B5 Audi A4 2.8 Quattro Avant
Discussion
I've FINALLY found another red bootlid. Which I went and collected as soon as I could.
It was a 8 hour round trip all in but worth it, as it's not rusty and red. I also got the interior boot plastics which always break. And a new motor as mine sounds like Optimus prime being squashed in a crusher.
Maybe will get It fitted this weekend. Maybe I won't. I need an extra pair of hands as it's fairly cumbersome.
Turns out, it was originally green 😂 but it's been painted very well.
A friend of mine drove us up as he has a frugal diesel. Which was very kind of him. Was a good laugh and good to get the lid but my god the M5 is tediously long.
It was a 8 hour round trip all in but worth it, as it's not rusty and red. I also got the interior boot plastics which always break. And a new motor as mine sounds like Optimus prime being squashed in a crusher.
Maybe will get It fitted this weekend. Maybe I won't. I need an extra pair of hands as it's fairly cumbersome.
Turns out, it was originally green 😂 but it's been painted very well.
A friend of mine drove us up as he has a frugal diesel. Which was very kind of him. Was a good laugh and good to get the lid but my god the M5 is tediously long.
Okay,
I procrastinated on fitting the bootlid. Maybe next month? However i've *FIXED THE OIL LEAK* (Maybe, if its the right one). For a little while we wondered if it was the camseals which are leaking onto the exhaust but on the side its leaking onto the exhaust that cam seal is thankfully at the front. And whilst they DEFINITELY are weeping they aren't the cause of the smoke and fumes.
Anyway i had some time so attacked the rocker cover for the second time.
I think you should just be able to make out where it's leaking down. Well. It's pretty obvious in honesty.
First step is to get the header tank out the way which is 3 phillips heads and this then allows you to manipulate it for access to the covers, plugs and bolts.
The good news is the spark plugs were pretty dry this time - last time they were oil bathed - for performance - of course.
PCV disconnected, can start undoing one of the 8 nuts. The top 3, middle two are a doddle. The bottom 3 less so. Specially the front and the back. Front is obstructed by coolant pipe which can be deformed out the way. The rear is hard to get to as i guess some of the inner wheel wells get in the way? The middle one is fine. All you do need to do the bottom ones is a short socket, and a long extension like shown. You do also need a narrow socket for the top ones for some reason.
Cover off and it doens't look too bad - the sealant hasn't really held up which i think is part of the problem. And it does seem on my first time round i did miss some of the previous bodge sealant which i think is part of the cause of my leaks.
Cheap no brand gasket not doing it's job. OR useless driveway orangutan f
king the job up? You decide! (probably the latter, i've already called my mistakes out 
)
Looking a lot cleaner then it did previously. Few small areas to clean off after this photo was taken. All break cleaned and rubbed down ready for sealant.
For these engines, with the lack of nuts, will run sealant along the bottom edge and sides. In every vain attempt to stop it leaking.
Pro seal and Elring coming to the rescue for hopefully the last time for a few years.
Nuts all Torqued to 10nm according to...uhh...hopes and dreams, god i need to invest in one. And then the reverse of everything show above.
Didn't drive the car for the rest of the day as i wanted the sealant to cure, drove it this morning and....dun dun duuuuunnn after the old residue cleared up i stopped getting fumigated within the vehicle!! Hurrah. Now hopefully oil consumption will be reduced.
Next major tasks are bootlid and snub nose mount!
I procrastinated on fitting the bootlid. Maybe next month? However i've *FIXED THE OIL LEAK* (Maybe, if its the right one). For a little while we wondered if it was the camseals which are leaking onto the exhaust but on the side its leaking onto the exhaust that cam seal is thankfully at the front. And whilst they DEFINITELY are weeping they aren't the cause of the smoke and fumes.
Anyway i had some time so attacked the rocker cover for the second time.
I think you should just be able to make out where it's leaking down. Well. It's pretty obvious in honesty.
First step is to get the header tank out the way which is 3 phillips heads and this then allows you to manipulate it for access to the covers, plugs and bolts.
