Taddraughn's C5 S6: Progress Thread

[Hfpedersen]

I actually joined Lanisti just to read your thread! You pretty much have my dream collection, I'm halfway with the S6 but with the way things are going pretty much any Lancia is out of my price range at this point.

[taddraughn]

I actually joined Lanisti just to read your thread! You pretty much have my dream collection, I'm halfway with the S6 but with the way things are going pretty much any Lancia is out of my price range at this point.

Surprisingly Fulvia values have gone up a bit since I bought mine, but they are still generally under-appreciated or just less popular here in the US. It is fun to drive around and have almost no one know wtf I'm driving. People in the market for a classic probably see that they're FWD and assume that they aren't fun to drive and write them off. I think you can probably still find a Fulvia that needs some love for under 10k. I know there was a series one in CA that I knew about that looked complete and the guy was asking 6k for it.

The cost of restoration would of course equal or exceed whatever you'd pay for a good example. The good thing is most components are serviceable/rebuildable pretty easily and lots of vendors supplying new parts and a guy on a farm in PA with tons of NOS parts. He even has a NOS cylinder head that I almost bought but ended up not needing.... Crazy that there are any NOS cylinder heads left from cars made in the 60s at this point.

[taddraughn]

Pan is in and it is correct! Had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but it was the only new one I could find with every Audi dealer I called telling me it was NLA and stock was depleted. Link to the one I bought if anyone else is searching for one of these and doesn't want to buy used. Not sure why it's stocked under some weird number that def. isn't the audi PN for this, but maybe that's why it was actually in stock. https://www.ebay.com/itm/284204244478.

Also found that a really easy way to get the wheel bearings out is to thread in the bearing bolts just a little and then hammer on them with the air hammer working your way around. Didn't really see a good way to block it up on the press. Hoping that heating and freezing will allow me to just drop in the new one and tighten the bolts to seat it all the way, but in any case installation will be much easier to set up on the press than removal would have been. Shout out to Dan for lending me this air hammer.. saving me so much time over here.

[taddraughn]

Got about half as much done this weekend as I had planned so about par for the course really.

Started by removing all 4 wheel bearings and hub assemblies from the front and rear knuckles, and then pressing the hubs out of the bearings. Unfortunately Audi seemingly made it impossible to remove these bearings without fucking them up. Since these have split inner races you'd have to bolt them together to prevent this, but that isn't really possible in this case.

With the knuckles free I had a go at getting the bushings out. Wasn't much fun but the chisel on the air hammer was the best approach.



Then I turned on the welder to take are of the 2/4 wheel speed sensor bolts I had broken.





I went ahead and took out the bank 1 cams and tensioner



I also managed to get an electrolysis bath running and threw in a rear brake shield so I'll see how that looks in the morning.

And while I was out working I got a couple packages of car parts, so that's always fun. Still waiting on a big one from ECS and a small one from Eeuroparts.



Oh and a sneak peak at my plan for the engine bay...

[Hfpedersen]

Surprisingly Fulvia values have gone up a bit since I bought mine, but they are still generally under-appreciated or just less popular here in the US. It is fun to drive around and have almost no one know wtf I'm driving. People in the market for a classic probably see that they're FWD and assume that they aren't fun to drive and write them off. I think you can probably still find a Fulvia that needs some love for under 10k. I know there was a series one in CA that I knew about that looked complete and the guy was asking 6k for it.

The cost of restoration would of course equal or exceed whatever you'd pay for a good example. The good thing is most components are serviceable/rebuildable pretty easily and lots of vendors supplying new parts and a guy on a farm in PA with tons of NOS parts. He even has a NOS cylinder head that I almost bought but ended up not needing.... Crazy that there are any NOS cylinder heads left from cars made in the 60s at this point.

Good to know. I'll keep my eyes peeled! Maybe someone wants to trade for an S6!

[taddraughn]

Well the electrolysis tank is definitely working! I had the rear brake shield in as a test and didn't bother taking any of the paint off beforehand. I left it in for 12 hours at 3 amps and ~20 volts (cheap amazon power supply running on constant current mode) and was really disappointed when I pulled it out initially because all the paint was still there. But after just spraying it down with a water hose, I realized it actually did loosen most of the paint!

