Hello from sunny Ayrshire!

Proghound said:
From the to-do list, talk to Paul @depronman for the wiper arm. He refurbs them to better than OEM standard. Door checkstraps too. If you have a broken fuse cover (eBay one if not :)) then he also does a set of 3D-printed clips to replace the fragile spindly things that Audi designed it with.

Then for cruise control, komfortblinker and anything else electrical, talk to Tom @timmus. He's in Lancaster so not a million miles from you, with Paul only a bit further on.
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Much obliged. Have pinged Tom re: cruise, comfort blinker and valve cover. Door strap is indeed an issue as well. I'll get in touch with Paul.
Again, many thanks. I couldn't have asked for a more positive first experience as a new member. I feel a donation imminent!
 
A2Steve said:
Number 7 made me laugh and number 8 worried me.
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And you'd be right on both fronts, Steve! :)
Because the 1.4l A2 is... spoiler alert... not a fast car, the usual perils of using hubcentric spacers to widen the track (induced vibration, stress on control arm and hubs) should be less of an issue. And they should give the car a better visual stance. He said... like some sort of expert!
And the fan and rad shenanigans... well, it definitely isn't right. But it is all working so I'm not inclined to meddle just yet.
 
Crikeymikey said:
And you'd be right on both fronts, Steve! :)
Because the 1.4l A2 is... spoiler alert... not a fast car, the usual perils of using hubcentric spacers to widen the track (induced vibration, stress on control arm and hubs) should be less of an issue. And they should give the car a better visual stance. He said... like some sort of expert!
And the fan and rad shenanigans... well, it definitely isn't right. But it is all working so I'm not inclined to meddle just yet.
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And a welcome on board from another Ayr chappie?????????
 
Welcome . I'm not far away - South Lanarkshire - and regularly visit my parents in Ayrshire so will look out for you! Should have used Timmus on here for a spare key . Third of the price of what Audi charged ! As has been mentioned the site is a wealth of knowledge and a great source for parts .
 
Morning Mike,

I am Simon, not Steve, though Steve is now calling me Martyn! The joy of having two christian names. Battersea has 88,000 miles on board as well.
My list is a very lengthy one as well (buckets of dosh), but at least that way you are custom building your own car, and know what's what. I've yet to deal with brakes and suspension. Rear axle bushes are looming.

I'm worried about No. 7 in your list. Steve has an AUA breaker in at the moment and could well have a rad. For No.8

I didn't see a note of cambelt and water pump in your list of things done.

Check straps and wiper arms from Paul @depronman are great. Better than new.Tom @timmus is quite superb and a top bloke as well.

Best wishes,

Simon
 
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simon martyn said:
Morning Mike,

I am Simon, not Steve, though Steve is now calling me Martyn! The joy of having two christian names. Battersea has 88,000 miles on board as well.
My list is a very lengthy one as well (buckets of dosh), but at least that way you are custom building your own car, and know what's what. I've yet to deal with brakes and suspension. Rear axle bushes are looming.

I'm worried about No. 7 in your list. Steve has an AUA breaker in at the moment and could well have a rad. For No.8

I didn't see a note of cambelt and water pump in your list of things done.

Check straps and wiper arms from Paul @depronman are great. Better than new.Tom @timmus is quite superb and a top bloke as well.

Best wishes,

Simon
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Oh dear, sorry Martyn, I mean Simon, or was it Martyn?

I had a lot of pm's yesterday so you'll have to forgive me.
 
Crikeymikey said:
In case anyone is interested. And you'd be mad to be...

