87 4000q advice, and new brakes

[Osman Parvez <oparvez1@nycap.rr.com>]

Hello Folks,
      Two items: 1. Possible 4000q purchase and 2. New Brakes Report

1. I spotted a nice black 4000q for sale up here. 1987, 80K miles, very
clean. The car came up from Georgia to NY via a wholesaler. Contacting
the former owner is not going to be easy, and I doubt very much that I
can get the records. The asking price is $3900, I can buy it for $2800. 

I drove the car briefly, but due to time constraints, I didn't give it a
thorough inspection. Of course, I don't have full faith in my inspection
anyway so I would have it evaluated by a shop before any purchase
decision was made. 

Problems I noted: 

a. LOUD exhaust. (This will be fixed)

b. Hissing noise that appeared to be coming from under the ashtray. At
idle, the noise was louder. Under accleration, the noise was quieter.
Are the diff locks vacuum operated? What the heck is hissing in there?

c. Two aftermarket toggle switches mounted on the dashboard. Neither
seemed to do anything.

d. Suspension a bit soft/wallowy.

e. Ding on hood, didn't break primer layer but broke paint layer.

f. Seemed to be missing trim around radio console. Is that space
supposed to be there?

g. OEM radio sucks worse than the delta that my 200q originally had

h. Dash board seemed to be a bit askew (probably from the mounting of
those toggles).

i. Sunroof slow VERY slow.

All in all, this car looked very clean. I'm curious about the mileage. I
know that Audis can hide mileage very well. Any comments, questions,
opinions are welcome. For the Price, this seems like a steal. It would
mean supplementing my 200q (and it's aging problems) with a 4000q, with
half the mileage. 

I was surprised at the difference between my 200q and the 4k. Wow..even
with twice the mileage my 200q has less rattles and is much smoother. 

I plan on going there tommorow and spending some time with the car
checking it out. If all goes well, I may have another Q in the family
before the end of next week. 


2. Brakes. I finally got my brakes finished today. This is the end of
the Installation process, which was greatly assisted by Igor Kessel last
weekend. 

So, now installed: new disks and metal masters in back, new Powerdisks
and MM's in front, New SS lines, Rebuilt rear calipers, pressure flush
of brake fluid, and new boots on caliper carrier yokes.

Impressions: WOW...hold sh*t! The car actually stops..as in now. 
Pedal effort is solid, with difficulty driving the first few minutes
because of the immediacy of the brakes. Yes, I broke the pads in
properly (no glazing for me..).  I am dying to throw the car into a
really hard stop..just to see how she does, but I want to wait a week
(unless in an emergency) to let the pads really brake in properly. 

Unfortunately, since my brakes were completely overhauled I can't point
to one component and say "This is what did it". The difference is like
night and day. 

89 200q 177K (happy brakes, happy clutch...)
Albany, NY.

91 Golf (sitting in the parking lot again..thank god)
87 4Kq (thinking about buying this one)..