The Current Driveway...

33,735 · July 12

Takes me back!

3,174 · July 13

Well, another short mechanicing session this morning, as I lack the special socket required for crank pulley removal... Typical VAG, I should have known.

It's just a 12-point 24mm impact socket, but alas I own no such thing. Amazon has them in abundance though, a selection of them in fact, in a wee case for us VAG ~~sadists~~ enthusiasts to enjoy. They'll be here on Wednesday, which by good fortune is my day off.

The main radiator is ok, just a minor bend at the bottom, but the aircon rad is toast.... the car has needed a re-gas for a while tbh, and definitely has lost its ice-cube juice now! It'll go back in for now, there's far too many sensors on it and the aux belt goes round the pump anyway, so in an unusual move for me... no aircon delete!

I'll keep my eye out for a new one.

Good to see the water pump had been renewed with the belt before (I'll be doing the same), and I can still see the last mechanic's paint marks. Less good was how slack the belt is, it's literally flapping about along it's top line, hardly touching the water pump pulley. There's hydraulic tensioners for the cam chains, which could slightly alter the cam pulley positions when running, but the belt tensioners are just normal jobs I think. Maybe caught it just in time(!), although I have heard that these engines are very tolerant of such things.

Anyway, will cheer myself up with a tootle in the Rover I think!

3,174 · July 17

Update...

Crank pulley removed ok, but x3 broken water pump bolts... new screw extractor set en route. Their remains just laughed at my vice grips. Remind me again why we do these things?!

Shouldn't take long once they're out I suppose, I don't need to undo/break anything else at least!

As an aside, the belt tightened up immediately as I turned the crank pulley to line up the marks, weird.

3,174 · July 17

Also, thought this was a nice touch by Audi...

Towards the bottom right of that picture, partially hidden behind a big casting, is a wee sprung piston-type tensioner... three bolts and out it comes, no bother, right?

Or, cos Audi... Make two of those bolts inaccessible without removing the big casting, which (naturally) incorporates the forward engine mount! Seems reasonable enough...!

Whether or not that particular tensioner gets changed will be between me and my conscience dear reader, this job in this heat, is trying my patience somewhat.

And finally, the biggish grey housing sloping diagonally up from left to right above the aforementioned casting, contains the thermostat, obvs.

Starting to understand why my garage wouldn't touch the job.

33,735 · July 17

My local garage wouldn't touch the radiator replacement on mine, I felt pretty good after doing it myself on the drive.

3,174 · July 18

Well, the big Audi's water pump bolts are just laughing at my new screw extractor set... sick of looking at the fecking thing now. I'm in work tomorrow, so will borrow the tap set and see if I can re-thread at 6mm (I've drilled most of the remaining bolts out now), or go up a size and thread the holes for 8mm.

The oppressive heat is not helping with the mojo tbh.

Yesterday's tootle in Old Red resulted in her second FTP, I really am going to have to clean the tank out methinks. Sputtering occured, and so we drifted majestically into a handy bit of waste ground by the fair village of Archiestown.

The same rusty particles were evident in the filter and float bowl as last time, but cleaning that out was not enough. With the ignition back on, the poor SU pump could be heard drumming away to no effect... the actual pick up in the tank must've been blocked, no fuel was present in the short line to the pump.

I disconnected the line, and blew back into the tank, which cleared the blockage (for now), and normal service resumed. I had just filled the tank with a good 30 litres, which had obviously swished some shite around in there.

Anyway, a thankfully rare bonnet-up-at-the-roadside photoshoot by my eldest ensued, there's definitely worse places to break down!

Onwards.

33,735 · July 18

Ah dear Ronnie, tis very close out there right enough, I haven't done much tinkering myself since coming back from Turkey a few weeks ago.

Good day for a leisurely spin on the pushbike maybe!!

3,174 · July 18

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

Ah dear Ronnie, tis very close out there right enough, I haven't done much tinkering myself since coming back from Turkey a few weeks ago.

Good day for a leisurely spin on the pushbike maybe!!

That's an excellent idea SP!

3,174 · July 18

This'll do...

£50 a few months back, the same model bike I had in the 90's, got me through my apprenticeship.

