[V8] Re: The saga of The Black Mariah continues

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, through the fall and into the winter the saga of The Black Mariah has
continued in fits and starts.  For those of you who have not agonized
through my Audi V8 psychoses, The Black Mariah is the replacement vehicle
that I purchased to use as a daily driver (aka, "BEATER"), after selling my
V8 Quattro to Unka Bart to bastardize....ah, turn into the Gentleman's
Express.  Anyway, I still miss my V8 and I still fantasize having a....

But wait, wait.  My 200 20valve Avant, aka The Black Mariah is an ever so
slightly modified car, and while I have not yet figured out exactly what has
been done to make it so, the over the road performance is soooo V8-like,
that the experiment so far, has been a success.

Well, sort of.

In the fall I started to get some running issues with the car.  It would
stall at lights and stop signs, and just didn't "feel right", although the
poke was still there when the throttle was pushed down.  Which didn't happen
all that often, with gas prices at the highest point and maximum fuel
conservation exercises invoked for all of the fleet vehicles.  

So, the Mariah went back to the wrench to be "fitted in" to his schedule.  

Turns out there was nothing "wrong" wrong.  Just a gizzie that was loose and
another gizzie that he did something to, and I was on the way.  Oh, and I
had a tie rod that was bad, thanks to Maine's prolific pothole reproductive
rates.  Yesterday I picked up the car with two new tie rod ends and I am
down the road.  

Oh, and now the water pump is leaking.  Damn!  I hate it when that happens
especially since we were "in there" during the initial refurbishing of the
car year before last after I brought it up here.  We did the belt, but the
water pump looked new, so we didn't just do it...we did a LOT of other stuff
instead.  So, the Mariah will go back in to have a water pump next week.

I still have a mysterious rattle/bang in the left rear, which I think is a
rear shock mount.  In a fit of foolishness, the previous owner installed new
yellow Bilsteins in the rear, and I think the left rear mount has failed.
Most of the rest of the rear suspension is new.  

Then there will have to be some effort expended to figure out why I get no
reception on the radio.  I have replaced an incredibly grottie looking
antenna, but still no signal at the radio head.  The head unit, a Nakamichi,
plays cds incredibly well, and it is obvious that someone replaced all the
speakers with something pretty good.  AND the radio head plays AM and FM
really well when pulled out of the dashboard and an antenna is plugged
directly into the back.  I suspect that the antenna that runs from the rear
to the front is gonzo and I will have to go through the pain and suffering
of trying to put another one in, but it really does need to get done.

Ah, but performance?  Well, let me say that the power band is terribly
smooth and feels so much like the V8 that I could really imagine that there
are 3 more cylinders and two litres more displacement lurking under the hood
than I know to be true.  

Cruising along the interstate in fifth is very dangerous, because I do it
fairly infrequently.  One day last September I had to make a call on a
client upstate and it involved about an hour and a half of time on I-95.  I
had the a/c on, the windows up, and a cd playing.  All of a sudden, I
noticed that the speedometer needle was swinging up past....ah, would you
believe a hundred and ten?  So much for wool gathering.

So, what's my verdict at this point?  I have the Mariah as a daily driver.
Here are the plusses:  

1.  V8 like smooth power and performance, with really snappy acceleration.
Remember:  this car shows 2.3-2.5 bar on the turbo boost readout under max
acceleration, so it is ever so slightly enhanced...probably a reworked ecu
and a stronger waste gate spring, I am thinking. 

2.  Excellent overall fuel economy on medium grade premium:  around 20-22
mpg, or town and country driving.

3. comfy, heated seats, and excellent cd performance, although still work to
do on the radio reception.  (I am toying with the idea of a VW Scirocco or
Toyota Celica radio antenna running up the right front windshield pillar...)

4.  Four passenger comfort, or really good utility space with the rear seats
folded flat.

Minusses:

1.  Those terrible Audi 200 headlights.  I am planning on a driving light
augmentation, and will probably use some big rectangular driving lights
instead of Euros which are getting really hard to find.

2.  Still a gremlin or two in the instrument cluster.  No cruise control and
bouncing speedo syndrome intermittently.  

3.  Left front fender does not fit properly due to imperfect body work
following a deer strike a hundred thousand miles and two owners ago...its in
the service records.  I am undecided about trying to have the body "done"
later on, but I might.

4.  I have two rather grotty looking front brake calipers.  There is an
intermittent vibration on braking that I think is a caliper that sticks or
"hangs up" on occasion.  The UFO discs are fine.  Clamp on the binders and
the car stops like it is on an arresting hook:  the brakes are at least as
good as the Porsche S4 brakes, so I will not hurry to fix this issue unless
the wheel pulsing gets MUCH worse.

So, where are we?  Well, I paid under $5 grand for the car, and flew to DC
to pick it up.  I have used the car more and more, except for the times that
it has spent in the shop.  All of the wear items underneath have been
replaced...those pesky rubber grommets and stuff in the suspension, and the
car has new tires, of course.  New front struts, new driveshaft center
bearing, new front shock mounts...actually, a whole bunch of new, just worn
out kind of stuff.  The big surprise was the airconditioning system, which
is completely new...everything...for big bucks....didn't plan on that one.

I have owned the car for a tad more than two years, while the mechanical
work was "fitted in" to the shop's schedule, but I have put a bit more than
ten thousand miles on the car.  I have "invested" perhaps eight thousand
dollars in total to this point, and I have a very, very nice felling and
performing Type 44 Avant that is perfectly adequate for any normal, daily
driving that I have to do here in Maine's troubled winter.

What's next?  Well, there is that pesky waterpump.  And I suspect that the
hydraulic pump may be seeping a tad, but it is so minor that I am NOT going
to go a look for trouble there for now.  The car has 155,000 miles plus and
counting, and I am putting between sixty and a hundred and fifty miles on
the car a day, most days.  Right now, everything works except for the cruise
control and the rear window motors, and the radio antenna.  I know that the
transmission does not want me to try to drag race the car.  The gear change
is just a tad "notchy" going into second, but it is never an issue if gear
changes are deliberate and done in an adult manner.  Besides, with the
amazing turbo boost that is there, there is no need in normal driving to ask
the gear change to do anything more than gently change gears.  Once in
second, the car is a rocket ship, and once into third, the car goes to about
Warp Factor ten.

Do I miss my V8?  Absolutely and resoundingly:  YES!  And I want another
one.  A '93 or rarest of the rare, a '94 that will be the "nice" car and one
that my wife can drive when we take long trips together.  

And the 20valve Avant?  Well, I am going to sell a commercial building this
spring, and I am thinking kind of seriously about finding another 20 valve
Avant...a really nice one, perhaps, just in case.....

Roger