aaron_s

Hey guys - glad to finally join the forums....

I'm a hack, self-taught mechanic that just loves to turn wrenches and hear engines roar.

I recently bought a project car, a 1988 Audi 90 that is now officially my first project car. No, it is not the Quattro but I really don't care. This is going to be my first crack at taking a car and refurbishing it and just have some fun.

What do you guys think? Any advice? I have the rear bumper and lights.. all parts for this car. I'm not missing anything, just have to update/replace stuff.

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

welcome to audi addicts anonymous
looks like you are in a perfect spot to do some bodywork and paint, strip everything down, remove the glass (i would practice at a junkyard first) take care of the rust, and learn how to paint :-D
does it run? how do you see the car in the future?

aaron_s

Well said Crazy_Russian, I really just want to call you Crazy_Ivan!


Yeah fortunately my wife has grown up around cars so it wasn't hard at all to kick her ride out of the garage for this.


It definitely does need some body work but I'm going to address that last, once I get all the mechanical stuff complete. Good points though, I could probably save a ton of money doing this myself but I want to make sure the paint job looks legit.


Let me find some more photos and I'll post them..

aaron_s

Alright, here's a few more pics under the hood. First pic is as received with the old battery, I then swapped it out with a new battery. After draining and replacing gas I got the engine to start! It only lasted about 2-3 seconds and then died but it didn't sound like there were any catastrophic issues with it. Last photo under the hood is after cleaning and shop-vac'ing it some, trying to get it to look somewhat decent.

aaron_s

So my plan right now is a bit in-progress/rough draft. Mechanically some work needs to be done but here's my rough-ish plan:
+replace just about everything rubber under the hood (belts, hoses, gaskets).
+drain all fluids, clean their respective reservoirs, replace all filters, and replace filters and fluids with new.
+Run new brake lines.
+install new pads, examine rotors and replace entire rotor/caliper if necessary.
+new spark plug wires and plugs, not sure about putting in a new distributor or not.


Now I've helped many friends with their cars and gladly lend a hand to replace parts, etc. for free, just need them to pay for parts. Since this is my own car, I've always wanted to do an engine teardown and rebuild... I paid very little for this car and if I'm already doing a ton of other work on it, would this make sense? I know the engine runs but do you think there'd be any benefit to pulling it out, cleaning it thoroughly inside and out, and then re-installing it, etc?


I've also already discovered a few nuggets of extra work that's needed, though not necessarily a huge deal. When draining the oil I discovered that the bolt used as the oil pan drain plug was actually an old spark plug!! I need to see if I can find an OEM or OEM-spec bolt to replace it with.. I really hope I don't have to re-tap/thread it or buy a new oil pan!


The throttle body area got messed with and there were some shenanigans going on there that I still have to figure out. Good times! I'm just excited to have a car to work on that's not a daily driver!

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

hmmmm.... crazy_Yuriy? muahahahaha :-D
sounds like you know what to do. dont forget the timing belt and related components. i would just swap the distributor cap and rotor and leave the distributor alone. most of my replacement parts i get from these guys Auto Parts at AutohausAZ - OEM Auto Parts - Discount Replacement Parts, Resources and Car Care Tips
on the engine.... how many miles on the clock? and i would get it started and then do a compression test, that should be a good indication if you need to rebuild it. most of these motors will last 250k+ without any problems. also, i would probobly drop the oilpan anyways, to replace the gaskets, and i would also recommend replacing all the seals and gaskets
and you can make your paintjob look good as long as you use proper materials and patience. there are plenty of youtubers out there that can guide on how to paint and explain what materials do what. one of my projects this summer is learning how to paint and do some minor body work

aaron_s

Yeah I'll just call you Yuri then! haha. Unfortunately my username is not as cryptic.
Good call on the distributor cap and rotor... I've heard of AutohausAZ, seems like that's the place to go. I'm trying to put a collection of websites together that offer parts for these older Audis.
I've found (so far):
Auto Parts at AutohausAZ - OEM Auto Parts - Discount Replacement Parts, Resources and Car Care Tips
034Motorsport | Performance Parts for Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen
Audi Parts
https://www.fcpeuro.com/


Off the top of my head, engine has something like ~150k on it, so probably has plenty of life left, I'm just a little concerned about it sitting for so long. Maybe after I get everything else done and am still needing to scratch the itch I'll do it.


