Beater S8 Build

[AustinEngy]

Hi! I've been into Audis for a few years now, but just managed to purchase my first one this weekend. I picked up this D2 S8 for an insanely cheap price, with the idea of pulling the engine to swap it into a B5. There's very little documentation on S8 swapped B5's, and for good reason, NONE of the parts aside from the engine itself will swap over, meaning engine mount brackets, heater hoses, wiring and ECU must all be sourced from a C chassis 4.2. Given this and the fact that I would have to trade my Subaru to afford a B5, I decided that I would just part the D2 out given the condition I found it in:



Until I got acquainted with it and pulled it outside.



I had worked at an Audi dealership a few years ago and got to experience all types of Audis, but something about seeing this car roll out of a cramped garage into the sunlight and hearing the blower motor running even with a dead battery, I fell in love. This car needs a LOT of work to be road worthy, so the first order of business is to assess specifically what needs to be addressed to drive this thing. After making sure I can fix it for less than it would cost to just buy a nicer S8, I'll move forward.

My lease ends at the end of August so this is going to be a 30 day build thread and I will do my best to post each day with what I did. Get ready for some seriously regular content! I've never done any sort of serious project like this and I'm super excited to share it with the community.

DAY 1:

Today I started by running extension cords to the garage and hanging up lights so I can work late into the evening, run a fan and just generally have power in the garage. I had a buddy come over to check out the car and we jacked up the front end and pulled the wheels off. I knew the front rotors were shot from when I'd purchased the car but seeing them up close without wheels on... Wow



And a closer view:



Other things I found, it needs every CV boot in the front replaced, might need a trans output shaft seal on the Driver's side, needs an oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, rotors, pads and a battery. I noticed that there was oily wetness around the electrical connector for the trans towards the front of the car. Found this forum post (here) showing that it can be replaced if you drop the transmission pan. The PO had completely removed the front clip including disconnecting the trans cooler lines, so I need to refill the transmission fluid anyways. I will likely replace the filter and gaskets while I'm in there so I'll take a further look into this electrical connector seal as well. Though this is a solid indication that the trans hasn't ever been replaced so I'm running on borrowed time.

Good news though, it appears that all of the control arms have been replaced at some point as the ball joints look to be in good shape and most of the bushings on the frame side are very driveable! Also there appears to be no structural damage to the front end of the car at all. The damaged fender that is now missing likely was just damaged on the surface.

It seems that this car had been driven in winter and covered in salt then stored before getting a car wash, because virtually every piece of steel I've run into has been rusty. The block and heads are showing a good bit of surface corrosion, and there is white powder (assuming that's salt) all over the engine bay.

My goal is to get the front clip back on and start the car up to verify that the engine runs and the trans shifts okay. If everything checks out, I'll proceed with purchasing the "road-worthy" parts and doing those jobs. I've got a spreadsheet going to keep track of costs and have three categories of parts. Tomorrow's plan is to jack up the rear and see what needs fixing back there.

Should I throw new oil in it just for an initial test startup? It's been sitting for over a year, but I don't want to spend all that money on a full oil fill only to have to drain it to handle the oil pan gasket.

Needed to run:
Trans fluid
Trans filter
Trans pan gasket, drainplug and seal
Electrical Connector O-Rings for Trans
Replace front clip
Battery
Front Brake Rotors (To test transmission ability)

Needed to be roadworthy:
G12 Coolant Fill
CV Boots (All fronts)
Trans output seal
Brake pads (front)
Battery
Fender

Needed to be a daily:
Oil pump coolant tube things and reseal
Front Bumper
Timing belt and water pump kit (Blauparts Enhanced would be great)
Oil Pan
A/C Line Compressor to Condenser
Valve Covers

See you all tomorrow!

[stevereddy]

I would pull a compression and leakdown test before I went ANY further with time or money on this car........unless you are young and have lots of time on your hands. Quite frankly there are just too many clean, good running cars out there to deal with a potential money pit like this! Also, you may want to post this in the D2 section,

[AustinEngy]

Also, you may want to post this in the D2 section,

As far as I'm aware there's only the A8/S8 section? I have never seen a generation specific thread section. Also, a compression test isn't a bad idea! I'm not going to bother with a leakdown though. Again, I paid so little for this car if I can get it to the point where I can get it to drive under it's own power and not explode, that's enough.

