Saving a white 3.0 quattro build thread.

[Super Ron]

Ive been posting on the forum here and there and reading lots of old usefull info so I thought id copy the build thread over from another forum I use. I know I like reading though build stories, maybe you guys do too, maybe you dont, but thought id post anyway this spans over the last couple of years really.

Well as some of you may have seen in my vectra thread this year hasnt been kind to the old girl. its gone from a trophy winning stunner at billing last year,

to a very rusty old girl that will need alot of work for the mot in july

so i started looking around and a little ebaying session last week resulting in a bit of a road trip up north yesterday with a grand in my pocket, over 600miles in a day lol

to collect this

a 52plate Audi A4 Avant SE 3.0 30v V6 Tiptronic Quattro. fully loaded electrics, full beige leather interior, full lpg conversion, RS4 18s and chrome mirrors, detatchable tow bar, Perfect family car

RS4 wheels and mirrors

detatchable towbar

nice and roomy and comfy inside

60litre gas tank

ash tray full of change

and so, the reason this £4k car was a grand?? well its thrown two conrods through the block, holes each side, found a little end in the undertray

not sure why its spat them out, its only done 92k and has full dealer service history upto 2010, but anyway its ****ed lmao

But AMAZINGLY... it still runs(ish). i drove it on and off the recovery truck, and in and out of the unit a few times. it ****** oil and water out of the block and smokes like hell. but still runs with cyl 1&2 big ends flailing round the crank and pistons stuffed up in the head

5mins later lol

and a little drip too

so now currently on the hunt for a new engine for a reasonable price...........

Plans:-

short term, get a new engine obviously :lmao: and while its in bits i'll prob get some eibach -35mm springs for it just so its not quite so much of a monster truch, but still keeping its luxuary. i would lilke to get some different interior trims as the walnut wood is rather grandad. this needs to be done before the middle of july when the vectra runs out of mot. will give it a nice machine polish too as i dont think its been polished in many years.

medium term, its in pretty good shape all round, the only big scuff is on the passenger side rear dogleg, so might do that and at the same time weld up the hole for the lpg filler cap and relocate that in down at the towbar like my vectra

long term:- i would like to get a full s-line kit for it, but i'm begging to realsie the audi tax pricetag on everything lol with the contracts being exchanged on the house any day now, and the next baby due in 6 months, and an astra to get a look in, i havnt really got a grand to spend on a few bumpers, and in a way i quite like the black and white,

so in reality the short term plans will stand for a long time lol

ive emailed round all the vag brakers i could find for an engine so waiting responces, but if anyone knows of a ASN engine let me know

 

[Super Ron]

stripped the front end off

got to love how these come off, quick release clips on most of the hoses, and a dozen bolts and the rad, aircon, pas cooler, gearbox cooler and whole front panel comes off in one

its a hell of a wide 'V' compared to the vauxhalls

leaving not alot of clearance for the manifolds lol

still searching for an engine though at the mo :doh:

 

[Super Ron]

well the plot thickens :lmao: as i was still getting stupid quotes for engines if any at all i took a different route and bout this today

A 2001 audi a4 3.0 quattro sport. 84k, full main dealer service history, recent audi cambelt and pas pump, stunning condition and almost a years mot and a bit of tax, £1900 plan is to take the engine out and break the rest, looking a second hand audi bits it should work out i just about get a free engine

I was suprised how basic the 'sport' is, no leather, no trip computer, basic stereo, no armrest, no ski bag, no bose, prett lowspec compared to my se. It has got proper xenons and washers so would be rude not to swap them too. Gave it some proper tests out in the fields and had some full on oppisite lock 4wheel drifting :lmao:

 

[Super Ron]

f ound out the sports are 15mm lower too so will swap the suspension aswell i best be carefull or i wont have anything left to break off the sport lmao

Anyway todays progress, working on the most technical thing ive ever encounted, give me a vauxhall conversion to do any day!

And out

 

[Super Ron]

had a shuffle around and got the donor in, proof i am still in the vauxhall gang too lmao

oh another one..

stripping it down, as im stripping the donor i thought id drop the whole assemberly out as one, engine, gearbox, suspension subframe, the lot

everything off and ready to drop, last to do was the prop. 2 hours later and its still on so went home :doh: :lmao:

 

[Super Ron]

well another hour on the prop and got the ****** off! so all ready to come out

got a selection of trolleys out and in place

and allll out in one

its a hell of a gearbox on it

and all stripped down, audiparts.co.uk depot

thought i would change the cats as with all the oil pouring down down them it may be fobarrred and its a subframe down job to change so easier to do now, they're different though, both genuine audi, but the lambdas are in different places, one cars a 2001 and ones 2002, strange, fitted ok though

and got in bolted in

got to go to work for the rest of the week now though, so no more progress for a while.

