My S3 Thread

[Sam_]

As for mounting, most likely I'll fit it on one of the tabs from the relay box mount. I just hope those holes are 6mm else I'll have to fire up the drill...

 

[Sam_]

I got the breather bits all setup last night before the dyno day today. I now hate push fit fittings. A bit of advice; get the same brand fittings and hose. It was like trying to get marshmallow into a money box. Nightmare. No pics but it looks way tidier.

Went along to a dyno day today. Was interested to see if it knocked or pinked but alas I got them to check and nothing. It was ~10:1 the whole way through the range. It did freak out though, like before. I ran in FWD mode but the ECU seemed to cut throttle mid way through the run. Not sure if it's the dyno or what.

It made ~200hp at the wheels, even with the issues. The guys running all said they were 10kW down on the previous dyno we used, same brand, different location which would have put me at ~215hp. Not sure what that works at flywheel wise though.

You can see the dip

The car of the day for me was an RS6 with GTX3071Rs. It made a mere 550hp at the wheels but the owner thinks it could do more, he's only running 18psi as it's a stock engine currently (has one being built). It'll be a proper weapon when finished. It sounded insane.

They were loads of Golf Rs there but I couldn't be bothered to take pictures of them as they all look the same haha.

 

[Sevv]

Sam the car looks gd mate i miss my 8L I would prefer it over the 8P2 200whp isnt and though as uve been just working on handling mainly and simplifying the engine so great result mate need to figure out why it cut... dis they pull the fuse

 

[Sam_]

Cheers. I asked Seb if you were coming but he wasn't sure. Yeah I pulled 31 to run in FWD before hand. The k04 on yours will do well going by todays numbers. Seb ran a 209kw on one of the runs. Mad.

 

[Sevv]

Cheers. I asked Seb if you were coming but he wasn't sure. Yeah I pulled 31 to run in FWD before hand. The k04 on yours will do well going by todays numbers. Seb ran a 209kw on one of the runs. Mad.

Yeah its not bad but idealy i would love to put a gtx3071r on it but i dont fancy changing rods and may pistons... theyve been a case of one melting

 

[Sam_]

Car is booked into East Coast Suspension (yo!) to have the following done:

- Front coilovers rebushed (if needed) - they've been knocking for a while which is a bit annoying since I've not had them long. I've checked almost everything and narrowed it down to them. You can feel a little play in them when it's jacked up.
- Subframe mounts fitted
- Nearside driveshaft fitted
- Solid rack mount fitted
- New tie rods + ends fitted
- Super pro front ARB bushes
- 4 wheel laser alignment

Can't wait. It should be mint after that.

 

[Sevv]

Car is booked into East Coast Suspension (yo!) to have the following done:

- Front coilovers rebushed (if needed) - they've been knocking for a while which is a bit annoying since I've not had them long. I've checked almost everything and narrowed it down to them. You can feel a little play in them when it's jacked up.
- Subframe mounts fitted
- Nearside driveshaft fitted
- Solid rack mount fitted
- New tie rods + ends fitted
- Super pro front ARB bushes
- 4 wheel laser alignment

Can't wait. It should be mint after that.

Nice too ur going to them... let me know about the kob they are doing as i have coilovers arbs and bushes to fit soon .... ive done corner weights and wheel alignment did have no issues..

 

[Sam_]

Took some pics of the breather setup. It's way simpler than I had it before. Since I was emptying it every service and a dribble barely come out then I think the smaller tank will be fine. It also has a much better mechanism for emptying it. It's more of a road setup than the tank I had before. I'll be routing the outlet down to the ground with a filter on it. Hope I get no smell in the car. The tank has a nice setup inside to stop oil flowing through. I went from AN12 to AN10.

I also dropped off my car this morning at East Coast Suspension this morning to have the H&R's looked at, a load of left over bits fitted and a full 4 wheel alignment/setup. They come highly recommended so the 2hr commute from there to my work on the other end of Sydney should be worth it. Gagging to get it back.

 

[StaceyS3]

Looking good mate

I hope they get to the bottom of your mystery clonk

 

[Sam_]

Me too. It's liveable but it kinda sounds like the car's going to rattle itself to bits...

