Hello everyone. New here with a £550 2002 1.4SE

syemon

Member
Hi all.
Well I picked this car up cheap to tinker with as I've always liked the look of them and the quirkiness of the design.
A future classic IMO and drives really nice, so nice that after my wife drove it she decided she wanted it as her runaround. She prefers the drive of the A2 to her Mini Cooper so that was that :)

It had a few faults but nothing that concerned me too much.
I've been lurking here and trawling for info and it has really helped me in some of the issues.

First was the hot start problem which was cured with a £10 temp sensor from ECP.

Next was changing the dog bone to tighten the engine and box on gear changes and on/off acceleration.

The fuel flap button was intermittent and also the central locking cycled when you put the ignition on.
Interior lights were not functioning on the drivers door and rear doors.
This was the drivers door microswitch which the nipple had worn down. I cut half of the switch locating lugs away so the switch moved closer to the cam and packed the underneath and hot glued it into position.
Dry solder joints were also present in the lock pcb which I sorted. I also had to solder the pcbs on both rear doors so that everything functioned correctly.
I have to say this was a ball-ache of a job and stripping the drivers door wasn't much fun.
I scanned with vcds and the door errors were gone. Also the engine had no errors.
The drivers door strap was also changed with one from a breakers for £15.
A rear winder was also bought for £10 as it had snapped. The window channels were lubricated and all function as they should as the drivers side used to go halfway and go down which was the anti-finger trap kicking in because of the drag of the dry seals.

So the basics of the car were sorted but there was still more to do.
One side of the glovebox hinge was moving around and it was a pain to close it.
The hinge pin on the centre side of the glovebox was missing so I cut some correct size metal bar and fitted it. A glovebox out job but no biggy.

Next to tackle was the usual worn soft touch buttons and switches which were pretty bad all over.
First was the surrounds of the heater, cup holders and their facias, drivers door switch surround and the headlight switch.
I used isopropyl alcohol to remove what was left of the soft touch and polished them up.
Next was what to do with the buttons. Various solutions were considered but a sharpie and needle were used to colour in the worn bits. Some of the switches I had to remove it all and start from scratch.
I don't have the steadiest hand in the world but they look ok from 50ft :) .
I had to do a few coats of the sharpie to build up the black but as people know here it can look shiny and a bit purple so I used about 5 or 6 coats of matt laquer bought from Halfords.
They don't look perfect but for under a tenner they are acceptable to me. I'm sure the artists among you could get a better result.


20170621_175921_zpspxwnlwoa.jpg


20170621_175828_zpsainlerto.jpg


20170621_175801_zpsxf1mzs2e.jpg


20170621_180005_zpsvsfhlk3o.jpg


I had the aircon regassed at kwikfit for £49 which resulted in ice cold air which was a godsend on the few recent days of hot weather we've had.

The most recent job was the handbrake button that had snapped it's lugs and made applying it a pain in the ass.
I thought I'd just go to the dealers for this but to my surprise it was no longer available..Bummer.

Trawling ebay didn't bring up much so I had another look and came up with a solution which should last and is removable.

So my button looked like this with the pitted worn silver cover removed.
20170627_161256_zpsxymbpcys.jpg


The handbrake level looked like this
20170627_161248_zps5d2n6igh.jpg



I drilled a small pilot hole on the end of the plastic receiver part. Not quite as central as I'd have liked but no problem.
20170627_161925_zpspz4znbjd.jpg



Next was to drill a hole in the end of the button and countersink it a little.
20170627_162343_zpsrgywqh2o.jpg



TBC
 
Next use a long thin screw (I used around 30ml to fix the button to the receiver



Refit the silver cover to the button. The tags were just long enough to hold it on but a smidge of bostick was used also.



Refit the handle sleeve and job done. Works perfect for pennies.



I tidied up the wheels a bit and also fitted rear parking sensors which were bought off ebay for £11.
Did it without removing the rear bumper, just to black trim at the top and fitted the box behind the access door to the manual fuel flap lever. I'll dust them over with some aerosol I'm getting mixed in the factory colour to blend them in.




Things still to do? not much. As usual I need a dipstick as the end has come off. There's just enough left to know when it's on max so not desperate.

It's been a long post but mainly because of the info already found on this site so thanks.
 
Last edited:
Great to see your making what looks like a great a2 even better. A real bargain. Fancy bringing it to Audis in the park show ? cheers for sharing with us. cheers mike
 
Sorted out the picture issues with admin.
Excuse the splitting of the posts.
 
Last edited:
The handbrake button looked really gnarly in the last pics so I decided to attack it with some wet and dry paper.
Now rather than a pitted and scratched chrome button I have a light silver one with a satin finish.

The pic doesn't really show it that well but you get the idea.

 
Next use a long thin screw (I used around 30ml to fix the button to the receiver



Refit the silver cover to the button. The tags were just long enough to hold it on but a smidge of bostick was used also.



Refit the handle sleeve and job done. Works perfect for pennies.



I tidied up the wheels a bit and also fitted rear parking sensors which were bought off ebay for £11.
Did it without removing the rear bumper, just to black trim at the top and fitted the box behind the access door to the manual fuel flap lever. I'll dust them over with some aerosol I'm getting mixed in the factory colour to blend them in.




Things still to do? not much. As usual I need a dipstick as the end has come off. There's just enough left to know when it's on max so not desperate.

It's been a long post but mainly because of the info already found on this site so thanks.

I supply 3D printed dip stick ends to repair your existing dipstick, printed in ABS they are two for £5 +80p for the P&P (you get two in case you mess up with the first one

I have had one on my TDI now for over 12 months and still in perfect condition
Drop me a PM if you want a pair Depronman
Cheers
 
Back
Top