Woot Woot!! Will be there!!! Will be puting my snows on then, maybe replace pass side rear caliper also.
NEMOC Random BS Thread
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Woot Woot!! Will be there!!! Will be puting my snows on then, maybe replace pass side rear caliper also.
So, my sister's "new" 1988 Audi 80 Quattro is quite a handful. On one hand, I can see why people love Audi, based on those cars. Engines that go to 300K no problems, galvanized metal that refuses to rust, hard as hell paint, reliable Quattro driveline, lots of nice little touches inside (comes with an allen key inside dome light compartment to let you manually crank-close the sunroof if the motor fails).
On the other hand, g'damn, I miss her agricultural Honda. And I love my easy to work on Mazdas. I have a front suspension job in order (struts are shot, strut mounts are shot!!, control arm bushings are probably shot). But I figured, why not first pop in a fresh air filter?
The hardest air filter job so far has been on the RX-8, where I had to push the airbox back into the car to pop it up, before I could open it. Oh Mazda, why did you have to make it so easy?
German engineering on the 5-cyl motor has 5 clamps around the airbox, 4 of them are hard to reach and the 5th is damn near impossible to reach. How it's still on there after 22 years is a mystery to me. The airbox is below the fuel distribution system!, so as you lift up the air filter housing, you are moving the fuel lines, fuel distributor. Most people suggest removing the passenger headlight, which I completely agree with and will do when I attempt the job again. Here are the steps.
If you look in this photo, the air filter housing is below both black and gray circular contraptions on the bottom left:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uksi/5032048020/" title="Engine bay. by ilp, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5032048020_9b000c22e8.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="Engine bay." /></a>
Here are some pictures of the car and some detailing/polishing I did. It needs like a week of polishing. I polished the hood with some aggressive stuff, just two passes (needs fifty...) and it went from looking like it was washed w/ a brillo pad to looking like it has shine, but also a bunch of scratches on it:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uksi/5031434243/" title="Center hood polished some, side untouched by ilp, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/5031434243_a53af5a023.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="Center hood polished some, side untouched" /></a>
Anyway, back to the engineering.
The front suspension involves funky slotted nuts. The suspension design is somewhat strange to me, as the upper strut mount is basically all rubber. So when the weak factory rubber mount collapses, your front end starts to sag and then eventually the shock goes through the hood. I feel a lot better about the P5's metal strut mounts with just a rubber bushing. Of course, on the P5, it will just rust out.
Driving that Audi right now is a strange feeling. It has 227K. Selecting gears is like rowing a boat. 2nd to 3rd is like bowling and it has a very vague, super smooth, "slips right in" with an inch of play type of feel. Yet it makes solid engagement noises. The steering is vague as well, but the fact is she has so much toe play in the front that if you drove the car up on an alignment rack 3 times, you'd get 3 different toe readings every time. Hope to mitigate most of that w/ the front suspension job.
The stock suspension is notoriously soft, but right now it's really floaty and one broken strut away from having the Lincoln bounce. We hit a 2-inch road construction bump and I wasn't sure what direction the car was going to sway in or move in.
The engine makes an awesome noise though, when you floor on it. Never heard a car like that.
On the other hand, g'damn, I miss her agricultural Honda. And I love my easy to work on Mazdas. I have a front suspension job in order (struts are shot, strut mounts are shot!!, control arm bushings are probably shot). But I figured, why not first pop in a fresh air filter?
The hardest air filter job so far has been on the RX-8, where I had to push the airbox back into the car to pop it up, before I could open it. Oh Mazda, why did you have to make it so easy?
German engineering on the 5-cyl motor has 5 clamps around the airbox, 4 of them are hard to reach and the 5th is damn near impossible to reach. How it's still on there after 22 years is a mystery to me. The airbox is below the fuel distribution system!, so as you lift up the air filter housing, you are moving the fuel lines, fuel distributor. Most people suggest removing the passenger headlight, which I completely agree with and will do when I attempt the job again. Here are the steps.
If you look in this photo, the air filter housing is below both black and gray circular contraptions on the bottom left:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uksi/5032048020/" title="Engine bay. by ilp, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5032048020_9b000c22e8.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="Engine bay." /></a>
Here are some pictures of the car and some detailing/polishing I did. It needs like a week of polishing. I polished the hood with some aggressive stuff, just two passes (needs fifty...) and it went from looking like it was washed w/ a brillo pad to looking like it has shine, but also a bunch of scratches on it:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/uksi/5031434243/" title="Center hood polished some, side untouched by ilp, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/5031434243_a53af5a023.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="Center hood polished some, side untouched" /></a>
Anyway, back to the engineering.
