My A2 'blog'...

Was MOT time a few weeks ago... I had an advisory on the rear dampers being corroded... fairly convinced they are the original ones too!...

The aren't leaking but rather than take a chance I thought I would replace them with the rear dampers of a lowering kit I had kicking about... I was planning to fit the full kit at some point but I have been putting it off as I just really wasn't sure if I wanted my daily to be potentially ruined but stiffer suspension... I already have my S3 for that kinda thing and want to really keep the A2 mods to a minimum..

So.... first off I needed to remove the inner arch... this was simply a few screws and a couple of plastic poprivity things that you just need to carefully push the centre in until it kinda clicks... it can then be pulled out easily...
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The bump stop was a bit of a mess but I had some spare ones with the lowering kit...

Undid the damper lower bolt...
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...and then the two bolts of the top mount... these felt a little nasty so chased the threads with a tap...
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...and fitted the replacement dampers...
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These proved a little interesting to fit with the std springs as they were shorter (being part of a lowering kit)...

Another issue I was having is a nasty 'buzzing' type of vibration at certain RPM's... I was pretty convinced it was the tunnel heat shielding as most of the fixings had corroded off so I removed it for now... heat really isn't a massive issue short term as the car spends most of its time on the motorway...
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At some point in the new year I will revisit this and come up with a new fixing solution to be able to refit the heat shielding...

Unfortunately this was the main source of the noise which I now believe to be the heat shield between the block and the turbo... so when I next do an oil change I will attempt to address that...

<tuffty/>
 
Anyhoo... the car passed the MOT with flying colours but the ride is awful...! I was expecting it to be a bit stiffer but the ride is ruined... I am fully aware why... spring/damper mismatch won't be helping and the fronts are still std dampers (all 199k miles of them) and knew that the ride may not be perfect but if this is any indication what this kit will be like then it won't be going on at all... so I bought some Meyle std replacements... I had also developed a knocking from the nearside rear... I had replaced the top mounts with new ones from GSF but maybe I didn't tighten the damper nut enough...

The three dampers for comparison... you can see how much shorter the lowering kit damper is...
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Std ones now on...
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I cleaned up the original top mounts and reused those just in case and can now report that the knocking has gone and the ride is back to being 'wobbly' again :)

Phew!... should see the old girl through the next 100k miles (hopefully)... love this car....

And of course to finish off a couple of recent images... this time the moon (again lol)... not just any moon though, Decembers full moon was a super moon..

The weather was looking a little iffy for the night of the full moon so I thought I'd best just grab a couple of shots on the Thursday when the skies were clear...
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On the Sunday night the weather was showing clear skies but there was a mist and sporadic clouds which made getting a clear shot very difficult but I sat out in the back garden waiting on the off chance it would clear... it was then I took what would have been one of my most epic moon shots to date!!
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Purely by chance I caught an aircraft starting to cross in front of the moon... if only I had taken that shot a few seconds later!..

Thankfully the mist dissipated and the clouds started to clear and I got as clean a supermoon shot as I could hope for
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<tuffty/>
 
I. Am. In. Awe. Of. This. Thread.

Having just found it and read through it end to end I now want to go get my hands dirty, by moonlight!

An inspiration. Thank you.
 
Seeing that amazing picture of the moon is great,

It reminds me of the claims that the moon landings were fake.

I am absolutely amazed that the claim that they were fake has not been "put to bed" by now with the telescopes and cameras we have these days, surely the evidence of the landing, lunar rovers and take-offs is easily obtained (or have I messed the fact that they are now unquestionably true).

Steve B
 
Seeing that amazing picture of the moon is great,

It reminds me of the claims that the moon landings were fake.

I am absolutely amazed that the claim that they were fake has not been "put to bed" by now with the telescopes and cameras we have these days, surely the evidence of the landing, lunar rovers and take-offs is easily obtained (or have I messed the fact that they are now unquestionably true).

Steve B

Sadly not even the Hubble telescope has enough reach to resolve lunar landing debris... resolving the lunar lander (one of the bigger items on the moon) from earth would require a telescope of some 75 metres diameter... Hubble itself is 2.4 metres in diameter and I believe the smallest size Hubble can resolve on the moon is just under 100 metres in size

...and don't forget there are still people out there that think the earth is flat!...

<tuffty/>
 
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Great pictures

What was your set up for the moon shot. It is so sharp. Do you live away from light pollution?

It was taken in my back garden where I am in a Bortle Class 5 area... light pollution doesn't really affect moon shots as shutter speeds are too fast and the moon is very bright..

I typically shoot ISO 100, f11 and 1/40th for anything other than full moons... waning/waxing phases aren't as bright as full moons and its tricky to get detail due to lack of contrast...

I use my Canon 7D2, 100-400L Mkii and a 2x extender to give an effective focal length of 1280mm with the crop sensor... I now have a tracker mount that has a moon setting as well as stars but thats just to keep the moon in frame as at that focal length its literally minutes and its out of shot so you have to keep recomposing and refocusing... neither of which is particularly easy especially with my old eyes lol...
I also tether the camera to my Android tablet through an app called DSLR Controller... makes the moon easier to focus and to take shake free shots

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I was getting sharp shots before the tracker tbh but keeper rate was very low... constant repositioning and refocusing (manually at the time as the 50D i used to use wouldn't support focusing at f11) meant it was a little bit of luck to get a good shot... but since moving to the 7D2 which has a fantastic AF system it seems AF through the DSLR controller app works pretty well (still had a few poorly focused shots) and the tracker mount the keeper rate is vastly improved...

Its like a couple out of 100 shots vs most of 10 shots different... just need to get out and use the tracker mount for what its designed for and grab some deep sky objects next :)

<tuffty/>
 
Thanks for the answer. Everyday is a school day. 'Bortle" !

