Essexman's A3 1.8t Sport project thread

[Essexman]

Playing around with photoshop with ttrs wheels/ dark led light/ stainless exhaust/ s3 spoiler etc

 

[Essexman]

Wasn't sure what colour to do this, all i can say is I tried! lol, not sure weather to keep or get a carbon cover, at least the carbon cover wont have ''5v'' on it, i wished it just said '20v' like most of the vw golf's etc-

 

[Essexman]

After painting the cover White/ red/ blue, not liking it, then painting it all blue, it still looks crap in the engine bay, so i decided to get a plain Forge carbon cover soon & maybe put an Audi badge on top

 

[Essexman]

De badged the 1.8t today, sprayed the parcel shelf black, put on new l.e.d side lights, blue calipers, bosch aero wiper blades, pollon/ particulate filter, and Audi-sport.net stickers

 

[Prawn]

If you plan to do much more, you might want to get rid of the engine cover all together.

The AGU is a nice simple lump without all the ancillary crap of the later cars, so looks quite smart with the inlet manifold and rocker cover just painted up

Could save a load on a carbon engine cover! and spend it on a set of porsche oil / water caps instead!

 

[ruffrida]

Playing around with photoshop with ttrs wheels/ dark led light/ stainless exhaust/ s3 spoiler etc

Sorry bud, but are you meaning to go and write it of in halfords??

Those rear lights are terrible !

 

[Essexman]

Yeah ive been thinking that, what would you suggest ? keep standard ? or different l.e.d rear lights

 

[RGL]

Replacing them with facelift lights is what most do to freshen up the look. It doesn't require any modifications apart from getting different bulbs for the blinker. There are probably some good aftermarket ones, but most seem very dodgy visually and give the good ol' ricer look imo.

 

[Essexman]

If you plan to do much more, you might want to get rid of the engine cover all together.

The AGU is a nice simple lump without all the ancillary **** of the later cars, so looks quite smart with the inlet manifold and rocker cover just painted up

Could save a load on a carbon engine cover! and spend it on a set of porsche oil / water caps instead!

Yeah i went down that route, cheers, bit more to do- sorry for blurry pic

 

[Essexman]

The oil breather was all choked up, so got new silicone blue ones from creations motorsport-

 

[Essexman]

Nice new solid mass flywheel/ pp/ clutch & bearing fitted -

 

[Essexman]

And some drilled, grooved, vented brakes & mintex pads -

 

[Essexman]

Bought a new facelift/ s3 style gear stick/ knob, of course being a cheap ebay jobbie it needed fettling a bit -

 

[Essexman]

Popped on the Audi-sport.net stickers-

 

[Essexman]

Had new windscreen put in courtesy of my insurance, not loosing any no claims or excess outlay which was nice -
Autoglass managed to leave the washer hose disconnected under all the scuttle panel,
which they came back out to do, but they put the wipers on slightly wrong causing them to lock the arms together burning the motor out. jesus, called them again- and after a bit of cheeky ''who's at fault'' & can you prove it etc, managed to get a new wiper motor off them, which they fitted,
I then bought a new 'mechanism' to be sure, All works fine now

 

[Essexman]

Don't normally put stickers on my car, but thought this one was quite relevant

 

[Essexman]

Installed these new spark plugs at same time of doing the rocker/ gasket-

 

[Essexman]

A few random pics including-
an Autoglass man on the hottest day trying to get it right,
Polish gaiter/ frame textile fettling,
beside a friends car (marineiguana on uk-mkivs forum)
upgraded (slightly blue l.e.d's - to - better white ones
my fancy keyring

 

[Essexman]

Repaired the slow sticky window that eventually ground to a halt ! with the help of my friend Allen (aka my Edd China)
Was amazed that his hunch of it being a corroded cable in that area being right, after trial & error with a few other things,
a nice regulator repair kit off Ebay helped

 

[Essexman]

Had no brake lights one night, all three were out (incl eye level 3rd) took brake 'pedal' switch out, checked with a multi meter, all seemed ok, placed the switch back in, all brake lights worked again! but this was now tempremental, so orderd a new switch from euro car parts £12 (told me it was correct for my car), tried to fit it but was just not fitting in properly, found one on Ebay for £2, This one looked much like the original in size/ shape etc & fitted with no probs, the brake lights worked yet was still tempremental, On a final inspection and feel- i bent/ adjusted a little catch that links to the switch for a better contact, they have worked ever since

