JBDs B3 CQ

[jbrentd]

Work has been crazy busy and the weekends full of non-car-related activities. But I was able to finish up the coilover install.

The first time I set her down, it was too low for me. I wasn’t able to get a finger in between the tire and fender.



First adjustment and I have about a finger’s width of gap now. We’ll see how they settle…I might want a little more clearance.



In the short trips I’ve taken, the ride quality on these BC coilovers is sooo much better than my DIY coilovers. At this ride height, it rides nice and smooth…thanks to how the ride is adjusted on these (IMO).

Honestly, the problem with the old ones were probably of my own doing. Pretty sure some properly spec’d springs would have made a huge difference. Before I totally removed them, I removed the springs up front and raised the wheel/tire to its ride height. And there was very little travel. That and no bump stops results in a harsh ride.




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[jbrentd]

So, I've had the coupe out for a few runs and everything seems to be doing well...up until the point the engine bay starts to heat up and my brakes start dragging. After things cool down or I spray down the master cylinder with water from a spray bottle, it does release the pressure. It looks like a new MC is in my future, unless anyone knows of a trick to handle this problem. Bad part is, the MC I have was purchased a few years ago, but only has a few miles on it. It was whatever cheap one they had at Rock Auto at the time...Centric iirc. I see 2 options available currently 1)Dynamic Friction for ~$150 or 2)ATE for ~$300.

While I was waiting for things to cool off, I threw on the front bumper and lights.* A new windshield and paint for the front bumper are next on my list.


*

[09SCiduA]

Looking goooood! Time for some "summer" cruising!

[jbrentd]

So, before going through the effort of removing and replacing the master cylinder, I thought I would try adjusting the length of the rod at the brake pedal...as suggested by Dan over on TPP. The thought was that maybe the brake pedal was holding pressure against the master cylinder slightly.

When I removed the clevis pin, I could tell the master cylinder was pushing a little on the rod. So, I shortened the rod by 3 full turns of the clevis. The brake pedal now has a very slight amount of play between where the MC is at rest and the brake light and cruise control switches. And it gets taken up by the return spring. I went for a lengthy drive on a warm day and the brakes never did lock up. Hoping this is a good sign.

[jbrentd]

Spent some more time behind the wheel this weekend and still no sign of the master cylinder not releasing. So, I am going to return the new one I bought for a refund. The steering felt quite loose and upon inspection, I found the front ball joint nuts needed to be tightened. Much better after that, but I need to get her in for a real alignment soon. Also adjusted the struts from full soft to the halfway setting. Now that the coilovers have settled, I need to adjust them a bit.

I really have missed driving her since I took her off the road a little over 4 years ago. The 3B really wakes up the car...should have come to the US with this engine!

[jbrentd]

Was able to get out in the shop last weekend to adjust the ride height on the BC coilovers.* Not quite as easy of a task as the more traditional style coilovers, but not hard at all, especially with the QuickJack there to help.* Just had to loosen the top nut and lower strut body ring, then rotate the strut body by the desired amount.* Now to get her in for an alignment.



Next thing on my list is to get the AC working. I hope to drive the coupe a lot this Summer and working AC would be really nice.**Has anyone ever documented the wiring side of a manual airbox swap with working AC?**I can't seem to find much info on this, so I am taking a stab at it.

Swapping the manual airbox and control panel is fairly straightforward, once you have the dash all torn apart. It's the wiring that I am looking at currently. The blower motor controls are plug and play, but AC controls...not so much. I don't think it'll be a ton of work, but just wanted to know if there any good resources out there already.

[jbrentd]

​It appears that all of the wiring happens between the T5 going to the AC/recirc switch on the manual control panel and the T10 plug that used to go to the AC programmer. Here's what I have so far. Yet to be determined if this will work.

• #3 is 12v coming into the switch from programmer plug #4 (comes from Fuse S17)
• #1 is 12v going to programmer plug #5 (trigger to the AC relay) and programmer plug #3 (trigger to the fan low speed relay)

See this post for updated details. https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...1#post15107367

[09SCiduA]

That's some good information! Thank you for sharing the photos too! Are you going to jumper a couple wires to see if you can get some life back? Looking good on your progress!

[jbrentd]

That's some good information! Thank you for sharing the photos too! Are you going to jumper a couple wires to see if you can get some life back? Looking good on your progress!

