Audi Quattro.

Post pics of your car in here
4v6
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Joined: March 20th, 2007, 1:20 pm
Location: Midlands UK (A)
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

Thanks all!

Yes it is a great impetus to know the part I thought would be the hardest has turned out to be the simplest.
Theres still some electrical gremlins to root and and dispose of but theyre fairly minor in comparison to whats already been done.
Hopefully before too much longer I can run it for a while more than it has and put it back on the floor, I shall then have hours of entertainment in the form of body preparation to indulge in. Oh joy, paintwork flatting.
Tony Warren. GC #96.
4v6
Posts: 205
Joined: March 20th, 2007, 1:20 pm
Location: Midlands UK (A)
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

More updates needed to this one I think.

Since the last one, although I was quite happy to hear the engine run for the first time, I'd lost some motivation, due in part to lack of funds to get the materials and parts needed to get further.
A couple of weeks ago my motivation returned for no apparent reason and I made a decision to make good on the bodywork of the car.
Bodywork, like much of the stuff I've learned over the years isnt my primary strongpoint, but I've done it previously, having body prepped and sprayed three cars and done a fair few paint repairs on other projects.
Bodyworks a hard master to serve and harder when by necessity (not my choice) having to be all hand produced.
Still, I already knew that, yet strangely I've relished the chance to do a bare metal respray of the car, I must be completely bananas.

Starting tentatively with the sunroof panel which also need some metalwork carrying out to it, I stripped all the paint off it.
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This is an 80 grit surface finish applied via the two paddle shaped attachments fixed at the ends of my arms, its hard work but curiously satisfying.
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The wings then presented themselves for the same treatment.
Incidentally, my reasons for going back to bare steel are quite well founded- theres about 15 layers of poorly adhered paint on this car and sections can be simply peeled off in sheets so if left to simply paint over it would likely fail later on. Not what I want to see.
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This is a later wing and is galavanized as standard.
Earlier ones such as the left original wing were not.
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Next project is to turbocharge the clothes drier!
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The passenger side wing came next and in this one I found a small filler repair so that would need to be reinstated after the paint was removed and the panel suitably prepped.
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Oh by the way, since its a bare metal respray, it also means fixing any remaining surface rust issues and getting all the existing paint off the door jambs....thats fun I can tell you and took the best part of a day for each wing, still its got to be done.
Did I mention this is all being done by hand?
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So with the passneger wing stripped and ready for some prep, I got going on the bonnet.
This items 30 years old and came from a Coupe GT that a friend of mine was breaking, price was free for helping him to strip the car and was and is much appreciated as its better than you could ask for such an old, used item.
It took me a week of hard effort to get it to this state, and the inside has been prepped but not stripped off completely with the rust scabs removed and ready for primer.
The outside still needed a couple of minor filler repairs to a few dings.
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Yours truly hard at it, being bothered by an errant cameraman.
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Yes, I look eminently better with a mask on.
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The effort continues!
Tony Warren. GC #96.
4v6
Posts: 205
Joined: March 20th, 2007, 1:20 pm
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

