RUS_ZHP
12-18-2018, 10:28 AM
Hey Mafia,
I know that our forum is BMW oriented, but I hope you will not be mad at me for the new tread that I am about to start. You see, the car that is going to be described below is one of the direct rivals to BMW, well maybe be not a particular car, but the manufacturer for sure.
This story is about Audi, not an average Audi that can be found in hundreds at any city in US. This car was rare in US soil since day one and for some reason did not get much love.
This story is about last production year of Audi 200 avant.
For me, this car is very special, meaningful, important and very nostalgic. Such as a purchase of this car - it was sporadic and nostalgic for me. Otherwise, it was pretty stupid to buy this car, considering that I have two already.
If you allow me, I will quickly share a story, why this car is important for me. I grew up around old Audi. My parents had two, my close friends had them, even neighbors and streets of my home town were populated with old Audi, Mercedes 123/124 and golf mark II. Because those cars were dirt chip in Europe and all Eastern European countries were buying them. Anyways, my first car was 1986 Audi 100, which in US money is equivalent to 5000. My car was cheap and basic, but reliable and comfortable. It was slow, painfully slow because it had 2.0 TD engine, which delivered 87 hp when new. I bought it 2005, with pretty much unknown true mileage due to stopped odometer. But it drove very well, the ride was supple, the seats were so soft and comfy with typical 80s velour fabric. I don't want to bore your for death with every single detail, but I loved that car. It captured my love to Audi and secured it until I moved to US, drove several proper BMW and got converted.
During the same time when I owned Audi 100, my best friend old brother had 1987 Audi 200. Even though it was early type 44 model with 10v turbo engine, which delivered only 180 hp,it was fast enough and more importantly was unstoppable on snow or dirt with a set of good tires. It was equipped with Quattro, which allows to lock the rear diff. I loved that car, but it was unobtainable for me at that time due to its cost and more importantly high cost of fuel.
My ultimate want was 1991 production, 20v avant, which delivered 220 ps in stock form and was easily tunable to 300-350 without sacrificing reliability.
I was not planning to buy one in US, because they were very rare, with almost none aftermarket support, not to mentioned difficulty to find one in a decent shape. Then, one day in August I decided to check what Audi forum has to offer in its classified section. I stumbled across one listing that caught my attention immediately. Some guy in CT was selling gray avant, 1991 model year, which is only one production year for US models with 20v engine. I've read all details twice, closed the forum and moved on with my weekly routine. On the next day I started to think about that car. On the third day, I couldn't think about anything else, so I decided to write and ask if car still available after being listed for 2 month and what is the story with it. After a quick chat with the owner, I realized that I want to get that car and make a proper project and slow restoration process, which hopefully will bring a lot of fun, frustration, reward and everything else, which associated with being a car guy.
I had a serious conversation with my wife, because it was not a planned purchase, like it always is with petrolheads, and surprisingly she was super supportive and understanding. So, I got a green light of buying it.
Buying that car is a silly idea from all angles. First, is the car is not running and needs some serious work to get it going. Second, it's storage and redundancy with other cars that I have. I do not have a place to keep the car. I do have a driveway, but Boston’s weather is not very kind for storing cars on the driveways. Lastly, well it was not planned as I mentioned earlier and keeping an old car running is not a cheap exercise for sure.
Despite all the cons and pros listed above, decision to buy a car was made. I choose Columbus weekend because it worked the best for both parties. Likely for me, a very good friend of mine who is more handy and more experience with those types of projects agreed to help me. Car needed to be towed from New Heaven CT area to north of Boston. I planned everything I could in advance, but as usual nothing went according the plan. For start, my luck of experience costed me at least extra 2 hours of fighting with rust (I hate it a lot). I didn't bring enough tools with me because I trusted the seller, which was a mistake. Well, owner was not completely honest with me and didn't tell me that rear axle was completely seized. Car had been seating in the parking lot for almost a year and rear brakes, pads rather, were badly seized. My manual winch was not a big help of fighting with rust. We tried to be sneaky and used AAA as a winch, but it didn't work either. And the tow truck arrived, tried to winch car on the trailer, but car was pulling to the side and not straight because tow truck was positioned on angle and not straight relative to the car. So, we decided to break rear wheels free with brute force, a large sledge hammer to be precise. After a lot of swearing and hammering, rear pads were destroyed literally and rear wheels became free. That was a relief, because it meant that car can be winched to the trailer now.
