Workshop Socials

drewroberts

drewroberts

A2OC Donor
I have had an idea going round in my head for a while now about organising some workshop socials in the near future, even more so now that we are soon to be transitioning out of the current lockdown restrictions and will hopefully soon be getting back to some semblance of normality.

I know from browsing the site that there are a lot of you out there that have a mass of knowledge and experience with the fixing and servicing needs of your own A2’s that would be most useful to those of us that are less experienced and adept at doing the jobs that are often needed to be done on our now 20-25 year old cars.

So to be able to make these workshop social meetings a success we will of course need several things.

1. A suitably skilled and/or experienced Instructor(s) with a suitable venue for doing the repairs/servicing/upgrades etc.

2. An A2 workshop manual so participants are able to follow the instructions step by step so that they can complete the jobs that are to be done on the day.

3. A complete list of the tools/parts that are needed to be able to complete the job to manufacturers specifications.

4. A list of tasks and jobs that would be
sorted as suitable for beginners, intermediates and experts if that’s what people want.

I personally have travelled many, many miles to take my A2 to the people that know what they are doing rather than have the worry of taking her to someone that doesn’t. I would be prepared to do the same to attend any workshop socials organised by the club.

So let’s start a discussion about it and see if it’s something we can do as a club to help each other keep our A2’s on the road for as long as we can and for our ownership to cost us a lot less than getting a local mechanic to do it for us.

I will start with a short list of the jobs that personally I would be able to do confidently with someone else’s help and advice in case I do anything wrong.

Door check straps.
Brake discs and pads. Drums for rear on some
Full service. Oils, filters, fluids etc.
Gearbox oil change.
Rear number plate lights.
Air vents, cup holders, interior trim.
Windscreen wiper arm.
Glovebox light switch.
Interior LED’s.
Auto light switch.
HID kit
Headlight sanding and polishing.
Rear bumper side fixings.
Anything else that others can think of.

It could also be very beneficial to help our valuable members that already refurbish and/or supply the parts that would be needed for these get togethers.

@depronman @Clackers @A2Steve @CreweAudi

I am also looking into the possibility of finding a business where we can rent-a-ramp for the day so we can help each other to do the bigger jobs or the jobs that can only be done by lifting the car up in the air. Of which there are many more.

Somewhere like this if you like me live in the southeast of England. Very reasonable rates 6 cars works out at £20 each for the days 8am -5pm hire.

www.carramphire.co.uk

Self Service Garage | Car Ramp Hire | England

Car Ramp Hire is a Self Service Car Garage located in Gravesend, DA11 0SL. Ideal for London, Kent and the South East.
www.carramphire.co.uk www.carramphire.co.uk

So if you have the experience and you would like to share it with us all and you have a venue that’s large enough to cope with several A2’s at a time then do please express an interest in helping set this up and let’s get this party well and truly started.

All suggestions of course are gratefully received.

All the best.
Drive safe, drive happy, always Audi.
Drew.
 
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Afternoon all,

Short answer:

I’m in middle England and can fit 5-6 A2s here for a mechanical get together.

The not so short answer:

I’d happily have a few A2s on my driveway I have a basic set of tools here (which is added to when I require something specific) that I’d be happy for others to use. It’s easy to wipe such items down afterwards.

My driveway is some 5 minutes off the M1, J22 if you’re coming from south if Leicestershire. I’m also under 10 minutes from J23 if you’re coming from north of Leicestershire on the M1.

There is room here for 5-6 additional A2s probably more with some intelligent parking of what’s already here and what arrives.

A Saturday would be good as it gives us an addition day to rectify an issue if someone teams something on their car. I cannot offer beds though. The following day would be if something really does go wrong with someone car.

I’d not be the driving force here as I’m not a mechanic, just a bloke with tools who will give most things a go after watching YouTube etcetera.

I can mess about the the Dremel for RNSE fitting and auto headlight switches though. Quite happy to assist with fitting RNSEs as well as BT Telephone and AMI modules as per Project OEM.

I might even be able to do a couple of headlining swaps if we sort this out prior to the event. If I had the new fabric here I’m already I could probably turn an old tatty one around in a few hours. Needs to be a nice warm day though to dry the headlining biscuit out fully after cleaning.

The things I’d like help with is a suspension swap and investigate my Webasto. It runs through the output test but never did fire up in the cold spell recently.

If someone was able to attend to help out that would be terrific.

