Jackpot's Build Thread

[jackpot1992]

Hey, welcome to my build thread! Starting off, i have a 1999 A4 2.8 30v Quattro. My goals may be set a little high with this car, but i eventually want to make it a show car. I have a looooong way to go, i know. I bought the car in July of 2014 for 1500$USD, haven't done too much to it, simply due to the fact that I am tight on cash, and don't have a very great place to work on it. I live in an apartment it Denver, Colorado; no garage, just a parking lot. There's no stopping me though!! (Except for the foot of snow on the ground at the moment )

I plan to do all of the work myself, no, i am not in any way an expert. But i hope to be in the end! I'll show what i have done to it so far, with pics!!




There she is, no real body damage, just some pretty terribly faded paint!

When i got it, the rear tie rods were bad, when down there i found that the bushings were pretty worn, so i went ahead and did tie rods, bushings, bearings, etc.


Had to knock the old bushings out with an air hammer, they were toast, destroyed them on their way out. Hit a snag - the kit i got from ECS was missing one pair of bushings...my cousin is a machinist, he made some bushings to put in out of a bar of polyurethane that he had laying around!




And then we put it together!



The bushings made a huge difference in the firmness of the ride.

My turn signal relay went out on me, got that done too!


And finally, I just bought 4 new CVs for it, going to do the CVs and front bushings (poly) as soon as the weather here clears up!

(bushings on back-order)

I want to eventually put it on bags, get a paint job, and do either a 2.7T or 4.2 swap. (which would you guys prefer?)

[adam044]

First

[RoadRage]

Single turbo 4.2

[BaseDrifter]

Welcome. What bushings did you use in the rear? Notice any creaking or squeaking?

Few people run poly bushings in the front. Most just replace the whole arm with a replacement unit. It's usually the ball joints that wear out before the bushings do as well.

[Turbo_B5]

Welcome. What bushings did you use in the rear? Notice any creaking or squeaking?

Few people run poly bushings in the front. Most just replace the whole arm with a replacement unit. It's usually the ball joints that wear out before the bushings do as well.

Thissssss.

[jackpot1992]

Single turbo 4.2

That's quite a bit of work! I'm not sure if my knowledge and budget would support that haha.

Welcome. What bushings did you use in the rear? Notice any creaking or squeaking?

Few people run poly bushings in the front. Most just replace the whole arm with a replacement unit. It's usually the ball joints that wear out before the bushings do as well.

I used Powerflex Black Series, full kit. And they somewhat creak when its really cold out, but i greased the hell out of them so they don't make a sound when it's decently warm. Obviously the old ones were squeaking badly.

Is there a specific reason people don't do poly in the front? There isn't anything wrong in the front really (aside from CVs), I'm just really big on consistency; having two different kinds of bushings somewhat unnerves me.

[Turbo_B5]

Cause everyone just buys a full Control arm/tie rod end kit.

[jackpot1992]

This is what i got:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_A4-...ngs/ES2651018/
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_A4-...Arm/ES2763560/
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_A4-...Arm/ES2723985/
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_A4-...Bar/ES2708130/

Got it all for just under 500$ altogether.

[jackpot1992]

Cause everyone just buys a full Control arm/tie rod end kit.

Duh...sorry, forgot he said that...i guess that would have been a more logical idea...would have saved money. I do really like how the car feels with those poly bushings though, they make it so you can feel the ground as you're driving...if that makes sense. In a good way.

[Turbo_B5]

Well the kit comes with all new metal so you know you get a perfect allignment.

[jackpot1992]

Yeah, ate through the tires that were on it when i bought it within 1 week, drove about 100 miles. It was baaaad haha. Oh, also after the job, we found out at the alignment place that the passenger side spindle was bent...went to a pull and save, got a spindle off of a Passat for 10$. Sadly, the ABS sensor for the Passat spindle is slightly different from the a4, so now my ABS won't work. I'd prefer not to have it anyway, but the light on the dash makes me go crazy.

[bhusted]

The other thing to note on the front bushings is that they are REQUIRED to flex for the uprights to be able to turn. If you take off one of the front wheels and have a friend turn the steering wheel, watch how the uprights and control arms move. Making the bushings stiffer will induce binding in the steering.

[Bordom]

Real nice! Need to do bushings on my rear too, but figure I'll just replace everything.

