my avant

[olds_kool]

just thought id share some info and pics of my new avant
had to buy a replacement for my old v6 tdi in a hurry after a bit of an incident involving a bus (my own fault, momentary lapse in concentration)
as luck would have it not much choice at the time so we ended up driving from stoke to the isle of sheppy after work to look at a 1.8tqs avant, anyway being very tired and just wanting to get back home i handed over far to much money and away we came
i'll explain why i paid to much later but first my favourite part of the car, its interior

it came with double din which i immediatly pulled out and fitted to my saloon, but while collecting another ebay purchase i came across a second double din console which i snapped up for a bargain £80

next came the biggest bargain thanks to foxmeister posting the ebay link £140 for a pair of these

a few more ebay purchases, carbon trim, i had to buy some S4 door cards to get it but i sold them on so the trims ended up costing about £50
the boost gauge is a smiths mechanical bought used for £30, i had bought a podi column mount but the gauge was too deep so ended up cutting out a vent, trickier job than i thought it would be

i transfered my passat sunglasses holder from my old car but with it being light grey plastic i had a go at coverering it
used some roof lining from old car, some spray adhesive and autoglym black dye

colour looks miles out with flash but looks much better in natural light, and material is an exact match in texture

inspired by scotts interior i bought some matt vinyl wrap to cover shift surround, pretty easy stuff to work with
gear knob was worn so i flipped leather around to create a suede one
also needed some sort of phone/sat nav holder and came across a fixing system called tetrax that uses a magnet and tiny metal disks that you fix to back of phone cover, i improved the design by adding a foam surround that grips better

 

[Sulli79]

Looks good, Quick question when you have your ignition on do your gauges light up regardless of whether the lights are on?

 

[aragorn]

nope, TQS dials only illuminate once the lights are on.

Kev: cars looking tidy! I need to get my centre console vinyl wrapped!

 

[Bradderz_1988]

Well mine illuminate with no lights on and ignition on !!

 

[ScottD3]

it came with double din which i immediatly pulled out and fitted to my saloon, but while collecting another ebay purchase i came across a second double din console which i snapped up for a bargain £80

Git

i transfered my passat sunglasses holder from my old car but with it being light grey plastic i had a go at coverering it
used some roof lining from old car, some spray adhesive and autoglym black dye

Ooo I like that. I need to wrap mine as its a different colour.
Got any fabric left over?

That looks like its glowing.............................

inspired by scotts interior i bought some matt vinyl wrap to cover shift surround, pretty easy stuff to work with.

Good stuff innit. SO much better than the rubber plastic crap that audi uses.

Done well mate. it looks nice.
The seats looks good.

Aragorn, How are the trims? You still going to go gloss?
I got loads of matt left over if you want some.

Bradderz, Facelift clocks only light up when the lights are on, prefacelift clocks will light up all the time.

 

[Reesy]

Well mine illuminate with no lights on and ignition on !!

If we are all talking about the same thing, then on the 8L it can be changed via vcds, is it the same on the b5?

 

[Bradderz_1988]

How you loving the to the standard ones mate ??

 

[rasA4]

nice bargain tastic on the recaros, got a pic of the whole car?

 

[olds_kool]

Looks good, Quick question when you have your ignition on do your gauges light up regardless of whether the lights are on?

cheers and no facelift clusters with the digital clocks dont but i tend to drive with sidelights anyway (always wanted a volvo)

nope, TQS dials only illuminate once the lights are on.

Kev: cars looking tidy! I need to get my centre console vinyl wrapped!

cheers bud, get it done the vinyls cheap and very easy to work with

Well mine illuminate with no lights on and ignition on !!

yours an early facelift with analogue clock?

Git ?

he said someone had asked if it was a double console via ebay, i wondered if it was you
it was pure luck i just thought i'd have nose inside and my eyes lit up when i saw it and he said make me an offer, stereo didnt even need code!

Ooo I like that. I need to wrap mine as its a different colour.
Got any fabric left over??

got a whole roofs worth, from a 98 in middle grey colour, not sure it would be an exact match but i'll cut you a section

That looks like its glowing.............................?

ha ha i like you illuminated handle idea but cant think why you'd need to find your sunglasses in the dark

Good stuff innit. SO much better than the rubber plastic crap that audi uses.?

yep, looks like a brand new part, got loads left over, need some more ideas for it

If we are all talking about the same thing, then on the 8L it can be changed via vcds, is it the same on the b5?

illumination? no nothing in coding or adaption, must be a difference in wiring

How you loving the to the standard ones mate ??

recaros, i love the way they look and the electric adjustment but theres not much difference in comfort or grip to be honest

nice bargain tastic on the recaros, got a pic of the whole car?