[stevereddy]

My bad, thinking of the other website:(. It would be great to see a build thread, I think fixing this car rather than attempting an engine swap would be infinitely easier. I wish you well!

[somedude]

where is the core support and all of the bits that attach to it? i assume you have it somewhere. As long as the engine has oil in it and the trans is not low i would start it and makre sure your major components are good. i would at the very least loop the rad hoses and fill the engine with water. without coolant in the engine the heads will over heat faster than you would imagine possible at idle.

[AustinEngy]

Hey guys, so forum posts are hard so I think I'll just try having a big update every few days, if you happen to be a part of the Eurowerks Facebook group I'm making daily posts there. I've been working on getting title stuff all sorted out (as you can imagine with this car in this condition it's not easy to figure out) so I've held off on buying too many parts and have been continuing to assess things as well as tear stuff down.

First thing I did was get a new battery to replace the old OFFICIAL NASCAR battery that was totally dead. A local car guy helped me source a cheap new one and I verified electronic functionality. Everything but the memory seats and automatic headrests work! Not too shabby.


The entire rear end of the car is in good enough shape to drive around, it could use rotors and pads soon but the e-brake mechanism is in good shape. Suspension ball joints and bushings look good and the rear diff isn't leaking. On the front end though, it needs 3 CV boots and brakes, of course. I'm sourcing some used rotors since this is a budget build. However, I found that the rear main seal seems to have been leaking quite a bit (could also be transmission related, I don't recall what the fluid smelled like). Trans pan is seeping a bit as well as the electrical connector and the driveshaft seal. I'll just leave these alone.

I'd been worried about possible flood damage because the car has a lot of dirt in the spare tire well and inside the cabin, and with as much rust as I've found it made me wonder. Looked at the electronics under the passenger floormat and it looks clean, so I'm thinking the POs just never cleaned this thing. ECU Plenum was also totally dry and clean, so that's a good sign.





I had found the covers for the fuel pump to be hanging out loose in the spare tire well so I was worried that the PO had run into the terrifying STUCK FUEL PUMP BOLT and that the fuel pump was left there not working. I'd tried to prime the fuel pump by cycling ignition but couldn't hear it. Scared me until I tried the next day with someone else keying the ignition. I heard it prime and that was a relief! It seems unlike my previous VAG car, the fuel pump doesn't prime every time you put the key to accessory. It seems to look at fuel pressure and only prime when it's below a certain threshold.

Installed the core support and found that the AC condenser hard lines had been bent out of shape such that they wouldn't be able to connect. Bent them back into place. Also found the upper mounts were broken, if you need new mounts they can be bought at McMaster-Carr for cheap, but you need to know the thread size! I'll measure it later and order some. The OEM part number for these mounts is 441 121 273 L and they cost $40 a pop!



It's finally starting to look like a car! Even tested headlights, and I'll need a new D2S bulb, but they seem to work.

The trans cooler had been disconnected and puked out a bunch of fluid on the trailer ride so I will need to top that off before I attempt to start it. Shit's expensive so I'll wait until I get registration to purchase it.

Took off the brakes since I had nothing better to do and knew it needed to get done. Those rotors were really STUCK, had to pull out my poor man's sledge hammer to get them off. (see Axe)



Removed the upper radiator hose to inspect the coolant pipe and found some DISGUSTING SHIT. Will absolutely need to flush this whole thing out multiple times. I'd noticed what appeared to be either dried Coolant or salt under the driver's side floor mat on the foam so I'm hoping the heater core didn't get compromised with all of this (it's aluminum, so it shouldn't have rusted through, I hope?)



