My Monsoon Grey B8.5 (Re)build

[19birel]

Most likely you can get away with a 3mm. Dope build though brotha, keep it up🍻

Thanks man!

[19birel]

So small update, school has been consuming most of my time but I've been tinkering with the car here and there when I can. One of the main issues has been the headlights. Beyond not being totally satisfied with the fitment yet, I've also had a "Headlight Range Control Defective" error popping up on the dash that simply would not clear as well as a parking brake malfunction warning. The range control error is a result of the replacement headlight being AFS, and as this error pops up on the dash I was worried that it would be reason for the car to fail inspection. The parking brake warning perplexed me because it was functioning perfectly fine.

Clearing code was no help as I mentioned so I studied the fuse diagrams and found that 1) I was missing fuse #8 on the driver's side panel (related to multiple things including electro-mechanical parking brake) so I replaced it, and 2) I removed fuse #12 which is for headlight control and parking system. The result was an error free dash!Only issues are that as a result of pulling fuse #12 my parking sensors are now disabled (camera still works) and I don't have headlight leveling (It didn't work previously though). Should be adequate to pass inspection though and then I'll either save up for another light or wait and get E-codes.



In other news my 5mm spacers arrived


So I can put these bad boys on

I'm thinking of waiting to install these until my stock pads are worn, but will see haha

Also since getting Carista I have done a few coding mods- enabled ADS, tail lights as DRLs, mirror tilt in reverse, ambient lighting, disabled amber side markers. Couple more I want to go back and do later tho.

Next order of business is to fix this water leak


It's coming from this fitting that goes from the coolant res. to the top of the radiator, I think it's a manufacturing defect in the radiator but hopefully some teflon tape will take care of it


Once I do that and obsess over headlight fitment again, the car will go back together completely lol.

And for those of you interested in the A7 project, It's just waiting for the airbag module to come back from being reset and then it will head to inspection. For now it's 2 different shades of black but that will be taken care of in the spring. Drives like a new car though!

[SLH21]

Awesome.

Thanks for the info on fixing the range control error. I have a B8 with the same error after installing e-codes, perhaps they are AFS and I wasn't aware.

[19birel]

Awesome.

Thanks for the info on fixing the range control error. I have a B8 with the same error after installing e-codes, perhaps they are AFS and I wasn't aware.

No problem! I will add though, that you will get that error if you turn on the car without the lights plugged in; so if you did that, try resetting the codes first before pulling the fuse.

[DownhillA4]

Love this thread! Wish I had more time and space to do these types of projects. Awesome to see the whole family is doing it this way.

When I come out to ride the Wheel Mill in P-Burgh, we should link up.

PS, Nice shifter kart in the garage.

[19birel]

Love this thread! Wish I had more time and space to do these types of projects. Awesome to see the whole family is doing it this way.

When I come out to ride the Wheel Mill in P-Burgh, we should link up.

PS, Nice shifter kart in the garage.

Thanks! They're definitely a lot of fun to do! And yeah, let me know next time your in the 'Burgh!

As for the kart, that one is actually Rotax FR125 powered, I raced for about 10yrs or so until I started college and ran out of time and funding haha. My dad used to have a shifter though back in the day! Do you race karts?

[19birel]

So we're getting close! I fixed the radiator leak, the manufacturing tolerances of it were a little poor (it's an aftermarket Nissens unit, not OEM) but a little bit of teflon tape did the trick and after letting the car come up to temp and doing a few laps around the block, it didn't leak any water! (sorry no pics)

I also replaced the headlight bulbs with some Morimotos, I believe these are the 5.5k ones, the whitest color you can get before they look blue, and compared to stock they're much brighter, highly recommend!


I also did some rust prevention on the previously mangled fender rail, where some paint had flaked off.


Added a base coat of Rustoleum bed liner


Then painted on some BMW Silver Grey Metallic I had laying around. I think it reacted with the bed liner so I'm going to do another coat as it looks too silver (This color is actually supposed to be very close to monsoon grey)


Lastly I threw the front bumper, fogs, and grill on! It has to come back off so I can replace a small mount for the passenger headlight that helps prevent the bumper from sagging on that side, but it's cool seeing the car looking so close to complete!


Side note- I have acquired some new wheels for summer! My dad was originally going to use these 19" D4 A8 wheels on the A7 but wasn't happy with how tight they fit on the hub so offered them to me. The tyres are straight from an A8 so those will be replaced before I run them, but here is a test fit.



