Yes, before you ask, I am indeed a masochist. But c’mon guys, 6-speed manual!
I have been going back and forth with the owner for the past month or so until we finally were able to settle on a price. So finally I was able to swing by with a trailer (with a winch, thankfully) and pick this bad boy up! It was a totally pain in the ass to unload and push up hill into my buddy’s carport where he’s letting me store it while we get it up and running, but with some ingenuity and a lot of elbow grease, we got it unloaded and in the carport in about two exhausting hours:
So what’s wrong with it? Here’s the list:
- Timing belt snapped
- Interference motor, so the heads/valves are likely toast, probably the pistons too
- Rear air suspension leaks down to nil within ~1.5 to 2 weeks time
- Minor scrapes and bumps here and there, rip in driver’s seat
- Gauge cluster LCD and much of the switch gear is pretty worn (typical VW/Audi for the era)
- It’s a 15 yr old Audi
- The 2.7TT is not exactly known for its reliability (insanely tuneable, though)
But, there is some good news!
- Essentially new 29" BFG KO2 All Terrain tires (225 75 R16)
- Very rare manual trans
- IPP air suspension arms (~2" lift at max height, ~1" lower on lowest)
- New-ish front Arnott bags
- New air suspension compressor
- Is in pretty decent shape in and out
So what’s the plan for the Expedition Allroad?
I’m going to make this a full on expedition vehicle. It’s already got the big beefy KO2’s, the IPP sensor arms to trick the air suspension into max height, and in my opinion, looks fucking awesome. Here are the next steps:
- Already have a replacement 2.7TT lined up from a B5 S4 with~75k miles on it, as well as some newish turbos and new clutch
- Rear bags will be replaced with Arnott lifetime warranty(!) replacements
- Going to throw a roof rack on top with all the essential expedition goodies: A row of offroad lights, a shovel/axe, gas can, possibly a full size spare
- Replace the notorious VW/Audi worn interior switch gear and failing gauge cluster LCD screen
- Stage 1 tune + downpipe and intake. Going to keep it fairly mild
- Pray to the Audi gods that nothing else goes wrong (it will)
- Take it out to the desert and cry when it breaks
More pics from the previous owner:
Inpsirational photoshopped pics from the interwebs:
I would love to hear your guys’ ideas here!
This will be a long term project, and there’s a lot I’d like to do with it. Also, if we would just have a moment of silence for my poor, poor wallet. I don’t think he’ll make it through this alive...