Jay's 1.4SE aka second chance

[Jayw13702]

Pulled the car out of the garage today and noticed it was marking its territory!!

One of the wheel cylinders is leaking, the brakes are on the list of jobs to do as they are binding as well. I’ll just completely overhaul them when I get to that point.
In the meantime still on with the interior, the very rear of the car is going back in and the front still being stripped, I have to do it this was as I don’t have a lot of storage space and it’s amazing how much space an interior takes up

Finally figured out how to get the centre console out, removal of the handbrake is required, that centre console is gopping

The rear carpet is coming out to be cleaned, there appears to have been a bit of water on the car at some point as there was a fair bit of silt under the carpet!!

Drivers seat is now out and ready for cleaning as well

It’s so dirty and stained I have a feeling I’ll have to do this one at least twice

This is after the first clean up

Looks better but some of the staining is still there, wait for it to dry and see how bad it really is.

The gear-lever boot and knob have been cleaned and leather treated as has the handbrake lever end. The clocks were removed and given a good clean on the bench and the whole dash given a cursory clean, soon I’ll go at it properly but that will be one of the last things to be done on the interior


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[dj_efk]

What are you using on the upholstery? I always think a rug doctor with the attachment for jobs like this is best. I assume that’s what you have (or similar like a Bissell etc.)

When we moved out of our apartment in Singapore we pulled the landlords manky old furniture out of storage and went over all soft furnishings twice with a rug doctor. The muck that was pulled out of the dining chairs alone was frankly revolting. I can only imagine those seats would do the same!

 

[johnyfartbox]

Was this car pull out of a pond?

 

[Jayw13702]

What are you using on the upholstery? I always think a rug doctor with the attachment for jobs like this is best. I assume that’s what you have (or similar like a Bissell etc.)

When we moved out of our apartment in Singapore we pulled the landlords manky old furniture out of storage and went over all soft furnishings twice with a rug doctor. The muck that was pulled out of the dining chairs alone was frankly revolting. I can only imagine those seats would do the same!

I’m using bilt hamber surfex hd detergent, a brush attachment that goes on my battery drill and a vax to pick up the liquid.

The drainage bucket on the vax is pretty grim at the moment, hopefully when I do the second clean on the drivers seat the waste water will look a lot cleaner.


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[Jayw13702]

Was this car pull out of a pond?

No, a farm. Just as bad really


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[Jayw13702]

With the weather being as cold as it’s been washing the interior has been a slow process.
Started putting a lot of the trim back in, started with the rear

The back seats still need cleaning and the rear carpet is still awaiting its second clean but is all fits together nicely.

Moved into the front, carpets, door threshold trim, glovebox and lower dash trim on the drivers side went back in

Still a lot to go, the centre console still needs to go in, that will be tomorrow now, the drivers seat needs to go in , currently the passenger seat is in the drivers side just to allow me to keep the car mobile.

Hopefully by tomorrow the interior will all be back together but there’s still cleaning to be done.

Finally does anyone know where this fits?

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[Proghound]

Looking good ? Twist is difficult but very rewarding to get/keep clean.

Finally does anyone know where this fits?

That's off a tap wrench isn't it?

 

[audifan]

That is exactly what it looks like to me. Guess the farmer carried anything and everything in the interior. BTW starting to look really nice. Concentrate on finishing off all the interior then you can go back at a later date to the more stubborn marks and stains because you will have a greater contrast with clean and not yet. The bottom part of the door cards especially on light coloured trim is always hard to get to presentable level but at least it is a much smaller area to work on.??

 

[audifan]

Part shown on the bottom.

 

[TheWelshWonder]

Thanks for the heads up about the check strap, I’ll be putting an order in for one of those soon.

Back in the interior clean up today, passenger seat, part of the centre console, glove box, passenger side carpet and boot carpet now cleaned and ready to go back in, the only issue is that fabrics take so much longer to dry in this weather

Some before and afters

The glovebox lid has that soft touch finish on it that was pretty badly scratched. Audi, like many other manufacturers of that time favoured this horrible texture and 20 years down the line it really lets the finish of the car down.
So some mentholated spirits and a roll of blue paper later....

It looks better and feels better as well, now all I have to do is the centre console and the glovebox surround.

Next job is to put the interior back together


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this is looking great, and thanks for posting the progress, really interesting. I have the same interior and had my car for two weeks now. I need to do a deep clean so interested in what cleaning products you’ve used and whether you’d recommend them?

you’ve also solved a question I had. I need to replace the ASR button and panel on my car, and didn’t know if it should be cream or black. Looks like they’re all black from the look of it. So if anyone knows where I can get the replacement button and panel, please shout ?

 

[StefanoP]

With the weather being as cold as it’s been washing the interior has been a slow process.
Started putting a lot of the trim back in, started with the rear

The back seats still need cleaning and the rear carpet is still awaiting its second clean but is all fits together nicely.


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Hello,

your is really a labor of love, congratulations! (and curses to anyone who soiled that A2 that way....)

My wife and I own 2 Piniengruen A2s similar to yours, one 1.4 and one FSI, both pearlescent green with beige interior and it's an amazing color, it really changes from dark green to dark brown according to the sunshine or lack of it.

We both love that special colour. I didn't have too much trouble having some panels retouched and one bumper resprayed, the matching was good because it seems that this special pearlescent paint does not change much with age. Your A2 will be a very nice car when it's all cleaned up so thoroughly. Cheers!

Stefano

 

[Jayw13702]

Hello,

your is really a labor of love, congratulations! (and curses to anyone who soiled that A2 that way....)

