Project B4 80 S//TDi, codename "Sooty".

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:52 pm

It has been pointed out that because this thread now has over 58 pages with 1700+ replies, it may be a bit hard to follow the progress of the project without sitting for hours reading all the pages.
For this reason, a quick read thread showing all the stages with descriptions and photos has been created. Note however, if you are on a dialup connection, the quick read thread may be a bit too much for your slow connection speed. If that doesn't worry you, you can see the new thread >>> HERE
Also note, the new quick read thread has been locked for replies. Replies can be posted in this thread instead.

First off, excuse the name, my other half thinks all diesels are "sooty" and has called this car that Rolling Eyes

As we all know, this robbing no good government of ours is pushing the price of petrol up and up and up. The 2p rise planned for April is on top of the extra £3 billion our great chancellor Mr Darling (how gay is that name?) has raked in over the past 6 months due to the rise in the price of a barrel of oil, but will he scrap that 2p rise? Like **** he will.
When I bought my S2 Coupe 4 years ago, I could fill it's 70 litre tank for roughly £55, that same fill now costs me a nads willy off £84.
As I use the S2 to travel the 50 miles return trip to work 5-6 days a week, and with the S2 returning an average mpg of 27, it's getting a tad expensive.
What to do? Sell the S2? No way! why the hell should I?
It's a fabulous car to drive and I have no plans to get rid of her for a long time yet, though I have had my moments, usually in anger.

So, that means a work hack. I had a 90 2.3e auto last year, it was good but eventually the auto box gave up.
Thought about a few various other cars, another cq20v, another 2.3e manual Coupe, a 90 20v quattro, another 80 V6 quattro.
But all aren't going to save me the money in fuel costs.
That means a diesel. Again I had some preferences to fill, main one being it had to be a B4. Had to be a TDi so it would "effortlessly" do the work run down the motorway every day.
Didn't fancy an Avant as I'm still only 37 and nowhere near needing or wanting to own a pipe and some tartan slippers to go with it. Shocked

That leaves the 80 1.9 TDi saloon.
Again, it needed to be (to me) in not perfect condition. As long as the mechanicals were fine, the bodywork could be scruffy. As long as it wasn't full of holes and every panel with a football size dent, I'd do.

Step forward user on here "markcov1980" who had his Laser red 80 Tdi up for sale >>> LINKY

It sounded just what I wanted, as long as the rear ender hadn't been too bad.
In reality, apart from a some cracks to the paint in the middle of the rear bumper, that rear ender affected nothing else.
Front drivers wing has had a pattern part replacement in the past and is rotten now, full of holes on the arch. Thinking of pattern part replacement panels? DON'T! they are crap. The car should be laser red, but is the fabled laser pink. Not worried about that as I'll get it back to it's former glory.

I also wanted to experiment with alternative fuels. Pump diesel is refined petroleum and not what the inventor of this engine (Mr diesel) originally designed them to run on. Ok todays diesels are designed to run on pump diesel, but good old biofuel or SVO is the future.
I plan on running it on a vegetable oil and kerosene mix ultimately and I've had a few pointers off a good knowledgeable diesel owner with regards to what to mix with vegetable oil or not mixing it and running the car on SVO (straight vegetable oil) instead. I'm not keen on SVO as it can be a little thick, but I know of one owner who runs his IZ engine 80 TDi on SVO with "so far" no problems.
I've already got vegetable oil in the tank now but for now it's mixed with pump diesel. I've let the tank run near empty and filled it with 30 litres of pump diesel and 30 litres of vegetable oil. I bought 50 litres of vegetable oil (sunflower) off a friend who works for a trade cash and carry for £22, that work out at about 45p a litre.
The car is running fine on this, no problems so far although to be honest I didn't expect any.

