.

Only thing slowing me down at the moment if finding all the torque setting. I'm either referencing the Haynes coupe manual, a list I found on an S2 website, Google or Elsawin using the B5 A4, as some of the parts/setup is similar.

Tomorrow, get the brakes, prop and exhaust fitted. Sounds so easy but I know it's going to be a pain with the limited room I have to work under the car.

 

[B5NUT]

Managed to get a fair bit done over the weekend. Started off getting the brakes on the car and got them blead & handbrake cables attached. However before I fitted them I found I had forgot the CV boot clip

Standard S2 calliper's painted silver as just about everything else is black,

Next up propshaft alignment using these. I'm having to do this as I'm 100% sure there was no spacers on my prop when took it off.

These marks had been placed on the mounts so I know someone had taken the prop off the car, so that mark gives me the side to side alignment, but not the required spacer.

As I don't have access to the lovely expensive Audi alignment tool, soI got a couple of magnetic spirit levels on either side of the shaft then aligned it

So the required spacer on my S2 was 6MM. Only the 2mm spacer is still available to order

However that part number has been superseded, and surprisingly the new part is a lot cheaper

With the prop aligned the bolts were tightened with the help of 3 clamps

Track rod nuts tightened using a breaker bar to apply some pressure

Next up to drain the gearbox. Looks like this is the original oil as the drain & fill plugs were well seized, but eventual gave way without any damage

Got over 2.6 litters out and including a little spillage and as you will never completely drain the box it looks like my gearbox seals are still working as they should.

Once drained I went magnet fishing.

Came out clean so at least I think the gearbox is not eating it's self alive

Next to clean more parts and get the exhaust on the car, and maybe even try and start it up again this weekend.

 

[bobby singh]

Wow looking great
Great idea on the prop shaft - I have noticed mine has spacers. I was thinking of getting a jxb performance support bearing.
I must do the gearbox and rear diff oil too at some stage

 

[B5NUT]

Started fitting my Exhaust system today, and as usual with aftermarket components it did not go well. Also used copper silicone which does not give you very long before it goes off.

Before the exhaust went back on the car it had to be cleaned up and remove all the oil that had covered it over the years from the engine & gearbox leak

Thinners and 240 wet & dry did the job

Had to do that with most of the exhaust, and still have the backbox to clean

When I tried to fit the centre section I came upon a problem I did not have enough room the get the curved section between body & the diff mount. So I had no choice but to remove the right diff mount. Then had to remove the cats that I had fitted first as there was no way it was going to fit with them in place first

This all took far too long and trying to get it to align correctly was just a nightmare. This hole exhaust system in my eyes is just a bodge and at some point this year I'll replace it with a better manufactured system.

Just need the rear wheels, bumper and the backbox on now then I should be able to get the car started again.

However the weather is against me for the next few days

 

[B5NUT]

Been a busy few days on the S2, sorting out the last few remaining jobs done today

Removed the old rusting cover on the downpipe, need to replace with exhaust wrap.

Finished repairing the fuel filter cover and got it back on the car, that putty is good stuff.

Connect the pipes to the actuator

Painted the exposed metal where the speed nuts had removed it

Not sure the centre silencer should be this close to the propshaft!

Underside almost complete

Final jobs are to sort of the ABS sensors, tighten the rear driveshaft bolts and all the bolts that require the wheels to be on the ground.

 

[B5NUT]

Amazon order arrived with replacement bulbs. The B5 uses some of the same bulbs so ordered bulk packs where I could. The old bulbs were a mixture of ring & osram, so just replaced the lot. The third day I got the car one of the headlight bulbs failed so already replaced all the front bulbs

Sorted or the ABS sensors, converted some front sensors into rear sensors

Found that the front sensors use the same colour coding of wires so hopefully they are not wired the other way around at the sensor end.

Cut the cable at the plug end, swapped over the grommet and then solder the cables together and protected with heat shrink & harness tape.

Got the wheels on the car and fitted the ARB, not fully secured it yet as I'm waiting on the bushed from tradition which should arrive mid week

Removed the plastic trim I was struggling with, what a place to hide a screw.

With that removed the top strut nut was tightened up. So apart from the ARB nuts & bolts the suspension is complete.

Now onto the interior. I hoped no one had touched the interior, but the hand of bodge had been in there.

Screw in as hard as you can..

If it won't budge then jut rip it out.. They had no idea you remove the plastic cap to remove the screw!

On a side note. I know you should grease the door hinges, but you must get to the point where you have applied enough.

Took the lower trim off and found this. It's the only bit of bodged wiring I have found on the car and it goes to the ignition barrel, anyone have idea on this?

Found the inner top seal had failed so a replacement have been ordered from tradition for both sides + the boot seal.

So the rear is just about stripped, the seats will be out tomorrow and the centre console.

 

[B5NUT]

Stripped back the tape this morning. These two wires are easy enough to sort out

This wire was going to the fuse holder

This is what I don't understand. So the red/black wire looks factory as it goes into the harness tape, so why cut it then put a different colour wire on

Desoldered the the addon wires and soldered the connection block wires together, then placed heat shrink over the damaged sheath.

Finished with a bit of Tesa tape. That's the wiring done on the car, it's the only place I have found where someone has been hacking around.