Nibbler’s Universe: past and present. Rovers, Audi and a attack by car vandals!

[Rightnider]

Judging from what I can make out of the registration, it seems to have spent most of its life in a salt free environment, Gotland.  That’s certainly reassuring.  

[Nibbler]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

5 Cyl? COTY here, IIRC

No it’s a 1,8 litre 4 banger with carburettor. 90 wild and furious horsepower. 

[Nibbler]

On 21/04/2025 at 20:27, Rightnider said:

Well done!

Tell us more! 

Sold new in Norrköping but made the journey to Gotland in 1994 if I remember correctly. I have the service history and it stayed on Gotland until the guy I bought it from needed a car to get home from Gotland. So he gave his father order too find the cheapest car that could get him home and this is what the father bought. 400 000 kilometers or around 250 000 miles on the odometer. Looks terrible inside, mostly just dirt but the drivers seat is pretty knackered. Engine has some issues, it’s running a bit rough and it failed its last MOT because of a ball joint. I need to fix that before the end of this month. 

[Rightnider]

We want more pictures! What’s your plan for it?

[Nibbler]

On 22/04/2025 at 22:19, Rightnider said:

We want more pictures! What’s your plan for it?

Ah, you want dirty pictures! I can give you dirty pictures. 

Drivers seat is knackered and so is the backseat. 

 

This is probably the dirtiest car I’ve ever bought, it’s unbelievable filthy so yesterday evening was spent cleaning.

Close up on the aftermarket speaker on the dash just to give you guys an idea about the amount of dirt.

I’m not done yet, but the interior actually cleaned up pretty nice.

[Nibbler]

Audi 100 1,8 Avant: Quite a productive day today. The previous owner told me that after changing the timing belt and doing some stuff with the cooling system he had overheating issues. I know that these engines are notoriously hard to bleed so I thought I would try to vacuum fill the cooling system. 

This took some time because I found issues with a couple of hoses. One disintegrated when I touched it, another one was leaking. 

I fixed the leaks with som universal hoses. Filled the cooling system and tomorrow I will see if it still overheats. There are no signs of a failed head gasket. No oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil. The car smokes but it looks blue to me. Tomorrow I will check the spark plugs and see what they can tell me.

So after that I continued with the knackered ball joint. You can’t change just the ball joint, instead you change the complete arm. I’ve done it 4 times the past 12 months so it went relatively smooth. It was done in about two hours. 
 

Then I had a bit of disaster. Checking why the air filter was loose I found this sleeve (or whatever you call it) in the carburettor.

Just pure luck that it got stuck, but where is the nut? 😱 I’m not sure I want to know 😱

All the bolts that hold the air filter was loose and the threads in the carburettor was stripped. I can buy a new carburettor but for the same price I can get around 5 second hand ones. So I think I buy a couple of used ones. Maybe i try to re-thread the carburettor.  

[Nibbler]

Audi 100 1,8: I also managed to change the last part of the exhaust system. Really simple operation, took like 10 minutes. 

Here is a picture on the underside of the car. Between 1994 to around 2022 it spent it’s life in a salt free environment. 

Then i continued with cleaning, that included a session with the pressure washer. 

I also tried to clean up the threads in the carburettor that holds the air filter , nope not even close. The threads are completely destroyed. So I ordered a second hand carburettor. 

[Nibbler]

But I managed to to get the 1,8 thru the MOT so now it’s good for another 2 years. 
At 100 km/h i cruises fine but at lower revs it misfires,  or cut out is maybe more accurate. It can be quite violent. Driving in city traffic means that you accelerate to 45 km/h and then press the clutch and coast to maybe 35 km/h and then repeat…

The car works fine on higher revs and on load. But with just a little bit of throttle applied or on lower rpm it shudders quite violently. I’m suspecting the carburettor but what do you guys think???

