Basil's mild improvements thread

basil brush

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Hi peeps , I've been here a few months now and since buying my audi have done a few bit , mainly getting it to run as intended but have also started the improvements and haven't really logged them ,
so this is the start of my build thread .
The story so far , bought a spares or repairs 8L 1.8t sport AGU on eBay for very little money , list of problems none of which seemed out of my league :)
stone chipped and full of water o/s headlight ,
Rusty o/s door bottom ,
climate control doesn't work ,
temp guage doesn't work ,
hunts on idle ,
lack of power,
tailgate clips for parcel shelf missing,
wet drivers footwell ,
broken wing mirror casings
Etc etc etc !
So with the help of ASN I've sorted all of the above with the dearest item being a correct colour door off eBay for £20 ;)
the funniest fault being the climate control !
Good old audi decided to programme it to not work with ambient temps below 5 degrees and it was cold and snowing when I bought it , so now the weather has cheered up a bit works fine LOL :D
next was a small weekend project of ambient lighting whic can be seen in "post pics of your A3" but my latest escapade has been a refurb of my standard 16" speedlines that to be fair were f****d !
As they came off the car
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then with 80 grit wet and dry removed the worst , treated the corrosion with jenolite and increased to 120 grit carried on to start smoothing any imperfections lastly finishing all surfaces with 240 grit prior to a nice dose of acid etch primer :)
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this was then wet flatted with 600 grit and washed and left to dry .
then comes the magic , using an eBay kit of satin wheel paint and hi gloss lacquer item number 310574572107 I managed to achieve this

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Happy with the results even if I'm not impressed with my I phones camera ;)
will post a pic of the car once I've done the other 3 wheels

baz
 
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...
the funniest fault being the climate control !
Good old audi decided to programme it to not work with ambient temps below 5 degrees and it was cold and snowing when I bought it , so now the weather has cheered up a bit works fine LOL :D

Not a fault dude... by design due to the potential to damage the aircon system when temps drop... this is the same on any car with aircon :)

Good work on the rest, keep it up :)

<tuffty/>
 
I don't think I explained that properly ! The fella I bought it from couldn't get the a/c to work but that's because we know it was just cold outside but he listed the car as having non working a/c ;) lol
 
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I don't think I explained that properly ! The fella I bought it from couldn't get the a/c to work but that's because we know it was just cold outside but he listed the car as having non working a/c ;) lol

Haha, that's what I thought you meant! Hope you got a good deal out of it, good work!!
 
Baz, good work so far, i love the wheels, you have done a great job with them. Keep up the good work:) x
 
Hi , yes I did thanks ( it was VERY cheap , he took it part x and wanted rid :). )
anyway here's the ambient lights just so it's all in one place .
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again happy with my handy work :)
 
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Thanks :)
here is another rubbish photo of what I used
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all be it I didn't use filler , I bought some as I didn't think I'd be able to flat out the pitting but it wasn't as bad as it looks :)
 
Lots of cheap mods to be done,the wheel looks good are you doing the others to suit or is it a good match ?
Love the title of the thread lol much better than 'Big Baz'z Beast of a Big Turbo Build' or some other testosterone filled title.
 
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Thanks :)
doing all 4 to match , time consuming but should get a 4 done for under £30 !
Ive got the local hoodie that works at the tyre place to remove and refit tyres with a balance for some weed tokens :)
im only able to do one at a time as I need the car on the road for work but I've completed two now so hopefully won't be long :)
then it's coilover time along with spacers :)
 
Love it, great idea buying something that needed all that work, make it your own that way and save a pile of cash.