The good news is the spark plugs were pretty dry this time - last time they were oil bathed - for performance - of course.
PCV disconnected, can start undoing one of the 8 nuts. The top 3, middle two are a doddle. The bottom 3 less so. Specially the front and the back. Front is obstructed by coolant pipe which can be deformed out the way. The rear is hard to get to as i guess some of the inner wheel wells get in the way? The middle one is fine. All you do need to do the bottom ones is a short socket, and a long extension like shown. You do also need a narrow socket for the top ones for some reason.
Cover off and it doens't look too bad - the sealant hasn't really held up which i think is part of the problem. And it does seem on my first time round i did miss some of the previous bodge sealant which i think is part of the cause of my leaks.
Cheap no brand gasket not doing it's job. OR useless driveway orangutan f
king the job up? You decide! (probably the latter, i've already called my mistakes out )Looking a lot cleaner then it did previously. Few small areas to clean off after this photo was taken. All break cleaned and rubbed down ready for sealant.
For these engines, with the lack of nuts, will run sealant along the bottom edge and sides. In every vain attempt to stop it leaking.
Pro seal and Elring coming to the rescue for hopefully the last time for a few years.
Nuts all Torqued to 10nm according to...uhh...hopes and dreams, god i need to invest in one. And then the reverse of everything show above.
Didn't drive the car for the rest of the day as i wanted the sealant to cure, drove it this morning and....dun dun duuuuunnn after the old residue cleared up i stopped getting fumigated within the vehicle!! Hurrah. Now hopefully oil consumption will be reduced.
Next major tasks are bootlid and snub nose mount!
Cambs_Stuart said:
That looks like a really satisfying fix. Here's hoping you retain a bit more oil now!
You know what, second time round. A lot more enjoyable! Plus was something nice to do over my lunch break - smidgen over an hour to complete. Fingers crossed - not that it uses a particularly large amount of oil anyway.
Firstly, just a photo of it because i don't upload too many of those.
Anyway. I have finally acquired the wheels i've been after for a while. I won them on ebay for a very small price of £130. The catch, they were in Minehead and beyond which i elected to do on a wet Friday afternoon. 6 hour round trip when it should have been 4. What an arse. Thankfully a friend agreed to accompany myself so it wasn't too arduous.
The wheels in question...
They are 17" Twsits/turbo twists. 9j rear and 7.5j front. I don't believe they're real ones but italian made which i think points to them being speedlines perhaps? Hard to say but just reciting what i've seen on a few forums.
These ones were picked for a couple of reasons; cost and fitment. The ET is super important with the quattro cars as it's really easy to run into the suspension when going anything wider than 8j. Tbf still not 100% sure they will fit the rear. They are 47ET rear and 52et front. With adapters it'll put the wheels to roughly in line with the arch.
The next headache was trying to establish what tyres would work, having to consider rolling radius for the quattro system as well. Thankfully there are a few very helpful calculators out there which sorted this.
I'm hoping i can stick with 225/45 fronts meaning that the 255/40s that are on the rear will squeeze in. If not i can drop down to 245/40 but means getting a smaller front tyre.
I have supposedly got adapters coming, however i suspect i have given money to someone who has no intention of sending me any spacers whatsoever. I hope to be proven wrong!
Other bit of curiosity was to see what my weight penalty would be for adding 9j to the rear over my current 7.5j Avus alloys. Now i know tyres do take into account some of this weight but this is what i found.
The Audi Avus alloys with a 225/45/17 ZV5 came in at...
22.4KG!
The 9j 'Twist' with a 255/40/17 P zero Asimmetrico date stamped 2003!!! was...
20.9KG? Oh...they're lighter???
The 7.5j 'twist' with a 205/50/17 P zero again...
18.8KG. Well, not a bad purchase after all.
Now unless these fancy P zeros, with their lovely Italian (but made in Germany) writing on them, astronomical price tag, are incredibly light compared to the Avons. I could be in for actually saving some sprung weight. Which really is a bonus i wasn't anticipating.
