What's in the workshop this week? Jim's black Final Edition

[MikkiJayne]

Originally Posted by David's8

That'll be the same crowd whom you got to change the belt on my car when you owned it and didnt change all the pulleys/tensioners and didnt use "genuine Audi parts" as they specify in the adverts..........

Fantastic and informative thread MJ
At 115k I think that mine needs a thorough look at in the next year.

None of the timing gear I've taken off was genuine, including the water pump. It now has genuine water pump and thermostat and INA belt kit

Originally Posted by ainarssems

Have you looked into changing bearing(s) for it? Mine is noisy as well, not sure if PF and FL is the same. New ones from dealer too much money and I don't think there are any aftermarket alternatives.

Funny you should mention that You can't change the bearing in the original as it the outer race is also the mounting flange, but in searching for a replacement for Jim's car I did find a nasty Chinese copy listed under Audi 100 and V8. That is a machined flange with a separate (nasty Chinese) pressed-in bearing. A proper SKF bearing in the same size is about £50 (double-row ball bearing with rubber seals) so theoretically its possible to produce one which will probably outlast the car for about £65 plus an hour or so tinkering

I'll post up some pics and links later. The PF is the same part.

[Goran]

Also I believe nylon pads get brittle with age in a hot engine oil environment. There are newer type nylons such as Stanyl 46 or Stanyl Diablo which last longer before getting brittle in engine oil. I asked a couple of companies how much it would cost to make a copy of our pads in one of these newer nylons but their minimum order is something like 10,000 units
Another option could be to have replica pads machined out of a block of one of these new nylons, but machining costs are not cheap either.

If there is a way to repair old tensioner units that would be amazing. Over £1000 for a pair of new units is a bit much.

[The_Laird]

Originally Posted by David's8

That'll be the same crowd whom you got to change the belt on my car when you owned it and didnt change all the pulleys/tensioners and didnt use "genuine Audi parts" as they specify in the adverts..........

I think that was A4Audi in Clydebank, not AudiTechnik

[The_Laird]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

None of the timing gear I've taken off was genuine, including the water pump. It now has genuine water pump and thermostat and INA belt kit

So that’s the two main Audi Independents in the Glasgow area that ‘cheat’ on the parts.

I am so chuffed to have MJ working on my car!

[Goran]

Great thread as always

I am building a list in my head of all the parts that will need changing preventatively because they are probably already in a bad state.

[MikkiJayne]

The weekend was a complete shambles because of three tiny little bolts to attach the torque converter which stubbornly remained on TPS's shelf instead of coming to the workshop

I also ran out of degreaser on Saturday so there was nothing more I could do at that point.

Now I have those little bolts, and more degreaser so I can make some more progress

[homer simpson]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

The weekend was a complete shambles because of three tiny little bolts to attach the torque converter which stubbornly remained on TPS's shelf instead of coming to the workshop

I also ran out of degreaser on Saturday so there was nothing more I could do at that point.

Now I have those little bolts, and more degreaser so I can make some more progress

Epic thread as always MJ!

It's always the smallest things that cause the biggest headaches

[ainarssems]

Funny you should mention that You can't change the bearing in the original as it the outer race is also the mounting flange, but in searching for a replacement for Jim's car I did find a nasty Chinese copy listed under Audi 100 and V8. That is a machined flange with a separate (nasty Chinese) pressed-in bearing. A proper SKF bearing in the same size is about £50 (double-row ball bearing with rubber seals) so theoretically its possible to produce one which will probably outlast the car for about £65 plus an hour or so tinkering

I'll post up some pics and links later. The PF is the same part.

A link to Chinese part would be great.

I would be tempted to give it a go, considering that original part can last close to 200k miles, 20 years, Chinese should be good for 10k doing 2k per year. If the bearing fails than it can be changed for a better one. It's not a safety critical part like tyres or brakes or even wheel bearing. And not too much work involved changing it if doing myself.

[MikkiJayne]

This is the fan bearing as it comes from Audi:



The hub can be pressed out, but the bearing housing and flange are one single piece:



This is £13, ebay listing here



Its listed as Audi 100 & VW LT, but the part number is in the description which is how I found it. With this one the flange and bearing are separate so the bearing can be changed.The holes are a bit off-centre, but they're close enough for it to bolt in to the bracket. No idea how long the cheap Chinesium bearing would last, but I guess for low-mileage D2s it may well be acceptable for 1/20th of the price of a genuine one!

I may well buy a few and a few SKF bearings to go with them, then I have good ones ready to go if needed

[MikkiJayne]

Some work from the weekend - fitting the new crank rear main seal. The end of the crank was pretty crusty



Cleaned it up with a wire brush in the dremel



The new seal comes with an interesting plastic sleeve which fits over the end of the crank to allow the seal to slide on without damaging it, similar to what I do with the plastic bag for the CV boot



Push the seal in thus, then pull the plastic sleeve out





Drive plate back on with new bolts



Roll the engine and gearbox back together. With the machine, I can literally pop them together with finger and thumb



Its at this point I got stuck because the bolts to attach the torque converter were still sitting on the shelf at TPS

I managed a couple more jobs. Ready for the inlet manifold, but I forgot to take a pic of the manifold back on



The header tank hose is a little worse for wear.





Unfortunately we can't get these any more so mitigation is the only option. I covered it in some high-temperature heat-shrink sleeving. I'll form this to shape better when its installed. The sleeving shrinks at 200+ degrees so it's quite happy at coolant temperatures, and it will protect the hose from any more damage.



The rest of the coolant hoses installed



And now today's work. The missing bolts arrived this morning. You can see why I got stuck without them!



Torque to 85Nm through the starter hole!



The crank is held still with the breaker bar while tightening the drive plate. The crank locking pin can't be used for this job because there are three bolts so the engine has to be rotated to specific points



Bosch FGR6KQE spark plugs - exactly what the factory fitted but without the Audi logo and 1/3 the price How many mechanics use a torque wrench on spark plugs, or even bother to read the torque specification on the box? One - me! I am amazed every time I take an engine apart how completely randomly tight or not the plugs are. Some are gorilla'd in, some are only hand-tight! Its really not that hard to do it properly 28Nm in case you need to know



Only one picture for a couple of hours work, but I degreased and cleaned up the wiring harness and put that back on the engine, along with the starter motor, alternator and engine mounts. Its pretty much ready to go back on the subframe tomorrow