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Project: my first 20v

22K views 123 replies 14 participants last post by  DE80q 
#1 ·
A couple weeks ago, I got a PM, it was a semi local enthusiast with an offer I couldn't pass up. The plan for this vehicle will be an OEM rebuild with some euro flair.

So here is what I picked up. A 1991 Coupe Quattro, black on black.





The front bumper has been tucked, and it's on a pretty nice period correct set of borbet 16" wheels. Paint is in descent shape, but needs a good cleaning before I decide what the next steps are there.

Now, for the not so good. The engine is shot. The head was taken a machine shop and scrapped due to extreme cracking. I thought that was a 20vt issue, not so much the 20v in general. Both window regulators are bad, and the PS window is open about 1/2". The interior was mostly removed to attempt to save it. The tail lights leak, so there was also water in the trunk area. This lead to the most distressing issue. In 2 ares, the trunk is rotted through. The good news is it's in an area that should be relatively easy to repair, time will tell though.

It did come with a good selection of parts, so I'll be having fun going through those soon.

First, I need to get the garage ready for it's new tenant...


That will be a task in itself :frustrated:
 
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#77 ·
Thanks Austin. Unfortunately I put the gaskets on backwards then... Oh well... I'll post picks here shortly.
 
#78 ·
Spent most of today putting most of the engine together. Head got torqued down, that was... Fun... Then finding all the bolts to put everything else on was most of the time spent. Oh well, it's almost ready to take off the stand, and get a trans bolted to it. I don't want to set the timing until the trans is attached. Last thing I want to do it set the timing wrong at this point.
 
#79 ·
I'm trying to make a decision. The plan as of now, is to sell this when it's road worthy again. The transmission is currently an unknown. I have a good sedan transmission which everyone knows has a better 5th gear.

The decision I need to make is, should I swap the trans when I put the engine in, or, leave the CQ trans in, and offer the next owner the sedan trans with the car?

Obviously I'm looking at a little more work on my part to swap the trans, but would it make it better in the end?
 
#80 ·
Well, here is the sedan transmission all cleaned up...


Now I have to go get my jack stands back so I can get the one out of the CQ...
 
#81 ·
So today was generally a good day in the garage. Got quite a bit done! Cleaned up the sedan transmission(previous post) and got the CQ trans out!


Things moved along ok after that. After figuring out what I had been doing wrong trying to get the hydro boost unit out, I set about cleaning up the vacuum booster I picked up. A little love with a wire wheel before some paint... NOPE! Damnit!


The hits just keep on coming! I wasn't even hitting the ring hard at all, so that must have been hiding under the rust.

A good friend offered me a B2 booster. Does anyone know if they are comparable?
 
#82 ·
Re the booster... is it fairly solid everywhere else?

I don't know about the B2 vs. B3 thing (for some reason I have a feeling they're different) but if your booster is otherwise good you might be able to patch that hole. That part of the booster sees only vacuum so you can place a patch on the outside without worry of it blowing off. You could use some fiberglass cloth and JB weld, or carefully TIG a small metal patch over the hole.
 
#84 ·
Eric, the booster is pretty crusty. That's what I get for picking up parts in the dark.

Austin, that's for the reply. From what I have been told by a couple sources, the B2 booster will work, as long as it has the adjustable rod. I'll be checking one out tomorrow.hopefully that means I will be putting the engine/trans in this weekend!
 
#85 ·
So this morning I removed the major parts of the hydro boost system.


Now, can anyone tell me what I'm supposed to do with this cluster F?


This I believe is the return line section where the 2 hydro boost hoses, and the 2 steering hoses come together. Should I just cut the hoses short, and clamp a bolt in there? I really don't want to remove the whole line if it's not necessary.
 
#86 ·
Well, just got home from picking this up.


Has a little rust, but nothing to worry about


It's in MUCH better shape than the other one I had. Now I need to plug the hydro boot return lines, and install this. I'm going to measure the brake booster rod lengths. Hopefully they are the same, is not, I'll have to adjust it.
 
#87 ·
Today was about the small victories! I looped the hose on the hydro booster return, and sealer that up. I then painted the "new" booster.


After letting that dry for about an hour, I fought the car to get it in!


I then played contortionist to get the 3 M10 lock nuts on inside the car. Some duck tape on a socket so I could get them started and I was gold! Very happy, until I realized I needed to crawl back under the dash to attach the return spring! Oh, well that actually went quite easily.

I started to pull thing out of my garage, and it suddenly got very dark like it's going to rain, so I decided not to pull the engine into the driveway. Instead I started looking at some other things I could attach to the engine before install. I figured the breather tubes could go on a while. I tried to put the one one that came with the car, no go. It was hitting the BOS heat shield. It turns out there IS a difference between the early and late breather tube.


