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D2 'facelifting' project


IT_S8
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Well, I've not posted anything new for a while, so thought I'd throw in something interesting. I can't claim much of the credit for this, as it was mainly Eddyh's project, but I sort of finished it off (nearly..!)

What you see is a Pre facelift S8, but its running a facelift instrument cluster, facelift center console and with an RNS-E from an Audi A4.

Ignoring the wood mis-match, cosmetically it all works rather well, it certainly makes the car feel a lot younger having the full colour instrument panel, and the menu buttons under the armrests to drive the trip computer is neat.

The RNS-E for the uninitiated is awesome - MP3's via SD Card, far superior european wide DVD mapping, etc. This one is also hooked upto an Audi bluetooth handsfree phone module, using the factory fitted microphone which gives you total control over your phone from the RNS-E screen, memories, dialing, receiving etc.

I put a paddle shift steering wheel in from an RS6, as one of the best features of the later cars is being able to make gearshifts with your hands still on the wheel, and the RS6 paddles are probably the most sporting solution (plus a fraction easier to wire up as they dont need a wire to the illumination!)

The beady eyed amongst you will notice an oil warning light on the DIS, as this conversion isn't without its problems:

1) Canbus - Many signals on the newer cars are delivered over canbus to the instrument cluster rather than using discrete physical wires. Speed, RPM's, Fuel consumption for example. A 3rd party module is needed to be installed to convert the signals from what the car has, to what the cluster needs.

2) The pre facelift 32V engines have no engine oil level output, only oil pressure, so the older cluster doesnt check for it. 40v engines do though, so facelift clusters expect a signal. The module that converts the signals to canbus also generates a false G266 oil level signal that when hooked up to the instrument cluster, should make the cluster happy and this was working, but has since failed, and its not the wiring so I can only assume the module is playing up...

3) The gear selection doesnt show in the DIS any more. This is a real shame, as its one of the most useful things to have once you have a steering wheel with the tiptronic controls

4) The RNS-E wont show its turn by turn directions in the instrument cluster. It shows MP3 song names, radio stations etc, but no navigation info. This is a problem with all D2 RNS-E retrofits.

But the plus points:

1) Makes the car looks more youthful, and the RNS-E is definitely a very functional upgrade

2) Better than upgrading to a later car that might get clobbered for the higher tax bracket

3) Its a dam good way to get to know 95% of all the wires behind the dashboard +++

4) Its really, a very unique way to modify a motor....

post-13272-13791442585_thumb.jpg

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That looks excellent mate!

What is involved in replacement the stereo? Is it as simple as taking the old one out and putting the new one in? Or is any modifying required?

Cheers

Fitting an RNS-E has been discussed quite a bit on various forums, and its a lot easier now as many folks with facelift A8 D2 cars have already done it. The biggest problem is getting it to fit, as you will have to cut the RNS-E to size to fit it in place of an RNS-D - Paul Waterloo did a good write up on this somewhere, I'm sure someone will post the link. Electrically speaking, its not too difficult either, as again, its been well documented, and you have the confidence that 'its been done before'

Whats more significant about this particular install, is that this is a pre facelift car, which originally had a regular single din stereo, and was built years before the RNS-D was out, never mind the RNS-E... !

I've not done an RNS-D to RNS-E conversion yet, but when this car is dismantled the Navigation kit will come out of this one and go in my facelift S8, replacing the RNS-D.... I dont expect it to be difficult. (famous last words!)

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Glad to see you've finished what I started, good work!

As you most likely have access to the bits how about trying a facelift gearbox ECU, I think that the gear position is sent over canbus so might just require a couple of wires to connect to the canbus and get the display working.

The steering wheel badges are replaceable and I believe the S8 one will be the same size as the RS6 one.

Have you tried contacting tixxon about the oil level warning?

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Glad to see you've finished what I started, good work!

As you most likely have access to the bits how about trying a facelift gearbox ECU, I think that the gear position is sent over canbus so might just require a couple of wires to connect to the canbus and get the display working.