I especially like the lighting idea, what did you buy for it, and was it difficult to fit? I'm a real D.I.Y noob... lol
 
The lighting cost me all of 90 pence !
4 12v led's and 2 holders .
the ones in the interior light are set behind 5mm countersunk holes pushed into hot glued on washer hose and wired into the red light under the ashtray and I also have one above each foot well clipped into dedicated holders and wired to the same place meaning the are dimable intone with the dash lights ;)
quite easy really and all available from Electronic Components from Rapid - the Electronic Parts Specialist
hope that helps ;)
baz
 
The lighting cost me all of 90 pence !
4 12v led's and 2 holders .
the ones in the interior light are set behind 5mm countersunk holes pushed into hot glued on washer hose and wired into the red light under the ashtray and I also have one above each foot well clipped into dedicated holders and wired to the same place meaning the are dimable intone with the dash lights ;)
quite easy really and all available from Electronic Components from Rapid - the Electronic Parts Specialist
hope that helps ;)
baz

Yes helps allot thanks very much :)
 
Facelift cars have 12v to them with the lights on so is even easier !
Pre facelift needs 12v run up there and the best place is under the ashtray , there is an earth up in the interior lights so only a live needs to be routed through the dash and up the A post the across to the interior lights in the head lining :it's already fused to no need to worry about that !
baz
 
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Thanks buddy, all noted, keep up the good work with the Car :)
 
Oooooo there's somebody at the door ? (Who remembers rod hull and emu ? Lol )
its postman pat and look what he's bought me :)
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wish it wasn't raining or these would be going on :(
heres a quick one showing my carbon wrapped grill surround , pressed plates and number plate holder :)
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Baz
 
Well I couldn't wait , so I've braved the rain in order to do my bushes and bring you a sort of how to really :)
so here is the patient
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Mullered rear bush and notchy ball joint , to get to this stage , jack up and remove wheel , undo the 16mm bolt holding the ARB drop link on , undo the 19mm nut on the ball joint remove completely the put back on only hand tight a few turns , now arm youself with a suitable hammer and hit the upright casting that the tapered part of the ball joint passes through , should pop straight out ;) now remove the 19mm nut you put on as protection to the threaded part of the ball joint ( not really necessary if your replacing them but good practice)
moving on you now need to remove the last two bolts holding the lower arm on ( both 18mm bolts one through each bush )
now onto bush removal !
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Here you can see me drilling through the entire circumference of the rubber part of the bush ( repeat on the other bush also )
which should leave something like this
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With the rubber part monkeyed out the metal collar which makes up the outside of the bush needs to be removed , easiest way is to make two cuts in the collar with a hacksaw and chisel the two halves out ( see below)
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And removed
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next I cleaned up the hole ready for my new bush
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Popped in both halves of the front bush by hand and pressed the collar in with a vice
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pushed in
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then the stainless collar
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the rear bush is a little more tricky as its one piece however is possible with a vice , be aware the bush does have a leading edge and one side of the lower arm is rounded to ease bush fitting .
bushes done and a new ball joint bolted on :)
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Job done , to be fair not really that hard , if I wasn't taking pictures and it was dry outside could probably have done it in half hour per side !
Hope that little lot helps someone along the way !
forgot to add a little tip !
when you've bolted the arm back up through the bushes pop the ball joint through the hub casting and pop the 19mm nut on and do it up , now sure as eggs is eggs the ball joint will start spinning so get a second jack under the ball joint and jack it up into the hub casting and that should stop it turning enough to enable you to nip the nut up , then continue to jack up to line up the ARB drop link holes , pop the 16mm bolt back in , do that up , wheel back on and your done ;)
baz
 
Today's little project was cam belt kit inc water pump , thermostat and dog bone bush .
car now sits at a constant 90 degrees and the dogbone has made SO much difference :)
a day well spent :)
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Now a coil pack has decided it doesn't always want to play ball :( there's always something !
 
