Pipe and Slippers needed

[s2_wot]

Looking good. I am ashamed at the current state of my avant, and I wish it was half as straight as yours.
Anyway that grille is a huge improvement. Are you missing the lower door trims or did you take them off for cleaning?

What are you going to do for brakes?

Likewise looking at your coupe makes me cringe at the state of mine. This avant is quickly turning into something it shouldn't have.

The lower trims were taken off by David for a tidy up. There is some rust formed just at the top of them. They're in the boot in a bag. I'm guessing they're covered in copperslip ( @ David if you read this).

Re the brakes. Step one is to get the pads changed. Fire + Fade isn't a good combination.

Then I've a bracket drawn to mount BMW e38 (I think) front brembo calipers on the front using a 323 or 314 disc but having difficulty getting them made (cheap + good). They should be pretty aggressive but I could meet a glitch yet and revert to 996's.

RS2 cooling ducts also have to be sourced.

Anyway here's a few shots from this evening. I'm very happy with the results of mt day

















One thing I'm determined to do with this car is keep it on the road.

[newsh]

Tidy!

[s2_wot]

Nice bit of beading there, it's parked on a slope so they kept forming into bigger ones. I must give it another coat sometime.



That's a nice find. Some high quality powdercoating done at the front end.



Then I checked the wheel fit of the S6plus 17" alloys. They are like a glove albeit a bit closer to the track rod end but they are clearing. 225/45 R17 tyres fitted. Now that the fit is confirmed I'll get 2 more tyres for those rims and she'll be good to go.

[mcandmar]

Looking smart Shane, amazing what a bit of elbow greese can do. And thanks for ditching that quattro badge on the front grill, was really bugging me

So have you robbed any more bits from the coupe, shame to have all those nice new parts sitting on a shelf

[s2_wot]

Looking smart Shane, amazing what a bit of elbow greese can do. And thanks for ditching that quattro badge on the front grill, was really bugging me

So have you robbed any more bits from the coupe, shame to have all those nice new parts sitting on a shelf

I have to admit the quattro badge wasn't ever going to last too long. I've new s2 badges here from Ken but undecided whether or not to fit them. There is a blister on the boot lid where the old badge was so that will need to be fixed in the 1st instance.

I fixed that small fuel leak you spotted. It was the banjo at the top of the fuel filter, no big deal but I had to read a couple of threads here to figure out what was what before I started. BTW a drop of petrol in my eye nearly reduced me to tears, and then being the buffoon that I am I banged my head getting out from under the car.



While I was checking wheels etc I decided to trial fit the winter rims I had on the barge. Thankfully I won't have to give them away just yet



Then I changed out the front brake pads for some 90% good mintex ones that I had on the coupe. Nothing special but they don't stink to the clouds when abused. My guess on the pads that were in it based on the smell of them was correct. Apec rubbish.



There's a Wagner exhaust manifold screaming "fit me to the avant" when I go to the shed. I need better lights and brakes tho', we'll see.

[irishs2]

Thats some really clean suspension you have there, Oh and do I sense a bit of wing treatment before it gets too bad

Steels would never clear 996 calipers would they?

[s2_wot]

It needs a tiny bit of paint on each of the following:

2 front wings
4 doors
boot lid
above windscreen
2 mirrors
front bumper where I lifted some paint with the pressure washer

I've yet to figure out how to go about it

They're 16" rims off an A4. I meant to try them on someone's car to confirm. I think with a 10mm spacer there'd be no problem but that definitely needs to be checked.

Fuel leak is worse than it was before we'll see what tomorrow brings

[mcandmar]

I found those alloy crush washers at the tank connection and fuel filter need to be very tight to seal. Easier said than done on an avant

[s2_wot]

On my 1st attempt yesterday I dropped down the filter and tightened the upper banjo and subsequently the lower banjo.

Then today I took it down again tightened it again and started t'he car with the filter hanging down and fuel spewed out of both banjos.

New filter and new crimp washers needed because when I checked the sealing surface at the top and bottom of the filter they were scored and marked. I guess I damaged them trying to tighten everything yesterday. I'll be glad to get that sorted out.

Removed the drivers seat and cut another notch into the height adjuster to let the seat down another bit. Every little helps.

Finally stripped the coupe rear subframe too. Very happy with that progress at last.

[s2_wot]

Fuel leak sorted. OEM filter + 4 crush washers €17.

The 4 washers that were on the car were the correct size but the filter was not identical to the OEM one.

In these pics of the aftermarket filter you can see little marks on the sealing surfaces which I believe were the culprits in the banjo up top not sealing correctly.





Compared to the OEM one which had a nice little machined flat surface for the washers to sit in place.









She's drip free now which is excellent.

I had a quick look through ETKA to see if the headlight reflective material is available as a spare part but alas it is not. More research needed to find a funky coating in the coming weeks. Before going for a headlight upgrade I want to get the lamps working as they should.

Oh I did wipe this surface with a cloth when I had the lenses off so all my own fault.

[mcandmar]

What brand was the filter that came out?

Thats annoying about the headlights, did you use any cleaner on them or did it just flake off when you wiped them?

[s2_wot]

New OEM on the left and the one I removed on the right. kengst I think it looks like. It's gone in the filter bin now anyway.



pita about the lights, I had given the section around the ellipsoid a wipe to clean it with kitchen paper and continued into the other section with the headlight. My own stupidity as it's written on here in numerous threads how fragile that surface is.

There is a company in Surrey that were linked on this forum previously offering vacuum metalising for about £80 a set, I sent them an email earlier. I can put this job down a bit further on the list as the lights in the coupe are perfect.

Glad to have sorted that fuel leak. That filter is relatively easy to change once you have discarded with the daft locking mechanism on the holder.

Still holding onto boost but I've decided if it leaks it's getting a wagner intercooler

EDIT:

Link to that vmc company:

http://www.vmclimited.co.uk/gallery.php

[s2_wot]

Still holding onto boost but I've decided if it leaks it's getting a wagner intercooler

Boost leak has paid a visit after 300 miles homefried.

I'm going to change out the recirc valve, failing that it's samco + wagner time.

[mcandmar]

Its fun isnt it testing out those seat belt tensioners

Worth checking the IC to cross member seal first, not sure if David fitted a reducer piece to it or not. If you need a lend of the boost test kit i have one here..

[s2_wot]

Leak fixed for the time being. I just tightened hell out of all the clamps I could see and removed the recirc valve checked it and put it back in. I'm sure I'll get to test the tensioners again but for the moment all is well.

I will borrow that tester at some stage Mark, thanks