That is interesting, never knew that something like that can be the cause but now you have explained it, it all makes perfect sense . cheers
What have you done to your Audi A4 B7 today?
- Thread starter Dani_B19
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Tomorrow I am taking the parts up to the garage for my daughter’s boyfriend to do it so fingers crossed Otto is back on the road by midday . Watch this space 
All sorted by midday and a happy boy so celebrated by taking it for a tripTomorrow I am taking the parts up to the garage for my daughter’s boyfriend to do it so fingers crossed Otto is back on the road by midday . Watch this space
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Started this time I got stopped by the caliper carrier bolts... they are f-ed so had to reverse what I was doing. I know they are hex M8 but both of them are seized and the hex part is rounded off. Couldn't be bothered with heat etc... will do it another day.
Well the parts were not cheap but the labour wasGood news chap and hopefully saved you a few pennies aswell, enjoy
slipped him £50 and to a 19 year old that’s a weekend sorted
mweh waiting to see if the weather decides to stay dry to give it another go...as it's still raining right now. Will take the butane torch out to heat it up... if only they went for normal bolts... it would have been so much easier but no let's use something that is bound to cause a problem... stupid thing is i have a set off normal bolts used on the same brakes from a golf mk3 vr6 with normal bolts... but hey i need to get the old hex bolts out of the carrier first.. as the rest all came out easy... just those hex m8's that are now causing a problem.... I'll deffo replace the ones on the rear nearside carrier too with normal bolts. These hex bolts are just asking for problems especially in that location.
19” lemans now on with some help from the wife.
Very pleased with the results, happy days.
Very pleased with the results, happy days.
Gave the old bus a quick wash etc, its been a bit grubby of late with stretching etc being off limits for me and it not having had a wash since mid-march, looks a bit tidier now. 
With the 19" lemans on now, the rears are spot on offset wise but fronts need to go down to a 5mm spacer, currently with a 10mm which is ok but I'd prefer 5mm which will just clear my brembo's
Luckily I have a very large selection of differing length radius head audi bolts and generic tapered ones to cover most fitting options.
quick pic as the sun was out, well albeit very briefly.
I do like silver lemans, just makes the old bus look a bit sharper and fresh.
With the 19" lemans on now, the rears are spot on offset wise but fronts need to go down to a 5mm spacer, currently with a 10mm which is ok but I'd prefer 5mm which will just clear my brembo's
Luckily I have a very large selection of differing length radius head audi bolts and generic tapered ones to cover most fitting options.
quick pic as the sun was out, well albeit very briefly.
I do like silver lemans, just makes the old bus look a bit sharper and fresh.
It’s just dawned on me, I had a set of nice quality 5mm spacers then sold them to another member as I had no use for them, ooops I slipped up on that one…lol
I have to agree on that colour the old bus just looks perfect with the silverGave the old bus a quick wash etc, its been a bit grubby of late with stretching etc being off limits for me and it not having had a wash since mid-march, looks a bit tidier now.
With the 19" lemans on now, the rears are spot on offset wise but fronts need to go down to a 5mm spacer, currently with a 10mm which is ok but I'd prefer 5mm which will just clear my brembo's
Luckily I have a very large selection of differing length radius head audi bolts and generic tapered ones to cover most fitting options.
quick pic as the sun was out, well albeit very briefly.
I do like silver lemans, just makes the old bus look a bit sharper and fresh.
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I thought I had a decent. Old t of wheel nuts until I saw yours lol !!
And that is only half of the Audi wheel bolts, the rest are in another box standard lenght ones.
Looks great Rob, and i think the 10mm spacer on the front is spot on personally.
That gap between the caliper and the wheel ... makes me wonder if a 5mm spacer would work... judging by that picture it probably will touch. I also think that by adding the 20mm alround you've now widened the track of the car on all corners evenly making it even more stable. But a downside is the bigger turning circle. But for daily use the turning circle is neglectable.
The cam pic is slightly off-centre, so the gap looks much closer than it is.
Measured with my vernier caliper the available space at present between the closest contact point of the 18z's is 8mm so a 5mm would work but a bit snug.
Having checked just now the front spacers are in fact 8mm and so are the rears, I'll leave the rears alone and maybe think about the fronts later, looks fine as it is to be honest but I just dont like overly sized spacers.
On a drive yesterday around the twisty back road close to home the old bus handles a dream, well it always did do but with new tyres it is even more precise and composed.
Body roll is so minimal that the car stays flat around even tight corners, luckily with the extra bolster support from the recaros i don't get chucked sideways.lol
Measured with my vernier caliper the available space at present between the closest contact point of the 18z's is 8mm so a 5mm would work but a bit snug.
