Bankrupt Coupe - The Never Ending Swap

[bankrupt coupe]

After years of reading these forums, I thought i'd finally introduce myself and start my own build thread.

I'm Logan and I live in the state of Colorado. Back in 2020 as a sophomore in college I finally came across my ideal foundation for a 20vt swap, a 1990 black on black Coupe Quattro. The car was 1,000 miles away in Ohio and I couldn't take time away from school, so I had it trailed over sight unseen. It was overall in pretty solid shape, however thanks to the salt they use on the roads over there, the rust was a bit worse than I anticipated.

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A few days after it came off the trailer, we took it out for a drive and some pictures. In an undisclosed gravel lot I thought it would be a good idea to "test out the Quattro" with a cheeky launch. One thing turned to the next and I ended up with a geyser of fuel shooting out from a ruptured fuel line under the car. My friend and I pushed it to a nearby parking garage and come back the next day to repair it. It appeared that the OE lines were all rusted out, so someone replaced the entire system with some rubber lines zip-tied in place. I supposed they weren't rated for the massive shock I sent through the system. AKA, being an idiot... What a great way to start off the new ownership!

I enjoyed the car as it was for awhile, only making a few minor tweaks here and there like new struts/lowering springs, clear corners, steering wheel etc. It was a blast in the snow, and I even got to take it on a frozen lake. However the motor was very tired and I was itching to get the swap going. Since I was a poor student at the time, I was hoping to keep this a very budget project, using only the funds I gained from selling my previous car (an MR2 Turbo). I have never done anything like this before so I knew the project would be a massive undertaking. However even then, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Fast forward 5 years later and I'm still working towards getting it back on the road...

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[bankrupt coupe]

About 8 months later I found a good deal on a URS4 for sale in Michigan. The guy had made it into a chopped up "race car" so I didn't feel bad using it as a donor. It already had some fun goodies on it like a Garrett gt30 and Treadstone intercooler. He said that I could drive it across the country, however I'm glad I didn't attempt to. When it arrived on yet another trailer, we couldn't even get it into gear and it sounded like it was running on one cylinder...

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My buddy and I were able to pull the motor in under a day, taking for granted how much space there is to work with in a large chassis.

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Once the motor was out, I dropped it off at a friend of mine to rebuild it. During disassembly he found some fun surprises like what appeared to be a spring retainer or something in the intake runner??

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Along with the normal rebuild kit, it was getting a few minor upgrades. Rods, valve springs, head studs, etc. I'm essentially copying his setup he had on a URS6 which ran ~450whp for 100k miles before it popped. This should be plenty in a car that weighs 1,000 lbs less.

[bankrupt coupe]

Now pulling the motor from the coupe proved to be much more difficult. Not only from how limited the space is in that bay, but with how stubborn all the rust proved to be. It also doesn't help to be working outside on the driveway in midsummer heat. I got real tired from burning myself on every bolt I touched...

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Next to go was the old engine harness. I got a bit impatient on this one and began snipping away. Probably not the best idea but it seemed nearly impossible to fit through that firewall grommet.

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[K Simmonds]

Great project and welcome to the forum, that washer in the intake runner does look like a valve spring seat though it's kinda hard to tell due it being covered in melted alloy, when you rebuilt the engine did you find where is could have came from? It's unlikely but that could be a lower valve spring washer that goes under a valve spring to stop it eating into the head, though if you had the springs changed it should have been fairly obvious if it was missing from one valve/spring assembly.

Regardless it's not the sort of thing one wants to find in an inlet port though it shouldn't have done any damage if it's just been sat there, I very occasionally find odd things inside intake manifolds when rebuilding engines, even tools. I've fished a 1/4 drive 10mm deep drive Snap-on socket out of a carbon encrusted PD inlet once which must have fortunately wedged itself in there as that could made it's way into a port and caused serious damage.

Extracting a complete loom is very fiddly but it will all come though the bulk head if you pull/push the connectors through in the right order, if you've ever got to do anything like that again taking the front seats out completely makes life a bit easier. I chuck load of old cushions and sleeping bags in the foot well so can I lay down on my back to work on looms in relative comfort.

What stage are you at now is the AAN in and if so which gearbox did you use?

[bankrupt coupe]

Thanks for the welcome! It's been a couple of years since he found that and I forgot if he figured out the source of it. I'll have to ask him since it's raised my curiosity again. I believe it did some damage to that inlet so it went to the machine shop to get fixed. In terms of the wiring that would've been a good idea. I also didn't fully remove the dash out of the car which would've given me some more space...

As of right now, the motor is in and nearly ready for it's first start! I just need to make some new fuel lines first. For now I will be using the stock 01A since I just want to get the car back on the road. I'll have to restrain myself from flooring it in first and second gear. Once that thing blows, I'll go through the whole process of swapping in an 01E, 5 lug, and upgraded calipers.

