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I used "Ali Clean" from frost on the diff mounts - then etch primed them and painted with Eastwood "Aluma Blast" so they look pretty minty now. Safely wrapped up in a box for some future momentous occasion.
In electrolysis all the chemical does is to allow electrical current to flow -in itself it has no chemical reaction to the rust.
If the reaction has slowed, then look at your sacrificial electrode, I suspect it will be covered in brown gunk -clean this back to bright metal and it will all be good again.
Good way to monitor the rate of electrolysis is the current flow -I often run 8+ amps through my dustbin of washing soda
Yeah - I think the action of rust coming away helps promote paint peeling on those boundary areas.
The anodes are fairly brown and manky now. Current dropped to around 2A - I was a bit wary of running it any higher than 5A although my charger can deliver 11A. It's all a bit trial and error / learning but those struts are more than ready for POR15 and top coating to a lovely finish that will last a long time.
I also found by continuing to run it, the edges of the pain would peel away, my theory on this is that when manufactured there would be a tiny amount of flash rust before they got painted, this allows the electrolysis to work under the edge of the pain and loosen it
Small fanfare for project thread resurrection !
I remember the hilarious target of having this thing before its 25th birthday in July 2018 - so well what can I say.
Despite appearances, I have done a little more in the past 20months since the last post on this. Let me see what I can remember:
- All suspension parts electrolysed for rust removal
- Suspension parts mostly protected with POR15 - have a few bits to finish - that is quite tedious
- New hub bearings fitted
I suppose a better target would be to have the car fully stripped and ready for internal scaffolding in time for 25th birthday celebrations.
With that in mind, some better weather lately and a stout injection of dedicated funds for play-things (finally), I decided its long over due a bit of progress. I took loads of photos - none of which I have even uploaded yet but I managed to get some decent progress over a couple of weekends.
- Front seats removed
- All rear wiring removed
- Tailgate trim removed
- Rear inside panels removed
- Dashboard removed (tonight)
So now I am at the fabled point in every other project thread with a photo of all the horrific wiring loom bundled up on a bare floor. Most folk probably get to that point with fear and dread, but I am actually looking forward to slimming that loom down and getting it all energised again - absolute heaps to do before that.
I will try to get pics uploaded this week. Meantime I need to search for how the hell the rear seat backs come out - light was fading and my bones were hurting, so couldn't really see how that hangs together.
First off - this pic is testimony how well protected these cars were in the factory. This is left side inner rear wheel arch after 15mins scrub up and hose down. Almost 25 full years since this car left the Ingolstadt paint shop - and has lived outside the vast majority of that time.
Its fantastically easy to remove the factory front seats - remove one piece of trim at the rear, slide the seat back and off with a single bolt using Allen key and spanner. Man those stock seats are heavy though - no wires, no airbags, no motors.
The bottom of the A-pillars looks a bit gnarly where water was collecting and rusting the proton-ten tubes. Most of the tape binding on this part of the loom has long since gone as well.
I had never taken out seat belts on these before - so that was a first - quite curious how the cables come through bulkhead, along the sill and join with the tail of the inertia seat belt. Just requires a small screwdriver or pick to separate the plastic cover and unhook the cable joint. You need to unbolt the frame for the tube/cable along the outer sill first of all so you have the movement required to separate the two pieces.
To get the seat belts out - remove the rear trim panel - few screws then gently lever up and away. That exposes the upper trim around the seat belt on the B-pillar. Thats easy off with two screws and wiggle. Then two Allen headed bolts for the metal bracket retaining the belt. The bottom anchor point is 17mm bolt through a metal rail which secures the strap. All straight-forward stuff.
Had a fun packed extended lunch today, removing the heater box & matrix. It must be horrific doing this on a car while the engine is still fitted - I was able to walk right up to the bulkhead to access everything.
A quick summary of the steps - again with starting point of engine & dashboard removed. Mine is the manual air conditioning (HVAC) system - normal UK spec with three cable knob controls. The control unit with the cables stays attached - you might wish to protect that with tape, bubblewrap etc if you fear damaging it during the removal process.
INSIDE
- Ensure the bottom metal bracket of the dashboard is removed, otherwise the central ducts snag on the metalwork
- Unplug two electrical connections from where the central plenum connects with the vehicle loom
- Detach the condensate / drip pipe from bottom of unit in the cabin
OUTSIDE
- Remove windscreen wipers
- Remove rain tray
- Remove pollen filter
- Unscrew air temp sensor in the plenum behind the pollen filter
- Remove two screws clamping pollen plenum to the main HVAC unit
- Looking at the grommet for the aircon restrictor, follow a black vacuum tube (for the recirc valve) which goes to a 1-way valve on the vacuum tubing at the bulkhead. When I popped this off it actually made a noise as it was still holding vacuum after ~5yrs which is impressive
- Then remove the 2 x 10mm nuts at the bulkhead centre - above and below where the matrix hoses connect - the lower one is hiding behind some brake pipes across the bulkhead
REMOVAL
- Now with everything released, it is just a case of pulling the unit down and out of the bulkhead area - there is a large metal clip on the left side which is hooked into the bulkhead
- You might need to help persuade the hoses to move - I actually poked the restrictor grommet in towards the cabin, and removed the water matrix grommet from engine side to help things move out niceley
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