September 2012
Needed a new daily, and thanks to someone posting up the Auctions America listing for 3 coupe quattros, i decided to bank on it and hope i won. And i did.

Plans for this car is basically a rally look for right now, reiger spoiler, s2 bumpers, big brakes, hubs, some custom grills and mudflaps, maybe some exterior vinyl like the audi rings on the lower door. Keep the motor stock for now excluding exhaust/intake

It'll then be just daily driven until i decide to add some power. I don't plan on rallying the car, maybe take it to some rallyx events when i know i have a backup car if i break something.

Details;
1991 Audi Coupe Quattro w/ 176k on working speedometer

picking it up


Good:
Clean interior
smooth running motor
solid body no rust
Black on Black :-)
Original Floor mats
OEM stereo works
cruise works

Bad:
Dead Battery
Dirty Interior
Dent in passenger door
Drivers window regulator is starting to make scary noises
Rear Diff mount i believe is bad
Sunroof seal is a little off
Passenger tail light seal was allowing water in
Stock headlights
Dirty engine bay
Dirty Wheels
Radiator Leaking
CEL came on and brake lights
Stock bumpers

TO DO List:
detail interior - done
install coilovers with new strut mounts - done
install s2 front bumper - done
install s2 lights after painting - done
install s2 steering wheel - done
install optima red top - done
replace drivers window regulator - done
install new radiator / tank - done
replace power steering fluid - done
replace tail light seal - done
install leds in gauge cluster - done
replaced both front axles - done
install aluminum trim - done
install rs2 bumper - done
install rs2 plate - done
install ford rally wheels and winterforce tires - done
fix interior lighting - done
install brullen exhaust - done
paint fog inserts
plastic weld lower lip better
install reiger spoiler
get whole car re-sprayed
replace door rubber trims
replace passenger side door
fix door locks
install remote door locks
polish rear tails
install mud flaps
reseal sunroof rubber
swap to s2 hubs
powdercoat rear subframe
swap out rear subframe and diff
install poly diff mount
replace stock radio with oem concert II
replace speakers
replace hvac system with electric b4 unit
install 034 injectors,
install intake boot
create heat shield for intake and mount isv
put on cone filter
powdercoat paint valve cover and intake mani
replace valve cover gasket
detail engine bay better
paint surface rust metal core supports
install bigger maf
replace O2 sensor
try out E3 spark plugs
recover recaro seats
install seats on b3 manual rails
install seats

On to some before pictures (as it was when i bought it freshly off the trailer

 

September 29th 2012
first thing done was fixing the leak in the rear, the lil bucket was full over stagnant water when i went to get the car. Lucky i knew exacly where it was coming from.

Removed tail lights and cleaned up behind them, removed old butyl rubber sealent, cleaned, applied new 3M butyl rubber and put back on! looks perfect.

before

after cleaning

tail light with new rubber





going to make use of these
first 10 miles of driving and i get a CEL, wouldn't be an audi if it didn't give me one of those

choosing the best and putting them back together


got my first cel after 10 miles of driving, it's christened!


i figured i'd give a lil taste of whats to come with this car, I've bought a couple things/collected some items that i'll install on this one instead of my other project.


interior wise:
s2 steering wheel
brushed aluminum trim

exterior:
v6 coupe/s2 w/o washers front bumper
custom s2/rs2 look alike rear bumper to move the plate down
rs2 tub light
reiger wing
rally mud flaps
brushed aluminum mirrors
vinyl audi rings on lower door trim
buff and polish

performance:
brullen exhaust
possibly injector upgrade
porsche big red front brakes with a8 rotors
porsche rear brakes with 300mm s4 rotors
5x112 knuckle/hub swap (thanks peter!)
o.z. superturismos/gunmetal b5s4 winter studded wheels
poly rear diff and rear subframe mounts


all that plus just about every maintenance item replaced, the rear subframe looks a bit crusty so i'm going to swap in my rear subframe from my 90 with the bigger rear sway bar.

this car is going to look fast and stop fast, but it'll just be a slow reliable car... for the time being.

