Tweet
URS4LA -- '92.5 UrS4 Daily Driver/Winter Beater
Long backstory, strap-in haha
Bought a Cyclamen Pearl/Ecru 1993 UrS4 with 267k km on January 2, 2013 from a good friend for a winter beater. It was a solid runner, but leaked PS fluid at about 1L/100km.
Plus a laundry list of other issues, mostly electrical.
Purchase day. I also stored Gertrude, my ever faithful beater parts coupe, at his place since I didn't have the parking.
So my buddy Kenny (morris400) clued me into a black on black '92-spec '93 shell where I might be able to score some parts. Turns out, I'd bought rear A8 calipers for my Cq off the owner (Rob) before. I totally forgot about how he'd windowed the block and had this car sitting at his friend Keegan's acreage.
As it was, Rob didn't want to part the car any further than he'd already gone, so the PS system wasn't up for grabs on its own.
But!
The car had so much going for it that it was worth the price of entry. And the work involved to do the swap that followed. It showed more of the previous owners, both enthusiasts, than the 367k km on the clock. From what Rob told me, Mr. Pajak was the PO when he'd acquired this beauty. Though I have yet to confirm that tidbit.
The car came with some choice parts like:
-- New radiator/expansion tank
-- New PS pump/pressure hoses and a working/non-leaking brake bomb
-- 034 trans mounts
-- Stage 2 Southbend clutch/PP
-- Front strut tower brace
-- Bilstein and H&R suspension, factory rear sway bar
-- quattro script rear window defrost, rear sunshade
-- heated rear seats
-- UrS6 interior trim (he didn't like the Elmwood)
-- ABS/Diff lock buttons, intensive washer sprayers
-- trip computer
-- spare hood/grille
-- Bosectomy, JL Audio mids/tweets
-- good rubber door trim
-- hardwired for radar detector
-- EGT probe ready for VEMS
-- Deatschwerk DW300 fuel pump & relay
-- recent fuel filter, trans/diff fluid
-- Earl's s/s brake hoses
-- very minimal spot rust
It didn't, however, come complete. So I rented a garage to do the swap. Uninsulated, un-heated. In the middle of the coldest winter in recent memory. With no washroom.
Desperate times = desperate measures lol
So after working outside for 10h/day, I'd head over to the shop and put in 2-3 hours work until it was completed. Or stay until my beer froze. Then it was obviously time to go home. Garage in the middle between work and home, about a half hour either way.
Things that needed swapped were:
-- motor, turbo
-- motor mounts
-- POS
-- ECU
-- exhaust
-- front calipers, f/r rotors
-- wheels/tyres
-- headlights
-- steering wheel, column trim
-- battery
-- CD player
I mangled the passenger rear s/s brake hose, and the small offset hard line (90˚-->90˚) nuts on the front calipers were worn out (read: rectangular), so had them replaced by local brake/hydraulic shops along the way.
Almost immediately after putting the car together (and also moving in the interim), I got a job up north. Had to mobilize quickly. So after countless curses, neck cricks and snapped drill bits later, I gave up on salvaging the stock exhaust. (The old studs were baked in good and had to be sawzall'd off... so plan a) drilling out the bolts, quickly gave way to plan b) new exhaust) There was a decent deal on a slightly dented gen4 Stromung in Chicago with a solenoid operated cutout valve, but when I factored in shipping and wait time it wasn't in the cards. So I went to ABC Muffler and Hitch as recommended by Kenny. Waited around (like 4-5 hours) for them to do it, but they did a pretty decent job, considering. Single 3" cat-less exhaust from the DP back. Mandrel bends at the back. Crush bends off the DP. Went that route to keep costs down. Later, when I upgrade the DP, the crush bends will be replaced with mandrel goodness. Went with an offset-in/centre-out Magnabro. Sounds subdued, yet throaty. I like it; my friends all say it should be louder haha. Exhaust wasn't free at $680, but still only 3/4 price of that Stromung in Chi-town and no shipping/exchange costs.
My first cruise around after the exhaust I ended up having a good long pull with a dark blue C32 AMG (W203) with at least an exhaust and wheels. I firmly stayed ahead from a roll, up thru the top of 4th gear where I backed off.
When we both turned off and hit a red light together, he was impressed... wearing a big smile and thumbs up. So was I; the POS/COP were dying and I was getting misfires. Before I'd traced down the cause, I'd swapped the coolant temp sensor and swapped over the vac lines to silicone for good measure. Eventually, I went with a p'n'p 2.0t harness from Norbitron off Motorgeek and some black TFSI coils sourced locally. All in the COP swap cost about $275. Pretty good deal compared to the usual vendors.
Randomly found some D2A8 wheels for $200 locally. Which was good. Rob wanted his 17x8" Avus wheels back for his 6-sp C5S6 Avant, bastard. Haha. Had my machinist make up some hub spacers (copied from my H&Rs off the coupe haha), 8mm for the rear and 10mm up front. $80 for both sets. Then some wheel studs and nuts locally for $100 (Thanks Colin). Finally, new 245/40-17 Michelin Pilot Super Sports from tirerack.com, since the local tire shop (KalTire) couldn't get my size before TR could deliver. So $1000 plus ~$250 for mount/balance later, I was ready to rip -ish up.