Speeds along lovely...👌

33,735 · July 18

Lovely bike that, gosh I'd love a Scott Timber again, mine must have covered many, many miles. Like you, it transported me to and from my first job!

July 24

My Claud Butler got me to school for the last couple of years there, then work and back till I was 18+. When I finally passed my car test and got my first vehicle, a HA viva van, it got resigned to the garage at the bottom of mums garden. One day I noticed the garage was unlocked and open and my bike was missing. Miss that bike, even though I abused it silly, even swapped the racing bars for cow horn ones, like we all did in the 80s

We’re currently in the area, stopping at Kinlochewe. We’ll be out and about on my bike over the next week or so, so I’ll keep my eyes out for RedRover and the blueMazda8.

3,174 · July 27

On 24/07/2025 at 22:53, Bmwdumptruck said:

My Claud Butler got me to school for the last couple of years there, then work and back till I was 18+. When I finally passed my car test and got my first vehicle, a HA viva van, it got resigned to the garage at the bottom of mums garden. One day I noticed the garage was unlocked and open and my bike was missing. Miss that bike, even though I abused it silly, even swapped the racing bars for cow horn ones, like we all did in the 80s

We’re currently in the area, stopping at Kinlochewe. We’ll be out and about on my bike over the next week or so, so I’ll keep my eyes out for RedRover and the blueMazda8.

Enjoy your trip! I don't know why I didn't see your post sooner, sorry for the delayed response. Beautiful part of the world you're in, I'm about a hundred miles east though, so alas you may not spy Old Red!

3,174 · July 27

Big Liability Audi Cambelt Update...

Hi all, it's on basically... I'm back to this:

I did refit the busted-up air-con rad as you can see, the top half of it cools the power steering oil...

Just the bumper, arch liners and wheels to go.

I did drill out and re-tap the threads of the troublesome water pump bolts, and the Continental water pump fitted up fine after that. I thought about smearing some sealant on the gasket, but there was none on the old one so didn't bother.

Next was the actual belt. Bit awkward, but I got it on and all marks lined up. The crank pulley was the issue for me... there's a ring of small Torx screws (VAG just loves the things, eh?!) holding the harmonic balancer pulley onto the crank sprocket, however, they were rusted and not for turning. This meant I'd had to undo the big main bolt holding the sprocket onto the crank.

T'was therefore a bit more difficult see the sprocket behind the big pulley, but I could just get my paint pen in there to mark the belt/teeth before sliding it all the way out. Putting it back in was more of this peek-a-boo game, but not too bad.

My method with cambelts is to mark the pulleys against the block, the belt against the pulleys, and then transfer the marks from the old onto the new belt. I find that you can't really go wrong after that, and I didn't lock the engine in any way (there's a special tool available at £101!), and all was well.

My garage didn't want the job, and my neighbour came over and said that he'd had trouble getting one to do his (Ford Focus) belt too. Thought it was a bread-and-butter job for the professionals but obviously not these days.

I turned the engine by hand a couple of turns, but I really shouldn't have. There was a couple of horrible clicks from the valve train area as I did so... A Google search returned some Audi V8 specific knowledge. The second cam in each head is turned via chain from the first belt-driven one. Apparently, without oil pressure in the tensioners, the chain can skip, which is probably what I heard... Oh good!

However, it made the same noises when I turned it backwards to the start point, and I then decided to turn the key. Perfect smooth running ensued (thanks to the mechanical gods!), so lucky there. I'm not 100 percent sure about the chains skipping anyway... how would they cope with every start up?

A wee while was spent trying to burp the coolant, particularly the cabin heater system. In the end, a rev up with the cap off did the trick, and there's no leaks this morning!

In summary, I'm glad I did it (I basically had no choice anyway!), but wouldn't look forward to doing it again. This car lulls you into a false sense of security, with the aluminium body making it seem newer than it is. Once you're into the guts of it, all the fasteners are rusted up like any other 22-year old motor!

In other news, the Rover has completed many miles of late, becoming my first choice for the commute and longer trips. Here she is at work...

Bootiful. From the pic below, taken on her arrival at Trab Towers, I see we have completed 800 miles together... not bad considering my commute is a 14 mile round trip these days!

