S2 Avant -93

[Filip_FIN]

Hey, i used lautasharja, dont know the english word

[Antsa]

Okay, I have to buy some wire brushes for my angle grinder

[Antsa]

Nothing much has happened past few weeks. Hopefully I can order the big brakes and a set of coilovers in a few weeks so I can spend my summer bolting on new/shiny parts While waiting the pay day at the end of the month, I received these tie rod inner bushings from Alex (Error404). Big thanks! Just fitted them and they were perfect.


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[Antsa]

Again, it has been quiet month. Missus BMW decided to need all costly maintenance work at once, so I have to push back the purchase of the big front brakes and KW coilovers. Instead I decided to fix a few rust issues once my summer holiday starts. One is on the right A-pillar and it needs the windscreen removed to be fixed properly. Same goes for the rear glass and I understand this is a fairly common issue. My original plan was to fix these after the BBK and coilover install, but I decided to tackle these before it's too late. Hopefully no welding is needed and there is nothing that a wirebrush and spraygun can't handle


Here's the rear glass


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And here's the A-pilllar


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[Antsa]

Two months has passed without me writing here anything but finally some progress. This week I managed to start the rear end painting/rust fixing process. While removing the interior trims, little surprise was there for me. Just as the wiring under the dash, the trunk lid wire harness looked like this I ordered some wires from vehicle wiring products and I'm expecting to receive them this week.

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Next step was to remove the rear glass. Took a little time to cut through the glue and some of the trim that sorrounds the glass, but it came out pretty easily after all

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This is how it looks without lights/glass

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All the rust spots were sandblasted, then painted with etch primer. After that the whole rear end was sprayed with sanding primer. Then it required A LOT of sanding, sanding and sanding. My arms still hurt

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This is how it looks after base and clear coats Looks decent when you look far enough...

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As always with painting (especially outside), you always get some dirt on your paintwork. Also I managed to get one big run:

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Pretty easy to fix that. But this is what troubles me the most. The whole paintwork is covered with small fisheyes. I'm thinking it's because of the humid conditions here and I just used simple water separator before the paint gun. I guess it needs a proper air dehumidifier to keep the small water particles out of paintwork.

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This is the worst side of the car. I painted this part last and the compressor had been running for some time. Will have to see how well wet sanding takes these away of if I have to spray a whole new clear.
But before sanding I have to get some polyurethane glue to stick the rear glass back in and then I can start to put in lights and interior trim

[Antsa]

Today was time to sort the tailgate wiring loom.



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I cut out the previous "repair" wires and soldered new ones in. Then I wrapped it with harness tape.




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After that it was time to put the glass back in



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This is the stuff I used. Its a 1K polyurethane glue from Pilkington


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That's about it. Hope the glue is dry tomorrow morning when I'll have to work with it It's been over a month since I've driven it the last time. I bet it's fun to drive it after a break

[Kiku]

Those fisheyes you are talking about are silicone holes. Quite typical if you dont clean the painted areawith silicone remover. Other than that good job considering that its painted outside.

[Antsa]

I thought so too, but considered it unlikely since I wiped it thoroughly with silicon remover. Maybe some oil residue in the compressed air? Whatever the reason, next time I'll invest in some proper filtration and give it even more careful silicon remover wiping

[Kiku]

Jep, next possible cause can be oil residue/water ect in compressed air. Next time use THIS. I have used it and it works like a charm!!!

[Antsa]

Well, my clutch master cylinder gave up a week ago. One morning when reversing out of my driveway, the clutch pedal refused to return. At first I was pretty confused what was going on, but a quick look to the master cylinder made everything clear. There was some severe weeping of brake fluid from the cylinder. Was fun driving for a week while waiting for parts to arrive Luckily again, this forum gave instructions how to fit regular 80 master cylinder to S2

I tried to look for some kind of manufacturer stamp on the old cylinder, but didn't find one. Probably some c**ppy cheapo part!