patience matey (i need to clean it and take some first)

 

[olds_kool]

last few interior pics

transfered from my old car a more practical cup holder, the part no is 8D0 862 533 E

also transferred a very usefull item auto-dimming mirror, theres even connections for wiring in light unit already

made a discovery, the red light units in door cards are exactly the same design as the clear footwell lights so i swapped some spares in to give red illumination in footwells

last finishing touch will be to get dis repaired so its perfect but its not too bad, the white dials are growing on me (hated them in my other car)

also transferred the genuine audi dog guard, replaced alarm siren with the later 'A' suffix model and did some recoding with vagcom, autolocking at 10mph, bleep on alarm arming, removed brake pad warning and adjusted service warnings

thats about it for interior except i'd love to know what these are for
4 off these in roof

and these clips in seat back that dont seem to serve any purpose

exterior, engine bay, and chassis mods to come

 

[ScottD3]

want some porsch caps for the engine bay?
lol

it be closer than the orignal colour of the sun glasses holders.

i need that cup holder in my car.

the holders are for the dog guard, same as the clips on the back of the seats.

 

[adamss24]

Some cars came with a load cover /dog guard combo and they would fix in the slots with the seats in place or with the backrests folded down. Interior looks good, any pics of the whole car ?
Chris.

 

[Bradderz_1988]

Yeah mine has the analog clock. Is that the only differance between early and late facelifts ???

 

[aragorn]

Basically the digital clock change wasnt related to the facelift.

Facelift happened in mid-99, and included all the cosmetic and mechanical changes.

Digital clock and IMMO3 happened in early 2000, as a standalone change.

 

[Broken Byzan]

nice motor, I so wanted those seats... BOOOHOOOO

We have the dog/load guard that slots into the back of the seats and the roof slots, works well and fits in with the load cover too

 

[OllieQS]

That looks awesome nice touches that could be oem. Which vinyl trim did you use? There's so many to choose from? I actually thought you had used an rs4 gear knob what a great idea!

 

[rasA4]

what year is your avant? im thinking maybe mine has the wiring connections for my dimming mirror

 

[B5 BIKER]

Byzan, do you have the part no for the dog guard/cover

 

[olds_kool]

now the reason i paid to much, the seller admitted it had been in a light front smash and claimed he had spent hundreds putting it right, for that he got a pattern copy bumper that was never going to fit properly, and a badly resprayed bonnet/wing and bumper
when i looked at it i knew i already had a bumper in the correct colour (bought to facelift my old car but never got around to it) so i wasnt to bothered thinking i'd scour ebay for someone breaking the same colour

because i was concentrating on the front i didnt realise the entire nearside of the car had been previously resprayed !!!!
the actual spraying was perfect but the colour is quite far out, it probably wasnt noticable untill someone badly sprayed the damaged wing in the correct colour, anyway ive replaced the wing so im now on the lookout for a couple of doors so hopefully i can get the rear quarter painted to match

a few exterior pics, nothing arty just to show what it looks like now

another thing seller forgot to mention was it had been run on gas and he ripped it all out so holes all over the place!
it also had a towbar fitted which i removed and a broken rear bumper mount that i replaced at the same time
also fitted some legal pressed number plates

correctly fitting bumper! another issue was the nearside headlamp only had the top two mounts holding it in so it was flopping about, bodged it with a long screw through fan cowling into lamp for now

the wheels arent the ones that came with it, he'd fitted some late A3 ones with totally wrong offset, luckily i had these from an old breaker, there not standard tqs wheels but the wider A6 versions with perfect offset

doesnt look to noticable in this pic but it is a different colour

car needed new brakes all round, i transferred my 312mm carriers and discs from my old car and fitted new jurid pads all round
i'd never heard of jurid but they were recommended by gsf and there pretty good (o.e on TT's apparently)
also the clunk from rear was a broken spring so i fitted some PI 30mm springs, rides well but seems to sit slightly lower at rear (£135 delivered from ebay)

 

[olds_kool]

want some porsch caps for the engine bay?
lol

it be closer than the orignal colour of the sun glasses holders.

i need that cup holder in my car.

the holders are for the dog guard, same as the clips on the back of the seats.

tempted but i'd need two of each and that'll get pricey
cupholder was yet another ebay find, got one in my saloon aswell

Some cars came with a load cover /dog guard combo and they would fix in the slots with the seats in place or with the backrests folded down. Interior looks good, any pics of the whole car ?
Chris.

cheers, pics added

Basically the digital clock change wasnt related to the facelift.

Facelift happened in mid-99, and included all the cosmetic and mechanical changes.