October 2nd 2012

had a productive day today, bought another of my custom grills for my mkII custom b3/s2 lights, last one was a lil showy i think.

bought some b4 headlight pigtails, the proper steering wheel copper ring to work with the s2 wheel so that the horn works, and checked out the bumpers that were supposed to be painted... they were, just the wrong color

the bumpers were accidently painted in "brilliant black metallic" which looked amazing, but alas, the car is "brilliant black" paint code

this is brilliant black metallic

here's brilliant black in the form of my old CQ that i miss. (note grill and rs2 lights)


October 3rd 2012

got my new black door, paints in better condition then the car... time to wetsand and polish


also recieved the rear diff mounts and the grill mesh to custom make my "kamei" grills.

October 4th 2012

i feel as if this wouldn't hold pressure all too well...


ordering an all aluminum one from nissens, cars down till i get that.

on another note, the fan relay may not of been bad, the motor wasn't even hooked up in the back. that could cause some overheating issues...

back of the radiator that was in there definitely had lost some fluid, there was crystalized coolant all over the back.


on another note, i decided to pull the trigger on getting my recaro LS-C seats reupholstered.

now...



material for the inserts


the goal, but with leather bolsters instead of the satin black cloth.




it'll be a bit before those are done, but thought i'd share my excitement. I have to wait for the fabric from germany, then i have to ship the seats to some specialists in washington for them to reupholster them.

todays work so far involved removing the radiator and then hitting it with a wrench over and over. :curses:
then i very calmly rounded out an steering wheel contact ring and adapted it to the S2 steering wheel


this just came in the mail


should make some good rally mud flaps, waiting on the aluminum plating i'm going to rivet to the bottom now.
precut, 12" wide right now by 48" tall, will need some trimming of course.

 

October 5th 2012

relatively productive day, radiator came in, haven't even had a chance to check it out yet.

before i went over to my garage, i split the plates i "may" be using to trim the bottom of the mudflaps, i think it might be a bit flashy for my tastes, might just go with plain brushed aluminum look


first thing i did t the garage was to disconnect the airbag warning light. yes i know audi, there's something wrong with the airbag... there is none now!
while i was in there, i swapped the gauge lighting for white LED lighting. Makes it look much more red now compared to the orange color. I'll get pics later of that.

next thing was the 3 spoke steering wheel, unfortunately i didn't insulate a contact point properly and it was hitting the hub, so everytime the car was in the on position the horn was going off. sorted that quickly and got the wheel installed.


i was curious as to how the timing belt looked, so i took the cracked cover off and replaced it with my non cracked timing belt cover. The water pump actually looked pretty new, and the belt didn't show any signs of wear at all that i could tell, i guess i'm good for a bit.


next, i cleaned the drivers side engine bay... took a couple hours but i think i did ok. there was a 1/4 inch of dirt/grease/w/e on the motor mount piece. all shiny black paint underneath now, waiting for the radiator to cover it all up again.


then i attached the B4 headlight connections and installed my S2 lights, sadly i think they need a lot of aiming. that'll be fun to play around with since the plastic nuts are detached from the adjustment screws.

then i "was" going to call it quits and go and get some dinner, but i decided to stay and tackle the mesh grill. Came out decent, it'll look better once i install the new hood rubber so that it all looks flat across there.
rings?

no rings?



then i got back home and ordered a new coolant tank because the old one is all nasty looking.
My buddies air compressor whose doing the painting just broke... so i really hope he can still get them done by early next week.

October 6th 2012

today i had a short day, gotta sleep before work tonight.

went to the garage and attempted to figure out how i am going to mount the mudflaps.

rear looks easy enough, plenty of mounting points. I just need to find some spacers about 2cm in length x3 from the lip of the fender.


fronts on the other hand... don't have barely anything to mount them to. guess i'll be drillin some holes and sealing them nice n tight!


designed the shape of the mudflaps a little bit with cardboard but i didn't want to cut anything until i was certain of how the mounting will go.

Then i came home and found another package



October 9th 2012

expensive stuff to replace the power steering fluid

new radiator that is not exactly all aluminum as i expected it to be. fail advertising

new coolant expansion tank, radiator mounts and exhaust hangers for the brullen


alrighty, my painters compressor took a **** and i'm not sure when he'll have a new one so i grabbed my "brilliant black metallic" bumper and mounted it to the gloss black car and installed all the lights, then made myself a matching grill for the plate spot because i've always wanted to do it.




sadly i forgot to grab the lower grills while i was there.

so tomorrow's project is to flush the coolant system really well, install new radiator and expansion tank, and then drive it for it's longest trip so far without any faults.

