Organic Mechanic

I'm about four years into the Audi world and I'm continually impressed by the drivers i meet IRL and online. I guess I'm speaking to you guys specifically, people with 20 year old cars. The first 10 times I had a question I would search the topic and find some thread from 2009 detailing my exact problem. The discussions are always useful and too the point. It seems like everyone who owns a B5 has actually worked on it to some extent.
I'm a career mechanic, so my perception of what job I can tackle is a little skewed. When I put an engine in my car that was probably the 30th engine I'd swapped. But there's no way you're all mechanics.
I'm curious about the Audi owners who bake cakes, or fight fires or...ect, and then come home on the weekend and put coil-overs on in their driveway.
I've met the guy who says, "I put A,B and C on my car" and what he means is, "I took my car to a shop for A,B,C." but so many forum user experiences are way too detailed be faking it.
So, if you do something other than turn a wrench in your day job and yet you pop the hood on your B5, I salute you. It's really impressive and I'm very happy to be in the culture centered on these cars
Cheers!

Cybersombosis

Ya for me it all started with a yahoo at Mr Lube who didn’t tighten my oil filter properly. I came out of the store to a big puddle of oil under the car. After the botched oil change, I said that I’d never take my car to another oil place again and so my life of car maintenance would change the rest of my life.

I was basically afraid of power tools in high school so I didn’t take shop or automotive. I was a band geek. I have worked for a food wholesaler as a purchaser for the last 25 years.

Fast forward 30 years and I now have a shop with a lift and a tire machine and balancer. I’ve now rebuild heads, engines and auto transmissions.

Now I’m helping other Audi enthusiasts fix and maintain their cars. This all came about from a guy selling parts who lived in an apartment who wanted to part out 1 of his 3 Audis and he needed a place to tear it apart. I had just moved into a place with the space so I said what the heck. We are now into our 22nd Audi A4 and S4 ranging from the B5 to the B7 1.8 to the 4.2. The great thing is I’m having fun doing it and we get to help others. We sell parts and offer shop time to those who need it. It will be a big part of my life upon retirement in the next few years

Lift with a B5 2.8 we picked up a couple weeks ago where the head was pulled.

First time doing a 2.8 timing belt. Not so scary anymore.

1.8T we cleaned up for a head gasket and valve job.

Engine rebuild for a project car we are putting back together.

My partner’s car

A customer’s car I sold him. Refinished his wheels for him and installed the coilovers.

My car with mods in my signature.

Wheel balancer and a sand blasting cabinet to the left. Got a free oven for some powder coating.

Tire machine.

desertsage

Wow Doug, it's good to see that you finally got your lift! And a tire machine and wheel balancer?? You have a bonafide shop now! I'm envious.

desertsage

Argh... I didn't mean to delete that! What I'd said was....

Wow Doug, It's great to see that you finally got your lift! And a tire machine and wheel balancer?? Amazing! You have a bonafide shop now. I'm envious.

I've been wondering how you've been doing up there and about the projects you've been working on lately. It's nice to see your work.

Cybersombosis

Thanks Randy. Been thinking about the avant you had offered and if it’s still around. Been watching your post about your V6 and thought it was coincidental that we had just pulled the head off this one to repair some valves that I had… ahem… rushed the cam chain timing job during that really cold -8*C a couple weeks ago and was advanced by one tooth and bent all the lowest valves in all passenger side cylinders. The upper and lower guides were completely obliterated and missing. Bits were scattered in the chain valley.


Luckily we had just parted out another V6 a couple weeks before so had the spare valves to pop in. The one we parted dropped a valve and managed to lodge itself sideways in the port. Do you think I can repair this? Haha.

desertsage

OMG, that valve! Ha! Well.. sure, you can repair that .

Ah, that's a sad story about your 2.8. Dang. So much work, too. Luckily, you have the skills to pull off the repair nicely, I'm sure.

Oh, my daughter sold her Avant last year for $500, I think. I haven't heard a thing about it since. I still have a transmission control module from a 2001 B5, if you ever need one.

Organic Mechanic

That chain tensioner is awesome, you've got a sweet gig going!

Victorymike18

This is a great forum, and although it's not fast-moving there are many great active members who are willing to lend a hand.

For myself: I started tinkering in my early twenties after realizing I couldn't afford to pay someone else to repair my '88 Jetta for me. I was a bicycle mechanic back then so I could turn wrenches and had some mechanical inclination, and I got bitten by the bug to modify. I spent about 15 years messing around mostly with Mk1 & Mk2 VW's and just recently realized I should get into something a bit nicer. The B5's were always my dream car, and aren't going to get any more attainable than now. My day job is doing sustainability in commercial real-estate kind of environments.

I sought out an early 12v V6 B5 as the engine has many similarities to the VW SOHC 8v that I grew to love. The early V6 cars are in a world of their own, shunned by the tuners but lumped into the B5 "crowd" by the large chassis and earlier Audi enthusiasts. I love mine though:

Cybersombosis

Ya we have the 2.8 all back together and started her for the first time. Boy is she loud without an exhaust or cats. Reminds me of big block or NASCAR. A little harrowing as I didn’t follow the guide to set timing and didn’t use the locking pin or the bar. Haha. You are probably thinking I am mad! I didn’t loosen the cam sprockets off and I used the original marks on the crank pulley and cam covers. There are little notched in all three locations and the previous person who did the timing belt marked everything with paint. The timing all lined up prior to me removing the belt. I used the old trick of retarding the crank, leaving the driver’s side cam sprocket in place on the mark, feeding the belt then putting the crank back to the mark then advancing the passenger sprocket, feeding the belt on that side, then put it back on the mark. No slack on the belt. Put the tensioner back on and rotated the engine a dozen time. Marks all lined up. Had me worried a bit when reading the guide that I had to loosen the cam sprockets but we figured that was just for taking up the slack in the belt.

Attached is a vid of her running.

slacker

I am probably the least accomplished mechanic here. And my garage is very small. But, I have taken on some repairs that I could handle. But, I know my limitations. Currently, I am waiting for the weather to warm up a bit so that I can replace the alternator.

Over the years, this forum and others plus YouTube have given me the confidence to take on the work.