The Project Pad

I was traveling this week so I didn't get any work done until today. I did find a sweet video series from a couple of Aussie guys I binge watch on youtube every year or so. Mad Max style Nissan Sylvia! The first 3 are pretty entertaining, the last one is kinda cheesy.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_rM2kW5YQ[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiICQ4gDpH0[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO9vgdSnbeg[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3phb0uF2sPQ[/youtube]

OK, now on to the car. I had a few boxes of parts waiting for me when I got home and I was too jet-lagged to do anything like welding that requires focus. Instead I got to work fixing some stuff.

First up: driver's side window regulator. When I got the car the driver's side window was wedged in place with a couple pieces of wood, and the whole motor and cable portion of the regulator was missing. Got a replacement Cabriolet one from a wrecking yard who conveniently delivered it to my door at no charge. Sweet!

Installed the glass:


Installed and aligned in the door frame. The door latch needed some adjustment as well but everything fits perfectly now. Nice to have two working windows!



Next up was windshield wipers. Broken wipers may not matter in California where the car came from, but over here in Seattle they are an absolute necessity. Motor was dead so I got a replacement from Cory. Took the opportunity to clean and re-grease the linkage while I had it out.





Final item was fixing the windshield washer tank. The two that were in the car are amazing examples of UV degredation to polyethylene, sitting exposed in the California sun for 9 years they were literally crumbling. I'm not putting headlight washers back in, but I do want windshield washers. Since the normal washer tank is pretty small in these cars, I opted to used the larger headlight tank for the windshield. Only required some light modification to make it all work:

Original tanks




Windshield washer motor with the rubber tank gromet fits perfectly in the headlight washer tank


Cut and extended the wiring pigtail to reach the new motor position under the DS fender


Extended the washer line to reach the pump


Filled it up to test it and it works great! Only problem is I discovered a crack in the replacement tank when I filled it so I need to seal that up.

That's all for today, more to come next week.

Went and got the new tires this morning: BFG All-Terrain TA/KO2 in a 215/75R15 size. I think this is officially the largest tire to ever go on a CQ and sweet Jebus they are awesome. It's amazing how tires can completely change the look of a car.









They fit perfectly! I can turn lock-to-lock and they don't rub at all.





Going to have to do some thermoforming of the rear fender liner here.





Ground clearance is solid all the way around-

14" in the front


15" in the rear


10" to the lowest point on the front subframe


12" to the rear subframe



And of course I had to see what this meant for overall lift. Since I failed to actually measure the car before I did all of this the only reference I have is my red car. ITS A FULL 8" TALLER!! I think it's safe to say I now own the two extreme ends of the CQ spectrum. lol







This might be the most badass car I have ever owned.

It's so strange seeing those tires on those wheels

Looks awesome though!


What's next, aluminum skid plates??

Haha yes- I think it's the best I have ever seen speedline wheels look.

Skidplates are on the list, but first I need to finish welding up the lift subframes.

Dude, awesome!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

How do you work so fast? lol. I'm still waiting on my tires to be delivered and my wheels to be powdercoated. I better get something done on my car soon lol. I'm trying to convince my friend to sell me his thule moab (mother of all baskets) to mount on top so i can mount the spare wheel up there, chances are with rallyx i'll roll a bead and will need a spare.

Sorry the tank needed some repairs, It's funny that your package arrived so fast, but the package i sent out at the same time to a guy in Connecticut still hasn't received his (smaller box and a couple 1000 miles closer).

When you do your skid plate, i was told do NOT attach it to the subframe at all. Couple of the audi rally guys state that you should mount it to the floor pan with some brackets. Just an fyi before you start designing them. I'm still on the fence about my brush bar, its super beefy, looks funny without a super beefy rear as well. I want to see what you come up with first in the rear before i touch it.

Interesting how the back suspension has positive caster like that, guess i never noticed it before. Rally cars use positive in the front and negative in the rear.

This might be the most badass car I have ever owned.

Hell yeah! I'm loving this thing more with each post!

Maybe I missed this in an earlier post, but what to plan to do with gearing? Will you have a lower range for some climbing?

frostyflax17 wrote:
When you do your skid plate, i was told do NOT attach it to the subframe at all. Couple of the audi rally guys state that you should mount it to the floor pan with some brackets. Just an fyi before you start designing them. I'm still on the fence about my brush bar, its super beefy, looks funny without a super beefy rear as well. I want to see what you come up with first in the rear before i touch it.

what is the reasoning for not attaching skid plates to the subframes?

UrSobsessed wrote:

This might be the most badass car I have ever owned.

Maybe I missed this in an earlier post, but what to plan to do with gearing? Will you have a lower range for some climbing?

Gear changes are currently out of scope; I want to drive it before I decide to do anything different from stock. Too bad these didn't come with a low range transfer case like some classic Subaru's did.

the german wrote:what is the reasoning for not attaching skid plates to the subframes?

Both Vittorio and Anthony J told me it was a bad idea. It's because it "runs the stress up into the unibody and will split the seam weld".
Both of them have theirs mounted via a bracket the floor pan. I have to look at vittorio's project to find the pics of how he did his.

There's been about 4 cases of rally b3 chassis cars that have had this issue.
1st: don't mount the skid plate to the subframe
2nd: reinforce the existing welds 1/2" every 1.5" along the spot welds in the front according to dalspaugh's pictures shown on page 9/10 http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read ... 053,page=9

though you should do both the red and the blue lines. As long as the motor is out of the car. It will greatly improve the rigidity of the car. Also anthony said something about welding a bar between the strut mounts, he did his in the rain tray. Sounds like a lot of work, but its kinda one of those "while you're in there" things to vastly improve the longevity of the car.

