Kingfisher Avant

[partybish]

Hi Guys,

I've been on the forum since June as I was looking for something to eventually replace my 6R Golf which has been a great car for me but ultimately its days have been numbered since I had a little one as I need a solid, reliable and cheap to modify/run car . I'd always known of the PDI engine's bombproof reputation with friends of friends having run these engines for decades with no issue.

With the engine type as a given the only question was what VAG make/model to go for, after much research my mind was made up that I was going to get an inky blue B5.5 Passat wagon as this generation seemed to be praised for solid build quality and having seen pictures of inky blue cars that had been machine polished I knew the colour would be stunning when detailed which is a hobby of mine. I went to view a Passat and up close I recall thinking it looked too disproportionate and ugly, at the same point I was looking at all the different Audi individual colours and how they could look if conditioned well so, when I saw a kingfisher B5 on gumtree, I went for a look.

The car had limited paperwork, lots of dents and scrapes and drove like a wheelbarrow on the test drive compared to my golf but it was cheap, had the broad spec I wanted and the seller came across well and I love a challenge so I took a leap of faith.

Here it is upon collection. It's a 1.9 TDI 115hp Avant which as one of the latest 2001 models came in Audi individual colour and had a Votex Kit & 17" Alloys.

 

[Sandra]

Very nice.

 

[Broonie]

Nice find! That front lip is very rarely still on the cars with the votex kit on them, best colour for the b5 in my opinion but then I’m a bit biased being on my 4th kingfisher b5 with my current S4 avant, previous being a S4 saloon, only other colour I’d have would be merlin purple

Anyway hope it does you well and you get it to how you want it

 

[hiltoa]

Lovely machine - get it up to scratch and in few years that will pay you back. Also got a soft spot for Kingfisher, but I had my time with the only B5 RS4 (known), and recently moved her on for a decent profit...

 

[partybish]

Nice find! That front lip is very rarely still on the cars with the votex kit on them, best colour for the b5 in my opinion but then I’m a bit biased being on my 4th kingfisher b5 with my current S4 avant, previous being a S4 saloon, only other colour I’d have would be merlin purple

Anyway hope it does you well and you get it to how you want it

Cheers Broonie, I'm actually selling the Votex as I prefer the stock look myself but hopefully I can find someone who know that's a rarity and wants to buy it! Funny you say about Merlin - that was the only other colour I was considering but the Merlin avant I saw was a V6 and would have been too thirsty for me - would've been one hell of a colour in the sun though!

Lovely machine - get it up to scratch and in few years that will pay you back. Also got a soft spot for Kingfisher, but I had my time with the only B5 RS4 (known), and recently moved her on for a decent profit.../QUOTE]

Kingfisher suits the RS4 and that looks mint, not surprised you made money on it! Mine has quite high miles so I'm hoping to have a bit of fun modding it on a budget and make back some money via fuel savings over my current car. Nice to think it could go up in value though.

Really appreciate all the positive comments on here, I've done quite a lot to the car and have amassed a list of questions about various things.

 

[partybish]

One of the first things I do with a new car is give it a good wash and see what surprises the bodywork has up close. I went up to my girlfriend's parents' house so there was plenty of space to work around the car. Gave it some snowfoam love and then washed using the two bucket method with Meguiar's NXT wash. It came up pretty well but has a lot of battle scars to be attacked with the machine polisher when I get more time.

It was already looking better after the wash...

 

[partybish]

One of the first jobs I wanted to do was get the towbar off as it looked really naff and weighed a ridiculous amount. This car was a late model and came with a factory fitted Votex kit on - someone had cut round the rear bumper part to fit the towbar so they were obviously committed to it but it had to go.

Unlike a lot of the French cars I work on the Audi seems solidly put together, however the downside of the "over-engineering" was that on my first task I spent an hour trying to take the rear bumper off. I ended up using a massive prybar followed by my hefty race jack in an attempt to lift the car up on the towbar itself to try and use the weight of the car to shift what I thought were seized bars extending into the car bodywork. It didn't work and I was left frustrated until I lifted more of the boot carpet and realised there were three bolts holding the bars in not just two....doh! It came off easily in the end.

After I got the towbar off I was able to correct all the bodged wiring from the additional trailer lights someone had clipped on to the existing loom. Sadly I don't think I have refitted the rear bumper properly as there is a bit of a gap as per this picture.

I have a feeling it's because the plastic bumper and the metal carrier as pictured here are supposed to be stuck together properly (maybe plastic welded through the holes in the metal?).....

 

[partybish]

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to cars and whilst I was washing it I started wiping off the engine bay, before I knew it I had stripped the front end down, cleaned the bay up in the process. Before..

Car looking quite sorry for itself..