Thanks! You bet! Yeah, I think I will need to jumper the plug to the low pressure switch to test out the control to the compressor clutch. Or I guess I could pull a vacuum, test for leaks, and charge the system first. But I think I will do the former and briefly turn on the compressor, just to test the wiring side.

[jbrentd]

It turns out, only 3 wires needed to be spliced...power to the AC clutch relay, low speed fan relay, and the ECU as a signal to increase RPMs. All of them are fed from the same #1 terminal on the AC switch. The airbox gets its ground from the plug connected to the blower controls and that plug is a direct swap from the auto cc airbox.

See this post for updated details. https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...1#post15107367

After finishing the wiring, I was trying to bump the system on, but wasn't having any luck and getting a bit frustrated. So, I started checking the wiring end-to-end with my multimeter. While I had the AC clutch relay out, I took it over to the bench to test it and 12v to the trigger wasn't activating the coil. So, now we wait for a new relay.

[jbrentd]

Just when you think you've got it all figured out, you find that Audi is using a non-standard relay for the AC clutch control. So, if you're trying to follow along, disregard what I wrote in the previous posts. Good times!

It turns out the AC clutch relay has a PNP transistor in it, along with some diodes and other things I don't totally understand. This is why I could not get my original AC clutch relay to energize on the bench. Once I figured that out, I was able to energize the relay with a ground to the "T" spade.



So, I will need to add a standard relay to the mix that will pass a ground to that programmer plug (T10/5), using the 12v from the AC switch as the trigger. Will post up the details once I confirm everything works.

[09SCiduA]

Of course Audi does that! Ha! Nice work and diligence on finding the solution! Your thread is a tool.i plan to use when I'm closer to engine/loom install!

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[jbrentd]

Of course Audi does that! Ha! Nice work and diligence on finding the solution! Your thread is a tool.i plan to use when I'm closer to engine/loom install!

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Thanks! Reach out if you need anything.


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[jbrentd]

So, I had a good day in the shop yesterday and was able to wrap up the wiring for the AC controls. With a jumper in place of the low pressure switch and the key in the ON position, the AC button now activates the AC compressor clutch!

Next up is to tighten up some of the connections on the refrigerant piping, pull a vacuum and charge the system.

As a reminder, I am using B4 Cabriolet manual controls/airbox in place of my stock B3 auto climate control/airbox. If you don't want AC, the wiring for the swap is plug n play. Here's a rundown of the wiring that was needed. Keep in mind, all of the original relays and auto climate control wiring harness are still in place.

• AC Clutch Relay Trigger - Added a standard 4 post relay to trigger the oem AC clutch relay. This is needed because the oem relay is triggered with a ground. The new relay uses the 12v from the AC control switch to pass the ground to the clutch relay.
• AC Clutch Relay Ground - Old ground goes through the AC programmer that was removed.
• AC Clutch Relay 12v Input - 12v from the low pressure switch on the airbox didn't connect to anything on existing wiring harness.
• 12v to Fan Low Speed Relay
• 12v to ECU for Idle Speed Increase Signal

See this post for updated details. https://www.audizine.com/forum/showt...1#post15107367

[jbrentd]

So, back in April 2021, I was in on a group buy for some aftermarket windshields that were to be imported from Europe (Finland if I remember correctly). About a year later, they showed up in the states and were being stored in Asheville, NC. Since it was proving impossible to find someone that would ship a windshield, my wife and drove out to pick it up and made a road trip out of it. That was in June 2022. And after sitting in the shop for 2 years, the windshield has been mounted to the car!

When I posted to some of the Facebook groups, there were several questions about how it went and how some of the trim pieces come off. So, here's a little rundown.

• For starters, the old windshield in my car was not the original OEM windshield. So, it's possible that you could come across something different that I did.
• The installer said the windshield is entirely glued in and the glue is the seal.
• Upper/Lower Trim - The upper and lower trim pieces were hard plastic and glued to the windshield. Both were destroyed in the removal process. I don't think there is any way to avoid it. The installer had various rolls of trim on his rig and he picked the best one to fit the glass. The replacement is actually rubber and it looks like it will do a better job of keeping water out of the channel between the glass and the front edge of the roofline.
• Side Trim Removal - The side trims consist of the painted metal piece that is on the exterior of the A pillar and a rubber strip that is glued to it that sits between the metal and the glass. Some might call the rubber piece a seal, but I think it just acts as a buffer between the metal and glass while also channeling water downward. In my opinion, it's not the primary seal for water ingress into the cabin.
  