I have VCDS here along with the ability to grab your SKC. I also have electricity and water to supply warm beverages and a bacon butty. Vegetarian options can be made available of course.

If this was something that was to happen quite quickly I could do with another pair of hands to fit my Votex kit.

I know I seem quite needy but more than happy to help other ms out whilst staying within my own limitations.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
Yes a few regional locations around the country would of course be perfect for this idea. We could I’m sure contribute for any of the ‘trained engineers’ valuable time spent and expertise given. We would probably need to establish how long each job is likely to take to complete. We could save money on group buys of the parts needed if still available or source them from our known breakers in preparation for the meets.
Ramps could also be hired around the country and would then be the venue for any get togethers.
It’s very nice of you to offer your services and location to club members. Let’s hope there are many more like you around. Keep the ideas and offers coming. And I’m sure we can get something sorted very soon.
 
drewroberts said:
Yes a few regional locations around the country would of course be perfect for this idea. We could I’m sure contribute for any of the ‘trained engineers’ valuable time spent and expertise given. We would probably need to establish how long each job is likely to take to complete. We could save money on group buys of the parts needed if still available or source them from our known breakers in preparation for the meets.
Ramps could also be hired around the country and would then be the venue for any get togethers.
It’s very nice of you to offer your services and location to club members. Let’s hope there are many more like you around. Keep the ideas and offers coming. And I’m sure we can get something sorted very soon.
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Exactly my thoughts Drew,

Lining the pockets of any attending mechanical ninjas would of course be part of it. Nothing in this world is free.

If there were a few long jobs planned whilst at mine I’d happily play chef and bring the BBQ to the front of the house. I have great neighbours so could move the existing 4 vehicles from my driveway to fit almost double figures here to be worked on.

This is a great idea that I would have offered my driveway to before but there didn’t seem to be much take up. Hopefully my generosity helps this to get off the starter blocks.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
This sounds a great idea and I for one have a list of jobs I’d love to tackle but don’t have either the confidence or space to just go ahead and do them - brakes being the main one but also suspension and smaller jobs that having the car in the air would probably be a damn site easier!

Also things like soldering the door switch, someone who knows the job could guide me through that in no time I’m sure. If I do it myself I’ll probably b****r up the whole mechanism ??‍♂️

Think a few of us down in the south west (I’m Bristol) and I’d be happy to help get involved co-ordinating something round these parts
 
Ok so we already have three possible venues suggested for Workshop Socials. One in the midlands, South East and South West.
I suggest that we can also maybe find one in the north west and north east of England ??????? Wales ??????? and a couple in Scotland ??????? to cater for our members across the borders. Then we can start to plan what we all need/want done and when we want to do it.
 
drewroberts said:
Ok so we already have three possible venues suggested for Workshop Socials. One in the midlands, South East and South West.
I suggest that we can also maybe find one in the north west and north east of England ??????? Wales ??????? and a couple in Scotland ??????? to cater for our members across the borders. Then we can start to plan what we all need/want done and when we want to do it.
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Drew,

My driveway will be ready once we’re all safe from the current threat and not inside school holiday times. I’m not sure the other driver in the family will be best pleased if I’m ‘playing with car’ during these times. Any weekend outside of Leicestershire’s school holidays will be fine.

Maybe if you started separate, venue specific threads to see what the up take might be.

Trying to pull each region in this single thread might become confusing over time.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
Yes I’m sure that confusion will happen if the idea is very popular, if it is I’m sure many of us will be clamouring to attend to help fix our cars and keep our ownership costs down to a minimum.

The more suggestions of suitable venues and more importantly the offers of technical help we get, the better we can plan for a future ‘regional’ blueprint of regular, quarterly or half yearly meetings for specific jobs. With the venue date and time agreed by all.
 
drewroberts said:
I am also looking into the possibility of finding a business where we can rent-a-ramp for the day so we can help each other to do the bigger jobs or the jobs that can only be done by lifting the car up in the air. Of which there are many more.

Somewhere like this if you like me live in the southeast of England. Very reasonable rates 6 cars works out at £20 each for the days 8am -5pm hire.

www.carramphire.co.uk

Self Service Garage | Car Ramp Hire | England

Car Ramp Hire is a Self Service Car Garage located in Gravesend, DA11 0SL. Ideal for London, Kent and the South East.
www.carramphire.co.uk www.carramphire.co.uk
Click to expand...
On a similar note, this is outside Oxford

Car club Oxford - Classic car club Oxford

Car club Oxford - If you're looking to work on your classic car or any other type of car the This is your garage club is the place for you - Car club Oxford
thisisyourgarage.com thisisyourgarage.com
 
It’s great that many are so keen to get hands on with their A2’s.

