Touching up Miss Cooper

[Vorsprung durch Technik]

Failing that how about giving it to a professional radiator repairer so they can unpick it and get them do it?

[Nj]

If I can find one locally I'll definitely ask for a quote. Knowing Finnish prices I might be better just buying a new one... Audi that is

[Greg_S]

You could try a local rad record. I had my Aud rad recorded by a local firm and they did a good job

[Nj]

I'll definitely see if I can find one who doesn't want to hump me
If the core is in good shape and can be matched up with the original head/top bit that would be ideal. Or having them recore the original radiator would also be good. Basically anything other than fitting a f**ked radiator into the car and wasting my money would be great.
Anyway, i'm off to Monaco on Tuesday for a business trip (yeah, sounds horrible) and then I have 2 quiet weeks in spain with my wife and boys so by the time I come back I should be a bit more chilled out and in the mood to get the car sorted

[Nj]

hmm. seems I've done very little for a year and a half. To be fair I was busting my balls with my own company but I've now made some decisions to address my work-life balance so I should have more time (but less money perhaps) now
There's a good chance I'll be moving to the south of Finland, or maybe even another country, when I find the right job. My initial thought was that I'll need to sell the coupe because I won't have time, space and money for it. Then I realised that I may need to move straight away and work somewhere monday to friday while my missus looks for a job and we figure out all the practicalities etc. If that's the case I'll need to leave her the A4 and take the coupe with me as a daily driver. In either case I have a bunch of things I need to do now so the car is in good shape.

So, at various points, I've bought some parts for the coupe but they've mostly stayed in boxes and packets for ages. I have a new radiator and A/C condenser there. I also have a timing belt kit and water pump (I'm a bit nervous about doing that to be honest). I have a new sub mount and a bracket for the x-member that I think came off a gti golf (shows how long it's been since I bought it). I have plasma gauges, a new indicator stalk, HT leads and bunch of other things that I can barely remember. Oh yeah. There's a V6 bumper and I now have all 3 grills. I have plastic mesh I was considering using and may experiment at some point, but not yet.

Today I tackled the fun job of changing a door lock barrel. I don't know if the early coupes are different to the later ones but there really wasn't much space getting the barrel out. I managed though, and when I put the 'new' barrel in I gave it a good spraying with lock oil to get it moving and prevent freezing (i'm in Finland after all). I'd previously soaked the locks and cleaned them, and when I sprayed the oil on it really freed up the pins that poke out to the sides. To the point that I had to use a small tool to poke a couple in from the sides as I slid the barrel into place. So the passenger side is done and I'll tackle the driver's side tonight.

While I was doing the lock I addressed an outstanding issue with the window mech, which previously got stuck half way up. I ended up taking apart the motor to sort out the cables. More details here.
(weird. I can't seem to hyperlink a single word and although I see the full link in the editor below, what displays in the S2forum home page.

https://www.s2forum.com/forum/technical/electrical/1998880-electric-window-stuck-half-way-until-i-took-the-door-card-off

[Nj]

After I do the driver's side I need to check to see if I have the correct barrel for the rear hatch too. Not sure if I do. hmm. And then I have an Rclick remote central locking kit to fit, which should be relatively simple on this car (no alarm or immobiliser). Last year I had some issues with the door lock freezing and wished I had a remote, so this is a sensible mod for the far north of Europe.

[newsh]

Good to read the progress, well done on both the jobs, locks and window reg, they’re both bloody fiddly!

[Nj]

Good to read the progress, well done on both the jobs, locks and window reg, they’re both bloody fiddly!

If I'm honest I was happy as f*** with myself after each one. Doesn't matter what level of work i've done on cars in the past. When you beat that b*st*rd circlip on the lock you deserve a cuppa and a smug expression

[newsh]

If I'm honest I was happy as f*** with myself after each one. Doesn't matter what level of work i've done on cars in the past. When you beat that b*st*rd circlip on the lock you deserve a cuppa and a smug expression

For sure

[Nj]

Well, that's the driver's side done, which took a ridiculous amount of time last night. I will share a few lessons learned from the experience
1. When you remove the barrel from a lock, give it a good spray with lock oil before inserting it into its new home. It really frees up the pins (not sure if pins is the correct word but it's the only one that comes to mind.
2. try not to lose the f**king pins at this point, because when nicely lubricated they want to jump out! I lost 2 but thankfully managed to get them back into their correct positions. I can imagine that this could have easily ended in disaster for me.
3. try not to get the components of the locks mixed up because apparently they can be different and you could end up spending 40 sweary minutes trying to fit a component on that physically will not work (see attached photo).
4. Spare circlips are great because they are little ****ers that like to break or ping off across the garage

So anyway, the 2 doors now match the ignition barrel, which is nice. And now I have the remote kit to fit today. I couldn't remember which side the lock pump is on in the B3 coupes but I had to take off both rear panels anyway to change the speakers and possibly attempt to do something with the saggy velour trim.

[Nj]

Not a lot of space to get into the locks. Maybe it would have been easier to take out the handles and locks completely, then refit, but one seemed to have a thick glue substance bonding the clasp/bracket thing so I decided just to leave that where it was. You can't see it in the pictures, but there's a single screw or bolt on the handle side, and there's a metal thingie that holds the lock assembly in place at the other side. that thingie has a kind of metal tail that braces against the inside of the door. that tail thing is bonded on this door so rather than try to remove it (and potentially have a nightmare refitting it or a spare one) I just left it in place.

[Bowie69]

I fitted my right click kit under the driver's side dash, you interface with the driver's door wires so it makes most sense to me to do it here.

It's also where Audi tapped in for the dealer fit alarms/immobilisers.

The actual unit fits nicely under the plastic footrest , there's even a hole in the a pillar to put a screw in.

Power comes from anything permanent live under the dash with a decent sized conductor.

[Nj]

Cheers for this. Where's your pump though? My CQ20v has the pump behind the rear passenger's (right side) panel. It's a simple 5 wire system and the remote unit is supposed to be installed alongside the pump by the looks of things. My instructions say I need to cut the trigger wire between the pump and driver's door so that would require me to locate that wire on the opposite side. hmm.. I need to ponder this one.

[Bowie69]

Yup, same spot as yours, on my CQ20V.

Sounds the same, 5 wire system.

As above, identical to the dealer fit systems, in fact the dealer had soldered in extension wires from the cut driver's door wire and I just reused these.

Under the dash there was a 4-way white connector I was able to shove a spade connector into for the permanent live.

Also, I replaced the supplied garish blue LED with the factory alarm LED so I have that fitted and working in the steering wheel cowling

[Nj]

aha! nice one
Do you remember if it's a green & blue wire (as specified in rclick's instructions)? I wonder how much of a pain in the *** it will be to find if the dealer hasn't helpfully fitted extension wires for me?
Yeah I definitely won't be using the crazy blue LED. I was considering having none, but had to remove a previous system that was fekked and it left a hole in my dash. I have that currently covered with a small badge but I might fit a red LED in there instead if I can do it tidily.
I'll pull out the panel under the steering wheel today and dig about to see what I can find