When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
WOW. We can’t believe it’s been a year since we updated this thread. Better get cracking. Let’s see, what have we been up to?
Well, before we put it away for the winter we took it to the gas station to fill it up but on the way back it died at a light. Took much cranking to get it to fire back up but then we only had a 100yds or so back to the shop so couldn’t tell if it was ok or not. We parked it and forgot about it.
We fired it back up in April to take it to HOF Designs in Dearborn for some interior work. It didn’t seem really keen. Fortunately the roads were still bad so we trailered it there.
It still didn’t seem very keen once it drove off the trailer:
The car has been selected to appear at the Concours of America in July so we thought it was a good time to address a few issues with the interior. The drivers seat had a small hole and some of the stitching was coming loose. Also, a previous owner had installed big speakers in the doors and parcel shelf.
We got the car back last week. Yes, it took a while but our shop was full so we didn’t mind at all. It actually fired up really nice and drove round the block just like last year. No sign of the stalling now. We’ll have to dig into that later.
HOF did an amazing job and we could not be more pleased:
Next thing to tackle is the hesitation while getting onto boost along with a list of concours prep stuff. Oh, and trying to figure out why it died that one time. Stay tuned.
With only a few weeks to go before the Concours of America we thought we better get in stuck and fix some issues with the car so we got it into surgery:
Where we removed the TIM and BRAID stickers we have had on the car since we got it:
Put the stock steering wheel back on:
Put the stock wheels back on:
And found the right screws for the trunk carpet that covers the fuel tank:
Although it’s not really concours related we did want to replace the valve lifters in the head as one or two sound as if they are sticking lately.
Maybe this was the culprit. It was in about the right position considering where the noise was coming from.
Then off to Auto Europe to get it detailed, with a month to spare!
Well, what a day we had at the Concours d’Elegance of America last Sunday. This is the first time the car has been accepted to a concours event and our first too so we had no idea what to expect. It’s scertainly not like RallyCross! With 11 year old tyres and a nice shiny car we decided the sensible option was to tow the car to the event, even though it was only an hour away. The “Rig Lot” was a bit of a zoo but we found a spot and unloaded without any issues, though the rather expensive looking Daimler being unloaded from a box truck next to us made us a bit more than nervous.
The show was held at the Inn of St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan and was only a couple of miles away from the rig lot. It was also a beautiful sunny morning so was a nice drive, though rather short. As soon as we got to the entrance the attention started. We were somewhat taken aback as we have never really exposed the car to the wider car loving audience. All the way down onto the field people were stopping in their tracks and taking pictures. Two gentleman, one of whom later turned out to be judging our class, practically jumped up and down waving their arms about!
We were quickly escorted to our “ring” and with help from the two “ring masters” positioned our car in its allotted slot. We were in MD class which apparently stand for “Modern Collectables”. We were parked with BMW Z1, Daimler Double Six, Vector M12, Toyota Supra Turbo, Nissan 300ZX, de Tomaso Pantera, Lotus Esprit, Ferrari 308GT4 and a Qvale Mangusta.
Even before the show opened to the public there was a crowd gathered around the car. Then all day long we just stood next to it and fielded question after question. We were amazed by the reception the car received and the number of people who were very aware of them but had never seen one. We were also delighted to see old friends who, of course, were quite familiar with the car.
Upon returning from lunch were we thrilled to see a ribbon on the windshield. This seemed to mean the car had won something but were weren’t sure what.
At first we thought it might be for “Best In Shoe”.
But a little investigation revealed that the Vortex had been awarded Best In Class and that our Quattro and the Pantera had won what was described as “Lion Awards”. We are going to call it 2nd and 3rd place as indicated by the order we were to drive onto the awards field later but we are still not quite sure. If anyone asks we were 2nd in class as far as we are concerned. If only Quattros had gullwing doors!
So despite being completely out of our bubble we had a great day. We wouldn’t do it every week but it was fun and great to let so many people enjoy the car. Now back to the Quattro rally build.
After all that hard work - well done. Didnt you put nw tyres on the standard wheels - the Toyo 225's look good and are fine for normal driving - and a good price.
I have a new big diff seal to fit as have same weepage, and I also need to change the diff mount rubber bearing. Do you know where they can be sourced from as I think you had one already in your stock
Sub-frame assy pictures are great and helps us all. Pushing in bearings needa lot of patience and care; I had to stop a local friend who was 'helping' me as a front drive shaft bearing was starting to drop about 1mm and he just wanted to keep turnig the press screw!!!!
