The new addition is home!! (Grab some coffee, kinda long)

[doubt at inwave.com (Nate Mellom)]

Forgive me, I'm a natural-born storyteller.

Yup, I now have an '84 Audi 4000 added to the stable.  The story:

Parents bought it from the original owner last year to replace the Jeep 
Grand Cherokee my mom wrecked.  They actually bought it on my 
recommendation, as I said "Buy a VW or Audi and stop wasting your time 
on Jeeps", or something to that effect.  She drove it for a while, and 
realized she liked seeing things up high, so she bought another Jeep.  
Ugh.  Ah well, I tried.  When they bought it, they asked if I'd like it 
when they were done with it.  Um, okay.  "Come and get it" they said.  
Only problem, it was in Colorado, I am in Wisconsin.  Turns out I had 
some family business out west (Granny turned 80, had to party!), so my 
best friend and I flew out to Colorado to drive it home.  I took 42lbs 
of tools out to make the return trip more comforting (no problems at 
all, Tonee! Thanks for the advise).  Got to see the car for real, 
instead of just pictures.  The bidness:
'84 Audi 4000 non-quattro
1.8 4 cylinder, 198k
5 speed
Different brown color, not the usual champaign gold or silver
Awesome old-school Audi wheels
Faded cloth interior
Body is in very good shape for being 20 years old
NO RUST!!!! NONE!!  NADA!!! ZERO!!!  Colorado RULES!

Went to start it, after charging the battery, and the whole garage 
smelled of gas.  Looked under the car, and a puddle under the fuel 
pump.  (Instant dread-thought: Great, pump/accumulator/fuel lines are 
toast, and no time/money to fix them, and the car is the only way 
home!!) Did some investigation, turned out the brass washers on the 
pressure side of the pump connection were leaking, replaced them, 
insty-fix!! I was relieved, something somewhat-major could lead to less 
seriousness in the middle of Nebraska at 3am.

Drove it around for the weekend, and headed home.  It had really low 
power, and in the Rockies it was wheezing a lot, but it made it 
through.  Stalled once, but I think it was because it wasn't used to the 
low altitude, and the idle was low, but other than a bouncy rear shock 
it performed very well.  Got it home, swapped in a new shock, raised the 
idle a bit, and she's a charmer!!  Rides very nice, has decent power 
now, but it's still in need of a good tune-up.  Odometer quit working 
the day I showed up in Colorado.  Burns some oil, but I'm digging it.  
I'll post some pics soon as I can.

Nate
'81 Roc (in storage)
'84 4K
'87 QSW