 

[Super Ron]

after a nice 'break' at work was back on it, getting the looms back in

was going to use the inlet origionally off the white one, as it had the lpg nozzles drilled in, drained about 2 litres of oil/water out of the manifold, started wiping the rest out and it was all gritty full of bits of metal!

so scrapped that idea and drilled and tapped the lpg nozzles in the other one, oh and hgave it a quick lick of paint

then went on a bit of a main dealer shopping trip

very flash

and carried on

and all connected wired and plummed in, ready for the front pannel

 

[Super Ron]

bit more today, fitting the suspension and brakes off the silver one on to mine, before

after

got the front panel on and gave it a little fire up, and it started only for a second as it was dry still

also added the headlight washer bottle as i plan to run xenons so planning mot friendly

and then took the whole front bumper, skirts and door flats from the donor, and my rear bumper to old work for my mate to add some white

few hours later and back all colour coded up

got back and just laid the bumpers on for now

must say....... it doesnt look much lower with the new suspension on??

booked the mot for saturday, so best crack on lol

 

[Super Ron]

been a busy day but not taken many pics, stripped the rear brakes and exhaust off the donor as they're alot better condition than mine, one piece exhaust system, bet thats a pretty penny from audi

I wanted to fit the rear suspension, but you have to dismantle the entine rear suspension to get the springs out, drive shafts, hubs the lot. So left that for another day.

Rear brakes all done

Then fitted the rear bumper, skirts and door moldings, its a spot on colour match, the cars filthy here

Checked all the lights and found its got l.e.d's, very flash

Still got the front end to do tomorrow.

 

[Super Ron]

finished off today, got the front end all fitted up

Its up in the air to top up the gearbox, what a mission, you fill it from underneith so had to make a contraption

And it can only be done at oil temps between 35-40°c, so had to plug it in at the same time

wired up the squirters, just had to send one wire to the canbus ecu, yep make a nice mess

And that was it done ready for the mot in the morning

And this is why i didnt bother cleaning up the bay while the engine was out, plastic city lmao

The rest of the car needs a major clean now!

 

[Super Ron]

Gave it a machine polish today, it doesnt really show on the pics but i dont think its ever been polished before, it was like sandpaper and covered in tar and sap etc

8hours later and its like glass

Its doent lookmuch different in the pics, but its mega bling

 

[Super Ron]

As high spec as the SE is, it doesnt come standard with cruise control. So ive been keeping an eye out on ebay and this came up, he bought it new from audi, then sold the car before fitting it.

Stalk collum surround screws stickers and instructions

So started stripping

And all the wiring is there, they dont have plugs, they just all clip in together

And on

The bottom cowling that came with it was black, and mines grey

So masked up and drew round the black one

And transfered to my grey one

Cut out and job done

 

[Super Ron]

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[Super Ron]

well haven't updated this, mostly as not much gone on, done 10k trouble free miles since fitting the engine so happy with that

one thing that was a bit pants was the headlights, still good, but coming from the vectra with shark-eye xenons to normal halogen headlights again was a very noticeable difference, especially as i live out in the countryside so blasting round the b-roads in many miles away from the nearest streetlight





so into the unit for a strip down





as i had bought this lot, 5k CanBus HIDS, led sidelights and chrome indicator bulbs



fitted the new in the drivers side first



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side lights should be 'ice white' but they look more L.A.P.D. blue to me :doh:



as its got all the canbus gubbins the ballast packs are a bit too big to fit inside the headlights so had to dril and grommit the bottom





and strapped underneith the light





was great fun in the snow, these quattros are permanent 4WD so very very tail happy in the snow had alot of fun, some roads i was so sideways i was running out of opposite lock :lol:



it went all through the winter without a wash, white is an AMAZING colour, it just seems to clean itselfs this was about 3 months without a wash



but it had to have a good clean as at the beginning of the year we decided as we've got 2 kids and a mortgage the only thing left was to get hitched, how convenient i have a white car lol







then a few weeks ago it needed a new set of front tyres so did a bit of searing about and did the sensible thing and got a new set of wheels even though they were 18s they always looked small in the MASSIVE arches the B6's have, but i do love the RS4 wheels. i found a set of RS4 reps in 19x8.5s with 4 nearly brand new tyres so went and snapped them up, £400 quid later they were in my boot



so 18's



a 19 on the front



and all 19s

 

[Super Ron]

and then last week whilst outside the fater in laws house some bellend reversed into the front corner and bent the wing and scuffed the wheel :doh: :doh: lucky we saw it as no doubt he would of just driven off as he was looking around to see if anyone saw straight away, ****!







