2.8 V6 Cabby

[gripper]

That looks bloody gorgeous Lee
Did you use some kind of filter to take the night time pic ?
Reason I ask is because it looks a completely different colour (to me any way), looks like a mauve/purplish tint.

Congratulations on persevering with the wheels, car looks stunning mate

[1781cc]

Where did you find the little side "audi" logo emblems? And how did you replaced it? I think you should stick a flathead screwdriver between it and the plastic to pop it off?

The badges are still available from Audi here, there appear to be two types, ones that bolt through the wing and are a PITA, the others stick on (mine are this type thankfully!)

Its as simple as a flathead like you said - makes a huge difference with nice badges.

Did you use some kind of filter to take the night time pic ?
Reason I ask is because it looks a completely different colour (to me any way), looks like a mauve/purplish tint.

Its just the colour cast from the temperature of the overhead lights in the station car park, but I see what you mean about the tint, I look at her everyday now and smile, feel like she is nearly there, some more things to come though :-)

[1781cc]

OK, the car has been off the road for July as I work on making her look good for AITP, this is what has been happening...

The roof was pretty faded, granted this photo was taken on a dusty day, but you get the idea!




So after a bit of research I get about recolouring it with Renovo black, worked a treat, but a word of note, a 500ml bottle will just do a single coat on a roof, it will make everything uniform but where there are crease marks from the metal frame folding into the roof, it can't take away the almost shiny indentations from the fabric, still looks a million times better though!






Next on the list was to put the car onto axle stands and get the wheels sent off to Pristine in Milton Keynes for a full refurb. I had them refurb the wheels last year, but the problem being that they were diamond turned edges and we have had all the roads up here resurfaced, stone chips galore mash into the diamond, water gets in the seal and you have that crazed effect, it looks awful, so after speaking to Parv there we decided on Silver Sparkle for the whole wheel and to do away with the diamond turn for longevity - I get these back tomorrow.



While the car was in the air, I took the time to adjust all the suspension height, dropping it a little more, only by 4mm all round, I don't want this to sit like a low rider, but I felt there was a little more give available given the recent tyre change, I also decided to paint all the callipers Smooth Red, not sure I mentioned this before, but she's running Girling 60 twin pots at the front :-)







Next up was a spot of interior fettling, I was never happy with the drivers ABY front seat condition, it had some serious cracks in the back bolsters, there was a small hole in the bottom right bolster and one of the panels had a small tear in the crease panel (the ribbed ones), so I took the seat down to Furniture Clinic in Leighton Buzzard and Bob sorted out the seat repairs, trimmed in a new squab panel, filled and smoothed the leather and sprayed up, I forgot to take pics of the seat before, but the after speaks for itself:







Front numberplate was looking ropey, so put a pressed plate on her, then turned my attentions to the front grille, it was looking a little tired, so sourced a Kamei grille and with a spare grille took the rings off to run a test fit, the rings were a little faded so I have a new set of MK1 TT rings coming (slightly better shape) and will be here tomorrow. In the meantime, test fit looked good, but not 100% sure I am sold on the front grille, anyway...





Bumper... I almost forgot to take a pic of the front lower black plastics before I set about masking and spraying stain black to tidy the front up and match the back:





Some final other bits... sourced new seat sliders and replaced two heater knobs as they were scratched



Treated all the door cards and rear seats/passenger seat to Autoglym leather cleaner, furniture clinic black leather redye and leather treatment

[1781cc]

Forgot to mention, once the Roof had dried from the Renovo, I completely resealed the roof twice with a really cool product called Fabsil, its used for resealing tents and works very well on cabriolet roofs, if you have one, I highly recommend it, it leaves impressive beading after the rain as well :-)

[Yaz]

This is really impressive Lee, nice one

I will certainly take some notes for my own cab as the roof on mine needs an overhaul too.
I'll look out for you at AITP this Sunday.

Yaz

[Vorsprung durch Technik]

You've done a stunning job Lee getting her ready for AITP , she's looking way better than my S6 will for Sunday.

[Yaz]

See you there Mark!

[Vorsprung durch Technik]

Look forward to it Yaz.

[1781cc]

more updates...

wheels were ready early, so I popped down to pick them up (that was hairy picking them up in the TT, its essentially a 2 + Mars Bar on the rear bench car anyway...)



I think I made the right choice with silver sparkle and no diamond, looks killer!





Hands off those with sticky fingers...



New locking wheel nuts, to go with the existing ones I already have, maybe overkill but i've spent too much money on these to have them go walkabout!

Just needs a good clean, polish and dressing on Saturday, then good to go...

[1781cc]

oh well... the cabriolet has gone and a coupe is now in its place for winter...

[Klobsters]

You really should clean the brake dust off the rims before the clear coat is ruined (and change the pads so it doesn't happen all the time).
But damn these hardtops for cabbies are awesome...

[1781cc]

i clean the wheels weekly mate, just didn't for this shot, usually with Iron X

I run EBC Red Stuff pads so brake dust is a common problem

[quattrostyle]

I'm not sure if it looks even better with the hardtop on, but it sure looks great.

[Klobsters]

Ah, I see. Had no idea since the Redstuff are advertised as giving off very little brake dust... Then just keep going and good luck with the great car

[1781cc]

One thing I have learnt over the last year is that EBC lie about what their products can do! I will do DS2500 next time as I am running UR quattro front callipers so won't be a problem getting sizes