Kirk's CQ Build - 2020 Update!

[the german]

Whelp, I finally gave up on using a tiny little racing battery. I started with a Braille AGM (9 lbs) mounted in what is left of the stock battery tray. It worked just fine, but it was so small the dash clock would kill it in two days if the car wan't on the tender. I killed 3 of those over the course of a year from forgetting the tender and discharging them completely.

Next I tried one of the super fancy, super light weight Shorai lithium-iron batteries (only 3 lbs!!!!) which had the same dimensions. That lasted for 3 days off of the tender and the guy at the battery store assured me that unlike an AGM, if an Li-Fe battery became fully discharged they would charge right back up when you plug them in. So of course I tested it. Wrong. It was kaput after that.

I finally conceded and bought a real battery to put in the trunk - an Odyssey PC925; still the smallest 'automotive' battery I could get. I spent yesterday I installing it in the trunk. Fits perfectly in the little storage area under the floor, and still leaves room for the tool kit and some rags.




In the process of running the new power leg to the front, I have to take most of the trim on one side of the car off anyway, so I figured now was as good a time as any for my black S2 trim swap. I bought this from Khai about 2 years ago, and it's just been sitting in a box in the corner of the garage since.

Stock light colored upper trim/headliner:


New trim... all bubbled up:


Black trim installed on the hatch:


Pulled out all of the interior trim, headliner, and sunroof panel:



Pulled the old headliner fabric off and started cleaning the old foam and adhesive off the board. This is sooooo much worse than the headliner I did on my Mk2 GTI... The foam and adhesive is all gummy and just pills up into little balls that stick to everything. I spent a good 2.5 hours just cleaning this thing up.

Starting to strip it:



I got some "industrial strength 300" locktite spray adhesive and 2.5 yards of foam backed headliner fabric. I don't like spraying that adhesive inside the garage, so I decided to do the reupholster job outside as well. I did the back half first since it's the flat and easy. Went fine. Then I started after the front, which has all the really sharp contours around the sunroof control. I failed hard. I think I used too much glue and it was too cold outside, because I could not get the fabric to stay down in the corners. I ended up pulling the fabric off and spending another hour cleaning the whole thing again. $50 in material trashed. I will try again later this week, probably in the garage with a space heater going and a helper... or maybe just pay a professional (as much as that kills me).

[the german]

I called around today and the cheapest quote I got was $175 for just installing the fabric, and talking with the upholstery guys was less than inspiring... so I went for round two of doing it myself!

I moved into the garage this time and got a heater going so it was a lot warmer than yesterday. I also enlisted the help of my wife, which proved to be critical for success. Before I glued anything I played some more with the foam backed headliner fabric. There was no way it was going to go into the tightest corner without wrinkling, so I ditched that plan and reverted to some plain old polyester fabric I bought two years ago for this very task. It is nice and stretchy, but no foam back meant it wouldn't hide any imperfections in the headliner board. This meant more time sanding and cleaning that damn thing up.

Finally got it to what I thought would be clean enough:


This time we did the center section first, then the difficult end, then the easy end. I have to say it came out a lot better than I was expecting! The only thing wrong is that with all the stretching and contorting around the dome light/sunroof control, we ended up with too much fabric right at the front of it in the center. Ended up making a pleat and then trimming it off, so there is a really small seam that I don't think will even be visible once the thing is installed.

Finished product:

[the german]

**Warning: LOTS of pictures**

Got a chance to finish up the trim install today and get things put back together.

Started off with recovering the sunroof panel which was really quick and easy:


When I pulled the panel off I think I looked at the wrong diagram in the Bentley manual because it was completely different from the mounting in my car. Long story short, I broke the clips off some plastic guides on the back of the sunroof panel. One short screw into the metal backing did the trick:



I also had a complication with my sunroof control. The black one I bought has a rotary control like the modern cars, but when I plugged it in I found it did not have a separate ground wire like the one that came out and as a result did not function. This is something I may be able to deal with in the future, but for now I ended up disassembling the current one and using trim dye to dye it all black.





