Drive home revealed however that the car did not have a lot of power. Compression test showed the number 1 and 5 cylinders low. "What did you expect for $500 bucks" I thought. Nevertheless I took the cylinder head off and found the valves not seating properly. Total cylinder head rebuilt brought the car back to life. The rest of the engine looked fine so I did not bother to rebuilt it. It has been like that for 106,000km and still running strong.

Since I am totally against any weight adding toys i.e. air conditioning, power windows, power steering, cruise control, power locks, insulation on the floor etc. All of those things were either thrown out or replaced by lighter manually operated units. Actually I made a VW Golf window regulator fit the Coupe because in Canada there was no such thing as a Coupe with manual windows (they were all loaded with options).

In the performance department the GTI big bore throtle body was fitted and the ignition was advanced. A free flow exhaust finishing up with a Stebro Stainless muffler improved both the power and the sound. I was more concerned with the handling and braking rather than engine power for now. Therefore rear disc brakes from a VW GTI were bolted in along with 16v Scirroco 10.1" front rotors and calipers. Stainless steel lines helped the pedal feel as well as ATE Super Blue Racing fluid. Boge Pro Gas shocks all around and a modified 35mm front sway bar from a 1987 Camaro Z28 with neopreme bushings helped the car get around the corner faster. Yokohama AVS I sized at 195/60 VR 14 were chosen to help both the handling and braking. Stock rims remained (I don't really care for five spoke rims). The rims will have to be 15" when I move to Corrado 11" brake setup. To help the weight distribution the battery was moved to the trunk. Moving the battery and switching to manual steering opened up a lot of space under the hood. A custom made aluminum shock tower brace was installed to help the old chasis handle the new stresses.

Next came the updated interior. I got a chance to get a complete dash and center console from a 1985 4000s for $100.00. What made it even better was the fact that I took the parts of the car myself. This way you can take care with all the little clips and cut the wires just where you want to. The actual swap of the panels takes about an hour. The wiring of the switches is another story. It helps when you don't have to worry about the power window switches. The headlight, hazard and defrost switches were wired in with a help of Bently manual (essential). The new dash makes the interior look much better now. Especially that it's black and not the original brown.

It was four years and 106,000 km after I got the car when I decidet to install a 1982 5000 Turbo motor. I decided to try to do this over a weekend. The car rolled into the garage on Friday night. By Saturday morning the old engine/tranny were out. This is when you can start measuring everything to see if it's going to go according to plans. I have to thank Mike Hopton for supplying me with a used TQC tie rod. Without it there would be no way for me to complete the swap. I had to modify it to fit the Coupe's strut. First I cut the tie rod end. Than welded a piece with thread on it to allow the installation of a Coupe/4k tie rod end. This will make the tie rod end replaceble rather than the entire unit.

Since the engine came out of a automatic car the pilot bushing in the crankshaft has to be replaced. For budget reasons I used a 4k quattro clutch that I had lying around. I figured for now it should be O.K. I later found it not to be the case. The nice surprise was the fact that the 5kt downpipe fit with relatively no mods. I did bang the pass. side floor in a bit to prevent the floors undercoating from overheating. You can't notice it from inside the car though. The downpipe just clears the subframe. If you want to prevent future rubbing you should grind a little slot in the subframe to allow for more clearance.

Speaking of clearance there was a lot of debating wether the 5kt oil pan will fit the Coupe. Since the original Coupe oil pan has no internal baffling it did couse the Coupe's oil pressure gauge to flicker on very fast and high g corners. I went ahead and installed the engine with the original 5kt oil pan. As it turns out the radiator did fit without the need for it to be moved to one side. The fit is tight but with no interfearance. Now even on the tightest corners the oil presure gauge stays at 5 bar without twiching. A small price to pay for a well oiled engine.

The biggest challenge was the installation of the intercooler (from a 1988 5000 Turbo). After removing much of the grills metal work to allow for the intercooler to fit I was surprised that I could still keep the passanger side high beam headlight. I used all the pluming components between the turbo and the cylinder head out of 1988 5kt. It is a very tight fit and some of the hose clamps are difficult to get at. The only upside is that the parts are original Audi and are designed to (I hope) withstand this kind of work. Becouse of the shortness of the '88 5kt pipes it will also reduce turbo lag (less volume to compress).

As for the F.I unit I used the top part of an air cleaner housing from an Ur-q. This allows the F.I. unit to be turned 180 degrees. This way I was also able to copy the Ur-q design for the turbo intake hose. I however used a 3" heater/dryier hose instead of the original Ur-q part. I also used modified 1983 5kt rubber F.I. spout to duplicate the cast aluminium piece on the Ur-q

The oxygen sensor and frequancy valve control unit was also a breeze to install. Only three wires had to be connected to the main fuse box. The rest of the harnes was fed through a hole in the firewall left after the air conditioning unit was removed. The unit itself is located where the stock CIS-E unit resides behind the glove compartment.

The choice for the oil cooler position is determined by the lenght of the lines. Sice the 5kt lines are a lot longer than Ur-q lines I was forced to replace them. Luckly I was working at Husky injection moulding at the time. I was able to fabricate a couple of high pressure hydraulic lines with proper fittings that would be the right lenght for my aplication. I installed the cooler just behind the lower grill. You have to cut a part of the grill to allow for air to go though it. I think the original idea of having that part of the grill closed was to keep the dirt from going onto the air conditioning compressor!? Nevertheless it works great.

I decided to see how a stock Coupe radiator will hold up. To everyone's surprise it has worked great, even in the hottest summer days. I know that if the turbo was a water cooled unit this would not be the case.

Saturday morning I joined the 5kt downpipe with the rest of the exhoust system. This was just done so I could get to the local muffler shop without catching any attantion. I decided to run a 2.5" system all the way to the back and just use a single resonator at the very back. I was taking a chance at having a very loud car. It turned out to be just as loud as before. Little bit deeper though.

The motor started right away which was a surprise since it has been sitting around for about a year and a half. I still have some modifications to perform. I will most likely duplicate the Rally TQC's grille becouse the intercooler is acting as part of it right now. Some like that look so I haven't decided to change it yet.

So far I have been getting used to the extra power. The car is especially fast from 140km/h - 180 km/h in top gear!!!. I was going to install the late version short final drive tranny from a 1985 Coupe but I kind of like the cruising abilities of the old tranny at 220km/h.

In order to move onto my next project I decided to put the car up for sale. Please e-mail me if interested.

I just wish it had four wheel drive.

Here are a few pictures of the car including few of the Turbo swap.