UNauth.Pt2-WWOB Alert

["Mark E. Woodland" <mwoodland@program4.com>]

Major (domo) Apologies, but I seem to have forgotten to add the details 
about some potentially vexing bits.. It all came back to me after lunch, 
when I'd best be beavering away for The Cause. Then I remembered.. Oh yeah, 
the Pulley.. and then Damn, I bought that special tool that didn't work for 
squat.
Now the Dilemma. "to Perpetrate a Wanton Waste Of Bandwidth on This (to 
this point) Patient AUDIence, or print an addendum(b) in a marginally 
useful and fragmented format. Apologies in advance, here is the procedure, 
with additions.

Just a note to those of you who are contemplating the rebuild vs. replace 
options on the Audi hydraulic pump.  I talked with various independents and 
dealer service techs and found that the hit ratio ran 50:50 for the 
independents, with the dealer types pushing the R&R fix..(imagine my 
shock).
The biggest complaint was that the pump would continue to leak at the 
center  Iron/Aluminum interface.  I'm sure someone has listed the fix.. 
somewhere in the archives, (which I have yet to peruse), but on the off 
chance that this issue has not been mentioned, here's the deal.

In this case, being forewarned was half the battle.  Our '87 5KTQSW had the 
rack replaced by the previous owner-God Bless Him-, but the pump was 
disgracing itself in public, pissing itself at every opportunity.  After 
pricing the seal kit vs. remanufactured unit, it seemed to be a no brainer, 
but for the aforementioned caveat. For (about) the going price for a can of 
the green mystery fluid-which was being consumed at the rate of one every 
2-3 weeks, I ordered the seal kit and proceeded to pull the pump on the 
first (semi) warm day in January (PA,'86).

Before I forget (again) I'm sure you'll feel better to know that I actually 
bought a tool to remove the piston caps.  Snap-On's finest 3/8" drive, 3/4" 
wide x 1/8" flat blade screw driver.  Too cool methinks, no hammer and 
chisel job, this!  As it turned out, and as you already suspected, the damn 
thing wanted to leap out of the slot, into the air, and dangerously close 
to my facial features.  Writing off the investment for a tool that I'll 
undoubtedly never need (until I lose it), it seemed time for Plan B. 
 Right!  You're getting too quick for me.  The Hammer and Chisel 
Alternative. Clamped in a (padded) vise, it took suprisingly little effort 
(and suprisingly little damage) to loosen the caps.
Next step was the Pulley.  I've heard there are elegant solutions out 
there, somewhere, having to do with presses and heat and suchlike, but the 
hammer was already close at hand, whispering..use me...With the pulley 
supported on two blocks of wood, it wasn't too tough to drive the shaft 
through with a drift punch (after first padding the floor to catch the 
flying pump).
A word of Caution here: try not to drop, or hit, or look crosseyed at the 
alloy bracket affixed to the front of the pump. Get it the hell out of the 
way and wrapped in padding as early as possible.  It looks like aluminum 
but seems to fracture like glass if dropped... at least mine did.

On disassembly and cleaning, I thought it couldn't hurt to check the 
aluminum (rear) pump half for distortion.  Without farting around with 
straightedge and feeler guages, I went straight for the "lapping plate" a 
sheet of 1/4" glass with a sheet of 220 grit sandpaper (soaked in warm 
water) laid flat. After a few circular passes on the face of the aluminum, 
I picked it up and took a look-Big Shock- The whole center of the casting 
was low (darker-no sanding pattern), with the edges all nice and bright. 
 It took about 10-15 min. of hand lapping to bring the whole surface dead 
flat, with an even color and pattern, plus an extra minute or so to tighten 
up on the depth of the O-ring groove.  I thought that the Iron side would 
be much more stable, but just for grins, I checked it out and found more or 
less the same situation.  (Less distortion but more time to remove the 
material..Iron is tough stuff.)  In both cases, I finished up with a piece 
of 440 grit, also wet, to go for the ultra-smooth finish.

After a thorough cleaning to remove all traces of the lapping residue, 
everything went back together without drama, just be sure to pre-wet all 
O-Rings, pistons and internals with the Green Mineral Oil before assembly.
All this took place in the relative comfort of the unheated basement, so 
the real shock didn't come until it came time for installation.  Overnight, 
a Nor-Easter had hit, dumping about two feet of (Hurricane level) windblown 
snow, necessitating pressing the Quattro into immediate service.  When I 
could (finally) leave the house, I went out to the car, popped the hood, 
and found that the snow had come in from underneath and packed itself level 
with the underside of the hood... Hood came up and not one part of the 
engine was visible. It took a flashlight in the mouth and a fair amount of 
digging to uncover a hole large enough to find the pump belt and install 
the pump.. Even the banjo fittings were packed full and had to be blown out 
and cleaned.
Good, character building stuff.. and a good reason to contemplate a garage, 
or, almost as good, do it in the summer, at your leisure.
Anyhow, I've repeated the procedure since then, and have yet to have any 
leaks with either of the pumps.  Hopefully, Your Mileage May Be Much The 
Same.
A last note on aesthetics. If you want that OEM look, spray the whole works 
with gloss black paint, but seeing as how the paint had (mostly) flaked off 
the Aluminum, I chipped the rest off, shined it up with Scotchbrite and 
just painted the Iron side.
Best Regards,
Mark
Future UNauthorized rants will include replacing the (low pressure) 
hydraulic hoses and re-using the crimp type banjo fittings-or "More Fun 
With The Dremel and Bench Grinder".  Possibly even "Cutting the Hell out of 
Your Headlights for Fun and Better Visibility"
Somebody stop me if any of this DIY stuff veers into the realm of the 
Hazardous or Not Recommended, Outright or Partially...