Long story short - I am almost ready to pour a can of fuel on this old tank, retire to a safe distance and laugh at the reduced stress in my life!!!
This old girls most recent failure was an alternator failure in the same week as discovery of a leak in the fuel tank.
During the 3hr joy of stripping the front to get to the alternator - the tensioner bracket for the accessory belt sheared when I was leaning on it to remove the belt. Hate is not a big enough word !
That was the last straw so I am looking at some controversial options here :
1 - torch it and claim off insurance (joking)
2 - strip it on the driveway and break for parts
3 - sell it as is for someone else to break
4 - have it lifted for pure scrap
5 - persevere and fix it ... 80 quid for tensioner plus 100 reco'd alternator plus another day of my life wasted on the driveway to get it going again - then hope to trade in as a runner against something else
There is no way I am swapping out the fuel tank - that is a day up on a 2-post lift and requires all the rear end to come out... Plus refurb and paint etc of the subframe before it goes back in.
Life is too short for that - keeping fuel below half seems to be ok, but I wouldn't sell the car privately without telling the new owner and that discounts about 99.9% normal people from being vaguely interested in such a car.
So - who in NI / IE / UK would be interested in some of the juicier parts ???
- Electric leather recaros in very good condition - black and grey
- matching leather door cards
- Bose amp and speakers
- recently refurb'd front calipers
- recently renewed rear air springs and bilstein dampers ... Cost me over 500 quid
- twin spoke wheels (all rough) and 6 month old tyres
- engine is still strong and solid ... Some sweaty top gaskets but still stonking with good turbo and fuel pump too. Starts first time every time. Obviously the alternator is toast at the moment.
- air con works perfectly - good compressor, condenser etc
- radiator is perfect
- oil cooler is perfect
- transmission (auto) is good and healthy too
- exhaust comes off easily too and is in great shape for the age.
- 3 month old rear tie rods
Basically it's a perfect donor car for anyone with a similar age allroad or for anyone else with the time and interest to break it up
If this car was sitting in England I am sure it would be easy to part out but it's gonna be tricky over here - especially as I have limited time and interest in the old thing.
In fairness it has been a bloody fantastic vehicle that has served us well over the past nine years and nearly 100k miles. Sure it has broken my heart a few times with air suspension woes, chocolate camshafts and the list goes on but it will be hard to replace the big tank with something as practical and dare I say character as everyone who knows us spots us miles away in such a rare old (ugly) bus.
I am open to opinions and offers at the moment - it's not strictly a for sale thread with prices yet as I am walking along the knife edge of that rare medical condition known as DVD - deep vehicular depression - actually I suppose it's not so rare amongst us old Audi nuts !!!
This old girls most recent failure was an alternator failure in the same week as discovery of a leak in the fuel tank.
During the 3hr joy of stripping the front to get to the alternator - the tensioner bracket for the accessory belt sheared when I was leaning on it to remove the belt. Hate is not a big enough word !
That was the last straw so I am looking at some controversial options here :
1 - torch it and claim off insurance (joking)
2 - strip it on the driveway and break for parts
3 - sell it as is for someone else to break
4 - have it lifted for pure scrap
5 - persevere and fix it ... 80 quid for tensioner plus 100 reco'd alternator plus another day of my life wasted on the driveway to get it going again - then hope to trade in as a runner against something else
There is no way I am swapping out the fuel tank - that is a day up on a 2-post lift and requires all the rear end to come out... Plus refurb and paint etc of the subframe before it goes back in.
Life is too short for that - keeping fuel below half seems to be ok, but I wouldn't sell the car privately without telling the new owner and that discounts about 99.9% normal people from being vaguely interested in such a car.
So - who in NI / IE / UK would be interested in some of the juicier parts ???
- Electric leather recaros in very good condition - black and grey
- matching leather door cards
- Bose amp and speakers
- recently refurb'd front calipers
- recently renewed rear air springs and bilstein dampers ... Cost me over 500 quid
- twin spoke wheels (all rough) and 6 month old tyres
- engine is still strong and solid ... Some sweaty top gaskets but still stonking with good turbo and fuel pump too. Starts first time every time. Obviously the alternator is toast at the moment.
- air con works perfectly - good compressor, condenser etc
- radiator is perfect
- oil cooler is perfect
- transmission (auto) is good and healthy too
- exhaust comes off easily too and is in great shape for the age.
- 3 month old rear tie rods
Basically it's a perfect donor car for anyone with a similar age allroad or for anyone else with the time and interest to break it up
If this car was sitting in England I am sure it would be easy to part out but it's gonna be tricky over here - especially as I have limited time and interest in the old thing.
In fairness it has been a bloody fantastic vehicle that has served us well over the past nine years and nearly 100k miles. Sure it has broken my heart a few times with air suspension woes, chocolate camshafts and the list goes on but it will be hard to replace the big tank with something as practical and dare I say character as everyone who knows us spots us miles away in such a rare old (ugly) bus.
I am open to opinions and offers at the moment - it's not strictly a for sale thread with prices yet as I am walking along the knife edge of that rare medical condition known as DVD - deep vehicular depression - actually I suppose it's not so rare amongst us old Audi nuts !!!
Sounds like you're making progress 
Comment