I lol'd

 

It's funny what you'll do while your waiting for parts. I decided to have a look at the aftermarket speakers on the rear parcel shelf. They are ugly and sound really tinny.

522124_2076633491969_1387945683_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Oh my! How do we improve on this situation? What is the OE configuration like? Anyone have an original parcel shelf? With speakers?

577586_2076632011932_1941732208_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

I tried some other speakers in there but they were too bg and still sounded tinny. Maybe my acoustic issue lies somewhere else.

Still no sign of another (probably wrong) balljoint so I decided to pull out the passenger seat. Why? Severe case of wobble-bottom due to suspected worn slider bushings. BTW easiest seat extraction ever!

549315_2076635332015_764400301_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

Or non existent slider bushings.

527892_2076636812052_778422535_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Oh, here it is. Hiding in the slider rail. Yuk.

577141_2076640732150_974807991_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


and here's the new ones I surreptitiously picked up off eBay. Yes, I did buy two sets but the driver's seat is not so bad just yet. maybe, when my wrong balljoint gets here I will decide it is aweful and swap them too.
485181_2076641972181_1381972389_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Here, that's better.

580645_2076643732225_58802455_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

Then, really desperate, I downloaded this to play through my new OE stereo.

533990_2084463087704_757156418_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr



I wanna go for a drive

 

Look what Postman Pat brought me yesterday.

422136_2000573830525_1728951275_995113_541621899_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


It fits too!

OK, I know, it's not OE and will probably wear out in about 10,000 miles but it's a tenth of the price!

So here it is, finally, back on all fours.

tumblr_m8s09vR4o01rxkf1vo1_1280 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


So i fired up the quattro and backed it out to get it up to temperature. I needed to burp the cooling system and test my new heater valve. Heater valve works but still runs a little warm at full cold. It is not closing fully though it did on the bench. I think a small cable adjustment should take care of things.

535988_2017390170923_1728951275_1002577_1870749776 _n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Then I took it out for a test drive. I must say the Kraftwerk worked perfectly. Exactly as described. New suspension's not bad either. Initially the new dampers seemed crashy over small bumps but soon settled down. I was a little surprised that the dampers did not feel stiffer as I set them around half their range. I couldn't really get on it though as the front anti roll bar is still off and I only have an eyeball alignment. I'm sure I'm going to be very happy with it once it's aligned and fully together next week.

I put the old speakers back in place but didn't reconnect them. The front are fine for now. Would love to get a replacement parcel shelf and original speakers though. Anyone?

I also installed the new cat gasket/donut but I think it's still blowing a bit

So I'm done for now. There's quite a few things on my original hit list that I didn't do yet and a few new ones but it's time to drive this thing.

 

I took the car down to Auto Europe for an alignment Tuesday.

alignment1 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr, on Flickr

alignment2 by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

My eyeballed alignment was way off as you might imagine but Charles whipped it back into shape.

So i've only put a few dozen miles on the car and the front anti-roll bar is missing but this beast has been transformed. No more boings and rattles from the loos suspension, goes where you point it and is very responsive. Just rolls a bit in corners as you might imagine. So everything is good. Not quite..........radiator started leaking yesterday. just a little froom the top seam:

149482_2096564350228_435952445_n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

and maybe the core. Can this be fixed, perhaps in situ? I don't want a new radiator as I love the look of the aged brass top.

I also have a small leak now from the power steering regulator but haven't yet isolated the source.

It never raiins but it pours (or weeps) with these cars.

 

I still <3 this thread

 

very interesting, to say the least, seeing your car going down the road would be like seeing marilyn monroe walking down the street NAKED!!!! thanks for sharing, as LENO once said others that appreciate my cars make it SPECIAL, if no one else were interested there would be no FUN, something like that, i will read and look at ALL!!! i miss the WRC on the now NASGARBAGE speed channel formerly speed vision. a little note to all a product called KROIL is way better than PB Blaster, i got mine at Eastwood in PA a mailorder

 

Reading all this and looking at the pictures makes me want to make a journal of my a6, granted its not quattro but there has been so much work to make it into a "quick" car from the 194,000 mile bucket that it was when I bought it.

 

Quick radiator removal. This should be easy right?

383539_2116836537020_1728951275_1045952_1886760539 _n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


It has more hoses going to it than my heart has arteries.

522133_2116834936980_1728951275_1045950_1537324561 _n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Finally got it disconnected and out of the car.

581542_2116831776901_1728951275_1045948_1372789897 _n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

535833_2116828936830_1728951275_1045947_636945106_ n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Uh, oh! Where's the isolator mount? Is this replaceable?

574555_2116826936780_1728951275_1045946_322766283_ n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr

528808_2116822816677_1728951275_1045944_328959328_ n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Off to the radiator shop for a re-core. Hopefully they can use the end tanks and side brackets.


Finally found a replacement for that decomposing breather hose.

580592_2116819456593_1728951275_1045943_1717992450 _n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


OE exhaust bolts. How concientious is that?

534765_2116812296414_1728951275_1045942_107804296_ n by Team Illuminata Motorsport, on Flickr


Can't wait to get the radiator back for the shop and start driving this thing.

 

still enjoying! unless you want a more original look, a fabricated aluminum radiator in a crossflow design should cool better and save a few pounds

 

Thanks. Original all the way. Or at least as much as possible. I got my recored rad back from Four Seasons yesterday actually. I'll post some pictures later. They did a great job but I'm still a little disapointed that it is not the original core now and I lost some of the original black paint off the brass top. Still, it doesn't have the original leak anymore so that's good.