October 10th 2012

Today;

went to garage, flushed coolant system out thoroughly then filled with g12, drained power steering fluid out.

installed radiator and buttoned everything up decently (needs detailing i know)


then aimed the headlights, replaced the window regulator (gotta go back in because now my door locks aren't working right, must've hit something)


then i pulled all the cars in a row for this shot. note the porsche doesn't run, but it's nice to see all my black ducks in a row


for those that don't like to click


October 11th 2012

time to bake the fog lights!



update... that failed.
they didn't want to separate, i didn't want to crack the glass as it's in decent condition.

got the car inspected, passed of course.

now i'm going to go fix the door lock because it seems to have decided to detach itself from the cylinder in the "alarm" setting. so when you get in the car it turns the alarm on unless you go over to the passenger side door and unlock it... but that's only a 1 time fix.

le sigh.

well, i'm a pro at putting the window regulator in and out at this point, as i had to remove it 3 times total in the last 24hrs to get to either swap to the new one or readjust, or get to the locking mechanism... which i thought i had fixed (tested it while in the car and no door card) and all worked great.

after i drove it home it decided not to work again, the drivers door doesn't want to lock down, the other doors work though. you can't turn the key properly. As long as it's not in the "alarm" position i'm happy for now.

just picked up my brullen exhaust from my friend who repaired it for me, that should be going on next week after i get some new bolts and gaskets for it.

installed the drivers side lower door trim, i have to figure out how to remove the rear one now as that looks bad next to it. luckily i have a whole set.

i am very impressed on how bright the s2 headlights are. much brighter then my rs2's with the hid's installed it seems. all i have in them is silvania silverstar bulbs

October 24th 2012

coming soon.
-tranni seals and fluid
-axles

and coilovers with s2 hubs and porsche brakes

 

October 26th 2012

went to my friend zak at stickerbomb and he wrapped the wood trim in brushed aluminum vinyl. I'll get a better picture later, but it seriously looks awesome. He also wrapped the sideview mirrors. looks odd without my lighter color wheels on it.

the mirrors were so pitted, i was sanding for half an hour on this one, and an hour for the other one with the deeper pits in it

also had to smooth out the cracks in the interior wood trim. didn't want it showing through the vinyl


picture at night


looks just light silver here, but it's actually got a nice brushed feel to it. looks real.

Alright, here's some better pictures of what's done with the interior






mirrors


As she sits now


presents i got in the mail:
rs2 style S2 bumper



Big brakes for the front and rear. To the left is a b5 A4 1.8t Rear disc and caliper


October 31st 2012

total mileage on car now is 178k, i've put 1.5k on it!
new empi axles were installed in the front along with flange seals and new gear oil. Man does the car sound more quiet now, i used to have a strange gurgle before when i pressed the clutch in, at first we thought it was the throw out bearing but the sound is completely gone now. and no more clicking from the passenger side axle.

my buddy painted the reiger spoiler, but it had some drips so i wasn't happy about it and told him to redo it. He apologized and said he'd get it done asap.

he did however finished repairing the rs2 style s2 bumper, that'll be going on tomorrow along with the rs2 plate i hope. should look lovely. too bad the paints aren't going to match for the time being, nice n glossy new paint vs old n pitted satin looking paint.

November 5th 2012

small update, my friend finished painting the rs2 styled s2 bumper. looks great.


and i temporarily mounted something to see how it fit...

 

Reiger wing, i love it.

clickables



November 7th 2012

I popped the brullen on there today
Exhaust has a very deep sound, although lil raspy. It's better then the stebro that we put on my last coupe, i think another resonator up closer to the dp will help

out with the old and rusty

in with the new



i'll get a sound clip up tomorrow

November 9th 2012

Video of brullen exhaust, it was cold out hence the smoke show. Don't worry I had it up to temp before doing this.

Also installed the rs2 tub and rs2 styled S2 bumper

Now it's the only black rs2 styled (rear) coupe in the us. There's a pearl white, a nagaro, and possibly a red one.
Soon I'll have the reiger wing on properly.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-uAhe-lF9k[/youtube]

November 11th 2012

picked up some winter wheels, going to keep the 4x108 for a lil bit and put the hubs on the other coupe



November 16th 2012

more presents

going to get painted i think before i get them mounted






plugs and wires are odd, i'm going to have to do some weatherproofing and figure out how to wire the suckers up better.