Ok, to the car itself. First off was to change a few interior items. The ugly four spoke steering wheel had to go, in it's place a spare 3 spoke sport wheel was put on instead. Most of the small 5mm wedge bulbs throughout the car on things like the switches, the heater controls etc were out. I've replaced all of these, every last one in the car has been replaced even if it was working or not. This means they are all the same brightness and should in theory save me having to pull stuff apart again when another one blew.
Dash binnacle bulbs were out on all but two of them. So they've all been replaced too.
The seats and carpets were vacuumed and then cleaned with a avx and carpet shampoo. All the trim and dash was washed down with neat Megs APC and then treated to Aerospace 303 trim protectant.
A set of mats were added (ok, coupe ones, but I had them so used them)
The car came without a radio, so a trip to Halfords and back saw me buy an new RDS tuner headunit with CD-R front loader for £40. Fitted in a crack by Andy (Audioc) It's not as bad as I thought it would be for £40, radio reception is fine, plays CD's no bother and the sound quality is ok, but MILES away from the Becker headunit recently fitted to my S2, but then that was £300 so you'd expect some difference.

A spare genuine used wing was given to me by Andy, it came from his recently sold 80 avant and is in emerald green. I'm also a big hater (personal preference don't forget Wink

) of the standard front bumper, what possessed Audi to design it looking like a speed boats hull I'll never know, so that's coming off. In it's place a spare S2 front bumper from my collection (I have three of them, no! not for sale either).
With that I'll have to change the headlights or I'll have four front indicators. So a set of facelifted coupe headlights will go in, with some clear indicators and the fogs in the new bumper.
I'll be colour coding the door handles and the wing mirrors, along with the black rubbing strips mid wau up the doors. That leaves the rear bumper being removed and repainted, colour coding the back trim at the same time and painting the lower part of it a satin black to as to match the front bumper. Ideally an S2 avant rear bumper would be best, but unless I can find one for peanuts, then I'll leave it.
All above will be done by myself, apart from the laser red top coat on the wing and bumper as I can't get the finish I want. £40 is what a mate wants to do this, so I'd rather he did it than me doing it and always hating it.

Lastly, the wheels. Currently it's on it's original steelies, 195/65/15 with no wheel trims either. I want alloys though. I have a set of 17" five spoke alloys that would look great, but the tyres are really best their sell by date and I'm not keen on 17" after been there with them on my S2.
So, as this is a cash saving car, I'm not about to fork out for some alloys. I have a spare set (two spare sets really) of 16" five stud avaus wheels with brand new tyres on them. But as we know, 5x112 avus don't bolt to 4x108 hubs. Five stud conversion? Nope, that'll cost money, not what I want to do.
Hub convertors? Hmmm? but problem is no one sells any, ANYWHERE. Even german searching draws a blank. Plenty of 4x100 to 5x100 or 4x100 to 5x130, even a 4x108 to 5x130.
Can't buy it, then make it.
I've got a set of four 20mm hubcentric steel 4x108 wheel spacers. These will be machineed so that they bolt to the 4x108 hub, then machined with a 5x112 pcd and the wheel bolted to the spacer.
I know I know, some will cry and protest that your wheel will drop off, you'll end up upside down on the motorway with a central reservation barrier imbedded in your skull, but as the VW boys run with 4x100 to 5x112 or 5x130 convertors without really bad things happening, I'll give it a shot.
I work for one of the biggest engineering companies in the NE of england, if we can't do this at work, then hell! guess we'd better find something else to do.

Ok, pictures so far.

This is the exterior as it is now. Pretty faded with a few knocks and scrapes. Apart from the front driver wing (awful isn't it) they'll all repair with a little elbow grease and time. No rust anywhere else apart from that drivers wing.

First up was to sort the inside.
Bit of hoovering, shampooing and dash trim dressing, it went from this;

To this;

I'm missing the dash badge but they are still available to buy new, not a lot at £7 or so. I'll also keep an eye on ebay for a full length switch panel and some balnks as I'll need to put in a front foglight switch and they isn't space as it is now.

What I untimely want it to look like, and there's no reason to say it can't be done, is to visually look like an S2 saloon (never came to the UK, only 307 ever built)

I'll probably have to lower it, or it'll look like it's on stilts, but I can do that later on this year, possibly tying it up with top mount replacements as I think one is on the way out (got a spring twang going on).