Since my last update I'd made a decision to complete the main bodywork issues and try to get the car in primer in 6 to 8 weeks.
It sounds like a long time and it is when everything is done by hand on your own in cramped conditions although the time soon seems to count down in rapid fashion.
It gets even longer when further metalwork issues jump into the fray to give you even more work to complete, a veritable domino effect.
However my determination to get this one done is paying off I feel.
After completing the strip back to bare metal of the bonnet, the wings and the door apertures, the passenger door got the same treatment including some attention to a little surface rust on the foldover lap joint underneath it.
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Periodically my not so little helper has stopped by to assist me and dispense his pearls of wisdom including how to put dents into bodypanels.
2 and a half and knows the difference between a spanner, a socket, a lamborghini and a citroen. He's after our jobs I tell you!
2 and a half and knows the difference between a spanner, a socket, a lamborghini and a citroen. He's after our jobs I tell you!
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Heading rearwards the dire state of the paint and underlying prepwork became obvious, with the discovery of around 10 to 12mm of filler on the rear quarter panel behind the passenger door trailing edge and further filler on the arch itself.
The whole lot had been simply trowelled on and run down with a DA sander leaving a shape that didnt exactly match the original but looked close enough, the fact that it wasnt necessary to have so much of it shows how poor a job had been done by various parties over the cars chequered past.
It took close to a week of solid effort to get the bare minimum skim installed and get the shape right on that passenger arch but the effort was in my opinion worth it to remove the unecessary filler and reinstate the shape to the damaged areas.
Absolutely stuffed full of filler, removed to bare metal.
Absolutely stuffed full of filler, removed to bare metal.
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Once that was completed the drivers side got the same treatment and more effort due to the further discovery of more filler in the sill area which covered yet more damage.
I spent the best part of another week fettling that area and fixing the jackup damage ( dents) but its as good as it can be for a non professional like me.
Also I found what appears to be a bullet hole in the upper part of the rear quarter close to the A pillar.
Fairly neat hole with a few rips and tears to the edges, looks too irregular to be most anything else unless some sort of spike was rammed through but surrounding damage is extremely limited so I dunno!
Is this really a bullet hole? I dunno, looks like it could be!
Is this really a bullet hole? I dunno, looks like it could be!
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Stripping off the rest of the panels paints revealed yet more expanses of heavy filler covering dents and creases in the skin which simply didnt need to be so thick so it was all removed back to bare steel and the whole lot steadily built up in thin layers to get the shape back with minimal filler depth.

