Week 14: Storage Unit Rally Build Update

IACV (Idle Air Control Valve)Yep, we’re now struggling to find things we can install while working in the storage unit. Picking at straws so to speak. Next on our list is therefore the idle air control valve. IACV. If you don’t already know, this ECU controlled valve bypasses the throttle at idle to allow it to, well, idle. Of course, with our fancy aftermarket intake manifold it won’t just bolt...

Storage Unit Rally Car Build - Week 13: Axels & Heater Lines

AXLESOne day we are going to find a new building and will have to push this thing back out and into the trailer. With the axles out the wheel bearings flop about so we didn’t want to struggle with it again like we did, pushing it in. We decided now was a good time to reinstall the axles, even though we haven’t refurbished them yet.Don’t worry, we cleaned them up...

Storage Unit Rally Build - Week 12: Clutching Straws

We spent this week clutching at straws, curly straws at that! No, actually, we made a curly clutch line that goes between the slave and master cylinder. We have no idea why it’s this shape but Audi went to a lot of trouble to make it so we thought we should too! We were going to use the original one but it’s in really good shape and will make a...

Storage Unit Rally Build Week 11 - Diverter Valve & Door Handles

Diverter ValveOur new diverter valve arrived while we were playing with the PCV system so we slapped that in too, upside down at first!Fortunately, it sits directly over the turbo pipe into the intercoolerBut we will need to weld on a bung to attach it. No welding in the storage unit though.Door HandlesWe were told to get a handle on things so we pulled these out of a big blue...

Week 10 of the Storage Unit Rally Car Build

Week 10 of the Storage Unit Rally Car BuildInspired by our success with the dash fasteners we moved on to something that has been troubling us for a while, the PCV system. We’d like to keep the engine as stock as possible for now as we don’t want to complicate getting an engine we are unfamiliar with running well after it has been idle for who knows how many years....

Week 9 of the Storage Unit Rally Build

We ran out of things to do so now we can reveal what those quarter turn Dzus fasteners are for: The removable dash panels!We have never played with these before so this might not go well. Our panels are not very thick so we ordered the fasteners for the thinnest material possible. Fortunately they seem to be the perfect size:Our dash and removable panels cane pre-drilled for these fasteners but...

Storage Unit Rally Car Build, Week 8 - Coolant/Heater Lines, Power Steering & More

More coolant hose parts from Pegasus arrived. Yes, those are Dzus fasteners. More on those later. This hose worked out a lot simpler than we thought it might with just two shortened elbows, one of them being a reducer.We also got the heater valve and pipes in:At this point we gave up on the coolant lines as we need to locate the electric power steering pump and lines before we...

Storage Unit Rally Build: Week 7 - Finishing Brake Lines

This week we were determined to finish the brake lines. We had so many projects open we were determined to finish anything to be honest, but brake lines seemed the most likely candidate for success so we jumped in. Our 90 degree 3AN bulkhead fittings had arrived so we started in the rear wheel wells and created hard lines to the flex pipes.The next obvious step was the lines from...

Storage Unit Rally Car Build: Week 6 - Odds & Ends

Storage Unit Rally Car Build: Week 6 - Odds & EndsWe installed some jewelry this week. Always nice when you bolt on some freshly zinc plated bling:We also dug the PVC system out of the boxes.Then the last bits for the fuel filter came in from Finish Line factory so we mounted that.Just sheet metal screws for now but when we strip the shell for paint we’ll drill holes for...

Storage Unit Rally Car Build, Week 5 - Coolant System

Our coolant hose components came in from Pegasus Racing Supplies:So, we wasted no time in cobbling together a custom front coolant hose:And offering it up to the car:Our plan is to clamp this all together with Gates Powergrip heat shrink hose clamps. We’ll probably use regular hose clamps at each end though. We were very happy with how this turned out so we began to look at the rest of...

Ill Fitting Downpipe and More Brake Lines - Storage Unit Rally Car Build Week 4

While we were going through our boxes of parts we came across the AAN’s down pipe so thought we’d install that as it might impact the intake system we were thinking about. Of course it didn’t fit. It fouls the subframe as it descends below the axle. We need to cut and weld it anyway so now we will be doing that just a little closer to the turbo, or...

Storage Unit Rally Car Build: Week 3 - Fuel System Progress

Fortunately some fuel line parts came in from Finish Line Factory so we switched our attention back to the fuel system. We received some hose end barb adapters to transition from the fuel tank to the AN lines and brackets and a sleeve for the Walbro fuel pump so we scrambled under the car and installed those:We attached the fuel pump using an existing stud but later we will remove...