Casualty of dis-assembly: the spring retaining prongs broke off the back of the dome light switch so I solved it with a dab of hot-melt glue.


Final result:


With that all done, I got the headliner and black trim all installed:




Before re-installing the rear cards, I took the opportunity to do a few things.

1. Install new speakers. The stock ones were completely shot. I replaced them with some Infinity Kapa series that I have had waiting to go in for a few years. I was able to just bend the screw tabs on the speakers so they would rotate and lock into the stock mounting location. Worked pretty well and they sound sooooo much better!





2. Try out some trim I got. I have never seen this specific S2/Coupe trim option before, and I wanted to see if I like it. I have the four pieces for the sides, as well as the insert for the dash. I don't have any bits to replace the wood on the center console.

I'm still undecided, but what do you guys think? I held off on installing it all for now and put the wood back in while I decide.





Now that it is all back together I think it looks freaking great. Here are some interior shots:

[the german]

Spent Friday in the local german wrecking yard pulling some new goodies for the coupe: B4 climate control swap!

B4 CC box from a '94 Audi 90:


Hidden treasure- whoever had it last replaced the heater core. Score! I was going to replace this anyway so :cheers: to the last guy


And a climate control interface that looks like it came from this century- wooohooo!!


I also pulled the center console frame and the associated wood trim to go around this thing. I don't much care for the color of the wood, but I have a cunning plan to deal with that.....

[chaloux]

Holy frigging crap dude... I need some time with this one

[Hank]

Fantastic! Glad you made it over here!

[Mcstiff]

Welcome! Looks great and cool to see some of the things I want to do on your list (black trim, and B4 climatronic). Is that a B5S4 front seat? Hows the headroom with that?

[the german]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

@Ed - good eye, that IS a b5 S4 driver's seat. I'm 6'4" and the head room is fine, but you definitely do sit higher than the stock seats. I put it in when I was commuting 2 hrs. each way several days a week. Now that it no longer has DD status I'm considering putting the stock seat back in. Ultimately I have some other seat ideas, but I'm waiting for the right deal to come along.

[Mcstiff]

@Ed - good eye, that IS a b5 S4 driver's seat. I'm 6'4" and the head room is fine, but you definitely do sit higher than the stock seats. I put it in when I was commuting 2 hrs. each way several days a week. Now that it no longer has DD status I'm considering putting the stock seat back in. Ultimately I have some other seat ideas, but I'm waiting for the right deal to come along.

Ha, I'm ~6'2" and my hair brushes the headliner if I sit the way I'd prefer! I've had some seat for 5 yrs that I may install this spring to gain a few inches (though not save much weight).

[scubadave]

when I installed my coebeau's, I modified the seat brackets to get it as low as possible. I'm 6'1 and I now have a few extra inches. best thing I ever did seat wise.

[scubadave]

Where did you get the trim dye?

[the german]

I have the same issue with my hair brushing the headliner. Tall people problem haha

@scuba- I bought the trim dye from Wesco Autobody Supply- they had 4 different levels of sheen available ranging from gloss to completely flat

[scubadave]

Cool, thanks for the source on the dye. I'll check autobody supplyers around here. Hope to see this car in vegas for the next Battleborn event in October. mine was only one of two coupes that showed up last year.

[quattro87]

How long has this project been going on? I haven't spent much time on MG for awhile, but somehow missed this build all together. I like what I see and glad you made the migration over to the project pad. Keep us updated....these kind of projects are exciting to read.

[All_Euro]

Glad you migrated - awesome work, thanks for sharing

[the german]

Thanks guys!

