Beaten but not out! progress thread.

[Stickystuff]

I thought I'd introduce myself to you guys, I've been a member of this forum for about 4 years originally with an 8P A3 Quattro sport. Great little car especially in the snow back in 2012. I've been away from the audi scene for a few years and now I'm back.
I recently inherited my brothers Audi A6, which was in pretty decent nick when he first got it and now it's a little beaten to say the least.

It's a 2005 2.7tdi SE. Currently on 163k so high miler but I've had it since middle of Jan and covered around 5-6k already.
Unfortunately non Quattro but in reality it's not needed over here in the uk.
Full factory leather, Retro fit colour sat nav with colour binnacle 3G S6 MMI software. Retro fit cruise control(possibly factory) and retro fit steering wheel with controls. Retro fit LED front and rear light with factory Xenons fitted. The front bumper currently is an updated S6 bumper but as it needs replacing I'm getting a facelift version which looks much more sporty and aggressive.
It's got 18" TTRS replicas fitted which where literally mint when he first put them on about 2 years ago and now all are mega scratched and although one has clearly got a terrible buckle as it wobbles all over the place above 60mph. Admittedly that was there when he first put them on and just made do.

I'll post some pics too see the current state and hopefully over some time I will get it back into a decent condition and maybe better.

So this is its current condition I took today.

I've got quite a few pictures of it all with key marks all the way down the drivers side where it was parked on the road. The damage to the left rear corner was someone driving past and not stopping. The front bumper is smashed up with the bonnet bent from bumping into someone(luckily a colleague so no insurance) and the reason it all looks like it's hanging of is because he parked on a grass verge and actually ripped it off. Every couple of days I have to push the bumper back on. So in short not the greatest condition.

Currently the body work is on the back burner whilst the mechanicals are sorted. A couple of weekends ago I had to replace the turbo as it decided it no longer wanted to play ball. Luckily I caught it before it fully exploded but the bearings where we'll and truly shot!!

I did a bit of research, the cheapest found with my local suppliers was £650+ the vodka and tonic.
I phoned TPS and was told with my 5% discount it would cost me £1650
By some pure luck the guy I spoke too recommended I speak to someone at turbo developments in London and I got quoted for a Genue garret turbo for £400+ VAT but if I paid cash I would loose the VAT. So off I pop to the cash machine and get my cash out and headed out on an extended lunch break. An hour or so and I'm back at work with this:

Whilst I was there I saw this bad boy

A beautiful RS4!!

Any ways that evening I got set on getting it changed over. My god what a Ba***rd that was!!
Started around 7 pm and finally got to bed about 12:30am! I only got a couple of photos as I was cold and and had lost too much interest from frustration. The exhaust collector and EGR pipe make it very difficult to get the oil drain/turbo bracket out.

Comparing both the new and old units together

I will try and upload a video which shows the bearings on the old unit fubared!!

I'm going to keep the updates going but it won't be a speedy progress.

Ash

 

[MarkWizard]

Just a quick note mate, if I worked for HMRC (which I don't) the first thing I'd do is arrange a VAT inspection at Turbo Developments in London based upon your post above. The supplier did you a favour, the last thing he'd want in return is you dropping him in the mire!

Cheers

 

[Markjb]

Welcome back - look forward to seeing your work over over the next few months!

 

[Stickystuff]

That is a very good Point Mr wizard. I didn't think of that.. For some reason I cant edit my post to change the wording ....

 

[B5NUT]

PM the admin's they will unlock the post for you.

 

[Stickystuff]

i decided to put a little tic into the car with s pair of new boots and a new front bumper.

Ideally I need a new crash bar as my brother had really shunted it but it hasn't ruined the radiator.

The front tyres were pretty well worn on the inner edge!!!

I even found a pretty big cut down to cords on one of them!

A couple of new Goodyear Eagles in 235/40 rather then 245/40 however they are loads wider.

I found myself a new bumper a 2009 so a little tattered but a lot better condition then the old beaten one.
It's not in perfect condition so it's in keeping with the rest of the car.

I need to now buy some washer jets along with the covers, a towing eye cover and the fog lights and surrounds. I need a new grill but this one will do for now.

Slowly making it look better.

 

[952]

nice great work!