3 hours later, car was safely disembarked to my driveway. Yeah! The victory….well not yet. I need to sort all the issues and to find out why exactly the car is dead. I was told that starter had died and needed to be replaced. I was also told that gearbox was leaking oil quite badly and output shaft bearing was gone.
To summarize the current state of repair, as of today, here is what needs to be done:
Replace the starter (already purchased);
installed a new battery and tried to start. If I would be successful, move on with the next stages. If not, troubleshoot fuel pump and injectors. Replace them if faulty.
If starter is a problem, replace rear brakes, try to salvage front brakes since they are S4 retrofitted ones, then drive the car in order to get a full feedback from the gearbox. Car came with a spare gearbox that should be in working order. If gearbox is completely gone, I will replace it right away, if not, I will drive a car for a bit in order to get all the problems. If gearbox is gone, I will swap the spare one, install a new clutch and hopefully I would be able to drive it.
So far, I purchased the following:
Battery and starter
Rear brake rotors, pads and calipers
All brake hoses
All fluids
Spark plugs and air filter in order to complete the basic maintenance.
Driver side front window regulator. I bought a car with partially disassembled front door and window glass that is falling down. It tells me that window regulator is gone.
Interior needs a very good detailing, such as exterior. There are few small surface rust spots that I am not concerned right now. Front fenders are from older model and need to be replaced. Car came in with OEM fenders that need to be primed and painted.
Overall car is not super bad and seems very promising. Plus, it was a nostalgia purchase, so some time and money need to be spent to put it back to the road.
The current mileage is 227k, which is not much for 3b engine and with a proper maintenance and some love those engines are good for 350-400k miles.
So, wish me luck!
I wrote this lengthy and probably badly worded introduction from the very old and probably boring car from Ingolstadt, but I know that mafia members are the proper car nuts, so I hope you will like this thread.
Please see a few pictures that were taking during the car rescue operation.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/0d271c3ba1680e6fc51c963979cf0b11.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/2eb80fedeb92738753f03485369f19eb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/a25580b51c1085b82b5c738275701c84.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/44bd652fd7c6b180e286aab40be6de46.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/fc85c281d15044ec53dee76b1d6d52be.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/8b70272ef3e127d1f8aace62a52dd77c.jpg
I know that our forum is BMW oriented, but I hope you will not be mad at me for the new tread that I am about to start. You see, the car that is going to be described below is one of the direct rivals to BMW, well maybe be not a particular car, but the manufacturer for sure.
This story is about Audi, not an average Audi that can be found in hundreds at any city in US. This car was rare in US soil since day one and for some reason did not get much love.
This story is about last production year of Audi 200 avant.
For me, this car is very special, meaningful, important and very nostalgic. Such as a purchase of this car - it was sporadic and nostalgic for me. Otherwise, it was pretty stupid to buy this car, considering that I have two already.
If you allow me, I will quickly share a story, why this car is important for me. I grew up around old Audi. My parents had two, my close friends had them, even neighbors and streets of my home town were populated with old Audi, Mercedes 123/124 and golf mark II. Because those cars were dirt chip in Europe and all Eastern European countries were buying them. Anyways, my first car was 1986 Audi 100, which in US money is equivalent to 5000. My car was cheap and basic, but reliable and comfortable. It was slow, painfully slow because it had 2.0 TD engine, which delivered 87 hp when new. I bought it 2005, with pretty much unknown true mileage due to stopped odometer. But it drove very well, the ride was supple, the seats were so soft and comfy with typical 80s velour fabric. I don't want to bore your for death with every single detail, but I loved that car. It captured my love to Audi and secured it until I moved to US, drove several proper BMW and got converted.
During the same time when I owned Audi 100, my best friend old brother had 1987 Audi 200. Even though it was early type 44 model with 10v turbo engine, which delivered only 180 hp,it was fast enough and more importantly was unstoppable on snow or dirt with a set of good tires. It was equipped with Quattro, which allows to lock the rear diff. I loved that car, but it was unobtainable for me at that time due to its cost and more importantly high cost of fuel.
My ultimate want was 1991 production, 20v avant, which delivered 220 ps in stock form and was easily tunable to 300-350 without sacrificing reliability.