The front suspension involves funky slotted nuts. The suspension design is somewhat strange to me, as the upper strut mount is basically all rubber. So when the weak factory rubber mount collapses, your front end starts to sag and then eventually the shock goes through the hood. I feel a lot better about the P5's metal strut mounts with just a rubber bushing. Of course, on the P5, it will just rust out.
Driving that Audi right now is a strange feeling. It has 227K. Selecting gears is like rowing a boat. 2nd to 3rd is like bowling and it has a very vague, super smooth, "slips right in" with an inch of play type of feel. Yet it makes solid engagement noises. The steering is vague as well, but the fact is she has so much toe play in the front that if you drove the car up on an alignment rack 3 times, you'd get 3 different toe readings every time. Hope to mitigate most of that w/ the front suspension job.
The stock suspension is notoriously soft, but right now it's really floaty and one broken strut away from having the Lincoln bounce. We hit a 2-inch road construction bump and I wasn't sure what direction the car was going to sway in or move in.
The engine makes an awesome noise though, when you floor on it. Never heard a car like that.
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/RX-8Chick
Member
- :
- Winning Blue RX-8 MT and Aquatic Blue Mica 2 MT
Morning all! Yay date change!
Where ya movin to Gary?
Where ya movin to Gary?
- :
- 92 & 16 Meyatas
mornin from beautiful huntersville nc...(trying to get geared up for living here someday!) anyway, chris, good luck on the house!
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Thanks Mark. We're still negotiating on the house. They came back with another offer which includes the ride-on mower and snow blower. Since we were planning on purchasing both items with the money they have been offering toward closing costs, I asked for details about them. If they are relatively new and in good condition I think I'll sway 500-1000 on our offer if they include them. The owners have already moved to Kentucky so my guess is that including them was part of the plan from the beginning...after all, they don't have much use for a snow blower down there.
Oleg, good luck with that car man! Sounds like you inherited quite a big project. I hope your sis appreciates all the work you put in and buys you a few tasty craft brews in return.
BTW, its amazing what a little TLC can do to an old vehicle. Had the previous owners spent some time with the buffer they probably could have gotten more money for the car. You added $500-1000 in value between your first photo and last photo. I'm guessing you can't really buff the sides of the car though because of the pin stripping right?
Oleg, good luck with that car man! Sounds like you inherited quite a big project. I hope your sis appreciates all the work you put in and buys you a few tasty craft brews in return.
BTW, its amazing what a little TLC can do to an old vehicle. Had the previous owners spent some time with the buffer they probably could have gotten more money for the car. You added $500-1000 in value between your first photo and last photo. I'm guessing you can't really buff the sides of the car though because of the pin stripping right?
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- :
- 96 Miata M-Edition, 2015 Mazda 3 Hatch
cheaper cost of living, inexpensive golf, cheaper real estate.. I see no problems here.
/RX-8Chick
Member
- :
- Winning Blue RX-8 MT and Aquatic Blue Mica 2 MT
I see a problem.... who's gonna have the clean meets?
- :
- 96 Miata M-Edition, 2015 Mazda 3 Hatch
Josh? I dunno.
Certainly not me. I have well water. You guys would run me dry!
Certainly not me. I have well water. You guys would run me dry!
So very true. I recently did a complete detail of my friends 2010 VW CC, took pics, posted on Craigslist, and a couple weeks later someone from Florida bought it. Flew up here and drove it home.
It's not too tough working around pin stripping. I usually lay a strip of thin painters tape over it.
/RX-8Chick
Member
- :
- Winning Blue RX-8 MT and Aquatic Blue Mica 2 MT
The pin striping appears to be surviving the polishing. Masking tape if you're really anal and for tight spots, hand-buff with M105 (and a lot of sweat).
The hardest parts, I imagine, would be the space inside the rings/around the badges on the trunk.
Thanks.
Woooooo! Well, the company is going to fly me out to Atlanta, GA for a face-to-face interview here soon.. This is where I start to negotiate salary and benefits while trying to prove (which I already have) why I should be hired.
Looks like I need to get fitted for a few suits this weekend. yay!
Looks like I need to get fitted for a few suits this weekend. yay!
