My S3 Sportback S-tronic

[Acheron]

Hi all,

New around these parts despite having used this forum many times before when looking up the answers to VAG related questions I've had. My previous ride was a 2007 A3 2.0T Sportback running Revo 2 and bunch of other customisations, altough I never got around to posting a build thread on here.

Anyway, I'm a South African working in the power utility industry and here is my recently acquired Audi S3 Sportback along with it's specs, future mod plans and few pics.

Specs:
- 2010 Sportback
- Ibis white
- S-tronic
- Panoramic roof
- 35% Lumar tint
- Cell phone preperation
- Bluetooth
- iPod dock
- Symphony 6-disc frontloader
- Arm rest
- Half leather seats
- S3 standard goodies

Right. So now that the obligatory background and pic(s) are out the way down to my plans for the new car...so far

Performance:
- Software only for now (most likely Revo), but will likely go 2+ later.
- Check if stock diverter valve is the latest revision
- Check if stock PCV valve is the latest revision
- NGK Iridium BKR7EIX spark plugs

Exterior:
- LED license plate lights
- 5000 or 6000k Xenon foglights (H11)
- Grill frame in gloss black and the rest in matte black
- Front splitter in carbon fibre (or CF vinyl wrap)
- Rear diffuser in carbon fibre (or CF vinyl wrap)
- Stock rims in either black or gunmetal

Interior:
- Retrofit front footwell lights
- Retrofit rear footwell lights
- Retrofit puddle lights
- White LED festoons for all interior lights
- Aluminium door and gear shifter trim in carbon fibre (or CF vinyl wrap)
- Re-upholster the cloth sections of the seats...unlikely to actually do this unless I find a capable place to do it.
- OEM Rubber bootliner for the boot

Disclaimer: All of the above are subject to change as I go along. Feel free to make suggestions!

Pics:

 

[amar06fbr]

nice car! good spec

 

[Acheron]

My A3 was spec'ed with the OEM "extra lighting" option which I miss on the S3 because of the ambience it lends to the cabin. No more shall this be the case for tonight marks the start of the retrofit!

First off let's start with the rear passenger light. The stock unit has two bulbs controlled by one rocker switch.

The new unit with individual reading light controls. Note I would not have in fact changed this had I not planned on doing some modification to this housing to accomodate an ambient lighting module like the front cluster has.

With that out the way let's move onto the front light cluster. The stock unit has no ambient lighting and no individually controlled map reading lights.

Old unit out with guts exposed. The unit itself is easy to get to this point (2 screws), but then you must unclip all of the essential harnesses to be carried over to the new unit as well as the motion detection unit, sunroof switch and a few other sensors I'm not entirely familiar with.

The new unit being tested before refit. Note the LED module for ambient lighting.

New unit installed and working. Note the map lights that may be used without the main dome light.

The after effect of the ambient LED module. The camera makes the light a bit more prominent than it is in reality so expect it to be a bit more subtle that what you see here.

Still to come:
- Fit the front footwell lights with harness I received from the UK
- Fit puddle lights with another harness also supplied by the UK seller
- Modify rear passenger light unit to accomodate ambient lighting module (i.e. like the front unit)

 

[S.]

nice s3 and good plans

 

[adamroutley]

is that ambient light with reading lights direct from audi? part number and price please if available?

 

[Acheron]

The results of the Eibach Pro kit. Excuse the dirty "after" shots and the incorrect file names for each pic.

BEFORE

AFTER

Bonus front wheel gap shot:

Next up: 10mm hubcentric spacers all around

 

[Paullie]

Beautiful S3, Acheron! Loving what you've done so far and looking forward to seeing more xx

 

[Acheron]

Beautiful S3, Acheron! Loving what you've done so far and looking forward to seeing more xx

Cheers, Paullie. Trying to take it slowly with this one. My previous car, an A3, was modded to the hilt within a year and I found myself quite bored without getting my hands dirty over the weekends

Oh yes, I see I neglected to mention that the car has had Revo Stage 1 loaded, with a new Evoms intake and downpipe waiting in the garage ready to be fitted once I get around to sourcing an uprated HPFP.

 

[S.]

now it sits perfect

 

[~RS~]

Your car is beautiful! this is my favourite combo for the S3SB. Well tbf it's a 50/50 with Ibis and Suzuka grey, never the less yours is lovely mate

 

[Acheron]

The fruits of this afternoon's labour:

 

[gabrialboy]

Cool man, also contemplating fitting RNS- The standard head unit really looks dated in the cab....Did you get yours from "Tuffy" on the SA bb by any chance. Going to get mine from him.

 

[S.]

great mod.
can't wait to get mine rns-e

 

[Ash187]

such a lovely car mate! i love the S3 Sportbacks... just look so perfect!