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​Your making great progress, this thread is very interesting and well laid out, makes it so good to read. Will look forward to the next installment. :) x
 
And today I've sealed my refurbed speedlines now they are finished although I think they need golf style plastic wheel bolt covers as they are letting the whole look down :(
now opening a new tab to eBay some :)
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I think the rears need spacing , is 20mm too much ?
Mrs brushes TQS hiding in the back ground ;)
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What offset are those wheels mate? Have a look in the wheel spacer thread I started the other day. I'm just about to order some 15mm for the front and 20mm for the rear on my TT wheels which are ET32. Also, if you buy spacers they will come with new shiny bolts so no need for the head caps ;)

Looking good BTW.
 
Basil, those wheels look great. The condition were exactly the same as mine are, so I'll follow your little write-up and do that to mine when I get some time, although I'm tempted to buy two new ones off eBay as the rears let air out a bit quick and it's not the tyres, the rims are both bent a little from the previous owner - I did manage to buy a spare for £15 but they don't often come up. I also need thermostat, sort the soggy driver's footwell, rear axle bushes and a cambelt/waterpump change too so I'll keep my eye on your thread.
 
Alright fella , just looked at mine and they state "ET42" on the back of one of the spokes !
Where does that leave me with regards spacer size ?
Im watching some 20mm hubcentric ones on the bay that come with longer shiny bolts although I think black plastic covers would finish it off a treat ,
thanks for the praise by the way ;)
really enjoying doing everything myself :D
 
I have no idea about spacers etc sorry. Did you use am electric sander or anything or just by hand?

I always do the work myself too, unless I don't have the necessary tools, and even then I only trust a family friend that runs a garage. After binning one of my mk2 Escorts 12 years ago after giving it to a garage (wheel fell off, car fell off road), I've never trusted anyone since.
 
Basil, those wheels look great. The condition were exactly the same as mine are, so I'll follow your little write-up and do that to mine when I get some time, although I'm tempted to buy two new ones off eBay as the rears let air out a bit quick and it's not the tyres, the rims are both bent a little from the previous owner - I did manage to buy a spare for £15 but they don't often come up. I also need thermostat, sort the soggy driver's footwell, rear axle bushes and a cambelt/waterpump change too so I'll keep my eye on your thread.
all the issues you have are mentioned on ASN along with the cure :)
alloy is pourous so as long as you paint the inside of the wheels and seal it up with a good coat of lacquer it should seal ( get the tyre fitter to prime your beads with vulcanising rubber as well and all should be ok :D )
they are time heavy but cost peanuts , all 4 done for under £30 :0
 
As mentioned in a previous post I have a coil pack breaking down so after phoning round picked these up
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all of £16.85 ! Bargain
yes there new and have a 12 month warranty :)
 
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What offset are those wheels mate? Have a look in the wheel spacer thread I started the other day. I'm just about to order some 15mm for the front and 20mm for the rear on my TT wheels which are ET32. Also, if you buy spacers they will come with new shiny bolts so no need for the head caps ;)

Looking good BTW.

i think their ET 42 mate so you could easily go 20mm spacers front I think has a wider track so best with tape measure.
 
Well who can guess what my next improvement is going to be ?
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Also bought some number plate LED'S only £2 posted :)
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and tomorrow as I've got the day off I've booked him in for an air con vac and re gas , complete with anti bac bomb :D
 
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And another day of tinkering brings this ,
before
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as you will se my breather system was already fully siliconed as a result of all of the oem pipes being split !
Howere using the afore pictured kit I came up with this
after
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it doesn't look much different , however the is now much less to go wrong and doesn't vent back dirty stuff back into my TIP , win win ;)
it does leave me with this full silicone set though ! Going to be for sale VERY soon ;)
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baz
 
Just dusted off my old windows laptop , shovelled in a couple of lumps of coal and lit her up , half hour later it's got a good head of steam ( my mac is about 7 seconds :D ) and I've downloaded this :D
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Now for an interface , will any cheap eBay one do or are the certain things I need to look for ? Will only be using it on our A3's ( 1999 £ 2001 1.8t's
 
I've just ordered some pressed plates glad they look so good :)
 

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