Curious to know why your cousin simply didn't build you all new bushings. I would think it would have been considerably cheaper

[Turbo_B5]

Maybe my spindle is bent :O

[R490]

Nice work! Looks like the car has a good future ahead of it.

[jackpot1992]

The other thing to note on the front bushings is that they are REQUIRED to flex for the uprights to be able to turn. If you take off one of the front wheels and have a friend turn the steering wheel, watch how the uprights and control arms move. Making the bushings stiffer will induce binding in the steering.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind!

Real nice! Need to do bushings on my rear too, but figure I'll just replace everything.

Curious to know why your cousin simply didn't build you all new bushings. I would think it would have been considerably cheaper

It's a pretty long process, especially when you want it perfect. Finding the right poly and metal is a pain too. The poly we machined is considerably harder than the poly in the bushings kit for sure.


Sorry it took so long to reply, life happened haha.

[jackpot1992]

So my screen in my gauge cluster is out, i was wondering if you guys could share some info about getting it replaced.

1) The one i have has the analog clock. I would love to get one with the digital clock. Is that a possibility? They are the same shape, but i haven't pulled it apart. I'd have to assume that it is entirely possible, tabs and plugs are the same, i just don't know if there is room to change where you're plugging the ribbons in.
2) If 1 isn't an option, where would you recommend me getting this one refurbished?
3) Do any of you know some cool places to get face-lifted gauges? I found some cool modern looking ones at http://gauged.ca/ but i want to know if there are other options.

[jackpot1992]

I also wanted to share my absolute favorite b5 with you guys

[Johns]

So my screen in my gauge cluster is out, i was wondering if you guys could share some info about getting it replaced.

1) The one i have has the analog clock. I would love to get one with the digital clock. Is that a possibility? They are the same shape, but i haven't pulled it apart. I'd have to assume that it is entirely possible, tabs and plugs are the same, i just don't know if there is room to change where you're plugging the ribbons in.
2) If 1 isn't an option, where would you recommend me getting this one refurbished?
3) Do any of you know some cool places to get face-lifted gauges? I found some cool modern looking ones at http://gauged.ca/ but i want to know if there are other options.

1) I'm no expert on clusters so take this with a grain of salt. You should be able to get a facelift cluster (ones with the digital clock) and it will plug right in. However, in order for it to work, you'll have to use a VAG-COM to sort things out. I haven't read much into it but I think the facelift clusters won't allow you to reset the mileage so you'd have to live with the mileage that the cluster comes with.

I've also read about issues with immobilizers but again, I haven't read much into it. I'll just wait for someone who has done a cluster swap to chime in.

2) There's plenty of sites that will do an LCD screen repair for you, you send it in and usually the turnaround is within a day or two. A quick google search will steer you in the right direction. http://modulemaster.com/rebuilds/sho...a6-s4-s6-2004/

3) I don't know anywhere else where you can find high-quality gauge faces unless you go OEM. Gauged is an extremely new company that only just started shipping their first products a couple months ago. From what I've seen, they're some great looking faces which many will recommend.

*the search bar and google are your friend*

[jackpot1992]

1) I'm no expert on clusters so take this with a grain of salt. You should be able to get a facelift cluster (ones with the digital clock) and it will plug right in. However, in order for it to work, you'll have to use a VAG-COM to sort things out. I haven't read much into it but I think the facelift clusters won't allow you to reset the mileage so you'd have to live with the mileage that the cluster comes with.

I've also read about issues with immobilizers but again, I haven't read much into it. I'll just wait for someone who has done a cluster swap to chime in.

2) There's plenty of sites that will do an LCD screen repair for you, you send it in and usually the turnaround is within a day or two. A quick google search will steer you in the right direction. http://modulemaster.com/rebuilds/sho...a6-s4-s6-2004/

3) I don't know anywhere else where you can find high-quality gauge faces unless you go OEM. Gauged is an extremely new company that only just started shipping their first products a couple months ago. From what I've seen, they're some great looking faces which many will recommend.

*the search bar and google are your friend*

Yeah that's all I've been doing. All i can find on cluster swaps are people basically arguing about what work and what doesn't. I might as well pull out a wiring diagram and experiment to see if i can get one to work when/if i can find the time. It definitely isn't a priority for the car. Thanks for the input!

[BaseDrifter]

Start here.

There are no immobilizers on North American B5s.

Your easiest option is to just get the screen fixed on your cluster. Reflect Tuning provides this service.