WITW - Mark's poorly Dolphin

[homer simpson]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

I have built a magic box to simplify the process of spinning the engine to get oil pressure while its on the separating table. It plugs in to the oil pressure switch, has a couple of flying leads to connect to a battery, and the starter cables attach to the right hand side. The red button is a switch which lights up when it has power



Press the switch to activate the starter, and the green light comes on when there is oil pressure

Simple but genius!

[strummagnet]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Gearbox next. As usual, I will flip it over to get to the sump and filter, however normally when I do that the diffs are drained ready for re-sealing. This one though is not leaking and so I'm not touching the output flanges and not draining the diffs. That means that if I flip it over, the gear oil will all leak out of these breather holes:

Hi MJ, Is there a process posted where the diffs are refilled? I assume you don't use the breather holes for this?

[MikkiJayne]

I may have shown it in a previous WITW. There's a fill plug on the front diff, right hand side in front of the output flange. The centre diff has a fill plug halfway up the rear casing, also on the right hand side a few inches in front of the end of the box. Thats a bit harder to reach with the engine in as the cat is in the way.

[MikkiJayne]

I fitted the lower control arms and driveshafts on to the subframe earlier in the week. This makes everything much easier to put back together.



This evening I removed the front suspension



Potato-cam picture sorry Struts and lower arms removed and broken down as much as I can. I'll make a start on the seized pinch bolts and track rod ends tomorrow. These will probably be a couple of hours each as they are properly stuck.

[MikkiJayne]

A pleasant surprise with the suspension - the tie rod ends wouldn't budge on the car and I didn't even bother trying the pinch bolts. Once I had the uprights in the vice and could get some proper force on them everything just came apart without a fight I had both stripped in an hour.



I started cleaning the engine bay and vaccuming out the detritus from the scuttle. There was quite a lot!



Cleaned up around the ECU box so I can do Botang's hole in the morning. You can also see the two new connectors to repair the wiring harness. These are from Sergey's car, the parts from which continue to keep the others going.

[Markiii]

MJ could you take some pics of botangs hole, I've never really got my head around where it is

[Ronin]

Hmm,my FL A8 also has steel front uprights and it doesn't have those screws that hold the discs down.. strange

[MikkiJayne]

No longitudinal Audis (of this era) have screws holding the brake discs on, for no obvious reason. Golf-derived models like the A3 and TT have them. More expensive / upmarket models just have the discs fall on the floor when you take the caliper off

[steamship]

Originally Posted by Markiii

MJ could you take some pics of botangs hole, I've never really got my head around where it is

Mark, check out the following post by MJ:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showpost....2&postcount=16

[MikkiJayne]

The tape is intact but beginning to peel so I'll fix it permanently while access is less difficult than normal



Zoomed out view



Peel the tape off with a pick - its not leaking yet, but its only a matter of time



The hole





An out-of-focus plastic rivet



Pushed in to the hole with some seam sealer



and covered over with more seam sealer





On to the wiring harness. Previously spliced wires on the left, replacement connectors on the right.



Crimped and heat-shrunk



Some Tesa tape to act as a strain relief and to stop them rattling



Wires tucked away and the connectors back in place



Then cleaned the engine bay



I did the other side too, but forgot to take any pics. A little more tidying underneath in the morning and then the engine can go back in