…and one more thing. The previous owner talked about overheating issues. The temperature gauge can sometimes jump up to really high temperatures. Like straight up to 115 degrees and then back to more normal reading but without any signs of overheating. I actually opened the radiator cap when the gauge said 115 degrees but it didn’t boil. Even when cold the gauge can jump up in temperature. I’m starting to wonder if there is a voltage regulator involved that’s causing this problem???

[Rightnider]

It definitely sounds voltage related. 

[Surface Rust]

2 hours ago, Nibbler said:

But I managed to to get the 1,8 thru the MOT so now it’s good for another 2 years. 
At 100 km/h i cruises fine but at lower revs it misfires,  or cut out is maybe more accurate. It can be quite violent. Driving in city traffic means that you accelerate to 45 km/h and then press the clutch and coast to maybe 35 km/h and then repeat…

The car works fine on higher revs and on load. But with just a little bit of throttle applied or on lower rpm it shudders quite violently. I’m suspecting the carburettor but what do you guys think???

…and one more thing. The previous owner talked about overheating issues. The temperature gauge can sometimes jump up to really high temperatures. Like straight up to 115 degrees and then back to more normal reading but without any signs of overheating. I actually opened the radiator cap when the gauge said 115 degrees but it didn’t boil. Even when cold the gauge can jump up in temperature. I’m starting to wonder if there is a voltage regulator involved that’s causing this problem???

Sounds a bit like an intake leak / lean mixture. If the carb mounting is dodgy then that might fix it.

A lean mixture can cause hot running as well.

[Nibbler]

20 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Sounds a bit like an intake leak / lean mixture. If the carb mounting is dodgy then that might fix it.

A lean mixture can cause hot running as well.

Not uncommon on these engines. I did spray starter fluid on the carb mounting and the engine reacted immediately so I will order a new one.

[Nibbler]

What happened to the fleet in May?

Well…

Audi 100 Avant Turbodiesel: New wheels and tires. Ronal 15-inch Minilite copies from a Saab 9000 with budget tires. I also got the  glowplugs to work. I thought it would be something difficult but it turned out a new relay was all that was needed. 

Audi 100 2,3E: new door lock fitted as the old one broke. Quite straight forward job and I had the cat to keep me company. Used this car as my daily for a week until I started to hear a knocking sound when at full lock. Drive shaft boot had gone bad and all the grease had disappeared… just great! 

Audi 100 1,8 Avant; second hand carburettor fitted together with a new carburettor mounting plate. The car now runs better and worse at the same time. Better att low load on low revs but I don’t think that the seconds stage kicks in on full throttle and it still has a misfire on lower revs that I will have to adress.  Also changed a couple of badly corroded spark plug wires but that didn’t do anything. Main thing with the carburettor swap was to get a carburettor with fresh threads för the air filter and that was achieved 👍

 

The strange behaviour of the temperature gauge seems to be down to an electrical problem. Temperatures measured just fine with an IR thermometer. 92 degrees with the engine just turned off is fine by me. Temperature down at the thermostat housing was around 87 degrees with the engine still running.

I also fixed a broken door lock and mounted a couple of period correct loudspeakers for the kids to enjoy at the back. Cat kept me company as usually. 

I would say it looks pretty good for a 700£ car. New tires fitted and the Fondmetal wheels looks so much better with tires at the correct dimensions. There is signs of an old and badly done crash repair at the rear left. But i think I tackle that next year.

 

Honda Civic 1,4: gave it an oil and filter change and a front wheel alignment. I really like this car! It’s really, really entertaining to drive and the engine is cheap on gas. 
 

Volkswagen T4 Multivan: first camping trip for the season. Just one night up on the north of Öland. Another car I really enjoy driving.

[Rightnider]

Is that a very heavy cat?

[Nibbler]

On 08/06/2025 at 20:16, Rightnider said:

Is that a very heavy cat?

Well, now that you mention it.

[Nibbler]

What happened with the fleet in June? Well, not much.