Tried to subscribe to your Blog, the link doesn't seem to work. Some interesting stuff on there.
 
Thanks for the answer. Everyday is a school day. 'Bortle" !

Tried to subscribe to your Blog, the link doesn't seem to work. Some interesting stuff on there.

humm... didn't know I had a subscribe thing on there lol... pm me the details of what you did and I'll have a look... :)

<tuffty/>
 
Loving your S3 blog on the big turbo. Up to the failed FPR pipe. Riveting. Where did you get the confidence and skill to do all of this?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Loving your S3 blog on the big turbo. Up to the failed FPR pipe. Riveting. Where did you get the confidence and skill to do all of this?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Which page is that? I know where most of the stuff is but don't recall that incident lol... glad you are enjoying it, its been 8 odd years of ups and downs fo sho :)

I have always been a practical person... I have messed with cars since I could drive and just seem to be able to pick things up fairly quickly... can't tell you where the skill or confidence actually comes from though lol

<tuffty/>
 
Still very early - 10 I think? I’m reading on my pad to see the pics better.
The remap needs to be redone because the fph has popped leading to lean running with the current settings. It’s like a good car-based drama series! Sorry to clog your A2 blog but just wanted to say thanks for writing the other blog as well and looking forward to your updates on here.


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Now that I have stepped over the magic 200k mark I am left with a small dilemma...

I love my A2... its perfect as a daily and a general run about... I love its marmite looks and its quirkiness... I have never owned a car with an engine that has as many miles as this... my S3 is at 132k now but tbh is mostly new with a mere 9k miles on the 4yr old fully rebuilt engine...

I have no reason to get rid but I can't afford to have the car off the road for too long should the engine/turbo decide to move on to the after life...

I have been deliberating for a little while on what I want to do... I could just buy a n other engine if this one goes and just sling it in... however that doesn't sit well with my OCD... I'd be constantly worrying about and wishing I had just built myself something..

Another option would be to pull my engine out, re-ring and re-shell the engine... clean and refit... but that might reveal other issues that I wouldn't have the time to sort out...

Then I stumbled on Timmus's TDI120 thread... I have been trying to avoid 'modifying' the A2 as I have the S3 for all the prissyness that modding normally brings and this is the daily... however... the theme of his build appeals...

So this year I am going to start collecting parts and do something similar... I won't be sourcing a new engine but will rebuild a used one...

Obviously I will post the progress of the build here... I need to get the spec of the turbo he used as I can get one sorted through my Badger5 contacts and source an engine...

Basic build spec will be over bore to whatever I can get to fit the std headgasket, refurbish the rods with new small end bearings and bolts etc... will look to replace the oil pump and the chain/tensioner setup and clean/paint the lot..

I won't be copying Timmus's exactly as I might actually look to fit a different intercooler and will be fabricating some of the pipework and maybe even an exhaust system...

I need to have a chat with the engineering shop that does Bill's block boring and component balancing to see if there is any value balancing the rotating assembly... TDi's don't rev hard so no real need but the 1.4tdi 3 pot is an angry little engine so if balancing could help make it a little smoother then I might go for it...

Anyhoo... nothing much else to say at the moment, I have an oil change to do in a month and the old girl desperately needs a wash from all the rubbish weather...

To finish off the post another thing I plan to do this year is to up my game a little with my photography... I have recently revamped my website to include galleries of my images.... you may have noticed watermarks appearing on my pics (sorry)... more info is available here...

http://www.tuffty.co.uk/blog/tufftography/

I have called my photographic adventure 'tufftography'... seemed appropriate :)

And of course one of my latest images... I will be getting more into astro this year and this was my first attempt at the Orion Nebula...
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<tuffty/>
 
For info, the 3 cyl flywheel and front damper can't be dynamically balanced due to their design which compensates for the small flywheel bobweights. There is not enough space to make them large enough to offset the piston and conrod rotational forces
https://www.a2oc.net/community/inde...ami-a2steves-second-project.33817/post-294034

Cheers Spike
Thanks dude... That's the pdf is was looking around for earlier... I had seen it before but forgotten about the balance shafts on these engines... Disappointing but one less thing to worry about

<tuffty/>
 
Brilliant Pic!!! I shall check out your website right now!...Just checked it out. your site! some lovely shots! have you looked in to using CaptureOne for processing your RAW shots? Using a process recipe you can process out RAW files the files to increased DPIs of 500-600dpi and a file size of 200% the raw original.


It really helps when you are printing large print files. I have had image res'd up for 6sheet bus shelter posters from 15mp RAW files and gotten tiff files to at least 150mb. (if you wanted to that is) but even using CaptureOne as a piece of software to process out and sharpen images is brilliant.
 
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Brilliant Pic!!! I shall check out your website right now!...Just checked it out. your site! some lovely shots! have you looked in to using CaptureOne for processing your RAW shots? Using a process recipe you can process out RAW files the files to increased DPIs of 500-600dpi and a file size of 200% the raw original.


It really helps when you are printing large print files. I have had image res'd up for 6sheet bus shelter posters from 15mp RAW files and gotten tiff files to at least 150mb. (if you wanted to that is) but even using CaptureOne as a piece of software to process out and sharpen images is brilliant.

I looked at it but have been using Lightroom for years and feel comfortable with it.. I can use Photoshop to resize with no loss of quality using smart objects... the current CC subscription only costs me £8.50 a month for LR and PS so happy enough to carry on... I have done this on a few of my moon shots as they were 15mp and cropped...

That said I may try the trial just to see but at €20+ vat per month I expect to be sticking with Adobe CC for a while yet :)

<tuffty/>
 
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