S2 Avant -93

[JayCab]

It's been a little quiet these past couple of months, but I got my seats back and fitted. Side bolsters on the backrest were done. I think they don't look too bad.


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Wastegate was taken apart. I will have to order a few replacement parts before I can put this back together.


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Engine parts were dropped off to the machine shop today! After they are finished, I will have to check piston ring gaps and send the rotating assembly for balancing. After the balancing is done I can start the reassembly.



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Interesting approach with the seats there. In line bolster recovering joined back to the original leather…

Will you dye and recondition the whole lot to colour match or keep as is with the two-tone black you’ve created?

[Antsa]

Main reason for going this route was money, complete reupholstery for both seats would cost me a price of a new ball bearing turbo

I think I'm going to leave them as is. The color difference is not that big and even after dying the surface texture would be different. I might try something on the worn spots on the driver seat, maybe.

[Antsa]

Well my engine parts have been at the machine shop for half a year now and I've not heard from them Last time I called, they said that they are waiting for cnc machine availability (to do the water jackets for head and block) between more urgent jobs, but it seems that is unlikely to happen. I will give them a call tomorrow and tell them to forget the water jacket machining and do the regular engine machining operations. After that I will give them a few weeks to finish, otherwise I will have to take the engine elsewere.

I got a bit lucky and found a set of used Ultraleggeras with all the right specs. They were a three hour drive away but I think it was a trip worth doing. Only thing that I am still missing are the correct wheel bolts. I currently have conical seat bolts but I'm pretty sure that these rims have R12 ball seat. I will have to visit local wheel shop tomorrow and see if they have the right bolts for me.

Despite having the wrong bolts, I could resist to try them on (bolts only loosely tightened here)



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[Antsa]

And of course I need a set of new tyres. Any recommendations? The center caps look a little bit aged also, fortunately they seem to be available.

[struikie]

I like the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s (these are even used on the track as rain tires in the lower classes) and Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 or 6.

JW

[Rikki Kitto]

And of course I need a set of new tyres. Any recommendations? The center caps look a little bit aged also, fortunately they seem to be available.

Used Uniroyal RainSport 5 for years now they are amazing value and last well I find them better than tyres costing twice as much and over the years I've used all the big brands

[Antsa]

Thank for the input . Surely there are lots of options out there.

I got the right wheel bolts today. Local tyre shop had them on the shelf. Also I called the machine shop and we agreed to drop the water jacket machining to hopefully speed things up. They mentioned that everything could be ready by the end of next week but we'll see.

[Crasher]

I will second the RainSports, outstanding value and wet grip.

[Antsa]

Well, I ended up buying ContiPremiumContact 7's. I don't think that the tyre/rim combination weight is too bad, 17,6kg total. I found an old thread where Rusty wrote that OE Avus 16x7.5 weighs 19kg with 205/55R16 tyres.


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Back on it's wheels (finally). Looks funny when the front is sitting so high



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I also got everything back from the machine shop! I wasted no time cleaning and painting the block.




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I also installed new stainless coolant stub. Freeze plugs and a breather outlet will be next. I will also have to take all the engine internals for balancing. There is no one local to me that can do I5 balancing, so it will be another day trip to drop them off.

[struikie]

A recent test by the German ADAC had these PremiumContact7 as the winner.

JW

[Antsa]

Yep, I think they will suit my need. I didn't go the sport tyres route since it's unlikely this car to ever see race track or anything that would benefit having sport tyres.


Today I installed the breather outlet, engine heater and core plugs.

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Then I filled the block with coolant to prevent corrosion in the cooling channels. Only to find out that two of the plugs were leaking even without any pressure in the system



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So I removed the plugs and could not find anything obvious that would explain the leak. I had cleaned the holes with scotch-brite and brake cleaner so they should have been good. I bought another set of core plugs and installed them with locking compound.

This leak also made me thinking of pressurising the head and the block coolant passages to make any possible leaks visible. What I don't want is having to replace another core plug when everything is istalled in the car. So I have ordered a set of silicone caps to block all the coolant hose connections. My plan is to install the head with a used gasket and pressurize the system through the turbo coolant feed. This way I hopefully can be sure that no leaks are present.

[Nuvo]

Can you share some details about the tool you used to install the core plugs please? I assume this is the tool in the first picture above at cylinder #2, yes? Thanks.

Good luck with the pressure testing going forward.

[Antsa]

No special tools used, just a hammer and a suitable sized socket. It's the electrical engine heater at cyl 2

[rxl]

had the same problem with the core plugs. just mine started leaking after engine started. i asume they are febi ones?

[Antsa]

They were OE core plugs bought from Audi at a crazy price. They were a tight fit. The plugs to replace the leaking OE ones are now febi. Much looser fit.