[urq] Chicago performance benchmarks for mildly tweeked WX urq

[Steve Mills]

I still can't believe we found enough parts for Scott to attempt the drive
home. I'm even more incredulous that he actually made it.

I contacted Scott to do some digging on the car's background after I bought
it from Ben and discovered that Scott had a rust-free 85 sitting in his
driveway, which is what I was really looking for. Someone (I blame Scott ;-)
) then jumped to the conclusion that we could do a trade- all we had to do
is get the 83 running well enough so that Scott could drive the 85 out to
Annapolis and the 83 back to Chicago.

It bears mentioning that I had only circled the car a couple of times and
concluded "yup, too rusty, good parts car" when we hatched this particular
master plan- I hadn't even looked underneath yet. The areas that ended up
making the thrash to get it road worthy really sporty were the rear brakes,
gas tank, and exhaus, which were all billed as "disconnected" by the PO when
he flat bedded it to Ben's. However, in this case "disconnected" turned out
to mean "missing, along with many critical and difficult to find attaching
parts". Some highlights:

Brakes: The car had a total of one carrier, one rotor, and one carrier bolt
in the rear. Fortunately, I had a freshly rebuilt set of the vented calipers
& carriers that I'd picked up for my S6. I picked up new rotors, and Scott
managed to scrounge another three bolts from Ben's various stores. Suddenly,
the rear brakes are waaayyyy to nice compared to the rest of the car. Oh
well, at least that end will stop.

Gas tank- As Ben mentions, the tank was completely out of the car, and
neither of the brackets to hold it in the trunk were anywhere to be found. I
got 4KQ brackets someone parting a car locally, which got us from zero to 3
out of 4 bolts on each side- close enough. It was also missing the gasket
that keeps gas from pouring into the trunk if you overfill the tank, and
probably still is.

Exhaust: The car had a downpipe and cat, period. Somehow Ben found a
complete OE UrQ exhaust setup among his spares, along with enough gaskets
and hardware to connect it all up. I managed to source new hangers in time
for Scott's scheduled departure.

Engine: To my inexperienced eye, it looked like half the standard engine
compartment stuff had been stripped out. Phone consultation with Scott
revealed that he'd pulled most of the missing stuff himself, and all we were
really short was a coil. Some fresh gas, a bit of starter fluid, and it
roared to life (really roared- no exhaust yet) on the first try. It ran and
idled amazingly well, especially since Scott told me he later found that
most of the critical vacuum lines had been randomly cut and left open. I
think he used half his spare hardware plugging vacuum lines on the drive
back.

Driveline: The center bearing was (and evidently still is) shot. When I
showed up from one of many parts runs, Ben had just handed a big tube of
silicone sealer that Scott proceeded to spooge into the bigger gaps in the
disintegrating rubber. I distinctly remember thinking "Hmm, doesn't that
stuff take 24 hours to cure, and isn't Scott planning to depart in about 4?"


Interior: The headliner and everything it touches was out of the car, all
carpeting and liners were out of the trunk, and there was a pretty big box
of random interior parts (sun visors, grab handles, etc.) that had 2 or 3 of
some things and none of others. Again, parts magically appeared from
unlikely sites around Ben's compound, and the interior went back together.

Body: The car spent most of it's life in the cold and salty North, and it
showed. The hood, trunk lid, and rockers were the most affected. Ben had
good T red parts for the bolt on stuff, so we swapped them. It definitely
looked better (at sufficient distance) before the swap, but it was a lot
more distinctive after.  I'm still worried Scott could slam the door and
suddenly be sitting on the ground atop the modest mound of rust that used to
be the front floor, but it wasn't bad enough to bind the doors, so....

Best of luck with the car Scott, and keep us posted on the General's
progress. It's quite the ride- I can't imagine there are any other UrQs out
there that can compare on many different levels.

On 9/11/07, Ben Swann <benswann at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> The amazing thing about this car is it had been sitting for god knows how
> long
> – I had it here for a year and no fuel tank in the car.
>
> Scott came up and we along with Steve mills, put it back together, located
> a
> coil and it pretty much fired right up.  Scott drove it home from
> Annapolis.
> I don't know if he did the JNR stuff on the way, but wouldn't be
> surprised.
>
> If that car does 5.8 0-60, what do you think mine  repowered to 2.5 bar
> and
> EFI will do?  AACo.  Police man pulled up behind me tonight and asked if
> everything was allright.  Yes sir officer – just using my laptop to tune
> the
> new engine I put in my car!
>
> Ben
>
> [Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:30:03 EDT
> From: QSHIPQ at aol.com
> Subject: [urq] Chicago performance benchmarks for mildly tweeked WX
>         urq
> To: urq at audifans.com
>
> Ok Gents
> Thought I'd throw up some performance data on the General Lee, my
> old  Amazon
> Blue Urq coming back into my possession after 4 years like a regifted
> fruitcake with a lot of shipping abuse...  Now adorned with a faded
> tornado
> hood, sunroof and trunk lid...  Hence the Dukes reference...  Stock WX
> engine, CIS, with Euro head and cam, 200 flat flywheel, 15psi boost on a
> stock k24 turbo with stock exhaust.
>
> First traffic light drag a few weeks ago was with a hotshot in
> a  350Z.  10
> lights worth of his various attempts at launching, I only lost 1  when I
> bogged the clutch on round 6.  Ran it to 70 (in a lower zone, ahem)  each
> time, and
> the guy wasn't fairing very well with the idea.    Published data puts the
>
> average 0-60 on that machine as 5.8sec
>
> Second reference traffic light drag was a 3.5 Maxima SE.  6 or so  lights,
> I
> was about 1 car ahead each time at 70.  Both of us laughing at  the idea
> actually, a conversation struck as we waited for a
> commuter  train.  Published
> data puts the average 0-60 on that machine as 6.2  sec.
>
> I have a lot of respect for that nissan motor and driveline configurations
> in
> both cars.  Actually surprised me that with no shrouding on the IC, I  was
>
> able to repeatedly take the 350Z.  Thought you guys might enjoy
> the  thought
> of it, as much as I enjoyed the laughs.  To add to the fun, it
> took  almost 20
> seconds to get the PS window down to speak with the Maxima  driver.  C'est
> ca,
> the mistress we call quattro.
>
> Yes Mrrs Mills/Swann, the headliner sagged in the back, the
> driveshaft  still
> knocks, and the rear pumpkin still clunks...
>
> Cheers
>
> Scott J
> 84 RS2URQ project (still)
> Regifted
> 83 Amazon Blue]
> _______________________________________________
> Audifans urq mailing list
> Send posts to: mailto:urq at audifans.com
> Manage your list connection: http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/urq
> Have an urq question?  Check the Audifans Knowledgebase!
> http://www.audifans.com/twiki/bin/view/Audi/UrQuattro
> Have an urq answer? ... Please help others by adding to the KB ... all
> contributions welcome!
>
> You can help keep the audifans site running by shopping at
> http://audifans.com/shop/
>
>