That's all I have for now, I have to buy some taller jack stands to lift up the rear since I've only got 3 ton stands and then I'll be able to fill the trans fluid, hook up the radiator and give her a test start! Will be throwing a new oil and filter in there before I start. Once I figure out registration we should be going full steam ahead! However if I can't figure it out I've got an engine and drivetrain for sale ;)

[AustinEngy]

End of week 1 update:

My first order of business was to start dealing with the nasty coolant issue I found. I had noticed some white powdery stuff underneath the driver's side carpet and while it was most likely salt (the whole rest of the car is covered in it), I figured the worst and thought the heater core might be leaking due to the other cooling system corrosion I'd seen. I flushed out the heater core first and while it puked out some sediment at first, it had no real issue flowing coolant! I also didn't see any water leaking down into the passenger compartment after about 15 minutes of flow.



Also found that my coolant pipe that takes the coolant past the secondary firewall was cracked. I might just block off the heater core when I first start it so I don't leak anything, but will work on finding a spare one!



Next, I disconnected the hose coming out of the bottom of the coolant reservoir and started flushing that. I'd left the heater hoses unplugged so my exposed rain tray got a healthy squirt of icky coolant water . With the radiator disconnected I set up an ingenious solution to catch the water coming out of the upper hose using a large plastic bin. This would fill up at the bottom and then overflow into the driveway so I'd be able to see sediment afterwards. It was pretty nasty!!



If you're reading this and are contemplating putting anything other than distilled water and G12 in your cooling system, please please please please skip Taco Bell for a day or two and buy Pentafrost SF so future owners don't have to deal with nasty cooling systems.

Checking back in with the brakes, I snagged a picture of the split rotors off of the car. As far as I can tell these things had been driven on for quite some time split. The driver's side caliper had been gouged and it was VERY close to cutting the hard line connecting the two halves. Jesus Christ. How do you own and S8 and just drive it like that. I sometimes can't believe how poorly this car has been treated.





To get the car running it needs transmission fluid since the cooler was disconnected when I got it and fluid spewed all over loading it onto the trailer. Instead of just topping it off, I decided to repair some leaky gaskets, replace the filter and fluid to help the trans last longer but also to check it's condition. If I found a bunch of furry magnets in the pan I'd be inclined to not keep working on this car as a new trans would put me over the budget of just buying a running S8 and scrapping this one. From reading the Audi Pages Transmission Service Guide I bought a Harbor Freight Allen Socket set that included a 17mm socket for a whopping $13 and I'm glad I did. It took me a 1/2" breaker bar AND a 2' pole to get the fill plug out. Yikes. I also lucked out since at some point the bank 1 cat got removed and someone welded in a high flow aftermarket cat. This made it so I could easily access all of the transmission pan bolts without special tools!

Fluid was pretty dark but didn't smell terribly burnt. The pan magnets had virtually no deposits on them which is a great sign about the health of the transmission. Not much sediment in the pan either.



The electrical connector was leaking past the dual white o-rings and to remove them the pan has to be taken off, so I figured I'd replace them while I'm in there. They cost $10 each from the dealer (P/N 01V 927 322 A)... what a steal


I checked out the timing belt closely and noticed cracks on it. I'd also accidentally left the PCV breather hose next to it and it got some oil on the timing belt. I don't feel totally comfortable starting this car with these worn timing components and risk destroying this project over a belt. Will be ordering a timing kit from FCP or Blauparts, but I'm still comparing options and prices. Rockauto also sells some appealing kits (this IS a budget build) but not knowing who actually makes the parts and having to deal with RockAuto returns doesn't sound like that much fun.

This thing needs valve covers pretty bad, so I checked the chain tensioner pads and at lease in bank 1, they seem to be in great shape! I might just replace them anyways, but the chain feels tight at least on the one side.



I pulled all of the stored DTCs and nothing I'm finding is too concerning aside from the misfire codes, but I have no idea if those are due to trying to start the engine with the fuel pump disconnected, the PO starting it with missing vacuum lines, or whatever. Everything else seems to either not be concerning or due to the old battery getting way too low. Either way, issues seem to be in Bank 1, so a compression test is probably in order before I put a bunch of parts on.