Hopefully the spacers turn up, hopefully the 255s fit, hopefully i can do it all before Simply audi. We shall see, i'm sure it'll be an absolute cluster f
k in some way and none of what i have hoped for will come to fruition. Next stop, Sunday for installing the non rusty, red boot.
- I, a fking idiot, put my back out*
When i previously went to fit the front spacers, the bolts must have been too long as the car wouldn't move. Meaning i had to scramble to get them back off as the light was going. Annoying.
Saturday i got some M14 nuts and decided to cut the bloody bolts down as i was certain it was only about 1-3mm that needed to come off.
Firstly i just wanted to see how the twists would look when in place...(I can't wait, i jsut need money for tyres and these spacers to turn up).
Heres the old track width
vs New
So turns out, 9 of the 10 bolts were the correct length. I put the first wheel on, slowly going through tightening the bolts. Constantly spinning the wheel waiting for it to bind. Nothing. span freely. Initially making me feel like an absolute arse wipe for getting it entirely wrong the first time round.
Get onto the next wheel. First 4 bolts go in fine. I don't do the last as the thread is a bit s
t. Wheel is spinning fine. I can't work it out, maybe the wheel was accidentally chocked? Maybe...maybe i shouldn't ever touch a spanner again. So i go to clean the thread up on this 5th and final bolt. Wind it into the wheel, f
ker stops spinning. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Of the 10, the very last one i do is the culprit. It's 4mm too long. Shave it down, removing the bad bit of thread too which was an aid. Torque it up and the wheel still spins free. Thank fk for that. I think i let out the biggest groan of annoyance when i worked it out. Now it sits like so...
That'll do for Beaulie/Simply Audi
Then onto post back injury - (I did it pairing some socks
I think it was actually done when i moved the washing machine on my own but went at the unfortunate task of laundry) Travelled up to a friends house, who has a knowledge of doing body work. We had an impromptu B5 meet, with both of ours being there and then a couple more turning up! Very useful as i was about as helpful as an overhead gantry telling you are in a queue, whilst standstill.
We...They went about stripping down the new to me bootlid. Which as you can see was once green. Meaning this is the 3rd B5 this has been on! We wanted to use all the stuff from my bootlid as this is a really early lid. Even though my car is a 1998 Pre face, there are differences to the even earlier cars of 1996. I.e like there is a seperate rear reservoir for the rear washer, boot latch is different, and a couple other small bits.
Some of this, caused a few issues down the line.
My old bootlid had really badly rotted through, which i did a fantastic job of not photographing for you lovely people.
First issue, boot latch on my 1998 model is about 15mm taller then bootlatch from the 96 lid. Meaning the bloody bootlid would sit proud.
Second issue. The attached wiper motor would spew water absolutely everywhere other then out the nozzle, so had to go back to my one, which does't sound the best...forgot to grease the spindle up. Which i've only just remembered. f
k sake. Still am slowly trying to adjust the fitment, as it rattles a little bit but getting there.
Badges, and plate fitted. Just need to remove the original OEM spoiler (anyone done this to a b5? Factory fit one?) and get it mounted to my new, non rusty, pretty well painted red bootlid!
Only 3 weeks to Simply, so really need to try and get the spoiler sorted but i can't guarantee ill do it. Fingers crossed but in any case, it's closer to where i wanted for this year.
Jhonno said:
Lighter wheels is a big bonus.. Generally the premium tyres are lighter if you wish to maintain that..
Yes, i did think cost vs weight may be a factor. Have to wait for spacers to arrive to work out what tyres do fit! In any case, this wont be a cheap wheel change exercise.
Wave of emotions in this wee update. From nearly being peppered by bird 30 birds worth of st, to having my hopes and dreams crushed (or something like that).
The plate held on for dear life after fitting the replacement boot lid. But on a particularly cold, dreary and wet day it gave up and was hanging limply by a thread. Which i can only assume was a reflection upon my mood for that week.
It was then what i thought, held on with the MCM tape. Till the new 3m sticky pads arrived. Was it? Was it fk. 5 miles into my journey to work, i watched my lovely metal plate wafting through the air in my rear view mirror. Performing a beautiful pirouette of misery.
