Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

Castor correction bushes, do they come with fitting instructions?
 
ReDBull said:
Castor correction bushes, do they come with fitting instructions?
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They do but are not particularly helpful!

The way Prawn did it was good - used a string to measure etc. I just did it by eye......
 
maybe im blind prawn but i see the box is off and debating a 02m i dont see the part were there is a problem with the 02j box :/ ? whats up with it ....
 
Prawn began suffering from intermittent locking up of the transmission. It's been confirmed there is some issue inside the box by

Prawn said:
Had that odd resistance then free up a few times since. Almost like a binding cv or caliper similar, accompanied by a transmission shunt kind of noise.

Just decided to experiment in the road when coming back from a drive, Forward and back about 10 times and couldn't replicate it.
So went to pull into drive, and it rolled forward 2 feet then the front wheels LOCKED solid like an emergency stop.



Turned engine off, into neutral, Got out, and pushed it backwards, and the wheels did exactly 1 full rotation then it jammed solid going backwards too. All in neutral. Engine off.

Pushed forwards and back a few times to find the point it jams, then it freed. Fired it up and it sounds fine, engages all gears fine, so I drove it into the driveway REALLY carefully, about 30 yards, and as I rolled the last 3 yards to a stop it caught again and she juddered the last few feet with a loud scraping noise from the box
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and some shiny "fragments/objects" in the oil

Prawn said:
Home at 6:30 last night, by 8:30 the box was out and I was back inside. Not the quickest job in the world, but I'm glad it's out.

Drained the oil, which confirmed it definitely the right move pulling the box.

More metallic than the average 'Pimp my ride' Wagon.
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I sheared the diff center pin on a mini once that gave very similar simptoms to what you have now as both halves of the now broken pin stuck out of the diff and jammed the box up at one full rotation of the final drive.... only way i could tow the car back was to remove a driveshaft.... i doubt this is the same on the LSD though
 
Cheers for putting in the legwork Lewis :) saves me trying to copy and paste on my phone!

been away at a wedding this weekend so no progress, but I'm dropping the box down to Ben at Parsons Performance tonight, and ordering a set of ARP crown wheel bolts in the morning :)

ben will fit my diff into a new box, box number 8 for this car :) then hopefully ill be able to refit next weekend

was hoping to attend gti spring fest next weekend as they have a handling course there with track passes at lydden as a prize, but its looking unlikely that ill make it.
 
i see i see box 8 wow ! any common issues youve come accross apart from standard diff rivets poping at least the boxes are cheap anough :) lets hope the lsd is ok ..is it a tourqe byson on or clutch type lsd you have in there prawn

steve
 
first 3 were standard Steve, 2 of them blew the rivets, and the 3rd one second gear just wore out and whined REALLY badly.

4th box one of the crownwheel bolts sheared off taking the casing with it

5th box I ripped a few teeth off second gear

6th box died in an unfortunate driveshaft coming off incident,

and now this one, box 7 has died due to diff bolts failing in some way, not sure how until Ben strips it down.

It's got a Quaife ATB Diff Steve, so torque biasing.

I'm glad I took the box to Ben, it's clearly in very good hands. He knew instantly just by spinning the output flanges that it was in a bad state, and spotted that the bronze bushes /guides on the output flanges were also totally worn out and had been running hot.

Hopefully it'll be stripped down this week, then we'll see what's what :)
 
A3-Lee said:
Do I get record for smashing sumps I've done 5 sumps including one reinforced one lol
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i suppose that is a record! I'm not sure I'd shout about that one :) loL

i mean prawn knackering 8 gearboxes through being a man,with his manly turbo boost, with man power, driving like a man , knackering manly parts like clutches and gearboxes and even possibly knackering a man LSD earns him LAD points! Lad lad lad

now a sump...... I done one once and felt a bit of a bell end , so 5 through low and show?....

im just kidding , yes you have a forum record! ;-)

Sean
 
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So, a few weeks on and things may be returning to normal service soon.

The box was dropped off with Ben at Parsons Performance on the south coast, who also supplied me with another 02J box as my casing was cracked. AGAIN!

When stripped down, it was found that the cause of the failure was a sheered bolt, again, the second time this has happened. The bolts used were Vw ones, so these have now been replaced with ARP crownwheel bolts.

Quite why this failled is unclear, but its suspected that the diff bearings broke down, possibly due to heat, allowing the diff to fall off to one side and the bolt heads catch the casing and rip off.

The loose bolt head has been picked up a few times in the box and left one or two small marks on the Quaife casing, but nothing to worry about. PHEW!

Whilst it was in bits, the whole box has been thoroughly checked over any anything that's not top notch has been replaced.

Its ended up with 2 new synchros, new bearings, and a new gear (not sure which - Ben?), so its all now in A1 condition and good for a beating! Ben said after all the trouble I've bad with boxes in the last he wants this to be the one that lasts :)

i spoke to Opie Oils at length yesterday about box fluids, the chap was very surprised to hear I had been running stock gearbox fluid with so much power, and suggested that with the extra heat generated by the Quaife that I could well have killed the oil within a number of laps, and its all been downhill from there!

i should have 2L of Motul Gear 300 transmission fluid arriving today, and I'm picking the box up from Ben first thing tomorrow.

Big thanks to Ben for getting it all sorted for me, and at very reasonable cost too :) top man!
 
