Here We Go Again- Building Another Audi

[19birel]

Looking good painted, glad you are able to get things lined up so well.

Thanks man! Aligning the body panels was definitely a pain but I'm satisfied with the results. The headlights are like 90% right now, a few more tweaks and they should be good

[hinrichs]

Looking good painted, glad you are able to get things lined up so well.

[19birel]

So I got the car home a put some work into it this weekend. I was having some trouble with the passenger headlight; first off, I found out that I accidentally purchased an AFS headlight. The eBay ad never specified and seeing as it was literally the cheapest used xenon without major damage I just assumed it wasn't, my bad. Both my original ballasts from that side (xenon and drl) got pretty banged up so I ended up replacing the xenon ballast with one from a MK7 GTI (it was free) and luckily the LED ballast actually worked fine so I just sealed the crack in the housing so moisture doesn't get in.



Next thing was getting the light mounted, but I ran into an issue because this bracket was bent in the crash and it was pushing the bottom of the fender in too far as a result


I bent the brace back the best I could (it's a curved piece to it's hard to tell where it was originally) I also shimmed it and messed around with the brackets on the light as well getting it from 7mm to 3mm off of the measurement of the driver's side

(peep the tinted reflector [] )

It's not perfect, but it's about the same as the driver's side now so I will begin adjusting both of the lights to close up the gaps as there is a larger gap at the top of the light I forgot to picture.

I did a few other things that I forgot to photograph, small things like adding these rubber grommets to the radiator mounts




I also test fitted one of my wheels on the A7 parts car as I'll be swapping over the A7s 2-piston calipers and 356mm rotors as I hear it's a direct swap. They're so close to fitting, looks like I'll need a 5mm spacer though haha



I'll probably paint them, just don't know what color yet. (and yes I'll do something about the curb rash on the wheels lol)

And just for kicks I mocked up the front bumper

[Beemernut]

thank you for your input

[19birel]

So finally the post we've all been waiting for!! I got a call last night that the car was done being painted and that I should come check it out.






These pics were prior to any polishing, I think some light wet sanding had been done in certain areas though.

For a budget paint job I'm very pleased with the outcome. It's not perfect, and because he didn't blend in with the doors the match isn't 100% seamless, but given my tight budget constraints and the cost of the project I think It'll still be pretty nice. Plan is to pick it up Friday, and hopefully get it put back together this weekend!

[19birel]

So finally another update! The painting and body work has taken longer than expected but so far things are looking good and I'm told everything will be done this week. I went to see the car this past weekend to get the hood alignment finalized before it and the fenders get painted, as well as check out the body and paint work that had already been done.

Here is the painted bumper, he basically undid 90% of the body work I had performed prior to dropping it off and now there is no evidence of it having been previously damaged.




Some orange peel is visible, but this is prior to wet sanding and polishing so I'm chuffed with the result so far.


Here is the work done to the used fender I purchased, the edge was bent out slightly but that has been fixed!


Dent fixed on original driver's side fender

Now when we were aligning the hood it was sitting too low on the passenger side. The hood stops rest on the fender rail which was twisted up during the accident, it had previously been straightened out but it was still bent down a little bit. Here was the advanced frame machine we used to adjust it....floor jack with a metal bar [>_<]



It did the trick though and after some more finagling the gaps are pretty good!







Like I said the fenders and hood should be painted up this week, and then it will be a matter of reassembly and having a new windshield installed for it to get inspected!

[sarahkatezm254]

That's so sad when hearing this. Good luck with Audi building.

[19birel]

LOL at the 50$ sound insulation

There's big squares of the stuff inside the fenders, I can only imagine how much they charge for those haha

Looks like a rad build

Thanks man

[issa_m3]

Looks like a rad build

[Vadius]

I did not know that in Germany, too, they buy broken cars with USA

[Fruttolo]

LOL at the 50$ sound insulation

[19birel]

So I ordered another hood, this time brand new aftermarket, and it arrived damaged beyond repair. That issue took way too long to resolve. Then I ordered a new OEM hood from another company, and a day later my order was cancelled because they couldn't ship it safely (not sure why they listed it on the site if they can't actually sell you it lol). After a bunch more runaround, I finally gave up and called the dealership, spending more than double what I had budgeted on a hood, at least it's new and OEM and should arrive in perfect shape. Who knew hoods were so hard to buy.

On the bright side though some slight progress has still been made. Firstly, the bent fender frame rail was straightened out and seems to line up nicely (sorry I forget to take a pic when I saw the car last) and I also have nearly finished sanding and filling in the minor damage that was on the S-Line bumper I had picked up.