 

[niedzial1983]

good work mate and can you shed some light on retrofitting LED DRL front lights ?

 

[Stickystuff]

It's been a while since I've updated this.

I'm afraid not the previous owner did the retrofit if I'm honest.


I have done a few small things over the last few months. Pictures to show

The drivers floor matt has rubbed through from the clutch pedal resting position and over time its also rubbed through the carpet so I decided to try and repair the carpet. I also need to invest in a new set of floor matt's but for the time being at least it looks better.

As you can see there are two patches that need to be repaired/replaced.

I cut out a rectangle section,and using an old carpet floor matt I cut out a patch using the replaced section as a template. I masked up the area and used some spray glue put the new patch in and hey presto.

Maybe a little pic heavy but I'm sure you guys won't mind.
It took me all of 10-15 mins but the light was going quickly hence the torch light in the foot well.
Apart from the slight colour difference but its a pretty seamless fix. at a quick glance it looks alright much better then it did that's for sure!


I had an annoying squeak in the boot which turned out to be a pulled out screw plug allowing the metal clips to rub in certain places.

I also picked up these bad boys on ebay

Ill update in due course but I'm having them vapour blasted to get rid of the old anodising and then I'm going to spray them. not sure what colour yet mind.

 

[THQuattro]

Good work mate.

 

[KrisKrk]

Great work mate.

Was the turbo an upgrade? If so, any improvement?

I have a grille for sale, if interested:

http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/audi-a6-c6-2-0-avant-genuine-grille.309487/

If you looking for more aggressive look, go for the honeycomb aftermarket one.

Those calipers look the business. Decided on the colour yet? Got the new brackets also or do they fit stock ones?

 

[Stickystuff]

Thanks guys.


No it was just a standard fitment, apparently the 3.0TDI turbo bolts straight on and is slightly larger how ever at the time I needed a turbo and it would have been a few days wait and I didn't really have the time to wait.
I noticed a difference in smoothness but i think that's just because the old one was knackered and had been for a while.
I think if I had gone for the larger turbo I could of had another remap and got more power but just bolting a larger turbo wouldn't have a noticeable power increase, you need to increase the fuel to match.

Well I've painted them a grey colour that should be gunmetal grey but almost looks like a dark prime grey. I put some heat proof lacquer on them and when cooking them in the oven they got covered in lots of moisture so they've got a poor finish. I'll sort that out at a later date.

They bolt straight onto the hubs with merc ml55 brake discs but the caliper bolt holes are 16mm and the original are 14mm. Its too dangerous to drill out the hub as it will weaken it too much so I just need stainless reducers so I can bolt in correct 14mm bolts, i'll get these made up and I will be fitting them hopefully at the end of the month, just waiting for pay day to sort it out.

I'll post with updates when I've got the reducers done and bolting up etc

 

[Stickystuff]

So I managed to get the bushes made up for the calipers and the bolts fit through perfectly. So I attempted to get them fitted over the weekend as I had the pads discs fitting kit and sensors.
Unfortunately the ML55 discs do not fit just like the A4 set ups do. I've been doing some measuring and looking into some other discs that may work.

My standard discs are 321mm with a height of 60mm and a thickness of 30mm(when new). I've bolted the calipers over the standard discs and they clear but its close. I make out the centre line from the top of the disc I work out to be 45mm.
The ideal centre line would be more like 49mm this would put the very centre of the disc right bang in the middle of the caliper.

I've been looking and found that the A6 4.2 petrol quattro actually uses a 347mm disc and has a height of 59.5mm and a thickness of 30mm so that puts the centre line at 44.5mm. Although that would bring the centre of the disc out ever so slightly, with the thickness of 30mm it wouldnt catch the pad retaining pins nor would it foul on any other part of the suspension brakes etc. The only thing I'm concerned about is running the discs 4mm thinner then the original calipers would do. Plus once pads are worn that's another 2mm off, so a total of 6mm thinner then the new tolerance when new.

I need to make sure the calipers would be able to extend that far without potential dangerous consequences other wise I think it could be down the custom disc route and for the budget I've set that unfortunately is not within my reach. Hopefully I can get or find an alternative disc soon enough.