Turning around as soon as possible, to retrieve the missing plate. As i was coming to a stop i put my hazards on and the car coming towards me, i can only assume purposefully and out of spite decided to run over the big yellow bit of metal in the road. Which really elated my mood.
A quick dash across the road, shut the drivers door and as if by some hollywood magic my entire car had been turned to white. "fk SAKE!" (Admittedly i was very relieved i was sat within the stless interior but still rather fuming that my car now looked like it could be part of a Pollock exhibition.)
To bring this little anecdote to an end, the pads turned up, i cleaned the area and fitted the slightly scarred plate with no further issues. It's still attached.
Moving forward, to the rattly boot lid. Whilst the panel is fairly well adjusted, its just not happy with the striker pin. It seems i will need to find a P reg boot striker (so if anyone happening to read this, is breaking a P reg avant HMU). Temporary fix...
Final step in the non rusty boot lid saga, getting the original RS4 wing off. For some reason this was fitted by what looks like the dealer. My car seems to be a myriad of interesting spec options. I bought a windscreen removal tool, borrowed my partners hairdryer and set at painstakingly removing this unfortunately expensive bit of body work. Never again.
After about 45 mins, the bd thing came off. After braking many, many, many bis of wire.
A little sand down was required to amend my previous quick paint job.
The white dots were why i previously painted it but they've come back through. Not 100% what's occurring there.
I'll come back to the final bits of this wing, just trying to go through my bits in photo order.
Other new toy was some pro wheel cleaner. My partners car had an unbelievable amount of brake dust build up which just wasn't budged by any amount of fallout cleaner. It was bugging me. Made the wheels almost look like those odd Taycan wheels.
Some chemical burns and a few moments later the wheels had PRACTICALLY been refurbished (don't look at the curb rash).
Joking aside, really lifted the look of the car. Even got a mildly approving "Huh, that's how they're meant to look then" from my partner.
Previously mentioned, i drove down to Devon to get some 996 Twists, as this was a look i just always wanted for my B5. The wheels were the easy bit.
The Adapters have been a saga, of epic disappointment.
First ones i bought via marketplace...sorry first donation i made to someone for some faux adapters. Which never turned up. Thankfully my bank recovered the money.
2nd lot came the next day, which was great but unfortunately the wheel bolts are too long. And had to get into a minor dispute with them for a refund.
But this did allow me to get the Porc wheels fitted.
I can't believe it but i...just didn't like how it sat.
t, to having my hopes and dreams crushed (or something like that). - Note to future self* - Buy proper sticky pads when refitting a number plate.
The plate held on for dear life after fitting the replacement boot lid. But on a particularly cold, dreary and wet day it gave up and was hanging limply by a thread. Which i can only assume was a reflection upon my mood for that week.
It was then what i thought, held on with the MCM tape. Till the new 3m sticky pads arrived. Was it? Was it f
k. 5 miles into my journey to work, i watched my lovely metal plate wafting through the air in my rear view mirror. Performing a beautiful pirouette of misery. Turning around as soon as possible, to retrieve the missing plate. As i was coming to a stop i put my hazards on and the car coming towards me, i can only assume purposefully and out of spite decided to run over the big yellow bit of metal in the road. Which really elated my mood.
A quick dash across the road, shut the drivers door and as if by some hollywood magic my entire car had been turned to white. "f
k SAKE!" (Admittedly i was very relieved i was sat within the stless interior but still rather fuming that my car now looked like it could be part of a Pollock exhibition.) To bring this little anecdote to an end, the pads turned up, i cleaned the area and fitted the slightly scarred plate with no further issues. It's still attached.
Moving forward, to the rattly boot lid. Whilst the panel is fairly well adjusted, its just not happy with the striker pin. It seems i will need to find a P reg boot striker (so if anyone happening to read this, is breaking a P reg avant HMU). Temporary fix...
Final step in the non rusty boot lid saga, getting the original RS4 wing off. For some reason this was fitted by what looks like the dealer. My car seems to be a myriad of interesting spec options. I bought a windscreen removal tool, borrowed my partners hairdryer and set at painstakingly removing this unfortunately expensive bit of body work. Never again.