Weeks have now passed and the roof is begging to have its paint removed, and so the scraper is re-employed to shear off the top layer before litres of paint stripper remove and soften the underlying layers.
I must have removed about 15kgs of paint from this car so far and all of it was poor.
No issues of any worth found on the roof panel made me happy!
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With that attended to, the boot area needed attention.
I'd always known the car had suffered from a rear impact but at one point I thought I could possibly fix the damage by carefully pulling it out.
Not going to happen-ever unfortunately.
The whole rear end had gone in, concentrated on the offside.
The upper corner and light aperture on the driver side was full of filler at about 10 to 15mm depth, shape was totally wrong and looked it.
I later found out it had oodles of spatter type weld to fill it all in as well, absolutely horrible.
The boot lid wouldnt sit squarely with the height differences between each corner being obvious, also the lineup with the edges and the lower sections of the boot lid meant it'd never have been right so I decided to get a new rear valance from Pete at quattrocorner rather than pay out for a second hand item thatd need even more prep and had no guarantee of straightness.
Getting the new part showed me just how difficult it would have been to straighten out what I had, it simply was so badly damaged and distorted that it would never have worked.
Boot lid is a new old stock item and is straight, the top lineup of the light aperture is less than satifactory .
Boot lid is a new old stock item and is straight, the top lineup of the light aperture is less than satifactory .
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Hammered to bits by monkeys!<br />The steel has been blowtorched, splatterwelded and stuffed with filler.<br />Just lovely, a real work of art.
Hammered to bits by monkeys!
The steel has been blowtorched, splatterwelded and stuffed with filler.
Just lovely, a real work of art.
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Pigeons make such a mess.
Pigeons make such a mess.
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So with my new panel aquired it took a day of hard work to carefully split the spot welds, preserving the flanges on the body panels and remove the old junker.
New rear valance cost me 450 quid due to lack of manufacturer availability but saved me a whole headache and looks the business.
New rear valance cost me 450 quid due to lack of manufacturer availability but saved me a whole headache and looks the business.
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Not pretty at all.<br />At this point I'm thinking &quot;what have I got myself into?&quot;.
Not pretty at all.
At this point I'm thinking "what have I got myself into?".
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It took another couple of days to get the locations cleaned and trued up to accept the new panel for test fits.
Looking better....
Looking better....
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It wasn't a million miles away as it happens but far enough out to warrant more work, especially to that drivers rear light aperture and corner area where the old one was so buckled the light unit wouldnt sit flat at all and it overhung the panel. It was nasty looking and was just plain nasty.
I briefly considered fabricating a replacement but thought better of it, just too much hassle to do it.
Not bad at all.
Not bad at all.
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Not too good.
Not too good.
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Definitely an improvement over what was on there.
Definitely an improvement over what was on there.
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The difference between what was on and what I was putting back is quite obvious between the next two photos, ones hammered to pieces and I didnt do it!
Old and damaged/distorted.
Old and damaged/distorted.
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New, expensive but lovely.
New, expensive but lovely.
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By now im deep into this one and getting deeper so I looked around for a rear corner panel I could cut up, Dave at audicoupeparts came up with one and I spent the best part of 3 to 4 days cutting, trimming, checking, test fitting and trimming again to get it mm perfect in terms of lineup- a right pain in the posterior regions I can tell you with the distortion of the existing panel, but at least the shapes right, theres no rust there anymore and it looks pretty good.
Offside rear light aperture, this part took more effort than I would have believed to fit correctly.
Offside rear light aperture, this part took more effort than I would have believed to fit correctly.
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Ooops!
Ooops!
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Distorted and rusted section gone.
Distorted and rusted section gone.
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Closer but still no cigar.
Closer but still no cigar.
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Backing strip ensures flush sitting panels and minimal filler skims and less distortion when welding in.
Backing strip ensures flush sitting panels and minimal filler skims and less distortion when welding in.
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So with more cajoling, drilling holes for spot welds and fretting about the fit I started the job of welding it all in.
The corner and light aperture part had to go on second due to the lower panel having a return formed in it that was left after I removed the light aperture it came with.
That aperture was eventually dispensed with as I found it impossible to get a good lineup with it attached, so the original panel from Pete was used and doing it that way made it easier to get it fitted correctly, or as close as it could go given the whack the rear had taken.
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Infinitely better, no rust no misalignment.
Infinitely better, no rust no misalignment.
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It then took another few days of multiple test fits, drilling the positions for new spot welds and yet more test fits and I finally got the rear panel on properly.
One thing I had noticed when test fitting was that it was going to be hard to push the panel into position at the bottom due to flex and misalignment in the original panelling on the car, so I utilised my ratchet straps and a couple of wood blocks and with an eye bolt welded to a long bolt screwed through the fuel tank bracket which locates on the rear turret, the other end hooked into the subframe to gently encourage it to position before I set about tacking and welding it all in.
5 ton tie down is a bit overkill!
5 ton tie down is a bit overkill!
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With more time gone out the deadline and lots of grinding down of welds to make it right, that led to finally applying the seam sealer underneath and the use of some polyurethane seam sealer for the ends of the panel as per the original item.
Once set, the whole seam edges inside the boot were blasted with weld thru primer (high zinc content) so it would find its way between the two sheets and preserve them for years to come, although I'd already sprayed them days before as further insurance, then the inner panel overlaps were treated to a coating of Upol grey stripe brush on seam sealer which smells bad but does the job nicely so it looks rather good.
Then to finish off, a couple of sound deadening panels were installed to cut down on drumming noise.
I had previously test fitted the boot lid, its seal and the lock mechanism, but no way would it work and it took Mr Brain a few moments of confusion to notice that the idiot that is me had installed the striker on backwards...doh!
In my defence it had been 3 years since it was removed....
Once that was put on correctly and adjusted it all sat fine.
It's not 100% concours "perfect" but compared to how it was when I first had it, its 99 % right.
Sitting pretty.
Sitting pretty.
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Tony Warren. GC #96.
4v6
Posts: 205
Joined: March 20th, 2007, 1:20 pm
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

After filling the rear quarter repair panel with a very thin skim due to weld distortion I set about refitting the boot liners and carpets.
Amazing how much better it all looks when its cleaned and fitted nicely, not to mention it gets them out of storage and secured inside where they belong.
Nicer than being in the front now.
Nicer than being in the front now.
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After roughly masking off the boot and light apertures I could set about regaining the shape of the panel and getting rid of the slight uneveness caused by welding it in.
It's not much but a flat of the hand shows it up like a sore thumb.
Once a few hours passed it was ready for it's first squirt of primer which exposed a few feather edges and little marks which I'll sort out on the next pass.
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Since the boot area/rear end is almost reay for paint I switched my attention to the front of the car, specifically the engine bay.

Now, I could have gone two ways here, the hard way or the easy way, consisting of three or four options, none of which really attracted me, still, you have to pick one of them!

So,
1) leave the bay black and live with the outside being lhasa green metallic.
2) Scuff and paint the engine bay and attempt to work around the engine.
3) pull the engine, strip the whole lot off and start at bare metal stage.
4) This is the worst option i think; Give up and sell the lot.

