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Quattro San lives! (Updated as of 11/2/2004)


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Sorry, thats my bad. That was my album and it got deleted, but I can't edit that post, so I have remained silent until now! I have BIG NEWS! GREAT NEWS!!! QUATTRO SAN RUNS!!! Yes it is true! Despite the huge clouds of smoke billowing from the tailpipe and the puddles of oil that follow in its wake, QSan is operational and driveable! While I still need to find exactly where the oil leak is coming from, I'm pretty sure the turbo oil seals are the cause of the smoke. I'll keep the updates coming as well as new pics for those who want them, but until then here are all the old pictures I have of Quattro San. By the way, the car is called Quattro san because the project was an attempt to build a poor man's Audi Quattro which was the pinicle of 4WD performance at the time. Oh, and another thing, THIS IS NOT THE CAR FROM THE MOVIE!!! At some point that car was at Western too. How do I know this? Because there is a picture with our good ole Dr. Seal! (Notice the BRAT in the background). See picture below of Jackie Chan's Cannonball Run hatchback:

 

18Old_Quattro_San_2.jpg

 

The rest of the photos of Quattro San and of mystery WWU subaru stuff can be found here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?ppuser=18&cat=500

 

Any questions?

 

like i said, its a common misconception. lots of people talked about it, lots of people were wrong. i read the entire thread, a few times. this car intrigues me (sp?) i love hopped up pre historic stuff. read the thread, Earl =). Rob V.

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like i said, its a common misconception. lots of people talked about it, lots of people were wrong. i read the entire thread, a few times. this car intrigues me (sp?) i love hopped up pre historic stuff. read the thread, Earl =). Rob V.

 

 

Oh, thanks. Some of the information was scattered around a bit so I was finding it hard to confirm nor deny the fact that this was the same car from the movie. I was comparing photos and was finding it hard to believe that this was the same car from the movie.

:-p

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Well I made the leap and bought Quattro-san. I picked it up yesterday, and it is now at the shop so i can evaluate its condition and try to decide what to do with the thing. I am leaning toward putting a cage in it and building a rallycross and stage rally car. Not really sure. If things go well I am going to try and fire it up tomorrow. I have cranked it over and the fuel pumped proceeded to deliver some very nasty fuel to the carburetor, so I drained the tank and will put some fresh stuff in tomorrow. The oil supply line to the turbo was disconnected and the banjo fitting was missing, but I got that fixed today. There is some rust issues with both doors and the right side rocker. I have a line on some better sheet metal, and welding up the rocker will be no problem. The floors are solid! I will keep you posted with my progress.

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I have taken lots of photos and will be posting some soon. As to what to do with it, if I was to restore it, what would I be restoring it to? Original beige w/o the turbo, Camaro green with the turbo? I haven't come across any photos of it from its early days to use for reference, maybe someone out there can help with that. I will be getting in touch with Dr. Seal to get some more background info. Maybe that will help me decide.

 

In the mean time, I have redone the fuel lines, fixed the turbo oil lines, added fresh fuel and coolant, hooked up a battery and made it run! The carb is leaking pretty bad but I can handle that, and unfortunately the block is cracked from freeze damage. The good news is that the crack is right on the top of the engine and easy to access so I can either weld it up in place or epoxy it.

 

By the way, it does have the third light in the middle of the grille, but I haven't figured out how to make it operate. Again, maybe some one can fill me in on it's operation. The soft top is in really poor shape, but I will fix it, even if it does become a rally car of sorts. The front air dam is fixable as well. It appears that it had a rear wing or spoiler on it at one time. Does anyone have info on that?

 

The left rear wheel is locked up, so I will be working on that today. Once that is done, even with the cracked block and the leaking carb I think I will try to drive it a bit, just to see if the gearbox and differentials function.

 

I will keep you posted...

 

BTW, it shows only about 55,000 miles on the odometer...

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I have taken lots of photos and will be posting some soon. ...

 

Great!

 

 

... As to what to do with it, if I was to restore it, what would I be restoring it to? Original beige w/o the turbo, Camaro green with the turbo? ...

 

I'll Love to see it Camaro Green with the Turbo! :D

 

 

... unfortunately the block is cracked from freeze damage. The good news is that the crack is right on the top of the engine and easy to access so I can either weld it up in place or epoxy it. ...

