Dufffel,
If I was to attempt to post one my long winded answers to all of those questions in the above post, I'd be here all day.
One thing that springs to mine, is find a local sandblasting company, who'll sand blast all of the front suspension bits, then immediately spray them with etch prime to stop them rusting as the metal is completely raw and will start to rust in hoursduring especially druing the winter. Take thm home and paint them with one or two coats of POR15. I think it is better than powder coating which can chip and then rust starts to get in again.
Best to take all of the front suspension apart and do it all at once. Order two new silver screw on caps at the top of the strut housing. They'll most likely be tight / seized, had to resort to very delicately gunthering' mine off with an angle grinder without damaging the threads underneath. Wear heavy leather work gloves when using an angle grinder, take your time, ask me how I know ! Wear eye protection always with an angle grinder,
wear eye protection a lot when working under the car to stop grit getting in your eyes.
ok can't resist in asking more questions / extending the post
Much better by phone, but we are where we are.
Buy a decent work bench or get an old fashioned second hand desk made with a proper welded box section frame, put something under the four legs to make it higher to be at a decent standing work height. Secure it it to the wall so that it doesn't move about.
Buy a decent wattage bench grinder with a grind stone and the wire wheel for cleaning threads of bolts.
Buy two, yes two, of the new style alloy racing jacks, not brilliant quality, and not cheap, but lovely and comparatively light. Pay the extra for the higher load capacity just to be sure. Decent Halfords axle stands or equivalent would be good. Four, always better to have them to hand than to be caught short in the middle of a job / problem. Don't use the small £30.00 cheap jacks as the main jack for a urS6.
Find a local nut and bolt supplier. Develop a relationship with the parts people in you local Audi dealer for the dealer only parts, or for small / unique parts that are cheap enough to buy from them.
Buy a good quality bench vice, that will take abuse. when you ask it to do the impossible.
Buy and use a tub of copper grease on the various threads so that things doen't rust solid and will come apart again easily in the future. Buy a second tube that you can use to prevent rust by 'painting' it onto bits with a one inch paint brush that can not be sandblasted, but you would like to protect from further rust. Use the yellow and grey ones in B&Q, as the hairs don't drop out as opposed to a no brand cheap brush. All a bit **** I know, but keeping these cars one the road properly has to be a full time obsession if you are to be able to keep going and not throw your hat at it and sell it it and 'put up with' a secondhand diesel repmobile.
Hang out with someone else near you who is more experienced and who is doing similar work to their car so that you can see how they do it / get on, and get them to show you how you can help them with their car.
Remind us, have you got a garage to do this work on the car. If not you'll need some sort of cheap pop up marquee to cover the car and still let you work on it. Working in the cold is doable, but working in the rain is a very hard station.
I use a very large garden umbrella which covers the area of the car one is working on.
One addict helping and encouraging a relative 'newbie' to join them in their addiction.
God, this post could go on forever with me pontificating.
The comments are in random order and follow no rhyme or reason, but they should still help, but there are numerous gaps in what you need to know to be proficient at doing and managing the maintenance of these cars.
HTH.
If I was to attempt to post one my long winded answers to all of those questions in the above post, I'd be here all day.
One thing that springs to mine, is find a local sandblasting company, who'll sand blast all of the front suspension bits, then immediately spray them with etch prime to stop them rusting as the metal is completely raw and will start to rust in hoursduring especially druing the winter. Take thm home and paint them with one or two coats of POR15. I think it is better than powder coating which can chip and then rust starts to get in again.
Best to take all of the front suspension apart and do it all at once. Order two new silver screw on caps at the top of the strut housing. They'll most likely be tight / seized, had to resort to very delicately gunthering' mine off with an angle grinder without damaging the threads underneath. Wear heavy leather work gloves when using an angle grinder, take your time, ask me how I know ! Wear eye protection always with an angle grinder,
wear eye protection a lot when working under the car to stop grit getting in your eyes.ok can't resist in asking more questions / extending the post
Much better by phone, but we are where we are.Buy a decent work bench or get an old fashioned second hand desk made with a proper welded box section frame, put something under the four legs to make it higher to be at a decent standing work height. Secure it it to the wall so that it doesn't move about.
Buy a decent wattage bench grinder with a grind stone and the wire wheel for cleaning threads of bolts.
Buy two, yes two, of the new style alloy racing jacks, not brilliant quality, and not cheap, but lovely and comparatively light. Pay the extra for the higher load capacity just to be sure. Decent Halfords axle stands or equivalent would be good. Four, always better to have them to hand than to be caught short in the middle of a job / problem. Don't use the small £30.00 cheap jacks as the main jack for a urS6.
Find a local nut and bolt supplier. Develop a relationship with the parts people in you local Audi dealer for the dealer only parts, or for small / unique parts that are cheap enough to buy from them.
Buy a good quality bench vice, that will take abuse.
when you ask it to do the impossible.Buy and use a tub of copper grease on the various threads so that things doen't rust solid and will come apart again easily in the future. Buy a second tube that you can use to prevent rust by 'painting' it onto bits with a one inch paint brush that can not be sandblasted, but you would like to protect from further rust. Use the yellow and grey ones in B&Q, as the hairs don't drop out as opposed to a no brand cheap brush. All a bit **** I know, but keeping these cars one the road properly has to be a full time obsession if you are to be able to keep going and not throw your hat at it and sell it it and 'put up with' a secondhand diesel repmobile.
Hang out with someone else near you who is more experienced and who is doing similar work to their car so that you can see how they do it / get on, and get them to show you how you can help them with their car.
Remind us, have you got a garage to do this work on the car. If not you'll need some sort of cheap pop up marquee to cover the car and still let you work on it. Working in the cold is doable, but working in the rain is a very hard station.
I use a very large garden umbrella which covers the area of the car one is working on.
One addict helping and encouraging a relative 'newbie' to join them in their addiction.
God, this post could go on forever with me pontificating.
The comments are in random order and follow no rhyme or reason, but they should still help, but there are numerous gaps in what you need to know to be proficient at doing and managing the maintenance of these cars.
HTH.
) car. It will allow you to focus on the job in hand, the C4 - urS6. A 380bhp RS2'd C4 Avant will keep you satisfied and meet most if not all of your needs, IMHO.
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