Things assemble more quickly than they disassemble

Project (Fr)Audi continues.

Receiving all of the parts last week, I took the plunge and started reassembling. 

But where to begin this jigsaw puzzle?  There is an order to these things, and it's not entirely evident which major subsystem should receive the attention first. I concluded that I could get the exhaust started.  So I took the plunge and cut the wires of the old oxygen sensors, then pulled out the catalytic converter section, which runs from the exhaust manifold over the drive shafts and under the body to the mid pipe section.  A twist, a turn, and out it came with the stubs of the old oxygen sensors in place.  Could I have saved the originals?  Possibly.  Were new ones expensive? Moderately, at ~$80 each, qty. 4.  But after an hour of struggling, I'd managed to get one of the easy ones out and decided to just cut them.  Out came the pipe; easy peasy.  New Oxygen sensors were double-checked for which one went in which position and, anti-seize in place, loaded, strung through, and the new catalytic converter pipe went in and hooked up to the studs surprisingly easily.  Fifteen minutes tops.  And then all the wires, sensors, connectors, tubes, and whatnot on that side of the engine bay went back together.  Also very quick and easy.  A double check and I was done there.

Until.

I looked at the other side's matching cat-pipe.  Huh, only one hole for an oxygen sensor where there should have been two.  Can't be right.  It wasn't.  I called up the manufacturer today, verified it should have had two, and concluded it was mis-manufactured and slipped past quality control.  Back to Rock Auto she went for an exchange.

What else to do?  Well, I wrangled the new steering rack in.  I had assembled the new tie-rod ends on using the old rack as a guide for rough total width and positioning of the tie-rods with respect to the rack itself.  Close, but with all this work it will need a full alignment.  It will probably be the easiest one the shop has ever done, with everything all new and not rusted into place.  Getting the rack in was like giving birth, in reverse, as it just clears this edge and that firewall with a bit of angling, spinning, and, um, persuasion.  Then you've got to bolt it down from the top in the headwall where the brake reservoir and other fiddly bits live.  Two from the top and one from the bottom.  As the previous owner left it without the one from the bottom, so did I.  Not the way I like to do things, but not the end of the world.  A bit more difficult yet is getting the banjo bolts that hold the hydraulic feed and return lines into place.  You can barely get a wrench onto those, and execute 1/12th of a turn.  Patience and sore muscles.  But they're on.  Back in the driver's seat I hooked up the steering wheel and put together all the trim covering the interior.  Done and done.

On to the suspension.  I'd already put the new struts into the spring assembly, so it was on to the big-box-o-control-arms to sort driver from passenger sets of upper and lower control arms (eight in all) and sway bar connectors and then open up the big-bag-o-nuts-and-bolts to figure out which ones went where.  It's a good thing I had marked up the old ones as I removed them, and kept most of the bolts pointing in the proper direction.  I think I have that puzzle solved, although when finished, I think I'm going to have two spare bolts.  We'll see.  They may be for the sway bar connectors.

What lies ahead?

Too much, unfortunately.  I was replacing the brake cables, but in removing them from the caliper, I think I spied one of my root causes for lousy braking- the caliper pistons are rusted to heck.  I can't imagine what they look like under their dust seals, but it's got to be bad.  Calipers are relatively cheap to buy, but I'm concerned about the bit of metal tube brake line that runs from the caliper to the brake hose.  One of the brake hoses refuses to break free and I'm stripping the nut.  Images of new calipers online don't show that they come with the brake line, so... where to source that?  Will I find the same problem at the rears when I go to replace them?

I still have to put together a whole suspension side, including the drive shaft, the control arms with their ball joints into the steering knuckle, then the drive shaft, then the upper control arms and tie rod ends, and then tightening the various bushings while the weight is on the wheel to pre-load the suspension. 

But things do go together more quickly than they come apart.  At least so far.  Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll have it running.