I love the style and the offset is super aggressive, reminds me of how my old B5 sat! With correctly sized tyres they'll be perfect for the look I have in mind for this car. They'll have to wait till summer though

Here's what's left to do!

-Headlight mounting bracket
-Passenger side fender liner
-Replace Windshield
-Minor odds & ends
-Oil Change

Then she's off to inspection! If i have time between classes and work this week I'll try to knock some of that out!

[19birel]

So it would seem that I'm pretty terrible at remembering to update this but the car is now on the road. To make a longish story short, the car failed inspection the first time because the coolant leak returned (turns out I didn't have the line all the way on the rad), the wipers and horn didn't work (remember when I pulled that fuse for the headlight leveling?), and some screws were missing from the under tray. But after some minor wrenching and a new (used) non-AFS headlight, the car passed!

I've put ~300 miles on it so far and it's been great, here are some pics!








THIS IS NOT THE END!

From here on this thread will continue to document maintenance, mods, and any thing else I do to the car. Next thing the car needs is an alignment as well as some recall work at the dealership. After that I'll just continue to enjoy the car as is until my wallet recovers a little bit

[AUDIMAN33]

I need to say, I am throughly impressed on how you have rebuilt this car. The paint matches this time which is always a plus! You should deff stick with the rebuilds, go to school for it.

[JeriQo]

this is a very satisfying thread

[LTopher]

Looking good! Came a long way.

[19birel]

I need to say, I am throughly impressed on how you have rebuilt this car. The paint matches this time which is always a plus! You should deff stick with the rebuilds, go to school for it.

Thanks! I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially considering my tight budget. I'm sure I'll rebuild another car down the road at some point, it's a fun process.

this is a very satisfying thread

I aim to please!

Looking good! Came a long way.

Thanks man!

[19birel]

So I’ve done just over 1k miles in the A4 so far and have been loving every minute. I took it over to the dealership for an alignment and the after-run coolant pump recall as well. The alignment made the car drive 10x better. They provided me with an A5 loaner as well, it was quick and the tech was cool, but after a couple hours I missed my 6MT and sport package haha.


Only issue I’ve had is trying to enable ambient lighting. Through Carista I got the footwell lights to activate but the interior lighting menu is greyed out. I even went through the green menu processes. If anyone with mmi 2g has gotten that working, let me know!

Edit: After some further research it would appear that my "Comfort Module" does not support that feature. Bummer but oh well, as least I got them to light up at all, even if they're dim

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[19birel]

With Winter weather seemingly behind us I figured I'd make a little update on the car, and provide some insight as to what my immediate plans are for it. Lack of time and money lately has kept me from doing anything to the car besides drive it, at a hair over 61k miles on the odo I've already covered about 4k miles in it. Overall the car has been great but there are a couple things that will need addressed soon.

- Front passenger side B&O speaker is crapping out, driver's side occasionally gets glitchy. I always have music on an it's getting bad so I'm gonna have to get some speakers soon, I'm thinking Infinity Primus 6500 CS component speakers

- Stone chips on front bumper, Theres only a few but I'm really bumped since the paint was fresh, I think I'm gonna touch them up and DIY install some PPF after I do a paint correction. Probably going to wait till summer for this though.

-Oil change, maintenance is paramount! Since the plan is 5k intervals I'm gonna do another oil change pretty soon here, I think I'm gonna stick with the Liqui Moly I used previously.

- Spark Plugs & Coils per Audi's recommended service guide, plugs aren't due till 75k (1st change is 35k) doesn't say anything about coils but I'd like to do both before then.

Some pics of Emmaline wearing her winter dirt with pride haha

Mod wise (beside the speakers I guess) I'm itching to get the BBK installed, I can't decide on a color to paint the calipers though so hopefully I make a decision by the time the weather gets warm enough for painting, I'm leaning towards yellow. I have a couple other things in mind as well but more on those at a later date, don't wanna get to far ahead of myself haha. Overall I've been loving the car though, other than the speakers it hasn't skipped a beat!

[19birel]

Update time!

So with a need to scratch the mod itch I decided to do OldGuy's weighted shift knob mod. Went to Walmart and bought a few bucks worth of lead shot and went to town.

Also found some left over tint film from another project and decided to smoke my reflectors





Much better imo! Should hold me off until I eventually take the lights apart to paint the reflectors grey like e-codes.