Here are a few photos of what I've got up to so far with the brakes.
Just the standard brakes behind the wheels

The standard caliper verses the Touareg caliper

This is the standard disc with the ML55 disc

Not sure how clear it is, but the disc sits over to the left of the caliper slightly(outside). So hopefully If I can find the correct centre height discs of the correct or good thickness then I can finally fit them. I think the 347mm discs from the A6 4.2 is promising but I just need to check and make sure that 30mm is a safe thickness or rather 28mm is a safe minimum thickness.

 

[Stickystuff]

So after finding that the hubs are different to the A4 and C5 A6 all the other common choices of brake discs were not successful.

So I have managed to get the A6 347mm brake discs to fit. Perfect fit to the hub and utilising the original disc retaining screw so no faffing trying to hold the disc up whilst offering up the caliper. The disc is still not the perfect offset and actually sits to the point that the brake pad pins on the outside of the caliper would no allow the calipers to bolt up straight, so required some modification. I've had to grind the pins back enough to allow for the disc to sit in the caliper.

I might do a proper write up separately at some point but for now here's some pictures of the brakes fitted.

So far I've done around 1500 miles and they work really well. I haven't actually really tested them yet but they are much sharper and require much less pressure to get stopped.

 

[Stickystuff]

So since my last post my hosting site has been closed as it was free and now all of my previous photos have disappeared. I will try and put some back up as I go along.

I’ve managed to spend a little time on the old bus, not so much recently but I used to ride on a weekly basis at my local riding centre at swinley forest. Every Thursday throughout the year so I bought some led lights to wire up in the boot so I can see what I’m doing with my bike as I carry it in the boot and have to take my wheels off etc. It’s not needed or necessary but something that I’d like. ... fast forward about 3 years, I’ve bought a house with the Mrs and had a baby I now probably only ride once a month if I’m lucky(my choice honest) but I occasionally buy and sell cars and it’s useful to have the lights up when I’m loading on my tow dolly at night.

So I decided to finally get them working seeing as it’s winter heading in and it’s dark when I leave work now. So today at lunch I started and stripped the boot lid of its panels and made a start on the wiring.

I’d already made up the loom section to connect both lights about this time last year and had bolted the lights to the two removable panels.

I had bought a rocker switch originally but didn’t really like the look of it so I found a click in and out switch that also lit up when it was on too. After wiring it in I managed to get it to light up and make sure the relay worked too

I then made up the loom sections I needed to connect everything up and the. Pulled it out so I had a bit of spaghetti junction.

I also routed the wiring so it goes behind the rear fuse panel and the relay sits in a blank slot. It doesn’t fit in the same as an original however I trimmed the fuse holder and it slides in nicely so it atleast holds the relay in a ‘factory’ look.

I decided it was too cold so I came in and neatened up the loom and made it look a bit nicer. I also added the plugs to connect the loom sections together. I’ve made the wiring in two sections, with a plug along the boot so that if I need to remove the main boot panel I can do without having to feed all the wires through.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to get it all plumbed one properly. Unfortunately I couldn’t find and eyelet connectors for the main feed live and earth so I’ll grab some tomorrow at work and crimp them on for a proper connection.

Who ever fitted the tow bar wiring used scotch locks. I don’t like them but until I get time to tidy up the wiring properly I’m going to use them to power up the switch for now as they come off the 12v power socket in the boot it’s an ideal power source. I’ll be locating the switch next to that so its out of the way but still in a usable position.


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[Stickystuff]

So after getting it all plugged in for some reason the lights wouldn’t work.

So I took the rear panel off again and tried the lights. If I wiggled the wiring they would come on and off. I found that the loom I made to go in the rear panel I didn’t do a very good job of crimping the wires in the terminals because the negative wire just pulled out with minimal effort.

So I chopped it off and repaired with a new pair of terminals and plug.

I then put it all back together and it works!!

This weekend just gone my parents borrowed my car to tow my trailer up to my grandparents,400 mile round trip so I used my dads car over the weekend and it made me realise how bad my factory Xenons are.
My dads car is a 2008 Volvo C30 also fitted with factory Bi-Xenons and the difference is almost like night and day.
So I’m contemplating changing the projectors out for some aftermarket ones or even I’ve been reading up on other car manufacturers projectors having better quality lens than others. So I may be looking into this at some point.


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