That all being said... i'm sure as heck not doing all that right now lol. I'll just mount the skidplate to the floor pan.

This is such an awesome build. I can't wait to see it climbing mountains.

I did the exact same mod to my wiper tank. Mine only had one when I got the car (it was partially disassembled when I bought it) and I only had it to work with. Mine's been holding strong for a month or so with the one grommet nested into the other

I love this car/project. The wheels and tires combo is perfect. Nice work!

frostyflax17 wrote:

the german wrote:what is the reasoning for not attaching skid plates to the subframes?

Both Vittorio and Anthony J told me it was a bad idea. It's because it "runs the stress up into the unibody and will split the seam weld".
Both of them have theirs mounted via a bracket the floor pan. I have to look at vittorio's project to find the pics of how he did his.

There's been about 4 cases of rally b3 chassis cars that have had this issue.
1st: don't mount the skid plate to the subframe
2nd: reinforce the existing welds 1/2" every 1.5" along the spot welds in the front according to dalspaugh's pictures shown on page 9/10 http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read ... 053,page=9

Talked to Anthony and got some pics of the failure; looks like a weak seam that can be reinforced pretty easily. I think I'll probably do that and mount to the front of the subframe; I would have to build a pretty substantial secondary structure for it to do any good given how far away the subframe is now. I also have about 6" of ground clearance on the rally cars

Grillage wrote:This is such an awesome build. I can't wait to see it climbing mountains.

I did the exact same mod to my wiper tank. Mine only had one when I got the car (it was partially disassembled when I bought it) and I only had it to work with. Mine's been holding strong for a month or so with the one grommet nested into the other

Thanks! Me either. I think its going to be a blast.

Glad to hear I'm not the first one to do that and that it's working out well. I figured worst case scenario I would put the headlight pump in there and use it, the one I had was broken so this was my only (easy + free) option. Great minds!

k2exoman wrote:I love this car/project. The wheels and tires combo is perfect. Nice work!

Thanks! I completely agree

Need vids with jumps

audifreakjim wrote:Need vids with jumps

All in due time Jimmy. All in due time.

I need to actually drive the thing first!

audifreakjim wrote:Need vids with jumps

YEAHHHHH!

Wow, interesting project! funny to see my rally anarchy thread referenced!

I'll be staying tuned to see where this project goes! I like it a lot though so far!

dalspaugh wrote:Wow, interesting project! funny to see my rally anarchy thread referenced!

I'll be staying tuned to see where this project goes! I like it a lot though so far!

I glanced at it, and thought it looked familiar.

dalspaugh wrote:Wow, interesting project! funny to see my rally anarchy thread referenced!

I'll be staying tuned to see where this project goes! I like it a lot though so far!

Thanks Dave! I'm interested to see how it ends up too ;-)

I wanted a fun, unique, and relatively low budget project. This seems to fit the bill perfectly. The intent is not to build a rally car, but rather something with a full interior which is comfortable and capable of carrying me and my toys out in the woods for climbing, kayaking, skiing, etc. I'm going to try and make it so I can sleep comfortably in the back too. I'm 6'4" and managed to do it in my old Corrado SLC so there is some precedent for it possibly working.

Haha, those tires on the speedlines!
Soo weird to see, love it!

the german wrote:

dalspaugh wrote:Wow, interesting project! funny to see my rally anarchy thread referenced!

I'll be staying tuned to see where this project goes! I like it a lot though so far!

Thanks Dave! I'm interested to see how it ends up too ;-)

I wanted a fun, unique, and relatively low budget project. This seems to fit the bill perfectly. The intent is not to build a rally car, but rather something with a full interior which is comfortable and capable of carrying me and my toys out in the woods for climbing, kayaking, skiing, etc. I'm going to try and make it so I can sleep comfortably in the back too. I'm 6'4" and managed to do it in my old Corrado SLC so there is some precedent for it possibly working.

Ah I really like it - a true Audi adventure rig! That locking diff will likely come in handy on occasion! I followed the same mentality about destroying a good CQ chassis. Mine had lots of mold on the interior and was in really really rough shape so I felt like I was rescuing it more than ruining it.

Perhaps I'll get a chance to see it! I'm looking at moving out to the seattle region this summer if I can find the right internal transfer with Amazon.

...which reminds me... I need to finish the rally car...

dalspaugh wrote:
Ah I really like it - a true Audi adventure rig! That locking diff will likely come in handy on occasion! I followed the same mentality about destroying a good CQ chassis. Mine had lots of mold on the interior and was in really really rough shape so I felt like I was rescuing it more than ruining it.

Perhaps I'll get a chance to see it! I'm looking at moving out to the seattle region this summer if I can find the right internal transfer with Amazon.

...which reminds me... I need to finish the rally car...

Damn, if you move to seattle i'll definitely have to drive my coupe out there. Get all 3 lifted cq's out on a trail for some pics.

dalspaugh wrote:
Perhaps I'll get a chance to see it! I'm looking at moving out to the seattle region this summer if I can find the right internal transfer with Amazon.

...which reminds me... I need to finish the rally car...

Cool! Let me know if you do- I have a number of friends at Amazon and there is a pretty active bunch of old school AUDI folks out here. I think there is a pretty dedicated rally crowd too!