AudiWorld Forums - looking for radiator support and drivers side headlight support

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- - looking for radiator support and drivers side headlight support (https://www.audiworld.com/forums/audi-5000-200-v8-discussion-27/looking-radiator-support-drivers-side-headlight-support-2950184/)

looking for radiator support and drivers side headlight support

hello,

well, its apparently my turn to try to extend the life of a 1991 Audi V8Q 5-speed. this one is fresh off of a copart lot in minneapolis, and has been in a front-end collision which has left it with a slightly upturned frame rail on the drivers side, a drivers-side quarter-panel that's looks like was pulled inward at the bottom by the aluminum headlight support that's attached to it (and cracked as a result of the accident) and a cracked radiator core support. in order to "free" the bumper so that i could get a better look, i also removed the drivers side bumper guide by grinding the plastic expansion nuts down/off with a dremel tool, so im going to need one of those as well. there is surprisingly little paint damage as a result of the collision, and the rest of the paint on the car shows very well, so rather than embark on a painting exercise, i'm hoping that someone out there has a pearlescent white V8Q radiator core support and headlight support, and also a drivers side bumper guide, that they are interested in selling. if so, feel free to contact me via audiworld.

Are you in th Mpls area? I have a V8 but not a 5speed, I will put the word out what you are looking for to help your search. You realise that these are V8 only parts.

Bob

Hey bob. I am your neighbor to the south (st. Louis, mo). I purchased the car from a copart located in ham lake, MN (a Minneapolis suburb?).

Anyway, I have prices from shokan for the radiator support and the driver headlight support, and I will go ahead and purchase from them if they are already the correct body color (they are checking and are supposed to get back to me). That’s my preference in terms of replacement of these items: I don’t want to try to recreate the pearl metallic on an unpainted or different color part. Too time-consuming and unlikely to match up well in the end in my humble opinion.

The good about the car is that the paint and the interior are good to very good, which was a

(Cont.) pleasant surprise. The steering wheel needs to either be recovered, reconditioned, or replaced, but the unit-body has minimal rust. The control arms, etc. could use some blasting, priming, and repainting, but that’s going to have to wait. Meanwhile, current focus is on getting the left frame rail that the bumper attaches to straightened, and replacing the brake pressure accumulator that was damages and is leaking as a result of the accident that the car was apparently in. I’m going to put some hydraulic fluid in the reservoir and see if that gets me steering boost and brake pressure back. The abs light was on, but thanks to this forum, a blown fuse was suspected and revealed to be the cause (in addition to the brake pressure accumulator having no fluid/pressure). Will replace the fuse in the meanwhile and search for a replacement abs relay so that the fuse doesn’t keep blowing. That pretty much rounds out the “bad” at the moment. The car starts right up, no smoky exhaust, so I’m going to change the oil, filter, flush the brakes, and drive it to the body shop that’s right around the corner from my house and beg them to help me straighten the frame rail. I want to get tthat done first because it’s also where the “bomb” attaches. I will send pics! Thanks.

vince.

Hey Vince, welcome to the tribe. Since you're gonna have it out anyway, might consider sending bomb off to Dave Case(Accumulators - Home) for recharge. Also the hydraulic system in these cars is the weak point so if any of the hoses appear to leak, might want to have them rebuilt. If you can't find anyone local Spokane House of Hose has done many including 2 sets for me that are still leak free. If for some reason Shokan doesn't have a bomb for you,I've got one. Another weak point is the 60k/7yr timing belt interval and guessing you don't know when it was last done. You can move electric fan out of way and remove drivers cover to see belt. When its back on the road, you're gonna love it. Wish mine was Pearl....Good luck, Tom

hey tom,

thanks for the words of encouragement and the tech tips. you are right on all fronts. i am definitely going to take a crack at the timing belt while the front end is a bit apart (see pics attached). i decided to clean up/degrease the engine compartment before i test the brakes and steering by putting hydraulic fluid in the reservoir. probably should have looked at some of my wires more closely, because the knock sensor wires had their insulation baked off, and so the car wouldn't start. turn over yes, but wouldn't idle, so at the very least, the wet knock sensor wires didn't help. does/has anyone sourced left/right green/red knock sensor wires? i have lots of heat-shrink wrap, and could probably re-insulate the wires, but i might just get a new set if someone would point me in the right direction. i am trying to preserve the cars oem look as much as possible, but its hard to find someone selling the left and right green/red combo. lots of green, not a lot of red, althought i am guessing that they are interchangeable.

while i wait for things to dry out, i took a look at the spark plugs (see pic). not looking good. they are Bosch Platinum +4 B3 868s. might go with a single-electrode ngk, as they are cheaper and ive always thought that the 4-electrode spark plugs were a bit gimicky, but if anyone wants to chime in w/a suggestion, feel free.

thanks for the bomb offer. rather than wait for the turnaround for the bomb to get rebuilt, i may just purchase a new one from autohausaz. its kind of expensive. and i agree that a bomb sitting on a shelf could in theory suffer some degradation due to time, i really want to get this think back on the road before the summer is over. i know that kind of doesn't make sense as these cars are basically snow-machines, but i think this is going to be more of a boulevard cruiser/time capsule than an offroad adventure vehicle. i will probably contact audibombs.com via email anyway and see what his thoughts are. and i also like the idea of spokane house of hose for the pressure hoses. it would be nice to have someone rehab them assuming its a relatively routine process (which is sounds like it is).

lastly, my theory is that this is an overbuilt, complicated, but generally tough car. i like what i have read about the wear of alusil blocks, and for a car that's spent all of its life in the snow-belt (SD and MN) the body is in fantastic shape, owing to galvanization and a ton of cavity wax, and undercoating. or i could be cursing the day i bought it by this time next week. we'll see. thanks again.

vince https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.aud...563cf31d49.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.aud...1e31de2996.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.aud...719c5502bc.jpg

Both my cars knock sensor wires look like that. I've put some tape where it touches metal but never seen knock code so I just kinda forget about it. I replaced the green one on Lago back when I got the car in 02 as it broke at block and was not connected, and I recall not being able to find red then. As long as wire is long enough, I'd also assume interchangeable. I run Autolite 103's in both cars. Rumor has it that some German rally guy back in the day pissed off Bosch sponsor by running the Autolites. Full set is like $10. Car looks clean...Tom

follow-up question: why are the distributor rotors so hard to remove.on the V8Q? is loctite really the culprit here? no set screw or other mechanical fastener that i can see.

They are glued on, so the only way to get them off is to break them with a pliers. Probably a channel locks would work best.

Bob