Audi 100 2,2 1984 went on its final journey and when I saw the car getting loaded I realised that I should have saved the rear bumper… 

Audi 100 1,8 Avant: I have sorted the misfire issues. It was as easy as changing the distributor, rotor and spark plug wires.  Spark plugs looked fine so they stayed. Also changed the steering wheel to a nice one from the  2,2. To celebrate the smooth running I gave the car a top speed test. After quite a while with my foot firmly planted to the floor i reached an indicated speed of 87 mph (140 km/h). So my suspicion that the vacuum controlled second stage doesn’t kick in is probably confirmed. The car thanked me shortly afterwards by blowing a hole in a coolant hose… 

Aldo did this small but important job.

Audi 100 Turbo diesel: used it as my daily for a while. Runs really nice and drives very well but then suddenly it threw a flickering charging light in my face. When we arrived home I measured the battery voltage with the engine running and the generator charged the battery so I guess it’s probably a bad connection somewhere. There was also a distinct smell of melting wires and burning plastics present… yippee…

[Nibbler]

What happened with the fleet since the last update:

Audi 100 1,8 Avant got a new thermostat housing. The old one was leaking and looked quite sad, at the same time i changed the thermostat. Drilled a small hole in the thermostat because some random dude on YouTube said it makes bleeding so much easier. Also I found out why the second stage on the carburettor didn’t kick in. When I changed the carburettor I had made a mistake with the clip that holds the throttle wire. So I could not get full throttle and therefore the second stage wouldn’t open. Still not shure about the condition of the vacuum membrane but the car is a little bit quicker. No pictures as this mistake was quite embarrassing…
 

Audi 100 2,0 Diesel: for the third time in my life I took a vehicle to a car show, It was the local weekly Tuesday show and after arriving at sight and seeing all the American chrome I was quite certain that no one would be interested in an old Audi Diesel, I was wrong…

Audi 100 Avant Turbodiesel: new front fenders getting prepared. Had these laying around for quite a while as they were originally intended for the 2,2. One of the fenders had transport damage so I had to tackle that first. So far I’ve only painted the inside of the fenders to get a feel for the spray gun. Yes that is the cars new colour. 😀

VW T4: 5 day vacation up to Värmland. Car ran like a champ.

Finally som late news, lost my storage space in May that i rented for the Diesel. Advertised online and managed to score more than twice the space for the same amount of money. My neighbours Volvo has a Chevy small block by the way.

[Rightnider]

Wow! Are you going yellow? Bold!

That looks like a nice storage!

[Nibbler]

Fail, fail, fail, fail and a little bit of success.

First fail is about the Audi 100 Turbodiesel. Read up on the flickering charging light and most said the same thing: the carbon brushes. So I ordered a new set complete with voltage regulator. Easy job to change but no difference. Still a flickering charging light. Well there was one difference, charging voltage i now down to 12,8 volts 🤯🤯🤯 The generator I drenched in oil from a newly developed oil leak, can this be the cause of the problem???

Second fail was a high pitched bearing noise from the Audi 100 1,8 Avant. Not of the belt screaming type but it’s quite loud when the engine is hot. I removed the belt to the generator and water pump and the engine was suddenly silent. upon examination I found quite a large bearing play in the generator. I decided that a second hand generator from the local scrapyard was just what the doctor ordered. No, not even close. Sound is still there. Water pump or maybe the cambelt tensioner. The later is still considered a possibility even though the sound stopped when I removed the belt.

Third fail was me missing out on a red Porsche 924 from 1981. I was second on the ball and unfortunately the car was sold before I even got a chance to look at it.

Fourth fail was me spending an entire Sunday searching for why the 1,8 Avant runs really bad on engine brake and on low load. Got a lot of good advices on a Swedish Audi 100 Facebook group, so I went to work full of confidence. Things went really well, I found a broken vacuum hose, did an EGR delete, found more suspicious vacuum hoses and changed a leaking membrane on the carburettor. After all this work I started the engine in what I thought was about to be absolute triumph. I was soon taken down too earth again… 🤯🤯🤯

Making a template for an EGR blocking plate with the help of an old gasket. It was a perfect fit.

