What to do
What to do My car is starting to age as it mainly sits. There's a rear main oil leak for sure which seems to be worse now than it did a year ago. The car is a basic bolt on A4. 136K Miles. Pretty clean inside and out. Debating on what path to take. Is it worth pulling the motor out and tranny to freshen up the gaskets/seals and beef up the motor some with a cam? Which would entail new oil pump, etc. Change motor mounts. The rear seal needs to be replaced at some point as well. The car is not a DD and is garaged in a spacious garage. How much you think I'm looking give or take if I tackle this myself little by little.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 34,647
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From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
Limited use itself isn't the problem, it's the 136k miles plus 23 years of general age. Mine only has 19k miles and doesn't get driven more than about a dozen times per year - and this hasn't caused any issues. You just have to keep a proper maintenance schedule for a limited use vehicle, and give the car a good workout when you do take it out. But if you're starting with a higher mileage car like yours then it's not surprising that it needs things like gaskets/seals, etc., regardless of how much or how little it's driven.
As for cost, it's hard to give an estimate if you're planning to do various upgrades along the way. You could easily spend thousands more than would be required for a simple "refresh". There are a ton of "might-as-wells" and plenty of supporting modifications to be considered if you want to upgrade the cam. You'd really need to come up with a list of items you want, or a power range that you're looking to achieve, and then start looking at prices for the sort of parts you need/want to meet your goals. If you're doing the labor yourself it will save a bunch, but many of the parts are not cheap and, again, there are countless upgrades that "make sense" to do if you want to add a cam and make more power.
As for cost, it's hard to give an estimate if you're planning to do various upgrades along the way. You could easily spend thousands more than would be required for a simple "refresh". There are a ton of "might-as-wells" and plenty of supporting modifications to be considered if you want to upgrade the cam. You'd really need to come up with a list of items you want, or a power range that you're looking to achieve, and then start looking at prices for the sort of parts you need/want to meet your goals. If you're doing the labor yourself it will save a bunch, but many of the parts are not cheap and, again, there are countless upgrades that "make sense" to do if you want to add a cam and make more power.
TECH Junkie
Joined: Aug 2006
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From: Western North Carolina
If you are capable of these projects, that's outstanding, and what are you waiting for? If you have owned the Formula all these years, don't give it up. You would really miss it even with limited use. My 80,000+ miles T/A is now relegated to limited use as well (no more 6,000 miles trips) but I will put $$$ into it when needed, and with a mechanic, as I am not capable of much beyond oil changes and detailing. Best of luck with it.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Sep 2008
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A few general items that could be done if you replace rear main seal is service the trans and maybe a bit of a stall converter to make it a bit more snappy off the line. Maybe 2800 stall from Circle or Yank?
Maybe headers and new exhaust? If it runs good maybe run a compression check to confirm its firing on all cylinders.
Maybe headers and new exhaust? If it runs good maybe run a compression check to confirm its firing on all cylinders.