So now I have 1 of the 4 hubs in the tank and it has gone overnight but still bubbling and a little crusty so I'm going to let it go for a full 24hrs. Here's the piece of steel hooked up to the positive lead this morning....



Definitely not a fast process, but if you have parts with machined surfaces this seems like the best bet for rust removal. Since I have the power supply now I'm wondering if I should just also have a go at zinc plating the hubs vs painting them but not sure how long that finish would really last.

[taddraughn]

Decided to just crank up the power supply to 5 amps and managed to get one hub free of rust. Now the second one is in the bath.



Also wire wheeled the driver rear wheel arch and got some eastwood rust encapsulation paint on. Going to top coat with some zero rust paint and then some 3M rubberized undercoating before putting the wheel arch liner back in.



And got some paint on the coolant pipe. All the paint had pretty much fallen off of it.

[JMURiz]

Every day this build gets more impressive with your attention to detail.

[taddraughn]

Every day this build gets more impressive with your attention to detail.

Thanks Nathan!

By the way, how do you like the SQ5? I've driven my mom's quite a few times and it's a lot of fun, but my dad hates it because he has to buy tires for it so often lol.

[JMURiz]

I like it, but I'm still getting used to it being wider than the S6 Avant, with with less cargo space, and the throttle response is not even in the same ballpark.

[taddraughn]

I have continued to clean and paint items so Now I have two hubs painted and all the brackets that go on the intake manifold assembly. I also decided to go ahead and work on something a little different.

Pulled the center console cupholder (near parking brake) because it doesn't close. Upon disassembly it became clear that a miniscule tab of plastic had broken off the top plastic part (guess you could call it the lid).



Since they are very expensive and will no doubt just break again based on the way these plastic parts are designed, I decided to just 3D print something instead.

Whipped up a model of the cupholder insert and threw some features for inserts in the top that can take a cupholder insert like in the ND miata. (thought about copying the ND miata interface, but it's $150 for a set of those cupholder inserts from mazda.







Shape turned out perfectly on the first shot, which is unusual.. But I did forget to add the little grooves on the sides so I'll have to add those to the model and 3D print again today.

[taddraughn]

Second version with the grooves actually modelled in fit into the console insert, but unfortunately I got the angle slightly wrong. A couple more iterations and I'll probably have something close.





Also got a package from Poland with all my bushings in so if I can manage to get a few more things stripped and painted I might have a go at putting the rear suspension back together over the next week or so.

Unfortunately in order to save money I ordered a valley pan gasket from Latvia and it has just now shipped. So even though I have every other component I need to start putting the engine back together and ready to go in the car, I will have to wait until the gasket comes in before doing much else to the engine. But still plenty I can do in the meantime, like get the intake manifold back together with new sealant.

[taddraughn]

Spent some time today cleaning up the engine as best I could to get it ready for reassembly.







It's not perfect, but it'll do!

Tomorrow I'm going to try and tackle the other rear arch and see if I can get a few things painted.

[AudiAR01]

The electrolysis tank is awesome. It does take time. But it cleaned so much better than anything else. My block pretty much come out spotless. Only running 1A@12vdc running higher voltage and 5A should melt the rust and paint. I had a few places that still baked on paint. But I only did 24hrs. Two days it would've been completely bare metal. Keep up the beautiful work man.

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1

[taddraughn]

The electrolysis tank is awesome. It does take time. But it cleaned so much better than anything else. My block pretty much come out spotless. Only running 1A@12vdc running higher voltage and 5A should melt the rust and paint. I had a few places that still baked on paint. But I only did 24hrs. Two days it would've been completely bare metal. Keep up the beautiful work man.

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1

The little power supply supply off amazon for 50 bucks was absolutely perfect for it. Cranked all the way up it runs ~4.7 amps and 20V until the piece of steel gets super crusty and the amperage drops off slowly down to like 2.5. At 5 Amps the part is really bubbling!

[taddraughn]

The other two hubs got prepped and painted this weekend. Here's them out of the electrolysis bath and a quick brushing.



I finally stopped being lazy and dragged my welder across the garage to tackle this...



A quick zap and I just wound the broken bolt out the top of the strut nut



I also managed to get all the bushings out of the lower control arms that I'm going to get blasted this week. Ended up just torching the rubber out of them before removing the outer bushing shells. Once you get them really burning the rubber and inner part basically eject themselves.



