my new V8 family wagon
Discussion
Right then.
Now that my e36 328i is sorted, it's time to get this up to scratch. It hasn't been driven properly since before I went back to Afghanistan in January. She was starting to look like a bit of a barn find on the outside.
With the lack of use the battery was shot. I charged it over night and took her to work, but by lunch time she was dead again and needed a jump start. Sourced a new battery and got started.
A surprise awaited me under the scuttle panel. It would seem the wing mirror spiders had built a house extension in my absence!
Gave it a good dig out and fitted the new battery
And scuttle cleaned & refitted
After that I decided to finally wire up the interface unit that had been sat in the glove box, to show video on the factory Audi RNS-E.
Now that my e36 328i is sorted, it's time to get this up to scratch. It hasn't been driven properly since before I went back to Afghanistan in January. She was starting to look like a bit of a barn find on the outside.
With the lack of use the battery was shot. I charged it over night and took her to work, but by lunch time she was dead again and needed a jump start. Sourced a new battery and got started.
A surprise awaited me under the scuttle panel. It would seem the wing mirror spiders had built a house extension in my absence!
Gave it a good dig out and fitted the new battery
And scuttle cleaned & refitted
After that I decided to finally wire up the interface unit that had been sat in the glove box, to show video on the factory Audi RNS-E.
SPT28 said:
Has it sold yet or are you still fettling? 
Don't worry, it's still here. Not even advertised yet, let alone sold.
Since the last update I've been so busy at work (I'm in the Army, if you watch the news, you can imagine why
) and also spent two weeks down in Bristol working on the Bloodhound project. Between the two I've only managed to spend a day or to on this in the last month and a half! I'm also going to Florida on Saturday over Xmas and New Year so it will be January before it's ready to sell. ATM it feels like I'm never going to get it gone.
JordanTurbo said:
Don't worry, it's still here. Not even advertised yet, let alone sold.
Since the last update I've been so busy at work (I'm in the Army, if you watch the news, you can imagine why
) and also spent two weeks down in Bristol working on the Bloodhound project. Between the two I've only managed to spend a day or to on this in the last month and a half! I'm also going to Florida on Saturday over Xmas and New Year so it will be January before it's ready to sell. ATM it feels like I'm never going to get it gone.
You're definitely one busy boy! Yeah not surprised, have a couple of mates who are involved and this time of year is always tough, let alone with the bureaucrats getting involved.
I'll admit you've pricked my ears on the Bloodhound project, I follow Olly Morgan on Twitter so try and keep a handle of what's going on - some proper engineering involved in that.
It'll go don't worry
Have a great xmas and New Year - get some well-earned rest and we'll catch up in Jan.
Bloodhound was great. All of the guys there are extremely knowledgeable. My work was mostly on a set of removable blanking panels to cover the two auxiliary air intakes for the EJ200 jet.
Aux intakes are being blanked because we hope they won't be needed.
Because the front of the engine is round and the main intake is a jelly bean shaped, on paper there won't be enough ram air to feed the jet below 200mph. The extra intakes would be open below that speed to let the extra air in, then close to keep the car streamlined.
However, the spec sheet that says we need the inakes also says the typhoon can't do it's party trick (short takeoff to vertical climb). In reality the typhoon does fine and were hoping the same will apply here. The money can be spent elsewhere.
Also loved seeing some of the other design work that has gone into the car. My favourite being the front wheel hubs that also double as half of the front brake calipers.
Hope to be on the next REME team for a full 6-9 month attachment to the project.
Aux intakes are being blanked because we hope they won't be needed.
Because the front of the engine is round and the main intake is a jelly bean shaped, on paper there won't be enough ram air to feed the jet below 200mph. The extra intakes would be open below that speed to let the extra air in, then close to keep the car streamlined.
However, the spec sheet that says we need the inakes also says the typhoon can't do it's party trick (short takeoff to vertical climb). In reality the typhoon does fine and were hoping the same will apply here. The money can be spent elsewhere.
Also loved seeing some of the other design work that has gone into the car. My favourite being the front wheel hubs that also double as half of the front brake calipers.
Hope to be on the next REME team for a full 6-9 month attachment to the project.
Edited by JordanTurbo on Thursday 11th December 22:20
FINALLY it's update time. Got some time off work at the moment so decided to get this finished while I can. 
Started with all the service parts that had been gathering dust in the garage.
Along with the normal oil and filters, the big job was of course the cambelt. With the V8 squeezed so tightly in the bay, there is no room at all to work. So the only option is to start by stripping down the front end.
Thankfully the nice engineers at Audi used their brains on this one. Apart from the Top rad hose, every connection to the slam panel is at the bottom and flexible, so with the bumper off the whole unit can be tilted forward 45% without draining or disconnecting anything. I could have even left the headlights fitted and just unplugged them if I wanted too!
Giving much needed access to the job at hand
(Belt covers already removed)
Stripped to access the old belt + water pump.
Belt, tensioner and damper removed along with a clean
Old water pump Vs new
All refitted
Covers and aux belt on
You may have spotted in the first engine picture, the torque damper was badly split. A good used one was sourced.