This project didn't all happen over night, but it kinda looks that way from the thread I picked up the car in early 2009 and it was my daily driver for about 2.5-3 years. I did some little things on it like the injector upgrade, snub mount, brakes and suspension, but didn't start the project thread until late 2011 when I was getting ready to pull the 7a out. The ABZ swap took three full days of installation, fabrication, and wiring to have it in and running. Since then the pace has been muuuuuuch slower. I got busy with graduating, buying a house and getting married, switching jobs, etc. so the coupe sat mostly neglected in the garage until about 6 month ago . I'm finally getting back to giving it the attention it deserves.

Minor progress update to come later today!

[the german]

Got to spend yesterday in the garage working on the coupe. First up: some exhaust work.

The current exhaust is: 2.5" downpipes-> 2:1 collector -> 3" -> resonator -> 3" -> the smallest, most 'aggressive' sounding flowmaster muffle made (it's a 6" long can with 1 baffle)

This setup requires earplugs to drive on the freeway. I need a real muffle in there to quiet it down. After doing a bunch of research, I decided to try a Borla 40349 in place of the collector, right after the downpipes. The downside to this approach is that the muffler is too wide and requires so "minor" modifications to fit up in the tunnel.

Modifications marked out:


1st side cut:


flange the end caps:


flattened the piece I cut out, and marked out what would be the filler piece on it:


Weld it in place:


It became obvious how out of practice I am when it comes to fabricating these days- I didn't trim the filler piece well enough to size or tack it in all around before I started welding and it ended up all wonky and looking like crap. I will probably end up buying another one of these mufflers and re-doing it. I ran out of argon for the TIG after modifying one side, so the other side is on hold until I get my tank filled.

I was curious how the OEM mufflers are configured, so I took a few minutes and cut open one of the RS4 mufflers I had left over from the first exhaust. There is one muffler/side on the RS4, with a single inlet and dual exit. One of the exits (the larger one in the picture) has a butterfly valve after the muffler to block it off under light throttle, leaving all the exhaust to flow through the smaller, less direct path. The size of the chamber and the amount of sound deadening in each of these is massive. Super nice construction on these things. I saved the exhaust tips and flapper valves for later use and recycled the rest.






Next up, climate control fun!

One issue with the B3 vs. B4 climate control, is that the wood trim around the control head is a completely different style. The b3 has the orange Zebrano, while the b4 has a darker more redish birch. I plan to swap the rest of the trim in the car, so this isn't the end of the world, but I'm just not a huge fan of the color of the B4 trim... so of course I'm changing it. I decided I would strip it down, stain it the color I want, and refinish it. I pulled a piece of trim from a car in the junkyard to test the process out on first.

The finish on these from the factory is reallllly thick and durable. Sanding is possible, but takes for f*cking ever!


Next I tried some heavy duty varnish stripper. I slathered it on, wrapped it in plastic, and left it for two hours to do it's thing. After two hours the plastic disintegrated but the factory varnish looked like new! crap.

Plan C: HEAT

I used a heat gun and a wooden stir stick as a scraper and the factory varnish bubbles up and chipped off easily and cleanly. Winner!


I used this to make a sample with several different stains and application techniques. Here it is next to a piece of the trim that will go in the rest of the car:


I decided on using the darkest stain (ebony) with a heavier application. Next I stripped down all the real trim pieces I will be using:


Stained and one coat of varnish:


At this point I discovered that the brush-on polyurethane I was using to finish these was the wrong choice. It was not going to give me the depth and the perfectly smooth glossy finish i wanted. What I should have used was a spray-on lacquer, so I stripped all the pieces back down and started over. Unfortunately, the thin veneer on the trim didn't hold up too well to the multiple rounds of stripping, and chipped off on two of the pieces (the ashtray cover and the 3-gauge-pod trim). I filled them with wood putty and finished them out, but they don't look right. I picked up some new ones at the wrecking yard for round.... three?