Stupidity, stubborness, call it what you will forced me to go option 3.
I couldnt stand the thought of having gone this far and then have a different paint colour in the bay for want of a couple of weeks slog....
And thats where I am now, deep, deep, deep in the midst of a cramped and dark engine bay, stripping off paint back to the wood so to speak..

As always, things arent ever so easy as just pulling the engine and going to it, oh no, how to get the engine out since its now connected to the gearbox and theres no room to remove it out the front?
I considered just about everything but decided to cut the front off the car, im not THAT concerned about originality any longer and it means cambelts and maintainance become a breeze rather than a chore and that front members not exactly stressed as the rally versions also had the same modification, should have come from the factory like that I think.
However, ive removed it entirely sympathetically with an eye to refitting it so that it looks completely normal to a casual observer and I'll do that with hidden bolts and tabs welded into relevant points to hold it all together, not a problem, just more work.
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With the front end carefully removed I could attack the engines lower pulley having locked it with my humungous locking bar thing.
It nearly bent due to the tension on that bolt, however some heat applied to it softened the sealing compound and it eventually came free so I'll change the water pump, idler roller and belt before it goes back in along with some detailing attention.
With the front end out the way it was fairly simple to slide the engine out off the gearbox even the cramped space I have and move it away.
Makes things easy when theres nothing obstructing you, even in tight working conditions.
Makes things easy when theres nothing obstructing you, even in tight working conditions.
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With that out of the way my attention turned to something thats been bugging me ever since I fitted it; The brake servo.
It fitted fine where the oem hydro assisted unit sat but the piping was messy, irritated me no end and I finally succumbed to the desire to relocate it to the drivers side for a direct acting pedal, short and neat line runs and a warm feeling inside.
Having done precsely the same modification to my old 82 coupe gt I knew the servo wont go in as is, the strut tower needs to be ahem, "massaged" in the right place.
No such worries for Coupe Quattro owners as the servos already fitted on the drivers side so who am I to argue with a factory type upgrade?
In order to actually fit the servo, you also have to remove the little triangulation piece above the intended location that holds the coil of the Ur and also the cover plate thats bolted and welded in as standard on all these shells.
This little plate is bolted and welded in on even the earliest coupe shells, removal means the servo can be relocated for a direct acting pedal.
This little plate is bolted and welded in on even the earliest coupe shells, removal means the servo can be relocated for a direct acting pedal.
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Once youv'e "adjusted" some clearance into the strut tower for the servo.
Servo relocated for shorter, neater pipe runs and a pedal that has less slack in it.
Servo relocated for shorter, neater pipe runs and a pedal that has less slack in it.
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Much fun was to be had in the removal of the old pull rod linkage to the passenger side but eventually brute force and ignorance triumphed over a well thought out and executed plan.
I also had to shorten the "top hat" mount that the servo bolts up to as the Ur one is a tad too long.
I could kick myself as I had previously thrown out the short one I needed some time back due to fitting the servo on the left side of the bay.
Currently I've finished stripping the paint around the engine bay so it should be ready for some paint in the next few days....theres another load of fun to be had.

As of this morning it looks like this in the bay of quattro.
Paints all come off after a week of effort, still some odds and sods to do.
Paints all come off after a week of effort, still some odds and sods to do.
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New front panel tabs to be fabricated up and then paint!
New front panel tabs to be fabricated up and then paint!
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Tony Warren. GC #96.
samo
Posts: 222
Joined: December 6th, 2010, 6:52 am

Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by samo »

I do admire dedicated people who finish what they started. My highest respect to you for not loosing it after finding surprises one after another. PLEASE finish it :)

I really do wonder why cars like the Quattro, Integrale and the Cosworths tend to be bought and taken care by complete idiots who manage to destroy them in record braking time. And then it is up to us mad and a bit psychotic miracle workers to put them back together at the cost of huge expense, time, health & spouse dissatisfaction.

I do wonder sometimes where these people find ideas for such bad fixes! My integrale came with brake calipers of 4 different colors...
Limited edition #317
4v6
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

Thanks for your comments Samo, to be honest when I bought this car I expected to find "something" that needed attention, it was a surprise however to keep on finding things!

