Audi 80 CL
Keith gets stuck in to the Audi 80’s short, but time-consuming to-do list
1982 AUDI 80 CL
It feels like the world has shifted on its axis somewhat since I last chatted about my Audi here. But the good news is that my plucky little classic has been a reliable companion through these troubling times. I’d got my metallic beige Audi 80 started after a winter lay-up, driven it home and scheduled some much-needed TLC when I last updated you.
Then the pandemic got in the way. And with me locked down in Cumbria during the first eight weeks and the Audi some 250 miles away at my place near Team CCW’s head office, there wasn’t a lot I could do. Luckily, I’d disconnected the battery and put the car in a sheltered location before I left, so I knew it was safe from the elements.
When I finally did manage to get back to the car, it still shone like a new pin, so that was something. After re-connecting the battery and running it up gently, I got down to fixing the niggling jobs that needed doing. The good news was that its previous owner, David Robertshaw, had serviced it just before passing it on to me, so I didn’t need to worry about oil, filters and plugs. I checked them anyway and they all looked good, as did the recent cambelt.
Next job was to sort the sticking accelerator. Oh yes, it had been doing that since its winter lay-off, and I figured that it was down to nothing more than a dry throttle linkage combining with slackness in the cable. I was relieved to discover that the replacement Weber carburettor was in good shape and easy to get to, so a quick strip-down followed by a clean and a liberal application of WD40 had it lubricated. Then tightening the cable at the carb end was simplicity itself. Job done.
The only other issue with the carburettor was its idle speed, which was set too low. Using my trusty Haynes Weber manual to guide me, I’ve now upped the idle speed to stop it rocking and sulking when ticking over – but I think I need to delve in a little deeper because it’s still running a little on the rich side for my liking.
While I was under the bonnet, it seemed an opportune moment to sort out some of the corrosion that had been bothering me since collecting the car. There was an area of surface rust on the offside inner wing that I didn’t like the look of, as well as another patch in the scuttle that clearly needed looking at. So, a gentle session with some fine sandpaper, followed by a coating of Vactan corrosion inhibitor, had me feeling somewhat better about the situation. I also had a closer look at the small blisters around the sunroof and repeated the process – at least I can now say that the car won’t get any rustier on my watch.
Vactan, by the way, came highly recommended by a boating chum of mine, and where I’ve used it so far it does seem to stop the spread of corrosion very effectively.
After that, it was just a case of checking all those areas I needed to in order to have me feeling happy about it – all the door hinges were greased and any other joints and junctions lubricated, after which it felt like the Audi was ready for a summer of action.
At least, it would have been if the pandemic hadn’t smashed the events diary – so instead of worrying about not taking it to classic car shows that aren’t running, I’ve been out and about driving it for fun, just as it should be. The weather’s been nice, the roads still reasonably empty and from what I can see the little Audi seems to raise a much-needed smile on the faces of plenty of drivers who see us while we’re out and about.
There are still some jobs to attend to, of course. The stereo and heater blower need attention because neither works at the moment, and I need to fit the new instrument panel that came with the car in order to rectify another obvious failing – the lack of a factory rev counter. Still, that should hopefully be a relatively easy job to tackle while I’m still staying at home and being safe. Fingers crossed.