  • How they are mounted - The side trim is riveted to the car and there are clips holding onto a channel from underneath.
  • Removal - You have to remove the door seal in the area of the A pillar. With it removed, the black plastic/rubber window trim will be exposed. This window trim is riveted to the car and there are holes in it that allow access to the painted side trim. The side trim is also riveted to the car. We were a little usure on how everything came apart, so we first removed some of the rivets on the black plastic trim so that it would separate from the body on the A pillar. However, it may be possible to remove the side trims by only removing the rivets that hold it on. Once the side trim rivets are drilled out, don't just start pulling and prying on the side trim. The side trim has to slide downward a few inches to align the notches in the channel with the clips that are mounted to the body. Once they are aligned, the side trim will come off easily.
• Glass Removal - The installer used a knife of some sort that has a 90 degree bend in it. It has to be run between the glass and body around the perimeter to cut the old glue. Lots of glass crunching in this step...no turning back now for sure!
• Clean Up - They scraped all of the old glue off and cleaned up the body so the new glue would have a clean surface. Luckily, we didn't run into any rust, but he did lay down a coat of sealer that has a rust converter in it.
• Glass Install - The upper rubber trim was glued to the glass prior to installation. They laid down a healthy bead of the black glue/sealer to the body and set the glass in place.
• Side Trim Install - Reverse of the removal steps with new rivets. I used 5/32" rivets.
• Miscellaneous - Immediately after the installer had set the new glass in place, we noticed there was no window for the VIN to show through. It's not like I could do anything about it (like return it for a new one). So, if/when the VIN is needed to be viewed by someone, hopefully the ones on the firewall or door jam will suffice.

Here are some pictures...

This shows the clips on the A pillar that hold the side trim. One of the clips fell out and was re-installed with a new rivet. This was before the cleaned up the old glue.


Side trims, showing the channel on the bottom side...notice the notches


Close up of the side trim showing how the rubber is oriented


New glass goin on


New glass in place


Close up of the new upper rubber trim

[jbrentd]

This is not what I wanted to see when i put the CQ on the lift last weekend. I have a couple spare AC compressors, but I bit the bullet and bought a new 4 Seasons unit for about $300. The Denso compressors are in the $800-$1000 price range. Just have to transfer one of the manifolds over to it. And will need to scheduled a time to take it somewhere to get evacuated. Ugh.



One of the spares...

*

[jbrentd]

Was hoping to get the new AC compressor installed over the long, holiday weekend, but it got delayed in transit. I was able to install the freshly painted bumper that i picked up from the painter last week. Pearl white is so hard to match. It's not a great match to the rest of the car, but it'll do for now.

[09SCiduA]

Looks fantastic!!

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[jbrentd]

Looks fantastic!!

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Thanks!

[jbrentd]

Well, I finally have got the AC working with the swapped 3B and B4 manual airbox/controls! In the 14 years I have owned this car, it has never had AC...which has given me very little desire to drive the car in the Oklahoma Summer heat. My kids are still traumatized from some of the times I drove them around in the car in the heat. LOL

It took me a few tries to get the wiring to this point. Here's an updated list of the wiring modification I made to get it working. I would like to come back at some point and tie in the refrigerant high pressure cut out switch. I plan to go back and edit out some of the details I provided in the previous posts.





With the recirc on and the windows shut, seeing a chilly 37 degrees out of the vents! I think I still have a small leak in the system, so I ordered a refrigerant sniffer off Amazon to try and pinpoint the leak.



In other news, one of my B3 euro one-piece headlights took a hit at some point. I have a new set of Valeo lenses in bound from Spain. They cost me more that the headlights did when I bought them back in 2010.

[jbrentd]

Was able to get the lenses swapped. I decided to do both together to avoid having a mix of old/new and Hella/Valeo lenses on the car. The new are Valeo.

