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Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

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  • Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

    Well, now with all this self isolation free time, and absolutely 0 job prospects for a fresh grad like myself. Time to get to work on the cars. All of them, apparently lol.

    A little bit of backstory on this one, car was a friend's, and fellow Eurodrivers member's car. Those of you who go to the in person meetings will know Razvan, but hes not on the forums. I actually bought this car about a year ago from Raz's insurance company and its been sitting ever since because I vowed to never work on another Audi after my (still WIP) V8 A4 project.. But of course Raz baited me into swapping his springs like a week before the accident. So I pretty much bought it out of spite. (it was also cheap, and the damage was super superficial)



    It was a very low speed impact, and almost all of the energy was concentrated through a trucks hitch/snow plow mount thingy so it looked alot worse than it really was. It was also about -25 the day of the accident so instead of punching a hole into the front of the car, the entire plastic front end exploded into a million pieces. Good news is that the bodyshop said there was no frame damage during the insurance quotes, and not even an airbag popped. Score. So i dragged the remains out behind my barn where it sat untouched for about 6 months.


















    Now, everyone knows that Audis depreciate like none other, so I realized it was in my best interest to get this done asap. So I hauled the car out of its outdoor storage spot, to in front of the shop where I tore all the crashed bits off to assess the damage myself. The damage was pretty much what I had expected.. The visible body parts were obviously toast, and the radiator/intercooler were pretzeled.. but there was a bit more damage to the front of the engine than i expected. But nothing horrible. After stripping it, I started parts searching. The front end tear down was around October, and the car sat outside of the shop untill a few weeks ago.







    With the red mk3 stripped, and out of the shop, now was the perfect time to haul this A5 into the garage and get the little mechanical things done.. After that I can move it to the barn for the dusty bodywork. I started off by replacing the serpentine belt tensioner, front lower timing cover, and harmonic balancer with new pieces. I also took some pictures to show how badly the timing cover was bent. The accident also managed to warp the harmonic balancer, tearing the rubber bit, sperating the outer ring from the main pulley. This cause it to rub up against the timing cover, locking up the engine. With the new parts installed, the engine rotated freely once again.

















    That was about all I could get done, as I need more parts, and also the RTV for the front timing cover had to cure before I could throw new oil in and fire the car up. Fingers crossed that there arnt any surprises waiting for me!

    Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
    Last edited by GingerBeef; 04-05-2020, 06:34 PM.
    Jason

    "You dont buy a Volkswagen once, you buy it ten times."
    ---Samuel Moore

    Instagram: @Wangtastic
    PM me to get your car detailed! - Brightside Detailing

  • #2
    Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

    Havnt updated this thread in a while. I've been working on this car on and off in my free time, just a few hours every few days for the last couple of weeks. First thing was replacing some smashed sensors on the front end. The oil pressure sender got obliterated, and the nipple got broken off the N75 valve. I also threw a new dipstick tube in and it was finally time to crank and start the car!











    Except.. It wasnt time to crank and start the car. I put the key in, hit the start button and... Nothing. Just a click. It was at this point where I suspected that the starter has died... Somehow. So I begun the horrific process of taking it out to test. It took way too many hours to take this stupid thing out.. Who puts a starter between a turbo, cat, frame rail and engine mount?? Not to mention the octopus looking engine mount bracket that completely wraps around the starter..
    I didn't take too many pictures here cause it was just alot of struggling with little progress... But I did discover that the engine mount got smashed in the accident.







    So once the starter was finally out, the first thing I noticed was the smell.. It reeked of burnt electronics. At this point it was a relief that the starter did nothing when I bench tested it. This meant that I didn't just waste thale last few days of my life wrestling it out, and there was most likely no wiring issues in the car. So, I sent the starter out to get rebuilt, grabbed a new engine mount from Calgary Autoworks and then threw it back together. The rebuilding gave me the old center coil thingy from the starter.. That thing is absolutely fried. It got hot to the point where all the copper was burnt up and the insulation was all melted..









    Finally.. After all that I hit the start button and Oliver fired to life! Next up on the list was reassembly. Luckily the body shop didn't lie to me and it appears that there is in fact 0 frame damage on this car. The front rad support and bumper crash bar all bolted right up with no misalignment!







    So I continued chugging along recconecting wires, plugging in hoses and whatnot. I alsothrew in the new headlights and swapped the hood. No more crashed front end haha. Everything was going smoothly for once!













    The used front end I bought was sidewiped, and as a result I was still missing a front fender. Luckily I managed to locate one at a wrecker in town. Before throwing the fenders on I did some "pre-bodywork bodywork". This involved a bit of sanding and priming on the front doors where the original fenders smashed into them and scratched/chipped the paint up. Thankfully they're still straight. It oesn't appear to need any panel beating! I also decided that now was a good time to spray the jambs of the grey fender black as I plan to paint the new panels on the car.



















    The air box was also smashed in the accident. I picked a used one up from a local ED guy a few months back, but it came off an S4 and apparently the airbox is completely different.. So I bought another one from the same wrecker was the fender.







    Finally I threw on the rest of the new (used, but uncrashed) front end bits and took Oliver for its first drive under my ownership.









    The starter ordeal was really shitty and unexpected, but finally the car was in one piece again. Super stoked on how it's turned out so far considering its my first rebuild project. Just need to spray the front half the car and it's pretty much done!

    Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
    Jason

    "You dont buy a Volkswagen once, you buy it ten times."
    ---Samuel Moore

    Instagram: @Wangtastic
    PM me to get your car detailed! - Brightside Detailing

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

      Oh also, weird issue I'm having.. Anybody see anything like this before? It's like my brake pads rotted from sitting for a year... On my test drive when I hit the brakes I saw a cloud of brown smoke/dust coming coming from each wheel, and the brakes felt terrible. When I parked I saw piles and piles of brake dust on my wheel. If you look closely you can see the copper shavings in the pads just sitting between the spokes. Just crazy. I need to order new brakes... But yeah... Has anybody experienced anything like this before??

      Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
      Jason

      "You dont buy a Volkswagen once, you buy it ten times."
      ---Samuel Moore

      Instagram: @Wangtastic
      PM me to get your car detailed! - Brightside Detailing

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

        It's come a long way!

        Too much corrosion on the discs from sitting, first braking events you are not only cleaning off the very rough corrosion and turning it into dust, you are also eating the brake pads. You should get the discs machined and resurface the pads if there is enough meat, I think you will have a hard time cleaning those up with just driving enough to pass the inspection.
        Calgary Autoworks

        2004.5 Jetta GLI
        2005 Audi Allroad

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

          I had that happen in a similar way on a car that didn't get out much. It was not even either. Most rust built up on the outer inch or so of rotors so the pads ended up getting carved with a step in them and the actual pad surface that touched rotor was reduced big time. Generated a pile of heat when braking due to reduced area. There was really no saving them.
          Stefan
          -> '19 Deep Black Pearl Alltrack
          -> '05 Urban Grey Passat Wagon TDI.
          -> Past rides: '14 Allroad, 06 Mazda5, '98 Jetta K2, '01 Jetta TDI, '91 Mazda B2200, '81 Toyota Cressida
          -> FutuRe Ride...??!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

            Thanks for the input Colin and Stefan, the brakes have almost 100k kms on them so I was just planning on getting new ones anyways. It's so weird, I've had cars sit in the same spot as this car for the same time, or longer... No issues with those brakes...

            Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
            Jason

            "You dont buy a Volkswagen once, you buy it ten times."
            ---Samuel Moore

            Instagram: @Wangtastic
            PM me to get your car detailed! - Brightside Detailing

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

              My mom's Q5 has breaks doing this now...
              Stefan
              -> '19 Deep Black Pearl Alltrack
              -> '05 Urban Grey Passat Wagon TDI.
              -> Past rides: '14 Allroad, 06 Mazda5, '98 Jetta K2, '01 Jetta TDI, '91 Mazda B2200, '81 Toyota Cressida
              -> FutuRe Ride...??!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

                Hmm I guess I should update this thread too. Not too much work has gone into this car in the last few months. Just honestly didn't mave much motivation to work on it, and even if I did, available free time was far a few haha. While trying to align me new hood I accidentally crushed the corner of my fender opening it.. So I had to pop my little dent out, fill it, sand it smooth again, and then prime it. Also spent a few hours really dialing in the panel gaps. Very happy with how everything aligned, didn't even use any shims! I think this is a testiment to the cars chassis still being straight as an arrow.









                Then I threw the car into the barn to prep the other panels, and mask the rest of the car off.











                Round 1 of paint went mediocre at best. I screwed up the hood royally when I accidentally dragged the air hose for the spray gun across it... And it was also slightly too cold for my comfort so unfortunately I did get a few runs. Luckily, my mediocre paint skills can be made up with my detailing skills besides these few issues, paint went on great. Both basecoat and clearcoat laid on very smooth with oem levels of orange peel. I stopped spraying the hood as soon as I dragged the hose, so it looks pretty gross haha.









                After I wetsanded and polished the drips out (no pics) I then resanded the hood smooth. Then, I sprayed the last few bits of the car. This included the front bumper, and round 2 of the hood. This time, the weather cooperated and I got a great off the gun finish!















                Lastly I threw on the lights, grilles and trims on the front bumper and reassembled the front end of the car!











                That's it! Bodywork is officially done. I do have to take the front bumper off again, I must have rushed throwing the passenger headlight in cause it fits like crap, it used to fit up good so there must be a bracket or support piece that I missed/messed up. Also need to throw some under hood and underbody covers/tray and stuff back together but the cars getting close to pre-accident state!

                Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
                Jason

                "You dont buy a Volkswagen once, you buy it ten times."
                ---Samuel Moore

                Instagram: @Wangtastic
                PM me to get your car detailed! - Brightside Detailing

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Project "Too Much on My Plate" - Audi A5 Rebuild

                  Did a bunch of the little things yesterday. Fixed the smashed AC pressure switch plug first, simple fix of just cutting and splicing a new pigtail on, and then of course wrapping it in OEM wiring tape.







                  Then I permanently secured the fenders, realigned the headlight to get rid of the bad gap, and snaked all the windshield washer spraying wiring/plumbing through he hood.







                  Last thing was some more paint correction, it turns out that I slightly missed the leading edge of the hood by the headlights on my final clearcoat layer, leaving a little dry spot. Wetsanded it flat with 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000 grit sandpaper, and polished it back up. The reflections really show the difference.







                  That's all for now, I shall continue doing work this week!

                  Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
                  Jason

                  "You dont buy a Volkswagen once, you buy it ten times."
                  ---Samuel Moore

                  Instagram: @Wangtastic
                  PM me to get your car detailed! - Brightside Detailing

                  Comment

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