Wing and bumper are done and primed, off to painters on Monday. Should have them fitted "maybe" later this week, definitely the weekend.
I will of course keep the thread up to date as I go.

You can all wake up now Very Happy

Jas..

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:19 pm

nice project....
being in engineering myself i'll be interested to see what you come up with for the wheels.....
i also trust your well read on the legalities of running on Veg oil ?

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=104&i=6545

the dibble were pulling over diesel cars on a bypass near me just last weekend and checking them

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:33 pm

Oh yes, I've read more than I can take in at the minute. From what I read, the first 2500 litres is not taxed, How they are able to measure this I don't know, I await the info from HMC&E Wink

I would consider buying bio-diesel outright, but there's nowhere yet anywhere near that sells it.

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 4:51 pm

Hey hey, the valet king strikes again. Looking good. Can't wait to see the S2 Sooty when you have finished with her. You not done the outside yet?!?!? Slacker Laughing

S2 Sedan is exactly what I'm waiting for as I am in the market for a LHD'er

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:51 pm

Whoo hoo, Marky boy Very Happy

It's had a wash, but I'm waiting for the bumper and wing to be fitted before machine polishing the rest of the car. Going to try and colour code all the black bits next weekend, weather permitting.

Good luck on the hunt for the real deal S2 sedan, don't see them come up for sale very often. Keep an eye on mobile.de.

Jas..
Wink

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:59 pm

The wheel convertors will end up looking something very similar to these below;

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:35 pm

Aye, there's a black one on there at the mo (aswell as an expensive silver one) but my German is non existent so wouldn't know where to start. Do they have HPI etc???

I see no problem with the wheel convertors. There are plenty out there and I haven't heard of any failures. I think it's one of those urban legends Laughing

If you have engineered them then I would be happy to drive on them Very Happy

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:08 pm

Black one looks great....apart from the what looks like an air brushed wolf on the steering wheel Confused

Germans are mad Laughing

Silver is nice too.
I assume they'd have a similar HPI type system. I'll see what I can find out with help from my stepmum.

Jas..
Cool

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:20 pm

Hells bells a car in need of some TLC if ever I saw one. Good work so far.

Very Happy

Unfortunatly to make a bit of brass out of us all no matter how much oil the world has left we will always be told we dont have enough. Sad

Just so that we have to spend yet more hard erned cash feeding the old goverment and capitalism. Rolling Eyes

ahh well.

Just think when were all old grandads whirring about in our nice clean cars, eeeee I remeber when I was younger, you put your foot down and got a nice big roar of engine noise.

As a matter of interest is there any truth to the fact that when engines were first made they tried to use a kind of coal dust mix.? <--- aparantly true just googled.

Hmm, here Jas what do you use to get all that ground in crap out from the interior. Like ground in mud stuff on the matts, and general muck from the upholstery.

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:50 pm

I hoovered as much as I could first, then used Meguairs All Purpose Cleaner through a wet n dry vacuum machine (Vetrella)
You can use the APC without the vax type machine though, just put a 50/50 mix of it and water in a spray bottle and use a good stiff upholstery brush. Use a damp sponge when done to remove foam, then let it dry.
Bloody good stuff for cleaning anything anywhere on a car.

Jas..
Wink

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:03 am

Its a bit weird reading about a former car, its like meeting up with a former girlfriend and meeting her new b/friend in town.... very weird.

Sadly "SOOTY" or as I called her "Girl" never let me down ever, a former rep's car for a building block company ( Lignacite ) she would do runs to london from nazeing or to Brandon to Lignacite's other base.

thats http://www.lignacite.co.uk/

Who supplied building materials for the studio conversions for Pink Floyd, and Genesis.... as well as blocks for thousands of flats/homes in the uk

When I was given her by my dad he had bought it of a colleauge whom had used it as a run about and mis treated it, alright he had the cambelt changed but that was about it...

Dad had it sat on the lawn for a fortnight then I picked it up...... Typical Audi front bushes/wishbones buggered.....