Before


After




Lately, I've been having intermittent issues with the clutch pedal dropping to the floor. I could pull it back with my foot and it would continue to work fine.* The situation didn't improve after reverse bleeding at the slave cylinder. After searching the forums, it seems as though the master cylinder would be the most likely reason. This is one of the few parts I didn't replace while I had everything apart. I also bought a slave cylinder, but decided to wait on installing it for when the 01E goes in sometime down the road.

So, I spent some time in the shop on Sunday installing a new master cylinder. During the install, I found a new use for the long 6mm hex bit that I bought for the 3B's intake manifold bolts. It fit right through the hole that Mr Audi Engineer put in the pedal bracket.

[jbrentd]

I've been driving the eS2 a little bit more, lately. Have noticed that it can only build about 5psi of boost, though. I was seeing 12-13psi before. So, I hooked up the VCDS and it had a DTC stored for am open/short circuit on one of the knock sensors. From searching the forums, this could cause the ECU to limit the boost and might explain the problem. The ones I have now were on the car in 2010, when I bought it...so they're at least 14 years old. I have ordered 2 new knock sensors. Hoping they will solve this latest issue.

[jbrentd]

Hooked up the VCDS again tonight and the DTC for the knock sensor came back (as expected). Got a picture of it this time. Hoping the new sensors get here from FCPEuro soon. It’s tight in there, so hoping I don’t have to remove/unhook to many things to get to them.

I also ran the output test from VCDS to confirm the WGFV is actuating. *It’s brand new, so I was expecting it to be working fine. *



Got some shiny bits in the mail for a future project. I’ve spent way too much time and effort searching for 4x108 wheels and spacers. I wish these would have been available back when I was restoring all of the brakes and suspension stuff.



I also finally opened up a TAP chipped ECU I’ve had lying around for a while. Just wanted to see what chips and MAP sensor it had in it. My guess is that it’s just a stage 1, since it has the stock 2bar MAP sensor. Not sure I’ll use it since these don’t have the best reputation.





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[jbrentd]

My seat choice is not everyone’s favorite, but this update is one of the reasons why I’m went this route. *

My original seats were pretty worn. *Not the worst I’ve seen, but not good. *I have them stored in the shop because someday I may have them recovered, but we’ll see. *

I was considering some aftermarket seats from Recaro, but didn’t want to drop $3k on a new set and finding a used set in grey is pretty difficult. *So, I started looking for other alternatives. *

After inheriting a C4 Corvette a few years ago, I found the seats in it to be pretty comfortable and nice looking. *So, I started to wonder if they would fit and look okay in the coupe. *Finding a set in grey on FB marketplace was pretty easy. * The seats I have are from an ‘85 and are mounted on Planted brackets. *One of the pros for going this route was that new leathers and foams are readily available from multiple sources. *Normally, a set with news foams already mounted run about $1300. *When checking prices recently I saw that the color I needed was marked down by 50%. *So, I bought a set on Monday, received them on Wednesday and got them swapped over today (Friday). *I still plan to clean up the mounting and I might try a different style of slider, as they set up pretty tall. *






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[jbrentd]

New knock sensors are in, but my boost gauge is still only getting up to about 7 psi. I did disconnect the battery and remove/replace the two ECU fuses.

The engine seems to run much smoother and is more responsive. The DTCs have gone away.

Next up, I was planning to check for boost leaks again, as I did recently remove the Michelin man hose in order to get to one of the AC hose connections.

I also noticed that the throttle cable isn’t quite going all the way open when using the pedal compared to opening it all the way by hand. Could that be at play? Here a side by side picture. On the left is the pedal all the way down. On the right is me holding it full open under the hood.




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[jbrentd]

Well, it turns out I did have some slack in the throttle cable. I have the correct clip on order from FCP Euro, but this is holding it for now and I'm able to go WOT. Boost pressure is around 13 psi now. It's like driving a totally different car when you have full access to the go pedal.




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[jbrentd]

After receiving the clip from FCPEuro, I got it installed in leu of the makeshift hose clamp I was using. I also adjusted the pedal so that there is only the slightest bit of gap between it and the stop on the floorboard. I also found the clip that helps keep the cable in the throttle cam on one of my spare 7A throttle bodies.



Got some new bling for the engine. A friend of mine made this oil filler cap for me in exchange for a cam sprocket he needed for his engine build.


I pulled the old roof rack out and mounted it up. I think I prefer the clean lines of the roof without the rack.