Then I threw in some new plugs, went with the NGK Iridiums. These will be good if/when I decide to get tuned, but are perfectly fine for stock application as well


Then I installed a dipstick (kinda funny I can consider that a "mod" lol) and gave her a fresh filter and some Liqui Moly Synthoil. Switched from leichtlauf because I prefer to run an OW oil for when the temps are colder and because it's a group 4 base oil.

Also did a rear debadge (kept rings & Quattro badge), cleaned up some sticker residue, did some paint touch up, and fixed my license plate bracket (the screw points at the top had fallen out). The end result was that the rear of the car now looks much cleaner!

Before



After



Also swapped my work plate frame for the ILLEST one I bought a while back, not sure how long it will stay though haha

Then I began trying to diagnose a coolant leak I have had for a couple weeks now. It really confused me because I'd top it off, drive around, check the coolant level and it'd be fine. Then a day or two later the reservoir would suddenly be near empty! All the hoses appeared fine, the car never ran hot, but I noticed it was happening after harder drives. Got under the car today and it looks like the leak is originating from the after-run coolant pump which was a recall item I had the dealership replace a couple months back. Threw the belly pan back on, topped off with water and called my service advisor. Car goes in Friday to confirm that's the issue and replace the pump if defective (on their dime).

Also, my CQuartz UK ceramic coating arrived. So much pollen out now so I think I'm gonna continue to wait on the detail as I'm worried the pollen might get stuck in the coating as it cures and ruin the finish. Not doing speakers for the time being as the passenger side speaker stopped being glitchy!

Stay tuned everyone!

[old guy]

Looks really nice

Here's a suggestion for your rear license plate that I think flows well with the Monsoon gray. Clicky click®

[Shuga]

Why didn’t you make a build thread for the C7? I’m sure lots of people would be interested in it

[19birel]

Looks really nice

Here's a suggestion for your rear license plate that I think flows well with the Monsoon gray. Clicky click®

Hmm I might have to try that, looks very stealth!

Why didn’t you make a build thread for the C7? I’m sure lots of people would be interested in it

Mostly because I could barely remember to take pics of the A4 let alone another car that I was mostly just helping on haha

Speaking of the C7, it actually got some nice OEM 20" wheels custom powder coated in metallic grey recently. It looks killer, once I get the chance to take some proper pictures of it I'll post them up.

[Shuga]

I haven’t seen a C7 rebuild so I think people would definitely be interested. You should start a YouTube channel.

[vbtravisd]

Looks great man! But I may be a little biased on the color...

[19birel]

I haven’t seen a C7 rebuild so I think people would definitely be interested. You should start a YouTube channel.

I actually have a YouTube channel I mainly do car reviews. Click Link Here Haven't uploaded in a while but I'm filming a review of a B9 A4 tomorrow so that should be up soon! Also planning on doing a video series where I sit down and walk through the whole process of rebuilding a salvage car, what to look for when buying, and how this build went/issues I faced.

Looks great man! But I may be a little biased on the color...

Thanks man, I appreciate it! All my cars have been some shade of grey/silver, complete coincidence but it's a great color, especially for the B8.5 imo


Side note: Car is currently at the dealership, service advisor and I are both pretty sure it's the previously recalled & replaced pump that's leaking, but the car hasn't been in the shop yet so hopefully I get an update Monday.

[19birel]

Small Update: Turns out it's not the aux pump that was bad, it was the water pump and thermostat. Thought I'd be able to stretch 75k-80 out of it but oh well, I think the one on my mom's old B8 went around 60k too....

Oh well it's getting replaced and I'll have her back soon!

[19birel]

So I've always thought that E-codes were one subtle mod that makes a tremendous difference to the appearance of our cars. Unable to justify buying E-codes I decided to do the next best thing, take apart my NA-spec lights and paint the reflectors!

To remove the lens I used a heat gun which worked quite well. I practiced on my spare light beforehand using the oven method and melted part of the housing so I played it safe by using the heat gun and it worked great. Having trim removal tools to pry the lens away from the housing helps a lot as well!

Here is the bezel with the reflector in it. I tried to remove the reflector but it became apparent that I would likely break it so I masked it off while still attached to the bezel




Scuffed it up with some sandpaper and then hit it with a couple coats of BMW Silver-Grey Metallic paint (had it laying around from my old 5series)





All put back together! I reused the adhesive, just reheated it with the heat gun. It's been a couple weeks now and still no condensation or anything in the lights!


