Pearl white coupe revival

[ottawa coupe]

Aaaannnnnnd of course i have the wrong flywheel bolts..... so no final mating of box and engine.

I may be in for some drama for the ecu. Dropped it off yesterday, the outfit that did the flash has evidence of it working and communicating post flash. I have to go to the shop today and work with them to show what is going on. Only thing i can think of at the moment is that the canbus wires need to be connected to the obd connector, even though the wiring diagrams do not reflect this at all....

It's a bit messy in that the shop is local but apparently the tuner is in freakin british columbia.....a solid 5000kms and 3 time zones away....i thought the shop did it on site...

I need to do it today as the guy that deals with this is away tomorrow till march....good thing i don't have to, you know, WORK or anything....

EDIT: Oh ffs. 1s and 0s can suck it. I decided to investigate further and test with my racecar's spare ecu (med 9.1) and my actual racecar. Both produced the same comms error. At this point, it was apparent the issue lay somewhere else. Reinstalled vcds and voila. Took a quick trip out to the shop and tried again on the v8 ecu and yep, no issues. So weird as vcds worked just fine last summer on my racecar.

crisis averted and i can move fwd again....

[ottawa coupe]

Right, $200 later for new bolts (they spec 1 time use and i didn't feel like risking it?) and gaskets for the bloody 1 tooth cam error and we're back to this now.

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About the only thing left to purchase for the engine now is oil and filter. I have a sneaking suspicion though that i am not outta the woods yet when it comes to helicoils. I have had to clean up the big threads that mate to the trans but they admittedly don't look great. The guy who did the manual swap into the donor s8 seems to have been a bit of a gorrila. Gonna get this beast on to my work bench and see what i can see. I am going to the shop that did the ecu on monday as well as get my shortened propshaft. I am cautiously optimistic and i am closing in on the final bits of cuttibg and welding and just making things fit???

[ottawa coupe]

Timed up and the greasy bits put together. I've not fully torqued the crank bolt but i don't think 200nm +180⁰ is a great idea for just the locking pin to resist? I think that's something best left to when the car is on the ground, put in 6th and brakes jammed on?

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I want to clean up the intake some more and i am missing one flapper link but at that point, i think it's done.


Edit: %%#@$%&*&^% 1 cam is 1 tooth off. Back apart it comes

[ottawa coupe]

The engine's gettin bigger. Cams and crank are locked, will tension the belt tomorrow. The parts boxes are getting emptier....

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[ottawa coupe]

Well, it took FAR longer with FAR more frustration than 9 waterpump bolts should give, but i got the water pump and t-stat in. A total of 7 helicoils...and one broken tap lol.

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That frustration led to to working on the accessories instead of the trickier timing task. Of course with the theme of things, that is no good either. The 4.2 alternator is locked up and upon inspection, the case is cracked.

20260113_175306.jpg Luckily, i kept the v6 alternator and it is the the same size physically as the 4.2. The only difference is 120a vs 150 and the pulley is smaller on the 4.2. Those 30 missing amps shpuldn't be a problem as it won't be powering all those s8 luxuries. I'm Having a hard time getting the pulley off the 4.2 unit but that should be sorted tonight. Also using the v6 ps pump as i rebuilt is and i dunno if it rus at a different pressure that the coupe/cabby rack doesn't like.

I am going to sort the alternator and then hang all the accessories, clean the snot outta my work bench and then FINALLY deal with timing and button this thing up.

[Car_Lover_123]

(*^%&*&%^&. amazon fails me. kit arrived but bulbs are wrong. i hafta wait a week for correct ones. at least i hope they will be correct

Hi, I read your comment and I totally understand what you mean about not having gone through the fine print yet (been there way too many times myself). Honestly, if the projector doesn’t have a proper ground point or a suitable mounting for the bulb, that can actually be risky. There are some decent xenon replacement options here: https://www.autodoc.co.uk/s/h1-xenon-bulb

Long story short, cheap bulbs from Amazon might work a little bit.

