if that leaks, you sell it as is and deduct $40 from your asking price, fuck that...that's prime garage space.

 

In the last week, I've gotten a decent amount done - I've done 2 x 4AM wakeups to chip away at it since I won't have any time this weekend to wrench.

- All engine / transmission mounts bolted in
- Axle boot fixed, both axles / driveshaft installed
- Bolted up all remaining heatshields / odds and ends under the car
- Finished up harness installation

It's pretty much ready to come off jackstands .. only things remaining to get it driving are:

- Timing belt / waterpump / thermostat housing replacement
- Core support installation
- Add fluids
- Install bumper
- Driverside rear wheel bearing
- Install exhaust

The eventually tasks before sale:

- Full paint correction / polish
- Install S4 badge from old grill
- Fix driverseat seat bolster or source new seats
- Replace return fuel line - I noticed there was an impact under the car at some point and pinched it.
- Source an AC canister bracket, old one will drilled out by PO for larger intercoolers
- Source some sideskirt fasteners
- Replace 2 x wheel caps - they're pretty weathered.

I'm excited to drive it and enjoy my work .. here's the last shot of it driving back in June.

 

Sounds like you're in the home stretch - looking forward to seeing it on the ground!

 

It's alive, again.

I really took my time and it paid off - no weird noises and fired right up.

Since my last update, I've completed the following:

- Full timing belt service; includes waterpump, thermostat, metal thermostat housing, new belt tensioner, idler pulley, etc - did everything to the T for torque specs using the right tools .. engine is bang on for TDC and using the cam bar.
- Finished up installing the harness, battery covers, etc
- Added oil / power steering
- Installed all front accessories such as the AC, alternator, clutch fan, and serpentine belt
- Installed most of the intake track with the exception of the intercoolers - need the brackets / hoses that I need to dig out of my parts bin.

Items remaining:

- Source some parts such as side skirt fasteners, wheel cap, a return fuel line, AC cannister bracket, and intercooler brackets. This is proving to be difficult since these parts aren't worth much money and take some effort to remove.
- Install exhaust
- Install core support once I verify the timing is bang on via VCDS diagnostic software.
- Fill with coolant
- Install new rear wheel bearings
- Install bumper & headlights
- Flash new bone stock tune on it
- Fix driverseat
- Paint correction

Getting close!

 

That thing is gonna bring you all the money, T.

 

No huge updates - whole family got sick over the early Thanksgiving weekend and we've all been down for the count / trying to stabilize - for those with kids, I know you know what it's like. It's awful.

So, finally got my intercooler brackets and I need to figure out how I'm going to re-attach them to the body as the OEM rivets were drilled out. A trip to Home Depot will be in order .. maybe some machine screws or a bolt & nut setup.

In the meantime, I cleaned up my garage and going to be doing chunks in the early AM / big chunks on the weekend - plan is to drive it to C&C next weekend .

 

Congrats man! I can't wait to see photos of it back on the road!

And I can completely relate to the sick kids. Both our kids got the flu on our Universal Orlando trip for Thanksgiving. It was like a Clark Griswold road trip lol.

 

nutserts are cool

 

Googled nutserts, found myself on an adult site ... I have questions.

For real though, never seen these before and they are cool AF!

 

We got the bug over Thanksgiving too,
Oldest with Flu A & Strep, youngest currently has Flu.

 

Ray introduced me to them.

Very cool option.

 

Final assembly took forever, replaced a heatercore connection on the back of the engine and the parts took quite awhile to come in.

First 5 mile drive was a success so I gave it a wash ... hasn't been washed in literally a year - Yes, it needs claybar / correction, badly.

Only notable issues are - o2 sensor codes, MAF code, and coolant sensor code, and a vibration on acceleration.

Overall it was a success .. it doesn't look like I have to pull the engine again as the clutch is working great and there are no leaks that I can see so far.

Thanks for reading .. hopefully going to give the paint some love soon - truthfully, that's the work I'm looking forward to doing.

 

Polishing up the car is the best part, the mechanically sound part is annoying...
suspension, wheels and paint is what turns the old 3.5 floppy into a solid state HD.

 

100% this.

 

pic of your SSD?

 

 

Man, what a day yesterday ... started at 7am, took a few meal breaks, and stopped at around 8pm last night.

I had the following issues to tackle:

- Fix constant misfire on cylinder 6:

This one took the majority of the time - I swapped coilpacks / sparkplugs from cylinder 5 to cylinder 6. Misfire stayed put, so it was a wiring or injector issue.

I didn't have a wiring diagram or the knowledge handy to really tackle the wiring issue so I stuck to basics - turns out, cylinder 6's injector was totally caked with gunk.

(Sorry for the potato quality)



Fortunately, had other OEM injectors on my spare motor and swapped it over - also did some new injector o-rings and torqued them down.

