westco4K

The day I find an over the counter part for one of these cars I'll be shocked. Let alone the right part!

onlyaudis

here is what she looks like right now. still waiting for the 034 silicone vacuum hose things and the M/C reservoir to get here to make it derivable again.

Put some hub-centric spacers on the factory wheels with longer bolts. 10mm front and 20mm rear spacers. I like the stance better, especially in the rear where the wheels were just lost inside the wheel arch before.

onlyaudis

By the way, their were two problems with my car. first, when I installed the air cleaner, an old wire had broke loose from its ground when I was pulling the fuel injection stuff to the side--it was the ecu ground wire!

Second, the car had been "tuned" with air leaks from some bad hoses and a crack in the inlet hose. after i fixed those leaks, the CO level had to be reset. car runs awesome now, and idles like you can hardly tell its running. we bumped up the timing a few degrees as well to 8 degrees from 6, 30 full advance, and I love the way the car pulls.

Now I can start playing with a few mods I want to do:

Upgrade the stereo speakers

install some period Cibie fog lights

Install 5000K true HID low beams in some special H4 4 X 6.5 housings

Install some true pencil beam high beams with 75 watt HID "looking" bulbs (aftermarket real HID's aren't great for separate high beams, as they take 5-10 seconds to reach brightness)

Install a rear 18mm sway bar from my B6 A4. I have some end links like the 2bennett ones, and just have to make brackets for the center bushings to mount. The a4 rear bar is the right shape to position the end links with a direct vertical shot to the strut housing, and with the right shape home made brackets, will have no interference issues.

will look very similar to the 2Bennett kit below less the $495.00 and add about 3 hours fabrication time.

http://2bennett.com/2Bcoilprogram.html#swaybar

onlyaudis

got the custom sway bar mounted up today. I am glad I had adjustable end links from ST,(and they came with a mounting tab) as it would have been really hard to get it on there right without being able to vary the length of the end links. turned out great, no interference throughout the full suspension travel, barely changed the ride quality, but the car turns in way better now. was harder than I thought it would be, but I did get it done with almost all left over parts. took me a couple hours just to fabricate the center bracket. As the photo shows everything is nice and square, the end links are straight up and down. My first time doing a custom sway bar install, so i was pretty happy with the results.





got the Cibie fog lights on too. they are very bright, have a great pattern, and the mounts are strong as hell-- most other fogs i have tried have a lot of wiggle in the mounts even when tightened all the way down.

onlyaudis

just found out today as of 1/1/2012 California no longer allows recharging of the older cars A/C with 12A coolant. Can't buy it or have it shipped here, and no shop will risk fooling with it. I have to convert to R134a if I want the a/C to blow cold. I am going to convert it, because this car is nice enough to want all the stuff to work right on it. going to be about $150 more for the conversion than it would have been for just a service/leak test/ recharge with the older style coolant.

audi-driver1126

well im sorry to say, but the new laws of California specifically state that vehicles built in germany over the age of 10 must be:

1: the engine must be permanantly disabled via liquid cement
2: deported out of the current state
3: crushed and recycled to build modern ford fiesta parts.

Or, there is one alternative. Send the vehicle accross the border, and to the province of british columbia on a small island called vancouver. the city of victoria has an import zone were i will pick it up and call it my own!

onlyaudis

Always "new rules for old cars" in California. You think they'd finally just leave us classic car lovers alone. My $150 A/C service has now turned into a $500 job, as I now need an upgraded dryer, and the 84 had a hard to find and costly one. If I would have known all of this before, I think I would have bought a $79 R12a "kit" on ebay and tried to do it myself.


My son is looking at UBC in Vancouver as a potential choice for his undergraduate school. My wife was born in Toronto, and is in the process of getting my son dual Canadian citizenship.

My old 1962 Abarth Coupe came from Vancouver. Had a truck pick it up and haul it down to me way back in 1994. Haven't been to Vancouver, but plan on visiting UBC with my son this Summer.

audi-driver1126

500 for the air conditioning swap! wow, thats crazy. I need to recharge my 87 4KS's air conditioner. Its pretty useless nowadays. just makes me burn more fuel...

how old is your son? i am 16, heading on to 17 this september. I've had my 4000S since i was 12! i got it in 08, but its been in the family since new.

Ive never seen a 62 Abarth coupe before, must be very rare in NA. ive seen a few 1980's Alfa Romeo's around, an old Citroen as well. The only car sporting the "Abarth" name is the new Fiat 500...

onlyaudis

You are 1 month younger than my son!

Looks like the A/C is going to be great when they are finished with it. I needed a new dryer as part of the conversion--another $100 plus for that, and then once they got the system all up and running, they found out I need an "expansion valve" as well. good news is the compressor and lines are all fine, and the thing is working as it should and there are no leaks. The expansion valve is a thermocouple switch and they end up sticking closed from sitting, so none of the cold air the a/c actually makes get to the inside vents when that thing is broken.

Its an inexpensive part, and if i knew then what i know now, I'd have had one in the car when I dropped it off for the A/C service. have one coming in tomorrow, but they have to install it, so more labor costs to suck the coolant out again and save it, install the valve, and add the coolant back again.



http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/de...e&apwidf4tInWN

Anyone considering bringing back to life a long dormant A/C, beware it will not likely be a couple hundred bucks to do so.

onlyaudis

Just got one of the Hushpower "noise cancellation" mufflers (the 18 inch HP2) installed on the car today. sounds is mellow, and those things flow like a straight pipe. These things are the real deal and not just some gimmick. used them on several cars before and have always been happy with them. full 304 stainless. fits perfect on the rear section of a 4000Q. nearly indestructible, which is good, because for some reasons 4000Q's eat mufflers.