Just heard back from East Coast. They've got everything sorted. It turns out the coilovers were just low on grease. He said that H&R/Bilstein use a grease that's like a butter texture and that it eventually all ends up away from the bearings and doesn't slosh about. They've since revised the grease since to a more liquid type so he's rebuilt them using that. Otherwise they were mint and the bearings and seals are fine. I do hope that's the cause. He's got all the other parts fitted too and said everything went smoothly. I've literally replaced everything in the front end now. The only rubber/poly left is in the arb bushes and my **** cheeks (which have a fair amount). Same in the rear (+ the craddle mounts).

I'm working from home tomorrow so I can make the mammoth trip to go and pick it up. The drive back should be "interesting"

 

[Sevv]

hope u enjoy the ride mate... is it safe to say the handling side of things is over??; think i might head down there myself soonish.. Seb seems busy and have to sort out some fiscal issues with...

 

[Sam_]

Yeah, it's probably where I want it suspension wise now. Front diff (and maybe buy another rear) is about it after this I think?

Just picked the car up and it's awesome. I thought it stuck to the road pretty well before but with all the new bits fitted, the struts serviced, it's a beast. Feels so much more planted. It must be mainly a result of the camber and toe changes. Here's the specs:

Front
+7° caster
-2°25 camber (down from 3°)
0 toe

Rear
-1°30 (down from 2°30!!) camber
0 toe (down from 4.5!)

It's probably the changes on the rear that have made the biggest change. The other good news is not only has the knock gone but it drives like a new car. That said, most of the parts on the front are new!

I'd really recommend these guys to anyone local. They're a bit far out but it's really good service. David (the guy that runs it) has a good history and many people take their race cars to him for work. He reckoned my car would go very well on track. I might just have to find out when the next instructor day is and go for a hoon.

 

[Sevv]

if i were you after your "planned" mods mate i wouldn't sell this car keep it as a future classic


otherwise that awsome mate.. are you able to adjust ur toe besides your camber if so did you use gruven parts tie bars ?

 

[StaceyS3]

Glad you've got it sorted mate bet you've fallen in love all over again

 

[Sam_]

To be honest, it never really made me dislike the car too much, it was still awesome to drive just now it does it it without sounding like it's going to self destruct. There's still a tiny bit of noise, but it's to be expected with it being so hard and with no rubber left. It's certainly miles better than before and the noises now don't sound bad.

Seb: Yeah you can tweak the toe by adjusting the top and bottom bars independently. He said getting rear toe of 0 is ideal on an AWD car and can't always be accomplished but because I got adjustable top and bottom that he could get it setup spot on. It does feel tons better with a proper setup. I just "winged" the rear camber before.

Next up is to fit the new horns I got (OEM) since my low tone has gone and so it sounds like an old peugeot with just the high tone. So girly. Might even try and get my bumper to fit a little better at the same time, if I need to remove it.

 

[dre_S3]

Glad it sorted your knocking issue mate car is looking good, nice spec

 

[Sam_]

Cheers mate. Yeah I'm basically just getting everything sorted before the new engine goes in, which is aaaaggesss away. Got a fair few bills to pay first unfortunately.

 

[Dane]

Nice looking engine bay bud, front wheels have a proper aggressive offset too

 

[Sevv]

To be honest, it never really made me dislike the car too much, it was still awesome to drive just now it does it it without sounding like it's going to self destruct. There's still a tiny bit of noise, but it's to be expected with it being so hard and with no rubber left. It's certainly miles better than before and the noises now don't sound bad.

Seb: Yeah you can tweak the toe by adjusting the top and bottom bars independently. He said getting rear toe of 0 is ideal on an AWD car and can't always be accomplished but because I got adjustable top and bottom that he could get it setup spot on. It does feel tons better with a proper setup. I just "winged" the rear camber before.

Next up is to fit the new horns I got (OEM) since my low tone has gone and so it sounds like an old peugeot with just the high tone. So girly. Might even try and get my bumper to fit a little better at the same time, if I need to remove it.

thats how i felt when i changed all the bushes on the old S3 with H&R and PSS'... glad ur in love with her again they are amazing cars unlike the 8P limousines .. as for the Toe and camber i guess i order so gruven parts

 

[Sam_]

I'd steer clear of Gruvenparts arms to be honest. The poly arms might be better but the rose joints on mine failed in less than a month. He uses proper cheap joints, even though he says they're rated high blah blah blah. Truth is all 4 were showing signs of wear. Decent joints will be ok. Most people have experience of cheaper joints and so they say "they horrid on the road. they were out" etc.

I got some "madmax" replacement poly bush ends (just as solid, no deflection) and not looked back.

