Several folks might have been wondering what happened to A4SoftWalker for the past few years. Why is his build so ... LATE...
Well a red-light runner smacked into me and nearly took my face out with glass and metal if I had stepped on the gas any sooner. I had actually waited 2-3 sec before hitting the gas from a stoplight on a rainy night and all I saw was a flash of lights and bamm! If I had went any sooner I would have had a permanent record on my physical appearance.
Dude was driving his aunt's car on his wife's insurance or vice-versa. I prefer not to remember.
It was a dark rainy night and accidents clogged up the freeway so I took the side streets and ran into this fool.
Any way I have recovered most of my build in an Avant. Like 7 speed and a few others on here the rareness of an Avant appealed to me the 2nd time around.
I could not stand to look at the same sedan all over again.
It was harder to find a black Avant but for the change of looks and rareness - MUCH WORTH IT.
I now have my built motor in my Avant and a separate build thread -
click here for my Humble 1.8T build thread
...and I'm making up lost ground.
It was a winter car so I really had a lot of cleaning to do. Motor was below average under the hood with a lot of salt corrosion on the metal parts. Didnt matter much as I knew I was rebuilding it but I just didnt feel like wrenching on the thing. A leaky coolant flange changed my mind real quick.
The brakes on the car were so bad they felt like they were soaked in oil while stopping. I almost rear-ended several cars the first few weeks. Swapped my Stasis front calipers/rotors on there right away. Breaking loose the brake lines to replace with stainless steel cross braided lines with the layers of snow salt induced rust was tricky on all 4 corners but I used locking jaw pliers and busted them off. I still have the OEM rear brakes on there because they were practically brand new. Once those are all used up I will slap my Stasis rotors on there.
The tranny blew out after 15k miles and I swapped my old one in along with the built motor/drive shaft (cracking center bearing)/ and rear diff. So the WHOLE drive train is from my previous A4 sedan.
The Bose radio amplifier kept cutting in and out depending on the day and I swapped the mounts and put in the Bose amp from my sedan.
I'm not looking to talk a lot here just that I have a sedan with really good paint on some body panels that I will be parting out a few items. Rear lights and trunk are good. looking into keeping the doors for my Avant.
The suspension was so horrible in OEM sport it brought back pre-mod day bouncy ride dislike. Swapped in the Stasis SL suspension and all is well in that department.
Still need to swap over my 040/044 pump (I forget which I have) and the massive fuel line I have running to the engine compartment from the fuel filter.
Here are the pics - nuff talking:
Only "good" angle to view my former A4 sedan.
Carnage.
And the crazy fool that did it to me. I had another view of him but I cant find it and this tells the tale. He hit the front of my car with his and pushed me 30deg off my direction. My A4 absorbed all of the impact and the distance he pushed me allowed less damage to his vehicle. His car looks rebuildable but from that hit with all his airbags popped. I doubt insurance would have touched it given his situation.
Current Ride a 2003 Avant. Like a Phoenix from the ashes. AND yes thats a single-blade wiper garage conversion with a 26-inch blade. Might do 27 or 28inch next time.
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