Pearl white coupe revival

[ottawa coupe]

Gearbox is a lot less slimey now.

20240309_172206.jpg Took a few mins this evening before it got too dark... goal for the week will be get the engine, hood, fenders and doors off.

The engine is a greasy ball too of course so that'll need a cleaning before i touch it much lol

20240310_185929.jpg everything is coming off the cabby well which is nice.

[ottawa coupe]

Had a shockingly prodictive morning for work so get outside this afternoon.

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I dunno bout you but it would seem to me that the steering rack leaks "just a little bit" lol

20240311_133734.jpg with luck, the boat anchor of a trans will be off and the engine on a stand tomorrow.

[ottawa coupe]

Couldn't sleep last night so said screw it....

20240311_175441.jpg 178 uninspiring but "free" hp on the stand. It seems the valve cover gaskets are the main source of the goo on the engine. The only troubling discovery is a very mangled bolt for the throttle body, and a partially broken hole in the body itself. I suspect it will be a situation where if i touch it, the throttle body will desintegrate or at the very least will be a big vacuum leak....

A lot of leaking fluid to clean up today and then i will poke away at the rest of the cabby parts in the coming weeks. Basically taking everything from the b pillar forward then figuring out what's in the best condition to use and scrapping the rest with the shell. Hopefully no more than a month from now.

while the idea of the aah sucks, the fact is that on top of all the other stuff i need to do, a 4.2 swap is just a step too far for my wallet for the foreseeable future. I DO have a 3.6 vr6 sitting on a shelf as a spare for my racecar but it needs bearings etc.... plus the trans adapeter and flywheel stuff ($$$$). Apparently, i can use my 7a clutch n flywheel on the v6 and just pull the timing pins.... i suspect though i will have to make new mounting brackets on the frame rails for it. Basically, i need to re gasket this engine, throw a timing belt at it and get a new clutch (current is worn to the rivets). My estimate is well under $1000 for that. What may change that eqution is the exhaust. The pipework is fine, but all the joints are corroded to hell. Getting those sorted i can see being big money.

[Ryan80]

Dont go running down the v6 too much, its a great engine if treated right. Never going to win any drag races compared to the turbo motors, but loads of torque and very smooth.

the 12v v6 discussion forum on Audiworld https://www.audiworld.com/forums/12v-v6-discussion-52/ has a world of knowledge for fixing any issues.

If you've the valve covers off for the gaskets its worth looking into the ski pole mod.

You can take off the inlet manifold and perform a world of simple cheap mods to it to help increase horsepower, including gasket matching the injector ports.

[ottawa coupe]

Another productive day at work allowed me to get into the shop this afternoon and get at the engine a bit more. I think she's got a couple oil leaks!!

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On the bright side, all the bolts were well lubricated and came off easily lol. Looks to be the valve cover gaskets as the main source. While the steering rack leaks like a sieve, the pump seems downright acceptably leaky for 240k. Ie, i won't replace it.

Will look into those mods. If i can get it to a nice round 200ish hp that'd be nice. But really, i'm not gonna stress much about it. Looked up parts today and all the gaskets and timing belt adds up to a whopping $400.... my wallet approves. Of course it looks like another 400 in deagreaser at the moment lol. You are right in that i shouldn't turn down my nose at it, it's not terrible. I mean it could be the gutless 8v my mom had in her 80 way back in the day lol.

[ottawa coupe]

All the engine gaskets n seals ordered. Timing belt tool found. Cheapest i could find is for a 30v so i'll hafta cut it down to work. Last thing to get is a crank bolt.

and then alllll the degreaser in the city lol.

The hope is to have all the goop cleaned up before i go on vacation next week so that when i get back, i can put it back together and pack it away in the corner.

Cabby will stick around longer than i (or my wife!) Would like as a result but in the end, probably best to keep it in tact vs all the parts piled up in a mess in the shop.

[ottawa coupe]

Pretty clean inside for 250ish k kms.... 20240316_164352.jpg 20240316_170012.jpg got a good break finally on this project i think lol

[ottawa coupe]

Well, 14 cans of brake cleaner later (!), i am starting to put the engine togther again. Still hafta clean off all the ancillaries on the shelf tho! Frustrated a bit as the "full gasket kit" is missing the front crank seal and one valve cover gasket. Crank seal ordered but the parts dept was closed when i realized the valve cover gasket missing...

And ebay logistics is taking the milk run with my timing tool.....

On vacation tomorrow so hopefully things will get sorted while i'm away....

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When i return, the plan is to get the long block back together, and then when i get a chance, connect it to trans and do a test fit in the car. I have a suspicion that the engine mounts aren't going to line up...

[ottawa coupe]

Well, took a few days to unfog the brain from my vacation and my timing tool FINALLY arrived yesterday. So, today the engine is all timed up and 90% resealed. I was missing a valve cover gasket so waiting for that to arrive now.

20240403_151112.jpg another pause for the moment while i spend the next coupla weeks on racecar prep for the season. I'm sure i'll do some cleanup on various bits for this here and there. I will probably try to get as many parts off the shelf and back on to the engine as possible to make room for the parts i get from the soon to be killled cabby. Ideally before the end of the month as i will then need the trailer for racing, not scrapping lol.

[ottawa coupe]

Well, it would seem i have some "fun" for the weekend....

I think i am going to pick up a box of nuts, i don't have enough lol

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[ottawa coupe]

Well, the *******s wouldn't move after welding about 40 nuts then because they got work hardened, drill bits just melted or broke. So i had to do things that will NOT get pics but i have functional manifolds, downpipes and cat connections....

The car is back in the shop so probably over the weekend, i'll get it into the engine bay to see where i am for engine mounts.

[ottawa coupe]

So close to just slotting in.... 1 mount is roughly 1" off.... 20240413_152812.jpg 20240413_152817.jpg 20240413_152825.jpg

Only casualty is the abs mount as i predicted. No matter as i am going to use the better 4 channel setup from the b4 and will transfer that bracketry. Once i removed the tie rods, it all went in rather easily. I suspect all kinds of fun and games moving the engine mount are in my future. Will focus on getting it sitting in there properly and then turn my attention to stripping the cabby down.

[ottawa coupe]

Closer, in that the engine is sitting where it needs to be. In the end, both engine mounts need work. The right side one is in the right spot but it is too high. Easily fixed by longer bolts and a spacer to drop the mount. Except at one point the mounts were changed, the bolts must have spun because the both have ugly tack welds. Mine you that could be factory.... grinding a few bits off is revealing a lot of porisity in the factory welds. Bad audi, BAD!

Anyways, need to figure out some sort of compression factor for the mounts and then get the drivers side in as well. The nasty cutting and grinding is at least done though.

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[ottawa coupe]

You guys ever noticed that the crankshaft is not in the center of the car??? Seems about 30mm to the right???? Trans and snub mounts in the tight place and it is perpendicular to the centerline....

I don't THINK my car has suddenly bent lol. Never noticed this before.

[ottawa coupe]

Well, it was lucky i had the thought of "hey, let's toss the exhaust manifold on to check if it interferes with the engine mount before i tack it in," because it did, badly.

Two hours later it's chopped right down to the bare bones and tacked on....i'll reinforce it tomorrow.

Unfortunately, i think i'll need to move the right side engine mount too, just not quite right (5mm? off) but also about 25mm too high. While some of what i have been forced to do is a bit less than correct, i draw the line at a stack of fender washers under the engine mount.... still, i think it'll be in properly by the end of the week. Hopefully THEN i will be able to attack the cabrio and look to getting it outta here