 

December 6th 2012

Alright, Pictures.

i installed the 2bennet coilovers, covered the threads with antiseize then wrapped them in vinyl tape to protect them. I have them set as high as they can go in the front, and the rears are just a few threads down. This achieves an overall ground to fender of about 27.5" compared to the 24.5" on most front coupes stock.

Tires are 225/55/17, they're a bit big... i wouldn't recommend going this big as i go have some rubbing issues when turning tightly. but in a straight line and around corners at speed there's no problem.

I have a slight issue with one of the rear tires hitting the front of the fender wall corner

compared to front

roof rack and votex headlights are installed as well, i think it looks pretty good from the front. lights not as good as the b3 euro's or b4 euro's though.

more pictures.








December 10th 2012

Couple pictures thanks to some of our local talent!
me driving my car
IMG_5138 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_5138 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by TheKeyMaster, on Flickr
rafe driving my car
IMG_5632 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_5632 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by TheKeyMaster, on Flickr




once again, thanks to Jim with his photography!

December 12th 2012



yesterday i was driving along and all of a sudden my car turned into a racecar with an open exhaust. looked under the car and my pipe had come out of the band clamp. oops. drove it home and gave it a lil "power" through the rpms... at 12am. Sounded so good i had a smile on my face the whole time. Fixed the exhaust and clamped it a bit better so it wouldn't happen again.

installed the missing lower rubber trim on the passenger side (stole it off my pearl coupe )

polished the rear tail lights so they match the center panel a bit better. the red is a darker shade for the us tails, but at least it's all glossy now.
before

after

color difference


cleaned up the rear hatch some and attempted to fix the squeak again. got it a little bit better.

also made an appointment next tuesday to get the front windshield replaced. it's definitely needed.

 

more pictures thanks to my hero dan

















December 13th 2012

Car reached 180,000 miles
Engine is running a lil rough on start up, poor stock injectors and probably dirty maf and old O2 sensor. Replacing all of that will help hopefully.
Changed the oil for the second time since owning the car. switched to synthetic 5w30 mobil.

I am going to look into some 15" saab aeroblade 3-spoke wheels today. looking forward to getting them. They look sexy on the coupes.

My painter said the spoiler will be done this weekend... i heard this a few times. Alas he's a good guy and is just behind.

 

delete

 

Dec 18th 2012
Windshield was replaced by safelite on Northern Blvd, they did my first black cq and did a good job. The Clay Safelite did my yellow coupe and they did a god job there as well. I took this coupe to Northern and they did a crappy job imo. Was dissappointed, so i called after i drove it home for them to come to my place to fix it. The guy from Clay who did the yellow coupe came and fixed it for me (trim on sides of window were not sitting properly in place).

Anyways, windshield is now nice and clear.

I also installed an undertray from the earlier cars so i can have some more places to put my junk. Very pleased with that.

Dec 22nd 2012
SNOW!!!!
Cars first snow session with me. It was a blast. I learned a bit more about how to use the e-brake a bit better to whip the tail end around. Wish i had known that for the rallyx. Also learned a but about clutch dropping after a good slide. All in all i feel like i can control the car better sideways. Almost to the point where i would do some stupid Ken Block **** around corners with curbs... famous last words.

I did some donuts in a giant empty parking lot and did some drifts. Then i realized that i was being watched by an orange honda fit. jealous... or scared? So i left and did some more slides on the way home.

Car felt very planted in the snow and ice. Road was completely covered and no plows had been through (john glenn). I was going about 45 and the car didn't shimmy at all like other cars would.

January 20th 2013

had a semi productive day

I swapped back over to my b4 lights because they are much brighter and less fragile then the votex's. those are better kept safe for nicer weather driving.
This means i had to either put in my mesh grill again or make something. I decided to remake my plymouth grill. I spent a bit more time getting it to fit properly and securing it. I attempted to paint it and it didn't come out as well as i wanted, but it looks good from a short distance. All black instead of the old dark chrome one i made.

fixed my exhaust temporarily. It's not coming apart now. Exhaust paste is messy crap.

Then i tackled this.


my glass sunroof was the only rust on the whole car, and it was rotted like nothing i'd seen before. it pushed the rubber seal up in the front and the metal trim, so i was getting an annoying wind noise.
I put in my spare metal one i had the the seal was perfect on. I'll see if i can get a new frame for the glass, it's perfect in the glass part, but the frame is caputs.

already separated from the glass,


another note, if you have a glass sunroof and put a metal one in, the trim piece will have to be removed. otherwise it gets in the way. the slider can stay though.