The CPT arms look good but are a bit pricier. I'd have got Dave's arms but he can't get a good deal on international shipping so got them from the states instead.

Cheers Dane, yeah I wanted to go for wide wheels so I could get wide tyres on it

 

[Sevv]

I'd steer clear of Gruvenparts arms to be honest. The poly arms might be better but the rose joints on mine failed in less than a month. He uses proper cheap joints, even though he says they're rated high blah blah blah. Truth is all 4 were showing signs of wear. Decent joints will be ok. Most people have experience of cheaper joints and so they say "they horrid on the road. they were out" etc.

I got some "madmax" replacement poly bush ends (just as solid, no deflection) and not looked back.

The CPT arms look good but are a bit pricier. I'd have got Dave's arms but he can't get a good deal on international shipping so got them from the states instead.

Cheers Dane, yeah I wanted to go for wide wheels so I could get wide tyres on it

Dave couldve shipped em to awesome gti and awesome would ship it for around 40 pounds tbh... not too bad... on side note so you recommend CPT adj. arms ? i need to look them up if they do any for the 8P chassis its hard to find parts for that car atleast compared to the 8L (its been around for a while now)

 

[Sevv]

hey Sam_ is it them you were talking about by any chance ?

welcome to chicago performance & tuning - your european performance specialists

 

[Sam_]

Yeah those. Apparently awesome quality, and they look it.

 

[Sevv]

Yeah those. Apparently awesome quality, and they look it.

now gotta figure if they fit a MK5 if so they are good as sold to me

by the way i ordered 18*9 pro race 1.2's anthracite cant wait... u gave me the extra push Mr.

 

[Sam_]

Awesome. Did you see there's a set of RS4 front brakes and S3 rears for sale on Vwwatercooled or Ozaudi (can't remember which) for a bargain $2500? Would fill the wheels nicely.

 

[Sevv]

Awesome. Did you see there's a set of RS4 front brakes and S3 rears for sale on Vwwatercooled or Ozaudi (can't remember which) for a bargain $2500? Would fill the wheels nicely.

id love too as its quite tempting, but the bank is abit dry atm just ordered all the suspension bits with the coilovers ...as for the S3 rears i think they are the same as the A3 2.0TQ with bigger discs i take it

 

[Sam_]

Only realised yesterday that today was a public holiday (ANZAC day to remember war veterans). I decided it would be a good opportunity to sort the bracket for the auto headlight adjusters. The headlights point about 10ft in front of the car and are generally useless. I'm hoping it's not the motors or clips. The tubular arms that I got didn't have a bracket for the adjuster arm so I made up a simple bracket for them that mounts to the FWD ARB mounts on the arms. Hoping it does the trick:

I'll find out later when I set the headlights in VCDS using this guide:
Instructions: How to Adjust Xenon Headlight Range using a VAG-COM - AudiWorld Forums

Here's the pics of the bits that I got fitted. Was worried they'd fitted the rack mount to the wrong side but then the rubber mount must be on a the other side on the LHD cars as the guide shows it on the drivers side (RHD):
http://www.usrallyteam.com/downloads/instructions/mk4_rack_bracket_installation.pdf

Anyhow, a dull photo but meh:

New OEM shaft, new Meyle tie rods, the rack mount, Super Pro ARB bushes (20mm) and all new stretch bolts (subframe, hub/strut)

 

[<tuffty/>]

Nice work dude.. I have started to accumulate stuff for a running gear refresh too... seems a sensible thing to do considering she has done 120k now bless...

How do you find the rose jointed stuff to live with as a road car? not that I would go for them myself but its a useful gauge of how poly's would be in comparison..

<tuffty/>

 

[Sevv]

Sam check them people out USP motorsport.. they do you <1000$ parcels even when they are >1000 did the trick for my K04

USP Motorsports they have GT3071 .. 76 kits for the 8L too , hope u find it useful they cheaper then ECS too

 

[Sam_]

Just ran through the second stage of that guide above to reset the heights on the headlights and sure enough the headlights raised themselves up a fair bit. Hopefully the drive home tomorrow will be a little better lit tomorrow !

Nice work dude.. I have started to accumulate stuff for a running gear refresh too... seems a sensible thing to do considering she has done 120k now bless...

How do you find the rose jointed stuff to live with as a road car? not that I would go for them myself but its a useful gauge of how poly's would be in comparison..