Finished trim comparison- I like the new color! (optical illusion on the size difference- on is just closer to the camera)



Final thing I did yesterday was pull open the B4 climate control box and pull out all the A/C stuff and clean out any accumulated nature that had made it's way in. Big ol' heat exchanger!


I cut a block of closed-cell foam to fill the hole where the A/C lines used to go through, which worked nicely:




Thats all for now!

[Afterthought]

How hard was it to fit that B5 S4 seat in there? I have one in my shop but it looked a bit wider.
I am out of ideas for seats for my project too. Honestly I was just going to go with a set of recaros once I can afford it, but I am torn between the two paths of keeping the car "OEM looking" vs. making it light and haul ass.

[the german]

How hard was it to fit that B5 S4 seat in there? I have one in my shop but it looked a bit wider.
I am out of ideas for seats for my project too. Honestly I was just going to go with a set of recaros once I can afford it, but I am torn between the two paths of keeping the car "OEM looking" vs. making it light and haul ass.

If you can weld aluminum it's not too bad. The lower brackets are wider than the coupe seats, so they have to be cut, narrowed, and welded back together.

[PRY4SNO]

How hard was it to fit that B5 S4 seat in there? I have one in my shop but it looked a bit wider.
I am out of ideas for seats for my project too. Honestly I was just going to go with a set of recaros once I can afford it, but I am torn between the two paths of keeping the car "OEM looking" vs. making it light and haul ass.

If you can weld aluminum it's not too bad. The lower brackets are wider than the coupe seats, so they have to be cut, narrowed, and welded back together.

Great tip, thanks. I have two b5s4 seats I'm planning on using until the right set appears.

[araipilot]

Looks fantastic, where did you find the audi S2 white gauges with the blue KPH face plates?

[the german]

Looks fantastic, where did you find the audi S2 white gauges with the blue KPH face plates?

They are "S2 Plasma" gauges made by a user named Boo on the S2 forum.

[the german]

It finally happened- I killed the 1-2 shift collar in the trans today while getting on the freeway. I'm locked out of 1st and 2nd gear now. Anyone have the updated part lying around that they want to sell me?

[the german]

The locked up shift collar was a major bummer, especially when I realized last weekend that the Audi Expo was this Saturday (today as I write this). On Tuesday this week I called up Scott @ Advanced Automotion and had him ship the updated shift collar and synchros out to me (2-day air) so they would arrive by Thursday and hopefully give me time to get the trans fixed in time for the Expo on Saturday.

Wednesday night I pulled the trans out of the car, and Thursday when I got home this was waiting for me: shiny!



Thursday started pulling the trans apart, and got most of the way there. This is the only photo I took with it appart because from this point on my hands were thoroughly coated in gear oil:



Friday I finished tearing the trans down, replaced the 1-2 collar, hub, and synchros, and put it all back together. The old 2nd gear synchro was definitely toast....



While I had it out I took the opportunity to make some modifications I have been wanting since it went in. The first one was pretty simple, just shortening up the stubaxles (which came from a b5 A4 rear differential) by .120" each so they sit closer in to the trans. Before and after:





The last thing I fixed is really what I'm most excited about- a reverse lockout! Since I'm using a JHM/034 solid b3 shifter w/ modified b5 S4 linkage, I lost the reverse lockout with this trans in this car. To solve it, I stole an idea from someone else I saw on motorgeek a year or two ago. I drilled and tapped a hold in the cover for the shift selector, then used a modified spring-loaded detent (commonly used in industrial tooling and fixtures) and a lockout. The idea is that with this adjusted correctly, when the gear selector in the car is pushed to the left it will hit this at the 1st gear position. Pushing past this will get to reverse.





Git it all back together and the trans back in the car on Friday, buttoned up the exhaust this morning, and everything is working beautifully. Now off to the Audi Expo (http://www.audiexpo.com/Audi_Expo/Home.html) this evening!

[audifreakjim]

That was me who added the extra detent, still working perfect! One of the best mods on the car, other than the lights and the turbo.