Today I.....

[A2Steve]

Today I purchased this nice Dolphin grey 1.4SE with a poorly engine but on the plus side it has a working oss and leather interior so it'll be worth sourcing a motor for it and letting live another day

Stick a BCB in it.

 

[ICowie]

Stick a BCB in it.

What's all needed to be sourced for the swap?

 

[Alan_uk]

Today I just renewed my GreenFlag breakdown cover. Full cover (all options) £69.44. Now the renewal was £78.40 so I ignored that and went online and did a fresh application. So much for existing customers supposed to be charged no more than new customers.

At least they will renew a 19 year old car. Last year I was refused boiler breakdown insurance as my gas boiler is now over 15 years old. Of course, during that cold snap in December it broke down - kept cutting out, even after resets. Chap who does the servicing couldn't come for 2 days. A bit of investigation and it turned out to be the motorised valve. Screwfix had them in stock and I soon had heating again - phew!

I dread the A2 breaking down given the difficulties in getting many parts. My sons 9 year old Ford Focus broke down when he was on holiday in Scotland last summer. Couldn't be fixed and took 5 days to get a hire car so he was stuck in one place. The Ford was shipped back to Devon. Turns out it was a long standing fault and should have been subject to a recall. Despite the car's age, Ford agreed to replace the engine! I've never been attracted to Fords but this has raised their standing for me.

 

[A2Steve]

What's all needed to be sourced for the swap?

All here Iain

Converting a 1.4 petrol A2 to a 1.6 non FSI

Fist of all, a little disclaimer, @celsisone did the donkey work with this setup with trial and error in working out which parts do and don’t work. Having chatted with Brett about this conversion and having met him (great guy) and now done the conversion on my own car, I thought it would be...

www.a2oc.net

 

[George Hogg]

All here Iain

Converting a 1.4 petrol A2 to a 1.6 non FSI

Fist of all, a little disclaimer, @celsisone did the donkey work with this setup with trial and error in working out which parts do and don’t work. Having chatted with Brett about this conversion and having met him (great guy) and now done the conversion on my own car, I thought it would be...

www.a2oc.net

Get on with it man! MACMOTORSPORT in Dundee are very helpful too if yo need them

 

[George Hogg]

Today I sorted out a rattle on Frank. ( new CS yellow CS, 6 spd, billet turbo). I was surprised it was the heat shield as it really sounded like the exhaust! Lol

 

[GMH499]

I found this:

Alloyed delight: The Audi A2's time never really came | Hagerty UK

Can a car be ahead of its time if that time never came? We drive an Audi A2 to see what we're missing in today's small car market.

www.hagerty.co.uk

...after this popped up on my News Feed:

The Mercedes A-Class tried to run before it could walk | Hagerty UK

Best known for falling over and causing its maker a huge loss, the Mercedes A-class was a clever car, but far from perfect.

www.hagerty.co.uk

I drove the above near launch. I was new to cars and it was certainly better in feel than my Ka.

Many years later, I travelled in another and actually felt motion sickness. The pitching of the suspension felt bloody awful!

I use Hagerty to insure a 1935 Austin 7, and a couple of old British motorcycles. To have road use for these three , I need to have use of an everyday car. This is of course my 2001 A2.
If you don't have an everyday car, which was my position for 4 months before buying my A2 in 2019, you have to have classics laid up. They accept A2s as a regular car, but don't class them as classics, and wouldn't insure it separately.
I insure the A2 with NFU.
I've just got the renewal from Hagerty, and nothing has changed in their conditions. I will ask them though, when I phone and renew to see what their reaction is.

 

[George Hogg]

I use Hagerty to insure a 1935 Austin 7, and a couple of old British motorcycles. To have road use for these three , I need to have use of an everyday car. This is of course my 2001 A2.
If you don't have an everyday car, which was my position for 4 months before buying my A2 in 2019, you have to have classics laid up. They accept A2s as a regular car, but don't class them as classics, and wouldn't insure it separately.
I insure the A2 with NFU.
I've just got the renewal from Hagerty, and nothing has changed in their conditions. I will ask them though, when I phone and renew to see what their reaction is.

Hagerty accept them as a collectors car if you also have an everyday car. They have my fleet of A2s and LR 90 insured but won’t touch our Golf and A6…

 

[GMH499]

Hagerty accept them as a collectors car if you also have an everyday car. They have my fleet of A2s and LR 90 insured but won’t touch our Golf and A6…

Hello George.
Thanks for your reply. I haven't asked Hagerty for a couple of years as to whether an A2 is acceptable
to be insured in its own right as a classic/collectors car. Because I have older vehicles to tinker with, the A2 is my only modern car.
I wouldn't keep the A2 purely as a classic if it was acceptable, because I'd have to buy another more modern
car. This is not something I could justify or want. I'd only go and buy another elderly car or motorcycle!
I will ask Hagerty when I renew in February their current view on A2s; and possibly reconsider things.
Regards Keith.

 

[A2Steve]

….had one of the busiest A2 days to date.

Dropped the kids off at school and then headed back home to meet up with @Justin M for the collection of a bonnet, drivers door, sports front seats and a sports gearknob.

Lovely to finally meet you Justin and a pleasure chatting to you.

Fitted the sports seats for Justin and the sports gearknob.

SE spec seats then fitted to pine green until I Figure out how to mount some bucket seats along with an aero wiper arm.

Then @Chris Warren popped over from Bristol in his lovely papaya colour.storm TDI to pick up 6 alloys and a load of other bits and I took him for a quick drive in pine green. Always a pleasure Chris.

Then another set of sports seats were collected by a local A2 guy for his daughters car.

Then the current breaker was collected by the scrap man.