and this is about the only other pic ive got with it rolling the 19s at the mo



so i took it into my old work to be repaired (his insurance is paying) and they're going to do some work on the rear end of that side as it already had a bit of a dent in the rear dogleg and got the god-awful lpg boil in the quarter, they're repairing the arch, welding up the filler and painting down the whole passenger side, and then the whole body will be truely mint





ive taken the lpg filler and pipework out and when i get it back i will be re locating it next to the tow bar like i did with the vectra, oppisite to the trailer electrics plug.

so in the mean time ive got rather a swarch courtesy car

a Volvo V60 D3, 'R' Design







once i get it back i'll take some proper pics of the audi now the suns finally out again

 

[Super Ron]

the insurance company and body shop are trying a new thing of keeping the customer updated on your car, and sending you updates of its progress in messages to your phone and email.

like so:



and heres the progress

stripped



repairing





primer





and painted and refitting





its a good idea i say

should get it back tomorrow, then bye bye volvo

 

[Super Ron]

 

[Super Ron]

Got it back last week and it was BLINGING! Forgot to take a pic though and now a week later its not quite so clean :doh: but here it is anyway

Filler cap flushed and arch repaired

Need to reposition the filler cap still, and soon as running on petrol at 18mpg is ****** expensive lol

 

[Super Ron]

Had a family day out today so thought it was a good excuse to bling up the audi for some pics





took a couple of snaps





and then noticed something rather special in the background, a pimped b6 s4. where ever you go to try and look cool, theres always someone alot cooler :doh:



so moved up a bit so mine looked better :lmao:










REALLLLY want a s-line/ S4 front bumper now

 

[Super Ron]

REALLLLY want a s-line/ S4 front bumper now

 

[Super Ron]

well the audi's been going faultlessly as a family car, unfortunatly i came in contact with something unknown in the road, something unknown that turned out to be ****** hard. didnt think anything of it, but came out to my car the next day and went round the passenger side to strap my boy in and thought WTF??



not too clear on the pic but its proper bananna'd it in at that point

what ever it was also took a slice out of the back tyre too they still held air and drove fine but wouldnt risk driving the family around in it, so luckily i cept the 16s off the silver donor car



had a quick wizz on ebay and as luck would have it another guy did the same thing and smashed one wheel, so he was selling the remainder for £40 each, yes please same 19x9j rs4 style...... but these are ET35 and mine are ET45. i was planning to fit some 10mm spacers on the rear to fill out the big arches as they sat in a bit. so i bought two, couldnt refuse at that price as they normally go for £100 each

so had the delivery today





gonna paint these two new ones and the two remainders for the fronts the same graphite/antharcite colour they were on it.

also last mot it had an advisory of slight play in a track rod end and one of the top multi link. and lately i have a anoying rattle when going over rough ground, typical ARB links, so took full advantage of euro car parts 50% off offer and went through to the premium range of OE spec LEMFORDER stuff. and got buying with free delivery.



before fitting this lot i will be purchasing some eibach springs and rs4 rear ARB (my SE is 16mm, s-lines 18mm, S4 22mm and RS4 is 24mm, all interchangeable).

but i really cant decide on which eibach kit to get, ones 30mm all around and ones front:45mm rear:35mm. decisions decisions decisions ...........

 

[Super Ron]

Cheers mate. Not been alot going on with it lately. Just enjoying trouble free trips.

I did start referbing the 19s this week though as it happens










and the joys of living out in the countryside :lmao:

 

[Super Ron]

well after a couple of months of driving around on the 16s i was pretty bored of it looking like an average audi...

primed up, and managed to pick up a set of 4 nearly new michelin piliot sports for £150 to replace the bugets they had on



flatted them down wet 800, smooth as silk



all done and i took them down to my old work for my mate to sprinkle some magic on them



and picked them up the next day like so a sort of light graphite and satin laquer





and today took them to my other mate to bang the new rubber bands on



and on, looks very blue in the pic lol, but they're not.



and the rears are now ET35 instead of ET48, so 12mm wider track each side, fills the arch much better



and its a bit stormy out there now, but looking pimping



i do want to add some lows to this, namely Eibach springs, but the cheapest i can find for mine as its a V6 and Quattro is £216 for 4 springs (eek) but i suppose you get what you pay for. i haven't fitted all the joints and arms yet as i was going to fit it all together and get it 4wheel aligned all at once.

