Re: Re[2]: quattro mods

[Howell Benjamin J <howebj0@clem.mscd.edu>]

On Fri, 10 Nov 1995, mike wrote:

> 
>      Ben,
>      Thanks for your very detailed and informative reply. I strongly agree 
>      with your conclusion, that like quite a few other things in life, you 
>      get what you pay for.
>      
>      The first thing I will be doing is purchasing new shocks and springs. 
>      My '85 has been lowered and has a very stiff spring/shock setup, great 
>      on smooth roads but a bit of handful going over tram lines. What I 
>      would like to achieve with the rebuild, is suspension a little bit 
>      lower and stiffer than stock. I know some one who is selling a set of 
>      springs from an '84 TQC (probably been used for 3-4 years). The '84 
>      springs will lower the car about 1 inch, which is what I am lookinhg 
>      for but I am very dubious about installing any "used" suspension 
>      components particularly with the effort involved in taking the 
>      suspension to pieces?
>      
>      I heard the Eibach lowering springs are probably to stiff for a daily 
>      driver (which this car will be!) and I am strongly inclined to buy a 
>      shock/spring kit from UK with maybe H&R spings and Bogee shocks? I 
>      think the Bogee shocks are the oem ones? 
>      
>      Installing the shocks and springs will be an important milestone so 
>      that I can get the car rolling again and out to a paint shop.
>      
>      Thanks and regards, Mike
>      
>      p.s. You didn't seem concerned about any advantages in going for a 
>      later year engine with knock sensor?
>      
> 
Mike, my car has the linear rate Eibach spings on it. I also have 3mm 
larger sway bars at both ends of the cars, so I don't really know what 
the spings alone would feel like. I can tell you, however, That my car is 
stiff, stiff, stiff (did I mention that it's stiff?)! It handles like a 
dream on the track though, especially with the BFG R1's on it!

As fars as the knock sensor block goes, I'd think about that one hard and 
long if I were you. When I was building my car, I toyed with idea of 
doing that as well. I was also going to use the higher compression 
pistons that originally went into it, but after futher research I scraped 
that idea. Here's what I found out: The major thing that everyone seemed 
to have trouble with was the referance mark sensors. They are in a 
slightly different place on the knock motor than they are in the O.E. 
block. This supposedly confuses the computer and the car just flat out 
won't run! You can have the position, on the later model block, changed, 
but its a pain in the neck. My recomendation: Stick with the original 
block and run good gas (at anything over 17psi, I run 108 octane race fuel)!

Keep em' coming, Ben
howebj0@mscd.edu
83' TQC
87' 4KCSQ