engine alignment, power coating

[gerard]

> On the type 44 engine alignment thread, if you change ONLY the engine
> mounts or the tranny mounts, the set you did NOT disturb will keep
> everything in alignment. If you change all four at once, then you'll need
> to check and re-set the engine alignment. I seem to recall that once it is
> in the correct position, you're supposed to torque the top motor mount
> bolts with the engine idling.
>
> Check the Bentley to be sure.

I recall seeing something in the Bentley and the Haynes manual about
aligning the gearbox correctly. You have to shift it so that a certain
marker or section is a certain distance from another thing. That is my
technical description of how it is done. :) I guess I'll find this out
when (maybe someday!) I put the engine and tranny into the car. With the
gearbox aligned I would reckon the engine then simply bolts on and you
let the car idle so that the thing settles on its mounts and then you
tighten it.

> I recently had some (non-Audi) parts power coated - they look great (even
> if they are not yellow, sorry, Hugh!), but the powder coating guy got some
> powder coat into some of the bolt holes, and now the correct hardware won't
> go back in. I guess I'm about to find out just how tough this stuff really is!

My Soundstream amplifier was coated in a blue powdercoat. I removed it
so that I could polish the heatsink (still going to put it up against
the buffing wheel). I tried all sorts of stuff even various forms of
acid I found at the hardware, but nothing got through it. I had to
recoat the thing in paint stripper and it took forever to remove this
stuff. Sand blasting it did no good. For 5 minutes of blasting I only
got about 1cm down the one rib of the heatsink.

I managed to find a paint stripper in an aerosol can. It's called Ripper
Stripper. I'm not sure if you get this in the USA. I was stripping the
paint off the power steering pump using normal paint stripper and carb
cleaner and it was taking forever. Sprayed this Ripper Stripper on and a
few minutes later I simply brushed off the paint with a wire brush. :)
Amazing stuff. I'm sure it'll work on powder coating. At the time it was
about $10 for a car. :(

Otherwise get a good thread tap of the correct size and thread pitch and
continually screw it in and out of the bolt holes.

G.