Another 8L Track Car - Lets get ready to 'Ruuuuuuuumble'!

Welly

Welly

335D Driver :-)
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As all of you are aware - I currently am not an Audi owner, which is a bit strange for me after 5 years with 2 different 8Ls.

So, my plans to rectify this are pretty straightforward. Myself and my brother have decided that a track car is going to be an immense amount of fun.

So, another 8L platform track car it is going to be.

For the purposes of my normal forum wide R&D, I am planning to build this engine completely out of parts sourced from ebay. Project aims:
  • Testing of a different ebay manifold
  • Testing of an ebay external wastegate setup
  • Testing of a dodgy chinese sub £200 turbo
  • Testing of Chinese nobby no brand H Beam rods.
  • Create a FWD track car with around 325 - 350 BHP at reasonable (?) boost
  • Abuse car and attempt not to crash

I expect the usual pitfalls, problems and irritations along the way, as per all VAG projects. I am planning immediately to outlay about £2000 -£3000 over the next 6 months to complete the build.

I'm looking forward to getting cooking on this to be fair, a new project excites me and as most of you know I am 100% incapable of sitting on my hands for more than around 5 - 6 minutes. And I have a big wad of cash too for a change.

I have lots of planning to do as I want to plan exactly what I want before I start.

Step 1. Source an 8L 1.8T Sport for £500 or less.
 
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Reactions: Westy
Sounds like a plan, all the best Welly and good luck.
 
Speak to Rtech about cheap chinese turbos. They`re getting pretty nice figures and 1/4mile times from those. When i went there he had an Ibiza there running a cheap 200quid chinese t3 at a shade over 300.
 
Niki seems to have good luck on the chinese turbos. I'm sure there is a mk4 running decent times up the strip and over 400 BHP on one. Not sure if they are also used on tracks or as dailys tho.
 
Will be following this closely :)

Niki has had those cheap *** T3's taking some punishment for quite a while now.
 
Yeah, I am interested to see what can be achieved. And lets be fair, if the tubby goes bang, it's hardly expensive (as long as bits don't go where they shouldn't).
 
If you get one with an armrest, first dibs :) and ill wash and seal your car :cool:
 
Gops said:
If you get one with an armrest, first dibs :) and ill wash and seal your car :cool:
Click to expand...

Might have an armrest available, although it's cloth..

Anyway, hope all goes well Welly, and look forward to (not) racing you next year at ADI.
 
With regards to mapping etc... as usual I shall be taking it to Bill when the time comes.

A chinese turbo should pose no problem... and a new reg on the dyno computer will be nice.

No taking out fuse 31 either...
 
So then, in the normal spirit of not hanging around, I am off to go and see an 8L this evening.

Resides around 12 miles from my house, has a running issue with the oil pickup. Long MOT, tax and full service history oddly.

£500 sheets.

Step 1 provisionally sorted.

Step 2.

Turbo.

Now, this is a difficult choice and there are many nice an shiny chinese tubbys out there. I have looked at various GT28s and such however have decided to start simple with a cheapo bolt on kit below:

AUDI A3 S3 1.8T 20V T3 TURBO MANIFOLD + WASTEGATE + TURBOCHARGER | eBay

Good points: Cheap. Very cheap. Comes with Mani which is normally ~£99 and also with a dodgy external wastegate. Turbo is V Band hotside. T3 flange easy to find replacements.

Bad points: Cheap. Very cheap. Oil cooling only.

Oil cooing only put me off a little at first, but on a track car with an oil cooler, I am reasonably happy it will be OK. Will deffo need cooling lap as well as idle before shut down.

This makes oil cooler a must, as well as oil temp gauge. Other benefit being that there is less lines to make.

If it breaks, in the bin it goes.

Costs so far - £810.
 
Last edited:
Love this thread already....can see it will become an epic one as per your S3 build thread.

Been without an Audi for just a few days and you already need another one in his life! You really don't mess about....that cash must be burning a hole in your pocket!
 
i can see this turning in to "i want my s3 back" lol

you defiantly don't hang around mate good stuff, glad iv got a new thread to follow! :racer:
 
Nice one mate you certinally don't hang about :)

Are brakes going to be a bit higher up the priority list this time as it's going to be a track car ;)
 
StaceyS3 said:
Nice one mate you certinally don't hang about :)

Are brakes going to be a bit higher up the priority list this time as it's going to be a track car ;)
Click to expand...

Yes, they most certainly are. Going to start with 312s and see how that goes. Maybe work upwards from there. It won't have much in it, so shouldn't need much more fingers crossed.
 
All I can say is LOL!!!

This is going to be Epic!
 
Welly said:
So then, in the normal spirit of not hanging around, I am off to go and see an 8L this evening.

Resides around 12 miles from my house, has a running issue with the oil pickup. Long MOT, tax and full service history oddly.