The steering wheel badges are replaceable and I believe the S8 one will be the same size as the RS6 one.

Have you tried contacting tixxon about the oil level warning?

I did for about 5 seconds consider the ECU change, then the prospect of rewiring that ECU, and getting it to talk to the Engine ECU again could be too much like hard work... I concluded that it was more important for the engine ECU to talk to the gearbox ECU than the cluster +++

Tixxon seems all very dutch, plus I didnt buy it originally to complicate things further. The odd thing is that the oil sensor output (brown wire) as per the PDF you gave me, is definitely, securely connected to the correct pin on the cluster - but - it is generating a voltage that bounces from +1.5 to 14v and back again, which seems odd to me. I'd expect a 'sensor' to generate a steady signal, hence I guess why the cluster is upset, and I suspect the Tixxon box, which is a shame because its a fabulous concept.....

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Interesting mod - excellent work! I'll confess I've been toying with the idea of the RS6 steering wheel, but not sure I could work up the energy to go the whole hog.

True, it is a lot of effort, so I'll save you some +++ - The 1995 car wont take the RS6 wheel easily as the width of the steering rack spindle changed in June 1997 to a wider one. Any cars prior to Mid 1997 wont take the tiptronic or paddle shift steering wheels without changing the whole steering rack, which will be a real pain - do-able but more effort than you may have first thought.

On the plus side, after Mid 1997 you can fit almost any wheel with a VAG heritage to any VAG car as they are all the same. We had a customer take a 2001 S8 steering rack and fit a Lamborghini steering wheel as part of a kit car project.....

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I did for about 5 seconds consider the ECU change, then the prospect of rewiring that ECU, and getting it to talk to the Engine ECU again could be too much like hard work... I concluded that it was more important for the engine ECU to talk to the gearbox ECU than the cluster +++

Tixxon seems all very dutch, plus I didnt buy it originally to complicate things further. The odd thing is that the oil sensor output (brown wire) as per the PDF you gave me, is definitely, securely connected to the correct pin on the cluster - but - it is generating a voltage that bounces from +1.5 to 14v and back again, which seems odd to me. I'd expect a 'sensor' to generate a steady signal, hence I guess why the cluster is upset, and I suspect the Tixxon box, which is a shame because its a fabulous concept.....

May be more work than you want to do but prehaps you could check what the signal should be on a facelift and then try and simulate that some how to get rid of the warning?

By the way if anyone else fancies doing this I have 2 more facelift clusters; an S8 one and a standard A8 one.

It really does look good though now it's all done and the RNS-E's are great, we have one in the wife's A3.

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True, it is a lot of effort, so I'll save you some +++ - The 1995 car wont take the RS6 wheel easily as the width of the steering rack spindle changed in June 1997 to a wider one. Any cars prior to Mid 1997 wont take the tiptronic or paddle shift steering wheels without changing the whole steering rack, which will be a real pain - do-able but more effort than you may have first thought.

On the plus side, after Mid 1997 you can fit almost any wheel with a VAG heritage to any VAG car as they are all the same. We had a customer take a 2001 S8 steering rack and fit a Lamborghini steering wheel as part of a kit car project.....

Thanks for the info!

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  • 8 months later...
IT_S8:

Can you give me any info on the wiring (airbag + paddle shifter control) in order to upgrade to the RS6 wheel? Pictures would be great!! Seems like a great mod!

Depends what steering wheel you're coming from...... But its really very simple. Airbag and horn are generic connections usually, and the tiptronic paddles are literally a ground, shift up and shift down. 3 wires.....

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Depends what steering wheel you're coming from...... But its really very simple. Airbag and horn are generic connections usually, and the tiptronic paddles are literally a ground, shift up and shift down. 3 wires.....

Thanks for the reply!

I currently have a 2001 S8 with the 3 spoke sport wheel with the tiptronic buttons on each side of the wheel.

I thought I might have to re-wire like this S6 guy did:

Tiptronic paddle-shift steering wheel install <very very long> - AudiWorld Forums

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  • 1 year later...

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