My TQC project(or what I have done for t

[dlawson@ball.com (Dave Lawson)]

Happy New Years everyone.

A number of people have inquired about the status of my ur-q project.
Here's the scoup. Late last winter I decided to restore/improve me TQC.
So last March a few friends and I pulled the engine/tranny in preparation
for the paint/body work. I decided to do a color change so everything
needed to be painted. I gutted the interior, trunk and under the hood. I
had the car media blasted down to bare metal to give a good starting
point. The body shop fixed all the door dings and some hidden hail
damage, rolled the rear fenders and welded up the antenna holes. They
pulled all the glass, removed the doors, trunk lid and hood. They painted
the under hood, interior, trunk and jambs. Then they moved onto the body.
The final product is now a great looking TQC.  The lhasa green paint is
immaculate. It rolled into my garage last july. Due to mucho travel last
summer and fall I didn't get to spend any good garage time. Fast forward
to this past december.

When we pulled the engine, I found the exhaust manifold had cracked. Since
this engine had approx 140k miles on it, it was also due for a 
rebuild/refresh
since it was out of the car. After some thought, I decided to upgrade the
engine to the single knock sensor motor and get all the goodies that
come with the later engines. I ended up buying an early 89 engine with
about 40k miles on it. I bought the complete engine with WC turbo, wiring
harness, ECU and all the misc sensors/stuff that go with the engine. Also
bought the 89 fuel distributor.

At this point I am starting to put it back together.  I have now replaced 
the
heater core and all the hoses. I had the clutch rebuilt by Centerforce. The
flywheel has been resurfaced. I have installed the new water pump. I
am now swapping parts between the old and new engines. There are lots
of parts which need to be changed over. I can detail this work if anyone
is interested. I am also working on the electrical changes needed to
install the later engine wiring harness.

Over the holidays I re-installed the rear valence, rear spoiler, trunk
carpeting, tail lights and trunk lid reflectors. In place of the pebbly 
vinyl
that is used under the rear license plate, I installed some carbon fiber
look vinyl sheet from the place in the back of european car. I looks good
and is a much cheaper alternative than new vinyl from the dealer. Now
you see 2 strips of carbon fiber on each side of the license plate.

As I proceed with the re-assembly I will keep the posts coming.
 -
Dave Lawson  dlawson@ball.com
83 tqc
86 coupe gt
93 GMC Safari AWD