A tortured tale of quattro restoration,
Discussion
This is a somewhat condensed account of a car I aquired back in 2009 with a view to doing the bare minimum rebuild and then to drive it around, upgrading and fixing it up as required.
This is how it looked after it had been resprayed and "fixed" up long before it passed to me.
My plans didnt really go the way I anticipated though, perhaps I underestimated the amount I'd have to do and spend on it just to get it to that state, its taken far longer than I envisaged and cost a lot more than I'd have believed even though the works been done all by my own hand and on an exceptionally tight budget....and its still not finished!
The car was bought from a US serviceman at RAF Lakenheath who found it assaulting his wallet at a frightening rate and we agreed a price to take it off his hands.
There was no way it could have driven to my location so a car transport service was engaged, the car loaded and carted back to me ( Thanks Terry!).
The nail.
Upon getting it into the garage space I set about the task of searching out all its problems...it had many small things adding up to a big fat nightmare, itd not have been economical for someone to take it on and have to pay the costs of welding,fabrication, mechanicals and bodywork which is where I had a bit of an advantage as I'm fairly adept at most of those aspects.
The interior was pretty much gutted leaving only the headliner in place and the main parts of the dashboard so I could have a good nosey around.
I'd noticed the drivers wing appeared to have been replaced at some point so I removed it to find the lovely colour of rust under it, they never bloody seal them properly after theyve been removed.
These cars often rust terribly at the windscreen lower corners and the top of the door pillar, this ones got nothing to speak of which made me happy for a while.
The engine was looking pretty sorry for itself and although the original 10 valve WR motors are a good old beast I didnt want the hassle of non available fuel injection parts (K-jetronic) or the extreme crowding on the drivers side engine bay which is why months earlier I'd already aquired a 20 valve turbo motor from an S6 estate.
Its the same basic motor as fitted to the RR but has coil packs and a tad more power at 230 bhp stock.
Quite quick enough for me and room to go higher if boredom sets in.
Cramped and messy engine bay.
Once I'd got the old clunker engine out I set about rectifying the easiest to reach bodywork issues, cutting out the rust and welding in new steel with the tig.
The passenger side had nothing of concern and was initially wire brushed and zinc primered whilst the rest of the work was being done.
Stripping the engine revealed it to be on the brink of a violent, noisy and messy destruction.
This is an exhaust valve guide, its almost completely eroded at the tip and with the valve extended out the head of the valve to its normal maximum lift waved about by up to 5mm, the book spec is 1.3mm max, so these were probably original to that head and totally worn out, the car had already had a replacement head at some point at great cost, but as with a lot of things on these cars it hadnt been refurbed at all well, if at all judging by those guides.
Deep cracks between the valves and a nice split on the one exhaust valve, caused by it closing to its seat way off centre.
Stripping the rest of the engine yielded big end shells that were loose in the caps and damage to the crank.
The parts that were reusable or saveable were sold on along with the dialynx exhaust manifold which all helped to fund further parts purchases.
Many issues were found, such as broken engine mounts and bodges galore.
Plenty of work to do on the shell, rust and more rust.
The blister arch and leading edge of the offside rear was fairly challenging as its a compound curve so I set about trying to make a repair panel in one piece but leaving the inner rusted section in situ to locate it against.
A steel table, g-clamp, hammer, wood blocks and ear defenders were my partners for this.
Clamping the flat steel to the table and forming the curve by slowly levering it up and hammering it.
After a few hours I had what appeared to be a fairly close match to what I wanted.
A quick test fit showed it to be largely accurate and almost good enough to weld right in but I couldnt do that until I'd fettled it a little more and fabricated an inner section to replace the rusted out return lip.
I made that in a similar fashion and it took around an hour get it close.
Leaving strategic parts of the rusted body in place I could locate the replacements accurately and tack them in before eventually removing the rusted parts completely and welding the new stuff in properly.
In the midst of this I was looking for parts but theyre a pain to come by as Audi have a policy of "NLA". no longer available, or No Longer Ars*d, still a useful local independant or two got me most of what I needed.
New old stock windscreen.
And a "quattro" scripted one for the rear which came in the boot of the car.
The brake dust/stone guards on these rust to oblivion in a fairly short time due to the heat and battering they get from the elements and you guessed it, theyre "NLA" leaving me the only alternative, make my flipping own but from everlasting stainless steel.
Using what was left of the fronts and rears I had some blanks laser cut to take account of the lip on the edge and also had some steel in 8mm cut out to act as punches and dies to form them over by clamping them in a vice and hammerforming the edge tighter than the press could manage and to form the pressings.
I also formed the rears, luckily I had one of the originals that was just about inctact enough to measure and have the blanks cut.
With my parts collection starting to grow I continued onwards with the body repairs, doing all the leading and trailing arches and derusting suspension components in readiness for reassembly.