Just smoothing out the major imperfections to save my paint guy some time and myself some $$$, it's coming along well.

Also received a used headlight from eBay


lots of scratches on the lens but from a distance they're not noticeable and it was super cheap. In the spring I can just replace the lenses on both lights and that'll give me a chance to do a proper amber delete as well.

I also picked up a set of used S-Line fog lights from an Audizine member


Fast forward a week and the new hood from the dealership arrived and it was in perfect condition! Took it over to my body guy and helped him get it lined up with the replacement fender I purchased. We spent the entire day getting everything lined up, and when looking back on the experience I'm glad I purchased OEM body parts because knowing that the panels were straight made it easier to determine when the car itself needed some persuasion with a hammer haha.

Heres the fender rail that was straightened out


New OEM hoof lined up with used OEM fender. Fender is already painted monsoon grey but it will get resprayed as it has some deep scratches




Also, when i bought the hood the dealership claimed I needed to spend $50 on "sound insulation", this is what they gave me[>_<]

$50 piece of foam tape....yeah that's getting returned lol

Now we're completely caught up, so this week, the body guy will remove a dent from the driver's side fender and paint the underside of the hood. Then, I'll probably head back this weekend to help him refit the hood so he can paint the top of the hood, fenders, and bumper together! We're getting close[]

[19birel]

So bad for your E60

Good luck for the audi's rebuilding

Thanks!

Kinda forgot about this thread, still slightly behind but oh well.

Since the last update some more progress was made, got some goodies in the mail

New vacuum check valve (this was actually a little tricky to find but eBay came in clutch.)


New Nissens radiator


Replacement airbox (came with a new Mann air filter installed too!)


And a Forge DV spacer (this isn't actually a forge product, it's a clone I got on eBay for $13, pretty simple piece and seems to function well, more later)


Installed the DV spacer


Removed the mess that was the original intake and replaced with the new one.



As you can see the bent fender rail prevents it from being installed properly so that's why it's sitting awkward for now

Then i put the front end back together with the new radiator and core support


I took her for a quick spin around the block and couldn't stop smiling, the DV spacer sounds amazing, loud PSHH! PSHH! noises in-between shifts accompanied by a little flutter when getting off boost[>_<] $13 well spent IMO! The car itself drives perfectly fine and the engine pulls nicely. Felt good to drive it after staring at it in the garage for so long.

I also gave it a good clean inside and out.

Almost looks like a complete car there lol




The interior no longer smells like the previous owner's grot (although I still need to go back do some touchups) and the exterior stripped of the grime that it had accumulated at the insurance yard and in my garage.

Also mocked up the S-Line bumper just for kicks, seems to fit well on the drivers side


Next stop was the body shop! Dropped it off last night to have the mangled fender rail pulled. You'll notice the bent up hood I bought is on the car, I ended up getting a refund and was told to keep it due to shipping costs, i asked if he could fix it since the thing was basically free and predictably the answer was no haha, oh well.

[O2car]

So bad for your E60

Good luck for the audi's rebuilding

[19birel]

Damn dude, sucks to hear about the E60 but glad you are okay. Pumped to see you turn around the A4 tho.

Yeah losing the BMW really sucks, but it kept safe so for that I am very thankful; onwards and upwards now!

Time to continue the story! So the first thing I did was order a new bumper and grill, I saw this as the perfect chance to upgrade to the S-Line bumper and when I saw this one that included the gloss black S-Line grill, I jumped on it.

It needs a little work but it has to be painted anyways so it's no big deal, both the bumper and grill are genuine OEM Audi.


I also got the front end completely torn down with all the busted parts removed


Closer look at the fender rail that will need repaired (or replaced) by a shop.


I also had a go at cleaning up the Titanium Grey interior, the leather had a brown film of dirt on it so I cleaned a section to see how the rest of the interior would come out when I get around to detailing it. He's a 50/50 shot


Then I picked up some used hood hinges from AutoHaas, radiator and hood arrived but the radiator didn't fit (was the CSF brand one sold on RockAuto and ECS, they sent the right part but it is NOT plug an play as advertised) and the used ebay hood was bent like an origami when it arrived, it was too expensive to return ship it but thankfully they still sent me a full refund.

Bent hood





On the bright side I got a new N75 valve to replace my busted one and that went on with ease




Found this ballast among the bits of smashed headlight



I tested it on the driver side light and it still works, but makes a buzzing noise, so I'll likely replace it sooner or later.

My goal was to have the car as complete as possible before I took it to the shop to have the fender rail straightened to help them get it lined up more easily. Also I wanted the car to run and drive without any issue as well so it wouldn't be a pain loading & unloading from the trailer etc.

As always stay tuned for more updates!