A new breaker in pine green was delivered from Birmingham and an engine on a pallet was collected for @George Hogg

In the intervals I also fitted a new cupholder, asr switch, wiper arm and doorcards to the black TDi. Swapped a couple of batteries over, cleaned out the garage and got the new breaker FSI running.

Phew, I’m tired just writing that all out. whoever said breaking was easy

 

[Justin M]

Hi @A2Steve. Made it home ok after the long drive. Great to meet you and see the workshop where all the magic happens, thank you for all the parts. The sport seats were great on the way back. very jealous of pine green, and wish I had hung around to see the papaya storm

 

[Sylvester]

Today I was about to change the front position headlight bulb, but then it suddenly works again

A question about clucth-wear, I've been trying to find out. When does the clutch actually wear? Is it when depressing fully and holding it in 1st gear, like many at traffic lights so they can drive of asap, or during release&holding when finding the biting point? Thanks

 

[Stan H]

Today I was about to change the front position headlight bulb, but then it suddenly works again

A question about clucth-wear, I've been trying to find out. When does the clutch actually wear? Is it when depressing fully and holding it in 1st gear, like many at traffic lights so they can drive of asap, or during release&holding when finding the biting point? Thanks

Just depends on what section of the clutch. If you keep your foot down on the pedal you are applying constant pressure to the finger springs on the century of the clutch pressure plate and on theory pushing the crankshaft against it's end float bearing.
If you are finding the biting point the the friction material on each side of the clutch plate is now slipping between the engine flywheel & clutch pressure plate allowing engine power to transfer through the gears to the wheels.
If you are on a slight incline you can feel this as the vehicle starts to roll backwards until the biting point is found and you can hold your vehicle. Depress the clutch pedal and you will roll backwards, lift the pedal slight and you will move forwards, hold it for long enough and you will get an acrid smell from the burning friction material which is worse than hot brakes IMHO.
Another poor habit is to you the clutch pedal as a footrest or ride the clutch.
In the end that's why vehicle have handbrakes so you don't sit on either the clutch or brake pedals when stopped.
Hope this helps.

 

[George Hogg]

Today I was about to change the front position headlight bulb, but then it suddenly works again

A question about clucth-wear, I've been trying to find out. When does the clutch actually wear? Is it when depressing fully and holding it in 1st gear, like many at traffic lights so they can drive of asap, or during release&holding when finding the biting point? Thanks

If you work on it wearing anytime it’s not fully engaged it’s a good rule of thumb

 

[Dave M]

Today, after a scan, I removed what appeared to be a faulty brake light switch. (No brake lights and glow plug warning light flashing).Checked fuse 30 and replaced both stop and tail light bulbs first as the switch is only 16 months old and a genuine Audi part. I pushed the plunger in and out quite a few times and fully extended its operating position. Refitted correctly, lightly pressing the brake pedal, and hey presto my brake lights work again. Probably a typical A2 glitch but has anyone actually taken one of these switches apart to see why they fail so often .

 

[Proghound]

Today, after a scan, I removed what appeared to be a faulty brake light switch. (No brake lights and glow plug warning light flashing).Checked fuse 30 and replaced both stop and tail light bulbs first as the switch is only 16 months old and a genuine Audi part. I pushed the plunger in and out quite a few times and fully extended its operating position. Refitted correctly, lightly pressing the brake pedal, and hey presto my brake lights work again. Probably a typical A2 glitch but has anyone actually taken one of these switches apart to see why they fail so often .

I've been inside a couple of failed ones Dave. The original one in my Crystal TDI had its contacts covered in carbon presumably due to arcing, leading to eventual failure to make the circuit. The contacts still looked pretty horrible after cleaning them up as best I could, so I just replaced it. The other one was on my ex-yellow Storm on the campsite at the last North Yorkshire social, it had what must have been a lack of contact at all when the brakes were pressed, maybe due to insufficient internal spring pressure. I tried various things with it but I still couldn't get it to work more than just the first time after I reset the plunger and put it back, hence having to borrow one from @spike's car to get me home.

 

[Sylvester]

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the great explanation Stan! My clutch kit had been changed few months ago, fingers cross they did a good job, so just I want to make sure it's gonna last as long as possible. Cheers!

 

[Sylvester]

Just when I'd finished changing the G62 coolant sensor, 4th time the charm hopefully, expecially when this one cost £50+, when I'd noticed, one of the fan belt pullies wooble a bit too much.
The belts had been changed 6 months ago, I assume this isn't normal? None of the pullies feel loose, no whining noise either, by touch all 4 sit tight. The nut on the shaking pulley looks rusty, I'm not sure if it'd been removed at all.
Shall I go back to the garage? Soon I gotta drive a lot, so I don't wanna risk it of course. Thanks a lot.

 

[Stan H]

Thanks for the great explanation Stan! My clutch kit had been changed few months ago, fingers cross they did a good job, so just I want to make sure it's gonna last as long as possible. Cheers!

Changed the clutch on my 52 plat A4 TDI at 70K, 6 years back now has 119K on it and no issues. As you can see lots of shortish runs as used most days.

 

[Ami]

Just when I'd finished changing the G62 coolant sensor, 4th time the charm hopefully, expecially when this one cost £50+, when I'd noticed, one of the fan belt pullies wooble a bit too much.
The belts had been changed 6 months ago, I assume this isn't normal? None of the pullies feel loose, no whining noise either, by touch all 4 sit tight. The nut on the shaking pulley looks rusty, I'm not sure if it'd been removed at all.
Shall I go back to the garage? Soon I gotta drive a lot, so I don't wanna risk it of course. Thanks a alot.View attachment 103732

@Sylvester I think your bottom pulley needs replacing unless not fitted correctly.