Managed to do a little bit of work today.
Firstly the front calipers were removed. Fairly scruffy looking and braking has never been this particular car's forte. Unsuprisingly the pads are fairly well stuck, and will need a bit of persuasion to get them out, but at least that will be easier on the bench.
I'll send the calipers off to Pro-Calipers and get them refurbished there.
Next up was the PAS pipes...I wasn't looking forward to the fasteners on the pipe clamp at the front arch. It didn't disappoint! After much faffing, and cursing I put down the tools and made lunch. Quite possibly the best thing I could have done. I've been giving this a shot of penetrating oil now and then for a while, but it hadn't seemed to help.
After lunch, I re-appraised the approach and got a 10mm ring spanner onto the top nut, and voila, it came free. Initially I thought it had broken in some way, but, nope, the nut came off. Well chuffed.
This was the result.
I managed to bring the pipes backwards out into the engine bay, which was handy as it saved trying to split the pressure pipe in situ, which had all the makings of skinned knuckles, and sheared things.
On de-greasing and wire brushing I have this:
A bit toast looking, and not long for this world.
The other ends and the low pressure hose look decent enough, and a fairly easy job.
Someone has tried to make them last longer by coating them with some form of black paint.
My consignment of AutoDoc parts are somewhere, but maybe nowhere. Who knows, but it seems painfully slow. Would really like to be re-assembling things to help my sanity. Spending money and still dismantling is always a bit depressing.
In other news I bought the cooler o-ring set. A trip to my local Audi dealer in my currently most depandable car. In fact, only working car. 1 out of 3 is a poor score.
Eurocarparts were doing Pagid front discs for about £43.00 for the pair!
Oil cooler o-rings were £36.00. The world has gone mad!!
The oil cooler is now fitted up again.
I've been pondering what to do with the subframe. It has localised rust at the front and on the seams at the sides. The front I could treat, but the side would be tricky. A bit of me wants to leave it on and repair locally, and the other thinks I should just drop the subframe, and do the lots.
I think I also prefer the idea of re-introducing the engine and transmission on the subframe as a complete unit. Just seems a better and cleaner solution.
I called Mackies this week. A transmission and torque convertor rebuild is coming in at £2,503.00 plus vat. Yikes. Not going to be much spare change when this is all said and done..
On the plus side I think the transmission and brakes overhaul will transform the car. The front suspsension has been refreshed to some extent, and possibly just needs drop links to bring it up to being decent.