Having checked just now the front spacers are in fact 8mm and so are the rears, I'll leave the rears alone and maybe think about the fronts later, looks fine as it is to be honest but I just dont like overly sized spacers.
On a drive yesterday around the twisty back road close to home the old bus handles a dream, well it always did do but with new tyres it is even more precise and composed.
Body roll is so minimal that the car stays flat around even tight corners, luckily with the extra bolster support from the recaros i don't get chucked sideways.lol
See spacers aren't a bad thing if kept at a minimum... the wider track makes for a more balanced ride anyway and the wider new tires will make a difference in how it handles. All in all a thing worth doing.
And I agree it looks awesome right now, if it was my car I wouldn't change it(except for de-chroming it, but the wheel colour you got would stay)
And I agree it looks awesome right now, if it was my car I wouldn't change it(except for de-chroming it, but the wheel colour you got would stay)
In other news the ABS fault has mysteriously gone... actually come to think of it the main bolt holding the bearing in place wasn't torqued to spec... so when I put it back together I probably sorted the problem. The car drives way better. And if it wasn't going in for the recall today, I would check the other bolts too.
Will see if the car will be gone until Thursday or if I get it back today... probably Thursday.
Will see if the car will be gone until Thursday or if I get it back today... probably Thursday.
I’ve booked it in during August to get the bright work around the doors to be pro sprayed but not the roof rail , I just feel some colour co ordination is needed, same with S4 doors mirrors , leaving them original silver too.
Lol yeah on your s4 look it's oke to keep it mine isn't though so it had to go... ps the guy picking the car up was looking at it saying it looks really good for what it is. And the black on black just works for him... than did the walk around with him and pointed out all the flaws, and the defects that I already know about. But will get a free update on the state of what I didn't mention. So will see for now it feels like the car is in good hands they even let me know when the car arrived in the workshop. A call and a text with all the details.
Oww just got send a link of the vehicle inspection you get for free... but hey they wanted to topped the motor oil (it's off by 300cc) at a cost of £23,45 incl vat) not happening as I got my own oil to top it up. I left it like that on purpose.
No mention yet of the recall so will check if it has been logged on the DVLA website as done.
No mention yet of the recall so will check if it has been logged on the DVLA website as done.
Well just got a phone all from the dealer and recall was carried out, car is done and on it's way home... tip if your car is one of the earlier ones you will have the recall carried out, if you have 2007 models chances are it won't be needed.
2006 models is a strong maybe or maybe not.
2006 models is a strong maybe or maybe not.
What colour are you getting the bright work painted Rob?
Mines a december 2006 but is a last of the 06 and is stated as a 2007 model year model car.
Undecided at the moment, I've left final choice open until a week before it goes in, which gives me time to change my mind more than once on color if needed.
At the moment I'm thinking satin black , but I'm on the fence still ..lol
Well than you'll just have to wait and see... mine was done and sorted today even send a video link of the work carried out and one of the final car inspection you get for free .. I am pleased with how it went..
My Subaru has satin surrounds, but the C pillars on both sides are so dull and the passenger side is awful / paint missing. May attempt doing them myself when summer finally arrives lol
Have a look at my pictures I bought the car with the window surrounds already done... they used piano black and somehow it just looks like the same colour as the car probably because it is such a small strip...
I'm still to get any official notification from Audi, nothing from them at all , other than the GOV recall note on my new MOT its been very low-key.
I suspect if I hadn't contacted Audi first it may have slipped under the radar for another year.
To be honest i'm not a big fan of piano black, not sure why , just not keen on it, but hey personal choice again.
I did briefly consider anthracite for the brightwork, and roof rails but again, not sure really.
So far i think i'm sticking with satin black even for the roof rails but not mirrors.
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I hate it when that happens and you KNOW you have it somewhere. Then it'll turn up unexpectedly when you least expect it and you're looking for something totally different.
Might do the same as I looked to remove them but what an absolute pain.
Well in all the headaches of getting stopped in my tracks while doing the job, I stumbled upon the problem... the main bolt holding the bearing wasn't torqued down properly, it was way to easy to take off... didn't think about it,but with me getting jarred off, I just torqued it all back up to factory spec... low and behold, fault gone so I now have a new spare rear wheel bearing kit.
To be honest i'm not a big fan of piano black, not sure why , just not keen on it, but hey personal choice again.
That is piano black and it looks the same as the paintwork.
Ps the sharkfin is gone this was a picture of where I picked he car up just before I drove off.
I finally got round to replacing the wastegate whilst it's on the car and although the removal wasn't too bad, probably about an 75 mins, but replacement OMFG.