I was not planning to buy one in US, because they were very rare, with almost none aftermarket support, not to mentioned difficulty to find one in a decent shape. Then, one day in August I decided to check what Audi forum has to offer in its classified section. I stumbled across one listing that caught my attention immediately. Some guy in CT was selling gray avant, 1991 model year, which is only one production year for US models with 20v engine. I've read all details twice, closed the forum and moved on with my weekly routine. On the next day I started to think about that car. On the third day, I couldn't think about anything else, so I decided to write and ask if car still available after being listed for 2 month and what is the story with it. After a quick chat with the owner, I realized that I want to get that car and make a proper project and slow restoration process, which hopefully will bring a lot of fun, frustration, reward and everything else, which associated with being a car guy.
I had a serious conversation with my wife, because it was not a planned purchase, like it always is with petrolheads, and surprisingly she was super supportive and understanding. So, I got a green light of buying it.
Buying that car is a silly idea from all angles. First, is the car is not running and needs some serious work to get it going. Second, it's storage and redundancy with other cars that I have. I do not have a place to keep the car. I do have a driveway, but Boston’s weather is not very kind for storing cars on the driveways. Lastly, well it was not planned as I mentioned earlier and keeping an old car running is not a cheap exercise for sure.
Despite all the cons and pros listed above, decision to buy a car was made. I choose Columbus weekend because it worked the best for both parties. Likely for me, a very good friend of mine who is more handy and more experience with those types of projects agreed to help me. Car needed to be towed from New Heaven CT area to north of Boston. I planned everything I could in advance, but as usual nothing went according the plan. For start, my luck of experience costed me at least extra 2 hours of fighting with rust (I hate it a lot). I didn't bring enough tools with me because I trusted the seller, which was a mistake. Well, owner was not completely honest with me and didn't tell me that rear axle was completely seized. Car had been seating in the parking lot for almost a year and rear brakes, pads rather, were badly seized. My manual winch was not a big help of fighting with rust. We tried to be sneaky and used AAA as a winch, but it didn't work either. And the tow truck arrived, tried to winch car on the trailer, but car was pulling to the side and not straight because tow truck was positioned on angle and not straight relative to the car. So, we decided to break rear wheels free with brute force, a large sledge hammer to be precise. After a lot of swearing and hammering, rear pads were destroyed literally and rear wheels became free. That was a relief, because it meant that car can be winched to the trailer now.
3 hours later, car was safely disembarked to my driveway. Yeah! The victory….well not yet. I need to sort all the issues and to find out why exactly the car is dead. I was told that starter had died and needed to be replaced. I was also told that gearbox was leaking oil quite badly and output shaft bearing was gone.
To summarize the current state of repair, as of today, here is what needs to be done:
Replace the starter (already purchased);
installed a new battery and tried to start. If I would be successful, move on with the next stages. If not, troubleshoot fuel pump and injectors. Replace them if faulty.
If starter is a problem, replace rear brakes, try to salvage front brakes since they are S4 retrofitted ones, then drive the car in order to get a full feedback from the gearbox. Car came with a spare gearbox that should be in working order. If gearbox is completely gone, I will replace it right away, if not, I will drive a car for a bit in order to get all the problems. If gearbox is gone, I will swap the spare one, install a new clutch and hopefully I would be able to drive it.
So far, I purchased the following:
Battery and starter
Rear brake rotors, pads and calipers
All brake hoses
All fluids
Spark plugs and air filter in order to complete the basic maintenance.
Driver side front window regulator. I bought a car with partially disassembled front door and window glass that is falling down. It tells me that window regulator is gone.
Interior needs a very good detailing, such as exterior. There are few small surface rust spots that I am not concerned right now. Front fenders are from older model and need to be replaced. Car came in with OEM fenders that need to be primed and painted.
Overall car is not super bad and seems very promising. Plus, it was a nostalgia purchase, so some time and money need to be spent to put it back to the road.
The current mileage is 227k, which is not much for 3b engine and with a proper maintenance and some love those engines are good for 350-400k miles.
So, wish me luck!
I wrote this lengthy and probably badly worded introduction from the very old and probably boring car from Ingolstadt, but I know that mafia members are the proper car nuts, so I hope you will like this thread.
Please see a few pictures that were taking during the car rescue operation.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/0d271c3ba1680e6fc51c963979cf0b11.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/2eb80fedeb92738753f03485369f19eb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/a25580b51c1085b82b5c738275701c84.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/44bd652fd7c6b180e286aab40be6de46.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/fc85c281d15044ec53dee76b1d6d52be.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181218/8b70272ef3e127d1f8aace62a52dd77c.jpg