A tortured tale of quattro restoration,
Discussion
Little updatery type stuff to this one, hopefully the pictures wont just disappear.....
Had no time to scratch my backside these last few months but still did some work each night to get closer to the finish on it.
The curse of bodywork being ripples which show up like nipples on a bulltook me a long time to eliminate but persistence has paid off and last saturday night the long time resident of the garage was ready for its make up to be applied.
Here he is, the final photo in primer.
Sunday morning and i fell out of my pit at 5am and started the long process of masking it all off and the floor to prevent as much as possible any dirt contamination or paint finding its way inside my nice clean engine bay.
By 9pm id had enough of the drone of my homebrew extraction/filtration unit and the squeezing of my head by the respirator into something resembling an egg, besides, i put enough coats on to allow any rectification work ( some small amount needed) and for the compounding and polishing im going to start this week.
But enough of my blabbering, heres some pictures of how it looks now.
So its starting to look almost decent now, just have to aquire various pasrt to finish the little blighter.
Had no time to scratch my backside these last few months but still did some work each night to get closer to the finish on it.
The curse of bodywork being ripples which show up like nipples on a bulltook me a long time to eliminate but persistence has paid off and last saturday night the long time resident of the garage was ready for its make up to be applied.
Here he is, the final photo in primer.
Sunday morning and i fell out of my pit at 5am and started the long process of masking it all off and the floor to prevent as much as possible any dirt contamination or paint finding its way inside my nice clean engine bay.
By 9pm id had enough of the drone of my homebrew extraction/filtration unit and the squeezing of my head by the respirator into something resembling an egg, besides, i put enough coats on to allow any rectification work ( some small amount needed) and for the compounding and polishing im going to start this week.
But enough of my blabbering, heres some pictures of how it looks now.
So its starting to look almost decent now, just have to aquire various pasrt to finish the little blighter.
Cool thread. I own an '82 RHD quattro myself.
The vacuum servo brake solution is a bad idea, though. You'll need to fit a one way valve to prevent the turbo pressure from destroying the servo, it will make left foot braking difficult (most vacuum servos loose their pressure after just _one_ step on the brake, and using the left foot is just SO much fun when you're trying to throw the quattro around corners) - and most of all, space on that side of the engine bay is very, very limited due to the waste gate. Chances are, it won't even fit.
Trust me, when you're trying to repair something in that area in say, five years time, you'll curse the original idea of fitting a big fat vacuum disc in that corner.
My advice would be to use the standard bomb configuration. It just works better. Those bombs only cost a few dozen quid to replace and they last at least 60,000 miles.
The vacuum servo brake solution is a bad idea, though. You'll need to fit a one way valve to prevent the turbo pressure from destroying the servo, it will make left foot braking difficult (most vacuum servos loose their pressure after just _one_ step on the brake, and using the left foot is just SO much fun when you're trying to throw the quattro around corners) - and most of all, space on that side of the engine bay is very, very limited due to the waste gate. Chances are, it won't even fit.
Trust me, when you're trying to repair something in that area in say, five years time, you'll curse the original idea of fitting a big fat vacuum disc in that corner.
My advice would be to use the standard bomb configuration. It just works better. Those bombs only cost a few dozen quid to replace and they last at least 60,000 miles.
brun said:
space on that side of the engine bay is very, very limited due to the waste gate. Chances are, it won't even fit.
I think that's why Audi initially argued that a RHD Quattro wasn't possible.I also think not having the original hydraulic brake assist is a bad decision, especially as the bomb provides emergency assist for brakes and steering. It would be handy if there was a warning when hydraulic pressure is lost before the bomb loses pressure though...
Thanks for the comments fellas, all appreciated.
The colour wasn't offered on the 83 models just the Lhasa colour which to me is too dark and too green, hence the lago selection.
I realise it's not correct for the year but then neither is the AAN motor in the bay and the 20 valve disc upgrade.
The vacuum servo isn't likely to create any issues as it's something I've used previously with success on the coupe gt I had, in fact it's already installed and plumbed and with the direct acting pedal it's made the old cross linkage redundant allowing space for my ecu cable run, bonus.
The need for a one way valve isn't lost on me either as all vehicles with a brake servo have them in any case, mine will be the one taken from my old celica turbo which is made from metal rather than vw's plastic offerings.
incidentally, the diesels I'm currently working on also use a brake servo and a vacuum reservoir externally from the servo to give a useful brake pedal when the engines under boost or switched off so it does indeed work.
The point regarding space on that side is well taken but since I'm going to use the manifold running down the left side of the engine (such as the Wagner item) it'll eliminate the space worries, there's not much I've not given some deep consideration to as the whole projects been a headache, still, the light is starting to show at the end of the tunnel.