I'll be updating this thread with everything i've done so far. There's a lot to add!

[bankrupt coupe]

After I cut the battery tray out it was looking rather ragged. Since the motor was out I took the opportunity to respray the whole bay. Luckily black is easy to match! Not terrible for a rattle can job. Also a good time to treat some of the rust.

[bankrupt coupe]

I didn't want to go the AAN intake route so I acquired a Wagner intake manifold. This one was a bit odd as it was totally blank with no provisions for vacuum lines or cable bracket/fuel rail mounting. It was also looking rather drab, so I spent a few days sanding and polishing it up. Looks much better now, however I'll have to figure out the ports down the line.

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[bankrupt coupe]

At this point I finally received my exhaust manifold from Kavon. I requested him to build it in the style of these old Swiss tubular manifolds (forgot the name) that are NLA. It took him longer than usual but he threw in a Tial wastegate which was nice of him.

I didn't want to wrap it up in heat tape so I got it ceramic coated at a local shop. The lady at the front desk had never seen a 5cyl before so she charged me for a 4 cyl mani lol. I also swapped out the exhaust housing on the turbo from a KKK mount to an 0.82 a/r T3.

[bankrupt coupe]

Time for the rs2 harness to go in. I was pretty worried about this step since wiring is definitely not in my wheelhouse. However Paul N absolutely saved my life with his in depth harness guide. I just located everything on the harness and went step by step. The fusebox spaghetti was not fun to figure out, being able to remove it would've made this process so much easier... I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like from factory under there but mine is an absolute mess.

There's still a few connectors under the dash that don't have a home. A red HVAC connector that doesn't seem to reach anywhere, and my OBD ports. My fusebox doesn't have a mount for them so I'm trying to find a good place to keep them unless I just leave them hanging. I also don't have any more room on the ground posts under there which is a problem... I couldn't get the nut off due to the whole post spinning in place, I ended up adding a new one on top but it's kind of sketchy...

[bankrupt coupe]

Finally received my freshly built motor back! I didn't have an engine hoist so we had to bolt it in with a furniture dolly and some muscle. I realized at this point that the driver side AAN motor mount is too high for the coupe. I already sold my old motor so I should've snagged them before then.

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Got ARP head bolts put in, head installed, and the new valve cover on. I used black crinkle paint and sanded down the raised lines to match the polished intake. The LS coils that came with the URS4 were gonna take up too much space so I converted to 2.0t plugs. Also mocked up the exhaust and intake manifolds to see what I was working with. The clearance on the turbo is cutting it really close...

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Overall this was a pretty major step for me, it was exciting to see an engine back in the car again!

[JayCab]

That has electric memory seats!! Non existent option in Europe. Pics of the seat buttons / switches would be amazing!

Do they work as new?

[bankrupt coupe]

That has electric memory seats!! Non existent option in Europe. Pics of the seat buttons / switches would be amazing!

Do they work as new?

I believe all US coupes were equipped with the winter package which included these. Weird it's not even an option for Europe, I guess they just knew Americans were lazy lol. They worked when the car was still put together, however I was afraid to use them too often...

[bankrupt coupe]

It was at this point I hit a big snag. I realized that the alternator and power steering pump won't work with the Wagner intake... I can relocate the alternator, however I'm not sure if i'll be able to do the same with the ps pump which means it will have to go.

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After some searching I found a german company that sold a complete kit with everything I needed. No need for guessing lengths on a serpentine belt! They typically don't ship to the US but after reaching out they were kind enough to send it out for me. (If only Lspeed would do the same...) It fits quite nicely and seems well built. The alternator looked pretty tired so I had it rebuilt at a local shop.

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Now the power steering situation is more complicated. The easiest solution is to run the steering rack manually, but after hearing some personal experiences i'd rather not do that. This means my only other option is to run an electric pump. AND since my car has a hydro brake, I'll have to convert to vacuum since an electric pump isn't reliable enough to power that.

[bankrupt coupe]

It appears the most popular e pumps come from Volvos, MR2's, and Vauxhalls. They're all readily available online however it would be cheaper to find one in a junkyard. The Volvo would definitely be easiest to source, found in the S40, V50, C30, or C70 models from 2005-2013. I went to my local yard and of the 3 applicable models that were there, only 1 was left. So you gotta get them before they're gone!

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I couldn't find a decent spot to place this thing in the engine bay, so I decided to put it in the trunk. I thought that this spot in the corner fit it pretty well. Plus I could run the lines through the vent right by it. After watching some videos on YouTube, it seems that these things are pretty loud, so hopefully once the carpet is covering that little cubicle it'll help a bit.

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[Jaswan]

I have the same(ish) pump sat in the same location in my car too. Although I am yet to plumb some lines for it.

It looks as though you are making some repid progress

Regards

Jase.