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

[MikkiJayne]

A little video I made earlier. Whenever I've done all this work on an engine the oil system is almost completely drained, the cam chains are loose, the pump is empty. Firing it up in that state is not good for its health since it will take several seconds to build oil pressure, so I like to spin it up on the starter with the plugs out to prime the oil system. With the plugs out there is no compression and so minimal load on the bearings. It usually takes 2-3 tries on the starter to build pressure. I hook a light bulb up to the oil pressure switch. When the bulb lights up there is oil pressure

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1554757800

[Adrian E]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

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

It really bothers me too - David did the pugs on mine and found similar from the last garage that'd changed them - a couple gorilla'd in, and one loose as you like IIRC.....I am similarly afflicted in using a torque wrench for anything like this. If such a specific torque is given, there's clearly a reason to ensure a good seal without risking damaging the threads in the head.

Mate of mine reckons his hands are calibrated as a torque wrench so doesn't need to use them - I respectfully disagree with him (especially considering he couldn't manage to tighten the gearbox sump bolts properly after changing the oil, but that had more to do with being too lazy to modify a tool to get to a couple of the tricky bolts at the back of the sump!)

[MikkiJayne]

Just a small update tonight, which still represents quite a lot of work...

I took the engine off the separating table and put it back on the subframe ready to go back in



As I have another car under Jim's at the moment I can't get to the engine bay yet, so on to a particularly tricky little job - the broken bolt in the radiator:



This just snapped off like a twig as soon as I put any torque on it It's properly stuck in there so the only option is to drill it out.



I made a one-use tool to hold the drill straight. This is 18mm ID at this end, with a 4.5mm hole through the middle (as I happen to have a few very sharp 4.5mm drills!)



It is a nice snug fit on to the boss on the radiator



and holds the drill bit centred and straight



Drilled out to 4.5, then I opened up the tool to 5mm and went down with a 5mm drill too so there was only thread left in the hole



I then ran a tap very carefully down the hole, turning only a few degrees at a time to dig the remains of the steel bolt out of the brass insert. I had to be really steady here - it took a lot of torque to dig out the steel, but too much torque would break the radiator so it is a very fine (and nerve-wracking) balance!

It worked though





It took about 2 hours start to finish, which is a substantial saving on a new radiator! I got too cold to continue at this point so had to stop.

Cleaning the engine bay tomorrow, and hopefully refitting the engine

[steamship]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

I made a one-use tool to hold the drill straight. This is 18mm ID at this end, with a 4.5mm hole through the middle (as I happen to have a few very sharp 4.5mm drills!)

Yet another reason to read these threads, with ingenious ways of sorting out tricky situations.

[gninnam]

Very nice work so far so a thumbs up from me

[MikkiJayne]

Remember these?



Put a nut on each one



Break out the welder and weld the nuts on to the broken bolts



The heat of the welding breaks them free, along with a good squirt of WD40 as they cool down, and they unscrewed without a fight



Time to clean the engine bay









That's better











Lots of grot down by the ABS pump as the power steering hoses are always leaking



Most of the heavy gunge off



This side done too







Yuck!



All clean and ready for the engine tomorrow

[Regulus]

As always, it is with great pleasure that I read your description of the work as it progresses
Despite all the dirt that accumulates over the years, isn't it wonderful that a good clean up is all that is needed to make the car look very fresh? No need to bring out the welder to repair rust on the body
That was one thing I really appreciated whenever I was working on my S8

[The_Laird]

Who else is as dilligent as this? I am more amazed with every post! Can’t wait to get the car back - really looking forward to the drive home. Then I need to get to work on the paintwork and cleaning the interior before the meet.

But what if it’s raining? Can I bring myself to take the car out in the rain after all of MJ’s TLC?

I know that it’s got an extra edge as it’s my car, but what a brilliant thread and spectacular work!

[MikkiJayne]

Glad you're enjoying it

Today was a day of great progress, countered by great vexation, and very few photos taken with a potato.

Mike came over to lend a very welcome helping hand and we got the front suspension off in preparation for replacing the upper control arms.



As usual the junction box under the chassis leg had disintegrated, so while the suspension was out I figured I'd get these two bolts out and clean this area up, and thus began the vexation



Doing so many of these, it was inevitable that these nutserts were going to get me eventually, and today was the day - the bolts were seized in to the nutserts so they just spun in the chassis leg

I started off drilling off the bolt heads, and then tried to drill out the nutserts, but they were so loose the drill then spun them round instead. In the end I had to use a carbide burr in the dremel to separate the top and bottom bits of the nutserts and then broke them apart with a centre punch.



I had to use a magnet on a stick to fish the bits out of the chassis leg - they are about 2 feet down here



The vexation continued when I realised I don't have any M6 nutserts. Plenty of M5 and M8 obviously Hopefully some will arrive tomorrow, and if not Mike has some.

They will go in here



Cleaned up ready for tomorrow. It took well over an hour to get here from the first turn of the bolts



After lunch we put the engine back in and started reconnecting everything and I forgot to take any pictures



I did get a snap of some new exhaust hardware



Hopefully running again tomorrow

[tonupkid]

MJ Your mechanical skills are matched by the descriptive power of your posts. Educational and enjoyable, thank you