Tuesday, June 8, 2010

First Post

This is my first post. I am going to document the progress of my several projects.

1. My first project is my 23 foot, 1978 GMC Birchaven Motorhome. The goals of this project are:

a. Repair it to usable condition for the summer.
b. Clean up the outside, making it look as good as I can without spending much money

2. My second project is my "keeper" GMC motohome. My current "core" is a 1973 26 foot GMC coach that was a Painted Desert when built. I am still looking for a better core, possibly a 23 foot, but I plan on starting with what ever I have this fall to next spring.

The goals of this project are:

a. Disassemble, inspect, recondition and update as necessary to ensure relativity trouble-free use for the next 30 years. I expect it to be close to a frame-off restoration... just not as pretty.

3. The third project is our 2000 Audi 2.7t. This has been my wife's car for the last 7 years. She loves it. Shortly after I bought her a new Malibu, she tells me "I want my Audi!" It needs a large amount of work, (and cash.) I am thinking of selling this car and buying another in about 5 years to restore.

This is what I am thinking of posting in an ad:

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2000 Audi A6 2.7t

The Good:
It is a German luxury sedan, smooth, fast and comfortable. The wife loves this car. V6/twin turbo with intercoolers (rated at 250hp) with a 5 speed automatic. (Tiptrionic) Designed with the Autobaun in mind, it will (and has) travel at over 80mph all day long. It gets ~20mpg around town and upper 20’s on the highway. Leather and burl wood interior with the hot weather package with solar-roof and sun shades. The primary driver is, quite literally, a “little old lady.”

There are “lots” of high performance upgrades for this car. There are turbo and chip upgrades to take it to 500hp! I would expect a drop in drive-ability and reliability with most of these "upgrades." Suspension and transmission upgrades are also available.

I have additional stock wheels with snow tires and computer interfaces (VAG-Com and clone) that would be in addition to the asking price.

The Bad:
It is a German luxury sedan, they are not cheap to keep. (If you do not know what this means, you might be better off going back to the top of the page and searching again… but for a Toyota or something.) This car is 10 years old so even though it has been driven relatively gently, at 190k on the odometer, many items will be needing replacement. It drives fine but the front suspension is making thumps. (Bushings) The front CV joints are also going bad, but I have new axles in the trunk. (In boxes.) In addition I would expect to have to replace the turbos and service the transmission soon. It has the “normal” Audi oil leaks. The timing belt is “due” in just over 10k miles.

These are "normal" Audi problems. The needed parts are not cheap, but are the same items replaced when doing performance upgrades.

The Price and Stuff:
This was our “reliable” car. Now it is better classified as a “project” as it needs put on blocks and gone though. Done right, it will be a fast reliable car for another 10 years. But I have at least two other projects in line ahead of this one so it will be at least 5 years before I can get to this one.

I am asking $3,000 firm. If I do not get my asking price, I’ll put the car in storage until I can get to it.
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