The extra bends in it allow it to clear the heat shield. So now I have to clean this one up... I guess that tube that sticks up vertically can just be capped, as the late manifold doesn't use it. I do need to figure out where the bracket for the tube attaches to though

That where I will stop today, my daughter is bugging me to play with her and not the car.
 
#88 ·
Today was a milestone day! With it being quite nice outside, I pulled everything out and got going.

Flywheel, clutch, and trans all attached! It's way up in the air to install the oil pan to trans bolts as well as the starter.


After fighting to get the engine to hang in a correct enough position to put it between the frame rails, I finally got it in!


For those that have don't the BOS header in a late car, did you run into issues with the AC line? The one that runs along the PS fender. I could not get the engine over far enough with that line in place. As soon as I took it out, it fell right into place. I did attempt to put it back in after getting the engine in, and it would not fit.
 
#89 ·
Looking good. Are you using the stock ps pump or a vac one? I was going to get a b4 ps pump from my dad but if I can use the one I got that would save me some time

Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk
 
#90 ·
The plan is to use a stock one and romoventhe piston that isn't being used anymore.
 
#92 ·
Looks like partsgeek.com lists one from gates.
 
#94 ·
Thanks Pete. Hopefully the fuel pump is ok...

One thing I forgot to mention was when manipulating the engine/trans into place, I noticed a puddle forming under the car. It turns out the clutch line let go at some point. With having little option with what to do there, one was ordered from here.
https://www.paragonperformance.com/Audi-Clutch-Lines" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I will also be ordering a set of brake lines to match. The ones on the car are like rocks...
 
#95 ·
I just got the call. I'm going back to work tonight. I'm not sure for how long, but apparently there is a lot of work at the shop now.

So I'm going to try to get the car back to a roller today. At least that way I can push the car around when needed again
 
#96 ·
Good to hear your getting back into work.

Where I am working is getting busier all the time, struggling to keep up.

At least on LHD cars the battery tray is on the other side, my 3b was a pita with the battery tray on the drivers side of the engine bay. So much so the guy I bought it from had cut the two triangle sections under the battery into a square for access.
 
#97 ·
Not much of an update, I need to decide if I want to weld up the "new" subframe, or if I want to try to clean up the original one and see how bad it is. I'll say it again, DON'T BUY PARTS IN THE DARK! I don't care how much you think you can trust the person...

This is where the control arm is supposed to be mounted on the "new subframe


All 4 inner areas have some sort of cut off wheel marks. I know I can weld it, grind it, and be all good, I'm just getting aggravating over buying supposedly good parts and finding crap like this.

Anyways, I did finally decide to put the front end of the parts car to good use.


I'll be building a box around it, filling with brick chip and then a flower box where the engine is supposed to be. I need to figure out a way to make the headlights, corners, and fog lights illuminate. My neighbor thinks it's awesome, when shall see what the powers that be have to say about it though haha.

And last but not least, I kind of went on a parts ordering binge. That being said, the wife was starting to get a little pissy about the piles of box's around the house. So today, I was made to "make them disappear!". So seeing as they are all for the CQ, they went in the hatch for now...


Oh, and this is the condensed version! With more on the way! Hopefully the weather cooperates soon, and I can finish getting the front end back together on this. It's been too cold and wet outside to have the garage door open.
 
#99 ·
The other day I decided to attack the original subframe, because I hadn't welded the "new" subframe yet. I'm glad I did, because other than some crusty spots, it really want that bad. After a couple hours of scraping, hammering, and wire Wheeling, it looks descent. So I went ahead and painted it. 2 coats of rustolium rust reformer, and 2 heavy coats of VHT chassis black epoxy paint. Looks pretty good now!



Then tonight I was bored at work, so I figured I would weld up the other subframe and clean it up too. Welding went ok, but was pulling all kinds of crap out of the metal.



I was welding at a pretty low temp trying not to burn away too much. After I was satisfied with the multiple hacked up area repairs, I went ahead with the needle scaler to knock off the rust. Wasn't exactly what I expected...


That hole started forming with a light pass over the area with the scaler. I went back over it a couple time to see just how bad it was when it pretty much just caved in! I had noticed the drain in that corner was rusted shut, but didn't thing too much of it, until this happened. I figured I was in for more welding until I flipped it, and produced another home in the same area on the other side. So after all that, I threw it in the scrap hopper here at work. Such a waste.

Oh, and can anyone tell me what the hell these mounts are actually to? They obviously aren't early small chassis mounts.
 
#101 ·
That's actually the front subframe. I've never seen one that was this delicate. Luckily the original one was salvageable. I haven't gotten to the rear subframe yet. I do have a quite nice replacement for that on hand if it's needed though.
 
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