After that I got the passenger side arch stripped of rust and painted with the green eastwood paint. I also scuffed and sprayed the drivers side with yet more anti-rust paint.



After the zero rust paint had several hours to flash off I gave it a coat of 3M asphalt based undercoating to try and add some abrasion resistance if road grime gets stuck between the arch liner and the body of the car again. I had it left over from spraying it everywhere on the bottom of the fulvia; it goes on very thin and has held up great on the lancia so far.

Last thing I managed to do was take apart the bank 1 tensioner. Shoes on this guy are in much worse shape than bank 2... Doesn't look like these were long for this world.

[C5S6]

Last thing I managed to do was take apart the bank 1 tensioner. Shoes on this guy are in much worse shape than bank 2... Doesn't look like these were long for this world.

Just curious for my own data point on the tensioner shoes...how miles does this have on it? I'm creeping up on 110k.

[taddraughn]

Just curious for my own data point on the tensioner shoes...how miles does this have on it? I'm creeping up on 110k.

Right now the car is a bit shy of 122k I believe.

It's interesting that the pads on the rear tensioner have worn more, but also that the injection looks quite porous compared to the pads on the front of the engine. But maybe the fronts just hadn't worn deep enough into the part to show that it was also porous? Hard to say I guess

[C5S6]

Good to know...I guess I'll plan to address those with valve cover gaskets soon(ish). I'd also like to do the D3 valve cover visual upgrade at the time :)

[Jawsman2]

Good to know...I guess I'll plan to address those with valve cover gaskets soon(ish). I'd also like to do the D3 valve cover visual upgrade at the time :)

Enlighten me on this mod... I'm reading into it now.

[taddraughn]

Good to know...I guess I'll plan to address those with valve cover gaskets soon(ish). I'd also like to do the D3 valve cover visual upgrade at the time :)

Yeah probably worth taking a look at just to see what the wear is like. Not sure how hard the rear one would be to get to in situ but seems possible to get it outta there.

Enlighten me on this mod... I'm reading into it now.

Edit: had typed something and then realized you probably mean the valve cover thing not the tensioners. There's a how to on QW about it i'll find it and link it here

https://forums.quattroworld.com/a8/msgs/111585.phtml

[taddraughn]

Very small update here, but I got really tired of trying to strip paint off stuff and clean stuff myself so I took a couple boxes of stuff to a blaster to soda blast the aluminum parts and to glass or alum. oxide the steel parts.

I also spent a little while cleaning the engine bay today. 20 years of grease and road grime really add up but it's starting to look better!

[taddraughn]

STILL waiting on the gasket from Latvia. I am never ordering from this guy again unless I absolutely cannot find the part otherwise; would have just eaten the 200 to have the engine back together at this point...

Anyway, got parts back from being blasted. Aluminum parts were soda blasted to remove corrosion, road grime, etc. and the steel parts were blasted with crushed glass. Some significant corrosion on the rear anti-sway bar. Undecided about re-using it, but will get it painted in any case.







For anyone considering the D3 valve covers.. Just know the casting quality is ABYSMAL and Audi painted the inside of them as well. I suppose where flows meet in the casting is where the issues are but using filler or glaze on these is completely unavoidable. I'll get some pictures up of just how shitty the castings are when I start getting them wiped and sanded. I got some good DTM glaze to wipe on the covers though. Planning to glaze and block them, 2k epoxy prime, high build primer, block, and then paint some SS color that I haven't yet decided on. Open to suggestions on what colors would look good!

Also would like to start reassembling the rear suspension soon, but my parents are visiting Raleigh this weekend so I'll be spending time with them instead of doing any work on the car.

[NWS6]

I tried polishing.


Valve Cover Audi Polished.jpg

[taddraughn]

I tried polishing.


Valve Cover Audi Polished.jpg

Oh wow.. I'm really surprised you got the magnesium to look like that. It's so reactive I wonder how long it could keep that finish?

If not clear I was talking about the A8 D3 valve covers that are aluminum castings that have the poor casting quality. The magnesium castings on the other hand seem free of defects. Just seems odd Audi chose to leave them bare vs. coating them with something from the factory.

