More on the new 4kq

[Dave Hord]

Well,

This past weekend was a '4kq' weekend.  Martin Pajak loaned me a bentley
(thanks!) and brought by its new clutch.  I figured I'd dive into true Audi
ownership by tackling my first timing belt/water pump. But first...a trip to
the wreckers!

Picked up a new front headlight for my 90q...the two on it are sandblast
specials $40. Picked up the column switches (wipers, lights, etc) also for the
90q...I've kicked off the headlight and turn signal stalks getting in with the
roll cage! That was $25.  Door handles for the 4kq, $20 for the right side.
Then...the creme-de-la-creme.  Sitting one row over from the two 86 4000's in
the yard was an '86 5000 turbo (quattro...or non? Can't remember).  At first we
almost grabbed the remote control for the stereo(!?!) but instead focused on
the engine.  I seem to recall that the turbo camshaft is an upgrade for the non-
turbo engines?  We pulled the cam-shaft, upper bearing journals, and the cam-
gear (good practice for later).  But I have yet to install it.  Donor car was
an '86 turbo, and I can pull the part number off the cam-shaft.  Can anyone
confirm that I should, or shouldn't drop this sucker in the 4kq? Didn't seem
like a big investment at $25.  Lastly we pulled a (hopefully) working power
antenna from another 4k on the lot.

Back home, and into the timing belt job...

This car is gross.  Not just a little oily, but G-R-O-S-S.  The valve cover
wasn't really weeping, but rather FLOWING over the injectors. The power-
steering pump must leak a little bit, as there is about 260,000km of dirt and
oil cacked on the engine. It took me close to 2.5 hours to take off the
accessory belts and timing belt covers...mostly because I couldn't find the
bolts under all the crap. The only real hitch to the whole job was the coolant
that drained out.  It wasn't green, it wasn't blue, and it wasn't red.  It was
RUST. It came out so thick that even on the 4th flush you couldn't remotely see
through it to the driveway below.  It was nasty.  2 hours of flushing later and
the system came out crystal clear.  The new coolant was still nice and blue
after a 100km trip into the office, but I'll probably still change it in the
next 5-10k km.  So the car got:

Timing Belt
H20 Pump
Accessory belts
spark plugs
Cap, rotor
Door handles
window switches
Temp gauge sender
valve cover gasket
coolant flush/change

Bolted everything up and turned around...and sitting there looking up at me was
the new cam seal.  Sigh...guess that goes in when I do the turbo cam.

Fired 'er up and sure enough she runs on three cylinders. Hmmm...timing marks,
correct. Spark plug wires...correct order. Vacuum leaks...none visible. Spark
plug wires arcing? Oh baby! It was a little lightning show.  Out come the wires
from the 90 quattro...and the 4kq purrs as best a 5-cylinder can with
questionable lifters.  Parked the 4kq in the garage, and put the wires back in
the 90q.  Runs on three cylinders!?!  Grrr...checked the wires, and found
my 'damp weather' problem.  Seems wire number 2 and 3 are split!

What are the chances of having TWO cars with bad sets of wires on the SAME
night!?! GRRR.

Oil changes tonight. Clutch goes in tomorrow. Emissions test right after.

Now the big question is...do I keep it!?!

-Dave

--
86 4ksq 266,600km new to me as of March 5th 2003... will it stick around??
89 90q  330,000km as of Feb 26th.
Rally Conversion...perpetually in progress...
Roll cage shots available at:
http://home.the-wire.com/~spokes/rollcage/page1.htm