Pearl white coupe revival

[ottawa coupe]

Productive day yesterday, got the ecu wires extended and secured such they will make it to the fuse box and other chassis connections. I have the chassis wiring for the engine bay routed, i need to extend a few bits tho. The last 2 power connections look like they need shortening but i am not going to do that until i have sorted and tucked away the hornets nest of wiring by the fuse box. There's probably half a dozen connections i need to sort on that side too.

Fire test (battery connection) sometime this week.... 20260328_183051.jpg

[ottawa coupe]

I am gonna say the cooling system is now sorted. Did a pressure test this morning

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Arms got tired pumping so didn't get to 15psi. The couplers at the rad are leaking ever so slightly but that's most likely due to the fact the slots for the retaining clips need massaging as they are not sitting 100% right. I also have noticed that the o-rings for the aftermarket couplers off which mine are based use thicker rings than oe....but i am using oe right now cuz they are easier to install.... minor things to adjust.

and i got off my butt for electrical.... finished the positive terminal by the starter and extending the starter and alternator exciter wires. I have all my connectors now so no more excuses.

Happy tbpught re battery connections. Now that those are done, the car burni g to the ground is now an option....yaaaaay!

[ottawa coupe]

So, as called above, i havve been procrastinating and waking up my s6 as opposed to working on electrical lol.

But i did get my printed lower rad connection yesterday. Fits perfect and because no protrustion for the second port, provides more clearance to the alternator pulley. Hard to see but about 10mm clearance now.... miles of space lol

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[ottawa coupe]

Took the brave pill again (they still work!) And started throwing the electrical harnesses at it to see where i am for wire lengths. I think i'll be ok for the main ecu connections and the throttle pedal (if i ever get the damned connector delivered!) But the connections between ecu and the rest of the harnesses will need to be extended. Not a silly number of wires thankfully, but a task i'll likely procrastinate on nonetheless.

so many little things to deal with!

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[ottawa coupe]

Decided i needed a pick me up. Popped the rear coilovers on and rolled it outside.

Yes, still friggin snowing here....

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[ottawa coupe]

So, found a two things. The root of the issue and a backup solution.

The root cause is me (d'uh!!! Lol). I didn't realize the outer cvs needed to be swapped. That is doable with oem shafts. I got aftermarket axles because cheap and available and didn't know about the outers. Most aftermarket chinesium are not meant to be serviced, just replaced, so their splines and cvs are rarely interchangeable. An oem joint has a different spline and circlip arrangement.

So that's the trap i fell into.

I have found 1 oem axle on ebay, will see how it works out and then will find another. Because they are in europe (none found here), the axles are cheap but the shipping is many times the cost of the part. The one i bought is 15€ but 45€ shipping. The rest are 20€ and over 120€ shipping..... nla at audi new and even then, a tqd pricey at $1000 each

The worst case is that i have found a local shop that can make some for me.

the next worst part of all is that my shop is now an utter mess with greasy guts of cv joints everywhere and i am running out of rubber gloves lol

[ottawa coupe]

Great googly moogly it never ends...

Information i was given regarding front axles for an 02x in a b3 was incorrect. The advice was that axles from a c5 work. So i went and hopped on the trusty interwebs and purchased the pn i was provided and thought nothing more of it. Till 45 minutes ago. The outer CVs don't fit. The abs tone ring is too big and interferes on the knuckle.

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So after much searching of part numbers, i believe the only conclusion is i am going to have to weld up halfshafts that have the proper 02x inners with b3/4 outers. By chance i have half a dozen or so Urs axles that issam was just gonna throw away a coupla years ago. So cv boots aside, free.99.

The downside is i hate doing it. I did it without issue on my old racecar but that doesn't mean i liked doing it. I bet this time too that i will be dealing with different diameter shafts too.... fml....