Digital clock and IMMO3 happened in early 2000, as a standalone change.

that reminds me i fitted a spare engine ecu the other day and wierdly the instructions for swapping ecu with immo 1 worked perfectly (after trying ins. for immo3 then immo2)

nice motor, I so wanted those seats... BOOOHOOOO

We have the dog/load guard that slots into the back of the seats and the roof slots, works well and fits in with the load cover too

ah, ive got a votex one that clamps in place, didnt realise there was another type, but why are there slots behind front seats?
edit; just read adams post so it can be used with seats down?

That looks awesome nice touches that could be oem. Which vinyl trim did you use? There's so many to choose from? I actually thought you had used an rs4 gear knob what a great idea!

thank you! i used this stuff Black Matt Vehicle Wrap Vinyl 0.5m x 1.5m AirFree | eBay

what year is your avant? im thinking maybe mine has the wiring connections for my dimming mirror

the facelift interior light has some spare connections inside, opposite side to ambient light connections, had to run wires up A post in the old car

 

[olds_kool]

test drive of the car went well, so did the journey home but within a couple of weeks i had a few problems

firstly the thermostat so that was replaced, then when i took it to work a big cloud of what i thought was smoke appeared behind me, luckily it turned out to be steam as the cts decided to leave its housing, guessing the clip snapped, had to call the AA who cabletied it back in place refilled coolant and followed me home so i could replace clip, i fitted one of the early metal clips instead of the correct plastic crap

next came the dreaded oil pressure warning, flashed up as i neared the rev limiter over taking a wagon, pulled over and engine still sounded ok so limped on to work and back home, didnt flash again but using byzans guide i changed the pick up and cleaned the sump, been ok since

next job was to get the a/c working, i knew the condensor was knackered and someone had tried to remove it resulting in two wrecked hoses, luckily i kept all the parts from the last car i broke and i removed them without undoing anything except compressor so on they went, they can be refitted without undoing its just a pain, anyway a trip to kwik fit and £40 later perfect working a/c

next it was just cleaning and fitting a few new bits, all vac lines replaced with silicone, bought a cheap used baileys recirc valve and a new coolant reservior
i had a spare cam cover so i thought i'd have a go with some wrinkle paint, turned out ok, its from a 96 1.8t but fitted perfectly
k+n panel, black coolant and p/s caps from my old car were transferred over
oh and i had to fit a new ecu holder and re wrap some of the harness due to the gas system being ripped out

 

[ScottD3]

Where did the black power steering cap come from?

Nice looking motor mate.
What you going go do about the gas hole in the rear wing?

£60odd now, better than the £80 later

Let me know if you find a cup holder.
Any load covers?

 

[aragorn]

I've never tried swapping an ECU in my own cars, but i tried swapping an IMMO3 ECU on Ian52's car and it simply didnt work.

Turned out i was using the IMMO1/2 instructions, which dont use the SKC, and i didnt have the required SKC.

Maybe your attempts to do it the IMMO3 way meant the SKC had been input and the ECU unlocked? Or perhaps it was an IMMO2 ECU?

 

[adamss24]

Car's looking good mate, very nice touches there ! I too bought a b5/MY2000 avant in kingfisher blue the other day, went to pick a bonnet and lock carrier-owner was breaking it- and made an offer the chap could not refuse ! There's few things missing off it at the moment: sun visors, rear window black triangles and front driver's door card ! There's not much wrong with it though, the clutch is bitting high and the ABS controller is goosed but reasonably easy to fix. Mechanicaly is in good shape bar a few susp. arms here and there + had new wheel bearings fitted as well !
Just don't know what to do with it, i have JCB old clutch setup from his 2.0L engine build (southbend clutch and TTV single mass flywheel) and my other v6 tdi quattro has bose, auto dimming rear view mirror and a few more bits that i could retrofit but still not decided if to keep or not. The engine in this is good, pulls well but has no torque. The chap had a new turbo fitted by audi last year and belts done 25k ago...
I do miss me old v6 tdi, it was so much more fun than this 1.8T !

 

[olds_kool]

I've never tried swapping an ECU in my own cars, but i tried swapping an IMMO3 ECU on Ian52's car and it simply didnt work.

Turned out i was using the IMMO1/2 instructions, which dont use the SKC, and i didnt have the required SKC.