After all that hard work - well done. Didnt you put nw tyres on the standard wheels - the Toyo 225's look good and are fine for normal driving - and a good price.
I have a new big diff seal to fit as have same weepage, and I also need to change the diff mount rubber bearing. Do you know where they can be sourced from as I think you had one already in your stock
Sub-frame assy pictures are great and helps us all. Pushing in bearings needa lot of patience and care; I had to stop a local friend who was 'helping' me as a front drive shaft bearing was starting to drop about 1mm and he just wanted to keep turnig the press screw!!!!
Cheers
The tires on the stock wheels are 215/50-16 BFGs that I keep wrapped in cotton wool. They are 10 years old but still look OK. I wouldn't risk driving on them though. Not fast anyway.
Before we dropped the car off at Auto Europe for detailing we had been trying to diagnose some running issues. Basically the car would hesitate when transitioning onto boost but otherwise ran pretty good. There are no real diagnostics on these cars and the CIS injection we find baffling but thought we could troubleshoot it. We went ahead and bought a CIS fuel pressure tester kit to check the various fuel pressures in the system.
These fell a little short of optimal so we replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter That did not help much but did make a marginal difference.
We also tested fuel delivery. We had plenty. So, with Auto Europe also being the home of famed Audi guru Phil we suggested they take a look while they had it in for detailing. Well that escalated fast. Phil quickly diagnosed that the frequency valve was not pulsating. He fixed a dodgy previous owner splice in the wiring but unfortunately that didn’t bring it back to life. He then attacked the wires at the ECU end and discovered some disturbing previous owner hacks. Firstly there were a bunch of wire nut splice adjacent to the ECU. Then he realised the vacuum input had been tee’d and there were now two inputs! It didn’t get any better once he got into the ECU either. There was a second, aftermarket vacuum switch piggy backed onto the original and various pins on the chip were soldered together! Clearly a new ECU was needed to make this car run as intended by the factory.
They managed to find a un-touched and supposedly working ecu from the same year car and threw it in just hours before we picked up the car to take it over to the concours. The car did indeed run and idle much more smoothly than before but exhibited a big backfire the moment it went from vacuum to boost. It also now will not run pat 4000rpm, an issue normally associated with a bad intake air sensor. That was all tested and the wiring repaired during the engine reseal project so it’s probably ECU end related. The backfiring stopped when we disconnected the cold start valve. It appears the ecu is using the that to add fuel on boost; way too much fuel. So that is where we are now: the car idles and runs great up to 4000rpm but then the ecu cuts fuel. We may just drive it like this till the season ends and then let Phil have at it as this car has been off the road far too much these past few years. Let’s see how that goes.
I have a 2012 Golf R with Stage 1 APR tune, Miltek stainless steel exhaust, IE intake. 46K miles mint condition unmolested, no track time.
Worth approximately 25K.
Looking for any of the following in excellent condition.
1st choice Audi 90 20v
Audi 4000 CS QUATTRO with 20v swap
Audi Ur Quattro Coupe 10v turbo
One of the backfire’s we mentioned in a previous post must have been so severe it blew a hole in the exhaust system! This was already hacked up by a previous owner who removed the silence and clad the baffled inner pipe but left the rear box end on as a pipe hanger. Temporary fix.
The original floor mats started to dissolve! Apparantly this happens after 35 years. New replacements were sourced from Germany.
We were visited by the Dirtfish tractor trailer on their way back from the east coast. Photo op!
Could resist this.
DIY Auto invited us to the Woodward Drean Cruise press launch
We just had to try our BRAID SERIE 4 wheels off the rally Quattro. 15x10 et0 with 265 Michelin TB5 tires. I think we understand why the Group B cars had wide bodies.
Of course the obvious nex thing to do was try the gravel rally setup from the rally car. They fit better but are still quite a bit taller than stock.
Our 034 Motorsport shift link bushing are so accurate a replic of the factory units that they too dislove after 5 years. The day before a car show of course. Fortunately we had another on the rally Quattro that wasn’y exactly need right now. We’ll have to come up with a better solution for that car, and this one in five years time.
RADWOOD came to Detroit in September so we dragged three cars there and the dog and pony show.
The last outing of 2019 was a cars and coffee at AUDI ROCHESTER. Man it was cold.
After the cars and coffee took thae car to our Quattro guru Phil to get it running right. Unfortunately a leak down test suggested cylinder 4 had some issues. Engine out for a bottom end rebuild!
06-13-2018, 06:37 AM