It's either that or i go back to the original plan that i aborted with the 01e from my s6 because i couldn't find a read diff i needed for the tdi box. I have subsequently found a diff. But that would mean tearing into the s6 when i am just about to wake it up (and then have 2 intense projects at the same time), swapping boxes, and redoing everything i did for gearbox mounts, shift linkage and possibly exhaust. Oh ya, another propshaft because the 02x is longer than the 01e.

I realize there may be one other option. The $$ one. I am going to call the shop that did my propshaft. Maybe they can make me some axles with the right cvs....

Edit: nope, local shop doesn't do CVs anymore....

[ottawa coupe]

So, trigger wheel is in fedex's hands now thankfully. Ground studs welded and by tonight, i should have the positive terminal connection point under the dash sorted. O have a proper audi one for the engine bay on the way but otherwise, battery stuff done.

I am still not 100% happy with the brakes, i think there's air in the abs i gotta deal with? I've read something about doing that with vagcom but i've not flund a procedure. Just keep pressure bleeding?

trigger wheel due friday, hopefully not delayed....should that schedule hold, i think it'll be a roller once again this weekend and i won't need to get under it again till it's on my lift to sort the exhaust connections.

i think the only non electrical thing left is the lower rad connection, friday if things go exceptionally well but i think that's optimistic.

Then all the electrical connwctions.....

Edit: boo, got my fedex emails mixed up. Trigger wheel is next week....

[ottawa coupe]

Aaaaaaand another leak found. I thought the lower rad connection was water tight as i only had to weld a 3mm hole in. However now that everything else is sealed, the weakest link was indeed the the friggin afftected zone that got porous. No biggie, will try to braze it.

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So, back on to fusion to draw up the lower and then sending to craft cloud for printing. I noted that is has already gotten more expensive thanks to international developments and transport costs.... i get it next week tho.

On to electrical i guess.

Still no word on the trigger wheel.... i am getting less sympathetic to the reasons....

[ottawa coupe]

Oh ffs it's always just one more part.... cooling system airtight now EXCEPT the stupid o-ring for the stupid coolant temp sensor which i stupidly didn't order..... so hopefully the vw dealer has one tomorrow.




Got my bits together for the battery connections. 2awg welding ground cable for the positive lead. Picked up a crude but nifty tool for "crimping" the terminals onto the cables. Bonus, it's hammer operated so i get to get my frustrations over o-rings out lol. Produces a pretty good result i think.


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Just gotta pick up some stainless bolts for ground studs tomorrow and i should be able to knock the battery stuff out pretty quick.

[ottawa coupe]

Got up early today and got going.... the drivetrain is bolted in now. mechanically at this point the only things left are the front axles and a leaky coolant pipe (steel so caveman me can fix it lol). I don't need to get under it again now except for exhaust.

I filled the hydraulics and i have a good brake pedal but i have doubts about the clutch, it doesn't spring back all the way and i don't think it's an air issue. Perhaps the decade this car sat in a field didn't do the clutch master any favours. I probably have enough to get things working on the stands though.

The ps plumbing is gonna need a rethink if i want to get the ac drier mounted on the frame rail rail. As well, the lines need a heatshield as they get awfully close to the exhaust manifold.

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gettin somewhere though.

EDIT: which clutch master do i want? 893721401D or 8A0721401? are they the same piston size? part of me is wondering if the issue is an incompatibility between master from an 01A and slave from an 02X?

[ottawa coupe]

I went thru craftcloud

I feel i may be too optimistic when i say it, but the heavy fab is finished? I gotta do a buncha **** for battery connections and ac lines but other than that.....just electrons....

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[Alex20v]

Express delivery from china. 3 variants of my upper rad connection. Kinda wanna redesign the lower one now.

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looks nice!
Where did you order them?

[ottawa coupe]

I have thoughts on the matter but trying to keep a lid on it till i get my part

[david1980]

Normally he's quick with everything, I'm glad I got one a while ago, maybe at some point I'll actually use it.