Re: Das Coupe

[uberaudi]

Today I finally tackled the wiring mess that the previous owner left me. After removing all of the electrical tape, next came the tedious job of splicing, soldering and heatshrinking it all back together. It cleaned up nicely and now I no longer have to use the push button start, hooray for the Bentley schematics! While I was under the hood, I also made some new heavy gage battery cables and cleaned all the grounds. It starts and runs significantly smoother now, which is always nice to hear.
While I was at it, I also threw in a Pioneer CD player that was given to me. Something's up with the speaker outputs so it also came with a smaller amp to power the speakers. I installed that under the passenger seat and now have the option to destroy the 3.5" dash speakers at will! It is nice to have tunes though, especially for the commute. Lastly, I threw in a old VDO voltage gauge I had lying around in place of the push button start in the center console. It doesn't look out of place anymore, but it's too bad it reads about 4 volts low...ahaa, oh well, I'm happy with the way the interior is turning out. I think it's pretty much done for now.

[uberaudi]

Took a half day off work today and had a chance to play out in the garage to finish what I had torn apart on the coupe. I turned down the rest of the replacement delrin bushings on my mini lathe and adjusted the new links to the length of the stock ones. At this point, everything was ready to go back in...

Here's a pic of the old vs. new bushings, links, and adjustable short throw levers:


I went ahead and bought the 12 dollar shifter adjustment tool from GAP which made that process much easier. I threw it on there, slid the collar on the shifter rod and tightened it down. It was dialed in perfectly on the first attempt. Reverse can now only be engaged when the shifter is pushed down and over, not whenever you're looking for first...The difference between what I had (a broomstick in a bucket of oatmeal) to what I have now (think racing dogbox...kinda) is ridiculous! The shifting is super tight and it audibly clicks into gear with a nice crisp engagement. The throw shortened up dramatically and now 1-2 is about 2.5" and 1-5 comes in at about 3". It will take a little bit to get used to but man is it nice and solid! Now if only my transmission was up to the task of jamming through the gears I would be set! I'm glad I did this as one of my first repair/upgrades, it really makes the little bit of driving I've done with it a joy.
If you have access to a lathe, I have all the dimensions and would gladly share them, but it does take some time to make all those little parts. There is a reason why URST charges what they do. I have less than 30 bucks into mine (rod ends, all thread, shifter rod bushing) but lot's of time. It's a tradeoff I suppose, but either way it's one of the best mods I've done to a mk2.

Final assembly:


I also did an oil change with some Mobil-One 15-50 and a proper MANN filter. No more Fram's for this coupe!

[MT-Getto]

Nice work

[uberaudi]

Thanks!

[kompressorgolf]

Top stuff right here!

[uberaudi]

Haven't had a lot of time to work on the 'ol coupe but I did manage to get some stuff done in the past week or so. Got some tunes in there finally. No deck, just an amp, line out volume controller and an iPod. Sounds good enough for me and passing eyes shouldn't notice anything of value since there is just a volume knob protruding from one of the dash blanks. I do need to find a factory radio delete panel though...
I also happened to make it to the junkyard today to look for some tires to replace the bald ones I was currently using. The new tires I found just so happened to be mounted to a fresh set of five spoke 15x6.5 PCW wheels. Not really sure how nice they are but seeing how I traded them for the ugly ass American Racing wheels that were originally on the coupe I don't really care. They are made in Japan, have really no major scuffs on them, plus I went up a wheel diameter too. They suit the coupe much better I think. Sorry for the crap cell pics, I didn't realize I was going to the junkyard until right before the entrance!


Also grabbed some nice metal chromed door handles off a vintage Audi 5000. Got all four of them and since I don't have lockable doors anyways (never got the correct key for them), I think I might throw the ones without the keyholes on and call it good. They should look pretty nice don't you think?


Check out this badass old school PBR sticker that was on one of the cars in the yard! It's the PBR superhero!

[Darkside]

Sad that the junkyard in Livingston has more to offer than the yards in Billings. Nice scores.

[uberaudi]

There's not much here but every so often something turns up...Thanks

[uberaudi]

This past weekend I got the rest of my parts on that I had lying around for the coupe. I did new wheel bearings, upgraded 10.1" knuckles and vented front discs with Mintex red pads, rear disc conversion with Pagid pads, outer tie rods, ball joints, urethane control arm bushings, urethane sway bar bushings (just the links) and some lowering springs. It took a while to finish but there were a lot of parts! Pics from the not so secret test track:



While I knew there would be a difference, I didn't realize it would be this dramatic. Steering is way tighter and the handling finally puts a smile on my face even though I still have balloon tires on it. The new control arm bushings transmit a little more noise but are very livable for the moment and the whole car seems a lot more balanced. I was getting more oversteer than I wanted when carrying speed through the corners and just by putting poly only on the end links and not the bar (among other things), that tendency for the back to rotate went away. Understeering is there but I wouldn't say it increased much from before. The brakes are such an improvement (partially because the rear beam brake bias adjuster was rusted solid) and can really slow the coupe down on demand. It seems my pads are now broken in and the pedal feel just keeps getting better. And lastly the springs. They are super budget Intrax springs that I bought used for 50 bucks shipped. I didn't expect much from them but they seem to be just what I was looking for. Although it dropped the coupe more than I was hoping for (control arms are past parallel), the increase in spring rate is just about perfect for a fun commuter. It doesn't hop over bumps at all but the rebound seems a bit quick. It seems like my who knows how old Boge struts are getting quite the workout now.
Overall I'm very pleased with the mods I've done, and really don't have much more planned for it except for tires. We'll see if I can just stop there...

[uberaudi]

Got the Audi handles on. All I did was switch the levers and that was it, they fit perfectly, although I do need to source new door handle seals, among other things...



I also made my taillights all red with some of that Niteshades transparent red spray paint. It took a lot of masking, sanding and spraying, but I don't think it turned out too bad, plus it's a different look than the norm, for better or worse...
Everything is a bit dirty in the pics:



That's all for now!