The Project Pad

Trying to chronicle my progress on bringing a URQ back from bad condition . It's an overwhelming project but I'm going to try to just focus on one piece at a time , who knows what the project scope could expand to.
My hope is that I can get the car back together and offer some insight and inspiration to those who have similar cars.
I've acquired a couple parts here and there but haven't found a good parts car - so a lot of stuff I'm going to have to make .
Some pics of initial condition of the car
Had it running for a short period of time after a few days of troubleshooting and was driving it around but it crapped out again with a no spark issue. I'm almost certain that I need need to go over the harness with a fine toothed comb.





Untitled by patrick C, on Flickr
Untitled by patrick C, on Flickr

Engine is an MC but with Mac-02 ECU and URQ stock wiring harness. Arrived in non running condition . Rear struts seized from sitting elevated for years .
Replaced rear struts with bilstein units.

I replaced the distributor, and set everything to TDC . Had no spark and no fuel.
Replaced fuel pump and got that going , now had fuel and no spark.
After that I swapped TDC and engine speed sensor and had no luck. Tested wiring from sensor plugs to ECU and wiring checked good. Fiddled around more, swapped ecu , ignition control Module and some other things and still had nothing .
Eventually I was able to get it started but didn't know what I did .
I had it running fine for a couple weeks and then it died while driving (no spark again) .
Troubleshooting will continue .

RF Fender -
This was in worst shape of the upper strut areas I think so I start here. Still need to completely strip the fender area out and see what's there . Need to make a new triangle brace . Rockers will be made on a brake and replaced .
Finger went right through :(


Cleaned off undercoating to get to bolts and removed fender

you got another one!?!!! where did this car come from?

the german wrote:you got another one!?!!! where did this car come from?

x2!!! Also, good work on the sheet metal near the strut tower. That area is terrible to work with, at least I think so.

the german wrote:you got another one!?!!! where did this car come from?

Kirk it was kind of word of mouth that this car was gonna be for sale, it never officially hit the market because we worked something out .
It's a Canadian car , non sunroof '83 with underwood fusebox . Complete Zebra interior. I was told it was non running and had rust issues . It's an MC engine with URQ computer and wiring harness, stock CIS . ECU is chipped by Intended Acceleration (I think it was owned by them at one point ? )
I briefly had it running after replacing the fuel pump, distributor , and toying with some things but lost my spark again.
The rear quarters need to be replaced and at least one fender , both rockers . Roof is in good shape , bottom of the car is surprisingly better than I thought it would Be.
I'd really like to get it running again but eventually will have to decide if I want 10Vor 20V (not until the white car runs!)

awesome, I'm excited to see where you end up going with it. You're making me jealous again with you big shop to hold all the toys

There are plenty of houses up here with big shops, if you and alex move up here we could have the old Quattro scene on lock!

dougkehl wrote:
x2!!! Also, good work on the sheet metal near the strut tower. That area is terrible to work with, at least I think so.

You're absolutely right that area is tough and it is extremely nerve wracking cutting into a car like this. But before doing the quarters i wanted to start in an area that is not visible. I've seen your thread and not everyone has your skills!

One other thing I am nervous about undertaking, aside from this whole project in general, is removing the rear quarter glass. I have never done that before and need to be extremely careful- don't know where the clips are on the inside that hold it in.

Afterthought wrote:

dougkehl wrote: One other thing I am nervous about undertaking, aside from this whole project in general, is removing the rear quarter glass. I have never done that before and need to be extremely careful- don't know where the clips are on the inside that hold it in.

I'm not entirely sure there are rear clips in the rear quarter glass of these.. I mean I'm not going to say there aren't because I've never removed the rear glass from a URQ before, but on my QSW there are no clips. I removed both pieces of rear glass in 15-20 minutes with just some light, carefully finessing from like 4 screwdrivers..

If you could get replacement seals, even used, but good seals I'd say just cut the inner lip of the seal with a good, sharp razor blade and it will literally just about fall out. But obviously finding the seals could be pretty tough all on it's own.

