S2 Restoration Options.

[Gompa]

christ that looks like its been through a flood or something.
i say go for it, its only welding and you can learn that along the way worst that can happen is you dont finish it and part it out. no massive loss to your pocket but if you finish it its another string to your bow

[Twenny Benson]

Its not looking great hey, it looks worse because of all the adhesive the sound deadening left behind, i have cleaned most of this off now.

I'm 100% certain this is badly assembled/sealed accident damage that has allowed the water into the sill section which has slowly eaten into the floorpan, I can only imagine the sill will be ******ed as well, Still can't think how water gets inside the sill though? theres nowt obvious.

Its not the welding that scares me, more the financial burden these projects bring. I'm going to start cutting at the weekend and see what I'm up against! I'm going to see how easy I can weld the patches in with TIG as thats all I have, if needs be I'm sure i can stretch to a cheap MIG set.

[andy10v]

Water in footwells is relatively common, search and there are a few threads that cover it fully.

Off the top of my head

Sunroof drains
bonnet cable grommet
fuse box seal
check scuttle drains (normally blocked with leaves)
cheak scuttle has no cracks
windows/window seals-frameless windows can suck

[Twenny Benson]

Thanks dude, I will go and check them out. If I draw a blank I will do some searching.

Also anyone know what thickness steel to be ordering to fabricate these patches?

[macspring]

Not one to harp, not half, but I'd say, cut your losses and let your head/pocket rule your head and drive the A4 for now and wait till you can afford a better ABY S2 that you can drive straight away and which will have a lot less niggles.

This view is only from my prospective, but the current S2 seems like a lot of preventable heartache when you can buy a much better Coupe/Avant for less outlay/time in the long run.

I'm sure this post will not help you.

Best wishes nonetheless.

[Fat Audi 80]

I agree with the above. I would seriously consider breaking it to cut or cover your losses. That looks like a whole world of pain to me.

Cheers,

Steve

[Twenny Benson]

Not one to harp, not half, but I'd say, cut your losses and let your head/pocket rule your head and drive the A4 for now and wait till you can afford a better ABY S2 that you can drive straight away and which will have a lot less niggles.

This view is only from my prospective, but the current S2 seems like a lot of preventable heartache when you can buy a much better Coupe/Avant for less outlay/time in the long run.

I'm sure this post will not help you.

Best wishes nonetheless.

Harp on? Is that not the point of a forum or more importantly the thread? I was purely updating the state of my S2 in the hope some fellow S2 owners could shed some light on the problems I've encountered and possible routes to repair, and thank you to those that have. I do apologies if this thread has come across as harping on! It is quite disheartening to find some much corrosion on a galzanised car, was alot worse than I had anticipated.

The plan is now to repair the car to the best of my ability, its more hours than cost me thinks. The turning point was finding two wings & two rear quarter panels rust free for less than £150 the lot! Result. Steel is on order as are the spot weld drill bits, This weekend I will start cutting out the rot and fabricating the patches, now I just need to find the source of the water leak into the sill section. I will continue to update if its of interest? I would hate to take the time to post pictures etc if its just waffling on!

[Nuvo]

I think David was referring to to himself as "harping on" rather than yourself. He's a big boy, I'm sure he will clarify that.

[Twenny Benson]

Oop's my bad!

[andy10v]

Keep posting. Even if people don't reply a lot of folk read.

You can learn lots trawling through projects, I know I have picked up a lot of little tips and ideas.

As far as your car goes if it was mine I would weld it up, make it presentable and beat on it, not worth the money to make it mint, in my opinion. The engine can be stuck in something else if the shell dies.

Whats the plan with the nos?

The borbets, you got any pictures with them on the car? And what width/ET are they?

[macspring]

Twenny,

I think David was referring to to himself as "harping on" rather than yourself. He's a big boy, I'm sure he will clarify that.

Nuvo was spot on, I was referring to myself, harping on at you, I was apologising in advance for "butting in" to your thread a couple of times with my tuppence, trying to funnel you into a particular course of action based on my own set of life experiences.

But I naturally accept that the unwilling recipient of my harping will more than likely make a different choice based on their own set of life experiences. lol.

Hope that clarifies the bussiness of me harping on.

Certainly not aimed at you, it's only by posting your thoughts on something and reading the replies, whether positive or negative, that you'll be in a better position to make a more inform decision.

"Big boy", yes especially round the waist, older yes, more mature, no.


"As far as your car goes if it was mine I would weld it up, make it presentable and beat on it, not worth the money to make it mint, in my opinion. The engine can be stuck in something else if the shell dies".

Andy's advice above is eminently sensible also.

Keep the photos coming, always good.

Kind regards.

[Twenny Benson]

Theres me jumping to conclucions again! My apologies David, im still new around here and haven't got to know you all yet

I like Andy10V's style, I think thats what im gonna go for, a lighter weight daily hack / track thing, make the best of it and like you say these motors are always welcome in another chassis once the tin worms all but done.

The wheels are 16" 7.5J ET30's they've really grown on me, at first i didnt like them at all. I think they are going to stay on the car as the 18's I have are alot lot heavier plus the tyres are cheaper. I've been tring to find some replacement centre caps for them but so far drawn a blank anyone got a good contact to try?

As for the NOS kit, i picked it up for almost nothing and thought why the hell not, I could use it as a push to pass set up on trackdays, but not sure yet.




I will update the thread or maybe start a project thread dare I say it, its always nice to have a diary of the progression even though it ain't gonna be car porn it is a project none the less.

[andy10v]

The wheels are 16" 7.5J ET30's they've really grown on me, at first i didnt like them at all. I think they are going to stay on the car as the 18's I have are alot lot heavier plus the tyres are cheaper. I've been tring to find some replacement centre caps for them but so far drawn a blank anyone got a good contact to try?

******** I was hoping to snaffle them if you put on the 18s. No idea on the centre caps, I just remember when I had borbet c on my 80 one lifted off, might be worth making sure the rest are secure.

As for the NOS kit, i picked it up for almost nothing and thought why the hell not, I could use it as a push to pass set up on trackdays, but not sure yet.

Just wondering, a mate has got a wet kit for sale cheap and I think it could be a laugh. Stick it in the tb hose and start with small jets and work up. Not seen anybody use it on an 20vt so curious how it would get on. Also want to know is it ok to just dump nos and fuel in on stock timing or will it go bang. Nogin has it on a 7a converted 80q which apparently keeps up with an aby on nos iirc.

My only thought so far is to get wideband, then monitor egt and afr, start with small jets and work up to 75-100bhp jets and a pub c02 bottle :mischeif:

At least it looks good!

[Twenny Benson]

Well Andy if I do change my mind on the wheels you can have first dibs on them, I do think they suit the car quite well. I might look into making some custom caps for them if I can't track any down.

As for the laughing gas, I think you are supposed to retard the timing a couple of degrees for every 50hp or so i think, but please don't quote me on that! Mine is a wet system also and if used I will weld a boss to the inlet hard pipe thingy i think, I need to give the engine a once over first though. I'm going to eventually pull it out and give it some attention! Christ listen to me, I can already see where this is going

[Twenny Benson]

At least it looks good!

Just caught that! Only from a distance, but blapping past it would look alright I guess, but im one of those that can only see the bad stuff in my cars