Project Hibiscus - (30v supercharged Ruby red cabriolet)

Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 10:14 am

She's getting there now for sure thumbright

How does front PDC work? I know rear works just in reverse gear, so does front work just in 1st? Or is it live all the time?

Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 10:24 am

The front sensors are activated when the brake pedal is pressed. Smile

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:04 pm

Well the cabriolet moved under power for the first time with the new engine and gearbox Very Happy

. Things I immediately noticed where that I could feel the power steering pulsing through the steering wheel, is this due to the power steering still having air in the system?

The fuel gauge is working intermitantly, I can't find a fault anywhere in the system, everything checks out Confused

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The exhaust sounds as though it is blowing somewhere, probably somewhere were I've done some work on the cat to downpipe connections Rolling Eyes

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Just need to get the bootlid resprayed and I'm almost there! Cool

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:30 pm

Bootlid has been reprayed and just needs to harden off before any polish goes on. Also decided to tint the rear light clusters Cool

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I took the third brake light off and found out only one of the six bulbs worked Rolling Eyes

, the bulbs are the terrible 2.3W versions of the instrument cluster bulbs so no wonder they were nearly all dead!

Driver's side mirror fitted. I ended up buying a RHD right base to go with the LHD left base, they now look symmetrical instead of the Porsche way of thinking and having one mirror angled differently Confused

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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:59 pm

Nice - could you get LED's to replace those bulbs? Might last longer.

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 5:42 pm

Stop teasing us with these part photo's Wink

Deffo LED's for the brake light thumbleft

UltraUser Joined: Jan 30, 2003 Posts: 1743

that boot lid has come up really well. Ill be picking your brains at some point r.e the mirrors. Did you buy a new 3rd brakelight reflector or polish up the original one?
Really looking forward to seeing this in the flesh again to see the transformation.
Cracking work and great inspiration
Gav

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 7:37 pm

Thanks Gav, I may have to edit my post on wiring the mirrors as the colour coding is the same on both sides not different as the wiring schematics I read indicated, they work okay in operation, I used some bullet connectors to connect them up and discarded the Audi and Porsche connectors.

At the moment I'm using the original 3rd brake light lens with the repaired crack, given it a good sanding and a few coats of clear to hide it. I've tinted it also but the main problem is that the copper contacts that hold the tiny bulbs are rubbish so I will probably get some 12v 5mm LEDs and solder them to the copper rails instead. Smile

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:40 pm

Just in case people wondered why I had to respray the boot lid, this is why...

The car had been in a minor accident which resulted in a fair bit of cosmetic damage. The end result is a bodge of touch-up paint and a super-glued 3rd brake light repair. The boot lid had been resprayed in the past but the gun must of had moisture in it as the entire lid had hundreds of tiny blisters that had rubbed off leaving lots of craters which went down to the primer layers Confused

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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:31 pm

Almost complete..

Lovin' the Ruby Red even at dusk... Razz

UltraUser Joined: Jan 30, 2003 Posts: 1743

looks awesome mate, such a huge transformation. My favourite colour too. Are you happy with the front bumper?

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:54 pm

To be honest this car was a borderline wright-off it should of been scrapped Rolling Eyes

. Fortunately some sucker saved it and spent a small fortune on it Laughing

I'll get some descent photos loaded up soon, still yet to go out and drive it!
To be honest the Rs2 Reiger bumper is a like for like copy in every way. I didn't end up using the supplied grille but bought some better quality honeycomb grille. Lots of work to get it to fit but it is indistinguishable from the original, I should know as I once had the original RS2 bumper Rolling Eyes

My nextdoor neighbour came over for a chat and said it was a good looking car which was cool Very Happy

I was toying with the idea of painting the chrome pieces satin silver as on the latest RS4 cabirolets.. another day maybe Wink

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:36 am

My god that looks nice, superb all round package, lovely colour, wheels look like hey were intended for the car and a rather nice lump hiding under the bonnet, hats off to you Si, a car to be proud of.

Cheers

Si. Wink

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:44 am

Awesome project!

Needs to get out more Joined: Dec 29, 2007 Posts: 105

Fab colour. I thought the rear would've sat a little lower than in the pick. might be down to camera angle though. The front sits real good. What size tyres you using on the 8 inch rim?

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:24 pm

The car is actually higher at the back, the H&R Cup suspension lowers the rear by 40mm and the front by 60mm, there must be a handling benefit to this setup Question

Tyres are 17-245/40 which give a near identical rolling radius to the original 15 - 205/60 on the 7" rims.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:24 pm

Quick update Smile

Took the car out around the block for quick fault finding test run. A few items were instantly obvious, this seems to happen every time I work on the brakes and it's when the brake disc dust guard on the back of the disc gets pressed against the disc, makes hell of a din so a quick check revealed it was the drivers side disc. Bent it away and off again.

