It has been a pretty quiet few weeks on Project Rusty but a few things have happened, the most satisfying of which is that it’s finally back on all four wheels. First I had to sort out the stuck caliper.
I asked an ex-mechanic mate to help out, but try as he might, he couldn’t shift it, so I put out an appeal on the VASK forum. To my surprise a member in Wellington had a spare pair of Girling G60 calipers, and they were even painted red. After a quick spruce up I got the left one fitted and bled.
Then I was finally able to take Rusty off its stands and sitting back on its wheels. So satisfying!
I tried a few more things to get the aftermarket window regulator to work with no success, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy another second-hand one. After some digging around and posting on the urquattro Facebook groups I was offered one. The deal was done, and it arrived a few days later from England.
I went down to the garage to fit it, then realised it was for the wrong side! Some cursing followed, then another one was sourced. Another ten day wait for it to arrive from the UK and.. success!
Finally after two years, my passenger door is back together.
I started to think about that flickering instrument cluster, and decided it was time to get it sorted out. I checked it out myself first. Those digital displays are glass tubes. So cool.
The 3-pronged thingy is the component that often fails, and I had ordered one from Ebay some time ago. But looking at it I realised this was way beyond my soldering skills. I was recommended to use Get Electronic so I packaged up the unit and with great trepidation posted it off to them. They replaced the component but it hasn’t solved the issue. So that’s still ongoing.
Another VASK member had a box of random 80’s Audi parts to give away, so one weekend I drove over to Hawke’s Bay to collect it.
One of the things in the box was a collection of window switches. This made me happy as mine were intermittent, and very frustrating to use.
A quick swap over, and now I have reliable switches. Result!
Rummaging through the rapidly dwindling parts-to-fit pile I found the indicator relay I bought a few months back, so I decided to fit it. And that’s all the issue was with my indicators. Another win.
And finally I pulled out my boot lid carpet, intending to scrape off the glue from the back of it. The front is in excellent condition but I have no idea what they used to stick it on. Whatever it is, it’s not nice! After two minutes’ scraping I stuck the scraper into my finger. Time to call it a day, I thought.
So after all this time, things are definitely starting to come together.
Follow the full Project Rusty build here.
great