Is 120k miles too many for tracking?

[mk4gtiturbo]

Potentially I have the option to buy an S3 cheap but it has 120k on the clocks. The thing will get a hard life from now on but will be looked after. What goes wrong transmission wise? Is 120k too many to convert to a track car? What other upgrades should I consider (transmission wise) if I'm remaping / IHI'ing? I'm concerned that I'll break something and it'll be expensive to put right.

The other option I am looking at is maybe a Golf V6 4motion and this could have significantly less miles on it for the same money (say 60k or 70k).

What do I do?

 

[jojo]

Potentially I have the option to buy an S3 cheap but it has 120k on the clocks. The thing will get a hard life from now on but will be looked after. What goes wrong transmission wise? Is 120k too many to convert to a track car? What other upgrades should I consider (transmission wise) if I'm remaping / IHI'ing? I'm concerned that I'll break something and it'll be expensive to put right.

The other option I am looking at is maybe a Golf V6 4motion and this could have significantly less miles on it for the same money (say 60k or 70k).

What do I do?

For the same money, the V6 4Motion looks good value, but with a heavy V6 on the front axle, the S3 is going to be the better handler out the box. And obviously tuning is more accessable with the 1.8T

 

[Prawn]

120k is nothing mate. At any mileage for a track car, you'll be wanting to replace all the suspension and brakes anyway.

It's only the interiors that tend to get rattly on these cars with super high mileage. and if it's a track car, you're ripping all that out anyway!

I bought my first A3 on 124k, and over 4 years I added nearly 80k to the clocks, and almost 100bhp to the engine. it's now on 203k making 240bhp and the engine is sweet as a nut! Since stripping it, there's nothing left to rattle, and all the suspension and brakes are new too, so I'm not worried.

If an engine does give up, they're cheap enough anyway these days!

 

[AARON77]

My car has 174k it's remaped and still it drives sweet ???
The rolling road figures were 184bhp

 

[mk4gtiturbo]

Has anyone ever heard of the transmission failing? Is anything likely to be worn and need replacing?

 

[finesse]

Nope, only jojo which has killed 2 gearboxes and one member with a buffered transfer box - as far as I know

 

[jojo]

Nope, only jojo which has killed 2 gearboxes and one member with a buffered transfer box - as far as I know

2? Only one mate, on my own car with a diff pin firing into the side of the gearbox casing @54k odd miles I think?

My other 156k Mile S3 had a gearbox rebuild @120k miles for a whining 6th gear(not by me). I guess it only lived on the motorway in 6th gear, so killed it? But the engine is running sweet, RR@251BHP not too long ago(CC stage1), but it does have a folder of regular servicing to back it up!

 

[dannyh]

What about a cluch, have you though you may need to replace that??

 

[jojo]

What about a cluch, have you though you may need to replace that??

Are you asking me?

New clutch was fitted to both cars I have whilst the gearbox was out!

 

[dannyh]

No i am just sayin with remapping and mods like that with 120K on the clock surely a the cluch will go soon???

 

[Prawn]

A 120k clutch will probably give up when mapped.

My a3 had a new box at 130k, it was
Then mapped to 190bhp for 20k, then a further 50k at 240bhp/280lbft, after 60k or so on the new box it started to whine in second gear, and after 10k it was whining REALLY badly, so
I replaced it with a new box and all is well again.

 

[mk4gtiturbo]

I'll probably do the clutch at some point anyway, had one fail on my previous trackcar (mk2 golf 16v) but that was probably the original and it went at 175k.

Brakes and suspension will be changed during the build anyway. Is there a cheap upgrade for the fronts? I put 288mm discs and matching callipers obviously on the Golf (from 239mm) and it was just a simple bolt on. Anything similar for the S3?

 

[Prawn]

Sadly, the s3 already has 312mm brakes, which are the bolt on upgrade from 288's with just a carrier change.
3.2tt or r32 brakes will bolt on, but they're very heavy, and discs cost stupid money. Best bet is to source some Leon cupra R brembos. 4 pot alloy calipers, with 323x28mm discs

 

[AARON77]

I meant 284 bhp
I found the clutches were pony when I got my car with 98k on I think the clutch was shot so I replaced it and after 8 months of power slides and general abuse I slaughtered that one! but I've now got a stage 1 clutch and light flywheel and it's been sweet for a almost 2years downside it's a bit heavy for London driving