The rear suspension had been making some funny doinging and creaking sounds when the car was removed from the trailer, it also had a 5 degree list to starboard and the reason was at some point itd had lowering srpings fitted that didnt fit the struts properly with the spring flopping up and down with the suspension on full droop which had cracked the already weakened top spring seats.
Ripped bumpstops and stut gaitors.
The spring on the right is what it should have had fitted.
Original rear strut inserts were still pretty functional, not bad for a 30 year old car.
The rear diff and subframe all came out to be cleaned, seals renewed (nla on the big left one, cost £80 from the states).
Underbody over the diff wasnt too bad and had been preserved by the leaky oil seals flinging hypoid all over the place.
With parts coming together and a daily routine of derusting, scraping, cleaning and painting, things started to go back together, the struts cost £500 a corner just for parts which comprised of new strut inserts, wheel bearings, seals, bumpstop rubbers and gaitors, top strut bearing, discs and calipers and pads not including my stainless brake shields.
I had previously scuffed and repainted the engine bay, intending to return the car to its original montego black metallic, but I wanted a different colour.
While I was making my mind up about that the s6 20 valve engine was trial fitted and a set of early quad headlamps sourced which I refurbed as I like the look of the early cars moreso than the facelifted later types.
The plastic chromed surrounds I got from a friend in Massachusetts for which I'm eternally grateful, Thanks Matt!
Other bodywork issues continued to show themselves.
The car had previously had a new clutch master cylinder fitted but instead of unbolting the steering column components and removing the cylinder out the bottom the top of the scuttle panel had been butchered by some jockey with a chisel and then fibreglassed over.
That was never going to do, luckily a friend had an old coupe gt he was stripping down and I got the area of scuttle panel I needed to make a decent repair to mine.
The hole is for the replacement motronic ecu wiring to pass through as I wanted to keep the underdash free from sphagetti where it would just be tight to fit in.
With all the major welding work on in or near the passnger cell completed a clean up of the interior and refit was carried out, including repair of the drivers seat frame (they crack frequently over time) and fitting the correct seat base with its height adjustment, its very late 70's but I like it.
Since this is the early 83 model with the pneumatic diff locks I decided to dispense with them and lock them out until I decide to either convert them to elctrical operation or maybe go torsen diffs on it, the panel could then be removed and a more useful set of coupe gt clocks fitted in, I think these look way better than the original pull knob panel.
Fast forward a couple of years and Ive started to remove every single scrap of the original paint thats been trowelled on over the years...by hand.
Paint stripping the wings and body took the best part of 8 weeks.
Bonnet isnt the cars original, its from an 82 coupe gt model but was in way better condition than my original bonnet
Sunroof panel was stripped inside and out by hand and repaired .
Paint film was at least 1mm in places.
I found what looks like a possible bullet hole in the osr quarter, dunno whether it is but the panel wasnt damaged otherwise so could be.
The osr quarter at the tail light area had always bugged me and once I started stripping off the paint I found out why, its because its been crudely infilled with filler and weld to disguise a rear end shunt.
I did attempt to pull it out some but to no avail so the only remedy here was to remove the entire section and weld in a replacement tail light section from a coupe gt and a brand new rear valance at £400 ..ouch!
The old panel was bashed to hell vs the new one.
Replacement tail light section.
I trimmed off what I could but still trying to retain datum points to refit the newer part, this was really quite a difficult part to do as its in 3 dimensions and has to be right so I was a little cautious about it to say the least.
After many trial fits, removing tiny amounts so as not to go too far it finally dropped in where it was supposed to.
With a backing strip to get it as flush as possible it could be tacked tentatively into place and ogled.
It fits very nicely with a minimum of panel warp.
With the light aperture where it should be I could start fitting the new rear valance, pulling it into place with a ratchet strap and some blocks.
Rear valance welded in and sealed, the back end looks a lot squarer than previously.
Also fitted new sound deadening panels.
With the cleaned carpet and panels fitted its a nicer place to be....if you should find yourself locked in there.
Since the old boot lid had also been twisted by the previous shunt a friend donated an old unused one to me, thanks Glenn, appreciated!
The engine bay was also stripped completely of paint and the front panel removed to enable the easier fitment of the engine and allow access for maintainance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZgeiQ_yqWk
The bodywork I spent some months on getting as close to perfect as a non professional bodyworker like me can reasonably get after which i could start priming the shell in epoxy primer as it wouldnt have been feasible to get it sanded and ready for colour and clears in the remaining time.
I did actually managed to get the majority of the body sanding done before time ran out and winter set in.
During the summer last year I had the opportunity to start putting on body colour and clearcoat, it all went very well, too well as it happens as a few weeks later I discovered that the clear coat I was using was undercatalyzed ( my own fault I misread the mixing instructions) meaning its had to come off again.
