Pearl white coupe revival

[ottawa coupe]

Welding on the shell is DONE.....untill i do the final prep for sealing the bottom and i find a buncha pinholes lol....

pushed against the wall now. One door has a nasty spot and the rear subframe needs some love. Almost done....

Got some of those 3d printed lower trims when i went on my tour of new york state. Seem to fit well, however as with all 3d prints i have come across, they appear to be brittle. I suspect some difficulties with installation of the rear ones. Still, better than nothing or the $2000 for the last set i saw on ebay would have cost.....

[ottawa coupe]

So, upon digging in, doors are in worse shape than i thought. Worst being the mid trims are quite beyond repair and unobtainium.

Got me thinking and looking. unfortunately i also looked at my bank balance.

I MAY change tack overall on this. I have spotted what may be a decent cabrio to harvest parts from. Would also be able to source a black interior which opens up my choice of exterior colour.

What's more is that i could also get to the end of this a lot cheaper by using the v6 from it as well. Sure, not gonna set the world on fire with that engine but it gets this thing running again.

Gonna set the doors aside for the moment, let christmas happen and see if it's still around. It's been for sale 3 months already and now is NOT the time to sell a summer car lol.

So with that investigated, put the rear subframe on the bench for an examination. Oh dear. 1 hole turned into 6. I am a little worried lol.

[ottawa coupe]

Well cabrio idea looks to be dead in water..... i don't know why but it seems to be epidemic that people have things for sale but don't respond when contacted.....

Looks like i have a line on door trim though so that's something. so i guess i will get on with fixing the doors.

Managed to weld up the holes in the rear subframe too. Ugly as hell but it's underneath the car so who cares lol.

All this to say i am still on track to put the welder away by christmas it seems....

[Tractor Dave]

I think you will be pleased in the long run that the cabrio was a non starter. The V6 would be a backward step.

[ottawa coupe]

So, the welding is finished for the holidays. But that is not because i fixed the door last night. It's because the door was hiding all kinds of wrinkles under 6mm of filler.

I looked closely at the backside of the corresponding rear quarer and yep, evidence of stud welding and filler. I don't know how bad the profile is because of course that side is facing the floor.... i don't recall it being obviously bad though.

I DID hear back from the seller of the cabby last night. He's on vacation right now. But it would seem i DO need that car for parts now.

I hear you and 200% agree with you on the v6. The engine is not the motivation to get the car though, the other parts however are.... and now quite needed. The car is priced such that i could sell my 7a cams for more..... so the v6 is the free option essentially. And a backup plan. Hell, i am probably 18 months from really needing an engine so hopefully i can find something more appealing in that time.

So the progress is basically at a standstill for now.

[ottawa coupe]

Does anyone have a line on strut housing caps? Took the suspension apart and debushed everything (wow that was a terrible job lol). Had to split all 4 caps as they were NOT loosening. The prices on ebay are a insane for what they are.....

[Tractor Dave]

You need the cup washers? I might have some of those left.

Edit. Seen your post on Facebook forum and know what you need now. Strut top caps. I may have two. I will look. Postage to Canada is going to be steep though and maybe taxes too.

[ottawa coupe]

I wrote the post before the coffee hit the spot....

Looking for the gland nuts that hold the inserts in the strut housings. Part numbers 431412046b and 823412047. The 431 is the same 55mm thread used in a bunch of audis from that time and i can get from tradition for reasonable cost. The 823 is a 50mm thread and seems unobtanium.

i have bits i could use to make the 50mm thread 55 but that'd be a chunk of work and involves cutting things you can't get now.... not ideal but not impossible.

item 8 below.

Screenshot_20231220-090415_Chrome.jpg

[ottawa coupe]

so, in the latest installment of "damnit i really shouldn't have bought this car".....

i have on hand some bits leftover from my s6 coilover project that could get me out of trouble for the gland nuts for the front strut inserts. cutting and welding involved and admittedly, some redneck engineering too. i am frustrated though because i know i had good OE ones leftover from the s6 that i could use on the rear but i cannot for the life of me find them.... no matter i can add them to my inevitable tradition order later this winter.

but i wonder if it is now a moot point. upon thorough inspection of the dampers..... i am kinda hooped. of the 4 dampers, one is blown and can't support the weight of it's own shaft, one is nicked and leaking, one is nicked. the kicker being that they are all nice koni adjustables. to replace them and get the coilover bits will cost at least $1600. but that includes a couple of sources that seem a bit shady so it'd likely be more through reputable sources. as well, some of those bits are from people that will not ship to Canada. i can get around that with a PO box in upstate new york, but then i either need to spend a morning going to and from and paying import fees, or pay another shipping fee from there to me as well as import fees.

i would think for what would likely be knocking on the door of $2000, i could get some off the shelf coilovers that aren't going to be terrible?? other than KW (oh, i also don't want to wait 7 years to get them lol), does anyone make a decent coilover for these things?

Edit: looks like the reasonable choices are BC racing or KW. Sent them messages to see about shipping and a few other details. The other option is to spend 2x at 2bennet for pretty much exactly the same solution as the diy setup.....

and the off the shelf is gonna be the solution because i forgot a "minor" detail in my calculations. Springs. Because i have 4 kicking around from other projects that i could use to roll the car around but would not likely be good for driving on.....one pair is 750lb/in i believe lol.

[ottawa coupe]

well, the best cabriolet $600 can buy in these parts is surprisingly not terrible lol. No visible rust on any of the panels, even the lower door trims are ok.... except one of course lol. Engine fires right up with no smoke at all, not even a check engine light. Even the AC has a bit of charge left in it lol. All in all, Only thing that keeps it from being the COMPLETE donor is that the seats are shredded... not a great loss as they suck anyways....

Tucked away under a tarp now as of course the window won't roll up lol.

I will try for the v8 swap down the road but it is nice to know that i now have a good engine as well as most of the big bits i need for the body.

20231227_162056.jpg

[ottawa coupe]

Cleaned up the shop and put a pile of what should be junk in the cabby. Rust proofing the bottom should start tomorrow. Gave it a pass with a DA with 80 grit and then a misting of rust converter and will let it dry overnight. Por-15 starts in the morning. biggest dilemma there will be how to wrap up my forearms cuz goddamn that stuff sucks to get in your arm hair lol

20231228_150015.jpg
soon it may start becoming a car again?

[Rikki Kitto]

Shave your arms, the hair will grow back

[Tractor Dave]

Looking good underneath. Is por any good these days?I hear mixed views?

[ottawa coupe]

I've never had any issues. I would imagine those who complain are not cleaning the surface properly or some other user error.

1st half drying now. Will have to go over a few spots again (i guess some oily spots still...) hope to flip it over later this weekend if i can wrangle a helper or 2.

[Tractor Dave]

I did hear some of the active ingredients were removed to comply with environmental regs. This happened with Hammerite and now it's useless. Used to last really well but now you at lucky to get two years before rust starts 're appearing. Maybe Canada still gets the good stuff