On top of a complete major service, brembo front discs and pads, and a refurbished steering rack, I also dealt with these niggles:

1) No spare key, so ordered one from Ayr Audi. £240 incl. coding. Dick Turpin is clearly the Dealer Principal there!
2) Fuel flap release solenoid had given up the ghost. Ebay used part. Very fiddly. You need a 3mm socket. £8.
3) Boot light not working. Removed light to discover it wasn't connected. Reconnected and now working fine. No cost.
4) Rear sear interior light not working. Buttons illuminated but no power to bulb. Ebay part. £15.
5) Chorus head unit volume control button missing! Had to buy a complete head unit for spares. £15.
6) No rear parcel shelf/cover. Ebay used part £20.
7) Drivers sun blind wouldn't stay up. Kept hitting me in the face on entry and exit. £25 used from... yup, Ebay again.
8) Alloy wheel centre caps all missing. OEM replacements bought. Transformed the look of the car. £130.
9) ASR switch grubby and horibble looking. Blanking panel below, missing. Both on ebay. £25. Old ASR kept as spare.
10) Drivers door central lock/unlock switch grubby. £20.
11) No floor mats whatsoever. Rubber ones bought. £25.
12) Wheel dust caps missing. £1. For all four!
13) Undertray had to be removed for steering rack job and was deemed to be scrap. Pattern one bought. £130.

Things still waiting to be done:

1) Valve cover leak. Plug holes 2 and 3 need mopping out every week. Big job as cover holds cams in place. Eek!
2) Fuse panel cover missing. Waiting to source.
3) Old style wiper arm, worn but someone has successfully bodged with a tie wrap to keep off windscreen. Need a proper solution.
4) Silencer box sounds like baffle has failed. Exhaust drones on motorway trips.
5) Cruise control for TT to go in A2 instead.
6) Spare "comfort blinker relay" to be fitted. Did the TT and it's a great mod. One tap, 3 flashes, like a modern car.
6) Blue tooth dongle to be fitted to the back of head unit.
7) Wheel spacers to be fitted to increase track and make A2 less "jiggly".
8) Rad does not appear to be correct and fan has been screwed DIRECTLY to the rad! Investigation required.
9) Front bumper lower to be bent back into shape ( looks like a kerb victim) and replacement undertray to be fitted.
10) All upholstry to be deep cleaned of previous owners smeg and mechanics oily paw prints.
11) Wheels to be refurbished.
12) Windscreen to be replaced due to wiper arm scratches. See (3).

Beggars belief, doesn't it? :cool:
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Hi. Regarding the rad and fan, I think I can see from your pictures that you do not have AC.
I too have an early A2 without AC and it also has the fan mounted directly through the rad. I thought it was bodged, but start to think this is original.
@A2Steve have you come across this before on any early non AC car?
 
Joga said:
Hi. Regarding the rad and fan, I think I can see from your pictures that you do not have AC.
I too have an early A2 without AC and it also has the fan mounted directly through the rad. I thought it was bodged, but start to think this is original.
@A2Steve have you come across this before on any early non AC car?
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Yes, that's normal. The a/c and non a/c cars have a different fan setup with the non a/c cars unit being much thinner.
 
Neilf said:
Welcome . I'm not far away - South Lanarkshire - and regularly visit my parents in Ayrshire so will look out for you! Should have used Timmus on here for a spare key . Third of the price of what Audi charged ! As has been mentioned the site is a wealth of knowledge and a great source for parts .
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We had just moved house and had a lot to deal with. I completely forgot about finding an A2 club and wanted a spare before either of us misplaced the one key that came with the car. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Lol!
 
Joga said:
Hi. Regarding the rad and fan, I think I can see from your pictures that you do not have AC.
I too have an early A2 without AC and it also has the fan mounted directly through the rad. I thought it was bodged, but start to think this is original.
@A2Steve have you come across this before on any early non AC car?
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Indeed it is without Aircon. From my research the cowling is the main distiction between aircon and non-aircon. The cowling for aircon cars has 2 holes for 2 fans. The cowling for cars without aircon has one hole in the centre, to which the fan support (a tri-arm plastic mounting) is supposed to fit. The fan then sits in the tri-arm mounting.
On my A2 the fan has actually been screwed DIRECTLY into the rad core, i.e. no supporting mounting OR cowl.
If you check out the attached screenshot it should be obvious that the fan itself is not supposed to be screwed into the core.
The missing cowl means the undertray cannot be fitted properly, which probably explains why my car's undertray was also the victim of some bodging and had to be discarded.
Aplogies for the "War and Peace" here. :)
Screenshot_2021-11-30-14-23-56.png
 