The idiots you refer to, well I think what happens is the owner buys it and dosent realise just what it takes to maintain a vehicle so bit by bit neglect starts taking its toll with a small issue becoming a bigger one, then when they see the size of the repair bill theyd rather just get rid of the problem by selling it on.
Trouble with that is the car then gets bought up by another owner who also dosent realise the scale of the problem and gets it bodged or half repaired just to get it driveable and so it continues.
Then an even bigger idiot like me comes along and buys it. :)

I'll actually be very happy with it when it's finished and I'm able to use it, the money spent so far would only have bought one in lesser condition anyway I think and by doing it this way I get to know everything about the car (however bad it's been!) and it becomes my own, I'm sure you probably feel the same way with your Integrale restoration, not to mention the satisfaction of having done it all yourself.
Tony Warren. GC #96.
Ev0luti0n_

Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by Ev0luti0n_ »

the amount of work and effort put in this car is overwhelming. Congratulations for such dedication on this project!
4v6
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

Ev0luti0n_ wrote:the amount of work and effort put in this car is overwhelming. Congratulations for such dedication on this project!
Thank you John the comments appreciated, however I see members like Samo, Miro, 1nro, Ian Nixon and all the others here who get stuck into do their vehicles on a regular basis so I'm spurred on by that as I dont want to feel left out and it keeps me out of trouble. :)
Tony Warren. GC #96.
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

I finally found a paint supplier who would answer their emails and ship materials promptly so with the engine bay fully scuffed and degreased I got some epoxy primer sprayed on it last week.
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Two days later and I made the decision to go ahead and do the rest of the shell.

Its come out very nice indeed, needing only a small amount of block work to prep the surface for colour and to remove any imperfections.
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Currently left to do are both the doors and the bootlid which hopefully can be done this week and the bumpers and modified front panel which I'll do later on.
Tony Warren. GC #96.
1NRO
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 1NRO »

Looking good and really getting there now.

Would you mind PMing me the details of the online paint supplier?

Nik
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

A bit of a late update to this project.

My workspace is so very cramped at the moment due to an excess of car parts so I have to get a bit inventive when it comes to the sequence in which I complete various tasks, the painting being one of them.

The bodywork has had another two coats of epoxy primer/surfacer applied in the past few weeks to get a thick enough film for the remaining operations.
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The doors had to be painted while suspended from stainless hooks and some steel reinforced washing lines strung across the garage roof, looked a little perilous but it didnt fail me.
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I gave it a week or so to fully harden off and then vandalized it with a spray can.
Its ok, I hadnt gone mad, I was using a contrasting colour to show me where paintwork imperfections were.
The way it works is, during wet flatting with 600grade wet and dry paper, the paint from high spots is removed first along with the contrasting colour leaving only depressions such as "orange peel" and scratches which remain visible.
Its called a guide coat.
By removing the remaining paint in the low spots by continuing to flat the paint you eventually end up with a pretty much perfect base upon which to spray your colour and clearcoats.
Its time intensive and not very nice to do but it does work.
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Low spots stay coloured until levelled with the surrounding paint.
Low spots stay coloured until levelled with the surrounding paint.
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Makes the surface lovely and flat and ripple free.<br />This whole arch had been repaired with new steel prior to the filler skim and paint.<br />Looks way better than before.
Makes the surface lovely and flat and ripple free.
This whole arch had been repaired with new steel prior to the filler skim and paint.
Looks way better than before.
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I just have a few minor things to do as I've already done the rest of the shell and doors, so I'm at the stage almost of being able to put on the colour, thats even more expense but the end is in sight.
Tony Warren. GC #96.
Nobby
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by Nobby »

Hugely impressive work there. I own a quattro myself now - a 2003 RS6.
Chris Burgess
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4v6
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

Many thanks to Guy for reinstating me on this great site.

I cannot believe that its been almost 4 years since my last post, not by choice I might add, just that life does its thing and messes up my plans.
In between getting a full time job, quitting that and losing my internet due to cancelling it because of high costs and looking after an elderly parent, my posting rate sort of dropped off the planet, but since I'm now able to, I'll update my thread with a few photos of where I've gotten to with the car.

