W3STY's Progress Thread

[Westy]

As there are a few of these threads about I started to wish I'd done one showing my progress from standard S3 to the slightly modded S3 I have now. So, I thought I'd go through all my started threads and try to bung all the relevant stuff together so it's all in one place instead of being dotted about.

I bought my Ming Blue S3 on 2nd December 2008 from a mate of mine that didn't get time to drive it as he had 2 other cars and a work van. I paid £6K for a 2002 BAM with 107K miles on it. The owner before my mate had done a lot of motorway miles on the car as he owned a house in London and one in Manchester.

Here's a couple of pics from the weekend I picked it up. Cleaned, clayed, and polished:







Car was completely stock at this point except for a forge 007P DV

It wasn't long before the modding bug took its grip thanks to you lot and this forum

I got myself a ChippedUK remap first which, with the help of VCDS I recorded the following before/after results:

STANDARD

Boost = 11.5 PSI
BHP = 221
Torque = 227 lbft

MAPPED

Boost = 20 PSI
BHP = 257
Torque = 270 lbft

The next few mods were boring subtle ones such as smaller ariel and black grill surround. Also smoothed the standard airbox:





And the results from smoothing:






Did a few trips to the Ring too:







It was really till last year when I started doing some of the bigger mods on the car. After the above trip to the Ring I realised that the standard S3 brakes were made of cheese and it was pretty dangerous to drive on a track. I ended up braking in the middle of corners as they were so bad and ended up with some rear out slides on a few bends.

Before the next Ring trip I had done my brakes. Brembo Max discs, Ferrodo DS2500 pads, motul RBF6000 fluid, and HEL braided lines. The difference on track was unbelievable:





This year has seen quite a bit more activity on the modding front and the introduction of the "Late Night Mechanics" :

Started off by tackling the filthy engine bay and the rotting rubber hoses:

First up we rigged up a light so we could strip the car outside and use the garage for spray painting and cleaning.



And so we began to remove parts:



Fuel rail/injectors off and coil packs out:



Rocker cover off and inlet mani off:



Injectors in the bath:



Mani masked:



Mani painted:



Rocker cover painted:



TB painted:



Ooops! The hole I put in the charge pipe by removing the bracket:



Ran out of paint for the charge pipe so it needs another coat or two:

[Westy]

Also fitted an oil catch can:








Next up was a little rip to Badger 5 for some power runs:

Went for a little trip to see Bill yesterday with S3baby and a few of our mates. We both took our 8L S3s and our mates had a Seat Leon FR and an 8P S3.

It was a 140 mile, 2 and a half hour journey each way but it was worth it.

While we were there we met Tuffty (who is basically Bills right hand man), Welly, and Dane. It was nice to finally meet you guys, have a chat and ask a few questions. Dane also let me take his motor for a spin down the road. Dane's S3 is currently the most powerful stage 1 mapped K04 Bill has had on his rollers. Cheers Dane.

As most of the regulars here know I have been down on power recently so my car went on the rollers first so we could try and find some faults. I'm running a stage 1 "Chipped UK" map with full silicone boost hoses and that's about it.

Car on the rollers and Bill starts giving it some beans..... POP! Hose from the charge pipe to the DV flew off and gave everyone a scare, including myself who had no change of underwear! I'd clearly not done the hose up properly on Thursday when I took the charge pipe off for painting! Tuffty went round all the jubalee clips and made sure they were tight.

Take 2 and I register a measly 223bhp 243lbft! Out of 4 runs my highest bhp was 226 and my highest torque figure was 243. Bill and Tuffty believed that I might have a boost leak as I was making boost ok but not the power. Bill was also very concerned with the fueling of the map. I was running 22psi and standard car fueling

So my poorly car comes off the rollers to cool down while we do the other cars.

The FR was up next with a stage 1 and induction kit. It put out a very impressive 250bhp but was a pain in the arse to dyne due to it's DSG box. Bill will tell you how much he loves them

Next was the 8P which only had a revo stage 1 and that was it. A staggering 304bhp was put out by this bad boy on aggressive mode and 270ish in standard mode from the revo switch box

S3baby's car was up next with what he believed to be a revo stage 1, jetex cone, and FMIC. We were all guessing figures for him and were hoping for around 260ish. He only managed slightly more than me at around 235ish (i'm sure he'll post on this thread to correct me).

Bill plugged in his revo cable believing he'd be able to adjust the map on the car, turns out it wasn't revo! Bill managed to adjust the fueling on the ECU base tables so it was running slightly better though. Another dissapointed 8L owner was left to scratch his head.

Back on the rollers for my car and Tuffty set up the compressor for a pressure test. The boost system and coolers held 35psi no problem so a boost leak wasn't my issue.