[JMURiz]

I use Gibbs Lubricant/oil on magnesium (used in porsche engine and transmission cases). They always end up clouding up, but it keeps it looking nice way longer.
...that reminds me, I need to clean and spray my transmission :P

[NWS6]

You're certainly doing some great work on your S6. Thanks for posting everything.
The D3 valve covers should have a really good look when you get them finished. I may have to give that a try.

The polished valve cover has held up way better than I thought it would. It's been on for about 18 months, and I've just dusted it off a couple of times.
Here's an installed picture, it looks almost exactly the same now.





AudiVC InstalledIMG_1894.jpg

[C5S6]

The polished valve cover has held up way better than I thought it would. It's been on for about 18 months, and I've just dusted it off a couple of times.
Here's an installed picture, it looks almost exactly the same now.

Wow!

[taddraughn]

Attempting to get back to the project after ignoring it for a week...

Started by sealing the upper sump, then new lower sump. Also added an ECS magnetic drain plug and holy crap this magnet is really strong!



Next I installed a new front main seal, new water, pump, and got the valley pan cover back in place. Also got the two coolant pipes placed with two new orings.



At that point I was pretty much ready to install the intake manifold, but I hadn't reassembled it, so I started by sealing to two sets of halves back to each other. Takes quite a bit of sealant.



Wiped all the excess sealant I could manage with a rag soaked in lacquer thinner. Will get the two halves back together tomorrow and hopefully back on the engine with the JHM spacers.

Bonus pic of the absolute trash castings I have to deal with... sanding glaze is reminding me i really hate bodywork.

[taddraughn]

Welp had to pull the water pipe to route the knock sensor wire and then cut the oring putting the pipe back in place so guess the manifold isn't going back on until some more o rings come in the mail... ordered more than one this time at least :/

[2.ohhh]

Welp had to pull the water pipe to route the knock sensor wire and then cut the oring putting the pipe back in place so guess the manifold isn't going back on until some more o rings come in the mail... ordered more than one this time at least :/

Yep...those nickel and dime parts like crush washers and o-rings...I always order at least 2. I had a crush washer for my PS line the other day roll away and disappear in the garage somewhere...f-it, just grabbed another one out of the box!

Also, had 2 1/2 hours to work on the car the other day to "try" to get it finished...spent 2 hours re-doing what I just did to get the lower coolant hose on that is wedged behind the alternator, intake, and side rail of the car..on the RS6, it's 2 soft pipes then a hard flattened piece together. Had to remove the intake again, alternator again, and really work to get it in there. I called mine a rookie mistake as I'd never let that happen again, but that said, hopefully it won't need to happen again!

At least it's cheap parts that get messed up, but it's a scar when you need to wait for days for such a simple part.

Keep up the good work, it will be worth it in the end!

[AudiAR01]

I did the same thing. All the Orings for the A6 build. I ordered 3 of each. All the cheap gaskets. I ordered two of each. I'm dropping my heads off this week to the race shop. Fingers crossed I'll the motor back in by Turkey Day. I finally found a set of ARP Mains in Canada. They will be here Friday. So at least this weekend I can get the bottom end put back together.


How did the Electrolysis Tank work out for you @Taddraughn those blasted parts look phenomenal btw. These cars a nickel n dime you to death type of car. It's a love hate relationship. Love to hate them and hate to love them. But man there's nothing like running through the Twisties in a well sorted German Engineered hunk of metal.

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1

[taddraughn]

Yep...those nickel and dime parts like crush washers and o-rings...I always order at least 2. I had a crush washer for my PS line the other day roll away and disappear in the garage somewhere...f-it, just grabbed another one out of the box!

Also, had 2 1/2 hours to work on the car the other day to "try" to get it finished...spent 2 hours re-doing what I just did to get the lower coolant hose on that is wedged behind the alternator, intake, and side rail of the car..on the RS6, it's 2 soft pipes then a hard flattened piece together. Had to remove the intake again, alternator again, and really work to get it in there. I called mine a rookie mistake as I'd never let that happen again, but that said, hopefully it won't need to happen again!

At least it's cheap parts that get messed up, but it's a scar when you need to wait for days for such a simple part.

Keep up the good work, it will be worth it in the end!