Gutted was I but after a few days of kicking myself I got back into removing the engine bay paintwork first ( it WAS lovely) which took about a week of hard graft before I re primed it in the same epoxy I used previously to do the rest of the body.
No one ever said restoration was an easy job.
Its on, its off its on its off again....
Reprimed!
Heres some shots of the paint and clear as it came out the gun ( its dried here).
[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c259/twarren600/P1100656_zps32f31fec.jpg/img]
Currently I'm stripping back the door apertures for a reprime and repaint buts its tough as the paints soft so it simply balls up and clogs paper which is why the harder bits have been paint stripped ( not ideal), still itll be ready to take some paint in a few days time then I can start on the doors...again.
Luckily I noticed my error before I painted the outer body panels so it could have been worse.
A bit of spraying malarky of the day I fouled upon on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCJ0GFrC9sk
This is how it looked after it had been resprayed and "fixed" up long before it passed to me.
My plans didnt really go the way I anticipated though, perhaps I underestimated the amount I'd have to do and spend on it just to get it to that state, its taken far longer than I envisaged and cost a lot more than I'd have believed even though the works been done all by my own hand and on an exceptionally tight budget....and its still not finished!
The car was bought from a US serviceman at RAF Lakenheath who found it assaulting his wallet at a frightening rate and we agreed a price to take it off his hands.
There was no way it could have driven to my location so a car transport service was engaged, the car loaded and carted back to me ( Thanks Terry!).
The nail.
Upon getting it into the garage space I set about the task of searching out all its problems...it had many small things adding up to a big fat nightmare, itd not have been economical for someone to take it on and have to pay the costs of welding,fabrication, mechanicals and bodywork which is where I had a bit of an advantage as I'm fairly adept at most of those aspects.
The interior was pretty much gutted leaving only the headliner in place and the main parts of the dashboard so I could have a good nosey around.
I'd noticed the drivers wing appeared to have been replaced at some point so I removed it to find the lovely colour of rust under it, they never bloody seal them properly after theyve been removed.
These cars often rust terribly at the windscreen lower corners and the top of the door pillar, this ones got nothing to speak of which made me happy for a while.
The engine was looking pretty sorry for itself and although the original 10 valve WR motors are a good old beast I didnt want the hassle of non available fuel injection parts (K-jetronic) or the extreme crowding on the drivers side engine bay which is why months earlier I'd already aquired a 20 valve turbo motor from an S6 estate.
Its the same basic motor as fitted to the RR but has coil packs and a tad more power at 230 bhp stock.
Quite quick enough for me and room to go higher if boredom sets in.
Cramped and messy engine bay.
Once I'd got the old clunker engine out I set about rectifying the easiest to reach bodywork issues, cutting out the rust and welding in new steel with the tig.
The passenger side had nothing of concern and was initially wire brushed and zinc primered whilst the rest of the work was being done.
Stripping the engine revealed it to be on the brink of a violent, noisy and messy destruction.
This is an exhaust valve guide, its almost completely eroded at the tip and with the valve extended out the head of the valve to its normal maximum lift waved about by up to 5mm, the book spec is 1.3mm max, so these were probably original to that head and totally worn out, the car had already had a replacement head at some point at great cost, but as with a lot of things on these cars it hadnt been refurbed at all well, if at all judging by those guides.
Deep cracks between the valves and a nice split on the one exhaust valve, caused by it closing to its seat way off centre.
Stripping the rest of the engine yielded big end shells that were loose in the caps and damage to the crank.
The parts that were reusable or saveable were sold on along with the dialynx exhaust manifold which all helped to fund further parts purchases.
Many issues were found, such as broken engine mounts and bodges galore.
Plenty of work to do on the shell, rust and more rust.
The blister arch and leading edge of the offside rear was fairly challenging as its a compound curve so I set about trying to make a repair panel in one piece but leaving the inner rusted section in situ to locate it against.
A steel table, g-clamp, hammer, wood blocks and ear defenders were my partners for this.
Clamping the flat steel to the table and forming the curve by slowly levering it up and hammering it.
After a few hours I had what appeared to be a fairly close match to what I wanted.
A quick test fit showed it to be largely accurate and almost good enough to weld right in but I couldnt do that until I'd fettled it a little more and fabricated an inner section to replace the rusted out return lip.
I made that in a similar fashion and it took around an hour get it close.
Leaving strategic parts of the rusted body in place I could locate the replacements accurately and tack them in before eventually removing the rusted parts completely and welding the new stuff in properly.
In the midst of this I was looking for parts but theyre a pain to come by as Audi have a policy of "NLA". no longer available, or No Longer Ars*d, still a useful local independant or two got me most of what I needed.
New old stock windscreen.
And a "quattro" scripted one for the rear which came in the boot of the car.
The brake dust/stone guards on these rust to oblivion in a fairly short time due to the heat and battering they get from the elements and you guessed it, theyre "NLA" leaving me the only alternative, make my flipping own but from everlasting stainless steel.
