My S2 coupe bit of a rebuild and repair thread.

[hashluck]

I am the delighted new owner of this car, thank you Lee. Drove it 5 hours home from Darlington. A few jobs to do but could be used straight away as a daily (which is my eventual intention). More to come from me on a new thread soon.

[B5NUT]

Well another year and a clean pass on the MOT.
Screenshot 2024-05-21 160613.jpg

However this post is going to be difficult to write! While on holiday I had a rethink about life in general and have come to painful decision that I'm going to sell the S2. If it was in a garage then I think I would keep it however it's not and my projects for the next 2 years are to work on the house and complete the paint job on the A4 as it's a much bigger job than I first figured. I would like to keep the car but I just won't have the time to drive or look after it. I'm also getting sick of having to wash it before the cover goes on and if I keep using the cover I it's going to damage the paint at some point, and I don't like leaving the car in the rain or the the sun (not that we get much of the sun)..

So I'll be putting a sales ad for the car and a separate advert of all the spare I've got for it. It will be sad to see it go and I know I going to take a bit of a hit on the price as I would love to get £25K for it but I think in the current market I'll be looking around the £20K mark.

I would like to thank the members on here for all the help over the last 3 years and I'll still be around with project updates on my A4

[Tractor Dave]

Nice work.
Try soaking the old seal in wd40 for a few weeks. It causes the rubber to swell slightly.

[B5NUT]

With the weather over the last few months being very poor I've not been using the car much. I also knew I had a water leaking in somewhere from the passenger side. However it turned out I had two water leaks on the passenger side.

First water leak was dripping down from under the glovebox, so I figured it had to be the seal around the airbox. however it turned out it was the plastic trim cover that sits at the bottom of the windscreen. These trims on my car are not in the best of condition they are a little warped after 30 years I should have got new ones from tradition when they were available but now they are all sold out

So I knew it was the trims that were at fault due to the pollen filter being wet. They have a similar setup on the B5 A4 but for that Audi created a rain channel that goes over the filer to catch any water drips, unfortunately the B5 one won't fit the coupe as the bottom of the screen is too close to the filter. So I set about making my own.

1-rain.png

It's curved upwards behind the screen and I put a foam strip along the edge, just in case it starts to rub against the paintwork, and stop any drips coming over the lip.
2-rain.jpg

To fit it did not have to modify the airbox, it clamps on one side and there is a screw hole on the other to hold it in place. It's a bit rough around the edges but it does the job, and you are never going to see it except when you remove the cover. I've wash the car and left it out in the rain one day and the filter was dry. So first leak sorted.

Second leak I thought was was coming from the sunroof, as I was getting water coming down the side of the dash. however after checking the drain holes and opening up the sunroof and pouring water around the frame there was no leaking and it was just coming out the drain tubes at the side of the car.

So next was to check the door seal, so after spraying the door with the hose pipe sure enough there was a little puddle of water on the carpet and the when I removed the seal I could see water on the A pillar trim. So water was getting in there and running down the A pillar trim then down the side of the dash and onto the carpet.
3-water.png
Thankfully I had a spare seal however, it would appear the hand of bodge had also attacked this side of the car, the same as the drivers side. There were missing rivets, half drilled out rivets and screws holding holding the roof channel trim guide in place. I know this car has had a full glass out respray in it's life and they did a very good job paint, but whoever rebuilt the car afterwards did a very poor job!
4-rivit..jpg

So the replacement seal was fitted which was a complete pain in the backside to fit for the upper section.
5-seal.jpg

After testing with a hose pipe there were no more leaks.

The question is could the faulty seal be saved. I can see there is a channel running all the way along the top of the seal. I'm wondering if I could run down some rubber tubing to pack it out a little and provide a better seal between the rubber & glass? As the condition of the seal is very good it just gone a little flat when the glass pushes against the seal.

This is the hole that runs all the way along the top of the seal
6-seal.jpg

[steve briance]

Thankyou.

100% agree re nitromors - you might as well lick the paint off for what good the product is.

I used 3M High Strength 90 spray adhesive on a different car recently. I trust 3M products more than others and habe high hopes this headliner will last more tjaba few years.

My other favourite is VHB double sided tapes - a reliable substitute for holding a rubber seal on a stainless trim, one that the factory decided to use nasty metal clips on that ultimately damaged the paint where they grip and
Lead to rust. (its an old saab)

[B5NUT]

Here is the link to the data sheet on the tape. https://docs.rs-online.com/d2a1/A700000009542293.pdf It does appear to have a lot of commercial usage and capable of handling high summer temperatures and humidity. It was one of the reasons I went for it.

What I don't trust these days is general of the shelf products that the likes of B&Q sell, with all the laws on substances these days most of the chemicals that made the product work have been removed, with nitromors paint stripper being a prime example. However I also believe the Evo-Stick contact adhesive has also been changed and don't think it's it's as good as it used to be.

[steve briance]

I wonder how it would perform on headlining material?...

My headlining is sagging again after 5 or 6 years and use of high temp adhesive. I can't recall the exact stuff i used but its dissapointing its dropped again.

[K Simmonds]

Well, that's very good of you... I could do with enough to sort out the front door cards on my RS2 which is a job I need to get out of the way sooner rather than later as if the foam gets on the seats its a real sod to get off. When I do the the headlining I'm going to remove the seats entirly as it doesn't take long and prevents any contanmination, I'll also open all the doors. At the moment the covering is held up with dozens of drawing pins but it's ready to really make a mess if disturbed. But as I have to use the doors I'll do them now if poss, do you reckon you've got enough left for the pair?

[B5NUT]

I you need some of this stuff let me know, I still have plenty left.

