score! $500

[Connella08]

just picked up over the weekend a 98 a4 1.8t for $500. only has 101k on the odometer, but im sure you all know why it went for so cheap! thats right, you got it! timing belt! but for $500 you cant go wrong. the only downside other than the bent valves is the fact that it is a FWD. but who cares? my girlfriend doesnt because its replacing her ford contour.

pics coming soon

[RedWabbitVR]

Anything is better than a ford. Good find, I find deals like this all the time, my past 5 cars have been 700 or less and needed either a trans or motor. How is the body on it?


Sent from under my car.

[Connella08]

body is for the most part straight. has seen some abuse with scratches and a few dings and dents here and there but absolutely zero rust top to bottom.

[NeedingAnAudi]

Bastard. I would definitely pick up a 500 clean body B5.

[Connella08]

Haha I snagged it off a friend who posted it up on Facebook. Cash in hand about 2 hours later speaks for itself (and the beholder lol). Pics will be up this weekend.

[memo!]

Lemme get that Contour .

Congrats!

[c0r3y.af]

Lucky bastard. I'll take the motor for what you paid for the car.

[Connella08]

finally got pictures. i kept getting carried away and diving into the project instead of taking a few pics.

i already got the head off and damage to the pistons is minor. im rebuilding the head at work now.

[Connella08]

ive been working on the head at work. almost done assembling it, but here is the progress i have done.

pulling the head


pretty clean for a dirty head


pulled all the valves out and washed the head


doing the valve job on the intake side


close up


redundant close up


resurfacing the head


all the valves in the head after machine work


valves i was able to save


i was able to save 8 of the intake valves. i cleaned them using a glass bead cabinet, checked the stem wear with a micrometer, and reground the face and tip of the valves. none of them had any run-out at all.

[Connella08]

Well I was finally able to get it finished up yesterday and put a full set of rear brakes on it. I do have a few concerns though. Pulling the rear hubs off, the nut holding the bearings in place was finger loose. I put it all back together and make the nut a little tighter than finger loose but couldn't find any torque specs on it since its a fwd vehicle.

Also when I rev it up and let it drop back to idle, it drops to about 400-500 Rpms then picks back up. Any ideas on what could cause that? I haven't checked for vacuum leak but the idle is the only issue I am having so I don't think a vacuum leak would cause that. There are also SURPRISINGLY no check engine lights on the car.

And last but not least, I bled all four brakes starting with furthest from the master to the closest and all new brakes in the rear, but the pedal still goes almost all the way to the floor before the brakes start to catch. Possibly a bad master?

[HighFructoseCornSyrp]

I cleaned the throttle body on mine a bit and it gained a few hundred rpm at idle. Took like 10 minutes so it might be worth your time.

[Connella08]

Well it idles at 800 which is normal but it's when I step on the gas and release it, the Rpms drop past 800 to about 400-500 for a split second then raise back up to 800 and stays there.

[ZDespreaux]

I just bought one for $500 with 149k on the odometer and timing and water pump were done about 10k ago!

[MetalMan1]

Well I was finally able to get it finished up yesterday and put a full set of rear brakes on it. I do have a few concerns though. Pulling the rear hubs off, the nut holding the bearings in place was finger loose. I put it all back together and make the nut a little tighter than finger loose but couldn't find any torque specs on it since its a fwd vehicle.

If that nut is too tight the bearings will have too much resistance. If you have access to the Bentley electronic manual they specify how to set the position of the nut... it definitely should have pretty much zero torque on it. Check this out:
http://www.audiforums.com/forum/b5-m...manual-176038/
There's a section under Suspension/brakes that talks about how to do the rear brakes on a FWD car.

[Connella08]

Thanks, I will look into that next time I work on the car. I didn't want to make it tight when I put it all together because I figured compressing a bearing like that would be bad, but I made it snug because I though being able to remove the nut with no tools at all was too loose.

[SaiB]

what a steal, enjoy the audi

[Connella08]

runs like a champ. my girl got a ticket the other day for the tint, so that came off. i pulled the entire interior out and steam cleaned the carpet, and i took the seat covers off and machine washed them. i also replaced a bunch of the plastics that were cracked (interior rocker and B-pillar plastic) now it smells and looks like a clean car again! just had to do the flex pipe though and a pipe clamp broke under the radiator (that metal pipe along the bottom of the bumper) and the hose fell off on the turbo side making it run like total ass. but overall makes for a better car than her old ford contour 1000 times over.

[Five Star Performance]

what a steal! enjoy it!


http://www.FiveStarPerformanceLawrenceville.com

[Connella08]

so over the past few weeks i have noticed a leak in the steering rack draining into the inner tie rod boot, replaced the master reservoir (badly sunbaked and cracked) and bled the brakes. although it seems like maybe the master is bad? with the car off, it takes between 1 and 1.5 pumps to make the brake solid. i could hold it there all day and it wont sink. as soon as i start the car, it goes ALMOST to the floor (about an inch off the floor). if i pump the brake it doesnt build pressure and if i hold the brake with the car running the pedal still doesnt sink. i bled all 4 brakes numerous times and i cant tell you how much fluid i put through it. what confuses me is that i can almost lock up the brakes in a split second if i have to. so am i being too picky about the pedal going down so far? my 01 only presses about 2 inches total when the car is running.

[b5blazing]

Check how much brake pad you have left on pads also look for a rubber line with a crack in it. That could also give you spongy feel compared to other car

[Connella08]

pads are brand new in the rear as well as the rotors. fronts have a lot of meat left on them but they dont look so much like they are clamping properly (probably because the master has failed and not pumping full pressure into the fronts).