Cylinder 6 misfire disappeared, cylinder 1 misfire appeared

Harness is a bit crusty - moving around the wiring made the misfire stop so I'll need to make some minor tweaks on that to be "good" - otherwise, car drives great when the wiring is working in my favor.

- 2 rear O2 sensor codes:

Haven't addressed this yet - lowest on the priority list.

- G62 coolant temp sensor code:

Coolant temp sensor was unplugged - it was on there, but wasn't snapped on. Easiest fix ever

- Attach front bumper & grills, engine covers:

Done

Give paint some love:

I clay bar'd the paint and got out my orbital - unfortunately, all of my good Wolfgang products expired and or were low so, I ordered some new - should be here in the next few days.

Otherwise, it cleans up nice! I'll post pics of when the car is polished & sealed.

- Replace driverside rear wheel bearing:

I got pretty far - I purchased a nice Schwaben rear wheel bearing press / pull tool .. worth every penny. Bearing came out without too much fuss.

I should finish the installation before we go up North for Christmas break.



Bone stock!





I'm 95% done with this project and so happy.

Probably one of the highlights of my day yesterday - I've been keeping in touch with the original owner (he sent me the original key 3-4 months ago) by sending him periodic updates - For shits and giggles, I sent him a minute video showcasing the car / services completed and made a joke that he'd have first dibs if he wanted to buy the car back.

He texted me back and is "very tempted"

We'll see if it materializes or not - if it does, it will make a super cool story.

Thanks for reading.

 

Your wife is the real MVP.

 

You aren't wrong.

This would not be possible without her.

 

and then also VERY possible without her, if you know what I mean.

 

Tyler's S4-porium otherwise.

 

I'd have so many B5 S4s and chain smoke cigs ... most likely.

 

a constant dangle while you figure shit out, for sure.

 

Went to go reassemble the rear hub but, discovered a piece of the bearing is still stuck to the hub - bought a bearing separator tool this morning and going to attempt tomorrow.

Love my little helper - got gas and did a Harbor Freight run this AM.

 

 

Love that age. Enjoy every second my man!

 

She's adorable, man. Wow.

 

That's a core memory for sure. Glad you're doing all this with her now so she's not impressed by some asshat's Camry in 15 years.

 

Rear wheel bearing done, installed 2 x "new" wheel caps, installed front S4 badge on grill (4 conveniently fell off, need to JB weld it ), and did a 6.5/10 paint correction.

Paint was very very rough after sitting in a mechanics lot for 6 months and who knows how it was treated before - majority of scratches came out but more importantly, added gloss and gave the paint some rejuvenation.

5 hours later (3 passes with a cutting pad + Wolfgang scratch remover + Wolfgang Polish / Sealant +Sonax sealant)






Things left to do:

- Install 2 x new rear o2 sensors to clear up codes
- Adjust toe on driver-side rear wheel - it's much more inward than I remember when I pulled it apart to do the rear wheel bearing.
- Fix driverside front seat (black silicone / leather dye will most likely be the move, we'll see how cheap a driver seat can be sourced).
- Install driverside kick panel
- Fix washercap on driverside
- Smog
- Sell

So close.

 

If I had a few less cars and an actual garage I would be so tempted, Tyler. That thing cleaned up so well, previous owner would be a fool to pass.

 

Looking great.

 

She's a beaut Clark!

 

That's a nice shiny taxi!

 

Haven't updated the thread in a bit, some new developments - some good .. some bad .

The bad:

The very first long drive I took the car on, I went to C&C and had my oldest in the car. Everything was great but, as I was leaving and heading home on the highway, I noticed the steering not quite returning back to center.

After some pretty extensive troubleshooting, I'm fairly certain the steering rack is worn / on it's last leg ... additionally, one of the lower pressure lines has a slow leak.

With that being said, I am not taking on the job of swapping a steering rack - it's a 6-8 hour job .. I would rather do an engine pull than do this - it sucks.

It's going to reflect on my sale price which will ultimately take away from my profits.

The good:

Car is pretty much complete - goes in for an alignment on Friday and I should have a new wheel bearing up front swapped. Also, it passed smog! So happy about that

The original owner of the vehicle of 21 years is going to buy it back for $11,750 as of now - delivery is set for mid February as he's up in Pasadena.

Quite a ride - I don't think I'll be doing another restoration of one of these for a long long time .

Thanks for reading, time to start focusing on the Cayenne.

 

Yellow looks good. I hope the buyer pulls through. GLWS.

 

Nice work, pretty cool to flip it back to the PO.

 

Thanks man, I hope it works out.

Yellow is starting to grow on me ... makes me really want a yellow Wagon.

I've seen one with the license plate "SPULBUS".

Love it

Thanks dude! Hope it works out .. he'll be the 3rd owner, even though he was the original for the first 21 years .

 

That's awesome. The flip back to the original owner will be a cool story for both of you!

 

That guy is lucky to get it.

 

If and when you do another one (you know you're gonna!), you need to do a YouTube tutorial video series on it.