I took the BLUE Pill. Engine bay painted

[85oceanic]

I <3 your car...

[Hank]

Any issues Sean, or smooth sailing?

[quattro v1.0]

Knock on wood, it's been solid Hank.

I'm expecting this trip to total ~1100 miles by the time I return to Vegas, then it'll probably be parked 'til late summer. I want to be the poster child for all the UrQ guys that are apprehensive about road tripping their cars.

Ben join us in September you can get some seat time in a bunch of UrQ's. The loose count could be creeping towards 15 if everyone works hard and finishes their projects.

[85oceanic]

Sean I would love to, but it is going to be another year gone by where the 4kqt isn't ready. :( I'd have to fly down and rent a car or drive my Pathfinder (not cheap).

[Hank]

LOL, Posterboy? 1100 miles is more than you have put on that car in the last 2 years. hehe. That is just a trip to Vegas and back!

I am proud of you. It does my heart good to see that car out on the road with a little dirt on it. Cars are meant to be driven. Drive em, and drive em hard.

Ben, quit being a puss and just get that 4ktq going.

Hank

[foxbat]

Really diggin' the pictures Sean. Making me miss my homeland

[foxbat]

I actually miss the June Gloom too. I haven't seen fog in years.

[85oceanic]

Ben, quit being a puss and just get that 4ktq going.

Hank

Dammit Hank! I am trying Sean, if Battleborn happens again next year the 4kqt and I WILL be there.

[foxbat]

Look, we'll find you a ride. Hop a flight down, We'll hook ya up.

[85oceanic]

:woowoo: Seriously, that would be awesome! I will look into plane tickets! Anyways, back on topic! I want to see more pictures Sean!

[a_CQ]

Beautiful pics, Sean. Car looks great and sounds like a fun little trip!

[quattro v1.0]

Thanks Peter, been a fun week so far. Heading back to Vegas Friday morning, if I get up and moving early enough I will be taking this little detour before hopping back on the 15 for the final 2 hours.

[a_CQ]

Nice. Wish we had something similar around here...enjoy it!

[foxbat]

Enjoy Sean. That is a really cool area. Rim of the World highway will require a photo stop if the visibility is good. That stretch through Lucerne Valley Back through Barstow is pretty straight, hopefully easy on you with your gearing. Fortunately, there is very little traffic back there. :pics: :pics: :pics:

[foxbat]

WELLLLLL??????????

[quattro87]

Impressive...................poster child. I think you need some higher gearing before you go after that title, but then again I guess it really doesn't matter what gearing is in a car if it doesn't run. :(

[quattro v1.0]

How dare all ye nay sayers. Hank, you have driven your car to Vegas like once since you left :slap: Sean, you get a pass. John, your car - oops YOUR car don't run yet, so you tear apart the one that does lol

I hit the 101 coming into the valley about 8am and fought stop-n-go LA rush hour traffic taking 3+ hours to to get to Cajon junction, just in time to get right in the middle of Friday 'escape-LA' traffic to the mountains. About 30% of the jerkweeds realize you'll get off their asses if they just use the pull-outs to let traffic by. There were a few places I actually had some clear road ahead but they were few and far between. I never ventured into Big Bear City, I opted for the route along the north shore since it appeared the road less traveled - based on the 7 idiots I had been following up to the intersection. Polar opposite from my drive in on Monday.

The gearing isn't as much of an issue once I lost the CIS. It's most comfortable around 78-80, no hill will stop it. I figured if I survived the 16 mile uphill grade from Baker "turn off air conditioning to avoid overheating", I'd survive it all. Then I rolled into Vegas, 87mph slowed to a crawl and the GPS showed a traffic accident @ Tropicana. It took me one hour to get from South Point to my house in 95º Vegas heat. I did this in JUNE boys, no reason anyone can't do it in late September...

This was a dozen or so miles up CA-138 off Interstate 15 towards BigBear, the other side of those mountains lies the LA valley, all that fog was creeping up and over the hills.



Who says the desert is brown and dead looking...




This was a few miles beyond that first pic, working my way up the side of those mountains you see in the background. 20mph means 40, but 10mph MEANS 10! I had the UrQ three wheelin' with the inner rear just a spinnin' on a couple of the heavily banked corners.



This is some of that June-gloom I mentioned earlier, from the coast to San Bernardino is was nuttin but dense fog. In certain areas it was actually blowing up-slope to the mountain elevations.



This is a pretty lonely stretch of highway coming down from Big Bear towards Barstow.



This was one last stop, I had to check on a leak. ...it wasn't from the car though 8) Ever see a car stay so clean over the course of a week long 1100 mile road trip? Today was a little frustrating but in the end it was totally worth it.



That brings my little trip to an end, as well as the pic-whoring. She'll retire to the 3rd bay until late August with the exception of basking in the sun here and there while Im welding or grinding on some Lancia project.

P.S. my tool kit consisted of 3' of bailing wire, 1/4" drive ratchet with a single deep 7/16" socket, a flat blade screw driver and a pair of dikes. Oh yea, my AAA card.

[85oceanic]

Whoop! Looks like great fun Sean! Glad the URQ did well, and nice pictures!

[foxbat]

That sucks you got baulked by traffic. Fridays and Sundays...ugh. Hopefully you had some fun on the twisties. Too bad you had the marine layer to look out over, because on a good day that view is just insane. Really enjoyed the pics. Very inspirational.

[pkw]

Sean, really nice car. Looks super and runs well. I find my self day dreaming of the low revving, quick through the gears character of your car.
BTW super cool color.

[quattro v1.0]

Thanks Pete. I actually pulled it out of the garage last night for the first time since returning from my SoCal trip. It needed a bath (it's first wet bath since Battle Born 2010) so I could drive it to a local Audi gathering tonight.

[1wheelpeel]

Incredible pictures! Worthy of the Desktop for sure. If I can get my car to look half as good yours I'll be happy!

[quattro v1.0]

Incredible pictures! Worthy of the Desktop for sure. If I can get my car to look half as good yours I'll be happy!

I appreciate that, but honestly with some of these projects (yours included) going on right now - mine is going to look like the turd of the whole group as they finish up. John is already making me embarassed to open my hood.

[quattro87]

Mines got a loooooooong way to go before it looks even close to yours. That is both inside and out. I've got to say I've been eye balling Haydn's new sport hood with I got to have it attitude. Your car looks great!!!

[84urq20v]

quattro v1.0 wrote:[/quote]

OK, I need to take a breather. :frustrated:

This @#$%ing delrin rear diff mount... I know guys have had trouble with these in the past, and a few have gone so far as to turn them down on a lathe...

I tried two methods so far and this b*stard is not even thinking about going in. I froze and greased up the halves, used a threaded rod and large washers and couldn't get the halves to walk in without getting cocked. Then I went to the press, and pretty much the same thing. Im not looking to bust the hoop on my rear diff one week from the event.

Seriously, why is the tolerance SO tight on these things...[/quote]

Sean - how did you get the old rear diff mount out? Or anybody else - what's the best to remove the old rear diff mount? Hope this isn't considered a hijack....

thanks