The water pump is getting noisier, and there is movement if you wiggle the fan. Thanks to the great parts suppliers for this vehicle, I have a rebuild kit for the pump (£30), and a complete set of new hoses. While I'm on, I plan to change the engine oil too. Halfords of all places gave me a great deal on the oil... Millers Pistoneeze (with all the extra zinc these old engines like), was delivered to my door at £52 for 10 litres.

She's running great anyway, I'm just trying to prevent issues and improve her as we go.

Next MOT is the RX8, so some undercarriage scrubbing and beautifying on the tilty ramp will be on the cards shortly!

Cheers all.

33,735 · July 27

Superb work on the timing belt Ronnie, I like your simple method as well. My diesel one was impossible to bleed, I ended up making a long narrow extension out of a funnel, heater hose and a plastic connector and filled the entire system through the 2 bleed screws near the bulkhead 😂 Worked though!

Makes me think we're in the wrong job when we do work garages wont touch!

Enjoy the A8 again!

3,174 · July 27

Cheers SP,

I did look for some bleed screws up there but couldn't see them... maybe this early one never had them?

Anyway, sat watching Steph at FOTU whilst waiting for some sun so I can get finished!

July 27

7 hours ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Enjoy your trip! I don't know why I didn't see your post sooner, sorry for the delayed response. Beautiful part of the world you're in, I'm about a hundred miles east though, so alas you may not spy Old Red!

Ah ok, yes we know a bit of that area. We use to come up to Fyvie for a bike meet a decade or so ago, and from there did trips out and about including Fochabers cafe and Culloden. We also did a Culloden visit ourselves a few years back, FtGeorge being the main reason, which we plan to do again at some point.
This trip has however been cut short. Yesterday my bike decided to leak gear oil from its final drive all over the rear wheel and tyre. So an easy ride back to base from Ullapool, loaded straight onto the trailer and tomorrow we start heading back. We’ve moved our site booking to one in Forfar, mainly as it’s in town so we can walk places, which isn’t much of an option here in Kinlochewe. So in the morning we’re aiming for a Mcds breaky in Inverness then a run down the A9 and across to Forfar. It will also make getting home on Thursday a bit easier.

18,877 · July 27

I am working at Forfar Technical Inspections, Carseview Road, Forfar DD8 3BT doing MOTs Tues/Weds/Thurs so if you need tools, covered workspace or just a coffee swing in by.

July 27

33 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

I am working at Forfar Technical Inspections, Carseview Road, Forfar DD* 3BT doing MOTs Tues/Weds/Thurs so if you need tools, covered workspace or just a coffee swing in by.

Thanks for the offer, but the bikes on the trailer now, and I couldn’t do anything till I source an oil seal. Which is it seems a really odd size, 84x70x6mm. Can’t find any on the internet, just one that is actually 7mm thick, but that could be ok, just waiting on a price. A genuine Yamaha one is £18, so fingers crossed for the thicker one.

3,174 · July 27

5 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Ah ok, yes we know a bit of that area. We use to come up to Fyvie for a bike meet a decade or so ago, and from there did trips out and about including Fochabers cafe and Culloden. We also did a Culloden visit ourselves a few years back, FtGeorge being the main reason, which we plan to do again at some point.
This trip has however been cut short. Yesterday my bike decided to leak gear oil from its final drive all over the rear wheel and tyre. So an easy ride back to base from Ullapool, loaded straight onto the trailer and tomorrow we start heading back. We’ve moved our site booking to one in Forfar, mainly as it’s in town so we can walk places, which isn’t much of an option here in Kinlochewe. So in the morning we’re aiming for a Mcds breaky in Inverness then a run down the A9 and across to Forfar. It will also make getting home on Thursday a bit easier.

Sorry to hear about your troubles man, not good. I'd be surprised if the thickness of the seal is that critical, but you never know...

Good luck with it 👍.

3,174 · July 27

Got enough of a sunny evening to get the Audi sorted and ready for a run into work tomorrow. All being well I'll sign it off as fit for family duties again after that.

She doesn't like being jacked up, but the suspension sorted itself out very quickly with the new compressor helping a lot I feel.

While I was under there I disconnected the Secondary Air Pump (feeds fresh air into the cats on startup to speed up their warm up time), as it is getting noisy and bugs me. The system has never worked for me anyway, the flaps that should open to allow the pumped air into the exhaust don't, quite common apparently.

