30v Tuning

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 5:30 pm

that's a really nice looking car Geoff, I was a little 'concerned' about the wind deflectors when you told me about them the other week, but they are nice and subtle. You need a black grille though for that evil look Wink

oh, and you need to swap your engine for a nice 12V, I know someone who will gladly swap Laughing

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 5:55 pm

You crack me up D !!!!!! But i will say, Get yourself one of these 30v APR's in your coupe and get rid of that sluggish 2.6 lump. You'll save fuel and it will put a bigger smile on your face Shocked

That will also change your mind about the 80 Laughing

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:23 pm

From memory the front windows must allow 70% light transmission, ie a 30% tint Wink

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:58 pm

Perfect

. It was about this level of tint that i was looking at Razz

Mmmmmmm more ideas Idea

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:07 pm

Personally I think cars look better with the same level of tint on all the windows. If the rears are darker than the fronts I think it looks a little strange Confused

Not so much on Avants, but definately on saloons Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:31 pm

Look, please get out of my head and leave my own thoughts to myself Wink

Again exactly my sentiments Laughing

Thought that a 25-30% tint all round would set the black of the car off nicley and blend the deflectors in even more. I had 60% rear tints on my old ford and they were a right bitch to look out of at night, so i was never going to go that much.

I have done a couple of classic additions, so keep this to a whisper, I have stuck a few stickers on my car Very Happy

"quattro" etched effect stickers on the inside of the rear door windows like some of q's of old and a couple of really small etched effect Audi rings on the wing mirrors. The q's look great and the rings are only about 30mm long so they virtually go unoticed unless your sitting in the car. Wink

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:49 am

careful on the front tints, personally i would only do that backs..
nice example on of my riding pals got stopped whilst we were on our way up to Golspie earlier in the year. his backs are tinted at 50% to hide the expensive bikes in the boot. the drivers and passengers he got a 25% tint and the windscreen as you would expect if normal. He got stopped, and they had a calibration tool, and deemed the drivers windows to be 50% tint... Paul an garage owner/ MOT tester to trade contested... so he asked if they could try the factory windscreen.. it also failed! read as 32%! and he still got an on the spot fine...

i like the 30% all round the rest I agree is too dark, i really want to do my car mainly for the kids blinds, i know james has them but the sun comes in all sorts of angles and blinds the kids... plus hides whats in the car, or does that attract thieves? Still avants imho look great tinted... but i hate bad tint jobs although that seems to have got a lot better in the last few years.

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:59 am

What would you recommend best, tints or smoke the glass?
I suppose 'smoking' costs loads of £££

I'm seriously considering getting the 'Avant' part of the glass done and maybe the rear passenger glass.
I'm going to leave the fronts alone.

Also I've heard that you have to heat the tint up as you apply it to the glass, prevents it from forming air bubbles?

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 4:29 pm

You can smoke the glass with a cigarette Laughing

Smoking = £5.90 for twenty Laughing

I would personally pay the money and get the tint sprayed on. You can get varying levels of block out and in various colours from black through to fading from top to bottom etc etc etc. Spraying is a much better finish, doesn't scratch like the film stuff and theres no cutting to do. Plus you can control the amouint of tint to apply. I would pay a professional to do it as the often take the windows out so that you get total coverage.

Not heard of heating the film up when applying, I think thats for adhesive vinyl on mirrors and dashboards etc, but from what i have done in the past its a case of cutting it to shape to fit the window, then putting soapy water on the window side of the film and sticking it. then using a squeegy to pull out the air bubbles. Only problem with doing this is that after a while, if you haven't taken the windows out to tint, the edges of the film catches on the window rubbers with all the ups and downs of opening the window. If your putting the film on with the windows in situ, when you open the window, you get a clear lip allround the window edge where you haven't been able to stick the film. I don't know, but i think the spray is alot easier to remove too.

HTH Wink

I think you should tint the fronts with a lighter tint than the backs. this really suits the avant. Not sure i like the look of just back windows tinted. Confused

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 5:22 pm

Cheers for that Geoff
Spraying - new one on me Shocked

Where the heck have I been for the pass I don't know how many years....
(last time I looked into this I was running a Ford Capri, 19 years ago Rolling Eyes

)

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 5:22 pm

Ordered some service parts today Very Happy

Cam belt kit inc all external belts, tensioners and other bolts needed and oil filter. Vagparts said it would be £30 cheaper to get the water pump from Audi and then take back my old one in exchange. I am guessing that to change the belts on this is very similar to the coupe and other audi's where the entire front end comes off. Noticed that this also includes the lights on mine Shock

OR, is it a case of just removing the bumper and the rad? Think i might as well change the coolant too, now that the water pump is being done and the rads coming off.