Pulled Codes;

17831 - Secondary Air Injection System; Bank 1: Insufficient Flow

17819 - Secondary Air Injection System; Bank 2: Insufficient Flow

16804 - Catalyst System; Bank 1: Efficiency Below Threshold

16825 - EVAP Emission Control Sys: Incorrect Flow

18011 - Seems ECM related, may be due to low battery (ya no shit thanks nascar battery)

16684 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected

16685 - Cylinder 1: Misfire Detected

16686 - Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected

17704 - Error in Mapped Cooling System

18010 - Power Supply Terminal 30: Voltage too Low

16497 - Intake Air Temp. Sensor (G42): Signal too High

Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 8D0-907-389.LBL
1 Fault Found:
01435 - Brake Pressure Sensor 1 (G201)

Hopefully this weekend I will get it started!! Wish me luck

[A6sport]

Wow, best of luck, keep up updated...I've always loved the D2 S8!

[OmaHahn]

This is a great thread!!! Please keep updating - love stuff like this!

[miSZukk]

Sweet build. Can't wait to see it back together. Good luck

[AustinEngy]

I picked up license plates and got it insured so decided to start buying the "expensive" parts. Blauparts has a pretty good deal for a transmission service kit for ~$105 after a 15% discount code that included 6 quarts of fluid, a filter and gaskets. Weird kit though, I was supplied an extra filter gasket and the drain plug gasket didn't fit. Also got some RockAuto Brake pads. I even went the extra mile and made sure to get ones with pad wear indicators! $$$$$



Cleaned up the pan a bunch and used a bit too much brake clean as the paint started dissolving on me!! I'm sure after drying it'll be fine. That's what the filter is for, right?



When installing a trans filter, make sure to lube up the seal and ensure that it stays in place. Then ASSURE YOURSELF that you tightened down the filter bolts so that you don't get the pan bolted back up and question yourself. I ended up pulling the pan a second time cause I didn't believe in myself. They'd been tight the whole time... Buttoned the pan up and torqued everything down and threw a quart of fluid in.

I keep finding more idiotic repairs done to this car. It appears that the windshield washer pump broke so instead of replacing it, they rerouted the headlight washer to the windshield hose and blocked off the headlight pump with a screw and some JB weld.





I'd mentioned way back that the upper radiator mounts had been destroyed and I didn't want to spend $100 on OEM parts, so found Vibration Dampers from McMaster-Carr for $18 shipped and tested them out. The dimensions were larger than the OEM ones but they ended up fitting really well! M6x1.0 thread with 1/2" studs on either side. I believe the rubber dimensions were 1/2" by 1"? Either way, the radiator is now completely supported.



I got a Timing Belt Kit from Blauparts as well. It was the base timing kit but with a water pump and thermostat added on separately. I really don't like how they structure their kits, but if you call you can get some of the items separately and build your own.



A local Audi Electrical Wizard, Jordan Price, helped me defeat the immobilizer so I'll be able to start the thing and I didn't get any pictures of him working his magic, but big shout-out to him!

I stopped in at a local shop I worked at for a brief time to visit my friend Bjorn who is an awesome mechanic and insanely knowledgeable about pretty much everything that's old and weird. His shop has more weird cars than normal cars as evidenced by this Packard Ambulance parked out front.

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Picked up an oil filter from him and borrowed a cam bar to be able to take care of the timing. I wanted to make sure the timing was good on the car as it was to make sure I don't have bent valves and the cam bar took a little work but fit in relatively easily!



I took off the serpentine belt and realized I'd lost my only 10mm wrench. How I've been able to hold onto that one wrench this long amazes me So off to Home Depot I went to get a couple of those and also pick up a belt wrench to counterhold the fan clutch pulley. My daily driver is an offroad-y Subaru Legacy and I took a moment to pause and reflect when I cam across the Yin to my Subaru's Yang.



I'm going to have a bunch of people over this weekend to get it started, so with the trans fluid topped off, timing belt and bank 2 tensioner pads replaced it should be ready to fire up! I'll chop out the center muffler and make sure to post up a video when (if) it starts.

[AustinEngy]

Since the last update I pulled all of the front timing components off and realized the front crank seal and bank 1 camshaft seals were leaking. Off to the dealer I went!