Once I get all the discussed parts swapped out and working I'll run a compression test and see what values I get. Speaking of values, I was fortunate when I bought this that the seller had the telephone book-sized Official Factor Repair Manual. That'll definitely come in handy for technical specs/values.


For the million and one hoses under the hood have you had any luck in buying a small reel of hose and cutting it yourself to fit? I've also looked at this for while I'm doing the hoses:
Cleaning Up The Engine Bay With Hose Candy - Rod Authority
Not decided one way or the other on it yet, but an idea. I don't know if it'd make the engine bay look too hot rod-dy?


The main hurdle I have to jump now is getting the clutch fixed, need to either change out one or both (master and slave cylinders) to get it working again. Hopefully after I get all of these relatively simple fixes done the engine will start and stay running for more than a few seconds. (And of course it's the "simple" fixes that end up taking forever and the complex work that somehow clicks along)


I'll take plenty of pictures and document the journey for anyone who cares to read along/follow.. who knows, might be of use to someone else.

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

maybe someone else can pitch in with couple other sites, but here is another one: https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?ck[ID]=0&ck[idlist]=0&ck[viewcurrency]=USD&ck[PHP_SESSION_ID]=ivbdmjajor1co5dkq13gg0h1p0
i have no personal experience with them, but other members say good things about them.
with 150k you should be fine, unless it was completely neglected. I do recommend you use a G12/G13 coolant, but you should flush all the components out completely before poring it in. Audi/VW is picky about their fluids. for power steering I'm running RedLine PSF without any issues, and it keeps the temperatures in the lower range compared to Pentosin.
on hoses... i dont see a benefit to dressing up the hoses. but for vac line, i replaced all my with silicone lines from NAPA, also replaced the hard plastic ones with new lines.
anyways, im off to working on my bike, i have a long trip coming up tomorrow and i keep finding vacuum leaks :-(((

aaron_s

Thanks for all of that.. well there certainly is an immense amount of work to do, I just have to do it one bit at a time. So first my focus is on the engine and then I'll work my way outward. So I think with that it'll mean dropping the oil pan and changing out that gasket while finding the appropriate sized drain plug. After that, I'll probably knock out the valve cover gasket on the top side.

Started the work on the oil pan and I'm trying to do it without ripping anything else out of the car for now but that might prove impossible. I took a few pictures but they're pretty crappy so I'll just use a oil pan gasket as a reference.

So I cannot for the life of me get one of the bolts on the "north" side of the picture.. part of the radiator and some brackets are intruding a bit too much for me to get a socket up there, which might mean I have to rip some other stuff out to get to it. The "southwest" corner is easy/accessible, but the two bolts look like they're tied into what looks like part of a mount for the alternator.. I honestly didn't look too hard at that one because it looks "easier". My main problem area is the "east" side of the pan, I absolutely cannot envision a way to get to those bolts without some creativity. If anyone has any suggestions that does not involve dropping the front axle or hoisting the engine I'm all ears, otherwise I'll have to engineer a creative solution.

Once again - I hope this "project journal" of sorts comes in handy to someone else at a later date, I intend to catalog every part of this restoration journey.

egp320i

I was pretty sure 88' FWD were all 4 cylinder like mine and only the Quattro got the 5?

Too bad really because I am probably going to have to part out my long resting 88.

It has not run right for awhile and nobody wants to buy it locally, hell the junkyard is not even interested in a 27 year old rare model vehicle.

Looks like you have all the parts you need already.