Decided I really need to start moving on the Audi if I'm going to ever get it out of the garage. As per typical on this car, I began the weekend with a long list of items I was hoping to accomplish. Then the problems hit. Keep in mind that this is a 1990 Audi, running bunch of european-market-only parts, and turbo motor swap from another rare Audi...one does not simply go to Lordco for bits and pieces. Saturday morning went something like this:
- wrong rear brake rotors, can't mount the caliper carriers.
- wrong front brake rotors, interfering with Porsche calipers
- Spare axles are the wrong ones, which means my torn boot fix wasn't going to be fast or easy.
...so I went to Timmies.
Came back, and decided I'd really rather work on the '58 Beetle...but the Audi is taking it's space in the garage, so I better just buckle down.
Mounted the oil cooler. Made up some oil cooler lines. Discovered that the fittings I have for cooler won't actually fit the lines I have. Son of a ****! Apparently I need to re-think this. Oh, also discovered that the -10AN lines now take up the space I had planned for the electric power steering pump. Arrrggg. Well, the cooler is welded in where it will actually get a bit of airflow, so the power steering pump is just going to have end up elsewhere.
Figured out the final adapters for the fuel lines, and mocked those up. Despite having a plastic tote full of AN fittings, I seem to lack the 90-deg ones I need to finish this job.
Took the front rotors over to a buddy's lathe, and cut the diameter down the two-hundred thou so that they'll clear the Porsche calipers. This is a bit weird, as I'm only working on a 'interim' brake solution between the stock brakes (which I don't actually have) and the eventual Porsche 996 big-brake upgrade. These calipers here are 944 rears, which are a slight step up from the stock front caliper, and will eventually find themselves on the rear of this car.
Sorted out the rear brakes, finally. I had ordered in 1996 A4 Quattro rear brake rotors (moved from 4x108 to 5x112 on this car), not realizing that European A4's and NA a4's had different rotor offsets. Took those back and managed to find the correct offset units on the shelf, from a 2007 A4 quattro. Of course the factory ebrake cables won't work for the setup that I've chosen, but I made an educated guess on which ones will work...and we'll see tonight if I'm correct.
Both front and rear required a small selection of spacer washers to get it all centred and fitting correctly, so it was back to the lathe to make single-piece spacers, which is always better than using multiple washers. Maybe tonight I'll get everything bolted up for good and actually bleed the brake system.
-Dave