I told Bill that I wasn't happy with driving my car with normal fueling and asked for a price on a revo stage 1. Out came the revo cable again and Bill started uploading the map. It took 7 attempts to get the map on the ECU as it kept timing out (another brown trousers moment for Bill and myself). Once the map was loaded successfully Bill made a few tweaks and we did another 2 runs.

With the revo the fueling was now spot on and I made the following:

227bhp 268lbft

Now the bhp figure was still very baffling but the torque was good. Bill and Tuffty believe that my turbo is the problem. It's the original turbo and has covered 123K miles and is basically tired and cant pump air like it used to. So I'll be on the hunt for a new K04 once I've sorted my suspension out next month.

The drive home was more of a joy than the drive down as my car pulls so much better with the extra torque and felt very good higher up the rev range than before. Plus I feel a lot better knowing that the fueling is now correct.

I'll get some picks up of my dyno graphs in the morning when I get to work and can scan them in.

Big thanks to Bill and the guys and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

First up was my 4 ChippedUK runs:


Not all that impressive and the next graph will show you the awful fueling on this map:


As you can see the EGT protection kicks in for each run and dumps fuel in to cool. Ideally the fuelsing wants to be mid 12s not lean 14s!!!

Here's my 2 Revo runs:



The 2nd run was after Bill tweaked a few settings

And here's the comparison between the 2 maps:

[Westy]

Finally got round to replacing all the stock suspension a few months back:

- Front drop links
- Top mounts and bearings
- Ball Joints
- Rear drop links
- KW Shocks and springs 20mm/15mm

Here's the gear:

Audi top mounts, bearings and ball joints:


eBay front and rear drop links:



Now the front links look good but I'm slightly worried about the quality of the rear ones!!

The two links are made from different material by the looks of it and the welds look a bit suspect on one of them:

Good one looks like this:



And bad one like this:











Myself, S3baby, and my mate James started work on this on Friday evening at 18:30. We had planned on it taking us about 2 hours per front corner and an hour per rear....... How wrong we were!!!

None of us had ever tackled suspension before so we were in unchartered territory and the first front shock was a bit of a learning curve to say the least!

I knew the fronts would be a bit harder as we had to do the top mounts, drop links, and ball joints where as the rears only had drop links and i'd already done the rear shocks last year when I failed an MOT.

Anyway we were following advice given to us from my mechanic friend and some of the things we'd read on this dear forum.

We started by removing the top mount covers. An easy task you may think.........



Not the best start as the bloody thing snapped off in my hand, oh well, nothing major.

We then removed the top nut and the cup then loosened the 2nd nut that hold the top mount on. We did this on both sides so that when the car was jacked it would be easy to release the top of each shock.



We decided to remove the front drop link next. Removed in this pic, it connects to the hole at the top of the shock and the bottom end goes in the ARB.



We then removed the lower ball joint on the bottom of the hub. I do have a pic but its soooo blurry that I wont bother posting it. I really need to get a decent photographer to my late night mechanics sessions!

With the new ball joint on we started to compress the spring in an attempt to get it out the way so we could lift the shock up and out of the hub.



We removed the long bolt that pinches the hub around the bottom of the shock and we used a fair amount of penetration fluid to try and make life easier. This was the hardest bit trying to get the bottom out.



We managed to free up the bottom of the shock but we hadn't compressed the spring enough to be able to lift the shock fully out the hub. We then had a bright idea of trying to move the spring out towards the wheel arch and slide it off the top of the shock...... this back fired, big time. We got the spring wedged in the wheel arch and we were loosing our patience by this time so S3baby went a bit mental with the dremmel!!!

Notice the genius use of sunglasses for safety glasses! Dont try this at home kids!





With the fecking spring out the way we managed to lift out the old shock:



After we'd all stopped high fiving and dancing (as this little git had taken 3 and a half hours) we started to bolt on the new one.

One top mount ready for assembly.



New shock and spring in:



A 4th member of the team joined us at 22:30 and we moved round to the drivers side. You may have noticed that all the above pics are of the drivers side, that's because I couldn't be bothered with the first shock as it was such a shambles.

Anyway with our experience from the passenger side shock we managed to get the drivers side done in a decent 2 hours and decided to call it a night at 00:30

I was up at 07:45 the next morning, in agony from the work the night before. S3baby arrived at 08:30 and after a strong black coffee we plodded on with the rears.

We started by undoing the bottom bolt on the shock and replacing the rear drop link:



The rear springs were a PITA too and the only way to get them out way to cut the crappy rubber stuff away from the top of the spring:



Spring out :





Next was to remove the top bolt of the rear shock which is under the wheel arch trim. You have to remove 5 torx screws and just pull the trim out the way enough to get a socket on the bolt.



