The thrill is back ... :)

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

Well, I filled up the gas tank in the '85 4kq last night, got it smogged
and registered today ... I'm completely legal once again.  

On the shake-down voyage last night I found that I had the center diff
vacuum lines backwards (they were right originally, but I let Bentley
convince me they needed to be swapped :), and I currently only have 4
forward gears and no reverse (shifter adjustment), but let me tell you
... I'm having a blast driving this car!  The car may not be the
quickest around, but the fact that there is reasonable torque for launch
makes it a fun car to drive around town ... reminiscent of my old Fox.
AAMOF, I've transferred the vanity plate from the Fox to the 4k ...
ACHTZIG.  I am completely stoked ... with my recent experiences with
Audis I've gotta say this shot in the arm couldn't have come at a better
time!

The moral of the story is to always make double sure that you've got the
right parts before you try to install them ... especially if they're
buried inside the engine and tranny!  I had convinced myself that the
pilot bearing I got from Carlsen was correct ... it came from the fiche
and had the proper diameter based on my clutch centering tool.  I wish I
would have thought to try it on the tranny input shaft before installing
it!  I bought this car for really cheap because it needed the clutch
replaced, and it would have been on the road months ago if I would have
done that one simple check.  Since the pilot bearing is buried behind
the clutch it was difficult to see that it was preventing the input
shaft from making it home ... I actually needed to use a Dremel tool to
grind the shell of the "new" pilot bearing out of the crankshaft ...

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)
'85 4kQ (ACHTZIG) 204k and counting once again! :)