The Start of my RS2 Improvements

[LGK6D]

Hi All,

I thought I'd start a new thread as over the next few months I'm going to give my RS2 a little restoration and freshen up. It's a relatively low mileage car, a lady bought it new and owned it until 2009 where it looks to have been traded in at an Audi dealership. It had been serviced every year around 6k miles a year and has had a relatively easy life and been well looked after. When I viewed the car I knew it'd need a few little cosmetic jobs sorting out, so knew what I was taking on. It was on the Swissvax stand at the classic car show at the NEC in 2010/11 if anyone remembers seeing it? Here it is the day I picked it up.



Since I've bought the car I've had it serviced with MRC a couple of times and had a new Milltek exhaust fitted by them. The original (18 years old) was starting to look a bit sorry for itself and I knew Milltek only had a handful left in stock, so thought it was a wise move. Other than that I've just washed it and waxed it.

I don't do many miles and so I use the car daily. It's super practical and bizarrely is the most sensible car I own!

I'm always very careful about where I park it, but just before Christmas some kind soul bumped the front bumper and did a runner. To say I was pretty upset was an understatement. It has prompted me to start the cosmetic work, and so we begin.

Can anyone guess (without looking further down!) guess what comes in a box like this:







And inside



Maybe one of the last brand new factory bumpers, who knows? The car is being repaired properly with no expense spared. I'm not the sort of person who cuts corners as will become evident as this thread grows. I've bought every single fitting and bracket the new bumper needs. There is also a small trace of filler in the front arches and a little rust in the wings where they joining the bumper (common I'm told) so as the front end is coming off I've decided to fit a pair of new front wings, arch liners, clips brackets and bolts. We've been over the whole car with a paint depth gauge and it's in amazingly original condition, so the work is being carried out carefully by one of the best Porsche restoration shops in the UK. It's not their usual kind of work and I had to lean on them to get involved. Thankfully I've known them a long time and they've fully restored the body of another car of mine, I know they'll do it properly which is why they're doing it. It's going in in the morning so here's a quick mock up:





They're going to sort my door mirror bases out while it's there and another couple of little chips and bits. I'll take a few shots tomorrow as the car goes in. Wish me luck, this is the start of a slippery slope. Just wait till you see the parts stash I'm assembling

[John B]

Oh dear another one to go down the slippery slope.....

That looks like a seriously well-cared for example of an RS2. I have a bumper like that waiting to go on in primer......mmmm

Mr Saltino will be watching

[rs2coupe]

Oh boy another concours build... love to see new parts. Don't you almost not want to paint it?! Nice RS

[4WheelDrifter]

Oh, I do like a nice RS Blue RS2.

I have a couple of big boxes like that at home. If you put a sheet of wood on top they make a good temporary worktop.

[Trist28]

Don't forget to drill holes for the indicators - Audi don't tell you they supply euro wings as UK ones NLA Nice motor BTW

[LGK6D]

Thanks for that, the indicators have been noted.

In my original post I also wanted to thank the continued support of Ben (S2Avant on here), who's local to me and has helped me source the parts I've needed. He knows these cars inside out, so life would certainly been harder without him. He won't read this because he's pretty busy at the moment, but hats off to you mate, thanks for all your hard work

[Golfboy666GTI]

Don't forget to drill holes for the indicators - Audi don't tell you they supply euro wings as UK ones NLA Nice motor BTW

Just for us here in NZ, none of our RS2's have indicators in the front guards

[bartolomeus]

Lovely car.
How much was the new bumper? Was the old one that damaged?

[LGK6D]

Hi All,

So we set off this morning at 6am in 3 inches of snow. We also took my good old A6 TDI workhorse/partshauler full with the new parts. The weather hasn't been kind today and I was starting to think we were dropping off the wrong car! With the underpinnings of these things like a group B rally car, it's no wonder they're so good in the bad weather. It's a 5 hour round trip from home to the bodyshop, but it'll be worth it once they've worked their magic.

A quick wash and dry ready, then we fully assessed and checked over what I wanted doing, ready for work to commence (hopefully) Monday. It's a good job it's still on its winter wheels and tyres, although I never did like the way they make the car look. Thankfully it'll probably be their last outing as they don't fit over the big brake kit, watch this space





I'd already taken the mirrors off (see my splitting RS2 mirrors post!), so that's one less thing for them to worry about. You can see the break in the bumper on these photos. I've been told it will weld and there's no pieces of plastic missing, so would be fairly straight forward for someone to repair. I didn't want the plastic weld coming back to haunt me further down the line and as these parts are getting scarce I think replacement is the best corse of action for this car at this point. To answer a number of PM's I've had, yes the bumper and wings will no doubt be for sale once the car is repaired. I'll take some close ups of the damage once it's off the car so you can see for yourselves. It'll be in for 2 - 3 weeks, but they've promised to send me photos of the progress which I'll keep adding to the post.

The current retail price of the bumper is £1388.59 plus VAT so is that £1666.31? I got a small discount on everything, but the order was still over £2k. There's prep & paint and it's not fitted yet either. Lets face it, these cars have never been cheap, not to buy new, not to run and not to maintain properly. At least the car and I both know where we stand I imagine it's even worse trying to make a bad one nice.

[Cottis]

Fair play, right attitude and approach with a car as stunning as this. Thanks for sharing, the quality and depth of the paint overall is superb on your car.

[bartolomeus]

OMG, 1500 GBP a bumper!!! You can buy an entire good car (not S2) with this money
I was asking you the price because somebody broke my S2's front bumper as well and the bumper was new around 500 GBP (the insurance paid). I was curious how much was a RS2 one.
It's a long way from 500 to 1500 GBP.

Good luck with the project! You set the standard very high, I like that!

[220bhp]

I see you have new inner wheelarch lineings,How much where they.Very nice car buy the way.Good luck with it

[Avantus]

Fair play on the bumper, that's insane how much they ask for it :O

Good job, keep it up... they are worth it!

[LGK6D]

Fair play on the bumper, that's insane how much they ask for it :O

I can only imagine what the asking price will be privately once Audi make it NLA. They wouldn't/couldn't tell me how many bumpers are left in factory stock. There was a fair bit of dust on the box, so I guess it's been there a while. You've got to get this stuff while you can, especially the front wings, they're good value for money. It's not worth the labour rate in refreshing the originals.

A friend told me that the Escort Cosworth boys have similar problems with parts becoming NLA. They clubbed together and bought the remaining stock from Ford, it's a good idea. It also means as a cooperative they can keep the parts sensibly priced. I'm quite involved with various Porsche things, you should see the costs of Porsche special bits like a 964RS front bumper or a 993RSR aero package

I see you have new inner wheelarch lineings,How much where they.Very nice car buy the way.Good luck with it

Arch liners were something like £16 each, it's a no brainer. I've coated them in something called Gibbs Brand oil (mega stuff) so nothing will ever stick to them.

[kinaputt]

Keep up the good work!