A6 project

[rider]

Hey all, got me a 2002 A6 2.7t with 130k miles and blown turbos.

My plan is a 6-speed swap and rebuilding the stock k03s.


Vast stage 2 goodness. yum. My mouth waters at the thought of my 6-speed in the mail right now... Just received my rebuild kits today, the one job I'm not looking forward to. I've done it before and I never wanted to do it again.

I started with another mod:

Audi A6 2.7t muffler delete - YouTube

Audi A6 2.7t muffler delete - YouTube
Video: click to display

and have since got it welded out the stock exits.

Untouched:


Stared day 1 with this:


Day 2:




It's a bitch and a half to do anything on these Audis, but when you take one apart you realize how well engineered they are.

I'm hoping the engine comes out within the next 2 days, but this is a long ass job.

[winstoncaufield]

Looks pretty sweet, jw is this a new one or the one your parents had, iirc?

[rider]

Bought it from my dad when he got a new car. Replaced the Miata when I sold it.

[MediumD]

A6 Project? It's not under warranty, so yeah it's obviously a project, quit being redundant.

[ratfrink]

^ lol, D.

OP thanked for posting again. Long time no see. I hope this project is as interesting as the Miata was.

[rider]

I've been trolling around, haven't posted much unfortunately.

Today's progress:


Didn't do much because I was feeling increadibly lazy to be honest... Got most of what needs to go out though, all that I have left is the A/C compressor (which I don't know how I'm going to remove), PS stuff, some wiring and axles to remove before it's time for the engine to come out. Hoping I can get that done tomorrow!

I still also have to remove the driveshaft and rear differential for the 6-speed swap (New on both accounts) but I can't find my fucking second set of jack stands so I'm halted for now.

[Township Rebellion]

hoooooo billy! Atta boy rider. Damn now I should get my Quattro rebuilt ASAP, I miss me some Audi goodness.

Completely right on the PITA factor though.

[The Cheshire Cat]

Cool project. I cringed when I saw where the alternator was mounted. Can't say that I would enjoy working on any Audi's at all.

[rider]

It's not even the Alternator, it's the fucking god damned A/C Compressor that's held me up for a couple of days.

On hold while I wait for a workshop manual for the car... should have picked that up from the start haha

[reggie_love]

If I understand this correctly, you're doing an automatic to manual swap? Is that gonna include some custom fabrication or do they just drop in on this model?

Also, I'm in your area and just found out I have no plans for the summer, so if you want some random dude off the internet to provide another pair of arms (and/or brews), hit me up.

[MediumD]

Wait, isn't the 2.7 one of those nutjob 5v engines that VW made to sound fancier than 4v competitors?

[MediumD]

Originally Posted by rider

It's a bitch and a half to do anything on these Audis, but when you take one apart you realize how well engineered they are.

Engineering can be defined many ways, it doesn't just mean the coolest sounding terminology and fanciest sounding materials, and unless your perfect OMGZGerman Engineering can prevent wear and eliminate all failure points.. it's interesting to say that something that's a bitch to take apart is well engineered.

[Township Rebellion]

^^^ Typical hater.

[MediumD]

UmadFanBoi?

[Township Rebellion]

Why would I be mad about liking Audis? Being hard to work on is a good trade off for having a superior car. If anything, you're the one whos mad because there are people who like cars you hate.

[rider]

What I meant by well engineered is it's just designed to be more efficient than anything else I've worked on. The ducting and airflow passages alone are cool to take apart and learn about.

Perhaps well engineered wasn't the right term, but interesting.

One thing I should say is I'm impressed that Audi managed to cram all the shit it has in such a tiny space.

[rider]

Had to wait a couple of days on a repair manual. It was just getting too complicated to do it without one.

Today's progress:


Got this fucking A/C compressor off; it's the reason I had to order the manual. Some of this took an hour to get off, and I get the feeling it'll take longer to get back on.

Very few things left to do before it's time for the engine to come out. Nothing is restricting the engine right now except for the transmission.

Tomorrow: Remove catback, driveshaft, front axles, then the engine comes out.

Here's the car now:

Originally Posted by reggie_love

If I understand this correctly, you're doing an automatic to manual swap? Is that gonna include some custom fabrication or do they just drop in on this model?

Also, I'm in your area and just found out I have no plans for the summer, so if you want some random dude off the internet to provide another pair of arms (and/or brews), hit me up.

I'll keep that in mind when I'm putting it all back together man. Thanks for the offer. The car came with a manual from the factory so it's all drop in, but it's new rear differential, driveshaft and axles so it's not just a transmission swap.

