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I must be bonkers, but here we go again.
The S2 is safely tucked up for the winter, almost done (just paint to go) so I thought it was about time to start on my 1986 Wr Ur.
For those of you who didn't see my previous threads on this car, I bought her back in June. I saw the car advertised on the web. The owner was a retired businessman who had owned the car for nearly 7 years. He was a Quattro Owners Club member and stated the car had been maintained regardless of cost. It looked very good in the pictures so I jumped quickly on the phone and we had a long conversation about the car. The only problem was that he was near Glasgow and I'm in west Wales. Having been let down previously on another Ur (another long story), I wasn't going to take any chances and agreed to buy the car there and then. I transferred a deposit and booked my flight to Glasgow. A few days later the gent kindly met me at the airport and I had my first proper look at the car
.
To say I was disappointed was an understatement. The door bottoms were rotten, the coolant bottle had oil in it, there was a substantial oil leak, the lights were rusty and it looked rather rusty underneath as well. On the plus side, the interior did look good and the rest of the car seemed ok. In hindsight, I should really have caught the next flight home and carried on looking for a better one, but you know how your heart often rules over your head. I managed to convince myself it was a worthy project and the deal was completed. I headed south for the long drive back to Wales.
There were a few scary moments. In North Wales, there was an accident and the road was closed. I crawled along in slow moving traffic, the temp gauge rose, fan on, off, on, off -would she overheat? Thankfully the traffic cleared and all was well. After some 9 hours driving with only a short stop for fuel and a coffee, I made it home safely.
So, I spent a few months just driving her occasionally whilst I was completing the S2 and actually she drives quite nicely. I think the oil in the coolant bottle was from a previous head gasket problem. I have a large file of documents from the previous owner and it shows a recondition head was fitted recently. I guess they just didn't clean out the system properly after the work. The oil leak was traced to the rocker cover gasket. I also traced and spoke to the owner prior to the vendor. He is on here and confirmed that the engine was fully rebuilt under his ownership.
I've been putting the project off whilst I finished sorting my garage. I really didn't want to crawl under a car on axle stands again and decided to treat myself to a lift. It was ordered way back and took months to come (guy was moving house), but now its here, I'm chuffed to bits. I also had a steel bench made to fit the back wall of my garage. This gives me a good work surface and room to store my stuff.
So, here we go. This isn't going to be as quick as the last one. I'm taking my time, going to savour the moment so to speak. Plus, my back is f***** after the last one so I need to take it easy. I'm going to strip back to the shell and see how bad things are. Hopefully, I will be able to do most things myself. Sandblasting and powder coating will go to a local guy and fabrication to a local shop. Everything else
The S2 is safely tucked up for the winter, almost done (just paint to go) so I thought it was about time to start on my 1986 Wr Ur.
For those of you who didn't see my previous threads on this car, I bought her back in June. I saw the car advertised on the web. The owner was a retired businessman who had owned the car for nearly 7 years. He was a Quattro Owners Club member and stated the car had been maintained regardless of cost. It looked very good in the pictures so I jumped quickly on the phone and we had a long conversation about the car. The only problem was that he was near Glasgow and I'm in west Wales. Having been let down previously on another Ur (another long story), I wasn't going to take any chances and agreed to buy the car there and then. I transferred a deposit and booked my flight to Glasgow. A few days later the gent kindly met me at the airport and I had my first proper look at the car
.To say I was disappointed was an understatement. The door bottoms were rotten, the coolant bottle had oil in it, there was a substantial oil leak, the lights were rusty and it looked rather rusty underneath as well. On the plus side, the interior did look good and the rest of the car seemed ok. In hindsight, I should really have caught the next flight home and carried on looking for a better one, but you know how your heart often rules over your head. I managed to convince myself it was a worthy project and the deal was completed. I headed south for the long drive back to Wales.
There were a few scary moments. In North Wales, there was an accident and the road was closed. I crawled along in slow moving traffic, the temp gauge rose, fan on, off, on, off -would she overheat? Thankfully the traffic cleared and all was well. After some 9 hours driving with only a short stop for fuel and a coffee, I made it home safely.
So, I spent a few months just driving her occasionally whilst I was completing the S2 and actually she drives quite nicely. I think the oil in the coolant bottle was from a previous head gasket problem. I have a large file of documents from the previous owner and it shows a recondition head was fitted recently. I guess they just didn't clean out the system properly after the work. The oil leak was traced to the rocker cover gasket. I also traced and spoke to the owner prior to the vendor. He is on here and confirmed that the engine was fully rebuilt under his ownership.
I've been putting the project off whilst I finished sorting my garage. I really didn't want to crawl under a car on axle stands again and decided to treat myself to a lift. It was ordered way back and took months to come (guy was moving house), but now its here, I'm chuffed to bits. I also had a steel bench made to fit the back wall of my garage. This gives me a good work surface and room to store my stuff.
So, here we go. This isn't going to be as quick as the last one. I'm taking my time, going to savour the moment so to speak. Plus, my back is f***** after the last one so I need to take it easy. I'm going to strip back to the shell and see how bad things are. Hopefully, I will be able to do most things myself. Sandblasting and powder coating will go to a local guy and fabrication to a local shop. Everything else
if it does, it could mean you are either having fun or, having a nightmare but either way, I'm tuned in!
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