When last here I was at the stage of actually being able to put on some body colour which went with plenty of hitches, head scratching and general despair, however its come fairly good in the end.
My first port of call was to purchase a dependable spray gun and after looking at many I bit the proverbial bullet and got a genuine Sata RP4000, plus a 3M 3 stage air filtration unit, some monofiliament air filter padding and all the paint and prep material I believed I would need.
The Sata paint gun. Very expensive but excellent for doing the job with.
The Sata paint gun. Very expensive but excellent for doing the job with.
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The night before I started the major task of painting this car, I was a bag of nerves, and I hoped my makeshift paintbooth and air extraction would work, It did but at the end of the day I was pretty shattered by all the two-ing and fro-ing.
The night before  and its all set up for next day.
The night before and its all set up for next day.
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I started out early around 5 am setting up and checking the body was as clean as possible, you always get something dropping on it, usually a suicidal fly or two or just dust thats been overlooked, no major dramas this time though.
Base coated.
Base coated.
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Clear coated.
Clear coated.
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Not too bad.
Not too bad.
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P1140131.jpg
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Funny coulour this. Its called Lago Greem and it alters markedly in the sun or under other lighting. I love it.
Funny coulour this. Its called Lago Greem and it alters markedly in the sun or under other lighting. I love it.
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With the main part of the bodywork more or less finished, I stripped the 20 valve turbo 5 cylinder down to refurbish it for its new home in the Audi.
Of course, I did the valve seats as they were starting to show some wear along with the guides.
5 cylinder 20 valve head didnt get any real portwork done as I just wanted a cooking spec motor.
5 cylinder 20 valve head didnt get any real portwork done as I just wanted a cooking spec motor.
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With the bottom end worked on, I decided it would be best to get the block mounted up in the car and rebuild the rest of the engine in situ, it worked out fine.
P1120127.jpg
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Head bolted down, taking care that engine at TDC and cams correctly set.
Head bolted down, taking care that engine at TDC and cams correctly set.
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Turbos not big but good for around 280bhp, more than enough for me and wont ever be run that hard.
Turbos not big but good for around 280bhp, more than enough for me and wont ever be run that hard.
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In between working, fettling the car and building the occasional engine for others, my little helper would drop by to lend a hand and give some much needed advice.
He's still after our jobs!
He's still after our jobs!
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P1160299.jpg
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Jumping forward a few years past all the mundane parts collection and modification headaches, the cars currently looking like this.
Underbonnets not finished due to a need for a proper engine harness, Its in the pipeline!
Underbonnets not finished due to a need for a proper engine harness, Its in the pipeline!
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Sunlight just does something to this paint, it almost glows.
Sunlight just does something to this paint, it almost glows.
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Backend is straighter than when bought  but still needs the bumpers and aprons finishing.
Backend is straighter than when bought but still needs the bumpers and aprons finishing.
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Much of the work done to the car hasn't been mentioned simply due to the amount of space it'd take up on Guys site, its a lot though and its taken many more years to get as far as this.
I'm really hoping that since I started a new job working on heritage Jaguars that I'll get it finished this next year, mind you, Its become sort of a new years resolution that always gets broken.

The car does however run now, and except for a bit of a boom at cold idle which goes away when the exhaust is warmed up, it sounds every bit as nice as I hoped it would, maybe it needs the resonator box removing to get a bit more volume though!

Ill see if I have any video of it running and post it in a few days if I have it.
Tony Warren. GC #96.
Guy Croft
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Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by Guy Croft »

it's marvellous to see you here again Tony, your skills are so impressive,

G
Guy Croft, owner
4v6
Posts: 205
Joined: March 20th, 2007, 1:20 pm
Location: Midlands UK (A)
Contact:

Re: Audi Quattro.

Post by 4v6 »

Guy Croft wrote: December 16th, 2017, 9:11 am it's marvellous to see you here again Tony, your skills are so impressive,

G
Thanks for having me Guy, however, much of the engine skills stuff I openly attribute to your good self, reading the articles on your site and in your books has helped me develop enormously and saved me much heartache over the years.
Your new book is on the "must buy" list shortly and I advise anyone who wants to learn about engines and what makes them tick to do likewise!

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas.
Tony.
Tony Warren. GC #96.
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