What's in the workshop this week, Pelikanblau edition

[Djinny]

Thank you so much Mikki Jayne!

The S8 being in Mikki Jayne's care means it will make it as an oldtimer one day. It's lifespan is in the progress of being considerably extended.
What I find most impressive is that with her there is a solution to everything.
Every step is well thought out.
If a part can't be obtained anymore Mikki Jayne will repair it.
If a tool is missing she will create it.
Moreover all of that happens on a level of awe-inspiring perfection.
Let alone the engine gearbox separator machine with just the correct heights, no part will follow gravity towards anyone's feet, or just putting a third chain to the front part of the engine.

Out of all places in the world she, in a country full of RHD cars, had a spare clutch hose for a car which has never been fabricated as a RHD.
I'm very happy with the additional difficulties identified as it means they will be healed before the S8 goes back to Germany.

Looking forward to more pictures and postings!

Having spent a week in the workshop my own wellbeing has improved a lot as well. Very pleasant to have my proxy mended in this atmosphere of quiet confidence ;-)

Well, in total, even if it's not finished yet, it makes me feel like something has happened here which I will never be able to pay back.
All I can say is thank you Mikki Jayne.

In regards to the colour in the engine bay:
The car was given to the Quattro GmbH to be individualized. The first owner must have had special wishes but then again did not order the parts everyone else would've wanted to have. It never had a SatNav (but you can't navigate from within either because it is well insulated against the threats of the internet and GPS ;-) ).

[MikkiJayne]

Thanks for the nice words Vera

Big update tonight - lots of good progress.

I spent some time tidying the LPG wiring. The injector rails are nice and neat.



I didn't much like this big bundle of wires



So hid it in the e-box The LPG wiring mostly follows the route of the factory harness now.



Nice and tidy



I noticed the washer jet pipes and wiring were hanging down and getting in the way of the e-box lid so removed the scuttle trim. I'll fix that later



Of course the e-box screws were all seized as usual and had stripped out the inserts



Apply the usual fix



Countersink



Insert the D-nut



Insert inserted



New bolts



Sorted



Ready to put the front panel back on

[MikkiJayne]

I'm using a vaccum tool to fill the coolant. Normally a V8 will fill easily but with the aux heater and LPG I want to avoid any chance of airlocks. This tool uses compressed air passing by a venturi to pull a vacuum on the cooling system. Once it's got a decent vacuum you can leave it for a while to make sure it holds (therefore checking for leaks) and then open a valve to suck in fresh coolant.



Partial vacuum held for about ten minutes



Much gurgling later, 10 litres of coolant sucked in



Moved on to the starter junction box



Cracked as usual



This is the last ever prefacelift junction box



Luckily I have plenty of facelift versions which are actually better as they are closed at one end so I will fit one of these instead



Filled with spray grease



Fixed



The centre silencer had a large crack where it joined the downpipe



The lovely team at A8parts sent us another one Cleaned the ends up so they would fit the Supersport backbox



Unconventional fitting (for an Audi) on the backbox. This was not fun to reassemble!



On the transmission jack ready to go back on



Had to squeeze the pipes together by 2mm to get it to go back together!



Engine complete and running

[MikkiJayne]

First start video

[briang9]

Very impressive attention to detail yet again MJ Start up video sounds sweet

[Djinny]

Even the LPG Installation is now neater than before

Usually noone else would've strapped those exhaust pipes together but rather pushed and pulled around until coincidence would've been on their side?

Thank you for the lovely start in the week

[HPsauce]

I just love the complete contrast between the totally confident way that started up compared to the (obviously staged) failures and quick-fix recovery after a silly error (e.g. distributor wired in the wrong sequence, or fuel pump wiring broken) you see on Car SOS!

MJ put it all together correctly then just turned the key and of course it started immediately and ran smoothly.