This is the substitute for the leaking vacuum membrane, sourced from the old carburettor.

The only success was me continuing the process of making the Turbo diesel yellow. Here’s some pictures during that process. I’m not looking for a show winning finish, looks good from two meters away is more what I’m going for.
 

Epoxi primer.

I mixed the paint the first coat to thin so i got some paint runs. Second coat went on fine but I don’t have any pictures of that.

Brush was used on the lower part of the car. 

[Rightnider]

I’ve just visited @Nibbler and had a look at his Audi 100 collection. 

One happy 100 owner heading for a hundred of them. 
 

[Nibbler]

So what happened in September:

Rover SD1: bought the car, took it home. Realised the rear differential is leaking and that I can’t open the boot. Ordered some spare parts, brake cylinders and a cambelt and some other minor stuff.

Audi 100 Avant Turbo Diesel: operation make it yellow rolls along nicely. This includes changing three out of four doors. 

Audi 100 Avant 1,8: I finally realised why it’s loosing coolant. It’s a bloody leaking heater core… 😡 I will just block it off and forget about it as it’s probably a quite big job. I’ve also continued working on the misfire issues but more about that in the future.

 

So I’ve been slacking, I promise to do better in October.

[Nibbler]

 

Update for October:

Went to look at a VW Caravelle GL 2,4 Diesel from 1991 last week but it was a basket case. It drove absolutely lovely but oh so rusty… sadly no pictures of the corpse.

 

All cars are now in winter storage. Here is a picture of the Audi 100 2,0 Diesel.

 

Audi 100 Avant 1,8:

Finally some success! I came to a point where I was confident that I didn’t have any more vacuum leaks, but the car still ran like crap. So I started to focus on the ignition instead and here is where it starts to show that I’m an amateur. The car still ran like crap after changing the ignition module. I then decided that checking the timing could be a good idea, and it was a bloody good idea. But i should have done that 6 months ago…The ignition was way too late and after som mucking about the engine ran sweet. Success!!! I also did a heater core delete because changing the heater core is supposed to be a complete nightmare.

 

Rover SD1;

Realised that the radiator is leaking and in true BMC fashion it has started to mark its territory. A pool of petrol and pieces of a broken rubber boot…

 

Audi 100 2,3E:

Reattached the outer rubber boot on the driveshaft for the third time. This time I removed the driveshaft from the wheel hub and did it properly. I hope…

Also changed the washer bottle as the old pump had committed harakiri.

Honda Civic 1,4

Changed oil and filter as it was slightly overdue. Easy job but oh so satisfying.

I also went to the scrapyard with the aim of finding a couple of front seats for a Audi 100 C4. I found four of them. One C4 had blue interior perfect for the 1,8 Avant and another one had grey interior perfect for the 2,3E.

I also found this Mazda Coupe. It was heartbreaking, the car is bloody mint. No rust, lovely interior and good paint. I bought the stereo and rear loudspeaker from it. 

 

[Rightnider]

Nice Mazda!

Is it at Lorensson’s breaker’s yard?

[Nibbler]

1 hour ago, Rightnider said:

Nice Mazda!

Is it at Lorensson’s breaker’s yard?

Oh yes! 

[Nibbler]

Woke up early, have a train to catch.

[Nibbler]

💩: 1

Breakfast: 1

Shower: 1

Text message telling me that the train is cancelled and a bus is replacing: 1 😡😡😡🤯

[Nibbler]

[Nibbler]

[Nibbler]

…and here is my ride. 3 hours by train will probably become 4 hours by bus.

[Rightnider]

Excitement!!

Three hours by train from Kalmar suggests Malmö (going south), or Linköping to the north…

[Rightnider]

Looking at the pictures however, makes me draw the conclusion that you departed from Blomstermåla. 

I think you’re going north, Linköping is just over 2,5 hours away.