New GT in family, nice 4Kq, & Audi fans

[ejfluhr@austin.ibm.com (Fluhr)]

Well, we have another Audi Coupe in my family, to augment my father's '82
Coupe and my '85 Coupe GT.  My brother now owns an '87 Coupe GT.  It was
previously owned by Kyle Ledford (a list member); we bought it in Ohio and
drove it to South Florida in 19 hours.  :)

The body & paint is in good condition, although the hood has some rust
and the car was once repaired on the left rear corner (about a 1ft high x
2ft wide area above the rear bumer on the side panel, only found by using
a magnet).  The electrics of the car are also in good condition, with the
exception of the butcher job done on a lot of the wires for the alarm and
radio installation (which had been cut out before we bought the car).
We pulled the ENTIRE interior apart, repaired the damaged wires, installed
my brother's head unit & CD-changer, cleaned the carpet, and re-installed
everything.  Beautiful installation, and we are much happier.  

The car's suspension is wonderful, it tracks straight and corners almost
as good as my car (and I have Eibach sport springs!).  Had some trouble
with the rear brakes, though, as the right rear caliper emergency brake
cable was disconnected & the caliper was siezed.  We bought a rebuilt
caliper, rebuilt the other side, turned the rotors, repacked the bearings,
and were back in business.  The car stops fast now. 

The engine runs & revs well, with more oomph than my 2226cc I5 (as the 2.3L
should).  Got 28+mpg on the trip home, but my brother found a small rip in
the large intake boot so it was probably running a little lean.  Had an oil
leak, but easily fixed with a new vavle cover.  It has a dead CV joint,
so they still need to replace that, but I have a used one from my car
in good shape that should fit.

All in all, my brother is happy with the car.  It has some problems, but
they are (and were) easily fixed, and it goes like a banshee (compared
to my father's engine, 100 vs. 130 hp).  Looks beautiful, too (unlike
my poor GT, with its pathetic peeling paint).  I wasn't too enamored with
the digital dash (much prefer my analog), but it was easy to use and
fun to play with (switched to km/h, then waited for my Dad to wake up
and flip out when he saw me driving at 111!).  :)

Anyway, I was at Austin VeeDub getting some parts for the '87 GT when I
saw this nifty 4K quattro.  It was white, with Audi Sport stickers along
the bottom of the doors, 4 front driving/fog lights, and a bunch of rally
stickers along the back window.  The coolest item was the front grill, 
which had quattro spelled backwards on it, I guess so it would show up
as 'quattro' when seen in another car's rear view mirror!

Met two guys in the local grocery store parking lot, as they were checking
out my GT.  One had a nice 80/90 (didn't get a good look at it, all red
with red spoiler) there, the other said he had an '86 GT w/ digital dash.
(Didn't think '86 had digital dash, only '87, anyone know for sure?)
I asked about the quattro list; they hadn't seen it but mentioned they
might check it out.

Later,
Eric
'85 Coupe GT, now with real GL-4 - tranny shifting much better but now making
	      unpleasant groaning noises  :(

---
Eric J. Fluhr                                Email:  ejfluhr@austin.ibm.com
630FP Logic/Circuit Design                   Phone:  (512) 838-7589
IBM Microelectronics Div.                    Austin, TX