Well Mum and dad went away and it needed taxing before I brought it home, and guess what, I lost the former MOT.....

It needed, new bushes in the front wishbones, two rear wheel bearings.....and I had to salvage a seat belt from a scrappy as the former had a cut in it worn away by a rather fat sales rep.... to pass the mot and to front discs

Once that was sorted I took it for a spin around the m25 and it used tonnes of diesel..... I found this to be a big split in the main turbo hose... soon rectified...

The car itself has been to,

Pitlochry from Coventry for a day out...

It took part in the 2005 Steve Hackett tour of the UK.... drove over 1300 miles and never skipped a beat......

Its been to Liverpool, Bolton, Glasgow and the Isle of Wight last year amonst other places and never skipped a beat Plus the car has been to the recording studios of the band GENESIS twice on invite....... It has had over £3000... spent on keeping it mobile. Sadly I did not have the friends or contacts to improve the body work.......

And ! When I first got it some knob had spilt 4 litres of white emulsion in it and two pints of milk.....

Me and an ex girlfriend mixed bleach/carpet cleaner/fairy liquid and water and scrubbed like mad......... then used a VAX as a wet vac and cleaned it......

Unfortunatly when I moved here with my current g/f...... I had problems cleaning it outside my home due to the person who lives four doors down being a druggie and a dealer.... her clients would come out of her house and harrase me and my lad.... So I stopped cleaning the car.

I was driving home from a temp job at the Royal Mail and I had stopped in at Burger King..... my g/f drove me home and we stopped at a set of traffic lights.... then a blue punto and a silver puegoet ran into the back of us.....

Guess who came of worst.... clue ( italian and french made cars )....

that was Thursday 13th December......2007...

After that I used the car to clean some garden rubbish......and I pretty much was miserable about being in no position to improve her.....

Good Luck Jason, I see your on the way to improving her......

Oh and I think the top mounts were both replaced ( front ) either Summer 2006 or Summer 2007....

The crack in the sqaure looking thing on the dashboard above the stereo is were some junkie stole my £250 sony stereo in Barking essex April 2005...... I bought a £42 sony stereo that plays mp3's to replace it and never claimed on the Insurance.

These are the Alloys I also wanted to stick on it

Mark K

ps, Its been replaced by a Audi A6 Avant..... and No I do not smoke a pipe, but I have been known to wear slippers.... my age for those who are curious is 27 !!! and I know that the 80 will go no faster than 130 mph....... where as the A6 topped 140 mph yesterday

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 1:13 pm

The new A6 looks a nice car Mark Wink

It'll look like this on Thursday Very Happy

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:42 pm

Good luck that man and stay in touch, I see your a dab hand at photoshop as well..... original pic taken at the Milton Keynes Stables ( music venue ).

Mark K

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:45 pm

First setback. Not going to get wing and bumper back until early next week. But not to worry, I'm in no hurry. Will give me time this weekend to colour code the trim and wing mirrors.
Fixed the inoperative interior lights today. One of the door switches was broken. I have a couple in the spares bin so an easy 2 mins fix. (front 80 door switches are the same as a coupe boot switch)
Also replaced the gearlever gaiter with a new one.
Want to get into the fusebox and replace the dicky intermittant wiper relay, but will wait until the wing comes off as I can't currently open it. Well, I could but it means chopping some stuff out. Will also adjust a sagging drivers door when the wing is off too. Easier to get to that PITA bolt.
Also replaced both wiper arms and blades as the old ones were pretty beat up and weren't standing the test of the weather.

Jas..
Cool

Bandwidth Buster Joined: Jun 08, 2006 Posts: 892

Do you need an unpainted genuine VAG wing, n/s for this?

Its been on top of my wardrobe since I had my "unlucky" saloon. Never did anything with it.

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:08 pm

jas where do ya get the hub convertors from.

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:21 pm

John- re-read the thread. You can't- he's getting some made....

One thing to watch for with this Jas- the offset will alter, AND I've heard off one guy with a series 2 80 he slammed and put on Porsche rims. He DID have problems with the adaptors.....

