Project Annie - Making an A2 Sicily Proof

Nice work Thomas! Were all the critical bits present and undamaged when you unpacked it?

Brackets, covers and actual floor in good condition. The side trims were bent from being packaged, but once in place, they fitted nicely. I ordered the Audi nuts and bolts from @CreweAudi. Some of the clips were broken, but I swapped them with the good ones from my old trims.

Forgot to mention in the previous post that once all the trim was removed, I could see that someone had been there before. Duct tape all over the place, not sure why though.

Also, I actual made money doing this work yesterday, as I found a two pence and a one pence coin under the trim :)
 
Brackets, covers and actual floor in good condition. The side trims were bent from being packaged, but once in place, they fitted nicely. I ordered the Audi nuts and bolts from @CreweAudi. Some of the clips were broken, but I swapped them with the good ones from my old trims.

Forgot to mention in the previous post that once all the trim was removed, I could see that someone had been there before. Duct tape all over the place, not sure why though.

Also, I actual made money doing this work yesterday, as I found a two pence and a one pence coin under the trim :)
Well it looks cracking from the pics so I’m pleased it worked out to be a good deal for you (I was worried the parts would be missing or unusable as I bought them from a now-banned member with a rep for economy when it comes to honesty with items he sells! Glad that this didn’t turn out to be the case here).
 
Another day, another item off the list. Little Annie got her new shoes today and will not - at least for a while I hope - have to be going to a tyre centre anytime soon. First impression of the tyres is good, less noise than the Conti Winter Tyres, too soon to tell whether fuel consumption will be affected. Will keep you updated. For the time being, a photo of one of the new sneakers :)

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I’m sure you’ll be pleased. The only drawback to those tyres, other than the price, is that you’ll find it hard to resist picking stones out of the tread with you key - their tread design does seem to pick up gravel..
 
Project Annie



As the proud owner of a 2004 1.4 TDI (ATL), I have decided to start my own Project Post to keep you guys updated on the progress I am making. First of all, I am quite a technical noob, so don’t expect any crazy modifications. Also, I like to keep the car in its original condition, as much as possible, so I am not looking to retrofit any options apart from the heated mirrors and the false boot cover.



First of all, the good and the bad things about the car:

Good:

  • given its age, I believe the car is in good condition. The bodywork is ok, with a number of scratches, only eyesore being the rear bumper which seems to have suffered under the previous owners
  • I have fitted a new climate control unit and light switch (both were quite worn – tried the stickers, but in my vanity I wasn’t happy with the result so went all in with the new units). The other switches have some marks, but I can live with them.
  • Mechanically, I believe the car to be OK, haven’t had any major issues so far in the three years that I have owned the car (and covered about 25,000 miles). MOT revealed no advisories back in December
  • I have fitted four steels wheels, as two of the original alloys had been damaged and been repaired by a charlatan. Bought a set of Continental Summer and Winter tyres, but looking to put Michelin Cross Climates on. Two reasons for that: swapping the tyres is quite costly, since I don’t have a set of dedicated wheels for the other tyres, and since the car will be moving to the mountainous Sicilian inland – where winter tyres are required from November to March – it just saves us the hassle. The steels wheels have retro Audi 80 covers, which look nice on the A2 in my opinion.
  • Fitted brand new LHD headlights which look incredible.


Bad:

  • Loose and very dirty headlining, as well as this greasy layer of grime in the car. One of the previous owners was a smoker, unfortunately.
  • Lumbar support not working for the driver’s seat
  • Climate control occasionally going into tropical mode – motor gets stuck.
  • DIS reset button not working.
  • OSS not working properly – when retracting one side lags behind and gets all distorted
  • Annoying leak from the OSS between C and D pillar – tried cleaning all the drain channels, but water is still coming in, so currently the roof is all taped up with duct tape.
  • Car will need new suspension at some point. Rubber has gone on both rear shocks, and I might as well do the font as well, as I fear that there is a small leak in one of them.
  • Noisy starter engine – although car has always started without any problems
  • Third gear can be difficult to shift into – have been looking at doing the 6 gear conversion, but still not sure whether it’s worth it
  • Boot struts are nearing the end of their lives. Takes quite a bit of effort to open the boot, and the boot slams down like crazy when left to gravity.
  • Passenger door strap on its way out, so will need to be sorted at some point as well.


I will add some more pictures later today.
Sounds like you're making good progress here. I'd be interested to hear what joys you expect to encounter with the Italian bureaucracy importing a car of this age. The reason is that I'm in the middle of sorting out my residency in Italy, a process I started at the end of last year when we still had the luxury of European citizenship. As and when that's complete and I have my permesso di soggiorno and the newly minted carta di soggiorno, I'll be wanting to import a 2013 Mini, and 2020 Triumph motorcycle and possibly a 2004 TDi 90. And maybe even a 1979 TR7 V8 (completely non-standard). I've read all the standard guides, got some Certificates of Conformity to EU regulations, but there is enough vagueness in those guides to make the process unclear, and that's before you get to the local interpretation of the rules. Maybe it's a topic less for the general forum, but more for some PMs. Anyway, keep us posted with your continuing progress.
Regards,
Mike
 
Sounds like you're making good progress here. I'd be interested to hear what joys you expect to encounter with the Italian bureaucracy importing a car of this age. The reason is that I'm in the middle of sorting out my residency in Italy, a process I started at the end of last year when we still had the luxury of European citizenship. As and when that's complete and I have my permesso di soggiorno and the newly minted carta di soggiorno, I'll be wanting to import a 2013 Mini, and 2020 Triumph motorcycle and possibly a 2004 TDi 90. And maybe even a 1979 TR7 V8 (completely non-standard). I've read all the standard guides, got some Certificates of Conformity to EU regulations, but there is enough vagueness in those guides to make the process unclear, and that's before you get to the local interpretation of the rules. Maybe it's a topic less for the general forum, but more for some PMs. Anyway, keep us posted with your continuing progress.
Regards,
Mike
Hi Mike,

It's nice to hear that I am not the only one in this situation. Fortunately, both my wife and I have a EU passport being Belgian. That should at least make some of the formalities a bit easier.