 

I Kindly suggest you to Weld it, Epoxy will not last longer.

 

 

... Once that is done, even with the cracked block and the leaking carb I think I will try to drive it a bit, just to see if the gearbox and differentials function. ...

 

Check their fluids prior to operate it, 'cos it could have Muddy residues that could damage those parts.

 

 

... I will keep you posted...

 

Thank you! icon14.gif

 

Kind Regards.

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  • 2 months later...

Well, I now own the Quatro San. I was a student at WWU for the past four years and graduated from VRI. While there I was heavily involved with the FSAE team. I've known of Quatro San the whole time I was up there, and when the school was going through it's recent liquidation trend I kept tabs on the status of the car and where it was going. When the car went up for sale I told my dad about it, and he purchased it as at the time I wasn't able to. Well now I bought it back off him and it's in the hands of a VRI alum!

 

Long term plan for car: commuter. Caging it and racing it would be fun, and in the spirit of the car, but it has more value to me as a hopped up daily driver.

 

Next step with the car is to purchase a carb that'll work with the turbo. The SU is a great design, just a pity it doesn't work well (at least it doesn't now). I'd like to swap a Weber in it, as I've seen them used on older Subaru's before. I'm open to any advice on turbo Subaru carbs.

 

I'm also in the market for a GL hatch to use as a parts car for Quatro San, I've been looking but all I can find are rusted piles. I need non rusted doors, straight fenders, tons of random exterior trim bits, and pretty much a whole interior. Finding a running/driving would be great so I can commute in it while I yank the engine out Quatro San. Once the engine is done, then the swapping would occur.

 

I'll try and keep the forum updated of the resurection as it progresses (I'll get fresh photos soon). Next step is a new (working) carb and hopefully another GL hatch, so if you know of either for sale let me know!

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^Cool, good to know. I was wondering where they found that. Recently I pulled the composite air dam off the front end, and am starting to plan out how to repair it. It's going to take a ton of time, but nothing I can't do (thanks to WWU's Plastics Engineering program).

 

Also, anybody have a rust free (may be to much to ask for) GL Hatch in the PNW they are selling? I'm looking for one to use as a daily for awhile, then strip for QS. Motivated buyer, has cash, yadda yadda yadda

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And now for the photos.

 

Hiding.jpg

^Current hiding place/storage. In the process of moving so just being stored at a friends place for now.

Side.jpg

Back.jpg

Interior.jpg

^Rats nest under dash has been cleaned up. Surprisingly the stock harness wasn't hacked into, just a ton more wires were added for various experiments over the years.

UnderHood.jpg

^Before cleaning up under hood. Removed the remains of what appeared to be a primitive DAQ system, don't really know what it logged (except fuel pressure/flow), but I saved it as I don't throw anything away.

SUCarb.jpg

SUCarb2.jpg

^The casuse of most of my problems. The SU Carb, apparently it came stock on MG's for a few years. It's flooding out the engine constantly whenever throttle is applied. And the flooding appears to be coming from the choke enrichment circuit. Due to lack of parts/knowledge available for this carb, I would much prefer to swap to a Weber or Holley. Also open to any suggestions in this department, as I'm sure someone has turbo'd an EA81 before.

BlockCrack.jpg

^Cracked water jacket on top of engine

BlockCrackSeal.jpg

^Sealed with JB Weld. First the crack was cut into a "V" that extends past both ends, then thoroughly cleaned and sealed. I know a lot of people think of JB Weld as a non structural "quick fix," as I used to be one of them. But while at school (composites engineering) I did a lot of epoxy testing, and surprisingly JB Weld held up great (sometimes even better) in heat/strength testing than lots of more expensive products. As I didn't have access to a TIG welder, this will do. There is a crack on the water jacket of the R cyl head, but that will be welded.

 

And as always, looking for a driver/parts car '80s GL Hatch! I'd like to replace QS's hood/front fenders/front valence as they are all tweaked and in poor shape. And pretty much every body panel has been dented over the years (storage was not kind) so those will be replaced at some point. Also, the doors are rusted out like most every old GL. And it's missing a ton of little interior bits/exterior trim, etc.

 

Feedback/advice is welcome!

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