Using what was left of the fronts and rears I had some blanks laser cut to take account of the lip on the edge and also had some steel in 8mm cut out to act as punches and dies to form them over by clamping them in a vice and hammerforming the edge tighter than the press could manage and to form the pressings.
I also formed the rears, luckily I had one of the originals that was just about inctact enough to measure and have the blanks cut.
With my parts collection starting to grow I continued onwards with the body repairs, doing all the leading and trailing arches and derusting suspension components in readiness for reassembly.
The rear suspension had been making some funny doinging and creaking sounds when the car was removed from the trailer, it also had a 5 degree list to starboard and the reason was at some point itd had lowering srpings fitted that didnt fit the struts properly with the spring flopping up and down with the suspension on full droop which had cracked the already weakened top spring seats.
Ripped bumpstops and stut gaitors.
The spring on the right is what it should have had fitted.
Original rear strut inserts were still pretty functional, not bad for a 30 year old car.
The rear diff and subframe all came out to be cleaned, seals renewed (nla on the big left one, cost £80 from the states).
Underbody over the diff wasnt too bad and had been preserved by the leaky oil seals flinging hypoid all over the place.
With parts coming together and a daily routine of derusting, scraping, cleaning and painting, things started to go back together, the struts cost £500 a corner just for parts which comprised of new strut inserts, wheel bearings, seals, bumpstop rubbers and gaitors, top strut bearing, discs and calipers and pads not including my stainless brake shields.
I had previously scuffed and repainted the engine bay, intending to return the car to its original montego black metallic, but I wanted a different colour.
While I was making my mind up about that the s6 20 valve engine was trial fitted and a set of early quad headlamps sourced which I refurbed as I like the look of the early cars moreso than the facelifted later types.
The plastic chromed surrounds I got from a friend in Massachusetts for which I'm eternally grateful, Thanks Matt!
Other bodywork issues continued to show themselves.
The car had previously had a new clutch master cylinder fitted but instead of unbolting the steering column components and removing the cylinder out the bottom the top of the scuttle panel had been butchered by some jockey with a chisel and then fibreglassed over.
That was never going to do, luckily a friend had an old coupe gt he was stripping down and I got the area of scuttle panel I needed to make a decent repair to mine.
The hole is for the replacement motronic ecu wiring to pass through as I wanted to keep the underdash free from sphagetti where it would just be tight to fit in.
With all the major welding work on in or near the passnger cell completed a clean up of the interior and refit was carried out, including repair of the drivers seat frame (they crack frequently over time) and fitting the correct seat base with its height adjustment, its very late 70's but I like it.
Since this is the early 83 model with the pneumatic diff locks I decided to dispense with them and lock them out until I decide to either convert them to elctrical operation or maybe go torsen diffs on it, the panel could then be removed and a more useful set of coupe gt clocks fitted in, I think these look way better than the original pull knob panel.
Fast forward a couple of years and Ive started to remove every single scrap of the original paint thats been trowelled on over the years...by hand.
Paint stripping the wings and body took the best part of 8 weeks.
Bonnet isnt the cars original, its from an 82 coupe gt model but was in way better condition than my original bonnet
Sunroof panel was stripped inside and out by hand and repaired .
Paint film was at least 1mm in places.
I found what looks like a possible bullet hole in the osr quarter, dunno whether it is but the panel wasnt damaged otherwise so could be.
The osr quarter at the tail light area had always bugged me and once I started stripping off the paint I found out why, its because its been crudely infilled with filler and weld to disguise a rear end shunt.
I did attempt to pull it out some but to no avail so the only remedy here was to remove the entire section and weld in a replacement tail light section from a coupe gt and a brand new rear valance at £400 ..ouch!
The old panel was bashed to hell vs the new one.
Replacement tail light section.
I trimmed off what I could but still trying to retain datum points to refit the newer part, this was really quite a difficult part to do as its in 3 dimensions and has to be right so I was a little cautious about it to say the least.
After many trial fits, removing tiny amounts so as not to go too far it finally dropped in where it was supposed to.
With a backing strip to get it as flush as possible it could be tacked tentatively into place and ogled.
It fits very nicely with a minimum of panel warp.
With the light aperture where it should be I could start fitting the new rear valance, pulling it into place with a ratchet strap and some blocks.
Rear valance welded in and sealed, the back end looks a lot squarer than previously.
Also fitted new sound deadening panels.
With the cleaned carpet and panels fitted its a nicer place to be....if you should find yourself locked in there.
Since the old boot lid had also been twisted by the previous shunt a friend donated an old unused one to me, thanks Glenn, appreciated!
The engine bay was also stripped completely of paint and the front panel removed to enable the easier fitment of the engine and allow access for maintainance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZgeiQ_yqWk
The bodywork I spent some months on getting as close to perfect as a non professional bodyworker like me can reasonably get after which i could start priming the shell in epoxy primer as it wouldnt have been feasible to get it sanded and ready for colour and clears in the remaining time.
