Hello from a newbie, oldie

[Auld RS2 Bird]

Hey everyone. I have been lurking in the background for sometime, mainly because I need as much help as I can.

I’ve always been tinkering with VWs mostly my first car, my MK2 golf that I still own.

I got my passion for cars from my Dad. And that’s why I find myself here.

My Dad absolutely loved Porsche, so many many moons ago we travelled to Exeter to pick up an RS2 ? it was an incredible journey back to Scotland.

For dad it was a weekend fun toy, it then became an ornament, bit like my Golf lol! Mainly because he needed 2 new knees, the clutch isn’t the kindest on 70 year old knees. But when he retired & had his new knees had settled, he wanted to spend a bit of time on it, and bring it back to life. We decided to do this together. Dad & daughter being far to similar, didn’t always manage to get things done or agree because one or the other always knew better lol but we always got something half done…the sunroof seal was a particular highlight!

Just when we were getting right into full on strip it down mode, my dad sadly took very unwell and suddenly passed away with mesothelioma cancer 6 weeks after diagnosis ? we had no idea and neither did he. He thought he had broken a rib having to brake heavy one night for a deer.

Anyway, It was my absolute promise to him I would finish the Audi and bring it back to as best a standard I can. And while I’m not scared of mechanical stuff, I’m terrified of getting it wrong. I have to hope he would be proud.

I decided to join after reading about Tractor Dave’s build….and what a build it is!!
I may have a bigger task on my hands but I’m hoping with a little help from you all I’ll get there. I might not contribute much but I’ll have a million questions.

I have a space tucked up the back of my mates garage to tinker away on it. So Fridays I usually have those questions or how do you do that moments.

[Rikki Kitto]

You'll get all the help and advice you need on here for sure

[Tractor Dave]

Happy to help any time.
My wife is from Larbert and she lost her father recently to the same illness. He worked at the Grangemouth refinery and they linked his death to working with asbestos pipe lagging years ago.
I do wish you the best of luck with it.
Any pics? We love pics

[Auld RS2 Bird]

Small world Dave! Sadly my dad’s last days were spent in Larbert Forth Valley hospital. We think my dad was linked to brakes he used to change on Lorrie’s back in the 70s, hard to prove though. But it was honestly the most brutal 6 weeks not really understanding the severity of the disease that just came completely out the blue. I complete sympathise with your wife and sorry to hear that she’s had to go through the same. Hard to think that a little over 18 months ago me & my dad were arguing over how the sunroof went back in.

Once I work out how to resize pictures I’ll be sure to post

I have many questions on your build, sorry should ask there…but if I could ask one here, did you powder coat your calipers? And did you buy a seal kit? Been emailing Bigg Red but being the novice I am, I think I’m frustrating them with not being able to measure pistons properly

[Pitcaig]

Hi Auld RS2 Bird,

Are you local to Falkirk?
If you are I'm in Brightons but I don't have any RS2 experience but I do have a Coupe.

Cheers
Graeme

[Tractor Dave]

The brakes had already been refurbished before i bought the car. You can't easily powder coat calipers. You can use high temp caliper pain or epoxy. Be careful when cleaning them as they are made from quite a soft alloy which marks easily. Do you have big reds or standard, little reds?

[Rikki Kitto]

After having my calipers powder coated I wished I'd had them painted instead, they powder coating failed after only a few years

[John.]

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

Sadly we lost a great guy from up your way not so long ago, Mike was **** hot on all things classic Audi.

Brakes, I used smoothrite from an aerosol on mine a few years back and they still look good, although they don't get very hot just sitting in the garage !

Would be interested to see your Golf when you figure out the pic resizing issue

[Auld RS2 Bird]

The brakes had already been refurbished before i bought the car. You can't easily powder coat calipers. You can use high temp caliper pain or epoxy. Be careful when cleaning them as they are made from quite a soft alloy which marks easily. Do you have big reds or standard, little reds?

thanks Dave, in the history my dad has, there is an invoice for painting/refurbishing them but the company doesn’t exist anymore and they are in dire need of an over haul. As you can see the paint just flaked off.

[Tractor Dave]

They defo need a refurb. Do you want to do them yourself or are you happy to send them away? Big red do the full service. I have never used them but apparently they do a good job.

[Auld RS2 Bird]

Oh for sure they need a refurb. I reached out to Bigg Red and they’ve said they don’t refurb anymore and are only parts based. So I planned on doing the powder coat and rebuild with the seal kit from them. But with you guys saying paint is better, I might just go down that route. The guy at Bigg Red must think I’m a total space cadet as I’m not very good at measuring the bottom of the piston, the hydraulic seal to confirm. Tbh I’ve no idea how to

My mate that is letting me use his garage is a fantastic help, I couldn’t do half of what I e done without him but he has paid jobs to do so while I lean on him for help I can’t keep asking.

Thank you for replying, I do appreciate it.

[Auld RS2 Bird]

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

Sadly we lost a great guy from up your way not so long ago, Mike was **** hot on all things classic Audi.

Brakes, I used smoothrite from an aerosol on mine a few years back and they still look good, although they don't get very hot just sitting in the garage !

Would be interested to see your Golf when you figure out the pic resizing issue

Thank you re my dad.

at this rate I’ll have nice shiny calipers in a garage as well and that’s it

I’m slightly greedy I still have my first car, blue mk2 VR6 and a mk7.5 TCR

[Tractor Dave]

What a nice collection of cars
Use a compressor to pop the pistons out. Measure the diameter using calipers. There are lots of good YouTube videos on overhauling calipers. I have had good results from the vht brand paint sold by Frost.
You can also work out which version of brakes you have by measuring the diameter of the front discs. Little reds are 304mm and big reds 322.
A good source of info here.

https://www.s2forum.com/forum/technical/brakes-abs/38167-rs2-brake-pads-and-discs-part-numbers

[Auld RS2 Bird]

Thanks Dave, I know what I’m doing on Friday

[Pibbow]

Hi from another Scottish based member, I have an S2 as Tractor Dave will confirm having me on the phone weekly with yet another question/plea for help and advise! I'm on Arran.