Next i played with the interior a bit. most of "Red" lighting wasn't working, including my abs switch. So i went through and replaced most of the bulbs. I ran outta good bulbs though. The abs switch works, but no light. My Oil pressure gauge is a slightly dimmer bulb, but i now have my diff lock button lit up as well as the drivetrain piece, center tray, rear tray, and cig lighter.

I need to get my hands on some seat heater switches with lights that work. i have like 10 switches and none of the lights work on them.

while i had the center panel out, i replaced my extremely worn shifter mechanism with a bilzcat short shifter. Non adjustable unfortunately, but DAMN, that makes a huge freaking difference. I never had a short shifter in any of my coupes before. It's very clean feeling with no real play.

 

Guess i haven't updated in a bit

2-14-13
Weather was nice so i gave it a nice washing to remind me how bad my paint job is



3-3-13
184,500 miles

I installed the reiger spoiler finally last night, i still love it. Looks fantastic with my RS2 rear end.




I decided to go ice racing in Hammond NY with the chump car thing. 10$ and racing on a frozen lake? what could possibly go wrong with that?!

First time driving on a frozen lake.

Andy came along with me, he's a cool guy, he has brians old turbo'd coupe. Sounds evil.


The track was 3/4 of a mile long, and we were told it was more rough then usual do to the ice/slush combo. they plowed a good 2-3' of snow off the sides, so it was a solid Ice barrier around the track on either side... this was kinda intimidating...

i slipped and fell on my *** right around here. fell on an ice chunk, felt fantastic

one of the menard class racers (crazy studded tires)



anyways, we were told to take some practice laps, passing was allowed, so basically racing began... slowly. I kept up just fine with the car in front of me for the first 3/4 of a lap. Then i failed to negotiate a 90degree right and plowed into the bank, breaking my bumper, to what extent idk because after the cars passed i threw it into reverse and was able to get out (quattro definitely helped, if it was a fwd/rwd they would of been stuck i'm sure). i noticed that i left some pieces of my lower valence in that snowbank and thought, well it probably just split at the center where it was mended before and lost the center grill.

i completed that lap and went on to the second lap following behind CJ in his bmw, once again keeping up just fine, not really pressing too hard. The course was UNBELIEVABLY rough on my poor coilovers. 350lb spring rates is not good for this. there were some nasty divots in the ice where it seemed levels of ice were just sheered off.

i started my 3rd lap and decided to try to swing the back end around a 160degree corner... it didn't rotate, i had no traction, i felt like the titanic heading for an iceburg. CRUNCH. right into a giant pile of frozen ice, a good 3' of it at least. the car was high centered so i tried rocking it off at first but it was useless. while i sat there waiting for the truck to go by, other cars drove by... i felt the shame as that was my second time off the course. getting slush splashed onto the back of the car that was still on the course a good 3' or so.

As i sat there in my car... i looked out ahead 10'=15' and saw a piece of glass, looked to be from my fog light... but wasn't sure. i prayed it wasn't my headlights. i also saw other pieces of black plastic hanging around. I must of hit it harder then i thought.

Finally got out of the car when the truck showed up, laughed and said "i think i mighta broke something". I then walked out to the front of the car and noticed my lower bumper was in about 5 pieces. the upper part only had the font most still intact, the drivers side fog light and turn signal were shattered. Heart sank a little at that point seeing how bad it was. It wasn't just cracked, it shattered into pieces.

I assessed under the car, a large chunk of ice was under my driver side control arm. there was ice chunks everywhere. i looked to see if there was any damage to the radiator or oil pan, but those were still just fine. thank god. if i had lowered the car instead of raised it i'm sure that wouldn't of been the case.

anyways, truck pulled me off the bank after some digging of the ice. i completed the 3rd lap, and pulled into the pit that everyone else had pulled into. I felt the shame once again as everyone stared at my beaten car

parked the car and took some pictures




To kick it off, my alternator decided to stop charging the battery. It was pretty wet so we concluded that was the problem and let is sit. Andy agreed with me that it was too rough and he parked his car for the rest of the day next to mine. The ONLY awd cars there were sitting on the sidelines. granted we had the nicest cars there, but way to represent!

we left early and limped my car home, swapped the batteries over when the one in my car got low. eventually it started charging again, must of dried out. I was in better spirits then so i took some photos of andrews car and a video