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:25 pm

Hey Mark Matey Very Happy

mmmm S2 Sedan.... Cool

good luck dude, I would still love one of those, but I dont think I could ever get used to a left hooker Sad

Paul

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:49 pm

Good luck with the project Jas Very Happy

I'll be following this with some interest - getting a daily hack myself (80 saloon 2.0E) wish I still had that spare AAN engine Laughing

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:26 pm

kept THAT quiet!

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:44 am

With regards the hub convertors, you'll never know till you try Very Happy

If it doesn't work out, so be it. I'll do a hub swap Wink

@ Ibos, thanks for the offer dude, but it's only the o/s wing that is bad. Already got a genuine one (though used, but no bother with that) off our illustrious leader Andy Pandy Very Happy

Took the S2 to work tonight, jeeezus, like driving a supercar Laughing

Paul? need your assistance next time I'm over matey, you are the man for heater controls and such, mine won't switch from blowing out of the dash to blowing on the screen.

Jas..
Cool

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:08 am

Jas make sure there are no wires from the radio install stuck behind the blower mechanism. Wink

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:10 am

well,

I am 100% that the knob you turn to control the direction is broken.....

As I told you, the cowboy mechanics I used to go to,,, would charge me a fiver and stil there hand through the radio section of the dash and use a dentists mirror and wiggle a cable to give you either..... dash air or cabin air....

They claimed that the heater knob stalk was broken and that it would cost £350 to repair.....

Mark K

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:18 am

Ah my mate had the same problem. He'd had to reach behind the heaters if someone accidentally moved it from hot air to cold air and pull the cable to get hot cable again. Laughing

I did have a spare heater control block somewhere but I'm not sure if I gave it to him or not. I'll take a look after work and you can have it for postage mate if I still have it.

Quite a pain to fit though as you have to take off everything surrounding it Shocked

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:24 am

Had the same heater problem which turned out to be a broken cog that controls the flap in the main housing, which directs air to either the screen/feet or face.
Couldn't replace just that part so ended up cable tying it to the screen/feet position

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:40 am

not the cables for the stereo.

Jas, I forgot about this, if you get stuck, let me know. I know I've got a complete heater selection box etc. from a series 3 that should fit. I even know where it is. (Not here!)

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:03 pm

No probs, anytime matey - dont think Im up to much at the weekend if you want to pop over Smile

I had that problem with mine - I broke something in the control box behind the knobs using too much force trying to get the heater knob to work and had to cannabalise a spare, which I'll pick up anyway next time Im at me dads as it might be useful Cool

Paul.

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:21 pm

Yeah, not the radio cables as it was like this before it was fitted.
Mark did tell me about it, but as I've never ever come across this problem before I'm in a grey area.
Paulgo's the man as he's removed two of these dashboards completely before, one even being converted from air-con to non aircon. If anyone knows about heater controls.........it's Paul Very Happy

I'll give you a bell closer to the end of the week Paul Wink

Jas..

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:06 am

Update time,

Just waiting on wing and bumper to be finished, should have them on Wednesday so can get on with putting them on next weekend. Wanted to colour code trim this weekend, but no soddin chance with the weather, it's blowing a gale and lashing it down Evil or Very Mad

.
Bought some white/clear side repeaters for it off ebay last week, £6 delivered and are the same that I have on the S2 at the minute, bought from rip(youoff)speed in halfords for £15 IIRC many moons ago Evil or Very Mad

Doesn't look like I'll be able to get the adaptors made, the bolt pattern comes too close on two holes for it to be safe. Not doing the hub swap as I really can't be arsed, but I still want the Avus on. So, me and the bro are going to weld up the 4x108 bolt pattern on the current hub's and redrill and tap a 5x112 pattern Very Happy

That should sort it.
That should scare the willies off a few. But what the hell, it's what I do at work, ok robot based, but I'm the clown teaching the robot how to do it and I do know a thing or two about welding Wink

Are you scared yet Question

Jas..

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:10 am

well iam ready for you to do mine jas Laughing