Before I started tearing anything apart I also made sure to pick up the most important tool in the Audi mechanic's toolbox, Audi Tool #5642. You can find these at pretty much any local liquor store which is great since in Minnesota they're now open on Sundays.



You can see how rusty and crusty the old parts were compared to the brand new Blauparts kit, what a difference! I'm also very glad I didn't try to start up the engine with the old belt as it very well could have snapped on me.





I would highly recommend using a cam locking pin #3242 as it takes ALL of the guess work out of timing if you also have a cam bar. Additionally, it's the only way to remove the crank sprocket to get at the seal behind it. They made an updated part that may be easier to find locally or at a dealership, T40237. Apparently there are some differences in newer V8 models that required them to modify the part, but the new one still works in older vehicles.

My buddy Sean came over and helped with the water pump and thermostat as well as helping rig up the cam sprocket puller (Just a plain 3 jaw O'Reilly puller). The sound these guys make when they pop off is SCARY. The next day I pulled them again and one cam moved 90 degrees and really freaked me out. This is normal though as the hydraulic lifters really don't like sitting at TDC on Bank 2.



My friends Julian and Alex showed up later and helped with all kinds of things:


Ooooh she thiccc ~Julian


Alex made the timing covers beautiful

The cam and crank seals were really in there, we used the drill and screw method for extraction and finding the right combination of drill bit size and screw took a while. The crank seal took two of us pulling two screws to extract!! It was really nasty and had clearly been leaking for a while even while it was being driven as there was oil all along the timing belt path. Here is the crank sprocket after being lightly cleaned, YUCK.



After buttoning everything together I realized I needed a new crank bolt and I wasn't going to risk using the old one. There's too much at stake to let a $20 part blow this car up. Also there is the possibility of needing a new chain tensioner. The car has been sitting for a very long time and it's possible that the tensioners gunked up and bled down, but after cranking the engine over for ~15 seconds there seemed to be no increase in tension.

I will be starting the engine up and seeing if the tensioners get any better with a reasonable amount of oil pressure. This will also help figure out if there are any other big issues in the way of having a driveable car. A $600 part would really hurt this project, but wouldn't end it. I'm looking into OE parts but would rather not get a used one. Here's a crappy picture of the chain slack at its worst:



Beyond the cost, I would have to pull the timing belt again to remove the tensioner. The reason for this is due to the metal bracket behind the upper right cam sprocket that prevents the tensioner from pulling straight up. It may be possible to use a dremel to cut out part of the timing belt cover and allow removal of the tensioner. I've not heard of anyone doing this but to me makes sense. If this ends up being the case I wouldn't worry that much about using a cheaper part as a future replacement (hopefully not necessary) wouldn't be as bad.

I pulled codes from all modules of the car with VCDS (I'd used lite before so couldn't access all the modules). I will update when I get home with what they were!

[AustinEngy]

I came to the decision that before I put any more money into this car that I wanted to make sure that it was able to actually run! The other night I set out to get the front end completely back together, fill up the fluids and reconnect everything necessary to turn it over. To my insane surprise, it actually started up on the first crank! There were no super obvious leaks but the chain noise was quite clearly present upon startup. It did seem to get better after a short time, but I'd really like to get the opinion of someone who has experience with 4.2s or bad chain tensioners in general to determine if they're actually bad or not. No codes as far as I can tell.



Next step is to get it on the ground and make sure the transmission isn't totally fucked or something. Brake rotors are all that's left to get to that point.

Also you can see that one of the intake flaps is sticky as it takes a moment to pop back into place after startup. Not terribly crucial, but the link is cracked so I'll go in and service those at some point.

[AustinEngy]

Finally have some good news! (Coupled with some possibly bad news but...) After running the car for a little while there is no noticeable chain noise even after sitting a day, which leads me to believe they're in good shape and had just been sitting for a very long time with no oil pressure.

While waiting for brake rotors to show up, I did a bunch of little things. For one, the central locking vacuum pump had been replaced at some point and wasn't' put back properly. Just left hanging out in the rear of the car! That's asking for a nice bump or hard turn to break it again. Put that back in place.



