TDI90 front end rebuild.

putyourmittenson

Well-Known Member
A few weeks ago I purchased what I thought would be a very simple repair which I hoped would be on the roads by now. Boy was I wrong.

The car in question is an 04 TDI90 with almost all the trimmings and 75k on the clock. It was listed as a cat D so I had hoped to replace just a few panels and maybe the radiator.

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Much worse damage than I had thought.

After much swearing and being unsure whether to break it or not I decided the first and best thing to do was to remove the engine.
This move revealed a world of horrors which the weak stomached amongst you might want to scroll past

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As you can see there is cracking to the chassis and the front rails are not in the right position. Ouch.

This is when I made the decision to break. I started looking online at what prices I could get for things when I see A2steve has parts I would need to repair. Contacted him and I collected a full front panel and crash bar.


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Gently Using a blow lamp, some hydraulic rams and a chap who specialises in chassis repair we moved the front legs until they matched a set of datums taken from my tdi75. The front panel then bolted straight on.

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At this point I realised it could be repaired. I again contacted Steve and fallan as he had just listed a new breaker and was able to purchase everything from them to put the car back together.

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Now I'm waiting for an aluminum welder to come and weld up a crack I've taken the dash out and replaced it with a dash I got from Steve. I was able to cut the centre console out of the airbag damaged double din and put it into the undamaged single din dash.


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Thanks for uploading the photos Mike. Looks like you are doing a great job. Good to see my parts going to good use.

This is such a well specced TDI with that level of damage, had it got into other hands (myself included) it would have been broken for parts.

My hat goes off to you for having the balls to take this on and saving a very nice A2.
 
Hats off and a bow Sir. Great to see such passion and effort to see the repair realised and also to keep this nice looking example on the road.

Also, good to see the breaker cars play a key part and underpin a cost-effective restoration.
 
Yes without these cars being broken by members who haven't got overheads and eBay fees to cover it would be impossible to repair and maintain these cars satisfactorily and economically.


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Finished putting the dash back together this evening. Hadn't realised the passenger seatbelt had gone off as well so the interior isn't quite finished yet.
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Outside on the front of the car I've loosely attached the bonnet and bumper to check panel gaps and it all looks good.
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This car has the full winter pack which would mean headlight washers. But I can't find a bumper with these in so current solution is to blank off and go without which is a shame. So if anybody out there can help with this I would be very appreciative.


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Ive a Tdi i bought with very light damage, ive been running her around for the last 6 months bullet proff reliabilty and always starts on the button and just flew through the MOT , problem is my project TDI will be back on the road in a few months so ile have no need for her but its worth more in parts than it is to sell as its a damaged repaired, even though it was just plastics damaged and has all the goodies opensky, double din , leather, dis , bose which all add up to more than its worth id imagine....

Great Rescue there putyourmittenson , id of ran a mile with chassie damage but glad youv got someone to come sort it out , youl probally find yourself in the same shoes if you ever come to sell her
 
This car has the full winter pack which would mean headlight washers. But I can't find a bumper with these in so current solution is to blank off and go without which is a shame. So if anybody out there can help with this I would be very appreciative.


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Been after one with headlight washers for about 8 months i think there like gold dust , i did the same just disconected the pump wiring and blanked the water outlet pipe
 
Yes I know once complete it won't be worth as much as other undamaged cars but i like to think that it won't be for sale for a long while at least.

As for the bumper I've messaged just about every ebayer breaking an A2 and can't track one down. I suspect as soon as this non washer bumper is painted the correct one will turn up.
 
Guessing that the bumper with washers is different on the inside to a standard one? Otherwise, I'm just wondering if there is any mileage in using the washer jets from the broken bumper and using it as a template to make new holes in the standard bumper.
 
Hats off to you Mike, she's beautiful! I wouldn't worry about its for-sale value if/when you decided to sell it on,i suspect most members on here would give their right arm to own such a rare beast.

Did you see my PM? There's a freebie seatbelt for you here aswell as the bumper :confused::rolleyes:
 
Gently Using a blow lamp, some hydraulic rams and a chap who specialises in chassis repair we moved the front legs until they matched a set of datums taken from my tdi75. The front panel then bolted straight on.

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At this point I realised it could be repaired. I again contacted Steve and fallan as he had just listed a new breaker and was able to purchase everything from them to put the car back together.

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Now I'm waiting for an aluminum welder to come and weld up a crack I've taken the dash out and replaced it with a dash I got from Steve. I was able to cut the centre console out of the airbag damaged double din and put it into the undamaged single din dash.


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That's exactly what I did. I had the same case of fitting the double din center in a single din dash.
 
Had an exciting Saturday night in the garage and have got the engine back in and almost all ready.
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Had the most frustrating time with the aircon pipes that go into the bulkhead. If I were to ever do this again I would put those in before the engine goes back in.

Whilst the engine was out I had planned on doing the cambelt but on inspection first I found a sticker indicating it was done a few k ago and second the cambelt looked to be brand new. So have left it for now. Doing the DMF was something else that had occurred to me, but having not driven the car yet (apart from off the trailer and straight into the garage) I would like to drive it and see if it the engine is good before spending ££ on a car which could be rubbish. And anyway, it could be nice reason to do a 6speed conversion in the future.



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Guessing that the bumper with washers is different on the inside to a standard one? Otherwise, I'm just wondering if there is any mileage in using the washer jets from the broken bumper and using it as a template to make new holes in the standard bumper.

I have considered this. I think it might be possible given the correct tools, patience and skill. I don't think I could do it without them looking a little little homemade.


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I'm hoping tomorrow to be in a situation where I can put a battery in and turn the key. Only thing that concerns me is the airbag. Would I be wrong thinking there is a "crash" sensor somewhere that needs manually or electronically resetting?
It may sound mad but I definitely don't want to put the battery on and set the airbags off because I haven't reset a sensor

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So yesterday I finished bolting everything back in place and put the battery back on. First turn of the starter and the engine fired right into life.

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It sounds good. Only issue I had was a split intercooler. But have overcome that by managing to pick up another this morning. Once I had bled the clutch I could back it of the workshop and finally be able to wash it and see what the car was like under the dust and mud.

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The car looks pretty smart so now.
The body panels have been taken to get painted and I can now start focusing on clearing all of the fault codes. Of which there are many.



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Very pleased the engine fired for you and well done again for saving a cherry red 90... not many of them around !. :)
 
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