I did actually managed to get the majority of the body sanding done before time ran out and winter set in.
During the summer last year I had the opportunity to start putting on body colour and clearcoat, it all went very well, too well as it happens as a few weeks later I discovered that the clear coat I was using was undercatalyzed ( my own fault I misread the mixing instructions) meaning its had to come off again.
Gutted was I but after a few days of kicking myself I got back into removing the engine bay paintwork first ( it WAS lovely) which took about a week of hard graft before I re primed it in the same epoxy I used previously to do the rest of the body.
No one ever said restoration was an easy job.
Its on, its off its on its off again....
Reprimed!
Heres some shots of the paint and clear as it came out the gun ( its dried here).
[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c259/twarren600/P1100656_zps32f31fec.jpg/img]
Currently I'm stripping back the door apertures for a reprime and repaint buts its tough as the paints soft so it simply balls up and clogs paper which is why the harder bits have been paint stripped ( not ideal), still itll be ready to take some paint in a few days time then I can start on the doors...again.
Luckily I noticed my error before I painted the outer body panels so it could have been worse.
A bit of spraying malarky of the day I fouled upon on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCJ0GFrC9sk
Edited by 4v6 on Sunday 26th January 18:53
Edited by 4v6 on Sunday 26th January 19:00
Edited by 4v6 on Sunday 26th January 19:02
Edited by 4v6 on Sunday 26th January 19:03
Thanks for the comments turboblue and esso.
Colour will be the same as in the photos there lago green, and I should be done on the bodywork by this summer I'd think, which gives me all winter to get it screwed back together and any remaining stuff largely ironed out.
I might just paint out the bay first and get the engine and front suspension back in withing a few weeks, depends.
5 cylinders turn me to jelly, would have loved the new ttrs 340 bhp motor to slide in there but the 20 valver will be fine.
Not really a case of being patient esso, its been done on a budget, adhoc and all by myself so its taken ages purely because of that, but its got to be finished as I got suckered by a certain 4 year old nephew when he was 12 months old into promising him a ride in it.
Colour will be the same as in the photos there lago green, and I should be done on the bodywork by this summer I'd think, which gives me all winter to get it screwed back together and any remaining stuff largely ironed out.
I might just paint out the bay first and get the engine and front suspension back in withing a few weeks, depends.
5 cylinders turn me to jelly, would have loved the new ttrs 340 bhp motor to slide in there but the 20 valver will be fine.
Not really a case of being patient esso, its been done on a budget, adhoc and all by myself so its taken ages purely because of that, but its got to be finished as I got suckered by a certain 4 year old nephew when he was 12 months old into promising him a ride in it.
Thanks for all the positive comments guys, its good to see that this kind of thing appeals to others too.
The engine did actually run and sounded quite healthy but it would have died rather sooner than later I think, it was just too far worn.
Ive always liked the quattro, always loved the sound and the shape.
I've never actually driven the thing yet, unless driving it off the trailer and backing it into the cave is considered so, it should be a good day the first time I get to do so properly.
Cant wait....much longer.
I'm aiming to have all the main bodywork painted up by mid summer which I'll also do so the glass can all go back in etc, it should come together pretty quickly after that.
More pictures when I have them, hoping to attend some meets once its finished.
The engine did actually run and sounded quite healthy but it would have died rather sooner than later I think, it was just too far worn.
Ive always liked the quattro, always loved the sound and the shape.
I've never actually driven the thing yet, unless driving it off the trailer and backing it into the cave is considered so, it should be a good day the first time I get to do so properly.
Cant wait....much longer.
I'm aiming to have all the main bodywork painted up by mid summer which I'll also do so the glass can all go back in etc, it should come together pretty quickly after that.
More pictures when I have them, hoping to attend some meets once its finished.
Dapster said:
Fascinating read and it's going to be great to see an old hero live again. I'm amazed at the skills and resources some people have. Good luck!
Question though, shouldn't an '83 A reg have a digital dash? Also, as it's got LHD wipers I assume it's been converted to RHD early in it's life?
ETA: Thinking about it, was it not an original pre '83 four headlamp leftie in the first place? Converted to RHD, with twin headlamps and dark rear lights, and UK registered in '83 after a few years?
Hi Dapster,I think mine predates the digital dash, not by a lot but I prefer the analogue steup anyway, less to go wrong and no voices telling you to "Put ze damned zeabeltz on!".Question though, shouldn't an '83 A reg have a digital dash? Also, as it's got LHD wipers I assume it's been converted to RHD early in it's life?
ETA: Thinking about it, was it not an original pre '83 four headlamp leftie in the first place? Converted to RHD, with twin headlamps and dark rear lights, and UK registered in '83 after a few years?