£500 sheets.

Step 1 provisionally sorted.

Step 2.

Turbo.

Now, this is a difficult choice and there are many nice an shiny chinese tubbys out there. I have looked at various GT28s and such however have decided to start simple with a cheapo bolt on kit below:

AUDI A3 S3 1.8T 20V T3 TURBO MANIFOLD + WASTEGATE + TURBOCHARGER | eBay

Good points: Cheap. Very cheap. Comes with Mani which is normally ~£99 and also with a dodgy external wastegate. Turbo is V Band hotside. T3 flange easy to find replacements.

Bad points: Cheap. Very cheap. Oil cooling only.

Oil cooing only put me off a little at first, but on a track car with an oil cooler, I am reasonably happy it will be OK. Will deffo need cooling lap as well as idle before shut down.

This makes oil cooler a must, as well as oil temp gauge. Other benefit being that there is less lines to make.

If it breaks, in the bin it goes.

Costs so far - £810.
Click to expand...

dont forget the "WellyCooler" (TM)
 
be different, tune a diesel and show up the petrol folk lol
 
Sweet n Sour Chicken turbo = buying another turbo within a few weeks me thinks......


At least thats my stance now - id really really like to be proven wrong on this one :)
 
Welly said:
So then, in the normal spirit of not hanging around, I am off to go and see an 8L this evening.

Resides around 12 miles from my house, has a running issue with the oil pickup. Long MOT, tax and full service history oddly.

£500 sheets.

Step 1 provisionally sorted.

Step 2.

Turbo.

Now, this is a difficult choice and there are many nice an shiny chinese tubbys out there. I have looked at various GT28s and such however have decided to start simple with a cheapo bolt on kit below:

AUDI A3 S3 1.8T 20V T3 TURBO MANIFOLD + WASTEGATE + TURBOCHARGER | eBay

Good points: Cheap. Very cheap. Comes with Mani which is normally ~£99 and also with a dodgy external wastegate. Turbo is V Band hotside. T3 flange easy to find replacements.

Bad points: Cheap. Very cheap. Oil cooling only.

Oil cooing only put me off a little at first, but on a track car with an oil cooler, I am reasonably happy it will be OK. Will deffo need cooling lap as well as idle before shut down.

This makes oil cooler a must, as well as oil temp gauge. Other benefit being that there is less lines to make.

If it breaks, in the bin it goes.

Costs so far - £810.
Click to expand...


Can always fit a water/oil bearing housing instead of the one it's running. I'd assume and almost suggest that it would just need a balance .
 
  • Like
Reactions: Westy
turnstyle said:
Sweet n Sour Chicken turbo = buying another turbo within a few weeks me thinks......


At least thats my stance now - id really really like to be proven wrong on this one :)
Click to expand...
some internet browsing and you'l find LOTS of cases where these turbos last.
its just a case of having the balls, and it seems wellys are rather metallic
 
Whats the point, Jardos will always be faster....:cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Westy
This sounds excellent Welly!


Worth thinking about: If you go for an AGU, Bill cannot map these currently due to the stupid ME3.8 ECU, so it'd have to be Niki, unless Bill has a fix for the ME3.8 coming any time soon? Could swing your purchase potentially.

As for the ebay turbo's, James Lord is running a T04E ebay turbo on his drag MK4, running 450bhp before NOS I believe, runs 12s quarters regularly and the turbo has been going for 2 years so far.

Another chap we know with a Leon cupra is running an ebay GT2871 on a home brew setup, small port engine, and is currently running 367bhp at about 27psi of boost. It's been running like that for 4 months now and seems to be in good health still with apparently no play developed.

I've actually been thinking about the ebay 2871 myself, with an AKS T25 top mount manifold and a custom downpipe from Bill. All just thoughts at the moment, I want to drive Si's 367bhp 2871 car first and see what it's like.

Oh, and 312's will never be good enough!
 
If you need them, I'd happily donate some 312 S3 carriers to the cause. Calipers might be a bit heavy to send...
 
Prawn said:
Oh, and 312's will never be good enough!
Click to expand...

And I was told 312s with decent discs and pads is more than enough :) I guess he does give it some?

If you're going to the effort of changing manifold, turbo and downpipe, wouldn't it be worth going GT30? Seems like a lot of effort for <50bhp (presuming you hit 350 on this engine?)
 
Sam_ said:
And I was told 312s with decent discs and pads is more than enough :) I guess he does give it some?
Click to expand...

For road use perhaps, 312's for track use are utter ********, especially with 300+ bhp it's going to make things even worse.
 
audi upgrades
You can never overkill with brakes, the bigger the better i say.

With it been a track car you will be late braking so get the biggest brakes you can get under the wheels

My 355mm and 6 pots are great for very last minute braking
 
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