Dust Dodging

If, after my last post, you guessed that I was going to find something to do other than sanding old paint off of Zed, you were right. I just can't get myself fired up to do that. I think I'll just have to put in an hour here and an hour there or it will never get done. Seriously, I thought after the rain we got recently I would get all fired up, but... nope.

Passenger Side

It started with something so simple. I was sitting on my front porch, surveying the herd while sipping a beer as the evening turned to twilight. Like a beacon, the white trash-bag taped over the front passenger window of the A4 shined in the dwindling light. Yeah, that just had to get fixed.

So, off to the junk yard we go. I hadn't been to the yard for a while; long before the CoViD-19 thing hit. The scene is a little different now. Of course, lots of folks have masks on, and there's the safe-distancing stuff on the floor near the check-in / check-out counter. But, more than that, it seemed like the folks pulling parts were pulling parts for other people more than for themselves. I say that from partially overhead passing conversations. Regardless, there's something about the junk yard that I really enjoy. Sure, the conditions need to be right. The car you're looking for has the parts you want, and they aren't trash. Ideally, it isn't super cold or wet. When you hit those conditions, it is downright fun to pull parts. Today was that kind of day. I found a black 1996 Audi A4 Quattro that hadn't been picked over too much. Most important, it still had the front passenger window.

Removing and Installing A4 Window

window in

For all of the usual over-engineering that German cars suffer, the front window on the A4 isn't one of them. This is actually a very simple operation. The inner door card needs to be removed. It is held on by 2 small screws (one front, one rear) at the top. Usually, there are a pair of screws inside the door grab, hidden under a pop-out panel. Since the card in the donor and in Nemo had both been removed previously, these screws were gone. Once the screws are out, the door card lifts straight up, and then pulls away. The door holds the card with a cable connected to the inner door opener. This removes fairly easily. I did not have to touch this for the window R&R. Once the card is far enough out of the way for you to put hands on the window tracks inside the door, you're ready. Force the window slightly lower, like 3 or 4 inches. The bottom of the window needs to pass the inner structures enough for you to see where the window attaches to the tracks. Depending on the year, the window is held on with either Phillips bolts or Torx. One last item worth mentioning: shop-vac all of the broken glass out of the door and the floor. The floor part is obvious, but if you don't vacuum the door, it will have a cheap rattle of the glass bits every time you open and close it. Spend the 20 minutes and vacuum. You won't regret it.

The window removes and installs from the outside. When removing, lift the rear out first, with the front corner trailing. The install is the opposite, lead with the front corner and settle into the window lift-clamps equally. As you tighten the clamps down, pull/push down on the window to make sure it stays fully seated. Once installed, I decided to remove the after-market tint. I regret not doing it when it was out. I had to clean the window a lot after that, starting with peanut butter and then window cleaner but it looks like a normal window now.

While I was at the yard, I grabbed the front side lights, since Nemo has been missing his since T bought the car. I found a pair of fog lights from a slightly later model that I took, thinking I'd slap them into either Nemo or K'Lack later. Last, I pulled the front grille because the one on Nemo was painted flat black by a prior owner. Since leaving the yard, I have thought about going back for the hood since it is in such nice shape and the hood of Nemo has no sheen on it. Both the no-sheen and the black grille can be seen in the picture below.

Removing and Installing A4 Front Marker Lights

front marker in

Again, I was surprised at the lack of German car-maker hassles when it came to removing and installing the front side marker lights. First, open the hood. Above each of the 2 lights there is a small round hole in the front steel top that runs directly under the hood at the front. Slide a basic slotted screwdriver into that hole and find the small plastic tab jutting rearward from the light fixture. Press down on the tab and with your free hand, pull the light forward. It pulls out about an inch and then needs to slide a little bit to the outside, and then pulls the rest of the way forward and free. This makes replacing that bulb super easy. In my case, it was a very simple case of installing matching front side-markers. Once wired up (socket clicks in and is held with 2 small plastic tabs), the install is the reverse. No, really, it is. Set the housing into the hole, slightly to the outside, but oriented as it will look when it is in it's final position. The tab that you pressed down on above needs to find it's way around a vertical plastic bit. Then, the housing sets deeper, sliding towards the inside. Set the pins into the alignment holes and set it all the way back. It should "click" to let you know that the tab has reset.

Just like that, the A4 looks way better. There are other things Nemo needs, like finding the oil leak and fixing the trunk (latch broken). But, the easy stuff is done, and now it is complete. So, in theory, I can leave it alone and shift focus onto Zed. But I think you and I both know that just isn't going to happen. I just don't want to.

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along.