<tuffty/>

It's probably one of the best things I've done (the refresh). I'm pretty OCD about noises and rattles. My mrs and mates always say "I can't hear anything" but they're not in it daily I guess. Mines only just hit 80k miles.

The rose jointed rear was pretty noisy but like I say, that's because they were cheap joints. The car in general is very stiff but that's more the coilovers. I see it that the other parts being solid mean the suspension needs to work harder. It's not going to be to everyones taste but it's not a horrid ride, it's just hard. I think my setup with softer springs and matching dampers would be very liveable for anyone. How it compares to poly bush wishbones I can't say but a few people on vortex have done back to back and say the difference is night and day.

Sam check them people out USP motorsport.. they do you <1000$ parcels even when they are >1000 did the trick for my K04

USP Motorsports they have GT3071 .. 76 kits for the 8L too , hope u find it useful they cheaper then ECS too

Looks like they just do the 28 kits for the S3/TT. I already have a GTX3071 anyway mate. Check a few pages back.

 

[Sevv]

my bad Sam_ its for the mk5 mk6's

 

[Sam_]

The lights are way better now. The following clearly done the trick:

1. Park the car on a level surface, 10 to 20 feet from a wall if possible. Connect the VAG-COM as usual, with both ignition and xenons on.
2. Select control module 55 - Xenon Range.
3. Select "Basic Settings - 04" and scroll up to "Group 001". In a few seconds the first cell will change from "wait" to "set". Now scroll to "Group 002" and wait until the controller says "Learned"

It's worth doing if you've lowered the car as the adjustment might be off.

 

[*P3nfold*]

The lights are way better now. The following clearly done the trick:

1. Park the car on a level surface, 10 to 20 feet from a wall if possible. Connect the VAG-COM as usual, with both ignition and xenons on.
2. Select control module 55 - Xenon Range.
3. Select "Basic Settings - 04" and scroll up to "Group 001". In a few seconds the first cell will change from "wait" to "set". Now scroll to "Group 002" and wait until the controller says "Learned"

It's worth doing if you've lowered the car as the adjustment might be off.

Do you need the full version of VCDS to do this Sam_?

 

[Sam_]

I believe you may yeah. I bought the full version and cable because my eBay cable was flaky sometimes.

 

[Sam_]

Not a massive update but I've basically decided I'm going to stick with the GTX30 and have bought some Bosch 850cc injectors:
850cc Bosch EV14 Fuel Injector - 034Motorsport | Performance Parts for Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen
Plus loom adapters:
Injector Connector Adapter, Bosch Jetronic to USCAR EV14 - 034Motorsport | Performance Parts for Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen


It'll be a slow build but so far I have:
- Wavetrac front diff
- IE inlet manifold
- GTX3071R with .82 T3 V-Band housing (will probably run a .72 PPT housing)
- 850cc Bosch EV14 injectors
- IE Surge Tank + 044 pump
- A rebuilt 2.0 AGU with a TFSI crank, IE rods, JE pistons, supertech springs and +1mm supertech valves

Only a million bits left to buy then! It's going to be a slow build as I've got a wedding to pay for in August!

 

[<tuffty/>]

Arnold does seem to like the 0.72 hotside... I am starting to get my stroker bits together too... no idea when it will get done but its gonna be done

Hopefully see what the GTX3071's potential will be once Stacey's is sorted... be a nice metric

<tuffty/>

 

[superkarl]

stroker + gtx30 = engine of the year it seems.

 

[Scullies]

Sam, What exhaust mani you looking to use ?

 

[Sam_]

Yeah he seems to think it's a good sweet spot. I'll give it a go most likely. I was pretty close to getting a .63 but was worried it'd be too small after everyone's comments.

Karl: Haha yeah, I hope mine actually gets done this year. I didn't really "plan" to get this turbo, it just came up for sale for $1600 and the guy kept dropping the price until he hit $1000. Quite a bargain for how little use it's had and it came with two housings (full fat and compact). The "scene" here is basically loads of Golf R's with bolt on parts and remaps so no one really was interested in it.

 

[Sam_]

Sam, What exhaust mani you looking to use ?

I found a guy on Vortex that will do a v-band top mount in stainless for around ~$1,000. The quality of his workmanship looks top notch:

I've sent him pictures of the TSR manifold and he knows it's RHD so the wastegate will have to sit on the other side. I'm pretty sure I'll go with that.