Maybe your attempts to do it the IMMO3 way meant the SKC had been input and the ECU unlocked? Or perhaps it was an IMMO2 ECU?

just followed immo 1 instructions although you do need skc

Car's looking good mate, very nice touches there ! I too bought a b5/MY2000 avant in kingfisher blue the other day, went to pick a bonnet and lock carrier-owner was breaking it- and made an offer the chap could not refuse ! There's few things missing off it at the moment: sun visors, rear window black triangles and front driver's door card ! There's not much wrong with it though, the clutch is bitting high and the ABS controller is goosed but reasonably easy to fix. Mechanicaly is in good shape bar a few susp. arms here and there + had new wheel bearings fitted as well !
Just don't know what to do with it, i have JCB old clutch setup from his 2.0L engine build (southbend clutch and TTV single mass flywheel) and my other v6 tdi quattro has bose, auto dimming rear view mirror and a few more bits that i could retrofit but still not decided if to keep or not. The engine in this is good, pulls well but has no torque. The chap had a new turbo fitted by audi last year and belts done 25k ago...
I do miss me old v6 tdi, it was so much more fun than this 1.8T !

cheers, stunning colour, i bought a breaker in kingfisher that i ended up fixing because it just looked so good
to be honest i'd pick a tqs over the v6 tdi, it was a nicer motorway car but when it went wrong (which was alot) it cost a fortune, a remap on the 1.8t makes a very big difference to the way it pulls, having always had petrols im used to revving them to get anywhere

Where did the black power steering cap come from?

Nice looking motor mate.
What you going go do about the gas hole in the rear wing?

£60odd now, better than the £80 later

Let me know if you find a cup holder.
Any load covers?

the caps i dyed using rit fabric dye in a pan of boiling water, didnt work with washer or brake cap though (also got a bollocking from mrs when the spag boll she made came out grey a few weeks later)
think im going to have to live with the gas hole

 

[olds_kool]

some more updates

clutch was beginning to slip so i bought a used solid flywheel and clutch from 'rs4wannabe' who was breaking his 1.8t, although used it was pretty much as new
used a local mechanic my wife knows well and it only cost £270 for fitting and that included a new cv boot and two new rear diff seals with fluid change

when i got it back i fitted this lot to keep everything tight

diff/gearbox mounts with voids filled with sikaflex and a neuspeed front snub

while i had bumper off i replaced the power steering pipe with the restrictors in it (and managed to break the wiring plug holder)

the theory is removing the restrictors lowers pressure in the system giving very slightly stiffer steering, not convinced but pump does seem quieter
the p/s fluid is a clean brown colour shouldnt it be dark green?

ive also got my ecu back from 'morebhp.com' with remap, tried it out on the way to work and while its much better to drive its only hitting 0.8bar (12psi?) when my saloon with the same map from same company makes 15psi??? more investigation required

ive also swapped the mafs around today on my saloon/avant will take it to work again tommorrow see if that makes any difference and also see if it cures the intermittent starting problem ive got with the avant (occasionally it takes a fair few turns to start then needs a blip of the throttle to sort revs)

 

[Jason.s]

Go somewhere that knows what theyre doing! They just load up a basic map not taking into consideration what your fueling is and how your engine is running/weak parts. Just look on the 8L A/S3 forum and see how many mentions there are about poor maps just bumping up the boost and not matching the fueling to suit and see the results in damaged engines. In my opinion mapping should only be performed on a dyno to make sure everything is fine or atleast on the road with a watchfull eye on vagcom. Do it properly or not at all..

 

[olds_kool]

Go somewhere that knows what theyre doing! They just load up a basic map not taking into consideration what your fueling is and how your engine is running/weak parts. Just look on the 8L A/S3 forum and see how many mentions there are about poor maps just bumping up the boost and not matching the fueling to suit and see the results in damaged engines. In my opinion mapping should only be performed on a dyno to make sure everything is fine or atleast on the road with a watchfull eye on vagcom. Do it properly or not at all..

ok, it does need a new maf, took it out with the swapped one and it runs aswell as my saloon, hits 0.9bar in first, 1bar in second

this is the third time ive used this company my old 1.8t about 5 years ago (still going strong on this forum although looking a dam sight better nowadays) my current tqs saloon chipped 4 years ago never had a problem with it and now this one.
then theres money this is a budget build and the cost was £150, as my cars are running standard k03's i dont really see the point in paying £4-500 for the possibility of a couple of bhp over an off the shelf map
i dont really care what bhp figure it makes as long as its driveable which it is

 

[Jason.s]

£400-500?? Where are you getting quotes? My Rtech map was £270. It may be driveable but how would it compare to a good mapper that's had the car on the rollers and written it to YOUR car not just a generic one. With these maps have you ever taken a look at the finer details such as fueling etc. most of these cheap generic maps run lean as hell. It's not necessarily something you can tell just by driving around but as soon as you log what the engine is doing you'll soon see problems. These maps are just copied over and over originally written from 1 car. That car could be running hugely different to yours therefore the map won't be suited to the condition that your engine is in.

If you're happy then fair enough but it's something you need to bare in mind.