[urq] The revolt is on!

Fri May 16 13:35:27 PDT 2008

So let me get this right, we should be making ball joints and
tie rods from other applications work? Interesting, I wonder
what a litigious nation like the US would make of this, imagine 
if the car was sold and something "engineered" broke. I am
not sure the new owner would share your views in the Heath Robinson 
approach.

I bought my '84 ur-q from supposedly a VW/Audi independent
mechanic. He fitted a 4000q front ball joint on the drivers side.
To say I was lucky that it came out in a parking lot at walking
speed and not trun 2 at Mosport where I had been the previous
week is a bit of an understatement.

'84 ur-q avec Torsen, torsen, torsen, torsen, sh|t what happens
if the spider bites.....

________________________________

From: djdawson2 at aol.com [mailto:djdawson2 at aol.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 4:08 PM
To: QSHIPQ at aol.com; Michael Hopton; martin at quattro.ca; urq at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [urq] The revolt is on!

Interesting little discussion... and I'll throw in my .02 for the hell
of it.

I bought my first Audi in '94.  It was an 87.5 Coupe GT.  It was missing
one of the black metal trim pieces around the rear quarter window.
Called Audi and could not order the part.  This was on a vehicle that
was 7 years old at the time.  The writing was on the wall, long before I
ever got into urq's.

The key to successful maintenance of these cars in the long run will be
resourcefulness.  You may not be able to buy the part new from Audi, but
that doesn't end the story.  ANY suspension part can be replaced with
SOMETHING available in the market.  There may be fabrication involved,
but that's part of the equation.  A rear tie rod assembly, for example,
is nothing more than a threaded tube with tie rod ends on each end.  If
owners are not capable of overcoming the challenge of replacing a part
like that with a suitable alternative, they are not the right owners for
this type of car.

Take stock of what you have, and what you see needing in the future life
of the car.  Do you currently have it?  If the answer is "no" you better
start working on getting it.  There are MANY used cars out there... for
sale and in junkyards... that are parts "warehouses" just waiting to be
tapped.  Are you tapping them?  If not, you might think about it... the
clock is ticking.

In the past few years I bought 2 coupes for my kids.  Yeah... they
needed cars... but my underlying agenda was that I was purchasing 2 full
cars worth of parts for the future of my urq's.  Clips... trim...
interior bits... all that stuff I knew I wouldn't ever be able to get.

There are good ways to keep cars on the road for the rest of our
lifetimes... question is will you tap those resources?  There will never
be a suspension part that could not be replaced with some creativity and
fabrication... that's just fact.  Drivetrain, there are thousands of
spares... diffs, transmissions...  and they last many miles.  Do you
have a spare?

There are some tough ones... windshields have been brought up.  I was
informed by a friend of the upcoming shortage, and as a result, I bought
the last 3 windshields and gaskets that he could lay his hands on.
Considering the current situation, I'm glad I did.  But ones ability to
be creative when it comes to glass is greatly limited... so that one has
me thinking.  At some point I imagine a significant sized group will
have to approach one of the aftermarket glass companies and make an
appeal for a short run.  Those companies would likely entertain such an
appeal, if the numbers were reasonable.

I think my opinion is more along the lines that if you can't visualize
yourself being able to deal with these challenges, you're probably not
going to be the type of person that can be a long term owner.  If you
can see yourself "diving in" when presented with a parts challenge, then
you probably could be.

Look at Bob Pastore's recent stuff... fenders, quarter panels, grills,
and even the elusive door pockets.  They can be reproduced, and he's
doing it.  Look at the various aftermarket guys (that Scott mentioned)
who may be willing to put a little R&D time into some of this for
promise of reasonably sized purchases.

Bottom line... short of a vehicle destroyed in an accident... it should
be achievable.

Anyway... I guess that's all I've got.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: QSHIPQ at aol.com
To: Michael at siliconoptix.com; martin at quattro.ca; urq at audifans.com
Sent: Fri, 16 May 2008 1:03 pm
Subject: Re: [urq] The revolt is on!

Mike
All parts are available, to think they are all *used* up is not
resourceful  
thinking.  To think they are all somewhere is resourceful thinking.
Finding 
where they went is resourceful action.  The question is only how  bad do
you 
want it.  Even Audi would respond to that...

This list doesn't appear to be there yet.  I like my urq's, and could
care 
less what Audi does to support the parts for it.  I'm amused by the
thought 
that prior to the 'fire sale' Audi supported our cars fully.  Some  of
the best 
discussions I had were with the master techs that used to work on  the
urq's.  
Buy Beckius some beers, he tells great stories that indicate  the urq
was a 
bastard child when it was *new*.  

Scott J
In a message dated 5/16/2008 1:51:28 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
Michael at siliconoptix.com writes:

And yet  you make a blanket statement that all parts 
are available with nothing  other than your opinion to
back it up. 

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