Next the spring went in:



And the shock and all done up.

Here are a few before/after pics:

Before



After



So far so good. All my knocks and clunks have gone and the car feel lovely to drive. I actually aim for the bumps in the road now


Then I fitted a boost guage. I know it looks cheap but I wanted it to fit in with the standard dash. I have also changed the bulb for a red one so that it looks OE:

[Westy]

Last week I bought these babys and should get them on soon:

[Westy]

Also forgot to mention that I also did aero wipers and LEDs all round:









I know a lot of this is boring stuff and most of you have seen it before but I thought I'd keep 1 thread for all my mods and progress so I oppologise to anyone who has already seen all this lot

[Dane]

Nice dude, Waaaay more pictures than mine

I'll pm you about K04-ness

[Westy]

I've got so many more pics dotted about in other threads but cant find them all. I'll try and keep everything in here now. Got some more new parts at the weekend so I'll be posting up pics when I get home later.

[quattro1]

lol brillliant thread mate, cant believe you used spring compressors on the rears though!!! lol!

lovely looking car

[Westy]

lol brillliant thread mate, cant believe you used spring compressors on the rears though!!! lol!

lovely looking car

Cheers mate.

You live and learn

[Reesy]

Nice thread westle, although I think the only reason you made this thread is to show off your new wheels!

Also, liking the LED's all round.

[Westy]

You wait till the bloody things are on the car

I have a mate who does photography so once everything in finished in the next 2 months I'll get it detailed and have a photo shoot.

[Reesy]

You wait till the bloody things are on the car

I have a mate who does photography so once everything in finished in the next 2 months I'll get it detailed and have a photo shoot.

Just remember

NOBODY likes a showoff.

[finesse]

Just to add, top bloke too! West & S3baby helped me many times, I owe several pints

[Westy]

Got some new shiny bits on friday:



A set of S3dave's adjustable tie bars and some powerflex bushes to go on the standard lower tie bars. Unfortunately I wont be fitting these till June as I need other work to be done first.

[sandip]

Great work Westle, car looks cleeean!!

Does your vacuum always sit at around -12psi?

[Westy]

Great work Westle, car looks cleeean!!

Does your vacuum always sit at around -12psi?

Car needs some TLC towards the body work but I'm getting there

Yeah the vac always sits around -12-14.

[sandip]

Keep up the good work

Should the vacuum be at a certain psi, mines sits around -21psi

[Westy]

Keep up the good work

Should the vacuum be at a certain psi, mines sits around -21psi

I'm not sure mate. S3 Baby's vac is about -13-14 too

[S3 Nattie]

Nice thread westle, nice to read what you have done. I should have done a progress thread when I got my car, done quite a bit to my S3 and the first to have tried/done some things. On SCN loads of member got there own thread in their readers ride section.

Keep up the good work

Should the vacuum be at a certain psi, mines sits around -21psi

My boost gauge sits around the same as yours. Its inhg, not psi.

[rhubarb4]

Quality thread mate your making me jealous, I need to start saving for all these mods, not that far from bill so when I sort myself out il be there

[superkarl]

how heavy are your new wheels mate? id just like to compare to mine seein as though theyre same size. mine are dissapointingly heavy

[Westy]

Mine feel pretty bloody heavy. I'll get them on the scales tonight. I'm hoping the adapters and an extra 5 bolts wont add too much weight too!

[S3 TAM]

I'm not sure mate. S3 Baby's vac is about -13-14 too

My first Gauge sat at around -20 -21 ish

but the one i have now sits around -12 -14

[superkarl]

Mine feel pretty bloody heavy. I'll get them on the scales tonight. I'm hoping the adapters and an extra 5 bolts wont add too much weight too!

my original s3 wheels with bridgstone potenza weighed in at 21kg each! and i thought that was heavy. my new wheels alone weigh 13.8kg without tire, and i reckon a tire weighs 10kg. been looking at O.Z, team dynamics, rota wheels already lol

[Westy]

My first Gauge sat at around -20 -21 ish

but the one i have now sits around -12 -14

I think your first gauge was measuring vac in PSI and the new one measures it in HG like mine.

my original s3 wheels with bridgstone potenza weighed in at 21kg each! and i thought that was heavy. my new wheels alone weigh 13.8kg without tire, and i reckon a tire weighs 10kg. been looking at O.Z, team dynamics, rota wheels already lol

Karl the S3 wheels do feel heavy dont they. All 4 of the Continental ContiSportContact 2s on the S4 wheels are all filled with Nitrogen, I wonder if this will make any difference to the weight with air in them???