Decided today to cut the center resonator out and weld in strait pipes. There are plenty of examples on youtube; it's loud but not too loud and it still sounds good. I want to do some high flow cats and delete the rear cats and put in some magnaflow resonators, but that might be out of the budget at this point. It would be really cool to do high flow cats to strait pipe to a single 3" variable flow muffler. And it wouldn't be too expensive if I didn't do the front cats, but that's where the power is to be had. I could do it if I manage to sell the automatic transmission components before I get the car back together, but time is a constraint so I don't have time to sit around like that.

[Township Rebellion]

Awesome, keep it up!

[reggie_love]

Is it just me or is that engine bay insane? I've never seen so many components and hoses crammed into a tight... jungle or whatever like that.

[rider]

Yes. It's preposterous and frustrating. I've had to build the sockets to my breaker bar from the bolt because there's no way you can get every piece of the tool in at once and get it onto the bolt. That's what the A/C compressor was like. Half this shit I'm taking off is going to be twice as frustrating to put back on... and that scares me. Didn't get anything done yet. Had to go in and talk to Audi to get some advice on removing the axles.

I don't know if this is car specific but does a cars ignition have to be on for the transmission to be put in park? I figured it didn't but I put the car in park to try to remove my axles and they still span... though I have disconnected the ECU, but is there a separate one for the tranny?

I hope I can have the whole thing out tomorrow.... today, whatever it is.

[rider]

FUUUUUU I'm sick of sitting around waiting for tools. It's happened far too much on this project.

Waiting on an 8mm triple square socket for the axle bolts.

[Township Rebellion]

Wow.

[komokazi]

I've always been a fan of the B5 S4. Nice selection.. however, this seems like a lot of work to stay with the k03s, I'd have gone k04s. Yes, Audi is very impressive cramming that much stuff into the engine bay.

[MediumD]

Originally Posted by rider

FUUUUUU I'm sick of sitting around waiting for tools.

I'm sure Townie will be around again soon. Oh, regular tools.

Did Audi think a weird sized Torx like a T57 was too easy for axle bolts? Or is that just some more awesome engineering?

Note that the hate here is more aimed at Townie than at rider.

[Township Rebellion]

^^^

[rider]

Originally Posted by komokazi

I've always been a fan of the B5 S4. Nice selection.. however, this seems like a lot of work to stay with the k03s, I'd have gone k04s. Yes, Audi is very impressive cramming that much stuff into the engine bay.

I reaaally wanted K04s, but the fact was that I could rebuild my K03s for less than 500 dollars, while K04s would have cost 2.3k for the hardware and then another 1.5k for the fuel/tuning requirements. Factor in more for stuff like the bipipe, diverter valves and other misc stuff.

Though if anyone sees a deal on a pair of blown K04s I would love the tip. I could sell the rebuilt K03s to pay for most of the k04s + rebuild. Selling the auto drivetrain should take care of the rest.

[ratfrink]

D, I had to wait around for tools to take apart the suspension on my Hillman Avenger GT; it's not a German thing. Who has long-reach 1/2" drive AF sockets? Almost nobody, in Europe.

[MediumD]

Originally Posted by ratfrink

D, I had to wait around for tools to take apart the suspension on my Hillman Avenger GT; it's not a German thing. Who has long-reach 1/2" drive AF sockets? Almost nobody, in Europe.

I admit I had to Google AF sockets. They're SAE, a Hillman Avenger is an older car from an era when SAE sizes were common across most of the world.

And no, unnecessarily complicating things isn't a German thing. But that's not entirely what I was getting at. When I have to find an inverted Torx to pull the seat out of my Saturn, I say a swear word or two. But when a German car fanboy finds something unnecessarily complicated, apparently the proper way to go about it is to praise the German engineering gods and be happy to have to pay for a specialty tool/enjoy the extra 3 hours the job is going to take.

Just because a way of doing something is fancier than the normal way doesn't mean it's better than the normal way.

[rider]

I've done few things more frustrating than work on this fucking Audi.

Today I got half of one axle off... I got the bolts holding the axle to the transmission out on the passenger side and that's it. The driver's side is even fucking harder, which I wouldn't have believed was possible before having tried it. The 17mm alan socket holding the driveshaft to the rotor broke my adapter bit as soon as I torqued it.

I'm trying to get my hands on an impact gun; a breaker just isn't cutting it for some of these things, especially when I have to run 2 or 3 extensions and a swivel.

All I have left to do is the exhaust, driveshaft and axles. And it's been that way for a week, and it is so god damned fucking frustrating I don't know what to fucking do with myself.

[MediumD]

Originally Posted by rider

I'm trying to get my hands on an impact gun; a breaker just isn't cutting it for some of these things, especially when I have to run 2 or 3 extensions and a swivel.

