Hey.
Thought it about time to share this project with you all along with the eventful story that goes with it.
First off i'll introduce you to the old girl as she was and as she is now...
Thats what she looked like long before I got my hands on her... IIRC about 5 years ago? at run to the sun.
THIS is what it looked like when I found it for sale on evilbay-
So me an the missus decided after lengthy discussion which went-
Me- I'm buying it. ;D
Her- You are NOT!!!
Me- I am!
Her- I'm leaving!
Me- It's got hydraulic suspension...
Her- When did you say we're going for it?
that I would buy it. Only problem is it was in Truro, Cornwall and we are in Wrexham, North Wales. SO we decided we would embark on a road trip the next Sunday morning with a hired trailer to collect the thing.
We set out at 7 to first collect said trailer and juice up the motor (2000 A4 1.8 Turbo Quattro Sport) Making good time it took about 4.5 hours to get there and we thought it wouldn't take much more to get home too...
On arrival there appeared to be a bit of an issue with the cars Hydraaulic suspension as the dude who owned it was in the boot tangled in a set of jump leads connected to his old mans P38 Rangerover trying frantically to get the batteries to give their last to show me that the system did actually work... First PHAIL!!!
A couple of hours of head scratching and melting numerous jump leads I managed to raise the chassis out of the grass enough to coax her onto the trailer. Cash changed hands and we were good to go.
This leads us onto the second PHAIL of this story... As soon as we set of up the road away from the farm it became apparent there was something SERIOUSLY wrong with the towing setup. ie anything near 45 MPH and the trailer would swing wildly from side to side, first chance I got I stopped and tried moving the weight on the trailer forwards, tried it again- still the same, stop, move the weight back, try again, even worse now! In desperation I rang my old man to ask his advice as he tows a mini digger for work, he suggested upping the tyre pressures so we pulled into the services and blew them all up to 60 PSI and off we went again... STILL NO BETTER!? By now Clare is having kittens and pannicking which does nothing for confidence does it babe?! Resigning myself to the fact this thing is gonna have us upside down if we try anything over 45MPH we plod on in 3RD FRICKIN GEAR as 4th is too low with the weight at 40. If anyone knows the motorway we were on will know it has a lot of long rolling hills and if I let the speed creep up to 43/44 on the way down the triler again started snaking which I learned to correct by counter steering whilst braking ever so gently back below 40... However! One time after cresting a hilltop the thing again had us up to 45, realising and checking the mirrors it seemed pretty straight, nothing to worry about I though, sorted. WRONG!! All of a sudden we were across 3 lanes of motorway with the thing BADLY snaking and heading for the armco! I tried for what seemed like forever to catch it as before but it was hell bent on bending something. In desperation I thought curse word or bust and stood on the brakes, thankfully the Audi having ABS didn't lock up but the trailer did, as it hit hard the brakes locked all four wheels with an impressive amount of smoke and screeching tyres the trailer once again was back in my control. PHEW. Change of pants please!
Needless to say at 40 MPH it took a hell of a long time to reach base, we arrived home about 3.30 AM and we both had work the next day... The original idea was to drop the car off at work and get the trailer back to the hirer the same night as if it was back after 9 am I would incur another days hireage fee @ £40... after the night we'd had that went out the window and we abandoned the whole outfit on the kerb outside our house. I planned the next morning in my head as my eyes shut on the pillow, I would get to work for 7, unload the car and whizz the trailer back. Sorted! THIS was the ONLY part of the WHOLE plan that I actually pulled off without a hitch...
Soon after getting it here and actually poking around the old girl it became obvious that the MOT this thing had which was only 2 months old was NOT to VOSA standards-
That should be the passenger side sill?!
After much searching and buying any part that cropped up on ebay I have ammassed quite a selection of parts both NOS and used stuff too so with summer aproaching I thought it about time to start the resurrection... Deadline was to be Performance Vauxhall show at Santa Pod, 5th/6th/7th June... Yea right!
This THING got in the way of that happening. However it was a paying job!
Which allowed me to buy this>>>
Which came with a shed load of NOS panels and some very good used stuff too. Also it is fitted with a 350 Chevy motor and TH400
Tired now so more tomorrow K...