I just know im going to have some moments like that when my engine goes back in. Just part of learning the car i suppose.

Actually right after i ordered 3 o rings next day air i remembered i had a case of assorted viton orings in my toolbox and found one that was close enough and seemed to have a very good seal. So water pipe is back in and the intake manifold can go back on tomorrow :)



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[taddraughn]

I did the same thing. All the Orings for the A6 build. I ordered 3 of each. All the cheap gaskets. I ordered two of each. I'm dropping my heads off this week to the race shop. Fingers crossed I'll the motor back in by Turkey Day. I finally found a set of ARP Mains in Canada. They will be here Friday. So at least this weekend I can get the bottom end put back together.


How did the Electrolysis Tank work out for you @Taddraughn those blasted parts look phenomenal btw. These cars a nickel n dime you to death type of car. It's a love hate relationship. Love to hate them and hate to love them. But man there's nothing like running through the Twisties in a well sorted German Engineered hunk of metal.

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1

I was actually hoping to have my car done by turkey day initially. Bumped my deadline out to december lol. Always helps me to set a goal/deadline even if its completely arbitrary.

Tank worked out great! Ill continue using it as needed for a few more small parts that i didnt take to the blaster.

Im excited to get this beast back together and shake all the bugs out of it! Hopefully ill have some money left over for gas lol

Sent from my SM-G973U using Audizine Forum mobile app

[AudiAR01]

I was actually hoping to have my car done by turkey day initially. Bumped my deadline out to december lol. Always helps me to set a goal/deadline even if its completely arbitrary.

Tank worked out great! Ill continue using it as needed for a few more small parts that i didnt take to the blaster.

Im excited to get this beast back together and shake all the bugs out of it! Hopefully ill have some money left over for gas lol

Sent from my SM-G973U using Audizine Forum mobile app

You'll have some left over. But not enough to fill it up. Lol. Maybe a good half tank or so. Lol

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1

[taddraughn]

Most of the things that go on the back of the engine back on the back of the engine! Looking good so far



JHM didn't mention that the breather tube that goes to the valve cover wouldn't bolt up after the spacer (but obviously it isn't going to line up with the hole unless you made a spacer for the valley cover). I had to cut the bracket and weld it offset so that it would still bolt to the intake manifold but still allow the hose to fit on and clamp.

Today I'm going to see if I can force myself to sand the valve covers and get them looking halfway respectable. I decided to paint them wrinkle red because that should be a good paint for masking small imperfections in the casting/my sanding. Going with red because the wiring harness conduits that I'll need to use for the coil portion of the harness are red.

[AudiAR01]

Most of the things that go on the back of the engine back on the back of the engine! Looking good so far



JHM didn't mention that the breather tube that goes to the valve cover wouldn't bolt up after the spacer (but obviously it isn't going to line up with the hole unless you made a spacer for the valley cover). I had to cut the bracket and weld it offset so that it would still bolt to the intake manifold but still allow the hose to fit on and clamp.

Today I'm going to see if I can force myself to sand the valve covers and get them looking halfway respectable. I decided to paint them wrinkle red because that should be a good paint for masking small imperfections in the casting/my sanding. Going with red because the wiring harness conduits that I'll need to use for the coil portion of the harness are red.

That's what I used on my VC. Bc it hides the casting imperfections very well. Screenshots_2021-10-12-12-01-40.jpg

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1

[taddraughn]

Few hours of sanding and I now have some epoxy primer on the valve covers. Glad to have that behind me for sure

[taddraughn]

That's what I used on my VC. Bc it hides the casting imperfections very well. Screenshots_2021-10-12-12-01-40.jpg

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1

Maybe it's just the picture/lighting but Im used to wrinkle paint ending up looking very textured. Did you heat them after paiting?

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[AudiAR01]

Maybe it's just the picture/lighting but Im used to wrinkle paint ending up looking very textured. Did you heat them after paiting?

Sent from my SM-G973U using Audizine Forum mobile app

No they're smooth. I didn't mean I used wrinkle red. Just red valve covers. It's high temp 1500° engine enamel.

2003 A6 2.7T 6spd Stage 1+ (motor pulled for stage 3+ upgrades)

2001 Allroad TIP Stage 1
2006 A3 2.0T 6spd Stage 1