Any joint between the impact gun and the socket is going to waste a lot of the force of each impact the gun provides. You'll probably be better served with a cheater pipe on the end of your breaker bar.

[rider]

Cheater bar doesn't fit even with a couple of extensions on. And when I do get it on in a place I can torque it the sockets just slip off because of all the extensions. It really is in the most inconvenient location possible. The only reason I'm trying to get the gun is because I can't torque a breaker enough without the socket slipping off because of all the twists and turns.

Though I'm going to try again with the breaker + cheater bar tomorrow. But I fucked up my pinky nail using it today and I don't want to do it again.

[rider]

Nothing is left except the engine mounts. It's coming out tomorrow. (EDIT: Fuck, except the interior shifter thing)

Today I got off the catback, driveshaft and axles. I'd say it was successful.

[Township Rebellion]

Originally Posted by MediumD

I admit I had to Google AF sockets. They're SAE, a Hillman Avenger is an older car from an era when SAE sizes were common across most of the world.

And no, unnecessarily complicating things isn't a German thing. But that's not entirely what I was getting at. When I have to find an inverted Torx to pull the seat out of my Saturn, I say a swear word or two. But when a German car fanboy finds something unnecessarily complicated, apparently the proper way to go about it is to praise the German engineering gods and be happy to have to pay for a specialty tool/enjoy the extra 3 hours the job is going to take.

Just because a way of doing something is fancier than the normal way doesn't mean it's better than the normal way.

I've been leaving this one alone figuring somebody would set you straight, but I get the impression you're aiming this one squarely at me. Is this what you think? Do you really believe people who like Audis truly enjoy the hassle it takes to work on them? Have you never listened to a word I've said in the decade or so I've been posting hereabouts? Because this is seriously the most outrageous thing I've heard you say yet.

It's not the over complexity that makes the car better, it's the capability the car has when it works. Remember, I have an Audi. It's an old 5 cylinder, it's turbocharged, and it has quattro. The engine is canted over towards the passenger side, and the the intake, exhaust and turbo are mounted on that side. It took a whole weekend just to pull the stupid exhaust manifold out, and I still haven't put it back together; I can blame a broken stud for that. Now I have to wait until I sell my Corolla so I can buy the bits I need to put it back together. But hey, according to you, because I'm a German car fanboy I'm praising the kraut gods that this is so - this must be a better car for being such a bitch to work on rite???

Rite... that's why I'm driving a super simple BMW from the 70's, a carburated piece that's probably easier to work on than your Saturn. Seriously, you're starting to sound like me when I spout off about yank tank fanboys and your unnecessarily huge displacements and your lack of chassis refinement and your love of failomatic transmissions.

Don't be such an idiot, D.

[MediumD]

Something that is complex isn't necessarily better than something simple just because it's complex. From your post, it seems like you and I ... sorta agree about that idea.

If you think that post was aimed squarely at you, do you praise German engineering because it's from Germany? Would an innovative engineering feat from Detroit or Seoul be better if someone in Dresden came up with the idea?

[Township Rebellion]

^^^No, that's uppity wanker talk. A good piece of design and engineering can come from anybody, from any place. I just like German cars because they have a certain character that appeals to me, entirely subjective reasoning I couldn't completely explain. Remember I still like lots of other cars from lots of other places, usually for different reasons, it's just most of my favorite cars are from Germany.

I've always been this way.

[rider]

After 5 hours of work today:



I was happy


The plan is to clean up and take the next week off of doing anything. I've been working nonstop since summer started. If I get bored enough I might pull the turbos and start rebuilding those.

[Township Rebellion]

Atta boy! Such blatant progress deserves a rest. Can't wait to see this thing put back together and unable to shift its own gears!

[rider]

Couple of updates with the plans:
Stock downpipes are getting gutted. No cats. Today, I discovered the magic of o2 sensor spacers to not throw a CEL made specifically for the 2.7t .

I also might have secured a good deal on some used K04s... we will see how this plays out. But that means an extra $1,800 in the fuel/tuning requirements alone, let alone the new hardware.

[Township Rebellion]

Do you have the money? Yes? Do it. MOAR POWER amirite?

[MediumD]

Originally Posted by rider

Couple of updates with the plans:
Stock downpipes are getting gutted. No cats. Today, I discovered the magic of o2 sensor spacers to not throw a CEL made specifically for the 2.7t .

I also might have secured a good deal on some used K04s... we will see how this plays out. But that means an extra $1,800 in the fuel/tuning requirements alone, let alone the new hardware.

You might want to just cut the cats out and weld pipe in their place, a gutted cat is less than ideal for exhaust flow, and you can sell the cats as scrap for a decent bit of money. I'd guess around $120-160 for a 2.7L turbo engine.