Put the trunk back together and everything is just completely dirty. Not even funny how gross it is. There's also a heavy coating of dust on everything in the trunk. Someone must have done some serious offroading in this thing.



Also picked up a new fender so it doesn't appear to be TOO clapped, re-installed all of the engine covers and the headlights too. A few broken tabs but enough are there to make it work.





Brake rotors from ECS Tuning showed up on Saturday (I decided against used rotors ) so I promptly threw them in. The pads didn't fit into the calipers properly, it turned out that corrosion underneath the metal shim had pushed the shim up such that the pad wouldn't fit. Scraped off the corrosion and it all fit together well! So awesome to have ONE PIECE rotors now hahaha



After filling up the transmission fluid using the procedure on Audipages I dropped it and took it out for a drive.



Brakes worked, so that's a plus. However, after coming up to a stop sign and trying to take off quickly the transmission slipped and slammed itself into first. Shifting to other gears wasn't an issue. Later, while trying to bed the brakes in I came to a hard full stop from 40mph and after trying to take off again the transmission slipped but went into limp mode. Restarted the car and did another hard stop with the same result. Got an incorrect gear ratio fault which makes sense cause it slipped pretty hard.


(THE SCARIEST THING A D2 OWNER CAN SEE OH GOD)

Since then, I've been avoiding hard stops and haven't had any terrible slipping. It seems to have no problem going to any gear other than first. My current thoughts are that the fluid may bee too low such that the pump is starved when coming to a hard stop and immediately trying to accelerate. I would like to check the level on a lift though. Only put about 20 miles on it at this point, but since driving I've gotten a code for an upstream O2 sensor and have been getting ~9mpg so that seems accurate. Also found codes for an implausible signal from the steering angle sensor.

On another note, my reason for wanting to get this thing driving within 30 days was because I was going to move to a new house without off street parking or a garage. Ended up finding a different house with a fantastic two car garage so this project will likely continue!

[A6sport]

Ha, nice work!

[sciblades]

great thread keep up the good work

[somedude]

You have to fill the transmission with the engine running to get to the correct level. Fill it until fluid comes out engine off. The start engine and fill until fluid comes out. Keep fill plug removed until fluid reaches operating temp the install plug. Then burnouts?

[pkt1213]

Good stuff. I need to find an S8 like that because my A4 is a couple of cylinders short.

[Tom01s4]

I am thoroughly impressed !! When you refill the tranny after a flush and filter change I usually apply the brakes and put the car in reverse while depressing the brakes (as the is in reverse) gently bring the revs up to 1000-1500 to build pressure in the transmission then cycle the tranny to drive , then neutral , and reverse again , then back into park release the brakes and then the tranny should have fluid in all places and with Light driving you will also build pressure therefore saving anything from burning up for slipping . Just a little advice it always worked well for me . Reverse requires the most pressure in the transmission and cycling it from park to drive when you add a little bit of RPMs you build pressure therefore tranny fluid gets where it needs to go and hopefully the tranny will work properly . Anyway you seem to have a good grasp on things and you're doing an awesome job keep up the thread , and good luck with the vehicle .

[rhfosu]

Good luck and godspeed. You deserve a humanitarian award for this.

[AustinEngy]

Hey everyone! I haven't posted in forever since being in school now means I haven't had much time or motivation to formally document things. But here's a look at everything that's happened since the end of August! In four weeks I'm going to be driving this car to my new job in LA, which is about 2400 miles. So far I've put about 500 on it, so here's to hoping I can make it reliable enough to get out there!

WARNING THIS GON BE A LONG ONE

Last time you saw me, I'd finally gotten the car on the ground and driving and got stuck in limp mode. I was still at my old house and didn't want to mess with the transmission again so I took care of some small annoyances with electrical tape:



The sun visors have plastic pieces that always disintegrate, so electrical tape works great to get them back in shape!



The side markers have tabs that like to snap, so more electrical tape to the rescue! Sits in there alright, but not perfect.



The glove box light has tabs that break all the time as well, slap this shit on there and nobody's the wiser.



The door blades were sagging, so I took them off, reseated the clips and we're good to go.

