Followup to Dead Wagon...

[Doug Yoder]

Ok, some of you may remember last month I was looking for advice on
resurrecting my 87 5ks wagon.  In my spare time, I've been working on
it, and here's what I've found:

Spark is OK. (Replaced distributor cap and rotor anyway, since they were
due) Timing is OK.  Belt is in decent enough shape, all the marks line
up, etc. Vacuum is OK.

So that leaves the fuel system.  Pump is ok, relay is ok, filter is ok
but will be replaced anyway... But the metering distributor is bad :(
At first, none of the fuel lines from distributor to injectors were
giving gas (except the one for the warm-up regulator), so I took it off,
checked the movement on the valve stem thingy, and noticed it was a
little tight.  The haynes manual says you have to replace the whole
thing, so I called around and found out that a new one costs almost a
grand (eep!)... since that's half of what we paid for the car 5 years
ago, and probly twice what the car is worth right now, I decided to try
rebuilding the metering distributor. Unbolted everything, opened it up,
and managed not to spill *all* the little springs etc on the floor.
Didn't really do anything, just checked that everything was moving,
wasn't broken, etc.  Carefully put it back together, put it back on the
car, reconnected all the fuel lines, and started it up.  Ran
perfectly... except fuel sprayed from the metering distributor side.
Took it back off, checked the alignment of the gasket inside it,
tightened it up a little harder, put it back on, and now the car won't
start again (it has gone back to not distributing fuel).

So, I have two questions at this point:
1. Does anyone have a used metering distributor for a 1987 Audi 5000s
(no turbo, no quattro) with a 2.3l NF engine that I can have cheap? 2.
Is it worth it on this car? Body isn't in real good shape, clutch is
about half worn, exhaust system is bad (didn't pass emmisions last time,
got a waiver, will need to test again in 12months, probably won't pass
again... and the plates expire at the end of August).

Thanks for your time,
-Doug