[ba] Intro; quattro seeks abuse

[Buchholz, Steven]

> I've come for advice about the future of Helmut der quattro, my 84 
> 4000. He's got >200,000 miles, some body damage and quite a bit of 
> wear and tear, but still runs well. I've started to modify it for off 
> road use, but wondering how much use I'll get out of it. Are there 
> rally races around here? Anybody know how to get a 4000 with a turbo 
> to pass a smog test without establishing residency in Nevada? What 
> other bay area cops will pull you over just for driving a yellow car 
> (besides Palo Alto)? Is Huw on this list? If you're wondering whether 

... to start with the last question ... no, I doubt that Huw monitors this
list.  I think he lives back east somewhere.  

... to answer the turbo question ... from what I understand you can add a
turbo to the stock engine, but I'd imagine the amount of testing you'd need
to do to satisfy the CARB regulators might be excessive.  What others have
done is to drop in a similar stock turbocharged engine from a turbocharged
Audi.  The CARB rules do allow you to install an engine from a car that is
no older than the model of the rest of the car.  For instance you could swap
an engine from a 1984 5000 turbo into your car as long as you retained all
of the smog control features.  I think the most popular swap is for the "MC"
code turbocharged engine from the '86-'91 type 44 (5000/200) cars.  I know
of one person in this area who recently did this to his 4000Q ...

As to local rally events, I think I'd point you to the SCCA to see how many
local RallyCross events there are.  This is something I would be interested
in knowing more about as well, but I've never had the discretionary time to
check into it.  I've gotta believe that with cars like the ScoobyDoo WRC
hitting our shores that interest in this will only be picking up ...

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)