EU Spec fully electric rear seats retrofit...

[IT]

What a day. The photos will speak for themselves, but its so close now I actually got to take her out for a drive today....

Anyway, 3 months since the start of the project, and over a month since my car got laid up and stripped down, heres todays progress....

With the RNS-E all sorted, time to refit some front trims, so in goes the transmission tunnel cover on the passenger side, and the wooden kick plate that covers the relay box:



and on the drivers side, the transmission tunnel cover and left foot rest:



Jumping about a bit, but then I moved focus to the rear and the armrests which need to be bolted into the 4 holes, 2 of which should be threads and arnt on my car as they are factory installed and my car didnt need them....



The plan is to install some rivnuts, with short bolts instead of the factory spec which was 10mm bolts onto factory installed threads....

First though, I need to drill them out to size. Bear in mind the petrol tank is about 1 inch away from the back of this bulkhead, so drilling is slow and careful....

All drilled out:



Here is a photo with a rivnut popped in to show how it will sit:



In practise, the first rivnut didnt go too well - The thread sheared out and left the riv nut half in / half out and spinning with a screwed thread . This cost about an hour of faffing around and deciding the best course of action. To add to the problems I could also smell petrol fumes from the area and did have a slight case of

The fumes were eventually put to bed as 'normal' breather pipe fumes which would be typical on a warm day where the contents of the tank are heating up, and as for the failed rivnut, I just carefull drilled it out and started again. There are two access panels in the floor of the boot near the bulkhead for accessing the fuel pump and fuel senders. Using these access panels, a torch and a number of stomach muscles that were definitely not up to the job I was able to peer into the void and check what was happening, and even fish out the failed rivnut once drilled out...

So, two rivnuts in, and we're set for the armrest install....

[IT]

and here is the armrest installed with 4 bolts, 2 at the bottom and 2 at the top. Note that the seat frames are now fully installed and fastened down with the 'boomerang' in place to hold the center box down firmly....



This photo is poor, but I'm not taking it back out to reshoot it

The top trim is from a normal car, and the bottom one from a car with individual seats - It has a layer of material glued to it that will let the seats slide up and down without rubbing on the plastic. Tough to see in the photos, sorry... !



That side trim is installed, and then in goes the first seat. No action shot of the seat install as its a 2 man job, and I was on my own, so I was a man down before I started to think about photography... !

They install / remove in the most reclined position as they are ultimately held in by 2 x M10 nuts underneath the front edge, which cant be accessed when they are retracted...



Heres a better photo of the progress... Look at the spaghetti in the middle to sort out, and thats with only one seat in ! In this shot you can see the two holes at the front of the seat frame where the lugs drop in to secure the seat with 2 x M10 nuts....

Also note the seatbelt is now present. After installing the seat, I discovered the seatbelt needing bolting in first <doh> so out it came again, and then back in again....



But knowing all this made the other side go in so much quicker, how good is that looking now ?



Spaghetti all sorted and clipped into its rightful homes. All functions tested and everything works... <phew>. Airbags also connected, and they didnt go off so thats got to be a good thing....



and so on goes the top cover on the center and it looks like a regular rear sport bench, until you clap eyes on all those buttons down the side



And here is the rear seat bench with one seat out to show its relitive position....

[IT]

So I've put now put in the glovebox, passenger seat, drivers seat, some floor mats and generally put back 99% of it....









I still need to do the rear door cards, drivers lower dash and the LPG system in the boot..... all little jobs for tomorrow, but it really, really feels like its nearly there now... And the car drives, which is a bonus...

[Conan_the_Librarian]

An herculean task Ian. On reflection I suggest harder than an engine swap the first time of doing it! Added to Sticky.

[B@fink]

mighty fine! I didn't realise just how much recline you get with them, they look REALLY comfortable.......shame they didn't offer them as a option here!

[Singh]

Well Done Ian, I'm in awe of your '8 talent. I'm sure no one knows a D2 like you.

[CliveH]

Once again, I'm also in the 'awe camp'...

and yet another project which couldn't in your wildest dreams be described as 'plug and play', and just goes to show why A8parts has the reputation that it does!

The results speak for themselves and I'm sure has been well worth all the effort - again, well done!!

Right, well I'm going to remove battery from the S2 today, which involves removing the rear bench, and 3 bolts - wish me luck...!

[Oli18]

Wow, i'm so jealous and impressed (mostly jealous though) lol.

Nice one Ian - it looks brilliant!

Oli

[gninnam]

Respect - good job done very well

[IT]

My drivers door trim has arrived, hurrah.... nearly £80 later

These things just aint cheap, trim parts direct from Audi never are, but look how beautiful it is compared to the crappy original:



Of course, £80 doesnt actually get you any switchgear... oh no, you have to move that over yourself...



Marvelous - ready for install.....



tada..... drivers door finally back together, and I can now adjust my blinking mirrors...

Right, off to see the bank manager to see when I can expect to afford the other 3 door handle trims...