Hi,
Bought my B5 1.8 TQS at the end of April for the reasonable sum of £1650. It had 111k onthe clock, FSH and 4 owners and looked half tidy. There were a few things wrong with it but I saw the potential and had big plans and a couple of grand spare to spend. So, I thought I'd document the car's progress as I go along.
This is how I bought it, totally bog standard:
First thing I did was replace the missing trim on the passenger rear door and get the thing full serviced and replace the grumbling wheel bearing at the back. Did the engine oil, gearbox and diff oil, plugs, airfilter, fuelfilter, coolant and replaced the brakefluid with DOT5.1. While doing the service, the garage noticed a cracked back spring so I thought, ok, good time to go coilovers.
In the meantime I bought a boost gauge that was for sale on here for a bargain £30 delivered,
I also took off the standard rims and fitted the wheels I had on my old B5 1.9 TDI as a temporary measure. The 17" Ronals I removed had nearly new, but budget tyres on so I knew I could get a few quid for them which would help fund my new plans for 18s.
I also clay barred the whole car and gave it a good polish
The standard chromey grille also let the car down I thought, so I bought an RS4 replica one off ebay which was quite good value and fitted well. I used my existing rings and also refitted the quattro badge with some hot melt glue.
I also didn't like the "A4" badge on the back, so that had to go
In the meantime I'd found the perfect wheel. 18" and quite an unusual style in an anthracite finish. They were a bargain too at £379(without tyres) so I took the plunge. Couldn't wait for them to turn up.
They turned up and I was well excited. I opened the box and was horrified. They looked like this:
NOT Anthracite, but polished silver and gloss black. Very MAX Power! The company selling them had them listed on their stock list as anthracite but in fact they were all black and silver unfortunately. So they went back and were replaced by these. Boring, I know, but I like them!
I wanted to wait until I had the suspension on before I fitted the wheels, so I set about choosing what I wanted. Had a few ideas in mind, somoene recommended AP coilovers at around £500 and I also was considering spendng the extra on Eibach Pro Street at just over £800, but in the end I rand Venom and explained my circumstances and they gave me some very helpful advice. They told me to forget coilovers as I was clearly after something to fit and forget and as long as it gave a good but sporty ride I wasn't the kind of person who would be adjusting it every 5 mins. So I opted for the Weitec Ultra GT kit for £550 (which should be arriving this week) which gives a fixed ride height with a drop of around 45mm at the front and 30mm at the rear (probably a bit less on mine as it already has the Quattro Sport suspension). I also was advised by guys on here to change the suspension arms at the same time so I ordered a full Meyle kit from All German Parts for £382 delivered which arrived this morning (no pics yet).
Meanwhile I had fitted my boost gauge (more on that later) and a brand new Firge dumpvalve for a very reasonable £35.99!
So, hopefully my suspension will turn up this week. That, along with the arm kit is being fitted at the beginning of July. The car is booked in the body shop this week to correct all the scratches and dents and I should be getting the tyres for my wheels (225/40 18 Goodyear eagle F1s) this weekend.
So will post up some more pics once all that is done.
Any comments, good or bad, gratefully received!
Bought my B5 1.8 TQS at the end of April for the reasonable sum of £1650. It had 111k onthe clock, FSH and 4 owners and looked half tidy. There were a few things wrong with it but I saw the potential and had big plans and a couple of grand spare to spend. So, I thought I'd document the car's progress as I go along.
This is how I bought it, totally bog standard:
First thing I did was replace the missing trim on the passenger rear door and get the thing full serviced and replace the grumbling wheel bearing at the back. Did the engine oil, gearbox and diff oil, plugs, airfilter, fuelfilter, coolant and replaced the brakefluid with DOT5.1. While doing the service, the garage noticed a cracked back spring so I thought, ok, good time to go coilovers.
In the meantime I bought a boost gauge that was for sale on here for a bargain £30 delivered,
I also took off the standard rims and fitted the wheels I had on my old B5 1.9 TDI as a temporary measure. The 17" Ronals I removed had nearly new, but budget tyres on so I knew I could get a few quid for them which would help fund my new plans for 18s.
I also clay barred the whole car and gave it a good polish
The standard chromey grille also let the car down I thought, so I bought an RS4 replica one off ebay which was quite good value and fitted well. I used my existing rings and also refitted the quattro badge with some hot melt glue.
I also didn't like the "A4" badge on the back, so that had to go
In the meantime I'd found the perfect wheel. 18" and quite an unusual style in an anthracite finish. They were a bargain too at £379(without tyres) so I took the plunge. Couldn't wait for them to turn up.
They turned up and I was well excited. I opened the box and was horrified. They looked like this:
NOT Anthracite, but polished silver and gloss black. Very MAX Power! The company selling them had them listed on their stock list as anthracite but in fact they were all black and silver unfortunately. So they went back and were replaced by these. Boring, I know, but I like them!
I wanted to wait until I had the suspension on before I fitted the wheels, so I set about choosing what I wanted. Had a few ideas in mind, somoene recommended AP coilovers at around £500 and I also was considering spendng the extra on Eibach Pro Street at just over £800, but in the end I rand Venom and explained my circumstances and they gave me some very helpful advice. They told me to forget coilovers as I was clearly after something to fit and forget and as long as it gave a good but sporty ride I wasn't the kind of person who would be adjusting it every 5 mins. So I opted for the Weitec Ultra GT kit for £550 (which should be arriving this week) which gives a fixed ride height with a drop of around 45mm at the front and 30mm at the rear (probably a bit less on mine as it already has the Quattro Sport suspension). I also was advised by guys on here to change the suspension arms at the same time so I ordered a full Meyle kit from All German Parts for £382 delivered which arrived this morning (no pics yet).
Meanwhile I had fitted my boost gauge (more on that later) and a brand new Firge dumpvalve for a very reasonable £35.99!
So, hopefully my suspension will turn up this week. That, along with the arm kit is being fitted at the beginning of July. The car is booked in the body shop this week to correct all the scratches and dents and I should be getting the tyres for my wheels (225/40 18 Goodyear eagle F1s) this weekend.
So will post up some more pics once all that is done.
Any comments, good or bad, gratefully received!
