Looks like a good haul. Do you have A/C? I had a terrible time getting my A6 strut brace on with the A/C lines in the way on the passenger side.

 

I do. It looks like it'll be a pain. I've run into a few more issues as well. My false firewall is bent. I've known it was bent for awhile but it was never a real concern, until now.

Did the bar clear the brake lines alright? It looks like a tight fit, if it fits at all.

Looked for your plug today but couldn't find it, I'll keep an eye out. I got enough wire to finish your relay set though.









Brake lines look they go right in the path of the bar.

 

Yeah, it looks like you've got a hell of a kink in the false firewall there. That may be your biggest problem. The brake lines were close, but not nearly as close as the A/C. I would be more comfortable bending the brake lines to adjust them rather than the aluminum A/C lines. I've actually got one of them wrapped in a rubber hose to keep from touching. I haven't noticed any real difference withe bar and may take it off because of the interference.

Thanks for looking for that plug. I think it's going to be a struggle.

 

Yeah, I just looked at my dad's A4 and it looks like it needs to come back about an inch.

I bet your brake lines are different than mine, my dad's 99 AEB brake lines are higher up and more towards the front of the car. It looks like the bar would fit fine on his car. That means either bending the brake lines or swapping in late AEB lines. That is probably the route I'd take, I can grab the lines off a junkyard car and swap them when I get around to doing the A8 brake upgrade and have the fluid drained.

Do you have a picture of the clearance at the AC lines? I don't think those changed between the years.

You didn't feel a real improvement with the bar though?

 

Sorry. No real difference with the strut bar. I can take a pic of the A/C lines tomorrow morning.

Got the ECU plug today, but it doesn't fit. Back to the drawing board.

 

For sure. I'll probably still install it, gives me an excuse to fix the firewall. I may put it off for awhile though.

I thought all the ECU plugs were pretty standard, do you know what kind of plug you need?

 

I thought that the ECU plugs were pretty standard too. From what I read, I may need to trim off a plastic tab to use the 2.8 one.

The one I need looks like this:


The one you got is decidedly more trapezoidal....


Not your fault. Back to the drawing board for a bench flashing harness.

 

Lol, I had that connector in my hand today. The A6 I was working on had that plug..

 

Damn Lukas, it's looking good! Not that it didn't before...

 

Thanks! Just plugging away.

Unfortunately the A6 strut bar is not going to work, MetalMan brought this to my attention and I confirmed it last night. The AC lines are shaped differently on prefacelift cars and there is no way to fit the bracket underneath them without some serious bending or replacing the AC lines, neither of which seem worth the effort for what I would be gaining.

Slightly disappointing, but oh well. I'm still going to look into straightening the firewall though. I expect the bend will be problematic when trying to install a facelift cowl.