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.
Picked up another rare and difficult to work on car! Not running naturally, $500 and a quick trailer trip home and now I have a new toy!
Condition is fine, horribly dirty but no serious damage or paint issues. There is one point of damage on the right rear bumper front, I'll see how badly I'm bothered by it.
Intake manifold staining, total ***** to remove since it's magnesium
Last edited by Striker223; Dec 30, 2024 at 12:55 AM.
Super grungy Poor thing has been sitting for a long while Point of major damage, I'm going to see how much it bothers me after paint correction No rust though All the areas that rust first look good I hate the interior color though, I'm already shopping for an all black set to swap in Wood is cracked as well, annoyingly expensive too Found these in the car..... New record! Literally everything is coding. I reset most of it and only a CANbus error came back, I was able to find and fix it as well as diag the no start today though. Just needs a new main fuel pump and the control module harness repaired, these have two fuel tanks, 3 pumps (one main, one syphon and one transfer) and 4 level sensors and the module controls all but the main pump Threw a spare H5 into it, everything is horridly dirty and rodents got into the engine bay so I'm sure I will have to fix something on the engine harness. First pass with just hot water, dirt levels were so bad I didn't bother with a contact wash yet Rinse bucket....after one rinse. This is after I already hit the trunk lid channel a little. There was a crazy amount of stuff built up everywhere Foam time, engine bay got DEEP cleaned That's better Needs paint correction but the clear coat is strong and even thickness so it will clean up well
EDIT: All glass is original, all trim is present and I successfully pulled the staining out of the engine intake magnesium. I also for the first time (not counting the LS460) have a new set of matching tires included with the car! Nothing amazing but not having to buy tires is awesome on a cheap car.
Interior pull is Tuesday, it's a "normal step" when I buy new cars I intend to keep but this car actually requires it. Paint correction will likely occur after it's on the road and fully shaken down so if it needs more work I don't have to freak about touching it.
Last edited by Striker223; Dec 29, 2024 at 10:05 PM.
You have way more patience and time than I do. I don’t mind cleaning my cars but that would stress me out to have to clean that car to where it needs to be.
Very cool subject! I had a '99 Passat 1.8T, which was this basic body before the heavy facelift. LOVED IT. The luxury features added to the V6 and W8 were always of envy. I'd put this car and the rest of the line-up of the time the pinnacle for VW in modern times. They were mostly over-engineered. The trunk struts are a good example.
Look forward to seeing your progress and how good the paint turns out. Keep us posted.
Very nice find.
You do great work @Striker223 ! 🏆 🏆 🏆
Reading your post I can see why it sat for a long time. Looks like it needed complicated diagnostic work with the electrical and most shops either won't touch it or make the estimate so high to cover their butts so that it totals the car. Lol
for the broken wiring, are you planning to add a few splices, or will you replace a section of harness? And how hard are fuel pump swaps on these? Tank-drop or in-cabin access?
The aftermarket head-unit is so depressing to see on that one, looks fairly good though. I would be a little scared of a Canada car due to rust though if I'm honest....
I was already planning on swapping an Audi 6 speed from a 2006-2008 A4 in once the auto trans dies. Only hard part is that I will need the pedals from a B5 manual but the trans and shifter out of the newer A/S4s all fit
for the broken wiring, are you planning to add a few splices, or will you replace a section of harness? And how hard are fuel pump swaps on these? Tank-drop or in-cabin access?
Good luck, fun find!
The secondary tank is a drop at the rear of the car, main tank is in car under the seat and I don't think is something I would consider hard. There looks to be one connector for the return side of the fuel system that may be hard to reach.
I think the reason it got "totaled" is the cheapest pump in any parts network is over $1000 and they were not willing to pay that on top of the needed harness repairs to the aux tank control module.
Interestingly the main pump that actually provides rail pressure had ability to run as a stand-alone even if the rest of the system is dead
Dumb question, what's that for?
I know nothing about W engines.lol
What's it balancing?
The W8 is not an inherently balanced engine since it's technically a flat plane type crank, same exact issue as a cross plane vs flat plane V8 engine in that a flat plane has some serious vibration issues.
VAG didn't like this as the whole point to the W engines was compactness and power but also smoothness and as close to dead flat TQ shelves as possible. The W8 was on thin ice since it only maintained peak TQ from 2700-5252 vs like 1200-5252 for the W12s....and since the W8 is also a flat plane it vibrates too much. They fixed it by running a balance module that is timed to the crank, it works by rotating an imbalanced pair of shafts at 2x crank speed to cancel out the harmonic imbalance.
Think ANC headphones but for mechanical parts
Last edited by Striker223; Jan 7, 2025 at 06:06 AM.
I took those out of my corolla, can barely notice a difference but I'm used to driving my truck and don't care about refinement. I did it because the 2 shafts are about 6 lbs of rotating mass so that should be good for about 20hp right Haha.
B5.5 Passat W8 sedan