Thought it about time to share this project with you all along with the eventful story that goes with it.
First off i'll introduce you to the old girl as she was and as she is now...
Thats what she looked like long before I got my hands on her... IIRC about 5 years ago? at run to the sun.
THIS is what it looked like when I found it for sale on evilbay-
So me an the missus decided after lengthy discussion which went-
Me- I'm buying it. ;D
Her- You are NOT!!!
Me- I am!
Her- I'm leaving!
Me- It's got hydraulic suspension...
Her- When did you say we're going for it?
that I would buy it. Only problem is it was in Truro, Cornwall and we are in Wrexham, North Wales. SO we decided we would embark on a road trip the next Sunday morning with a hired trailer to collect the thing.
We set out at 7 to first collect said trailer and juice up the motor (2000 A4 1.8 Turbo Quattro Sport) Making good time it took about 4.5 hours to get there and we thought it wouldn't take much more to get home too...
On arrival there appeared to be a bit of an issue with the cars Hydraaulic suspension as the dude who owned it was in the boot tangled in a set of jump leads connected to his old mans P38 Rangerover trying frantically to get the batteries to give their last to show me that the system did actually work... First PHAIL!!!
A couple of hours of head scratching and melting numerous jump leads I managed to raise the chassis out of the grass enough to coax her onto the trailer. Cash changed hands and we were good to go.
This leads us onto the second PHAIL of this story... As soon as we set of up the road away from the farm it became apparent there was something SERIOUSLY wrong with the towing setup. ie anything near 45 MPH and the trailer would swing wildly from side to side, first chance I got I stopped and tried moving the weight on the trailer forwards, tried it again- still the same, stop, move the weight back, try again, even worse now! In desperation I rang my old man to ask his advice as he tows a mini digger for work, he suggested upping the tyre pressures so we pulled into the services and blew them all up to 60 PSI and off we went again... STILL NO BETTER!? By now Clare is having kittens and pannicking which does nothing for confidence does it babe?! Resigning myself to the fact this thing is gonna have us upside down if we try anything over 45MPH we plod on in 3RD FRICKIN GEAR as 4th is too low with the weight at 40. If anyone knows the motorway we were on will know it has a lot of long rolling hills and if I let the speed creep up to 43/44 on the way down the triler again started snaking which I learned to correct by counter steering whilst braking ever so gently back below 40... However! One time after cresting a hilltop the thing again had us up to 45, realising and checking the mirrors it seemed pretty straight, nothing to worry about I though, sorted. WRONG!! All of a sudden we were across 3 lanes of motorway with the thing BADLY snaking and heading for the armco! I tried for what seemed like forever to catch it as before but it was hell bent on bending something. In desperation I thought curse word or bust and stood on the brakes, thankfully the Audi having ABS didn't lock up but the trailer did, as it hit hard the brakes locked all four wheels with an impressive amount of smoke and screeching tyres the trailer once again was back in my control. PHEW. Change of pants please!
Needless to say at 40 MPH it took a hell of a long time to reach base, we arrived home about 3.30 AM and we both had work the next day... The original idea was to drop the car off at work and get the trailer back to the hirer the same night as if it was back after 9 am I would incur another days hireage fee @ £40... after the night we'd had that went out the window and we abandoned the whole outfit on the kerb outside our house. I planned the next morning in my head as my eyes shut on the pillow, I would get to work for 7, unload the car and whizz the trailer back. Sorted! THIS was the ONLY part of the WHOLE plan that I actually pulled off without a hitch...
Soon after getting it here and actually poking around the old girl it became obvious that the MOT this thing had which was only 2 months old was NOT to VOSA standards-
That should be the passenger side sill?!
After much searching and buying any part that cropped up on ebay I have ammassed quite a selection of parts both NOS and used stuff too so with summer aproaching I thought it about time to start the resurrection... Deadline was to be Performance Vauxhall show at Santa Pod, 5th/6th/7th June... Yea right!
This THING got in the way of that happening. However it was a paying job!
Which allowed me to buy this>>>
Which came with a shed load of NOS panels and some very good used stuff too. Also it is fitted with a 350 Chevy motor and TH400
Tired now so more tomorrow K...