And fitted along with the viscous fan.
After a run to bleed the coolant and check for leaks the front could be rebuilt. Before that however, I wanted to refurbish the headlights.
From
To
Under trims were painted satin black to match the upper and lower grills
And everything back together, Much better than before
Next up was the N/S/F outer CV boot which was split. Wheel off, god I love those brakes
Drive shaft removed
Hub bolt is also used to pop the CV off of its securing ring
All striped down and cleaned up
Forgot to take a picture of the new boot you can imagine what it looks like though
Going well so far. Few more bits to do tomorrow then MOT is booked for saturday
Started with all the service parts that had been gathering dust in the garage.
Along with the normal oil and filters, the big job was of course the cambelt. With the V8 squeezed so tightly in the bay, there is no room at all to work. So the only option is to start by stripping down the front end.
Thankfully the nice engineers at Audi used their brains on this one. Apart from the Top rad hose, every connection to the slam panel is at the bottom and flexible, so with the bumper off the whole unit can be tilted forward 45% without draining or disconnecting anything. I could have even left the headlights fitted and just unplugged them if I wanted too!
Giving much needed access to the job at hand
(Belt covers already removed) Stripped to access the old belt + water pump.
Belt, tensioner and damper removed along with a clean
Old water pump Vs new
All refitted
Covers and aux belt on
You may have spotted in the first engine picture, the torque damper was badly split. A good used one was sourced.
And fitted along with the viscous fan.
After a run to bleed the coolant and check for leaks the front could be rebuilt. Before that however, I wanted to refurbish the headlights.
From
To
Under trims were painted satin black to match the upper and lower grills
And everything back together, Much better than before
Next up was the N/S/F outer CV boot which was split. Wheel off, god I love those brakes
Drive shaft removed
Hub bolt is also used to pop the CV off of its securing ring
All striped down and cleaned up
Forgot to take a picture of the new boot you can imagine what it looks like though
Going well so far. Few more bits to do tomorrow then MOT is booked for saturday
So onto today's work.
First job was to go get some tyres, when I did the CV boot I spotted side wall splitting on the N/S/F.
Got a pair of cheap tyres to get her through the MOT and sold. Normally I would go for quality rubber (see my e36 on conti's) but the way I see it, 90% of buyers won't care and the 10% that do would probably wan't to ditch the 20" wheels anyway (I definitely would be if she was staying).
With the new boots fitted I could look into a remote locking fault. The locking had only worked with the key since she last went flat. First I assumed the key had been forgotten but attempts to recode it failed. So I sourced a second key which didn't work either. Last option before diving into the looms was to try a new central convenience module.
With a little coding and re-syncing all is now well. And both keys work which is a bonus as I had no spare before.
I assume the constant draining, charging and jump starting over the last year took it's toll on the old module.
All that was left was to give it a clean inside and out.
Ready for the MOT tomorrow
First job was to go get some tyres, when I did the CV boot I spotted side wall splitting on the N/S/F.
Got a pair of cheap tyres to get her through the MOT and sold. Normally I would go for quality rubber (see my e36 on conti's) but the way I see it, 90% of buyers won't care and the 10% that do would probably wan't to ditch the 20" wheels anyway (I definitely would be if she was staying).
With the new boots fitted I could look into a remote locking fault. The locking had only worked with the key since she last went flat. First I assumed the key had been forgotten but attempts to recode it failed. So I sourced a second key which didn't work either. Last option before diving into the looms was to try a new central convenience module.
With a little coding and re-syncing all is now well. And both keys work which is a bonus as I had no spare before.
I assume the constant draining, charging and jump starting over the last year took it's toll on the old module.
All that was left was to give it a clean inside and out.
Ready for the MOT tomorrow
Edited by JordanTurbo on Saturday 21st February 14:08
I just chanced upon this and was reminded of yours. It's up for £6K:
http://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=306613...
Weird advisories those... I had the same on my last MOT. They're factory fitted, obviously...
Also how would you rate changing the cam belt for a novice/intermediate mechanic? Looking at buying an A6 2.5 v6 tdi which will need the cam belt doing. I'm fairly handy with a spanner but haven't attempted a major job like that yet.
Also how would you rate changing the cam belt for a novice/intermediate mechanic? Looking at buying an A6 2.5 v6 tdi which will need the cam belt doing. I'm fairly handy with a spanner but haven't attempted a major job like that yet.
Cheers guys,
Didn't even advertise her in the end. Mate of mine knew it was going and came to see it while I was waiting for the plate to be sorted. came back and bought it same day the new V5 arrived.
Sold for a bit less than I could have got privately elsewhere but worth it to avoid the normal hassle, especially when selling a quick car like this.
It's gone to a good home, currently having an LPG kit fitted and booked in to have the poorley paintwork sorted.
Didn't even advertise her in the end. Mate of mine knew it was going and came to see it while I was waiting for the plate to be sorted. came back and bought it same day the new V5 arrived.
Sold for a bit less than I could have got privately elsewhere but worth it to avoid the normal hassle, especially when selling a quick car like this.
It's gone to a good home, currently having an LPG kit fitted and booked in to have the poorley paintwork sorted.
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