[V8] What a chintzy way to get ahead, or I absolutely HATE it when this happens.....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Ah, yes.  Why indeed?

Well, there are several reasons for putting what you describe as
"irretrievable money" into my V8.

First of all, the car isn't sold; it is still registered, and is still MY
primary car.

Secondly, EVERYTHING mechanical that has had to be done to the car comes
under the general heading of maintenance.  I suppose even the new paint job
done last August comes under that category, too, as to cure the oxidation or
acid rain damage to the clear coat and the resulting damage to the paint
beneath it was necessary to prevent deterioration to the surface structure
of the car.

So, what I have been doing so far, is maintenance.  Nothing has broken or
worn out...yet...just stuff that normally gives up in so many miles.  I have
heard of many V8 owners who have had oil leaks, hydraulic leaks, and other
little rubber bits and pieces that just seem to let go sometime as the car
ages.  But my steering rack is intact, and so are all of my universal
joints, and so forth.

Now, WOULD I sell the car?  Or, do I just "like" to talk about selling it.
I dunno the answer to any of that.  I have had the car 2 1/2 years plus, and
thirty thousand miles (almost).  It is now almost to the place that I wanted
it to be when I bought it.  Normally, I keep my cars about this long and
then sell them for something else on my "list" of cars that I've always
wanted to have.  But this V8 is pretty special, and especially so, since I
have had a '90 3.6 litre V8 that was totally different and not at all in the
same league as the '93.

It is true that "real world" prices for what these cars go for is such and
such.  But now, with a straight face, I can say, and by waving shop work
orders in the air, that THIS car is not "normal" in the "real world" sense.
Thus, if someone really wanted this car (because of make, model, year,
interior/exterior color and overall condition), then we probably could
negotiate a price that I would let the car go for.  And no, it would not
necessarily be an astronomical price...just something that seemed fair for
this car.  ARE there better examples out there.  Probably.  But there were
only 160 or so '93's and less than three dozen '94's then no more.  That
leaves only the MY 1992 to chose from, and there weren't a lot of them
either.  A 3.6 litre car is NOT comparable, only similar.

Finally, the biggest single reason for putting what I am putting into this
car now, is that it is MY car.  And my first rule of auto ownership is that
the car receives the BEST maintenance that I can afford to give the car,
period.  I do not want my car to drop me on some dark rural Maine road at
minus 36 degrees, less still, my wife, should she be driving it.  So we do
the best we can.

Would I put camshafts into this car?  Or port and polish the heads?  Or
install Big Red's and go to 16 inch wheels?  Well, it doesn't stop there, of
course, because before I can deal with more  power, the struts have to be
replaced, and the big brakes need to come along, because the current brakes
in the car are FINE for normal driving, but for, say one of these cars with,
say 375 horsepower....no.

But about those seats?  Well, that could happen. But probably not Audi Sport
Seats, as they are all getting kind of old and worn.....but if they come
along, I might change the seats.

But those camshafts?  And what would one of these cars be like if set up for
daily driving with, say, 375 horsepower?  I dunno.  Sometime ago I read on
this list that someone whoknew something said that all of these 4.2 liter
cars that actually saw a dynamometer showed around 300-305 horsepower.  In
truth, what my car has right now, seems to be enough.

And yes, I DO like to talk about selling my car.  And WILL I sell it?  I
dunno....been so long since I have driven it, I have forgotten what it is
all about.

I can hardly wait!

Roger

P.S.  Then again, I am the proud (?) owner of a 1991 20-valve Avant,
awaiting a long list of maintenance items.  Now that car also will need
sport seats, in the mix of things.  And it has no special purpose except to
become a very entertaining daily driver.  You see, the ECU is already
chipped in that car, and I have seen on the turbo readout 2.8
bar......before I lost my nerve in consideration of the rapidly approaching
end of the road.....
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shawn Head" <s4qtro at bellsouth.net>
To: "'Roger M. Woodbury'" <rmwoodbury at downeast.net>; <v8 at audifans.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 9:52 AM
Subject: RE: [V8] What a chintzy way to get ahead,or I absolutely HATE it
when this happens.....