Car is pretty well sorted, being (basically) stock.
Right around this time, my brother (All_Euro) came up north on a weekend and we installed a new Pioneer DEH-X8600BS CD player I'd gotten on sale for ~$200. The parts car's radio was locked, so what the hell, right? That was fun, and I bought some new tools. Unfortunately, ever since, the trip computer, coolant temp gauge and passenger mirror haven't worked at all (used to tilt just fine going into reverse). So that's up on the list. I've since purchased a pair of amps (about $225 total) to run the mids/tweets and two (OLD) 10" Phoenix Gold subs I have. Just need to build a box to fit in the trunk first. Then I'll dig into everything again. Hopefully figure out why the 12v outlets/lighters don't work in the mean time... it'd be nice to be able to charge my phone.
Also picked up a set of headlights with euro lenses, clear corners and 55w HIDs from Rob for good measure.
Couldn't get the HIDs to fire, thinking ground issue. Know they ought to work, since they are relayed and worked fine for Rob when he had the car. Just have to figure out where to best ground it all out first. Running the old halogens with the clear corners for now.
After that, I clayed and waxed the exterior. Then restored the rubber exterior trim to look new with Turtle Wax trim stuff, went with it because it was pigmented vs. the other kinds.
After three generous coats...
Next up was the leather. Did a lot of reading online, and chose Leatherique, largely due to the guys on S2Forum who call it "leather food," and the before/after results I'd seen on the autopia.com forum. It's originally conceived as a saddle cleaner, and is water based vs. petroleum distillates.
In the meantime, I've been fussing about with the steering column trim and a sport wheel. Just need to pick up my purse and hack into the hub so the clock spring works. Or maybe I'll just use the UrS6 wheel in the Cq, and my non-airbag S2 wheel in the UrS. haha
Finally, can't complete this post without saying thanks to those who really helped out and stepped up to the plate when I needed a hand on this (impromptu) project. In no order obviously! Thank you (x-eleventy billion) to Rob, Kenny, Colin, Monty, Lars, Sterling, Ian, Wayne, Adam and Tyson for all the help when I was in need. I know you're all busy with your lives and the last thing any sane person wants to do is pull wrenches or diagnose issues in a garage colder inside than the weather is outside. During a freakishly cold Canadian winter.
Bought a Cyclamen Pearl/Ecru 1993 UrS4 with 267k km on January 2, 2013 from a good friend for a winter beater. It was a solid runner, but leaked PS fluid at about 1L/100km.
Plus a laundry list of other issues, mostly electrical.Purchase day. I also stored Gertrude, my ever faithful beater parts coupe, at his place since I didn't have the parking.
So my buddy Kenny (morris400) clued me into a black on black '92-spec '93 shell where I might be able to score some parts. Turns out, I'd bought rear A8 calipers for my Cq off the owner (Rob) before. I totally forgot about how he'd windowed the block and had this car sitting at his friend Keegan's acreage.
As it was, Rob didn't want to part the car any further than he'd already gone, so the PS system wasn't up for grabs on its own.
But!
The car had so much going for it that it was worth the price of entry. And the work involved to do the swap that followed. It showed more of the previous owners, both enthusiasts, than the 367k km on the clock. From what Rob told me, Mr. Pajak was the PO when he'd acquired this beauty. Though I have yet to confirm that tidbit.
The car came with some choice parts like:
-- New radiator/expansion tank
-- New PS pump/pressure hoses and a working/non-leaking brake bomb
-- 034 trans mounts
-- Stage 2 Southbend clutch/PP
-- Front strut tower brace
-- Bilstein and H&R suspension, factory rear sway bar
-- quattro script rear window defrost, rear sunshade
-- heated rear seats
-- UrS6 interior trim (he didn't like the Elmwood)
-- ABS/Diff lock buttons, intensive washer sprayers
-- trip computer
-- spare hood/grille
-- Bosectomy, JL Audio mids/tweets
-- good rubber door trim
-- hardwired for radar detector
-- EGT probe ready for VEMS
-- Deatschwerk DW300 fuel pump & relay
-- recent fuel filter, trans/diff fluid
-- Earl's s/s brake hoses
-- very minimal spot rust
It didn't, however, come complete. So I rented a garage to do the swap. Uninsulated, un-heated. In the middle of the coldest winter in recent memory. With no washroom.
Desperate times = desperate measures lolSo after working outside for 10h/day, I'd head over to the shop and put in 2-3 hours work until it was completed. Or stay until my beer froze. Then it was obviously time to go home. Garage in the middle between work and home, about a half hour either way.
