When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The black paint on the radiator support wasn’t looking great. I didn’t want to paint it as it’s not totally black and if painted although it would look nice you would be able to tell it was repainted.
I removed the hood locks, bolts, cables and polished it up!
Drivers side not polished compared to center section that has.
This entire restoration is insane. I want to find an E55 that needs some love and do the same thing. I'm in the same process with my Audi. Amazing work!!
There have been several in the marketplace here on MBWorld for sale. Keep up the work on the Audi!
I've definitely been cruising the marketplace. I'm working on a dealership that has a super low mileage 2005, but they're being stubborn on their price. New ignition harness going in the Audi this weekend. Should be (insert sarcasm) tons of fun.
I've definitely been cruising the marketplace. I'm working on a dealership that has a super low mileage 2005, but they're being stubborn on their price. New ignition harness going in the Audi this weekend. Should be (insert sarcasm) tons of fun.
Keep working on them to get a decent price. Prices have really come down on the E55s. I think nice, well cared, low mileage ones will increase over the next couple of years because of sooo many getting totaled or being higher mileage and getting ragged out.
Pulled the car outside to check out the polish work on the paint. Working with the Capri blue color is about like working with a black car. Everything has to be looked over several times for missed places or swirl marks.
I removed the side skirts as they have a few scratches along with the sand blast at the lower sections of the panels from the highway driving. I also found a previous paint blend on the rear bumper that wasn’t up to standards, and a few scratches near the trunk opening, probably from getting things out of the trunk. So I’m going to refinish these along with the front end parts.
Funny you posted those pics. That brings me to another thing to straighten out. When I pulled the rear bumper cover off I realized there wasn’t a bumper reinforcement behind the cover!
There was a cooler added inline along with the ice tank. It’s mounted behind the rear bumper and the cooler had 2 Spal fans mounted to it. The motors on the fans are tall and interfered with the reinforcement so someone left it off. Not a huge deal as long as no one bumps into you. Lol.
The mounting straps for the cooler where a little thin for me so I also replaced them with some thicker aluminum flat bar.
I found a bumper reinforcement on eBay and ordered some slim line Spal fans to replace the others. I mounted up the new fans and test fit the reinforcement but it was still 3/4 off from bolting up.
The pics will show how I made it work.
Rear mounted SC cooler.
This is what should have been on the car.
Spal fans.
The fans are so tall they were actually touching the inside of the bumper cover and caused wiring issues.
Replaced the thinner mounting bar with some thicker bar.
Test fitting the reinforcement I was still a little off so I “clearanced” an area.
Old on the left. New on the right.
3/4 off from completely bolting up.
Opened it up to give clearance for the fans. It’s not cut through the seam at the bottom (left side of pic) leaving more strength to the reinforcement.
The reinforcement is a hollow tube basically and is open on the ends.
The fans fit nice now without touching anything. The fans are puller style fans so the air will be able to flow into the reinforcement and out the open ends.
gave my boy the car to drive during his HS years and guessing he backed into something. Found another mount in local lkq and it’s all good for $10! Got a few junkyard that has bunch of E series to pick from. Let me know if you need me find you anything.
03-19-2020, 04:10 PM