[S3 TAM]

Im liking the build thread dude.

dame thats a shiny car when its clean.

It might be time to start my build thread.....

[1animal1]

looking good matey.....we gonna be seeing ya at any shows this year

[Westy]

Possibly mate. I'm going to the ring for a 24 hour race when inters is on but I might be around later in the summer. I should have the car finished by the end of the year but all my efforts are geared towards a nurburgring trip in September

[1animal1]

oooh you must tell me more about that when it happens, how many miles is it from Dover hahahaaha

[finesse]

Timmeh, you must come to the ring- I'm going

[Westy]

Timmeh, you must come to the ring- I'm going

I think you need to get your VCDS errors cleared first mate

[finesse]

[1animal1]

Timmeh, you must come to the ring- I'm going

That sealed it.....no chance haha

Dood, its a 600 mile each way trip for me, gonna have to weigh up options n get back defo interested, just to say ive done it

I think you need to get your VCDS errors cleared first mate

haha he's never firing on all cylinders anyways

[Westy]

haha he's never firing on all cylinders anyways

He wont have any cylinders left if he doesn't get it sorted

[1animal1]

well i'll have my craptop with me a vcds cable if anyone needs, its not a miracle worker though so best get some money spent

[Westy]

well i'll have my craptop with me a vcds cable if anyone needs, its not a miracle worker though so best get some money spent

Haha, I have full VCDS & genuine cable anyway mate. If we get a nice big group goin to the ring we'll have enough experience and knowledge between us all if anyone gets any problems.

[Aaronipswich]

Very nice mate bet you where pleased with the remap

[Westy]

Yeah the remap not only gave me more performance but also put my mind at rest knowing the fueling was correct.

[finesse]

Lol

Can't wait till I waste that plastic 8P and westys 8l

[Welly]

I'm really hoping to make the ring trip, however as always it will be funds dependant. I'm not going on holiday this years so should be able to swing it with a bit of luck

[finesse]

Do it welly

[Dane]

Im just really worried i'd bin it into the armco...

[Welly]

Yeah, that would be bad....

[superkarl]

I was do scared of doing it, and so careful, yet I span out and nearly binned it. It's a beast that cannot be tamed.

[Westy]

Im just really worried i'd bin it into the armco...

That's good Dane. It's better to be worried then to be over confident. I still end up shaking as I approach the entrance barrier on my first lap each year!

[1animal1]

thats excitement bro, as long as you got ya polythene pants on you'll be fine

[Westy]

I bought my new wheels a little present to cheer them up as they're sitting all alone in the garage:



How long do you think it'll be before the local kids are riding round with them on their bikes!

[Syvo]

sure i just seen them on some kids bike on way home better go check the car m8 lol

[Agric04]

Nice thread dude

[Westy]

Some unscheduled "Late Night Mechanics" tonight!

After work I headed over to my local Audi/Seat to collect a LCR front splitter and a Xenon adjuster arm that i'd ordered last week. As I neared the stealers I pressed the clutch pedal in and it never came back up. Coasted round the corner and pulled up to inspect.

I found the following bits in my footwell:



So I went into the stealers and collected my parts. I took the 2 above pieces and asked them what I need to order. I ended up ordering just some small piece of plastic thinking that's all I'll need but it appears i need a whole new pedal. Anyway they had none of the parts in so I started to work out how to get the car home.

Got my mate Paul to come over in his work van and he said he could drive it home with no clutch. He drove my car home about 15 miles and I followed in his van.

Even though the old girl had just let me down, following her made me realise how much of a good looking car the 8L S3 is and it was a pleasure to be in a van behind following.

Anyway, got the car home and into my garage. A common sight for some late night action :



I whiped out the dedicated Late Night Mechanics laptop, and got the tunes pumping:



Lower dash trim off:





Unscrew pedal:



Pedal out:



This is where the metal has snapped:



But not too sure where this black piece of plastic goes?:



So with that lot off and in my bag to take to Audi tomorrow I decided to get on with some other jobs as the tools were out.

First up I replaced the xenon arm that sits on the passenger side suspension arm and looks like this:



I removed the old one as the bottom ball joint part had come away:





Then fitted the new shiny one:



I turned on the ignition and fired up the xenons, the adjuster motor mad a load of noise then stopped, sorted.

Next up was to re-route my boost guage T-piece. Welly mentioned the other day in another thread that any kind of leak in the FPR hose is bad news for fueling and that running the boost gueage off the FPR was just increasing a chance of a leak. So I re-routed from the DV hose like so:



I was meant to be dropping the car off with 4Rings tomorrow night ready for my service and turbo refurb but this little pedal problem looks like it might delay me a day or 2.