Had a look at my CAM belt today. looked in pretty good shape. It is only the second belt the car has had and it's only done 80K. But, it is ten years old in Feb so due for it's third based on time scale alone Wink

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 6:53 pm

if its the same as the B6 and C5, the whole front comes off.. but its notthat hard a job (so i believe)

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:57 am

Looking around it seems that the decent companies aren't using the spray anymore. Confused

Last time i looked into tints, was about 15 yrs ago myself Shocked

And looking today, I only saw tints for upto 50% light infiltration. This will be no good for the fronts. Evil or Very Mad

I'm gonna look into this and see if sprays are available. Some of the rear light sprays can sometimes be applied to windows too. A light dusting with a light smoke tint might just be enough to create the effect without breaking the law. I can probably get a lux meter from work. Only problem with this is creating the same original lux levels after spending hours/days tinting Laughing

Need a well lit garage me thinks Wink

especially one with a heater Laughing

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:56 pm

I've got some of that tint stuff at Phil's.....

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:09 pm

Ok, I'll bring the air bubbles .....

Laughing

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:18 pm

Any of it red??

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:27 pm

not quote. I've got bulb dipping kits (can tint bulbs any of 4 colours)- they're at Phils. Not sure if you could paint it on/ how weather resilient it would be?

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:29 pm

Doesn't need to be weather resilient at all Wink

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:44 pm

thats cool then. I used this stuff to convert standard bulbs to colour when I was DJ'ing- still in good nick as well- remind me- I need to dip some fog light bulbs for the 90....

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:39 pm

Changed the cambelt and the oil at the weekend.

Quite an easy job to be fair, if you have Nogin helping you out Wink

I thought about taking some pics to show how it is done but it has turned into a "How to get to it" post really. It did take two of us to get the belt on and no one was about to man the camera Laughing

So firstly, removing the front bumber skin.

It's probably better to start by removing the fog lights, if fitted, as the main bolts that hold the bumber on, are located in those cutouts. Using a flat headed screwdriver, find the clips that locate the grills on the outer most edges of the bumber. they'll be top and bottom of the grill. Removing the fog is straight forward from there as it's three obvious screws.

Fog lights out.

See the rectangular cutout? in the middle just above, there is what looks like a recess, this is where the main bolts are located. Suggest that you leave them in till you have removed the splash pan and removed the four screws on the outer part of the wheel arches, as you can see below.

Once you have removed these fixings you can remove the main bolts. Where the bumbers meet the arches, you need to pull outwards at the top of the bumber and then down. Removal is straight forward from there.

Next, you need to undo two coolant pipes. The top one is located coming off the top of the rad. We removed it from the engine rather than the radiator, as it is apparently a brittle part where the plastic clips to the rad. Made the job a little tricky, but as we had no spare part, better to play it safe Wink

The second pipe can removed a little later when access is easier.

Now where ready to get down to it. On one side of the car. there are three bolts connecting the slam panel to the body, two on top and one on the side, and in the third pic, four bolts holding it to the chassis on each side. Just remove one of these for now and make it the same one on both sides (Preferably a top one)

You'll see what the silver M8 bar is for in a bit Wink

but if you have got a couple of 1M lengths or so and some M8 bolts, might be worth using them Wink

it's also wise to disconnect the electrical plugs etc like these

Horns

A/C Pressure switch (If fitted)

Power Steering, Oil cooler line. No need to unplug the sensor either as shown Surprised

So, a neat little trick with the M8 dowel. Thread the dowel into the now removed bolt hole on each side, thread a bolt on the other ends with a large washer and another bolt. This is so that the front assembly doesnt slide off whilst your working on the engine Wink

Remove the remaining three bolts from each side and pull away. Note that the headlights and everything else are still attached Shock

We decided to hinge it like this as we didn't fancy getting messy with the A/C Twisted Evil

When the front is a little way from the car, you can gain easy access to remove the lower coolant pipe from the rad, again, this was detatched from the engine side.

mmmmmm....porn.......

Removing the belt covers is fairly straight forward. We removed the fan blades (4 bolts), the drivebelt tensioner and belt. Before we removed the lower timing belt cover, we double checked to make sure we had TDC (Top Dead Centre)

We had a bit of a problem removing the mechanical cooling fan/clutch assembly as two, different sized, allen bolts were located within the clutch housing itself. The other one is located under neath the centre spindle.

unfortunately it was all hands on from here so didn't get a chance for anymore pics Crying or Very sad

We had a bit of fun with the camshaft sprockets. A camshaft alignment part is needed to lock the two banks so that when the belt tension is released, the cams don't rotate out of line. I have Nogin with me so we'll skip using the special part. The tension is kept via a pressure solenoid. add more pressure to the valve so that the centre arm retracts enough to be able to pin back. Released the tension and twong....... left bank sprocket has rotated clockwise Shocked

We knew where the sprocket should be when at TDC Wink

so na warries Laughing

Got a socket on it and rotated it back and whilst under tension again, fit the toothed belt. Sorted.