And after, much better once I cleaned it with IPA / Tesco all purpose citrus cleaner and then dressed it with autoglym rubber care and Aerospace 303. I've also since sourced some engine cover caps from ebay to make it look tidier.

Whilst I had the engine cover off I noticed this flexi pipe coming off the turbo had broken - I'm not sure if this is critical but the car seems to drive OK, would it improve mpg if I got this replaced and is it an easy DIY job?

The car has a lot of oil everywhere in that area so I was wondering if the broken pipe was to blame?

 

[partybish]

In addition to the bodykit I wasn't keen on the alloys. After a bit of research I found out they are not that common and are Ronal VW "Capezio" alloys, favoured on estate cars and transporters but I really wanted to go larger as I plan on getting coilovers and wanted something to fill the arches out better. My ideal wheels would have been MTM Bimoto but they're pretty expensive and I therefore settled on a set of Audi A8 D" alloys but I wasn't having much luck finding some close by that were reasonably priced when I stumbled across a picture of a Canadian B5 wearing a set of Phaeton 'Challenger' wheels that looked amazing. I really like to make my cars look OEM+ and the flat style of these wheels suits the era and flat lines of the B5, after finding out that they existed and what they were called I then instantly found a set on gumtree for a lot less than the A8 wheels plus they were freshly refurbed and had brand new tyres on so it was fate.
One round trip to Bristol later and they were on - I think they suit the car much better although anthracite wouldn't be my first choice colour and I'll probably have them redone in silver at some stage.
Before on the 17" Capezios..

And after on the 18" Challengers with the Votex kit removed...

In the process of sourcing new wheels I wanted some shiny new wheel bolts so I got a set off of ebay. It's obvious now I look at the pictures but the new bolts I got which are 'tapered' (following advice from an ebay seller) are completely different to the old ones which are 'radius' so I ended up having to buy a second set which are M14 x 1.5 x 27. I took it on advice from a wheel fitting shop that these are correct for the phaeton wheels and the B5 but I was, and still am, getting shake through the steering wheel when I go at 80 or above so I'd appreciate any advice on whether the new bolts are indeed the correct fitment and if so what could be causing the steering wheel to vibrate.
First new tapered set I bought which are wrong (next to original bolts)

New radius set (M14 x 1.5 x 27) - you can see a groove got cut into the tapered set which could have damaged the alloy over time if I hadn't found out they were wrong..

 

[partybish]

After the alloys the next thing I wanted to give some attention to was the dull standard interior. On that note I had tracked down an RS4 steering wheel on ebay and found it was actually at a local breakers yard. When I arrived I found they had an S4 just in packed with goodies and I was like a kid at Christmas knowing my project was about to inherit a load of upgrades.

If you made it this far thanks for reading, I welcome any comments as they help me to stay motivated working on the car and if anyone has answers to my queries I'd really appreciate it.

 

[S4 Muzza]

Obviosuly not advisable to use the wrong bolts but if they were tightened up i doubt they would cause any serious vibration.

Have the new wheels been balanced correctly? Is the tracking ok? I also bought a cheap old B5 A4 a while back and almost shook my arms off on the way home. Two new tyres on the front, wheels rebalanced and tracking done and it’s all good.

Decent thread though, enjoyed reading through it. Car looks nice, Audi sure have some nice blues! Car looks much better without the kit and with the new wheels. I’m a fan of OEM too.

Got a build thread going for a my one B5 if you fancy a read:
https://audisrs.com/back-again-noggy-b5-s4-t71657.html

 

[partybish]

Have the new wheels been balanced correctly? Is the tracking ok? I also bought a cheap old B5 A4 a while back and almost shook my arms off on the way home. Two new tyres on the front, wheels rebalanced and tracking done and it’s all good.

The wheels have been balanced inside and out. I don't know on the tracking but I refitted the old bolts to the rear wheels and the shake over 80mph has gone - I thought as a fwd and the shake coming through the steering wheel the rear wheels wouldn't matter but it seems to have solved the issue. I'm planning to replace the suspension and components so I will get the tracking done after and hopefully it will feel even better on the road.

Decent thread though, enjoyed reading through it. Car looks nice, Audi sure have some nice blues! Car looks much better without the kit and with the new wheels. I’m a fan of OEM too.

Got a build thread going for a my one B5 if you fancy a read:
https://audisrs.com/back-again-noggy-b5-s4-t71657.html

Thanks mate, I will post more updates soon, the car looks sleeker without the kit and I've managed to sell it and the original alloys on eBay to recoup some money for some more mods.

I'll grab a cup of tea and take a good look at your thread, I love the attention to detail you have gone to with it and Nogaro is such an awesome colour for these.