After about 45 mins, the b
d thing came off. After braking many, many, many bis of wire. A little sand down was required to amend my previous quick paint job.
The white dots were why i previously painted it but they've come back through. Not 100% what's occurring there.
I'll come back to the final bits of this wing, just trying to go through my bits in photo order.
Other new toy was some pro wheel cleaner. My partners car had an unbelievable amount of brake dust build up which just wasn't budged by any amount of fallout cleaner. It was bugging me. Made the wheels almost look like those odd Taycan wheels.
Some chemical burns and a few moments later the wheels had PRACTICALLY been refurbished (don't look at the curb rash).
Joking aside, really lifted the look of the car. Even got a mildly approving "Huh, that's how they're meant to look then" from my partner.
Previously mentioned, i drove down to Devon to get some 996 Twists, as this was a look i just always wanted for my B5. The wheels were the easy bit.
The Adapters have been a saga, of epic disappointment.
First ones i bought via marketplace...sorry first donation i made to someone for some faux adapters. Which never turned up. Thankfully my bank recovered the money.
2nd lot came the next day, which was great but unfortunately the wheel bolts are too long. And had to get into a minor dispute with them for a refund.
But this did allow me to get the Porc wheels fitted.
I can't believe it but i...just didn't like how it sat.
It's hard to explain, i think the front is pretty spot on but the rear, the rear just doesn't look right. It would regardless require some fetling with adapter sizes and tyre sizes but i just didn't like it. I think the main issue is, not that i photographed it as i was in utter dismay. Was when looking into the hub of the rear, it jsut looked s
t. There was such a large gap between the face of the wheel and disc. With a messy arrangement of this large adapter. Just yeah, this back angle. Not for me.
17", 9J wheels with ET 47 with a 20mm spacer clears all the suspension stuff but it does poke out a fair bit. (255 tyre).
I suspect with a 15mm adapter and maybe a 245 you might just creep under the arch but i can't say for sure.
Anyway, the wheels have been sold. I made a lttle money on them so i will be getting 2 of the worst Avus refurbished on Monday.
Back to the wang.
Handily, i have access to a small spray booth in work. So got the whole thing painted and lacquered in there. Will wait for it to cure for a few days before cutting and polishing it but fairly happy with the outcome. BEtter then the first time round.
And as it was a lovely day, i got the ol' silicone out, weighted it down and attached the bloody thing.
So in short, kinda back to where we started but looking a bit less rusty and corroded?
Beginning of may will be getting gearbox and diff fluids changed.
Let the spending never stop.
Cambs_Stuart said:
Always good to read an update!
What Cleaner did you use on those wheels?
I am hoping the updates will start to thin out, however the car seems to have other ideas. What Cleaner did you use on those wheels?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185439412143 - this stuff. I used it full strength on the mini wheels but have now since diluted it.
Went to get 2 wheels refurbed, came away with all 4 being done. Some excellent upselling.
"You sure you don't want to do all 4 for £200 cash?"
Man maths dictates that it saves me £80 in the long run. Regardless of how much further it plummets me into my overdraft.
Very impressed with the outcome, the better wheels came out perfectly. The bad wheels are about as good as i would have expected. Considering they were more pitted and damaged then your avergage B road.
Colour match isn't too bad either. I will be redoing the centre caps to a better quality, Now i have access to the spray booth.
There is now absolutely no vibration at any speed from the front wheels which is glorious.
9th May, we are booked in for Diff and gearbox oil changes. When warm, am starting to get some clunking when pulling away. Here's to hoping it's not going to financially ruin me further.
Cambs_Stuart said:
That's a good price for all 4 wheels, who did them?
Hope the clunk is something minor...
1st call alloy wheels. Dropped the car off at 8, done by 2:30pm. Really good tbh. Hope the clunk is something minor...
Eugh, law of sod dictates it'll be a complete failure of driveshafts/diff/carden shaft. But hey, let's start with fluids and hope for the best.
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