Edited by Dapster on Sunday 26th January 23:17
I think its a very early 83 model registered here in April, I suppose the shell could have been assembled late 82 perhaps, but thats just an assumption rather than a known fact, it doesn't appear to have been converted at all.
It definitely came with the cibie single lens flat front lights, the dark rear lenses were fitted by a previous owner and the quad headlights were last seen (iirc) in 82, I used to have a coupe gt of the same period and that was the same.
Erich Stahler said:
Good work! very interesting to me, I used to have a 1982 Mars red ur quattro which I ran as an every day car for about 5 years. Looks like yours is an early car too looking at the interior? How are you finding sourcing of new parts? (apologies I haven't read the entire thread.)
Hi Erich, yes registered in april 83.Parts are a pain as theres not much in the way of suppliers, but Pete at Quattro Corner in perry barr seems to be able to get most anything, not cheap but to be expected really.
The guy managed to source me a brand new steering column bearing after the original rusted out due to the scuttle panel being butchered, a part that audi couldnt get amongst others.
I'll get there eventually.
DeanR32 said:
Cracking work there mate. Love threads like this!
You don't live anywhere near Romford, Essex do you??? Could do with a bloke like you close by!
ha ha! Sorry Dean, I'm miles away from you matey in the midlands.You don't live anywhere near Romford, Essex do you??? Could do with a bloke like you close by!
You know there was a time when I couldnt weld, paint, do the mechanicals or body stuff...its just a practice thing I think.
One of the best books I used to read to get familiar with bodywork was a haynes bodywork manual, lots of stuff in there to get you up to speed, if I can do it anyone can really I'd say.
Door apertures masked, degreased and ready for epoxy primer which I'll start putting on in a couple of hours, photos will follow.
Edited by 4v6 on Tuesday 28th January 11:03
Flatinfourth said:
Nice project! Our October 1982 Quattro had Flat, not sloped single headlsmps, analogue dash and fuzzy brown and green teddy bear interior, including the headlining! That should identify an early right hand drive. Digital dash carrs from memory had leather, sloping lamps and restricted engines to try to cut the omissions. I remember the advice on oil consumption with a perfectly healthy engine!
Truly awe inspiring car, did a car swop with a friend for amorning when he bought a new Impreza in the late nineties, and he was blown away by the Quattro's shear presence. Later on I drove it into a petrol station full of Japanese drift kids, and they were equally blown wawy.
Would love to rebuild one for a client
The sound and shape was what grabbed me all those years ago, it still does.Truly awe inspiring car, did a car swop with a friend for amorning when he bought a new Impreza in the late nineties, and he was blown away by the Quattro's shear presence. Later on I drove it into a petrol station full of Japanese drift kids, and they were equally blown wawy.
Would love to rebuild one for a client
It surprises me that people are still so captivated by them after so long but its a pleasant one all the same.
Well I actually managed to get somewhere today, the epoxy went on lovely.
I've still got a few niggles to sort out but relatively minor stuff.
Tomorrow may yield a repainted engine bay, which would be a mighty fine thing as I can actually start bolting things back on the bloody heap such as the steering rack, subframe/suspension,brake servo- I'm not using the old hydraulic "bomb" type, instead I'm using the ones fitted to the audi 100/80/90/coupe quattro etc so that also means I can start fabricating up brake lines and sorting the runs out.
About time as well.
Todays progress.
I've still got a few niggles to sort out but relatively minor stuff.
Tomorrow may yield a repainted engine bay, which would be a mighty fine thing as I can actually start bolting things back on the bloody heap such as the steering rack, subframe/suspension,brake servo- I'm not using the old hydraulic "bomb" type, instead I'm using the ones fitted to the audi 100/80/90/coupe quattro etc so that also means I can start fabricating up brake lines and sorting the runs out.
About time as well.
Todays progress.
Yertis said:
Bad pics again ;-)
Why are you not using the bomb? I think it's a good bit cheaper on a WR than MB or RR.
They not showing up again??Why are you not using the bomb? I think it's a good bit cheaper on a WR than MB or RR.
The bomb was a pain, too much extra complication when a vacuum servo does the job and frees up a lot of space, its the same method a friend of mine adopted on his 200 turbo quattro 20valve rally rep wossername, it works ok for him so itll work for me as I've used the same setup previously.
Photobucket blows.
Flickrs no better the photos dont show up even though I've posted the urls in img tags, I dont get it????...
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/115533639@N03/121...
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/115533639@N03/121...
Yeah Dean the epoxy will be wet flatted, its gone on pretty well so minimal work needed and the colour and clears right over that.
Flickrs no better the photos dont show up even though I've posted the urls in img tags, I dont get it????...
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/115533639@N03/121...
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/115533639@N03/121...
Yeah Dean the epoxy will be wet flatted, its gone on pretty well so minimal work needed and the colour and clears right over that.
