Should I revive an Audi 80 tdi?

[colm9944]

Bought a 94 audi tdi se sport on ebay a couple of years ago in UK for spares for my 96 audi 80 se sport but never used it. 90k on the clock and engine has a lot more life in it than the 96. Body needs work though, niggling me for a while. I wonder should I respray her? (red) badly faded and put her back on the road? Any ideas or any good respayers that you could recommend? In Dublin and car is in Donegal.
Thanks.:approve:

[aliS]

Is it just badly faded? Why don't you just try a cutting compound to see if you can pull all the oxidized paint off. Red is a bugger of a colour for turning pink. It is amazing the results from a good cut. Could save you a lot of wonga too... I had a N reg 80 1.9tdi avant, I think it was one of my best cars to date. The wings where goners, synchromesh was ko'd on most gears, car juddered badly between 1500-2500 revs(ish) unless you had fuse 17 pulled (I think it was 17). 184K on the clock, smelt really bad, covered in long red hairs from the previous owners dog... But the bloody thing went on and on and on. I did 36K that year in her and never once had to put my hand in my pocket for parts. It even passed its MOT at the end of that year and I sold it for £600, exactly what I paid for it. But to top all that the girlfriend wouldn't drive it!

[colm9944]

Might give that a go, tried a good t-cut but didn't work that well. Have new wings for it and might just do a full respray. Great cars, be sad to let it go to waste I think. On the lookout for a 80 Quattro for the winter too, just in case we get snow!

[aliS]

Did you try using an orbital polishing jobby when you tried the T-cut?

[Tobster]

Mine had sat on a farm drive for 3 years unused. Put a battery on it and it started on the first turn, so I paid the farmer scrap value (£80) for it, changed all the brakes and suspension and put it on the road.

That was a year ago. It's since done 18,000 miles and never missed a beat. It just passed its' MOT first time, and then took five of us to Scotland and back on half a tank of diesel. Cosmetically, I replaced and sprayed the front wings and undersealed the subframe. Not a spec of rust anywhere else.

Should you revive an Audi 80 TDI? Bloody hell yes.

[colm9944]

I'll try and get some pics up next week to get things started!