[jbrentd]

Another issue found and fixed. I noticed I was losing some brake fluid and it was showing up at the bell housing (best I could tell). I bought a new slave cylinder when I bought the master cylinder. Guess I should have just replaced them both together.

Got the new slave in this afternoon. I was a little worried that it would be a fight, but it only took about 45 minutes. The worst part was scrambling to find something to plug the clutch line with so I didn’t lose a ton of brake fluid.

The trick where you compress the plunger, fill with brake fluid and insert the dust cover worked like a charm. And it seems as though I am getting fairly efficient at reverse bleeding the clutch line (knock on wood).

The old was definitely in bad shape.






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[jbrentd]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Here are some updates from my time off for the holidays. Gave the coupe a real wash for the first time in a long time. Hoping to take it to the local C&C this weekend if the weather looks good.



I started working on cleaning up some used door sills that are in pretty good shape.





And in an effort to quiet down some noisy lifters, I tried running it with a quart of ATF to see if that would help. Before and after seem the same to me, so I have some lifters and a new cam chain inbound from AutohausAZ. Here’s a video I put together.

https://youtube.com/shorts/PV88rpAhF...wo42keVxWbU34F


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[Dan McBoost]

Ughs, I am so behind on my CQ and here you are flying! Congrats on all of your progress!! <3

[jbrentd]

Ughs, I am so behind on my CQ and here you are flying! Congrats on all of your progress!! <3

Thanks Dan! When do you plan on starting your swap?

I have some new issues/updates that I need to add to this thread.

[jbrentd]

So, I started digging in to replace the lifters and found something bad. After removing the valve cover, I discovered that the machine shop I used put the cam caps on the wrong sides. They are in the proper order (front to back) and in the correct orientation...just on the wrong side. I am so mad at myself for not noticing this when I installed the head.



Here’s what the all the caps look like. I don’t feel any ridges when running a fingernail over the surfaces.




The cams.







The head sans cams.




And I found this in the process. Sometimes I feel like this thing is a ticking time bomb.



Here’s a look at the lifters. I tried pressing on the plunger (or whatever it’s called) with a wooden dowel and none of them would budge.





I only really noticed this one on the left that looked different than the others. Thinking this is the source of the lifter ticking.

[jbrentd]

I shared those pics with Jeff Gerner and some others and they were surprised the head wasn't junked. I am hoping things are okay.

The plan is as follows:

• Install the cam caps correctly and check the bores for any sharp edges between the caps and head
• Install the cams and caps correctly without the lifters and rotate the cams to see if they rotate smoothly
• Install everything (including the new lifters) correctly and time the head.
• Drain the oil, change the filter
• Rinse the head with some cheap oil and let it drain straight out the pan.
• Fill with fresh oil (maybe something with some higher zinc content) and send it
• Change the oil/filter again after 500 or so miles

[Dan McBoost]

Thanks Dan! When do you plan on starting your swap?

It will be a while. My MK3 supra is in my shop for the next year or so (for a built engine swap and 700-800RWHP), then my MK2 supra is getting the MK3 OEM modded engine. Then the coupe.

I have some new issues/updates that I need to add to this thread.

Dang, I just went through that. I hope all is well once things are back together. Have any plans to go back to talk to the builder?

[jbrentd]

Dang, I just went through that. I hope all is well once things are back together. Have any plans to go back to talk to the builder?

Maybe, but I doubt it would do any good.

Over the weekend, I was able to check the rotation of the cams with the caps installed correctly and no lifters. Everything seemed to rotate just fine. It's back together and I have rotated everything several times to check the timing. I ran out of time, but I should be able to try starting it soon.

New lifters


Cam timing marks before installing the cam caps


Cam timing marks after installing the cam caps


Cam caps on and some assembly lube on the lifters and cam lobes

[jbrentd]

So, it appears that the new lifters resolved the noise issue.

As for the issue I had with the cam caps being on the wrong side, it seems as though the engine is doing fine. I don't know if this speaks to the quality of Audi's engineering or just dumb luck that the caps were close enough on both side to not do much (if any) damage. I did a fresh oil/filter change last night and used some oil with some zinc content. When I started it for the first time, I would say most of the lifter noise was gone within a minute or two. I drove the coupe to work today and it seemed even more quiet after the 20 mile commute.