The Storage Unit Build Continues with the 83 UR Quattro Rally Car

While we were waiting for fuel line parts from Finish Line Factory to arrive, we started fishing around for other projects we thought we could accomplish. Because of this we found ourselves contemplating where to put the air filter. The factory cars had it on the cowl with a trick ovalized Kevlar tube feeding cold air to the turbo. While we don’t envisage utilizing that level of technology that area...

Storage Unit Rally Car Build: Week 1

Just a reminder: we are still in the "dry build" phase of this project. That means the shell is prepped but not painted. Everything else is going to be essentially test fitted before the car is disassembled for paint. Once it's cured we'll start bolting things on for good. That way we don't have to do any cutting, grinding and welding on a painted shell, hopefully. We mention this again...

Introducing: Storage Unit Rally Build (We're still at It)

We hope everyone is safe and healthy and wearing a mask. We have been hunkered down in our various basements for what feels like forever but thankful that we live in a state that has fairly low case counts lately. We still haven’t found the perfect building for our business but did come to the realization that it might be possible to continue building the car in its current location:...

Moving Into Storage

They say “all good things must come to an end”. Well, this good thing has come to a screeching halt but not the end. We finally had enough of our landlord and upped sticks. We were already looking for a new building but the situation in our old space became untenable and we quickly decided we could just put everything in storage for a couple of months while we found...

Progress with the Intercooler on our Quattro Rally Build!

Despite all the confusion about where things are going to go a couple of components are fixed: the radiator and the intercooler. So we pressed on with the intercooler.We wanted to place it as far forward as possible while remaining inside the grill’s envelope. This meant cutting our expensive bumper up.We couldn’t find an off the shelf intercooler with the correct inlet and outlet orientations so we decided we’d have...

Sorting out Radiator Choice, Placement & Mounting

This is the original radiator in the stock location.We want a much bigger aluminium radiator as this one probably isn’t big enough as it worked in conjunction with a smaller auxiliary radiator mounted behind the grill. We don’t have room nor are we inclined to use that.We found two companies that purport to sell a suitable radiator but neither returned calls or emails so we assume they are no longer...

Quattro Rally Build: Throttle body, power steering, alternator. Pick any two!

Throttle body, power steering, alternator. Pick any two!Yes, that's the conclusion we have come to trying to locate all the ancillary components in the engine bay. Right now, everything wants to be on the left side of the engine in front of the radiator. Remember, on these cars the radiator is not in front of the engine but to the side on the left. Because we are using an aftermarket...

We Install Period Correct Tablot Bullet-Shaped Mirrors on the Quattro Rally Car

It’s nice to conquer the big projects like intercoolers and radiators but sometimes those plans get stalled due to parts availability or even just the magnitude of them. Then it can also be nice and quite gratifying to check off a small project, even something as seemingly trivial as door mirrors.Yes, we installed the door mirrors. But first we had to track some down and then decide where to put...

Time to Clearance the Hood on our Quattro Rally Car

Back from Radwood we were inspired to get the car finished for next year. Not the least because we realized that 2020 is the 40th anniversary of the Quattro as it debuted at the Geneva Motorshow on March 1st, 1980. We don’t think we can get it ready for March but certainly having it done sometime in 2020 seems a worthy tribute. So lets get cracking!First we have to get...

We Made it to Radwood!

It turns out this super easy, bolt on aftermarket intake manifold just keeps giving……………us problems. Now the engine is in the hood hits the throttle body, even after we built a custom adapter to stop it hitting the alternator! Well, we soon realized we didn’t need a throttle body to push the car into the trailer so we took it off and adjusted the hood pins so it at least...

The Road to Radwood Detroit - Part 2

We thought we should mount the transmission as well as the engine only has two engine mounts. We figured the whole package would be much more stable mounted together. We don’t yet have a flywheel or a clutch but neither of those are necessary just to bolt the two lumps together. We recently sourced some pin stands from Motamec in England so our plan was to lower the car onto...

The Road to Radwood Detroit - Part 1

“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men………..” Robbie burns said that, way before Quattros were invented. Still applies today.When we left you we had just installed our center console and were about to start working on installing brake lines before we put the engine in. Well that plan got blown up as the car got invited to Radwood Detroit, the car show for 80s and 90s stuff. So our...