Our customer as a kid always wanted an original quattro coupe. When he grew up, it was time. He found one advertised on ebay as being in great condition and bought it. It needed work. The customer sent it to his longtime repair shop near his home in Southern California for a paint job and an updated 10v turbo engine. He ordered lots of new parts from different places as well as several things from us. We even consulted with the shop working on the car to help with the engine and wiring. After a year or so, it became apparent the tech’s were not going to be able to finish the project. The paint job however was completed. After many conversations over time the decision was made to ship the car as is to 2Bennett.
We took delivery of a shiny coupe with what looked like a nearly completed engine update. All is not as it appears. The engine and most of its components were just for show with much missing hardware, no gaskets, and finger tightened nut and bolts. We talked to the customer and came up with a new plan. Get rid of the old mechanical fuel injection and install an AAN code 20v 5 cylinder turbo with more modern electronic fuel injection. With the increase in power, the brakes would be upgraded with 2B Stage2 brakes and many other parts.
Read the full story of this cars journey from an ebay lemon to a spectacular machine.
1st thing was to empty the engine bay and thoroughly clean it.
The new engine and wiring installed. The engine features 2B connecting rods, 2B turbo and oil/ water lines, 2B radiator, 2B intercooler, 2B baffled oil pan, 2B intake tract and silicone hoses, 2B 3″ turbo back exhaust, 2B Thrust Series turbo, 2B software, air conditioning, RS2 intake manifold, RS2 exhaust manifold, modified RS2 airbox, etc.
Completed car. Looks great and drives great.
By completion we had the car for almost a year doing the engine, drive train refreshment, new sound system, and proper road test time. We were glad to have completed a great car. The owner had waited for the shop that started the job without the ability to complete it. Then 2Bennett to finish the job. He was really happy.
The phone rings -“I crashed my car, but it was running great”. We trucked the car from Malibu to 2Bennett to see what we were dealing with. It was worse than it looked. The right front frame rail that took the impact of the boulder was destroyed and it bent the A pillar, door, and roof.
The car would have been considered a total loss, but the recent upgrades raised the value above the repair cost. So we stretched it out and straightened the frame. When the roof and A pillar were within 1mm we replaced the front rail and apron section. The car was bagged and we painted the new parts.
We took some of our Sport quattro rally parts off the shelf and stuck them on the car for a photo. He loved the idea and said “let’s do it”. The only problem was that we only were making front end parts at the time.
We got a set of original Audisport A2 rear panels. This type is the first version of the group B wide bodied quattro. Turns out they were built a little less than perfectly for race cars. We require panels that will be installed on show cars and race cars. We then painstakingly reshaped, straightened, and smoothed out the panels.
A hard gel coat is applied and buffed to a mirror finish. Prepared panels are molded directly from the car to ensure proper fit. All 2Bennett molds have class A smooth surfaces.
We removed all the original fenders, hood, and quarter panels to install the 2Bennett composite parts. The rear panels are removed at all the factory spot welds. We removed and sealed all the exposed corrosion from the 25 year old chassis and bonded the new parts in place.
The entire body needed to be sanded bare to smooth out 2 prior paint jobs. The last paint job was 3 years old, now wavy, and showing rust. We also fixed hidden sheet metal damage at the door handles, roof, and deck lid.
The whole car and all parts were primed with an epoxy primer that is sanded smooth before any color is applied.
As you can see, we built a rolcage to reinforce the chassis that still allows for a complete interior and painted it to match the outside. We painted the engine bay because the paint job that was done before it came to our shop was flaking off. All the paint is good now.
Of course this project has hundreds of special parts we make for this and similar cars. The brake booster was converted to vacuum, intercooler, lights, front support, airbox, etc. were all upgraded again. It helps that we have original Sport quattro parts and access to a complete Sport to use as reference and improve upon.
Fit and finish. Top view of the 2B carbon grill, intercooler, and front support.
We updated the interior with custom upholstered black suede rear seats to match the new Recaro front set, later coupe dash and instruments, 2B 3 gauge dash pod, S2 steering wheel.