I started at about 2pm yesterday and finished at.... wait for it.... 8.30 this morning. I had to stop at 10.15 last night as I was outside on my back and although it wasn't raining, my hand, wrist and back were starting to ache, my eyes were getting tired and I knew if I didn't I'd probably get really frustrated and break something badly. I managed to lose for a few hours, then find one of the bolts holding the wastegate in place and in my frustration snapped one of the pipes on the N75 valve too.
I fitted and removed the new wastegate about four times in my quest to line up the wastegate arm and the threaded part of the wastegate trying using a combination of thick wires, molegrips, zip ties, pliers and three long screwdrivers. I also came to the conclusion that the threaded arm on the new wastegate was a different thread to the adjuster which was when I stopped.
Then last night after sleeping on it I had a revelation. After checking the new adjuster fitted the old wastegate arm I knew it was just me not lining it up properly.
I used a zip tie and looped it around the wastegate arm whilst using some thick wire threaded through the gap in the exhaust manifold and another piece bent into a hook to pull and guide the wastegate arm onto the threaded wire. I then used some long nosed needle pliers to pull the adjuster arm to the threaded part of the wastegate and once lined up, pulled the zip tie tight, whilst using the other hand to spin the adjuster at the same time as having a pair of mole grips hanging of the threaded arm and slightly wedged behind the power steering pump (I think) to help it line up better. This method took my less than an hour as I started again at 7.30 this morning and was back inside by 8.25.
I'd like to report improved performance but have ordered another replacement N75 valve on Amazon so will wait until that arrives tomorrow and I get it fitted. I did notice when comparing the wastegates was that the old one although there was resistance was way easier to pull on than the new one. I did start to take photos but as I got more hacked off, I stopped. I also noticed it needed a lot less turning of the adjuster onto the threaded arm and I was able to get it nice and tight without any rattle quite quickly and a lot less winding than it took to get the old one off. I will adjust it by pressurising the arm but need to check the ideal psi first as well as waiting for my hand to move without any discomfort...
If I had to do this again I could do it a lot quicker but it's up there with doing the sump drop and getting those hidden bolts out.
Definitely a job for a ramp, small hands, good eyesight and lots of luck
I started at about 2pm yesterday and finished at.... wait for it.... 8.30 this morning. I had to stop at 10.15 last night as I was outside on my back and although it wasn't raining, my hand, wrist and back were starting to ache, my eyes were getting tired and I knew if I didn't I'd probably get really frustrated and break something badly. I managed to lose for a few hours, then find one of the bolts holding the wastegate in place and in my frustration snapped one of the pipes on the N75 valve too.
I fitted and removed the new wastegate about four times in my quest to line up the wastegate arm and the threaded part of the wastegate trying using a combination of thick wires, molegrips, zip ties, pliers and three long screwdrivers. I also came to the conclusion that the threaded arm on the new wastegate was a different thread to the adjuster which was when I stopped.
Then last night after sleeping on it I had a revelation. After checking the new adjuster fitted the old wastegate arm I knew it was just me not lining it up properly.
I used a zip tie and looped it around the wastegate arm whilst using some thick wire threaded through the gap in the exhaust manifold and another piece bent into a hook to pull and guide the wastegate arm onto the threaded wire. I then used some long nosed needle pliers to pull the adjuster arm to the threaded part of the wastegate and once lined up, pulled the zip tie tight, whilst using the other hand to spin the adjuster at the same time as having a pair of mole grips hanging of the threaded arm and slightly wedged behind the power steering pump (I think) to help it line up better. This method took my less than an hour as I started again at 7.30 this morning and was back inside by 8.25.
I'd like to report improved performance but have ordered another replacement N75 valve on Amazon so will wait until that arrives tomorrow and I get it fitted. I did notice when comparing the wastegates was that the old one although there was resistance was way easier to pull on than the new one. I did start to take photos but as I got more hacked off, I stopped. I also noticed it needed a lot less turning of the adjuster onto the threaded arm and I was able to get it nice and tight without any rattle quite quickly and a lot less winding than it took to get the old one off. I will adjust it by pressurising the arm but need to check the ideal psi first as well as waiting for my hand to move without any discomfort...
If I had to do this again I could do it a lot quicker but it's up there with doing the sump drop and getting those hidden bolts out.
Definitely a job for a ramp, small hands, good eyesight and lots of luck
@ttelracs yeah it's quite a hard job to do it in situ, i actually just pull the whole turbo off to make it easier...
I just hate the fact that it usually means new gaskets are needed., apart from bolts getting stuck or breaking. But it makes for a quick and easy replacement. But doing it in situ is less work, you just need to find a way around the stuff that is in the way. As you clearly did.
I just hate the fact that it usually means new gaskets are needed., apart from bolts getting stuck or breaking. But it makes for a quick and easy replacement. But doing it in situ is less work, you just need to find a way around the stuff that is in the way. As you clearly did.