Things that needed swapped were:
-- motor, turbo
-- motor mounts
-- POS
-- ECU
-- exhaust
-- front calipers, f/r rotors
-- wheels/tyres
-- headlights
-- steering wheel, column trim
-- battery
-- CD player
I mangled the passenger rear s/s brake hose, and the small offset hard line (90˚-->90˚) nuts on the front calipers were worn out (read: rectangular), so had them replaced by local brake/hydraulic shops along the way.
Almost immediately after putting the car together (and also moving in the interim), I got a job up north. Had to mobilize quickly. So after countless curses, neck cricks and snapped drill bits later, I gave up on salvaging the stock exhaust. (The old studs were baked in good and had to be sawzall'd off... so plan a) drilling out the bolts, quickly gave way to plan b) new exhaust) There was a decent deal on a slightly dented gen4 Stromung in Chicago with a solenoid operated cutout valve, but when I factored in shipping and wait time it wasn't in the cards. So I went to ABC Muffler and Hitch as recommended by Kenny. Waited around (like 4-5 hours) for them to do it, but they did a pretty decent job, considering. Single 3" cat-less exhaust from the DP back. Mandrel bends at the back. Crush bends off the DP. Went that route to keep costs down. Later, when I upgrade the DP, the crush bends will be replaced with mandrel goodness. Went with an offset-in/centre-out Magnabro. Sounds subdued, yet throaty. I like it; my friends all say it should be louder haha. Exhaust wasn't free at $680, but still only 3/4 price of that Stromung in Chi-town and no shipping/exchange costs.
My first cruise around after the exhaust I ended up having a good long pull with a dark blue C32 AMG (W203) with at least an exhaust and wheels. I firmly stayed ahead from a roll, up thru the top of 4th gear where I backed off.
When we both turned off and hit a red light together, he was impressed... wearing a big smile and thumbs up. So was I; the POS/COP were dying and I was getting misfires. Before I'd traced down the cause, I'd swapped the coolant temp sensor and swapped over the vac lines to silicone for good measure. Eventually, I went with a p'n'p 2.0t harness from Norbitron off Motorgeek and some black TFSI coils sourced locally. All in the COP swap cost about $275. Pretty good deal compared to the usual vendors.Randomly found some D2A8 wheels for $200 locally. Which was good. Rob wanted his 17x8" Avus wheels back for his 6-sp C5S6 Avant, bastard. Haha. Had my machinist make up some hub spacers (copied from my H&Rs off the coupe haha), 8mm for the rear and 10mm up front. $80 for both sets. Then some wheel studs and nuts locally for $100 (Thanks Colin). Finally, new 245/40-17 Michelin Pilot Super Sports from tirerack.com, since the local tire shop (KalTire) couldn't get my size before TR could deliver. So $1000 plus ~$250 for mount/balance later, I was ready to rip -ish up.
Car is pretty well sorted, being (basically) stock.
Right around this time, my brother (All_Euro) came up north on a weekend and we installed a new Pioneer DEH-X8600BS CD player I'd gotten on sale for ~$200. The parts car's radio was locked, so what the hell, right? That was fun, and I bought some new tools. Unfortunately, ever since, the trip computer, coolant temp gauge and passenger mirror haven't worked at all (used to tilt just fine going into reverse). So that's up on the list. I've since purchased a pair of amps (about $225 total) to run the mids/tweets and two (OLD) 10" Phoenix Gold subs I have. Just need to build a box to fit in the trunk first. Then I'll dig into everything again. Hopefully figure out why the 12v outlets/lighters don't work in the mean time... it'd be nice to be able to charge my phone.
Also picked up a set of headlights with euro lenses, clear corners and 55w HIDs from Rob for good measure.
Couldn't get the HIDs to fire, thinking ground issue. Know they ought to work, since they are relayed and worked fine for Rob when he had the car. Just have to figure out where to best ground it all out first. Running the old halogens with the clear corners for now.
After that, I clayed and waxed the exterior. Then restored the rubber exterior trim to look new with Turtle Wax trim stuff, went with it because it was pigmented vs. the other kinds.
After three generous coats...
Next up was the leather. Did a lot of reading online, and chose Leatherique, largely due to the guys on S2Forum who call it "leather food," and the before/after results I'd seen on the autopia.com forum. It's originally conceived as a saddle cleaner, and is water based vs. petroleum distillates.
In the meantime, I've been fussing about with the steering column trim and a sport wheel. Just need to pick up my purse and hack into the hub so the clock spring works. Or maybe I'll just use the UrS6 wheel in the Cq, and my non-airbag S2 wheel in the UrS. haha
Finally, can't complete this post without saying thanks to those who really helped out and stepped up to the plate when I needed a hand on this (impromptu) project. In no order obviously! Thank you (x-eleventy billion) to Rob, Kenny, Colin, Monty, Lars, Sterling, Ian, Wayne, Adam and Tyson for all the help when I was in need. I know you're all busy with your lives and the last thing any sane person wants to do is pull wrenches or diagnose issues in a garage colder inside than the weather is outside. During a freakishly cold Canadian winter.
Comment