Then the BIG DAY happened, at Eurowerks 2017. I had registered to have the car there a few weeks prior and the motivation helped me get it on the road to be there. The rear brakes grinded, oil fell on the headers and the transmission slipped the whole way there, but I made it!



I sourced an S8 bumper from out east and picked it up from the Greyhound bus station. The thing was wrapped really well but still sustained damage to the chrome trim and bumper corners. Oh well, this is a beater! Now I have parking sensors, fog lights and horns, so that's nice.



At this point, the front tires had been worn all the way down on the inside after a mere 150 miles of driving. Upon closer inspection, there were a ton of torn control arm bushings up front, so I bought a Meyle 8 control arm kit hoping this would fix my alignment issues. I could visually see one wheel was tilted out and the steering wheel was cocked to the side. I've never dealt with pinch bolts before but thought that turning the nut loose was the hardest part of the job. Loosening them was a piece of cake!



I quickly realized... the nut was the least of my worries:



These pinch bolts came out HARD, I ended up completely removing the knuckles from both sides, holding them with clamps and vices, torching the knucles and using a punch to hammer them out. One side I could do by hand, the other side required some serious heat and an air hammer.

When it came time to do the tie rod ends that were included with the kit, I realized very quickly that I was not going to be able to unseize them so I bit the bullet and got some TRE inner tie rods. And boy, I'm glad I did!

Here was the reason for my totally dicked alignment:



Next up on the list was to handle the rear brakes. I noticed very early on that when I'd come to a hard stop the brakes would feel like they had locked themselves up. I knew the pads and rotors seemed pretty shot and the parking brake levers were seized but the rear lug nuts were really frozen in there so I hadn't previously taken off the rear wheels.

Yikes:





On both sides, the cylinder boots were torn and the cylinder was completely corroded. These calipers were absolutely done for. Only problem? Where the hell am I going to get a decent set of calipers for these things??

There were four options:

• Get used calipers and hope they last
• Buy OEM and pay >$300 each
• Buy A1 Cardone calipers at $75 each and deal with a poor reman
• Somehow find Centric calipers and brackets


I decided to try and find Centric calipers. I'd ordered from two online suppliers and each time they took my money, assured me they had the calipers in stock and days later refunded my money saying they weren't available. Great.

I got in contact with Centric to see what the deal was, and they said they had absolutely no cores at all or anything in stock. However, I got the names of local distributors who might have had parts on the shelf. There is a single rear left caliper in the whole state. I immediately go and pick it up at Brake and Equipment. I was also told that Metric Auto Parts had a set. I drove out there as they said they had them, turned out it was on a truck on the way there. I wait a few days for the truck to show up. The truck comes, and, lo and behold, no calipers to be found.

A8 and S8 rear calipers are the same, the only difference being the brackets. I go back to Brake and Equipment and ask to get an A8 caliper. They have no problem selling me the caliper, and throwing the reman bracket in with the core return and I keep my original bracket. I had the bracket sandblasted and went home to button everything up.

Put the calipers on and pump up the brakes to build pressure and check for leaks.
POP!!!

What the fuck... I hear brake fluid spilling out and go to check. It's coming from behind the cylinder boot. I pull the caliper and bring it back to Brake and Equipment the next day. The caliper that was defective was the S8 one, and obviously they don't have another. They DO have an A8 caliper, however. They're willing to do a refund, but will not give me the A8 caliper as they claimed they had to return the S8 caliper to Centric with the S8 bracket, but I needed to keep my bracket, obviously. Big ol' complicated mess!!!

I have the shop there take the caliper apart and figure out what's wrong, and it seems like Centric used the wrong internal parts as he replaced the o ring that fluid was leaking from with a larger one and no matter what he did it was still not sealing. Clearly a manufacturing defect.

The counter people were very unhelpful and didn't really seem to want to work with me to figure out a solution. I called Centric corporate again to ask about their warranty return policies and explained the situation. The corporate dude told me to contact the local representative. I called B&E and asked to talk to someone who could direct me to the rep. I got in touch with the head of the company and he was very sympathetic to my situation and seemed to have absolutely no problem with warrantying out an A8 caliper in stock and sending my S8 caliper and an A8 bracket back while giving me the working caliper from an A8 box. Once I talked with him, it was a fantastic experience and all was well in the world.

