Thinking of buying 99 A4 but...
 

I am thinking of buying a 99 A4 1.8T with 17 in S4 rims but, the car is a fixer upper. The body and interior are in pretty good condtion. The seller is a friend of the wife and she says the car has 225k miles and has 3 coolant leaks, the front lower valence is missing, (what is that) and the air is not working. I can turn a wrench and have rebuilt a few engines and a Chrysler T/C tranny so doing the work should not be too hard for me. Are there some common BIG problems these cars have that would cause me to turn away from a car that is about 1K USD? I really dont want to get into the internal engine since I think the car would be worth about 2500-3000 when working correctly....anyone have some input on the leaks, the air, replacing timing belt, transmission, on how tough the engines are and what if someone did not use the recommended syn oil but conventional...thanks for the feedback.

I would find a used motor/tranny and throw it in, I've seen them with reasonable mileage for pretty cheap, seems like 2500 for a good running car with a straight body and interior is a decent deal