What a lot of fun it's been, hopefully it'll induce an even larger grin when it's mobile.
The colour wasn't offered on the 83 models just the Lhasa colour which to me is too dark and too green, hence the lago selection.
I realise it's not correct for the year but then neither is the AAN motor in the bay and the 20 valve disc upgrade.
The vacuum servo isn't likely to create any issues as it's something I've used previously with success on the coupe gt I had, in fact it's already installed and plumbed and with the direct acting pedal it's made the old cross linkage redundant allowing space for my ecu cable run, bonus.
The need for a one way valve isn't lost on me either as all vehicles with a brake servo have them in any case, mine will be the one taken from my old celica turbo which is made from metal rather than vw's plastic offerings.
incidentally, the diesels I'm currently working on also use a brake servo and a vacuum reservoir externally from the servo to give a useful brake pedal when the engines under boost or switched off so it does indeed work.
The point regarding space on that side is well taken but since I'm going to use the manifold running down the left side of the engine (such as the Wagner item) it'll eliminate the space worries, there's not much I've not given some deep consideration to as the whole projects been a headache, still, the light is starting to show at the end of the tunnel.
What a lot of fun it's been, hopefully it'll induce an even larger grin when it's mobile.
Edited by 4v6 on Tuesday 2nd September 19:44
Yertis said:
It would be handy if there was a warning when hydraulic pressure is lost before the bomb loses pressure though...
There is, there's a light on the dash (or a report from the speech synthesizer).The main reasons Audi went for hydraulic instead of vacuum in the urquattro was because the hydraulic servo will always have enough power for 10 to 20 brake actions, even when the engine is on boost or stops running at all. Whereas the vacuum booster will be depleted after only a few steps on the brake pedal, and needs at least a few seconds of proper engine vacuum to recharge again. This can be overcome by adding an extra vacuum pump that constantly charges the booster (and many Audis have those for precisely that reason) or an extra vacuum canister, but with space limited under the bonnet, and with an hydraulic pump already present for the steering, it was the easiest solution to have everything hydraulic.
Modern turbo cars have vacuum assist, though, probably because it's cheaper AND because they have enough room to fit the extra pump required to make it fail safe.
Edited by brun on Wednesday 3rd September 12:53
brun said:
There is, there's a light on the dash (or a report from the speech synthesizer).
Is there? Are you sure about that? I know it advises low hydraulic fluid but I'm not sure it advises when the bomb is providing all the energy (ie when the hydraulic pump drive belt snaps). That said, on my WR the synth had been disconnected, and I've not fully explored the MBs warning light circuits yet.Yertis said:
Is there? Are you sure about that? I know it advises low hydraulic fluid but I'm not sure it advises when the bomb is providing all the energy (ie when the hydraulic pump drive belt snaps). That said, on my WR the synth had been disconnected, and I've not fully explored the MBs warning light circuits yet.
Yep, quite sure, there's a switch under the bomb that will engage when hydraulic pressure gets too low, it's connected to a red light on the analogue dash or to the speech synth on the digital dashboard.Saw that light flicker every time when I stepped on the brakes in my car when the bomb got bad.
Someone probably disconnected the speech on your car because it kept talking to the driver about low hydraulic pressure :-) or some other problem. Seen that 'solution' a lot on quattros...
Edited by brun on Thursday 4th September 10:51
brun said:
Yep, quite sure, there's a switch under the bomb that will engage when hydraulic pressure gets too low, it's connected to a red light on the analogue dash or to the speech synth on the digital dashboard.
Saw that light flicker every time when I stepped on the brakes in my car when the bomb got bad.
Someone probably disconnected the speech on your car because it kept talking to the driver about low hydraulic pressure :-) or some other problem. Seen that 'solution' a lot on quattros...
I just changed the bomb on my Quat and there was no switch associated with it, but it's an MB so different bomb configuration anyway. I'll need to do some more digging around.Saw that light flicker every time when I stepped on the brakes in my car when the bomb got bad.
Someone probably disconnected the speech on your car because it kept talking to the driver about low hydraulic pressure :-) or some other problem. Seen that 'solution' a lot on quattros...
Edited by brun on Thursday 4th September 10:51
Been chipping away at this one for months and its starting to come together finally.
Had the wheels refurbed at Lepsons in Gillingham, came out great, 4 new Dunlops in the correct 215 fitment and a host of other parts sourced.
This has been the longest jigsaw puzzle ive ever done.
Hopefully my photos wont go awol again.
Had the wheels refurbed at Lepsons in Gillingham, came out great, 4 new Dunlops in the correct 215 fitment and a host of other parts sourced.
This has been the longest jigsaw puzzle ive ever done.
Hopefully my photos wont go awol again.
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff