TQS track car project - extremely slow progress

[slepy]

Gents,

I've been on ASN for years now.
First with a B6, later with a B7 but no Audi for the last 3 years. Which, in my mind, is a crime!
So, I have been thinking about a B5 track car for a very long time.
Was very close to buying one last year but for financial reasons it didn't happen.

On Thursday went to have a look at one which was going to be broken for parts (by a forum member) and
decided to buy it as I thought it would be a real shame to srap it.
Had it delivered on Friday late evening

I will be doing most of the work myself. I am not a mechanic.
I hope that this thread, with your knowledge, will not only help me
in jobs that need doing, but also other B5 owners.

The car is SORN'ed, 148k miles and needs quite a bit of work before it goes for an MOT.
Recaro, navi plus, xenons parking sensors.
Needs tyres and probably a new windscreen possibly something else.

First things to sort out on my list are:
- water on the drivers footwell/rust under the battery
- alloys DIY refurb before buying tyres - they are shockingly bubbly so not gonna be easy
as I will need to strip them back to bear metal
- full service including oil pick up (will be fun?)
- cambelt (never done one myself, it is time to learn)
- suspension - de rust/paint/bushes
- rear bumper change
- other issues that I don't know about yet

 

[slepy]

When all of this is done I will be going forward with the project "B5 - cheap track car alternative"
Progress will depend a lot on the amount of free time I will have, money and weather - no garage but the goal
will be 400+bhp and as much lost weight as possible.

Here's how it looks now:



Today decided to have a look at the water issue under the carpet.
First thing was to have a look at drain holes under the battery.
There, I didn't find any water but something I didn't expect! Rust!
Had a go at it with available tools at the time but will need to continue tomorrow.
Unfortunately one place went through and there is a 2 cm hole in it.
Hope it will be fine like that and when in future the engine is out I will sort it out properly.

Can someone tell me what these 2 pipes are? Aircon? Can I disconnect them?
Need to get underneath them to get rid of rust and primer/spray the whole area.

Any other ideas where does the water come from to drivers side?
It is bone dry under the battery now.

Apologies for the long start to this thread. Hope it will get more exciting in the next stage.

 

[Sulli79]

Yeah looks like the air con, get it degassed and remove the whole system, Inc compressor that will free up some weight, if it's full time track car ditch most of the interior, I love the recaros, but having taken them out a couple of times they weigh about a ton a piece, also there pretty desirable, so that should bump your budget up a bit.
Carpets weigh a bit, and sound deadening is everywhere so get that out too.

With the water, check your ecu box, not just the lid but where it goes through to the cabin, the seals perish and leak.

 

[Broken Byzan]

and the pollen filter thingumy, water ****** thru there. It looks like the water has been sat in there for a very long time to rust it right thru.

I hope you got her for the price you said, in which case, it's a steal even given the rust

 

[slepy]

Yeah, recaros and most of the interior will be out.
Will leave just stripped door cards and dash.
I will be taking Aircon out definitely that's why don't think I will need these two pipes.

 

[aragorn]

On the right, theres a bolted flange where they attach to the AC condenser.

Undo the flange and you'll be able to pull the pipes out.

If its still full of gas you should have it removed first though.

 

[slepy]

Is there any ac gas outlet pipe on the car? Or it shouldn't be released in to the air?
On one of the pipes next to the ECU, there is a small valve type thing with a plastic cap.
When I took the cap off it looked similar to a tire valve with a pin inside.

 

[Sulli79]

That's the one, it's r134a gas I think, and you can't legally knowingly discharge it to atmosphere. Take it to a garage with recovery equipment, they will probably just charge you for disposal of 1.5kg of gas.

 

[aragorn]

Yeh you need a machine to suck the gas out of those ports, they're not supposed to be vented to atmosphere:

1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It MAY already be empty, might be worth cracking the union to check but if gas comes out you should do it back up and have it evacuated.

 

[slepy]

Air con works fine so it is still there.
Without an mot and tax it will be difficult to get it to garage at the moment
Will see if I can work underneath these pipes for now in that case.

 

[Sulli79]

You could try a local fridge engineer, most have the correct connections and if you find a small outfit, there generally friendly enough and may do it for a drink.

I definitely wouldn't advise venting it, it's pressurised, loud ie people around will notice, and can cause a frost burn if you get it wrong.

 

[slepy]

OK, will see if someone can pop around and get the gas out at my home.

 

[Sulli79]

What's your chassis plans?

 

[slepy]

Not sure yet. It really depends on what I will be able to afford after sorting out all the issues. It will be a one thing at a time project. Will do some basic track prep first like brakes, oil cooler etc. and see how the car behaves and whats needed.

 

[Sulli79]

Cool, just my 2 pence but maybe look at alloy front uprights, reduce unsprung weight, and better spaced caliper bolt holes for future proof brake upgrade.

 

[Broken Byzan]

Tqs suspension is rubbish at best. The bushes will be tired. You Could do worse than replacing the bushes on the rear and arms on the front to match the alli uprights .

 

[slepy]

If I get uprights from S4, would I need to upgrade calipers at the same time? Cotrol arms are different as well? Did all S4's have aluminium ones? I was thinking about going cayenne caliper in the future which is easier with s4 uprights but that means wheel upgrade to 18" as well at the same time. With different uprights, does the shock from tqs fit? I will be definitely looking for a S4 breaking to replace the rusty tqs ones.