I tossed the warranty caliper on and the brakes pumped up and bled with no problems at all. Jesus H. Christ, I feel bad for anyone that needs to get S8 calipers, but I'd recommend just getting A8 calipers and using your existing brackets. The $10 sandblasting cost to get them ready to go is well worth it.

FINALLY BACK ON THE ROAD BABY



Aaaaand I've got some serious oil leaks getting into the timing cover along with the new water pump gasket pumping out water. I was able to drive it to work in Bloomington and back, though! Straightened up the alignment by eye and it got a lot better with the new tie rods. Made sure to coat them with anti-seize for the future

I also started getting a gnarly rattle at stops in Drive, which I attributed to the split from torque mount. When I started it up I heard some chain rattle as the car was turning over and started sourcing chain tensioners.

So, back under the knife she goes:



Brand new water pump seal leaking:



The timing cover shows where the oil leak is coming from:



Appears to be the cam seal or tensioner seal (I'd replaced both when doing the timing belt the first time) Surface prep is EVERYTHING guys. I also pulled the crank sprocket and redid the crank seal. I went and got a proper seal puller and a PVC tube that was the correct size. Made my life so much easier. DON'T USE WOOD SCREWS TO PULL SEALS THIS IS THE BEST $15 TOOL YOU WILL EVER BUY TRUST ME https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-58430-S.../dp/B000FPYW4K

I put everything back together and watched behind the timing cover as the car was running and saw oil seeping out of the chain tensioner. I decided to just try tightening down the tensioner an extra bit and the leak STOPPED dead in it's tracks.

Water pump wasn't leaking anymore from what I could tell either and I wasn't leaving oil spots anywhere!

While I was doing all of this, I also picked up some Peelers as the ride had been pretty rough and the tires were shot, so I figured an upgrade was in order. Once it was driving again I took it to get an alignment and then went to work.

Went out to lunch with my boss and a coworker to show them the car and on the way back to work I take a turn, hear a clunk and steam starts coming out the hood and the coolant light starts YELLING!



Looks pretty good, but I was down over a gallon of coolant in about an 1/8th of a mile of driving.

Bought a AAA membership and had the car towed home:



What caused this problem, you may ask??



Hmmmmmm.....



HMMMMM.......



Looks like some previous owner had removed the fan to fan clutch bolts and never put them back. Me being inexperienced with mechanical fans never noticed. The fan just popped off and tore the radiator up reeeeeal good.

The next day I went to U Pull R Parts to look at the radiator on an A8 there. I pulled it and found sludge, green coolant in the radiator and nasty red trans fluid and metal shavings in the trans cooler. I was NOT going to risk throwing that in.

Another week passed and I was trying to scrape together money for a new $450 radiator or get one brought up here from a parts car I knew of in Missouri. While I was at work I stumbled upon a newly posted ad for a D2 getting parted out. Seemed to be in great shape so I went and bought a radiator as soon as I was off of work. Threw it in Friday evening and had the car running again.



Took it to work and back without a hiccup. Running smooth, feels great. And then:

Austin: "Wow, I feel so accomplished, I'm so close to being able to have a solid car."
Audi Gods: "HAH! Have a nice oil cooler leak"

So, that's where I'm at. I know this was a super long read and anyone who read the whole thing is awesome. I've left out pictures of a bunch of things, doing valve cover gaskets, refilling the transmission, little trim and interior fixes etc. etc. etc.


Here's what I have left to do before I move out to LA in four weeks:

Oil cooler pipe and seals
TransGo pressure relief valve
Fuel pump
Remove mechanical fan all together?
Get headlight and wiper washers working
Clean the FUCcc out of the nasty interior

[mondrage]

This has been a thoroughly enjoyable thread. Keep it up.
It almost (just almost) made me go and buy back my old '88 MB 300SEL... or to restore my abandoned in the woods (but motor runs) BMW 3.0Si '72.