To top things off I finally got around to doing a full paint correction on the car and applied CQuartz UK 3.0 ceramic coating, here's the finished result!

Then this weekend I did a 600mile round trip to Watkins Glen, NY for some hiking!

Parked up at the campsite

The car ate up the miles, what a great highway cruiser. It was caked in mud and bugs when I got home too, but the CQuartz ceramic coating made everything wipe off with ease and after a pretty basic wash it looked as it did the day I detailed it! Can't recommend this stuff enough!

On another note I've noticed by steering getting a notchy feeling . I have read that there are a bunch of potential causes to this, one of which being the exposed intermediate steering shaft requiring a good cleaning and some lubrication. I'll do that Wednesday when I'm off work and report back, hopefully that solves it because I'd rather get tyres for the new wheels than spend money on repairs As always stay tuned for more!

[Shuga]

Looks fantastic with the Ecode mod


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[19birel]

Looks fantastic with the Ecode mod


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! Easily one of my favorite mods to date

[19birel]

So today I tackled the notchy steering issue. So far it seems to be solved with $20 with of Brake Clean and Deep Creep

This knuckle here is the culprit, I forgot to take a before pic (this is after I cleaned it) but it was covered in black gunk which is likely why it was binding up


I then sprayed it with liberal amounts of deep creep from a couple angles to make sure it was nice and lubricated, and after taking it around the block it feels good as new! I'll probably hit it with more deep creep tomorrow just for good measure.

Here are a couple random pics I took recently

My next move will likely be ordering paint for the A7 bbk here in the next week or so and get that installed relatively soon. After that things will slow down as a save a set of tyres to put on the new wheels that I've had in my shed with the bbk all these months haha

[19birel]

So everyone says that the CR15 brace is a must have for these cars. Knowing what a strut brace did for my old MKIV Golf I figured that the CR15 would provide a similar improvement. Only thing was, unlike a traditional strut brace the CR15 is a straight aluminum bar that goes behind the false firewall, a secondary strut brace so to speak. So, instead of shelling out $150 for one, I went to Lowes and bought $12 worth of aluminum to construct my own.

Here is where the brace is supposed to sit, over top of this factory brace that primarily acts as a mounting bracket for the positive battery terminal and the washer fluid bottle.


And here it is with my custom piece installed

Relatively simple to make, just took a little while to get the holes measured correctly and drill everything out. As far as functionality goes, it's great! When the front end loads up around mid-corner you can feel the extra rigidity which translates into a little extra front end grip and a more direct steering feel. I would say that the difference is worth what they ask for the legit CR15, but if you have some time, a drill, and a dremel you can have yourself a nice bargain mod!

[19birel]

Little update for you guys! So I recently got what is probably the most utilitarian mod I could get, OEM Audi base bars. I have wanted a roof rack for ages as I missed being able to transport my bike (I refuse to risk beating up my interior by putting the bike inside) so I'm stoked. The Thule OutRide bike mount I used on my Volkswagen mounted right up. The design of the bars is actually pretty thin (especially compared to the OEM VW bars on my Golf) so wind noise isn't bad, I might not even buy a fairing as originally planned. I also love the look of them, I put the roof bars on my Golf a couple months after getting my license way back when, so having a set on my daily driver really makes the car feel like "mine". Just needs to stop raining so I can go biking haha.

Here's the only pick I have of the setup currently

Now remember that A7 bbk I snagged from the parts car we had laying around a while back before the car was even on the road? Well it's been sitting in my shed ever since, and I finally found the motivation to get it cleaned up, painted, and ready to go on the car.

Here are some before and afters of the cleaning process; a scotchbrite pad and some brake clean goes a long way




Then using POR15 Caliper paint, I brushed on the first coat of yellow...as you can see the coverage isn't great (typical of any yellow caliper paint)


Four coats later and we're looking good!


Painted the anti-rattle clips black and put some "S" logos on for that extra OEM+ touch

Next I just have to paint the rears to match and then they can go on! I really excited to install these I'm really happy with how they turned out and can't wait to have some real braking power at my disposal!

[19birel]

So the car is really starting to come together on the mod front, since my last update I've done a few things!

Updates include S4 Mirror Caps, A7 BBK finally installed (dual piston ATE front calipers w/356mm rotors), soundbox delete, and the 19x9" OEM D4 Audi A8 wheels wrapped in a fresh set of 255 section Dunlops. Here are some pics!