Pulled the fender off the other side last night and it's definitely in better shape but still some issues to be worked through.


So I think this weekend if I devote a little time to it I will see what works for scraping off the coating .


I could use a wire wheel and take that off quickly , but it would take the factory primer too , so Im looking at a heat gun and using something to scrape off as much as I can then touch up?
Could try soda blaster but I think it would be a waste

Dry ice would be another option.

Subscribed, and God bless you for rescuing another one!

dry ice to take off the undercoating?

Yeah, I read a bit about guys doing that on motorgeek for the undercoating in the interior... figured it would apply to the exterior.

Have about an hour into this so far .


But it's nice to be getting somewhere and not tooo major on the Discovery work

Bout 3 hrs done on cleaning wheel wells probably .
Took a trip to ACE hardware to see if there was a better tool.
Picked this thing up , wasn't much more help than anything else getting the undercoating off.


Angle grinder broke down right after I got back from the hardware store , nice .


This spot should be easy to patch .



This spot will not be easy to patch






This is odd....




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looks like a good opportunity to upgrade to 2-piece knuckles and strut housings!

Good on you for taking this on... that's a good bit of rust.

the german wrote:looks like a good opportunity to upgrade to 2-piece knuckles and strut housings!

Good on you for taking this on... that's a good bit of rust.

Yeah it's possible there is something wrong with me but when you pick up an UrQuattro unless you're in a pretty high price range they almost all have rust.
Once I'm done patching in all new metal I will be sure exactly what I have .

Another little problem area to address. Don't know what was here .



Making a basic plan for the rockers and getting an idea of how to bend them, my brake is 48" so if I can figure it out I should be able to make what I need I think.
Once I can cut a piece out I can get a better template .

I had an idea to test the hall sender (from Keith B recommendation) so I made an LED test light for it and it seems to be working so maybe next I need to test the wires and see that the signal is getting to the ECU.

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Picked up a door to replace my rusty one



Also grabbed this , hopefully can get the parts I need to convert my URQ cluster to US units


Was motivated (Thanks Keith) to clean and organize my shop to spent less time figuring out what I have ... it's a huge mess now And too irritating to try and work on anything, so spent a day doing that.








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Working on things little by little . Was able to get a decent start on the triangle brace .

Haven’t been working on this much for a large number of reasons but have made a little progress .
The rockers are more difficult than I though to make , mainly because my box and pan brake doesn’t leave enough room to get all the bends . Took probably 3 attempts to get one I was happy with .

Passenger



Driver







Test fit with quarter in place

Haven’t been working on this much for a large number of reasons but have made a little progress .
The rockers are more difficult than I though to make , mainly because my box and pan brake doesn’t leave enough room to get all the bends . Took probably 3 attempts to get one I was happy with .

Passenger



Driver







Test fit with quarter in place

I’ll have to figure out soon if I need to get a rotisserie [WEARY FACE] I looked at them and beat I could find was around 1000 - 1200.

soon it will be time to tackle the lower trunk area and I almost need the car to be on its side or upside down to do that . My goal is to be able to clean the entire floor and wheel wells, etc. I want to make sure there is 0 rust anywhere . This is the passenger wheel well, how it’s cleaning up so far . On the drivers well I have two small areas to do.
The rockers of course , trunk, floor and then I’ll be good to go unless there are more discoveries .


Engine is out so I can access the few spots I saw from the bottom , below the brake booster and behind the steering rack .

Every time I see pics from your shop (not to mention the projects) I have to reel my jaw off the floor.

That being said, can't you cut one corner and save some coin by making a rotisserie with two engine stands?

I seem to remember one of the Ontario Urq guys off the 'geek doing just that. Think it was Craig (aka 1wheelpeel if my memory serves), the guy who did all his own metal work.

EDIT:

Actually it was Craig but Highlander, not 1wheelpeel.

5th post:
http://www.motorgeek.com/viewtopic.php?t=12422