[ottawa coupe]

Not much progress this weekend unfortuately. Got the cooling pipes all put on but once again, the water pump may have gotten me. I got it on and bolted down but i think one of the screws has juuuust started to go righty loosey. Took me a while to dig thru my stuff last night but i did find my m6 helicoils. I think it's best i sort it now while i wait for a few parts stragglers to arrive from europe. Will deal with that tonight and by wednesday i should have everything needed for timing.

And cross your fingers that i get somewhere with the shop that dealt with my ecu today....

[ottawa coupe]

Got a wiggle on last night and got the heads on and torqued. Mainly to close up the cylinders and ensure they remain as undamaged as they are. Took over an hour tonight to get 3 broken water pump bolts out. 2 cracked off with the first welded nut. The last one though..... it was not fun. Unfortunately i have damaged the mating surface at that hole and diminished the sealing area by about half. I am not certain what the best solution will be. I am wondering if i get artsy with jb weld to support the area. As it is, i am thinking i will put a stud in there that goes much deeper than the original bolt. Stupid dissimilar metals in a corrosive environment...... Also plugged the SAI holes which was super easy in the end as the holes were the correct size for m12 plugs right off the bat....finally something easy lol. Pausing here as i realise i haven't cleaned and painted various steel bits. As well as waiting for parts i forgot to order lol

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[ottawa coupe]

Something seems a bit off with the passenger headlight? I think the bumper surround is not straight either. Is there a document out there for dimensions i can refer to and see if things have gotten bent?

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[ottawa coupe]

While i know i am jinxing it, i'll say it anyways... i think i can put the welder away.... finished up detail work on the front subframe and radiator support. That said i am sure i'll find more later. Big cleanup to do, then a test fit of all the panels. I have a suspicion things have moved due to all the welding. I need to figure out what is warpage and what is 1980s-tastic panel fitment. Once that's sorted and everything cleaned, i'll unwrap the engine and get on with that refresh.

[ottawa coupe]

Not aimed and the mounting is not as solid as i would want yet but.

20251231_192028.jpg i don't need no stinkin rs2 lights thats for sure!

[ottawa coupe]

Maybe?? I dunno, i had to get the immo deleted for the 3.6 vr6 i put into my racecar. Same shop as well.

I built up a standalone harness to eliminate the mess on my table as the cause and no change. Vcds cable indicates all is well but no comms.

The shop that did the work is away for a coupla weeks yet so i will have to wait to see what they do. However there's a guy down in pennsylvania who specializes in modifying the ecus for manual swaps. I intended to get him connected to my ecu remotely to do that work once the immo was sorted. I spoke to him about his ability to resurrect mine if i sent it to him as a backup plan. He informed me he can just supply me a modified unit for a not absurd price. I wish i had known that previously as i woulda just bought from him.

We'll see how it shakes out with the shop here and if all else fails, will buy from him.

In the meantime, i am working on cleaning up a few details in the engine bay and subframe before i unwrap all my engine bits.

I found a 3.89 rear diff for my s6 so i may yet use it's 01e in this as i am not entirely satisfied with my mount for the 02x but the 01e mounting may screw up my exhaust plan. Once i have the engine back together i'll give it a closer look.

[david1980]

a6 v8 from i believe around 2000 time didn't have immobilizers. I've seen people doing conversions into A4's and it is 5 wires to get the engine running.

[ottawa coupe]

I continue my ride on the struggle bus....

Tried to power up the harness this morning. No magic smoke but almost as frustrating, no activity from the ecu side of the equation.

And them my multimeter died.

The beatings will continue until morale improves....

Edit: had one wire wrong on my relay board, ground instead of positive. The ecu is awake, no smoke anywhere. Vcds cable blinking green and vcds comms test is positive, but no comms with ecu....

edit edit: google suggests the ecu got bricked as a result of improper immo defeat....fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

[ottawa coupe]

(*^%&*&%^&. amazon fails me. kit arrived but bulbs are wrong. i hafta wait a week for correct ones. at least i hope they will be correct