Unfortunately I don’t work on other peoples cars, only my own. It’s been that way for many years following a bad experience.

My word of advice and one that’s been said many times before, a 1 hour job is just one sheered bolt away from being a 2 day affair. I would stick to the small stuff. Mention of suspension overhauls has me concerned.

What may start off as a friendly offer of help may turn into the owner being liable for the hire costs of the ramps when their A2 is stuck there for 2 days waiting for parts and they have to find an alternative way home.
 
Totally agree with Steve. But will go further to say.While the idea was based on good intentions it is unfortunately flawed. There is a great deal of risk that is ultimately taken by the person or persons carrying out the repair. What happens if something goes wrong and something gets damaged. Working on your own vehicle or family members is one thing, when you start working on others you are open to litigation especially in this current situation. As soon as someone takes ANY form of payment for working on someones car they can be held liable. So even doing a VCDS scan for a beer token is classed as payment. Yes everybody will say no payment but you have already said the mechanics would be paid. Then does the premises come with liability insurance, are people allowed in there with the cars, the list goes on and on. Add in the "quick fix" that is still stranded weeks later someone will be expected to foot the bill. It could be the quickest way to ruin the club spirit. We give advice and it is then up to the other party if they follow the advise or not.
I know people here offer services but they are exactly that. They assume an element of responsibility in exchange for payment. Long may that continue but that is a totally different scenario compared to a drive in workshop.........
 
That is why the jobs chosen at first would be as simple and straightforward to do as is possible. Obviously the more in depth and safety critical jobs are best to be left to the professionals who take on the liability. If you read the initial list of jobs I suggested there are none there that would cause any concerns from a safety perspective so try to read first before you say such an idea is flawed.
Thanks.
Drew.
 
agree with @audifan , having worked in the industry long enough to say working on others' cars is really like one's fingers under the knife! i've seen them being smiling n laughin n okaying everything but soon as there is a hickup (bound to happen when working on not so new cars), turns the tables and grin changes to frown and that to ugly! i am half a lawyer already by learning from experience and at times, the hard way lol. everyday before touching a car, i calculate my liabilities and trust me i am tried everyday...lolz
i am sure the idea is in good faith and i dont doubt that at all but things like this are not the same for everybody, the expectations and outcome are not always the same and tbh cannot be hence the grudges!
Having said that, this forum has invaluable expertise and advice if one is seeking guidance or direction.
 
Yes it was always intended that the owners themselves would be doing their own repairs under suitable supervision. No major safety critical jobs were included at this stage.
for example work on the suspension components, cam-belts, turbos, intercoolers, injectors, gaskets and any other big and complex jobs would not be being tackled by very inexperienced owners.
This idea was originally intended to be for jobs that are reasonably straight forward to complete.
 
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Afternoon all,

Which ever way this turns out my driveway is still available for some smaller type tasks.

To save any of the worry’s of litigation and leaving someone stranded on my driveway it would probably be more of a mini get together where we can share what we have done and how we done it, thus just sharing knowledge and advice. I’d happily get the Dremel out and and swap a headlining or 2 though.

It’s still a great idea but fully accept what has been said earlier in this thread.

Kind regards,

Tom
 
@drewroberts Perhaps more of a demonstration by an owner how to replace the standard consumable / wear items on their own car would be more appropriate, easier to manage, safer and beneficial way to go with this? With perhaps questions and answers session. No rental or drawn out jobs.
 
I have just been to view a house down here near Axminster that has a huge garage (could easily fit 4 A2s in there), with a pit, and could easily park another 6 A2s on the drive. If we go for it (and I think we will) I'd be up for hosting a social, my boys would love it (not sure about the wife, maybe you guys could bring some other halves to even the score out or something?!)

It also has a good BBQ pit and a pizza oven along with a large outdoor entertaining space. :)
 
dj_efk said:
I have just been to view a house down here near Axminster that has a huge garage (could easily fit 4 A2s in there), with a pit, and could easily park another 6 A2s on the drive. If we go for it (and I think we will) I'd be up for hosting a social, my boys would love it (not sure about the wife, maybe you guys could bring some other halves to even the score out or something?!)

It also has a good BBQ pit and a pizza oven along with a large outdoor entertaining space. :)
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Sounds great. You just need a few more A2’s to fill it now!!!
 
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