[K Simmonds]

That 3M tape is a really good find, should make the job much easier. I'll see if I can get a half roll at trade price as it's expensive but being able to do it in stages is much more sensible then trying to get it on in one hit. The ones on the front doors of my RS2 are going to need doing and I'll use this method, save's getting in flap with spray adhesive.

I hate recovering door cards, the old foam and glue is always a pain to remove, we use panel wipe at work, not quite as aggresive as thinners but it does the job.

[B5NUT]

For the role from RS is was £70 so not cheap, however there are suppliers that sell it in smaller rolls. I've got a fair amount left if anyone want to buy some.

[s2driveruk]

That is a good find, how much was a roll of tape?

[B5NUT]

I really struggled, once the adhesive started to go off and grab every time it touched the door card it just ripped the foam. Having part of the armrest in the way made it a lot worse, if that was not there it could have been easier.

[Fat Audi 80]

Been away for the forum for a couple of months, just talking a break really. Was finding I was spending far too much time on all the Audi forums I was a member of, so have unsubscribed from a few. Also sold the TT a week ago! My wife changed jobs and now walks to work so having three car on the drive going nowhere each day just made no sense. So the TT had to go, It will be missed as it was cracking car and would have another one again.

As for the S2 it's running well, however due to the weather this year it's not had much use. Took it to Scotland for a few days on a family holiday which was nice and it never missed a beat. Been a cheap year for the S2 so far, £100 on the brake BOM and a few quid on bulbs, seals and service parts so around the £200 mark.

Other job this year was the door cars. The leatherette had stated to come away and the foam started to fall out over the arm rests. I purchased to 2mm scrim foam from local trimmers and set about the job. First job was dismantling the door card. Worst job was the door pocket, the melted posts that hold the pocket on were all over the place (must have been a Friday afternoon special at the factory) and were a sod to grind away. The metal clips were not too bad to get off. Found a tool that was able to get in behind the clips and remove them in one piece.
1-clip.jpg

Removing the old glue was the awful job, from what I have read some members were able to peal the old glue away however on my car after scraping the old foam away the only way of removing the old glue was thinners.
card1.jpg

After a few minutes with thinners.
2-card.jpg

The leatherette after scraping and cleaning the glue off. Also need to see how that moisture is getting in to the lower section.
3-card.jpg

It was at this point it all went to hell. I was able to glue the foam to the leatherette Ok using contact spray adhesive, however when trying to glue the foam/leatherette back to the door car it all went so badly, the contact adhesive just gripped to quickly and no mater how hard I tried I just could not get it aligned without a section grabbing to the door card and starting to rip the foam as the glue was setting.

So I gave up and had a think for a few days. I had a think about how people were able to peal their glue off so had a look at double sided tape options, and I came across this 3M product 3M GPT -020F Clear Double Sided Plastic Tape, and it comes in nice wide 100mm strips.
5-card.jpg

This made alignment far easier as you can get it all aligned then peal the backing back one strip at a time.
4-card.jpg

I forgot to take some picture of the final finish but it looks a 100% better than the leatherette pealing away from the cards. Job for next year will be replacing the headlining as it's coming away around the passenger sun visor, but it's only noticeable when the sun visor is down.

Thanks for this. I have already completed this job on my drivers door using contact adhesive and it worked pretty well. Good to know there is "tape" alternative...

[B5NUT]

Been away for the forum for a couple of months, just talking a break really. Was finding I was spending far too much time on all the Audi forums I was a member of, so have unsubscribed from a few. Also sold the TT a week ago! My wife changed jobs and now walks to work so having three car on the drive going nowhere each day just made no sense. So the TT had to go, It will be missed as it was cracking car and would have another one again.

As for the S2 it's running well, however due to the weather this year it's not had much use. Took it to Scotland for a few days on a family holiday which was nice and it never missed a beat. Been a cheap year for the S2 so far, £100 on the brake BOM and a few quid on bulbs, seals and service parts so around the £200 mark.

Other job this year was the door cars. The leatherette had stated to come away and the foam started to fall out over the arm rests. I purchased to 2mm scrim foam from local trimmers and set about the job. First job was dismantling the door card. Worst job was the door pocket, the melted posts that hold the pocket on were all over the place (must have been a Friday afternoon special at the factory) and were a sod to grind away. The metal clips were not too bad to get off. Found a tool that was able to get in behind the clips and remove them in one piece.
1-clip.jpg

Removing the old glue was the awful job, from what I have read some members were able to peal the old glue away however on my car after scraping the old foam away the only way of removing the old glue was thinners.
card1.jpg

After a few minutes with thinners.
2-card.jpg

The leatherette after scraping and cleaning the glue off. Also need to see how that moisture is getting in to the lower section.
3-card.jpg

It was at this point it all went to hell. I was able to glue the foam to the leatherette Ok using contact spray adhesive, however when trying to glue the foam/leatherette back to the door car it all went so badly, the contact adhesive just gripped to quickly and no mater how hard I tried I just could not get it aligned without a section grabbing to the door card and starting to rip the foam as the glue was setting.

So I gave up and had a think for a few days. I had a think about how people were able to peal their glue off so had a look at double sided tape options, and I came across this 3M product 3M GPT -020F Clear Double Sided Plastic Tape, and it comes in nice wide 100mm strips.
5-card.jpg

This made alignment far easier as you can get it all aligned then peal the backing back one strip at a time.
4-card.jpg

I forgot to take some picture of the final finish but it looks a 100% better than the leatherette pealing away from the cards. Job for next year will be replacing the headlining as it's coming away around the passenger sun visor, but it's only noticeable when the sun visor is down.