From Euro's that just didnt fit right - -

From Ebay that worked for me -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321477121717

 

[Essexman]

After replacing vacume hoses, one other little job done is the throttle body now all cleaned with foam/ degreaser stuff, now much cleaner/ smoother where the butterfly sits on idle

Sorry for poor night pic, just to show area im talking about, was completely taken off & cleaned

 

[Essexman]

Replaced Air/ oil & fuel filter, its showing better mpg in general compared to when i first got the car

 

[Essexman]

I was offered this atmospheric dump valve, from what ive heard everywhere though im going to stick with the re.circ ones if thats what the engine prefers, currently get a nice flutter since i fitted the cone, dont realy want a tishhh aswell

 

[Essexman]

Was offerd this valve as it was going spare (from a 180bhp) 9psi i belive instead of the 7psi i had, fitted and works with no probs, A friend says he can notice a gain, but im not sure, will look forward to a r.road + re.map though
Stainless zorst/ wheels and sus next as soon as my wallett allows

 

[Prawn]

No gains to be had from an n75 swap. The valve doesn't determine boost. The ecu does.

A map is what'll make the big difference

 

[Essexman]

Thats what i thought Prawn, my friend says the ecu on this car knows up to 10psi before re.map, says i had 7, now have 9, but not go more than 10 before remap or the car will go into limp

 

[Essexman]

Took off the Ebay sticker on the rear & whipped off the tax disc while i was at it, If it does not 'need' to be there anymore- i just prefer the full clear windscreen

 

[Jenno007]

Thats what i thought Prawn, my friend says the ecu on this car knows up to 10psi before re.map, says i had 7, now have 9, but not go more than 10 before remap or the car will go into limp

AGU engines don't have a map sensor so the ecu has no idea what the boost is (it only knows what boost it is requesting at the n75).

I ran a bleed valve to get 14psi no problems (a lot of people on here dont like the idea but it was fine for me)

 

[Essexman]

Postman brought some new shiny brakes, front combination has worked well- thought id get rears from same place + Mintex pads

 

[Essexman]

Early Christmas present from me to me!, fitting sunday-

And just fitted these -

 

[Jenno007]

Where did you get the rain deflectors from? Got a picture of them on the car? Wouldn't mind getting some.

You've been going all out on the car lately keep it up!

 

[Essexman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181567864755?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Cheers, im trying, with very limited budget,

the worst thing is i walked back to my car the other night to find scrapes & dents down the side where a van? maybe had squezed through a gap, right in an awkward position near the door shut lines, dont want to claim on insurance & been quoted all different prices from body repair places, the best being £300, might try fix myself, but will be done one way or the other over winter months

 

[Jenno007]

How deep are the scratches? You might get away with touch up paint, some wet sanding and a DA polisher (or a lot of elbow grease).

Thanks for the link, I wonder what shipping to Australia will be

I really want a front splitter as well, but the shipping cost is unbearable!

 

[Essexman]

That advert with the skip lorry scraping against the car in the insurance advert springs to mind lol, god :-( the mirror was off too but thats sorted

 

[s3james]

God some people in this world need to be shot. Poor car.. I hope you get her fixed man, loving the thread!

 

[mikey83]

Try chips away mate, they do mobile repair work around the london/essex areas, the bloke you want to speak to is called barron. Ive had some work done from him mate and quite recently too (showroom fresh results) and very reasonable too mate.
will collect your car and drop it off if he cant do it at your home/work.

Can PM you his number if you want mate let me know, just say mike from thurrock put you onto him.

mike

 

[Essexman]

Thanks for that, Ill mention you if i use him, Cars on standby at the mo with other bills to pay, Probs see you around then if your Thurrock

 

[mikey83]

No what you mean mate.. things like this always come at the worst of times... well what's happened with yours would be bad at any time!! Know your pain Though mate as had similar happen to me a few years back whilst parked outside my brothers house so t@*! In a scrap wagon thought he would modify the side of my car for me! Unlucky for him a woman across the road seen it and knocked straight away...

No worries though mate.

You around the Thurrock area yourself?

 

[Essexman]

Fitted the coilovers, in the cold & fog :-/ but jobs done Wheels and exhaust cant come sooner, oh and getting the dents done of course, Driving characteristics completely changed, but for the better, will have to get used to it

 

[Essexman]

When does one very long page become 2 pages ? lol, Does a mod or Admin have to do it ?