The Project Pad

Hi all,

I have been working on picking up this car for 5 months now. An older audi enthusiast in Chattanooga had this (among a few others including an UrQ that he isn't ready to sell yet) and I was able to snag it. It showed up on wednesday evening and I've been out of town since then. The whole experience was pretty weird given that he wouldn't send me his phone number and was very computer illiterate (AN ALL CAPS TYPER). The whole thing took place over Craigslist's email addresses despite the fact that he pulled the listing in January.

The story on this car is that it was a recovered stolen car bought at auction in 1999. It hasn't been driven since. The 79,000 miles on the odometer is correct.

The engine has "something wrong with it" per the PO but I was able to turn it over with no problems, the TB is intact and no interference from valves etc.
The plugs had been pulled and the boots replaced into the plug holes. Hopefully because he was planning for an extended period of sitting.

The car had been inside but there were signs of mold on the inside of the car. Signs too that water had been a few inches deep on the carpet.
It rained while I was out of town but there was no sign of water intrusion.

I connected my jump pack to the battery cables and was able to turn the radio on, move a couple of the seat motors but little else. No windows moved, sunroof didn't move, no turn signals, no hazzards. I haven't dug into this yet but hoping it's something as simple as corroded grounds or something.

The biggest disappointment however is that the car has been resprayed - poorly too. The body is totally straight and I'd dreamed of being able to resurrect the single stage red. Not so. It's crappy and peeling in a few spots - revealing said single stage red beneath it.

Here's some pics:

As it arrived - SUPER dirty:



Half Washed:


Washed:



The engine bay:

Another potential source of electrical gremlins:


Interior (as it arrived)





Peeling Paint:



The interior cleaned up great - but I don't have pics of that yet.

The quandry I have is this, I knew this car was a crap shoot so I had a few different plans.

Option 1 - it's a parts car for my V8 coupe - would provide a good carpet, interior parts and the rest gets scrapped and sold

Option 2 - It gets fixed up as a 7A 20v and sold

Option 3 - It becomes an S2 clone and the V8 coupe gets sold or scavenged / parted.

If it had better paint I was hoping for an S2 clone but I'm not so sure now.

What do you guys think?

If the body is a straight as you say, I may be worth fixing. The interior doesn't look too bad either. Electrical gremlins suck(I've been in wiring hell for the last few weeks), but they are workable. I would hate to see another CQ get parted just because.

I've made some progress with this today.

I've already established that the fuel tank is trashed and the pump is non-functional.

Also, the starter does nothing from a turn of the key despite a new ignition switch. There are signs of corrosion in the fusebox so I'll need to dig through it at some point.

Today I spent the first real time messing with it and hoped to make sure the engine is working. The previous owner said there was "a problem" with the engine but couldn't remember what it was. It has been sitting so long he forgot.

The engine bay as I got it had a couple clues - but none that point to anything I found today.

First, the accessory belts are both off - AC compressor and Alternator.

Second, the plugs are all out and the coolant drained. I'd like to think this is because it was stored but if so he forgot to drain the gastank or treat the gas - the tank is toast

So today I started with the starter. I was able to prove that it's dead. I had a spare v6 starter in the basement and I installed it in there they're interchangeable right?

I was able to also prove that I wasn't getting a signal from the ignition switch to the starter so I rigged up a piece of large gauge wire to jump the starter from the battery.


With this setup I was able to turn the flywheel with the starter! Then I took a coil tester and hooked it up to the spark plug boot - I have spark too!

At this point I changed the oil in the car and put a little marvel mystery oil down each plug hole and put the plugs back in.
Then I found this nest in the airbox:


With a little starter fluid in the open throttle body I got it to run for a minute -
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DL-VfV0hh4[/youtube]

I vote to make it a runner and save it. I'll always say that with complete cars that can be saved with a reasonable amount of cash. Of course its easy for me to say since I'm not forking out the cash. As some of these cars slip away and hit junkyards its good to see ones that need some love and can be brought back. This one looks pretty interesting and I can see it back on the road and enjoying life.

Nice score!

ahahaha the nest is super funny

save it Ben if its economical

Economical is the key word here!

I am not going to keep this car if I fix it so the question is whether I can get it running for a cost that I can recoup on a sale.

Things I know are wrong:

Gas tank - Fuel Pump - entire fuel delivery system - I have fixed these before so I know how to do it, but it still will cost maybe $250
Clutch Hydraulics - totally shot. need new master, slave and bleeding - $100
Electrical system - I don't know what is wrong where however I am relieved that the engine runs. That means the ECU is not dead.
Tires - are from 1999 - $350
Radiator Hoses - the primary to secondary radiator hose feels awful thin and cracked - $100
Timing Belt Job - $150

That list alone is $950 -

So assuming I don't find any other issues, I have an extremely low mileage (79k) running coupe with terrible paint and a cracked hood. I'll likely throw my euro bumper and B3 one piece headlights on it.

What's the going rate for something like that?

I wouldn't mind getting one of these to slowly work on. How much would you be willing to part with it as is?

I'll PM you!