Whilst the front was all off, access to the oil filter was easy Wink

Assembly was made easy, partly cause we knew how everything came apart and partly cause of the M8 dowels, which made it easy to locate the front back to the car.

Finished

Not quite.......... Nogs thought he would take me to his regular haunt so that he could sing Karaoke to me Shocked

Ah Bless

I want to take time out here and give a huge great big thanks to Nogin. Not only has he saved me a fortune, but i have learnt some valuable lessons in doing this (One of them is to pretend your listening when he starts to ramble Laughing

). Thanks Bud Wink

Also another great big thanks to Sue for making sure I didn't pass out through lack of nourishment and brews Laughing

The best bit is that I can now go away and do this job myself, along with other things like sorting my bumbers out etc.

Wink

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:56 pm

Very good

And a top guide too! If you want to extend your knowledge to cover B6's let me know. Preferably in about 12k miles Laughing

Oh and Geoff, sorry for being a pernickity sod, but it's bumpers Wink

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:02 pm

I know that, i was just seeing if you were still awake after reading that lot Laughing

Bovr'd anyway Razz

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:04 pm

The B6 should be very similar. Not sure how different the diesel lump is though Question

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:15 pm

ramble? We talking about the same Eric? Rolling Eyes

damn that redbull Laughing

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:06 pm

Cheers geoff, learn't a wee bit myself Wink

You say it seems to "pull" a touch better now Cool

Is that you or the car though? Laughing

I got some pics to load up here too Very Happy

@Gmo

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:45 pm

Geoff getting stuck in Cool

What next nog? Search me Geoff Shock

Dont break it Geoff Very Happy

Most of the work/time for this job is removing the bumper/trim and you did most of that geoff Wink

Before i first removed the front end on my old A4 1.9 TDI to do the cam belt i read the Haynes manual the night before on how to remove it and so i put it into practice the next day and it worked a treat Cool

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:42 pm

It's all about learning!!!! and I couldn't have done it without your help Wink

The car has always had a better chance of pulling than i'd ever have, mind you, those birds on the table in front of us that night wanted more from me Laughing

I had forgotten that you had taken those pics Laughing

caught red handed Laughing

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:42 pm

If anyone is contemplating this job it's a good idea to buy the Haynes manual for the Audi A4/Passat, it's the north American version so it covers only the 1.8T and 2.8 12v/30v engines; it is available on Ebay UK too. Smile

One thing I noticed is that you didn't release the cam sprockets from the camshafts so they can run free. This is where the cam locking tool serves it's purpose. The tool is inserted into the holes on the alignment plates in front of the sprockets while the bolts holding the sprockets on are loosened but not removed. A 2 or 3 legged puller is used to pull the sprockets from the tapered ends of the camshafts. The reason for having the sprockets freely rotate while the camshafts are locked in place is to ensure when the new belt is installed and the tensioner released, the tension is taken up in all the belt not just on one side which is the case when the cam sprockets cannot move. Once tension is reapplied the sprocket bolts are tightened to 55Nm.
The worst that can happen is that the cams will be no more than a tooth out of alignment with each other at the crank TDC mark if you don't do this. This is the case for all Audi "V" engines. Many garages don't do this either and just rely on the fact that the sprockets are in the right position and don't think that during starting the engine the slack in the belt will result in the cam sprockets being slightly out of alignment as the tension spreads throughout the belt. It's no big deal and doesn't harm the engine in anyway but just means the timing isn't going to be perfect.
But anyway, good work especially if it's your first go at a V6 timing belt especially on the A4! Very Happy

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:54 pm

Hear what your saying Fast and i think some of what your saying did come into play. When we first got the belt on and under tension again, it seemed that the sprockets weren't quite centred, but didn't look enough to be a tooth out, so we rotated the crank a few times by hand before starting the engine and immediately we noticed that is was running a little off. so we slackened off the tensioner and moved the sprocket one tooth round. When the crank was rotated and reset back to TDC they were back in line. it also runs as smooth, if not slightly smoother than before, so I am hoping that that would be a sure way to tell if the timing was out??

To be fair, using the cam locking device, would probably be advisable, but as you say, you will still probably be slightly out when back under tension.

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:13 am

Nice touch on the cambelt tensioning Fast, i will do this next time Cool

I was not relying on sprocket position when setting the TDC by the way Wink

On each of the alignment plates one of the holes is oval and both oval holes just need to face each other directly for it to be timed spot on Smile