simon martyn said:
Morning Mike,

I am Simon, not Steve, though Steve is now calling me Martyn! The joy of having two christian names. Battersea has 88,000 miles on board as well.
My list is a very lengthy one as well (buckets of dosh), but at least that way you are custom building your own car, and know what's what. I've yet to deal with brakes and suspension. Rear axle bushes are looming.

I'm worried about No. 7 in your list. Steve has an AUA breaker in at the moment and could well have a rad. For No.8

I didn't see a note of cambelt and water pump in your list of things done.

Check straps and wiper arms from Paul @depronman are great. Better than new.Tom @timmus is quite superb and a top bloke as well.

Best wishes,

Simon
Click to expand...
Morning SIMON. Yes, cambelt, tensioner and waterpump done immediately. 14 years of TT ownership has given me a bit a headstart on some of the "quirks and features" of VAG products.
Sorry for the name confusion. :)
 
A2Steve said:
Number 7 made me laugh and number 8 worried me.
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Re': the fan fitting, I was repeating the observations of the chap that carried out the major service. Now that I've had a gander myself the fan appears to screwed to inserts in the core so perhaps not a bodge after all?. See photo. An early A2 mounting soluton perhaps? Also, the rad has it's inlet/outlet diagonally opposite each other whereas my research keeps showing all rads to have their inlet/outlet on the same side. Perhaps there is nothing sininster going on after all, and it's simply the earlier layout prior to an update?
Your thoughts, Steve?
 

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And it looks the same as in my car. Actually I dont have a cowl either, and a cowl would anyway not be involved in attaching the undertray. The undertray is in the front end secured to the bottom part of the slam panel.
Is that broken/missing perhaps?
 
Joga said:
And it looks the same as in my car. Actually I dont have a cowl either, and a cowl would anyway not be involved in attaching the undertray. The undertray is in the front end secured to the bottom part of the slam panel.
Is that broken/missing perhaps?
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Hi Joga. I only recently moved here and bought the A2 locally. I'm beginning to realise that the mechanic that did the initial servicing, after I bought it, did not appreciate what he was looking at, and that the fan mounting was infact normal (as A2Steve has just confirmed). There are inserts through the rad and the fan is secured to those. It seemed, to the mechanic, that the fan was screwed INTO the rad core. He must not have spotted the inserts, which can actually be clearly seen from the front of the rad. This bit of misinformaton has caused me quite a bit of stress! The A2 is the only practical car we have at the moment. My TT is heavily modified, great but it is strictly a 2 seater. Not good for trips to building material suppiers, or the local waste recycling centre.
 
Crikeymikey said:
Re': the fan fitting, I was repeating the observations of the chap that carried out the major service. Now that I've had a gander myself the fan appears to screwed to inserts in the core so perhaps not a bodge after all?. See photo. An early A2 mounting soluton perhaps? Also, the rad has it's inlet/outlet diagonally opposite each other whereas my research keeps showing all rads to have their inlet/outlet on the same side. Perhaps there is nothing sininster going on after all, and it's simply the earlier layout prior to an update?
Your thoughts, Steve?
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The plug leads were off so that I could swab out the small amount of oil leaking past the valve cover and into plug numbers 2 and 3. A bit of oil every 100-150 miles. I know it's a big job to sort, cams captive in valve cover and all that. Do you think it's worth getting fixed or should I keep cleaning up every now and then and wait for, say, the tappets to need replacing and kill 2 birds with one stone?
 
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