The engine is misfiring and the idle revs are high around 1500 rpm and then they drop like a stone to 500 rpm (should be approx 750rpm). VAGCOM revealed only that there were multiple misfires and misfires on 4 out of 6 cylinders also present was a throttle valve malfunction. The wiring checked out ok and a VAGCOM throttle adaption seemed to run ok but still the fault persisted. The throttle has an electric stepper drive to open the throttle for idle instead of a separate idle stabilizer valve.

Went for a quick drive to get an idea of how bad the misfires were and the engine was real boggy and bucking under load whether the misfires are related to the throttle malfunction code or something else I'm not sure but a wiring check is in order I think. Another screeching sound also became apparent and at first I had bad thoughts of gearbox with no oil or clutch disintegrating but while checking a power steering leak I discovered one of the inner CV joints was rubbing against the CV guard. The CV bolt heads were just wiping around the inside of the guard. The reason being I used my guards from a quattro 'box instead of a fwd 'box. Moved the guards further away from the bolt heads and all was good.

I also hada coolant leak that turned out to be a small nick in one of the small coolant lines that supply the throttle body cooler.. how cool is that! Cool

the throttle body is water-cooled! Laughing

I guess the electronics can get cooked bolted to all that aluminium so close to the engine.

So I've got a new/used throttle body on the way to check the malfunction code is either related to the wiring or a unit gone bad, apparently it's one of the wear and tear failure items like MAFs and coil packs on the B5 A4s.

Also in the pipeline is a rear screen replacement, i've ordered a new screen from the U.S. and seeing if I can do it myself. The only tricky part is getting a good glue bond to weather-proof the window, several pair of hands might come in handy! Smile

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:56 pm

is the screen bonded???? i have access to a polysulphide sealant that we use in the aerospace industry, i'll get the specs of it tomorrow... it's gota be better than plain old silicone and is black in colour, you have to mix it and use it or freeze it at minus 50 once mixed for storage..... let me know if you would need any once i've posted the specs... here's what i got off a quick search

http://www.bergdahl.com/PR-1770.htm

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:03 am

Thanks for the offer Markyboy Smile

From what I understand reading the factory manual repair guide is that the rear screen is zipped into the hood fabric and also bonded. The glue can be re-activated by passing an electric current from a car battery through a metal strip that runs around the circumference of the window for 2 mins. The glue will soften and release the window. When a new window is zipped in, an electric current is passed once more through the strip and re-bonds the window. Audi have devised a jig to put equal pressure around the edge of the window to ensure the bond is water tight while the glue cools after being heated by the electric current. Evidently there is no need for any other glue but as I have no access to this jig an alternative bonding method could be on the cards although it must be removeable as the lifetime of these plastic windows is fairly short Confused

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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:26 pm

Took the cab out for an afternoon spin to the exotic location of a supermarket carpark for a photo update Razz

Please ignore the ropey standard exhaust! Embarassed

The engine really doesn't like 95 RON unleaded, much better on 98/99 RON, the heatsoak rapidly effects engine performance and the ECU starts to heavily retard the timing. When you can wind the engine up it's in a league of it's own Twisted Evil

Site Moderator Joined: Jan 31, 2003 Posts: 9144

Is the misfire fixed and if so what was the cause ? Throttle body ?

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:57 pm

I did cure the misfires, I fully disconnected the 2.8/12v Hitachi ECU I had still wired up in conjunction with the Motronic 2.8/30v ECU. The idea was to keep the Hitachi wired into the engine loom so it would just receive signals and not transmit except for interfacing with the a/c, ABS and fuel consumption computer. Somehow the signals were getting interference from having both ECUs connected on the same loom.

One thing puzzles me and that is why the ABS computer is connected to the engine ECU, I don't know what this signal is for? I will now connect the 30v's ECU to the ABS and A/C clutch control relay. I did connect the fuel consumption signal from the 30v Motronic ECU to the dash but don't get a reading except for 200.0mpg Confused

It's really trial and error but apart from the trip computer all the dials are fully functional with the 30v sensors and ECU.

Site Moderator Joined: Jan 31, 2003 Posts: 9144

Not sure if it's the same on the 30v engine N/A but on the S4, the ecu uses a combined brake signal for the MAF and ABS controller.

If the MAF fails, the ABS and EPC errors will show.

I've seen this several times on a friends car.

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:19 pm

Looks gorgeous Cool

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 7:17 am

lovely looking cab.. i remember seeing this one come up on eBay at the beginning of the year

can i ask where you got your suspension kit from and how much you paid? ive got a set of PI springs on mine which sits at much the same stance as yours (nose down) but i really need uprated dampers thanks to the good old british potholed roads, it really makes for quite an uncomfortable drive

cheers

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:27 am

H&R Cup kits for the cabriolet are £443, probably the cheapest commercially available, they can be bought from H&R UK direct but are £100+ dearer! I got mine from europerformance.co.uk.

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:22 pm

thats great, thanks!

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:12 pm

hey si did you get your aerial issue sorted in the end?