Questions of an ur-Q Kind

["Douglas Hurst Quebbeman" <dougq@iglou.com>]

Well, Hello again... after an absence of a few months, I
return to this indispensible wellspring of knowledge!

Last year, I bought an 83 ur-Q, expecting it to be a
project car, but hoping I could get some daily use out
of it before proceeding. Couldn't get it to pass emission
inspection, then one night, returning from a run to the
store, it started backfiring badly, and could barely
hold idle.

I'd assumed it jumped a notch on the belt. It will still
start, but idles rough. I took it to a local top-notch
non-dealer repair place. He thinks it's likely the valves
have kissed the pistons. He says he won't know till they
get the head off, and we're many $$$ in by that point. He
suggested he thought there might also be more problems, and
quoted me about $2280 for a complete rebuild.

Help!

If the valves hit the pistons, won't the pistons show it?
Shouldn't he be able to detect this by removing the spark
plugs and using a borescope?

I haven't asked him yet how much to just do an engine swap,
because I recall WX engines are scarce as hen's teeth and
twice as expensive. MC conversion seems the way to go but 
I don't think I can afford his price to do it.

Thoughts? Any of those $300 MC engines w/harness out there?

As a final alternative, what I really need right now is a 
backup for the daily driver (5ktq) since the Coupe tranny
went all the way south. Anybody got a 4k in the 400-500
range that won't break down for a year or so?

As always, Thanks in Advance... -doug q
--
-Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (dougq@iglou.com)       [Call me "Doug"]
    QuattroClub USA# 4536     Audi International # 100024
       74 100LS Auto,   77 100LS Auto,   84 Coupe GT 
           83 ur-Q,   86 5Kcstq QLCC 1.8bar  
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away."  -Tom Waits