Das Smaragd RS2+ Coupe

[John B]

Jack

The jack is one of my best buys. It is light but strong and crucially can get very low. I have seen it in use in several race car paddocks. My version is 1.25 tonnes but you can get larger. It retails for about £108 in Machine Mart.

Cheers

JB

[bilko0795]

The jack is one of my best buys. It is light but strong and crucially can get very low. I have seen it in use in several race car paddocks. My version is 1.25 tonnes but you can get larger. It retails for about £108 in Machine Mart.

Cheers

JB

Thanks just searched it looks ideal.

[John B]

October 2010 - Air Con

Guess what... the air con doesn't work.....common fault. The dye in the last lot of coolant led me to a leak in the pipe that runs near the turbo.......

So out with that jack again
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Here's one end of the pipe where it connects above the turbo heat shield
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Off with the inner wheel arch
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.....and there we have the other end of the pipe connecting to the drier
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Double spanner technique but easy on those alloy parts to get them freed
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Same again up top
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Old and new
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In with the new keeping those end caps on until the last minute to stop crap getting in
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New seals fitted with a touch of a/c oil to help lubricate and seal the joint
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Job done!

[John B]

October 2010 - Rear Brakes (again)

......couldn't resist getting the rear calipers out again with the S4 discs.......there must be a way

Little did i know as this stage that the rear caliper adaptor was being designed elsewhere (by Will at VRS for his Audi 80).....that would make things a whole lot easier.

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[John B]

February 2011 - Coolant Woes

New Year - time to sort out the problem that has plagued the car since I bought it, namely over-heating. The symptoms were simple: -

1. when ever the car was warm and went into stationary traffic, the temperature went well over normal high mark and the fan went into stage 3 (full speed)
2. coolant gradually disappeared from the reservoir

Firstly, I though I had better check the relays before checking the electrical circuits and the components in order to eliminate the electrical systems.

It was February and i didn't have a garage so some night time snooping was in order. These shots may be useful to someone.

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Nothing too unusual there......relays seemed present and correct. Thanks to Paul's http://www.s2central.net/index and Mike's http://www.s2-audi.co.uk/ sites for very useful information to check components out.

[John B]

February 2011 - Coolant Woes 2

I then checked all the electrical continuity of the coolant systems using the current flow diagrams on Paul's website. These give the exact circuits for each year of manufacture. You have to be careful interpreting these as each diagram has to cater for different variants of car e.g. manual/automatic and air con/non-air con. I found it useful to scribble out the wires that were not relevant to my car when using the diagram.

Anyway, the result of all of this was that the wiring appeared to be in order, which was good. The bad news was that it could be a whole host of other things.

Right.....onwards and (hopefully) upwards. I replaced the coolant reservoir and cap to eliminate leaks there. The old reservoir was particularly grotty inside.

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[John B]

February 2011 - Coolant Woes 3

Since the fan went straight to full speed once the car got hot, I thought I better had check the resistances in the rack that lies at the front corner near the horn. So off with the front bumper: -
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and you can see the pesky critter just below the headlight washer bottle
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Here is the rack in situ covered in road s**t
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...and off the car.
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I could not get resistance readings to my satisfaction so...bu**er it.....I bought a new one (part 447 959 393 B) You can see the terminals clearly marked E1, E2 and E3+A
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[John B]

February 2011 - Coolant Woes 4

Next port of call was to replace all the water temperature sensors (as guess what?) the problem was still there. Here they are.

This is sensor in the bottom of the radiator (old and new) (191 959 481 C) - apologies not the usual quality here You will also need an O-ring (N 043 808 3)
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This is the after-run pump (thermal) switch (054 919 369 B) for which you will also need an O-ring (N 013 811 5)
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This is the fabled Multi Function Temperature Switch (MFTS) (034 919 369 C) and the remains of the electrical connector on the wiring loom
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This is the engine block thermal switch (035 919 369 M)
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[John B]

February 2011 - Coolant Woes 5

The MFTS electrical connector fell apart when I disconnected it , so i needed a new housing: -

Here is the part (893 971 974)
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I carefully prised each of the pins out of the crumbling old housing and into the new one making sure the position was exactly the same.
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...and here is the finished product ready to plug into the fresh MFTS
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[John B]

April 2011 - Relays

Had a root around under the dash to familiarise myself and took some shots....may be useful to some.......would prove useful to me for the K-pin mod later on when I fitted HIDs

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[John B]

May 2011 - Windscreen

Got a crack in the windscreen

Then discovered I hadn't opted for windscreen insurance cover

The forum came to rescue with a group buy (thanks Chef) and the screen was heated

Out with the old: -

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.....and in with the new: -

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[John B]

August 2011 - Over-heating Problems

On the way into work, the beast over-heated big time (again). This time it felt luke-warm at the bottom of the radiator but very hot at the top.

The thermostat was open but somewhere in the system there was a blockage. I decided some drastic action was needed and used some radiator flush as it all seemed to point to a blocked radiator even though it was relatively new.

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This did flush out some crap but unfortunately the over-heating was still there

I even over-heated the top Samco hose with the pressure washer causing it to de-laminate

Went on holiday and thought things through.......time for some really drastic action.....see later.

In the meantime consoled myself with a visit to Le Mans circuit and museum

......an R8 ......mmmmm tn_132.JPG

[John B]

September 2011 - Drivetrain Removal

Enough's enough.....at 118,000 mile and 3.5 year's of ownership it was time for drastic action.......engine out.......and drivetrain out........and pretty much everything that moves

I live in far flung West Cumbria with no garage and only occasional access to a lift so another solution was required.....a bit of research later and Keith Edwards of Ulverston comes to the rescue......

Out comes the front and rear sub-frames, which look a bit crusty along with the transmission. There are leaks......the only bit that looks good is the Milltek exhaust

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[irishs2]

Drastic action, I love it

What's the plan ?

[John B]

Well......this was nearly 3 years ago.....trying desperately to catch up with the write up

Anyway the ethos I came up with was to re-build the engine, drivetrain and pretty much everything below the body shell. Some guys will say why didn't I upgrade the internals but i decided to go with stock internals to show how strong the stock S2 ABY engine is whilst still giving RS2+ power & torque and a stock look. It would also stop the evil side of the brain going for large power. For me, I wanted a daily driver that was a real wolf in sheep's clothing and I have that now......but you'll have to wait for the write up to see how I got there