Edited by 4v6 on Tuesday 28th January 18:43
jith said:
A wee word of warning old son. The main reason the turbocharged cars have a hydraulic booster system rather than a vacuum servo is that when the turbo comes on to boost you have no vacuum, so you have a slight problem stopping!
Aside from that, when set up properly the hydraulic system is superb and very powerful. The so called bomb is an accumulator that stores pressure so that you get umpteen goes at the pedal even when the engine has stalled. Much safer!
J
Thanks for the good advice Jith, I was aware of that issue as its something I've come across a long time ago in a non turbo renault when left foot braking with a partially opened throttle.Aside from that, when set up properly the hydraulic system is superb and very powerful. The so called bomb is an accumulator that stores pressure so that you get umpteen goes at the pedal even when the engine has stalled. Much safer!
J
You get a couple of pumps and then nothing...well very little.
Quite scary if youve never experienced it before.
My method of dealing with it is to incorporate a vacuum canister probably under the wing to act aa a vacuum reservoir and supplement whats in the brake booster so it wont be an issue then, less complication too.
Sorry about the sporadic photos, I'll hopefully sort it permanently soon.
Well I spent most of today respraying the engine bay out.
It took 2 and a half coats of basecoat to get it covered correctly, no issues with it, looks fine I think.
This is just the basecoat.
Since its water based basecoat it takes a little longer to flash compared to the usual stuff you might use so its taken most of the day to get it done.
With the basecoat ready I put on a couple of coats of properly catalyzed clear.
Its come out as well as I wanted, so a few days and the front suspension and gearbox plus the other items can now go back in. Whoopee! Progress finally.
Well I spent most of today respraying the engine bay out.
It took 2 and a half coats of basecoat to get it covered correctly, no issues with it, looks fine I think.
This is just the basecoat.
Since its water based basecoat it takes a little longer to flash compared to the usual stuff you might use so its taken most of the day to get it done.
With the basecoat ready I put on a couple of coats of properly catalyzed clear.
Its come out as well as I wanted, so a few days and the front suspension and gearbox plus the other items can now go back in. Whoopee! Progress finally.
Well I got the front subframe reattached and the car sitting back on its front wheels for the first time in months, also fitted the fusebox, fan and its little domed grille.
I have a pair of new "limit stops" coming on monday, they prevent the struts dropping past the towers at full droop, originals were damaged/rusty.
I cant get enough of this colour and the paint finish, its hypnotic almost, very nice how it changes colour depending on the light.
Should have the door apertures resprayed this week too.
I have a pair of new "limit stops" coming on monday, they prevent the struts dropping past the towers at full droop, originals were damaged/rusty.
I cant get enough of this colour and the paint finish, its hypnotic almost, very nice how it changes colour depending on the light.
Should have the door apertures resprayed this week too.
Hopefully these pictures might last a little longer, I resized them right down to about 45 kb.....
Weathers been dire so unable to do much of anything, still we had a couple of days where it stopped precipitating for a bit and that gave me the chance to work on some of the bolt on parts.
Mostly stripping off dirt and paint and oxide and rust, repainting ready to refit them.
I figured if I do them now, when it comes to putting it all back in one lump itll save me some time.
Id started out doing anything that was going back on and that wasnt good enough as it was so that was everything then!
Boot hinges were stripped and blasted and repainted in the same body colour and clearcoat as the rest will be.
The stainless brackets I made to secure the removable front panel, I could have left them eau naturelle but then theyd stick out , not the intention so body colour also.
Engine mountings were similarly stripped off of all contaminents and epoxy primered then coloured and cleared.
The radiator cowl was in a state and a half so I spent a day or two getting all the old paint and rust off before epoxy primering that too.
I briefly considered going satin black on it and letting it be at that but my clearcoat obsession got the best of me.
I also made some new rubber bypass flapper whatsits and fitted those to replace the mangled wreckage of the old ones.
Just about everything has been done in the same manner.
Offside inner cv heatshield.
My reason is simple, painting parts means theyre easier to clean when in service, they dont oxidise and they dont rust, its all part of the plan to keep it looking good for longer.
Its far easier to wash off dirt and contaminents when the surface is as slick as some of these parts are, I figure long term itll stay cleaner and since itll probably never be sold, just handed down it matters not if its unoriginal.
I bought some new strut top caps and the steel cups called a limit stop as mine were shot, the plastic was off the one and they were plain nasty and covered in rust.
Looking at this engine bay shot you can see on the firewall the brake servo mounting position on the left and right.
Normally the one on the drivers side isnt accessible and its closed off with a bolted and tacked on cover, a consequence of using part of the coupe gt and cq shells, but one which is going to work well for me in my quest to keep the bay tidy and tight.
