[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]
RE: Followup: 84 4KSQ giveaway
What a great tale! Made my breakfast (coffee and this list!!) _much_
more enjoyable! You should send this to european car for publication,
along with the history of how you came across the gem in the first
place!
Ian Duff, New Bedford, MA, USA
1990 Coupe Quattro 20v
>----------
>From: Autobahn01@aol.com[SMTP:Autobahn01@aol.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 2:01 AM
>To: quattro@coimbra.ans.net
>Subject: Re: Followup: 84 4KSQ giveaway
>
>AKA: 1780miles and a parts car...
>
>First off, my thanks go out to Jim Kerr not only for donating a quattro
>for
>recycling, but also his hospitality as two ragged travellers rolled
>into his
>driveway. We left Jim's place refreshed, cleaned-up, and with a rundown
>on
>Ohio MV code :).
>
>Upon hearing of Jim's offer, I called out my longtime codriver and
>wrench(Stott Hare). I told him I had a potential road trip that would
>result
>in a replacement LR door for his scratched blk '84 4000q. Without a
>pause, he
>replied he'd come down from Maine and meet me in an hour. We selected a
>vehicle, actually his daily driver got drafted into the chore since it
>just
>completed a troublefree tour of NH-to-FL-to-IO-to-NH last month, and
>headed
>out. We did roughly 860ish miles to centre-o-nowhere Kenton, Ohio in an
>equally rough 12hrs.
>
>But you never really know what rough *sounds* like 'til you've
>travelled the
>return trip in a mirror image car with 3 bad wheel bearings and brakes
>that
>howl and pulsate like Unka Bart's cat caught under a Swedish rocking
>chair.
>All of this brought to vivid life by front windows that went down but
>alas,
>not up.
>
>Lest Jim think the return trip turned me jaded, not a chance. Heck, the
>car
>deserves to be restored based solely on her return performance! We did
>the
>preliminary checkup at Jim's place: shook the suspension, topped
>fluids,
>replaced plugs(can't get used to paying real money for W7DC's),
>hardwired my
>radar detector into the sunroof, and posted the temp plate I'd quaffed
>off
>another of my rigs. Jim saw us out to the nearest petrol station,
>surely to
>fuel his desire to see 'ol rust make it out of the county. :)
>
>I'm not much of a believer in premonitions, but... as our two rigs were
>parked(running) at this station, Stott and I manage to miss(literally)
>his
>car roll, slowly, inexorably away. We were engrossed in some electrical
>work(forgivable on an Audi, right RDH?) and somehow missed his car roll
>away
>from the pump, away from the station, across a two lane road, and
>softly come
>to rest against a grassy berm between a stone wall and a light pole. No
>harm,
>no foul, but surely we've used up our good luck for this trip. Stott
>agreed,
>and assigned me to the rescued '84. Mental note to check e-brakes on
>all our
>cars...
>
>Uneventful progress retracing our steps 'til NY. I found the new
>acquisition
>to be solid/predictable and blessedly free of most of the shifting
>glitches
>of tired '84's.(Note: good trans and driveline, thanks Jim!) She did a
>respectable 85mph behind Stott (drafting Nascar style) until some
>construction site on Rt(17?). Now my old Escort and Stott's Uniden have
>served us *very* well o'er the years but sometimes you need a gentle
>nudge to
>update to the Latest&Greatest Tm. Our nudge came in the form of the NY
>State
>Trooper who whipped out of the construction site to chase us down.
>After
>greetings and explanations he explained that he was giving our lead car
>a
>ticket for speed as he got Stott with the laser six times. His case was
>cut
>and dried, mine was a la carte. The trooper announced he didn't have a
>laser
>hit on me because of my proximity to Stott's rear bumper, ahem. He did
>however, pick up on the fact that the temp plate displayed on my
>driver
>didn't quite match the vehicle. I reassured him that the year/make and
>model
>were identical. The VIN# and color weren't critical, were they? Why
>yes, I
>felt the spiderweb in the windshield was safe for the road. It's on the
>passenger side, and I had no intention of carrying passengers...
>
>He let me coast with speed +10, saving us all the hassle of Misuse of
>Plates,
>Following Too Closely etc. Sounds good to me! About $75, and no NH
>reciprocity, what a bargain. Note: increase figurative purchase price
>from
>120$ in petrol to 120$ + 150$fines.
>
>Nightfall starts to set in, and so do the gremlins! It's getting
>increasingly
>difficult to climb hills or pass with full throttle. I can't hear the
>engine
>over the wheel brgs and wind noise. I start to fear for the clutch.
>We'd made
>a pact earlier in the day. If she threw a rod or gave up the ghost in
>any way
>substantially, we'd pull over and whip off anything of value right
>there(trans/diff/door handles :). Sorry Jim, but we didn't figure she
>was
>worth sending a ramp truck into NY for.
>
>Somewhere around Binghamton, we pulled off the highway after I had to
>drop
>to fourth to climb a steep incline. I feared the worst, mentally making
>plans
>to jump ship. Who do we know in NY, and just how far away *is* Dan's
>house
>anyway! :^)
>
>Doing roadside diagnostics I heard a higher RPM cutout that could have
>masked
>itself as clutch slippage during passing. We swapped out the plug wires
>with
>an expired set in the trunk. No change. I drove out the fuel mixture
>plug
>with a punch in an attempt to adjust it with a long phillips
>screwdriver.(Can
>almost hear Scott cringe). Noticed that unplugging the DPR had no
>effect on
>the idle quality, quick check revealed no power at the harness and
>logic
>brought us to the fuse panel. Somehow no24(KE Jet) had migrated into
>no25
>position(open). That fix brought back the full throttle powerband at
>the
>expense of idle quality, a bargain in my book at that hour.
>
>We're now behind schedule and running to make up time. Doing quite
>well, at
>least until VT and the last straw. Stott leads and I chase, through the
>Vermont hills, thinking of home just round the corner. Either my lights
>are
>getting dimmer or I'm just more tired than I imagined possible?
>Probably
>both. We break out a meter to reveal the alternator has expired in
>grand
>style(no load 11.6, load 9.8v). Stott performs the emergency
>regulator-ectomy, but she's a goner. We play the battery swappin' game
>and
>limp to Keene, NH under the cover of running lights. It's 3:30 Monday
>morning. Stott and I look at each other with a growing certainty that
>while I
>may make to work on time at 8 in Concord, he'll never make to Portland
>ME on
>time with me in tow with a dead alternator.
>
>So it's there she sits, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, resting at a
>friend's apartment with only an Ohio title and a tired NH temp plate to
>show
>for it.('Cause the odo gave up long ago :) It'll be at least a week
>before I
>can pry myself away to grab another battery and drag her home in
>daylight;
>but when I do, she's earned a place of respect in the yard. (Next to
>the
>200TQ)
>
>Epilogue:
>I got home at 5:15, and still got in a 2hour nap!
>Stott got to work by 10, which is kinda on time in the computer biz.
>
>Thanks a million, Jim! I've no idea how many miles that motor's got,
>but she
>pulled with the best once that FI prollum was worked out. I'd do it all
>again
>in a flash!(just not this week-end!)
>
>PS: Stott, we still on for Mt Washington this week-end? Your car or
>mine?
> :^)
>
>
>Regards,
>-Chris Semple
>
>