With the Astra Mkt GTE now nearly done thoughts are turning to the Audi Quattro UR project, the one we picked up from down Oxford way a couple of months back. When we collected the car it had no engine, gearbox, diffs or very much else really, it was just a restored shell on a rolling chassis and a few boxes of bits. The seller had promised to bring the rest of the stuff up to us, I have to say I was extremely nervous from day one.
After a few weeks of delays Malc phoned to say the guy was coming up and could I give Russ a hand with unloading etc. I went along but was both shocked and disappointed when we went to unload the guy's car to discover all there was in there was an engine block, a separate head and just a few other bits. No gearbox, no diffs, no turbo, no injection stuff, nothing.
The guy insists that he will send us stuff as and when we need it and request it but This seems like a massive task with far too much potential for stress and disaster. Neither me nor Russ have ever worked on one of these cars, we have no idea about parts interchangeability etc and are working fairly blind. Yes, we have access to manuals but every single part is going to have to be checked and cross checked before going on the car. The engine will have to come apart for checking, I noticed bits of tree in one bore- looks like it has been badly stored, although the bores and cams look good and it looks like the head has been apart - I can see numbers written on the backs of the open valves. I am not sure I am brave enough to make the assumption that the valve stem seals are new so it may have to come apart anyway. There are two nuts missing from one of the cam carriers, that suggests to me that somebody that isn't particularly careful has done the job, if they are the sort of person that loses nuts they are potentially the sort of person that doesn't own a torque wrench, I can't and won't take that risk.
First job will be to take off the sump and have a good look at the bearings, I am hoping it's all new in there but am taking nothing for granted. There is a new head gasket with it but no head bolts, they need ordering fairly soon along with a new cam belt. We have no starter, alternator, fuel injection stuff, power steering pump or any of the other engine ancillaries, I am really worried about this one, you can't just go to a local motor factors and buy bits for these things, even if we did know what we needed. There are countless small parts - brackets, fixings, hoses etc that we do not have and do not have the experience to even know what they look like and where they go. For the very first time, I can honestly say this one might beat us.
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