The Ambient light install is very nice, but i think you should get in touch with Trups and get some LED lights in there too. that would really set the interior off!

 

[Acheron]

such a lovely car mate! i love the S3 Sportbacks... just look so perfect!

The Ambient light install is very nice, but i think you should get in touch with Trups and get some LED lights in there too. that would really set the interior off!

Cheers for the kind words. My interior LED kit is in the post. Will install them at the same time as the footwell light harnesses.

Until then...some more subtle modding curtasy of eBay:

Before (stock halogen globe):

After (5500k LED enclosed unit):

Also installed one of these units in the glovebox

 

[Acheron]

The results of some ambitious Plast-Dip'ing. The original plan was to use some of the Glossifier product I had ordered to give the rim a nice gloss black finish, but after seeing the satin effect we ended up with it was decided to forgoe it this time around (since I plan to experiment with Gloss and the Metalizer products on other cars shortly)

Wheels off and cleaned:

4 coats and about 18 hours of curing time later:

The full effect:

My mate's Cupra that was the guinea pig the night before

 

[S.]

looks really great! what did you use?

 

[Acheron]

looks really great! what did you use?

Just some Plasti-Dip, the aerosol version, and a steady hand.

 

[S.]

how many cans?

 

[mjr901]

Didnt know Revo did fridge freezers??!!

 

[S.]

Didnt know Revo did fridge freezers??!!

yes they do...
you should see washer & dryer combos

 

[mjr901]

bet they do an aggressive wash.

 

[Acheron]

All i know is that beers go from 0 to frosty in under 4 seconds

 

[mjr901]

blisteringly quick!!

 

[Acheron]

Some more small updates. Apologies for the Instagram pic...will upload some "unfiddled" shots when I get around to taking some.

Grill Plasti-dipped and 6000k HID fogs. I realise some have strong opinions on HID kits, but be assured they are just for show and are not used to blind fellow road users as I don't drive with fogs on.

Interior LED festoons:

A little decal for sh*ts and giggles

 

[S.]

looking good.

 

[Acheron]

Some unedited (aside from usual Photoshop cropping/resizing work) shots as promised.

A close up of the Plast-dipped grill (still unsure if I should perhaps remove the dip around the rings):

Shots of the black and white theme coming together:

 

[S.]

looks really great...are you doing also black fog light rings?

 

[Acheron]

I think if I decide to keep the Audi rings black the fog rings need to be done too. Still haven't quite decided yet though

 

[Zak0123]

Grille makes the car look even better! Get those rings white or chrome though, they get a bit lost :thumbsup: Think the fogs do look nice in chrome, they kinda match the lights! But they might look even better in black haha

 

[Acheron]

Quick update:

1) 76mm downpipe installed

2) EVOMS and TTS engine cover installed

 

[S.]

great!!!!

 

[whale]

Man that sounds nice!

 

[tcardio]

Quick update:

1) 76mm downpipe installed

2) EVOMS and TTS engine cover installed

Looks so beautiful. Your whip is really coming together. ever consider VF engineering motor mounts powdercoated in black? More HP to the ground ya know? Also check out JCaps in black to finish off that engine bay

 

[big harty]

Looks fantastic mate. Enjoy

 

[Acheron]

Haven't updated my thread in a while so here is a quick pic or three of my Maniacs paddle extensions. Waited so long for them to start making these for the Audi models, but they managed to ship these to me within 2 weeks.

 

[Acheron]

Sick of this crappy weather so I decided to do one of the mods I've been putting off for while (don't know why), i.e. continuing the OEM "extra lighting" pack retrofit with the front footwell light install.

Quite easy in terms of skill level needed to do, i.e. just some VCDS coding and some wiring, but with removing the panels on both the driver's and passengers side it does become a bit laborious:

The results (excuse the dirty footwell ):

The LED's I have in there are a bit dimmer than the photo would have you believe, but they were just some T10's I had lying around from the old A3 so I'll replace them at some stage.

 

[N8]

Car looks so clean with the black rims and grille, lovely work

 

[poli84]

Car is looking very nice mate, not sure how I've missed your build till now.
Lovely progress.

Did you remove the grille to plasti-dip?

 

[Acheron]

Cheers, guys!

Car is looking very nice mate, not sure how I've missed your build till now.
Lovely progress.

Did you remove the grille to plasti-dip?

The grill you can actually dip with the bumper still on the car as the excess tears down nicely around those lines, BUT you do have the intercooler/radiator behind that so you'll probably not want to risk getting them covered in dip (although many have done it this way). Not willing to risk it I removed the bumper to do it with the grill still attached, but after seeing how easily the grill detaches from the bumper I removed it and dipped it seperately.

It's held up very well in almost 3 months I've had it dipped with no issues of peeling, chipping, etc. I also recently removed the dip from around the rings to expose the chrome...looks far better!