The car feels great, it'll be nice to have the serene smoothness and brilliant stereo on the commute tomorrow morning, but I suspect I'll miss the old P4! The A8 of its day, perhaps?

33,735 · July 28

Apologies if you already know this as you've had your A8 for 10x longer than I had mine but did you put the suspension in jacking mode?

3,174 · July 29

7 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Apologies if you already know this as you've had your A8 for 10x longer than I had mine but did you put the suspension in jacking mode?

Aye, still takes a wee minute to sort itself out once down though... A lot quicker than before, and she doesn't sink to the front bump stops anymore when you first let her down (made getting the jack back out interesting at times!).

The old compressor must've been losing pressure so fast (or just never getting up to full pressure maybe) that it was confusing the system timers etc...

3,174 · Friday at 17:12

Now now all...

Decided to set about the Rover's noisy water pump. As mentioned before, I have replacement internals in stock. Once I'd removed the auxiliary belt, it was obvious how bad the water pump had gotten, the fan would spin for a bit by hand then stop dead with a crunch.

Let battle commence...

The radiator came out fine, although it's casing/surround needs some repair...

Glad I've started this job, the hoses kinda fell apart on removal too, who knows when it all would have let go. It'll be good to get everything cleaned up and smartened up on refit. I've got a full set of new hoses in too.

The frame that holds the rad was pretty full of crud, and I was expecting rot...

...but a good scrub revealed good metal...

This will all get Fertanned and painted obvs.

I removed the fan next, again this can restored to a nice finish before it goes back on...

You can see here the kind of solidity built into the chassis of this old car, that bottom cross member is sturdy to say the least!

That gave good access to the water pump, however, the securing bolts were in there for good. All but one of them have sheared, and that's with me being very careful. I suppose this could be the original pump, and if so the bolts were torqued up 66 years ago, no wonder they've got a fair hold!

I'll probably have to drill out the remains of the bolts (I was hoping to leave the broken studs sticking out as far as possible to get a grip on them with the vicegrips afterwards), the pump is stuck fast to the block, and is made of pretty soft ally. It's not moving with me trying to 'encourage' it off the engine with various chisels/scrapers and the hammer. New pumps are available, so if it is damaged in the process it's not a showstopper at least.

I'm going to miss driving her for a bit, but at least the big Audi's back in the game (starting and running smoother with the new cambelt on actually... old one must've been pretty stretched!).

3,174 · Saturday at 20:41

Well, this weekend finds me once again on back shift at work... Basically just here in case something blows up, which isn't often the case thankfully, but does make for a long shift.

Anyway, some bits of old Rover came in with me, behold my renovations!*

The radiator just got a good clean out (pretty minging as you'd expect, but seemingly in fine fettle), will need a tack or two to the steel surround, and then a lick of paint. Not the top tank though, that will be polished brass if it's the last thing I do!

Not the first time the Audi's commodious boot space has come in handy...

...I even hoovered it!

Don't tell the boss.

33,735 · Saturday at 21:35

Lovely car, I miss mine.

3,174 · Saturday at 21:42

6 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Lovely car, I miss mine.

You can have this one when it's due its next belt SP!

Sign In

The Current Driveway...

Recommended Posts

Split_Pin

TrabbieRonnie

TrabbieRonnie

TrabbieRonnie

Split_Pin

TrabbieRonnie

Split_Pin

TrabbieRonnie

TrabbieRonnie

Split_Pin

Bmwdumptruck

TrabbieRonnie

TrabbieRonnie

Split_Pin

TrabbieRonnie

Bmwdumptruck

Saabnut

Bmwdumptruck

TrabbieRonnie

TrabbieRonnie

Split_Pin

TrabbieRonnie

TrabbieRonnie

TrabbieRonnie

Split_Pin

TrabbieRonnie

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Similar Content

PSAPervs current assorted junk thread. 1 2 3

Currently losing my mind over the BEDFORD KB 1 2 3

Ruffgeezer's driveway journal - 04/12/2024 Sheered bad luck 1 2 3

Motorcycling - Current Chinese Shite v. Older Japanese Shite 1 2 3 4 16

Your current car's/cars' list to purchase price ratio

Browse Forums

Activity