 

[Super Ron]

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[Super Ron]

Few deliveries today

After lots of searching and finding everyone having the same price of £216 I emailed some of the places pleading and eventually one said £194 delivered. Its only 20quid but it took it under £200 with made it a bit more bare able :lmao:





also a bit of part number searching came up trumps on ebay. Someone had listed it wrong and I got a brand new genuine audi b7 RS4 22 rear ARB for £65

 

[Super Ron]

right today all these bits ive been collecting can start meeting the car

at the moment its standard SE suspension on the rear and s line suspension on the front (supposedly -15mm). Audis do suffer from the appearence of having backwards rake like they're always doing a wheelie, but its actually an optical illusion and its the fact they have bigger arches on the front, none the less looks gay.

and it sits nice and level, -15mm at the front



so into the unit



had a measure all the way around to gauge the height difference



pretty dam level



a good way to spend near on £600



is safe to say they used every bit of space under here, fuel tanks, diffs, shafts, exhausts, full!



first off was the rear ARB, bit of an upgrade :lmao:



these are a bit of a night mare to get the springs out on the quattros you have to drop the whole subframe down and still use spring compressors! they put longer bolts in the middle subframe mounts so you leave a few threads in and this is the most you can drop without stretching the brake pipes, prop and looms. a handy feature. had to drop the exhaust and other bits too



SE and eibach



luckily the shorter spring went back in alot easier and didnt need spring compressors

all back together, see the new springs in front of the wheel and arb behind. STEALTH MODS and gave the calipers and disc a quick lick of paint too



back on the ground and immediately the difference is apparent 20mm so far and should settle down another 10mm







thats the rears all done, the spring kit is 30mm all round on se suspension, so only 15mm on s line suspension, meaning it will only be going down 15mm on the front to what i have now...... however, there is another audi part you can fit which are lower bottom spring platforms, lowering it around 12mm, picking them up in the morning and then can crack on with the fronts

 

[Super Ron]

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[Super Ron]

Day Two, The fronts

back in after looking like its doing a wheelie overnight.



picked up the passat b5.5/ b5 a4 spring cups on the way, more on those in a min



front end stripped out



sline fronts off and standard SE stuff out of the shed



stripped down, SE springs and eibach springs



the passat b5.5/ b5 a4 new cups on the left, my b6 a4 cups on the right. this is where i gain the extra 15mm as they sit firther down the shock



and re assembeld, SE shocks, b5 spring seats and eibach springs



and back together



otherside the same





got the hammerite out on the brakes for a tidy up



and down







ive got it booked into my old work on saturday to have a full 4wheel laser alignment, but took it for a quick spin and although i did measure (ish) the length of the track rod ends before and after, it was miles out. steering wheel was pointing to 2 oclock which was setting the stability control off as it thought i was always turning.

so back in and did a diy alignment. set it all to 0mm with the wheel straight, lucky as my wheels were so big i could reach in past the disc inside the wheel and adjust the rod ends without even jacking it up



and went out for a celebratory wash and you can see the true colour of the wheels outside too











very happy with it and the handling is IMMENSE!! the RS4 rear arb has transformed it and the eibach springs arent any harsher than the sline stuff

 

[Super Ron]

 

[AudiLeon]

Christ! You on vvoc?

 

[Super Ron]

had the 4 wheel alignment today. lots of adjustability on these, even toe and camber on the rear the only thing not adjustable is the front camber which is hanging in now its lowered, but its pretty even so shouldnt be too much on an issue



and my lining up the front tacking with zero was pretty spot on but all adjusted properly now

 

[Turkster]

Fantastic thread, you sir are a man of great details, :icon_thumright:

 

[S3 GAZ]

Well done mate. Really enjoyed reading through that. Youve done a grand job rescuing it. Hats off to you.

 

[easy going Si]

Really enjoyed reading the thread fantastic work and lovely pictures but a small question for you super Ron I have the same 3.0 litre engine as you, do you know much about the pre-cats on the exhaust, it has been rumoured that the pre-cats waste a lot of power from the engine by limiting the through put of exhaust gases, and I was told there is a lamda sensor each side of the pre-cat does this make pre-cat removal impossible or just very difficult

thanks in advance for any help on this

 

[lewie]

Brilliant

 

[666markyboy]

Fantastic thread.... you've put some graft in there but you've got a superb looking car there now..... these Avant Quattros are ace arn't they ?? I never thought I would see the day I was driving a 5 door estate car but I love mine to bits..... keep up the good work

 

[deano1978]

Superb,great info

 

[mattyb6]

What's your over all measurements after the springs?
In inches?
I have 19s and mines too low
Yours still looks practical

Can u measure from floor to the middle of the arch please
(Incase people did it different ways lol)


Too work mate, lovely looking car. Especially the white, I always thought they looked cheap but I was wrong

 

[mattyb6]

Just seen the pic with 25inch exactly on a rear arch
What are the fronts then lol

 

[SmoothAssault]

This is impressive stuff, nice work mate!