> Rodger,
>
> I don't understand.  If you are trying to decide if you are going to
> sell the car or not, why do you keep dumping irretrievable funds into
> it?  I know that dad has been eyeing your car for a while.  However, no
> matter how much you put into it mechanically, no one is going to pay
> more than 6K for your car.
>
> I bought my V8 from the original owner at 75k with no problems save the
> Steering rack.  He had all maintenance paperwork, and the car ran great.
> The mileage was the only thing keeping the value up so high.
>
> However, I remember seeing a 91 200 TQ that had mods like you wouldn't
> believe, and man was it fast.  But no one would possibly pay the price
> that he wanted in order to recoup the money that he spent on the mods.
>
> At this point, I do not understand your reasoning of putting in new
> sport seats, Cams, break kit, and lord knows what else.  That stuff
> alone, including the Timing belt job, is going to cost you (for just
> driver and passenger seats -500-700, cams-400, brakes-1500, and I'm sure
> the Timing belt alone is gonna run you around 1-1.5K) between 3k and 4k.
>
> If you are gonna sell it, why put that much irretrievable money into it?
>
> Just my $.02
>
> Shawn head
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf
> Of Roger M. Woodbury
> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 6:46 AM
> To: v8newlist
> Subject: [V8] What a chintzy way to get ahead,or I absolutely HATE it
> when this happens.....
>
> Well, I had another visitation with my V8 yesterday afternoon.  It was
> all
> back together, the last of the little tubular gizzies that connect
> various
> parts of the fuel injection together with the egr or other valve had
> arrived
> and been fitted place.  Thus done, the wrench had run the car for, oh,
> twenty minutes or so.
>
> You will recall, perhaps, that the car originally went into the hospital
> to
> correct a minor oil leak that was causing oil occasionally to leak down
> onto
> the right side exhaust manifold, and appeared to be getting worse.  The
> initial concern was for the right side head gasket, but opon complete
> disassembly, it was felt that a cam tower seal was the culprit so that
> was
> replaced.
>
> BUT, since we were there, the timing belt was completely renewed, even
> though it was only half way to required service; AND the waterpump was
> changed AND the tensioner AND the wheels themselves, as the wrench
> thought...and I agreed....that they were not as smooth or tight as
> through
> they were changed at 60K.  AND since we were there, we decided to
> replace
> the hydraulic pump as it was leaking and originally, we had discussed
> replacing it anyway at the next timing belt service for sure.  In
> addition,
> the we also did an ignition tuneup, with new distributor caps, pulled
> the
> spark plugs and checked them,  and replaced the oil seals for the
> distributors also....they were not leaking but we were concerned that
> they
> might start soon.  There were several other obscure parts that connected
> this or that, mostly little tubular thingy that had to be specially
> ordered...the last of which were NOT in the Audi parts chain ANYWHERE in
> North America, and took two weeks to arrive.  (Ordered through my trusty
> Audi dealer in Waterville, and if they said the parts weren't here, they
> weren't.  I've known them well for more than 20 years...same parts
> manager....same parts department employee (1):  it isn't a huge place,
> afterall.).
>
> Anyway.  The car ran for twenty minutes or so, and.........the oil leak
> was
> still there.
>
> Soooooooooooooo, out of ideas, the heads come off today, and we will
> examine
> head gaskets and the heads themselves.
>
> Under the broad and general concept of "what ifs", my mechanic and I
> chatted
> genially yesterday about once they were off, having the heads ported and
> polished and some neat new cams installed for that little bit of extra
> oooomph that you always need.  Like when you are stopped on a country
> road,
> and a large bull moose comes out of the weeds in back of you and decides
> to
> charge.  I mean, it happens ALL the time:  why I think I read an article
> about a Subaru Forrester that was masticated by an angry Bull Moose last
> week, and I think the newspaper article quoted police as saying that the
> Subaru might have gotten away, if it had a true Quattro All Wheel drive
> system, and more acceleration.....But my wife, who had been sitting in
> the
> car while I went in for visitation with the V8, came into the shop then,
> and
> insisted that I take her home so that she could start dinner.....
>
> Sigh.  Soooo, stay tuned.  I can hardly wait to see what the underside
> of
> the head looks like.
>
> Since I am soooo far into this project at this point, I was wondering if
> anyone knows where there are some tan sport seats, and failing that, I
> wonder if anyone knows if sport seats out of ANY Type 44 Audi will fit?
> Just thinking.  And while you are reading this, I will have sneaked over
> to
> the BIRA web site.
>
> Those bigger cams will require bigger front brakes, too.
>
> Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
>
> Roger
>
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