A3 Quattro build thread

mat20vt

Registered User
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
452
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
NULL
picked the A3 1.8t quattro up in december, as a totally standard car, just a few little faults
emotion-1.gif

media.jpg


found a decent set of S3 alloys, which i had refurbed and finished in a dark grey, had a bilstein B12 kit fitted, along with H&R anti roll bars, with KW tie arms.
emotion-2.gif


037-1.jpg



036.jpg


Bilstein kit has lowered car 30mm. car sits nice now, and ride is good. lot firmer than standard, but fine for everyday use. sits nice and flat in corners now with arb's. handles really well now with plenty of grip

Next on list of mods is brembo gt kit, poly bushes and MOT
 
next on list:yes:

033-1.jpg


shiny new brembo kit. stil waiting for dics and hoses to turn up. hopefully get it fitted next weekend

PASSED mot last week too

polybushes for wishbones here, waiting for fitting, along with powerflex lower engine mount.

getting there slowly
 
nice colour for the wheels...I just refurbed a set of tt alloys in graphite grey. just need to put them on the car :)
 
cheers mate, was thinking of black, but wasnt sure how they would look on dark blue car.
had same wheels, in black on my silver mk4 golf. looked good
 
Very nice! how much would you say the handling etc has improved?
 
quite a lot. sits nice and flat in corners now, very little roll. feel much more confident with it now. want to get wishbone bushes on now
you do feel bumps in road a bit more, but i'm not worried about that.

for all suspension mods (inc fitting) it came to about £1000. defo worth it, cars a lot better to drive
 
You got me intrested NOW :p

Not sure if I should get brakes or suspension first though, will you be getting it mapped after all this work? Most people do it other way round guess you have more patience! I think I will have to get brakes as standard have faded twice on me, always slow down well before required these days! How much you pay for the brembo kit if you dont me asking?
 
i paid £840 for the kit. from bill at badger5.
using ebc disks/brembo pads. rbf600 fluid
once car is running as i want, i'll upgrade to brembo discs, and ds2500 or 3000 pads.
speak to bill for the brakes.

will get it remapped when i go big turbo
 
update!
brembo kit now fitted, along with new discs and pads all round!
taster pic :drool:
012.jpg


will get more pics over weekend. does look very tidy now. well happy!

also picked up a set of bran new scat rods and supertech valves for £450! bargin!
 
its getting there slowly. need to build up collection of parts now for engine rebuild
 
Interesting to follow the evolution of your car, I have the TDI Quattro A3 and have done a similar list of mod’s. I went for the Porsche Boxster front callipers and pads with 312mm discs, I had to put spacers on as the new callipers fouled the wheels (18”), did you?

If you haven’t already thought about it, here’s a heads up, if your spare wheel is a space saver it will not fit anymore, because of the narrow width of the space saver the larger brake disc grinds against the wheel, something I found out on the side of the motorway :banghead:

Interested in your Blistein set-up, I dropped my car on Eibach springs, but have never been totally happy with them, time to change the whole suspension I think. What do feel the KW tie arms have done for the ride / handling?
 
tie arms hove corrected camber. once it droped 30mm (ish) the camber was wayyyyyy out on the rear. thats all been put right now by adjusting the arms.
had eibach springs on mk4 golf, and wasnt to impressed with them. this set-up feels a lot nicer overall.
17" S3 alloys, and the brembo kit fits straight under, no spacers! 3-4mm clearance. well tight!
 
lol the guy who fitted the brakes said that too!
added to the list......very long list
 
yup smoked dont look OEM and think you need to keep a certain level of genuine across the car
 
yep, no other lights on car are smoked, so may look odd. i'l order some clear ones this week
 
:)new pistons picked up tonight. 82mm bore weisco's

brakes bedded in nicely this week, real nice bite to them, jst gently pressing pedel
 
Anyone know what the standard capability for S3/TT conrods are? mat20v, which conrods did you go for? Anyone else have any preference? Thinking of uprating mine before engine drops in..
 
Depends on your power goals. Its torque that breaks rods. You'll get all sorts of figures from folk. Most say under 340-350bhp.........but so subjective depending on tune.

If you are running AGU, just get some scat rods with 20mm gudeon pins. Cheap and race proven. Keep the standard pistons which are good for 500bhp so the yanks say.

Later engines have slightly weaker pistons but still good for high power. Some people do as above and swap the pistons as the OEM items have a 19mm gudeon pin. Intergrated engineering now sell their "drop-in" rods that come with 19mm pins.

Pauter rods are high quality also, but pricey.
 
i've gone for scat rods, will be up to the power level i want, and sourced for £220. supertech valves, and the 82mm weisco pistons.
metel water pump, uprated engine mounts. full 3" exhaust with 100cell cat.
turbo will be topmounted, but need to decide on turbo etc.
cant find a off shelf fmic kit for a3. and jbs said allow £1000 for them to build and fit a kit.
 
Keep the standard pistons which are good for 500bhp so the yanks say.

Yeah ive heard most internals are good for big bhp but conrods might need doing, so better safe than sorry.. ive noted your suggestions and ill look into it.. Thanks HTC.. did you get your car remapped? whats it running now? are you happy with it?

Mat20v, i havnt chosen a turbo yet either.. get the pix n specs up when u choose one.. would be interesting to see what you go for..
 
Scats will be fine. Top mount is a good choice. Easier access, lower heat, simple down pipe and external wastegate if required..........hmmm, perhaps I should have gone for one :)

Bill Brockbank has just fitted I believe, first UK "full race" manifold to a right hand drive golf running GT28RS. Awesome bit of kit, so there is another option. Call all the tuners and get talking with. I personally like JBS, but I would say that as I have one of thier kits. Mine was about £900 for manifold downpipe gaskets coolant/oil lines etc without fitting. So £1000 with fitting is exceptional value......you sure that was correct?
 
Rods, valves and oil pumps kill 1.8ts. If you are good in those areas..then you should be fine.

Shy19s, My car is having fluctuating lambda issues on full chat. James at JBS is thinking its maybe a fuelling problem. I've got all the right components - S3 pump, big injectors 4bar fpr blah blah, but its looking like a blockage.....maybe just a duff old filter. Just need to wait and see.
They've had it up to 25psi breifly and it's putting out good power, but they don't want to let it go with anything suspect that could cause engine damage, which I appreciate.
They'll have it fixed soon thanks for asking.
 
Rods, valves and oil pumps kill 1.8ts. If you are good in those areas..then you should be fine.

Shy19s, My car is having fluctuating lambda issues on full chat. James at JBS is thinking its maybe a fuelling problem. I've got all the right components - S3 pump, big injectors 4bar fpr blah blah, but its looking like a blockage.....maybe just a duff old filter. Just need to wait and see.
They've had it up to 25psi breifly and it's putting out good power, but they don't want to let it go with anything suspect that could cause engine damage, which I appreciate.
They'll have it fixed soon thanks for asking.

yeah dont want it running lean.. good luck with that.. keep us posted. would like to see what figures you get and how it drives etc.. im gunna be running the TT/s3 engine, but your turbo did catch my eye, so ill look into that.
 
top mounted gt3071rs, wiith .63 housing is likly to be on mine
smallest housing on gt30, so should help spool up, and stil good for 450bhp max
 
@shy19s, keep checking back here, i'll be updating regulary with all new bits
 
i've been reading that thread yea! intresting stuff. but i'm not sure weather to go external wastegate
 
Personally love the chatter of an external wastegate to a DV, Apart from the Bailey Venturi, sounds like a chain cracking. Cosmetics aside ive heard wastegate is better?
 
externally gated will give more control over boost yea?
 

Similar threads