Ur-Quattro Big Problem

[Greg Amy <grega@pobox.com>]

I have a buddy here in CT with an '83 Coupe Quattro. His clutch was
feeling a bit nebulous, so we decided to bleed the hydraulic line.

As I was doing my best contortionist/Quattro hug to get down there, I
was facing the clutch master cylinder. John started pumping the clutch
and I noticed that the firewall was flexing.

On closer inspection, I saw that his firewall was split. There's a huge
crack starting from about the 9 o'clock position (standing on front of
the car looking backwards at the firewall) and going down at about 45
degrees as far down as we can see. Every time he pushes on the clutch
the firewall flexes forward about 2 inches. This certainly explains the
nebulous-feeling clutch pedal.

Has anyone encountered this, and if so, what is the suggested fix?

Greg Amy
Milford, CT