The Current Driveway...

[TrabbieRonnie]

Hello all,

I've serviced the big Audi at last, it was overdue somewhat, according to itself anyway.

A rare occurrence today, in that everything just worked out... no muss, no fuss as they say.

My cheap and cheerful oil-sucker-out vacuum pump had the old oil out in about five minutes, usually I'm sweating by the time it's built up enough oomph for the job.  I'd sealed a couple of bits up with PTFE tape, which has transformed it... excellent not having to bend/lie/fall down.  Also nice to not have to wrestle the under tray out the road.

Picture of said oil sucker...

It takes six litres, which means emptying out halfway through, as my liebling holds eight!  Anyway, the oil filter wasn't too bad, the air filter however...  no pics as it is too shameful, but the amount of crap in there was unbelievable.  The freshie installed was one of  Blueprint's finest, so the car can carry on hoovering up sticks, leaves, stones and small animals for another year...

Now, the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice a dejected looking header tank tossed to the ground there, it too has been replaced.  I had already changed the original out last year for leakage from a hose spigot...  This one was a used spare from eBay, but sadly cracked around the cap threads...

Nicht gut.  This meant the occasional top up has been required of late, as it just vents out past the seal when up to temp.  Autodoc came through with a suspiciously cheap (£30) replacement though (don't know why I didn't try them last time, I spent more than that on the breaker part), which seems decent and fitted perfectly.

Behold...

Now, all this is just tickling around the edges really, as what I should be doing is the cambelt.  It's drizzly though, so... I just had a look at it instead.  You can pull the cover off easy on these, allowing me to inspect whilst stationary and in action.  All looks good, so I don't feel too guilty about the 7000 miles she's currently overdue by.

Must try harder.

In my defence, I did spot another wee issue during my inspection, a split vacuum pipe.  It's a wee one that operates the bellows that in turn adjust the intake plenum length for MOAR POWER!  Managed to cut and shut for now, but will be ordering some line from The Amazon.

If your interested, here's what the bellows look like in sub-4000 rpm 'sucked in' mode...

Above 4000, they open up, and act on the wee levers to do the biz.  I've been at these before, they were seized solid when I got the car, and do make a difference to the driveability.  I gave myself a pat on the back and shut the bonnet.

Another important purchase arrived a few weeks back, namely my fancy fitted car mats!  The old universal rubber ones had actually worn through under the pedals, and just looked shite.  They did a sterling job through the 'orrible winter weather though, and the carpet is still nice underneath.

The satisfaction of fitting mats that actually clip onto the wee nipples in the floor is amazing though, I'm a mat snob now!

Went for black, as I wasn't sure the beige ones would match, and stand up to family use.

Finally, I let the car know she'd been serviced via the VCDS so it'll stop shouting at me, and took a pic of the rarely fault-free dash display.  Anyone attempting to run one of VAG's finest past twenty years old will appreciate the beauty of this pic...

The usual eml will return shortly (I have electronically-compromised engine mounts, would you believe?), as the secondary air pump valves in the exhaust are stuck shut.  The light stays off for three-ish days, which is nice.

All in all, a good days tinkering.  I got a couple of good first-stage interviews for decent jobs under my belt last week, so feeling better about the non-car stuff too.  

Onwards!

[Split_Pin]

I've unfinished business with A8s, a petrol one is on the cards!

Good luck on the interviews, I hope one has a positive outcome.

[TrabbieRonnie]

I love the petrol...!

There's nothing like letting an engine rev I find, although my Father-in-law's new A6 Avant 3 litre derv is pretty rapid.

Can't touch this when up towards three figure speeds though!  

[TrabbieRonnie]

Mini collection mission today, had a wee jaunt out with my Father-in-law to fetch some new-to-me front wings for le Mazz.

2 hours each way, and £200... ouch.  However, RX8 bits are thin on the ground up here, and at least I could see what I was getting.  

The yard was Davidson's of Rora, a place I'm sure will be familiar to some Aberdeenshire shiters, but I'd never heard of.  It has been bought over (in January) by a group of lads from London, who had no real idea what and where they were getting into I think!  

However, they had a huge pile of nicely packaged parts ready for despatch, and had inherited a nicely organised yard by the looks.

Anyway, my wings...

By no means perfect, but solid and far, far better than what's on just now.  Much rubbing down, prepping and painting in my future, but thankfully... I like that.

Also for sale there was a down-at-heel Saab...

...which my FIL (who has previous with these), is sorely tempted by I can tell.  It has had a hard life I think, well-worn and Cat D... 

So, perfect then!  I will endeavour to encourage and facilitate his entry into the Autoshite life...

 

Cheers all.

 

 

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Mini collection mission today, had a wee jaunt out with my Father-in-law to fetch some new-to-me front wings for le Mazz.

2 hours each way, and £200... ouch.  However, RX8 bits are thin on the ground up here, and at least I could see what I was getting.  

The yard was Davidson's of Rora, a place I'm sure will be familiar to some Aberdeenshire shiters, but I'd never heard of.  It has been bought over (in January) by a group of lads from London, who had no real idea what and where they were getting into I think!  

However, they had a huge pile of nicely packaged parts ready for despatch, and had inherited a nicely organised yard by the looks.

Anyway, my wings...

By no means perfect, but solid and far, far better than what's on just now.  Much rubbing down, prepping and painting in my future, but thankfully... I like that.

Also for sale there was a down-at-heel Saab...

...which my FIL (who has previous with these), is sorely tempted by I can tell.  It has had a hard life I think, well-worn and Cat D... 

So, perfect then!  I will endeavour to encourage and facilitate his entry into the Autoshite life...

 

Cheers all.

 

 

Nice one on the wings!

Just watch for rot on the Saab, they are Cavaliers underneath and rust like one. Make sure the bulkhead isn't fractured at the steering rack also. MOT fail and tricky to sort with the engine in situ.

Otherwise a nice project!

[TrabbieRonnie]

Eldest shiter's 323-of-this-parish met a new friend today, I just got these pics of the cleanest MK1 Focus I've seen in a long while...

I won't tell you how little the lad paid for this one-owner gem, but believe me it was a bargain!  

[Matty]

30 minutes ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Eldest shiter's 323-of-this-parish met a new friend today, I just got these pics of the cleanest MK1 Focus I've seen in a long while...

I won't tell you how little the lad paid for this one-owner gem, but believe me it was a bargain!  

3 door in a colour as well!

Edit. Bonus of being an Essex car as well so at least it hasn't been up your way all its life and won't be totally rotten 😆. What a little stunner!