Offset is ET33 making for what I'd consider the perfect fitment for me


The hips don't lie


And one more for good measure haha

I love the way it looks now, the car is really coming together closer and closer to my ideal image of it. As for the way it drives with the new mods the wider tyres and wider stance have made the car feel far more planted, the steering is heavier which is more to my liking. Ride quality has improved too. My old tyres were trashed which wouldn't have helped the previous setup but these wheels are on the heavy side so that would theoretically help soak up bumps. It doesn't feel like a Bentley or anything but I'm not cursing harshness over bumps like I was in a 19" wheel equipped A5 I was in recently.

The brake upgrade has made the biggest difference though, the stock brakes always felt insufficient to me but these A7 brakes have some serious bite, they have seriously exceeded my expectations. Currently I'm just running OEM pads and rotors.

Stay tuned much more still to come with this car!

[19birel]

So with the school semester officially underway my budget for car related fun stuff has diminished substantially. However I had some spare funds set aside to tackle a repair/mod that I've been wanting to do for a while.

My passenger side door speaker kept sounding distorted randomly, and it was driving me nuts. I always have music on in the car so it was hard to ignore. I decided to order a set of these Infinity by Harman Reference series coaxials, I got a deal on them and the specs were pretty solid!

*For clarification I just got coaxials because of the pricing being good, the extra tweeter on there won't actually be utilized due to the way Audi sets up the sound systems.


With trim removal tools, the door panel is pretty easy to remove, you have to be pretty forceful to release the fasteners once you remove all the screws but I didn't have trouble reinstalling anything which tells me they can take a bit of extra force.


Crappy stock B&O speaker with it's paper cone:P


The magnets are microscopic too!


Screwed up big time and kicked over my Stella


New speaker installed with adapter and the OEM foam between the adapter and the door


Wired up with some new connectors (brown is ground in case you're wondering) and some extra foam around the front of the speakers.

Including the adapters this was probably a $100 project all together, the bass & other lower frequencies sound much cleaner and even more powerful than before. Overall I'm quite pleased with the outcome.

Next up the docket is another oil change as it's been 5k since my last one, going with Liqui Moly Synthoil again, also due for another full interior detail. At some point soonish I'm gonna do a carbon clean.

Mod wise I'm saving up for the JB4 that's rumored to be released soon for our platform which I intend to use to run a meth setup to help reduce carbon buildup (and add some power too I suppose haha)

That's all for now!

[Novarider]

Just curious, Did you replace the other side speaker as well?

[19birel]

Just curious, Did you replace the other side speaker as well?

Hahaha yes I did

[19birel]

Not too much has happened since the last update, but I got a new camera so I'll post some fresh pics

Side note: Has anyone tried BG 44k fuel system cleaner? I hear it's the best stuff and most people have noted smoother more responsive engines after use. My car sat for a pretty long time with old fuel in it between the time the PO's insurance company totaled it to the time I got it on the road so I think it might benefit from such a treatment.

[FlyPenFly]

fantastic thread, really enjoyed it.

[aschmi07]

Love the stance, I saw ET33 wheels. Any other suspension changes? Thinking maybe I could get away with just throwing spacers on my OEM 18s and stock suspension.

[Shuga]

Looks super clean, not sure about the stickers though...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[19birel]

fantastic thread, really enjoyed it.

Thanks man!

Love the stance, I saw ET33 wheels. Any other suspension changes? Thinking maybe I could get away with just throwing spacers on my OEM 18s and stock suspension.

No suspension changes although it's worth noting the car is equipped with the factory sport suspension making it lower than a standard A4. Either way I think a set of spacers certainly helps with improving the stance!

Looks super clean, not sure about the stickers though...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks!
As for the stickers I'm admittedly on the fence about the "hotboi parking pass" (which is meant to be a joke) and the "people suck" as it kinda sticks out. They'll peel quickly if I tire of them however haha

[From]

Nice shots, i like to read build threads where is lot of photos. Picture tells more than thousand words.

[OnyxCobra]

Nice build dude, has come a long way and looks great. How do you like the speakers you installed?

[19birel]

Nice shots, i like to read build threads where is lot of photos. Picture tells more than thousand words.

Thanks! I try to take as many pics as I can, it's fun to look back and visually see the progression.

Nice build dude, has come a long way and looks great. How do you like the speakers you installed?

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words!

I love the new speakers, the bass has a lot more depth and crispness than before, I highly recommend the upgrade. The only issue is now I want to spend the money to continue upgrading the rest of the speakers haha