In terms of the car, if the sorting out of our gas and electricity bills is a yardstick, it's not looking good. It took us over a year just to get both bills in our name. Mind you, we had to do it from a distance, but still. In the worst-case scenario, I will ask either my father or my in-laws if the car can be stored in Belgium. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it's a plan B I have been contemplating.

I will keep updating the project thread, but by all means you can also contact me with a PM if you have any questions. Both my wife and I have already spent parts of lives in Italy, so we are becoming more and more expert on certain matters.

Best wishes

Thomas
 
The issue with the door check strap on the front passenger door has been fixed. I replaced the old worn and broken one with @depronman rebuilt one and what can I say... The strap is working as if the car just left the factory back in 2004. Highly recommended repair and very easy. Noticed that someone had been there before and two of the three torx screws holding the door trim were missing. So I will be on the look out for those.
 
The issue with the door check strap on the front passenger door has been fixed. I replaced the old worn and broken one with @depronman rebuilt one and what can I say... The strap is working as if the car just left the factory back in 2004. Highly recommended repair and very easy. Noticed that someone had been there before and two of the three torx screws holding the door trim were missing. So I will be on the look out for those.
I'm sure I've got loads of those in my fastenings stash. You'd be welcome to some when you come to mine next month.
 
Today, I installed a new strap for my fuel cap - went for a cheap one from eBay, made in China. Only £5.00 so we will see how it goes.

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As I took this picture I also noticed that the rubber surrounding the fuel filler is starting to show its age. I tried to clean it, but a chunk came off revealing a hole in the bottom. I panicked and starting looking for the part numbers... I actually thought a screw of some sort was missing. Then, after checked the part numbers and looking at the schematic images of the fuel tank and all its relevant bits, I realised that I probably unclogged what I believe to the drain of the collecting tray... The rubber seal is pretty worn though :(

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Here comes my write-up about my visit to Leighton Buzzard @Proghound 's last Tuesday.

I had agreed with @timmus to do the following work on my A2:
- speedometer dial conversation to km/h
- colour DIS upgrade, as my full DIS was on it's way out (I lost the top quarter of the pixel just by driving from Canterbury to Leighton Buzzard, and as you all know, it's only going to get worse...)
- Cruise control retrofit
- Bluetooth module built in for music streaming through my Concert Headunit
- Twin rear foglight, so car is suited for both RHD and LHD

I arrived 5 minutes late and was greeted by Ian who seemed very happy with the Continental Summer tyres I brought for him. Tom was finishing his lunch and came outside after a few minutes. Within a few minutes we had already spoken in Dutch and German as well :)

So, Ian and Tom sorted out the tarp to cover the car, as it was quite hot that day. I initially planned and making the most of my time and visit the lovely Leighton Buzzard, but after Tom started his magic on the car, I decided to stick around. Watching Tom work the electricals on my car was so fascinating. He doesn't mind you asking questions, he explains everything he is doing while he is doing it. He had everything prepared into the tiniest of details. It's very similar to a good dentist who explains what they're doing as they're doing it.

Tom did all of the above work to a standard which you don't find that easily anymore. I am convinced that all the work he did will easily last the lifetime of the car (and mind you, I am going to keep this car going for as long as I can). He got rid of the engine warning light, courtesy of a firmware issue (if I am not mistaken) by updating the latter.

Not only did he do all the work above, but because we were discussing a few other minor issues, he was also more than happy to help me out with those as well. He added a USB port which is only live with the ignition switched on - which in hindsight turned out to be a nice addition as I broke my 12v socket yesterday when installing a new hand brake tray. He fixed the mother of all electrical issues, the rear reading light. He also sorted out a small issue with the door (which was of my own creation as I changed the door check strap). Ian gave me two extra screws for the door panel, which were lost during previous ownership.

Before I was allowed to drive off, Tom gave me a tutorial for both Colour DIS and Cruise Control. On my way back, traffic was good to put Cruise Control to the test. Very intuitive (much more so than on my Volvo XC70) and it makes longer journeys so much more pleasant. I was streaming music as well, makes the most of the audio system in the car. I have never experienced Bose one, but from my experience in other cars, the standard Blaupunkt ones are some of the best I had in a car.

All in all, this is the best afternoon I have spent in a while. It was nice to get out again after three lockdowns. Meeting Ian and Tom was like seeing friends again. It was nice to share our mutual passion for the A2, Ian even taught me few things I didn't know, which made me love the car even more. All I can do to conclude is to recommend the work Tom does and to thank Ian for his hospitality so that A2 owners down in the Southeast can access Tom's services much more easily.

I am also happy for the fact that I offered two novelties: a) the LHD cluster conversion with colour DIS, a first for Tom and in all likelihood a world's first, and b) an apparent software issue with the reset button on the right stalk, which Tom had never seen. Not sure whether he has found the cause yet.
 

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