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[Antsa]

I'm still having issues with air getting in to the cooling system and that prevents the coolant circulation from the heater matrix. Not very pleasant when the winter is coming. So I decided to do a pressure test to the coolant system. I introduced some pressurized air into the system and started to look for leaks. Very very little coolant was leaking from the after run pump housing. Good thing that I found it now and not on the road when it popped. Again this forum had the part number for cheaper than OEM pump. Luckily the local spare parts store had right Bosch pump on the self. Perfect fit and and easy installation. Hopefully this solved my cooling system issues



Here's the old pump. Red line shows the point of leakage. It's probably some cheapo pump, I could't find any identifications of the maker.

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[Antsa]

It's been quiet with the car lately. The weather doesn't inspire too much to go out and start working on the car. Haven't got too much free time either, but a miracle happened today and I had few hours I got new front fenders from Audi in the end of summer, and as they don't have holes for side indicators I had to make them myself..


These are the clear side indicators I used. They are from MkII Golf

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I had to make a template to make sure I don't ruin the new fenders by doing too big holes for the indocators. It's a snug fit now.

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This is the hole I had to make

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And indicator fitted

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I did the same for both fenders and then finished by painting the edges of the holes with etch primer. Now these will continue waiting for paint.


The cooling system is still not working properly. Every time I bleed the system and drive for a couple weeks the air gets back in. No obvious leaks present. Next I'm going to replace the washer under the radiator bleed screw, it has seen better days.

[Antsa]

It's been half a year since last update Again, not very much have happened, basically just collecting parts for future. Planned big brake upgrade will have to wait, since I would need two sets of tyres and rims after upgrade, the price tag would be too steep for now. I also planned to clean the wheel arches thoroughly and give them a new coating while at it, but that's too big of a job do in the driveway and I don't want to piss my neigbors

About collecting the parts, I just bought all four doors. Picture shows the state of current doors and it's not very good. Totally rusted under the trim.

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I thought about fixing current ones, but it's quite involving job and the car would be off the road for a long time. So I decided to search for a better condition used ones and paint while I can continue driving. The new doors look pretty good to me

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I stripped all the doors so that only the door shell and the window frame is left. I took some of the small clips and holders aside since my old doors probably have all these broken


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Windows out and only the upper seal to remove. The aluminum cross bar won't be in the way of painting, so I left it. Now I have all four side windows for spare if something were to happen to them

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The upper seal was removed by pushing the centre of the clips inside with a small screwdriver


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Some small spots to repair, but nothing compared to the current ones

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This seems to be the weak spot of the doors with the lower trim. Some rust at the bottom but nothing that can't be fixed

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That's about it Let's see when I next have time to work on the S2. Maybe it will be another 6 months

[Antsa]

I did this a while ago but didn't have time to update it here. My odometer was faulty since I bought the car and I finally got to fixing it. As I supposed the odometer gear had a missing tooth. It works now but it is not as smooth as I was hoping it would be. I didn't notice any difference in the gears when comparing the old and new. Should the odometer numbers be rolling smooth?



Here's the new gearset from eBay

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Old gearset shows missing teeth from the orange gear

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Old and new

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[Antsa]

Today I started to work on the body panel backsides. I asked some advice here on the forum and decided to go epoxy primer + 3M 08800 route. Error404 says that this will last forever, so hopefully no rust issues in the near future The 3M is expensive stuff, 20€ per pack and it only has 250ml. Fortunately 4 bags was enough.


This is how they look now. Fitting has to wait, since I don't have proper space to do that, but hopefully it will be sorted in the future

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I'm also suffering from leaking cam cover gasket. It was replaced when I bought the car, but it has been wheeping for a while now. It is a Reinz item so should last longer than few years. I torqued it up without torque wrench so it is possible that it was destroyed during installation. Have to get a new one and torque it up properly to 10nm. Can a missing heat shield cause premature gasket failure? I understand that the intake pipe should hold some kind of shield here:


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I also have experienced some occasional smoke coming from the exhaust. Yesterday while driving to work I started smelling smoke and when I looked back I noticed blue smoke from the exhaust. Engine was just reaching normal temp and I was cruising gently around 70kmh. This lasted a short time and then it just stopped. It has done this a couple of times but it is not constant. I read something about smoking issues here and cleaned the crankcase breather system. I found some gunk there but nothing excessive. If it was valve stem seal should it be smoking all the time? Turbo seals? Head gasket?