One diff bolt making a break for freedom, following on the footsteps of its ancestors!

EDEF67D4-B768-4A31-B793-3B367BAD4EB0-2333-000002609099E08C_zps7caa95ca.jpg


and the crap that was collected in the drain plug:

EE0A1C78-83BB-4365-8F2B-39C69E4F9B71-2333-000002606A97B35D_zpsb97fcdf3.jpg


the oil that came out looked like it had a metal flake mixed in!
 
That doesn't look very good! Bearings or just dislodged Swaff from the box?
 
Was a bearing upgrade recommended or was tge overheating most likely down to ****** oil?
 
Glad you've got it all sorted pal hope fully with the new oil there won't be any future problem!
 
audi upgrades
beachbuggy said:
That doesn't look very good! Bearings or just dislodged Swaff from the box?
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Dislodged bits of casing and crownwheel I believe Dan. Pretty crap either way!

nightroamer said:
Was a bearing upgrade recommended or was tge overheating most likely down to ****** oil?
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Standard replacement bearings from VW, simply being new rather than having covered 110k, coupled with being built up nicely and running the correct fluid should help things no end :)

Busy day today, but sadly havn't had time to make a start on the car, as I'm off on holiday tomorrow so it'll have to wait.

Picked up the box from Ben early this morning, Jardo is up currently so we jumped in the Megane of Win and blitzed down to Bens 80 miles away to fetch it:



The old crownwheel was looking a real mess where it's been chewed up by bits of dead bolt!





And the empty hole awaiting it's 8th gearbox!



In other news, my dear friend Andy Lang popped up to say hello this morning in his lovely Leon:



And Big Bad Al got bored having not bought any tyres for a month, so to scratch that itch these were aquired:



 
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Good look with the new box, 8th time lucky!
Nick what geo set up are you running? LVSR had a bit of fun setting my car up yesterday with the Defcon inserts and caster increase bushes. Hope you have a nice holiday.
 
The Megane is potentially the fastest vehicle I have been in this year.

I had an awesome day, and it was a pleasure to meet Ben, a very sound bloke.
 
s33nyboy12 said:
More tyres!
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Always more tyres!

16Klappe said:
The Megane is potentially the fastest vehicle I have been in this year.
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It really is isn't it? The Race Diesel!

ReDBull said:
LVSR had a bit of fun setting my car up yesterday with the Defcon inserts and caster increase bushes
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Without meaning to sound daft matey, what were the issues?

The DEFCON inserts don't change the pivot point of the wishbone, so don't alter geo in the slightest, and the rear caster bushes are a fixed offset and can't be changed or adjusted. Given that you have standard topmounts, all they could possibly do is centralise the subframe and ball joint slots (Which should be pulled as FAR OUT as possible for max camber), and set the toe. Really a very simple task and not much they can change.

How is it feeling now?
 
Jaardo what s this mighty megane you speak of........?


pictures or its bulltish :)

Im going to bump this now for prawn to answer possibly...... Race diesel


Sean
 
9AAA40BE-E490-4296-B394-599F78FDD7E9-543-0000007F0C474778.jpg


130 rampant French stallions gulping away on the heavier distillation of crude oil we commonly call the fuel of satan :laugh:
 
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Prawn said:
9AAA40BE-E490-4296-B394-599F78FDD7E9-543-0000007F0C474778.jpg


130 rampant French stallions gulping away on the heavier distillation of crude oil we commonly call the fuel of satan :laugh:
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Is that yellow thing in the background quicker ? :undwech: only joking Jardo
 
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Va va voom.

The Megane needs to go on track, in a big way. It's quicker than my old A3 was from A to B, I think it would tear most of your guys a new one.

Even with £30 a corner tires which after 6 weeks have peeling on the outside edge. I hope to god it isn't GPS tracked...
 
Last edited:
Neru said:
hey prawn since you've gone through some many gearboxes have you considered this

SQS Racing | VW 5sp Synchro-kit 02J

reasonable price compared to upgrading to a 02M
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Same kit as Bill has in his Ibiza (6 speed version)... just fitted an SQS 02J box to the 450hp Mk2 Golf track car currently at the workshop too... good kit, Bill loves his... ;P

<tuffty/>
 
Same kit as Bill has in his Ibiza (6 speed version)... just fitted an SQS 02J box to the 450hp Mk2 Golf track car currently at the workshop too... good kit, Bill loves his... ;P

<tuffty/>
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Is it a lot stronger than stock I don't think my gearbox will last too long :-(
 
Neru said:
Is it a lot stronger than stock I don't think my gearbox will last too long :-(
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Bill can best answer that tbh but he uses it for racing in a car with over 600hp so one would imagine its up to the task :)

<tuffty/>
 
Too much money! Anything that costs more than a reshell into an s3 is totally out of question.

Ill plod on with 02J's for a few more years, then when we fancy a drastic change reshell into an s3, bigger turbo, 4wd etc etc and a fresh build.

Until then, it stays as is :) and I love it
 
We'll all be old and grey before it happens though Jase :laugh:

plenty more S3 and M3 destroying left in the old girl yet!

does anyone know if Inters are having a handling course this year?
 
Mr Prawn, an S3.........now that would be epic, quattro, all the fun on a good run :)
 
There's a large enough concrete area to do it. But can't see anything mentioned on the website.
 
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