 

[slepy]

Or B6 uprights?

 

[Broken Byzan]

B6 or b7 alloy one s with matching arms. The shocks will swap. S4 uprights are as heavy as the moon and the same spacing as the b6 variety

 

[slepy]

OK cool. Does it have to be from a quattro or any?
Should I get them together with calipers and use b6 brakes for the time being?
What would be reasonable to pay for a set?

 

[Broken Byzan]

Scott has a set for sale. And yes you'll need matching calipers for the uprights. Std or otherwise. I paid 60 a side iirc

 

[slepy]

Ok. MOT and good service first then upgrades. Will try to sort out the rust and water issue later today, if it doesn't rain.

 

[banditbarron]

Hey i'm glad its getting the love and attention it deserves. I only wish i had the time to of done it myself but as it sat on my lawn for 14 months its pretty obvious it was never going to happen.

I'm shocked at the rust under the battery though. I've had the battery out before and never noticed it, however i wasn't exactly looking lol

The bucket seat i showed you has sold now but still have the FK highsports for it if you need them down the line just drop me a text.

 

[slepy]

Yeah, you cant see the rust unless you take the battery mount out. Hopefully I will get it sorted.

 

[slepy]

Finished work late so had literally an hour to work on the car before it got too dark to
see where the rust is and were isn't.
Plus I spent half an hour trying to find my wiper removal tool.
It disappeared after last house move so will need to get new one to remove the ECU.
Managed to remove the AC pipes. For the moment, just cut them where they go down under the wheel arch.
Will need to work out some kind of plugs to blank off the holes at the flange were the pipes were going in.


Have Thursday off so will be fighting with the rust. It will take a while I think.
Just worries me a bit that under the brake servo will be the same but can't access it really.

 

[michaelg1001]

looking forward to seeing this develop!

I've got a FL B5 S4 for parts sitting in my back garden waiting to be broken up. I'm based in Sheffield too so if there's any bits you might need give me a shout.

To save weight you could get rid of those xenons...

 

[slepy]

Haha. I know I could but they are nice so think will stay What color s4 is it?

 

[slepy]

Guys.Whats this small pipe for? It comes up just next to brake servo near battery. Not connected ro anything in the car. Is it the one that goes to the battery itself?

 

[slepy]

And question number two. If there was no pollen filter in the car,would the water go straight inside because of that?

 

[Sulli79]

Yeah that's the battery vent tube,
And it shouldn't matter if there is an actual filter element or not, I think the problem is poorly fitted covers.

 

[Broken Byzan]

the water came in from under my pollen filter housing. So regardless if filter fitted it would have got in.

If you remove the filter etc and block it up, you may lose the efficiency of the heater de mister

 

[slepy]

My battery doesn't have the hole for the tube. Does it matter?
I took the filter housing out cleaned all the rubbish from underneath and the rubber seal and put it back on. Is it a good idea to silicone it between the chassis and housing to make it is sealed properly?

 

[Broken Byzan]

My battery doesn't have the hole for the tube. Does it matter?
I took the filter housing out cleaned all the rubbish from underneath and the rubber seal and put it back on. Is it a good idea to silicone it between the chassis and housing to make it is sealed properly?

I had to seal mine. But my seal had split. Most batteries are sealed now a days. I'd not worry

 

[aragorn]

theres a little gutter piece that sits on top of the pollen filter. This must be fitted, if not water will pour off the windscreen and streight inside the car.

 

[slepy]

Yeah it is on. Will get dome silicone or smthn and get it sealed just in case. It looks like i need the top part though because it is in a bad condition.

 

[michaelg1001]

Haha. I know I could but they are nice so think will stay What color s4 is it?

It's Nogaro blue! the best colour! (apparently...)

 

[slepy]

It's Nogaro blue! the best colour! (apparently...)

Next best after silver

Day off today so had some time to work on the rust.
Took me 4 hours with various metal brushes, sand paper and hammerite rust remover to get it to how I wanted.
Had to run to halfords to get some primer. When got home it started raining so I had to come up with something creative.


Two coats of primer later


Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow after work so that I spray it and move on to another thing.

I was looking at buying tyres. Will need them for the mot and would be good to have them before I start
alloy refurb. That's if it is possible to refurb them. Awful state, loads of oxydation so need to go to bare metal.
Not sure if I should go GY F1 Assy2 or maybe cheap semi slick option of Nankang NS2R.
Nankang seems to get mixed reviews and a set would be £50 more expensive than the F1's.
I've had F1's on leon before and now on civic as well and it is a great tyre. But is it good enough for the track?
Also, tyres on the car are 225/45/17. Shouldn't it be 215/45/17?

 

[aragorn]

225 45 r17 is the standard fit tyre.

I would suggest you get a proper track tyre if your buying new rubber.

I've stuck some part worn road tyres on mine, mainly because i had them already.

 

[slepy]

Good as R888? Budget wise I think it would be an overkill at the moment with standard power and not much done to the suspension. I think I will give nankangs a go. See what they are worth. If i do first 3 trackdays on them I will be happy and then see if anything better is needed. It will take some time before I get this car on the road because I need to sell civic first and get smthn economical.

 

[michaelg1001]

Next best after silver

Agreed! This is mine...