Using the same brake parts, servo master cylinder and proportioning valve as you get on the cq it means I can switch the servo position over and have a direct acting pedal instead of the old Ur's relay lever apparatus that introduces pedal slack and takes up under dash space.
I used the very same setup on my old coupe gt, converting it in the same way although the pipe runs wernt as neat as these will be.
I used the now vacant servo mounting hole in the passenger firewall to attach a plate and the proportioning valve to it.
Thatll keep it close up against the firewall and out the way of the exhaust side of the bay where itd normally sit somewhere over the manifold cluttering up the scant space there, it also means a minimum of pipe runs, you can just make out the one pipe to the valve as I painted it black rather than leave it copper and hence liable to go all green and icckky later on.
Since I'm almost out of things to paint my efforts now have to go fully into rebuilding Phils Urq engine, after I finally got the block bored and honed and new 3rd oversize pistons ( only ones now available) to replace the destroyed one after a valve head went awol and pretty much wasted the entire thing.
Fun.
Weathers been dire so unable to do much of anything, still we had a couple of days where it stopped precipitating for a bit and that gave me the chance to work on some of the bolt on parts.
Mostly stripping off dirt and paint and oxide and rust, repainting ready to refit them.
I figured if I do them now, when it comes to putting it all back in one lump itll save me some time.
Id started out doing anything that was going back on and that wasnt good enough as it was so that was everything then!
Boot hinges were stripped and blasted and repainted in the same body colour and clearcoat as the rest will be.
The stainless brackets I made to secure the removable front panel, I could have left them eau naturelle but then theyd stick out , not the intention so body colour also.
Engine mountings were similarly stripped off of all contaminents and epoxy primered then coloured and cleared.
The radiator cowl was in a state and a half so I spent a day or two getting all the old paint and rust off before epoxy primering that too.
I briefly considered going satin black on it and letting it be at that but my clearcoat obsession got the best of me.
I also made some new rubber bypass flapper whatsits and fitted those to replace the mangled wreckage of the old ones.
Just about everything has been done in the same manner.
Offside inner cv heatshield.
My reason is simple, painting parts means theyre easier to clean when in service, they dont oxidise and they dont rust, its all part of the plan to keep it looking good for longer.
Its far easier to wash off dirt and contaminents when the surface is as slick as some of these parts are, I figure long term itll stay cleaner and since itll probably never be sold, just handed down it matters not if its unoriginal.
I bought some new strut top caps and the steel cups called a limit stop as mine were shot, the plastic was off the one and they were plain nasty and covered in rust.
Looking at this engine bay shot you can see on the firewall the brake servo mounting position on the left and right.
Normally the one on the drivers side isnt accessible and its closed off with a bolted and tacked on cover, a consequence of using part of the coupe gt and cq shells, but one which is going to work well for me in my quest to keep the bay tidy and tight.
Using the same brake parts, servo master cylinder and proportioning valve as you get on the cq it means I can switch the servo position over and have a direct acting pedal instead of the old Ur's relay lever apparatus that introduces pedal slack and takes up under dash space.
I used the very same setup on my old coupe gt, converting it in the same way although the pipe runs wernt as neat as these will be.
I used the now vacant servo mounting hole in the passenger firewall to attach a plate and the proportioning valve to it.
Thatll keep it close up against the firewall and out the way of the exhaust side of the bay where itd normally sit somewhere over the manifold cluttering up the scant space there, it also means a minimum of pipe runs, you can just make out the one pipe to the valve as I painted it black rather than leave it copper and hence liable to go all green and icckky later on.
Since I'm almost out of things to paint my efforts now have to go fully into rebuilding Phils Urq engine, after I finally got the block bored and honed and new 3rd oversize pistons ( only ones now available) to replace the destroyed one after a valve head went awol and pretty much wasted the entire thing.
Fun.
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.
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
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.
Yertis said:
Fair enough. Looks great by the way (even in that 1987-spec colour ). Out of interest, how did you remove the metal finishers around the windows? I really need to whip mine off to refinish them but can't see an obvious way of getting them off without breaking everything.
Theyre held in place by a reversed hook arrangement, one side formed in the trim strip the other in the window rubber itself. ). Out of interest, how did you remove the metal finishers around the windows? I really need to whip mine off to refinish them but can't see an obvious way of getting them off without breaking everything.The long lower one is held on by a pressed steel nut inside the A pillar at its front edge, so the trim needs to be removed and the fabric peeled back to access it.
The corner trim on the rear is held on by a single clip thats integral to the trim itself.
The uprights are slid down past the lower trim strip and into the corner trim at the rear edge of the window as are the 45 degree angled parts.
Pain in the backside to refit, use soap and water, to lube the strips up and slide and press them in bit by bit.
Be prepared to break the corner joiners made from weedy plastic and then get reamed by ebay sellers at 8 quid and 5 quid a throw...so if you bust all 4 itll cost you 26 quid minimum....Nla you see. Thanks Audi.
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