My wife and I own 2 Piniengruen A2s similar to yours, one 1.4 and one FSI, both pearlescent green with beige interior and it's an amazing color, it really changes from dark green to dark brown according to the sunshine or lack of it.

View attachment 74036

View attachment 74037
We both love that special colour. I didn't have too much trouble having some panels retouched and one bumper resprayed, the matching was good because it seems that this special pearlescent paint does not change much with age. Your A2 will be a very nice car when it's all cleaned up so thoroughly. Cheers!

Stefano

That’s a lovely shine you have on your A2, what products are you using?


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[johnyfartbox]

this is looking great, and thanks for posting the progress, really interesting. I have the same interior and had my car for two weeks now. I need to do a deep clean so interested in what cleaning products you’ve used and whether you’d recommend them?

you’ve also solved a question I had. I need to replace the ASR button and panel on my car, and didn’t know if it should be cream or black. Looks like they’re all black from the look of it. So if anyone knows where I can get the replacement button and panel, please shout ?

The problem you might come across is that the button and panel are obviously part of the whole centre console so if someone has one it will render the console missing the button and panel. So unless there's someone after just the centre console but they have the button and panel you are going to struggle. Been there done that.

 

[Jayw13702]

this is looking great, and thanks for posting the progress, really interesting. I have the same interior and had my car for two weeks now. I need to do a deep clean so interested in what cleaning products you’ve used and whether you’d recommend them?

you’ve also solved a question I had. I need to replace the ASR button and panel on my car, and didn’t know if it should be cream or black. Looks like they’re all black from the look of it. So if anyone knows where I can get the replacement button and panel, please shout

Thanks, it’s been enjoyable seeing it all come back together.

I’ve used Bilt Hamber Surfex HD diluted 10:1 then a drill brush to agitate the dirt.
I bought a secondhand Vax to clean up the liquid and then went over it a final time with no nonsense carpet cleaner from screw fix, it has a nice smell about it

Bilt hamber can be used on fabric, carpet and hard surfaces as well, it is fantastic, I can recommend it enough


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[TheWelshWonder]

The problem you might come across is that the button and panel are obviously part of the whole centre console so if someone has one it will render the console missing the button and panel. So unless there's someone after just the centre console but they have the button and panel you are going to struggle. Been there done that.

Just sorted out the buttons and panel, thanks to @A2Steve


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[TheWelshWonder]

Thanks, it’s been enjoyable seeing it all come back together.

I’ve used Bilt Hamber Surfex HD diluted 10:1 then a drill brush to agitate the dirt.
I bought a secondhand Vax to clean up the liquid and then went over it a final time with no nonsense carpet cleaner from screw fix, it has a nice smell about it

Bilt hamber can be used on fabric, carpet and hard surfaces as well, it is fantastic, I can recommend it enough


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I love that you bought a Vax for the job... I was planning to use our household one, but now thinking of a car specific one. Especially as I don’t know where that car has been

Thanks on the recommendation, definitely going to look into it


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[StefanoP]

That’s a lovely shine you have on your A2, what products are you using?


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Hello,

thank you, the latest waxing was done applying some Meguiars Ceramic Wax, an excellent finishing wax, but I must add that the FSI had been polished at the bodyshop not later than 4 months ago and used little since then.

Stefano

 

[carbore]

Really good project this one, same colur inside and out as mine as give me something to aim for! Mine didn't start off half as grubby as SnotBox though and im still working through the mechanicals.

 

[Jayw13702]

Thanks for all the kind words. I enjoy little projects like this and seeing it looking cleaner is a big boost.

Whilst I wait for the weekend so I can put the interior back together I’ve decided to do a bit of bodywork, 2 items that were easy to grab were the wiper arm, flaking paint and faded, and bonnet, stonechipped, keyed and badly touched up and generally poor paint work due to it not being looked after.

So I started with the touched up areas, 1000 grit took care of the high spots of paint, once I had backed the excess paint off I then wet flatted the remainder of the bonnet with 1500 grit and then 2000 grit.

Before I started I used a paint thickness gauge to get a feeling how much material I was playing with, you can see the bad touching up in the pictures

The touched up area flatted back

Half the bonnet done

This was done a few days ago, the grille is stripped off the bonnet and it’s flatted back entirely.
Next step will be to start polishing the bonnet in order to bring the shine back, but without the orange peel and scratch marks.

The wiper arm has been painted as well, sanded back, a coat of etch primer, then some filler primer and a couple of coats of satin matt black, I’ll post up the finished article, all I have to do now is get the wipers working, when I start the mechanicals this is one of the first jobs I want to get sorted. It isn’t the earth as I’ve tried the jump lead test and that hasn’t fixed it.

More pics to follow over the weekend


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[Jayw13702]

Well that was an educational experience......
Bonnet is as good as im going to get without having the bonnet repainted. the biggest issue I had was I started with sandpaper that was too course so getting rid of all of the sanding marks was difficult.

The scratch mark across the bonnet is still visible, however im not trying to create a show car, just something that's really tidy and useable
I used a rotary polisher with scholl S20 compound, it is my go to compound for corrections. Because I had created issues with the sanding marks I had to go heavy and use a wool pad and a heavy cutting foam pad, I had also forgotten just how hard Audi paint is, it took a few passes to get it looking good. I finished off with Auto Finesse Glaze just to give it some protection before I deal with all the bodywork

the other part to go back on the car is the wiper arm
Before

After

This weekend im back on the interior, the seats, centre console and carpets will all be fitted given a good finishing clean.