Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

[Rich196]

Cheers everyone for help and suggestions
Andrew: yes it's the d50 pad shape. Apparently very common.

Future: that's good to hear man, I had some rs19 on my 996 brakes a few years back and they were insane.

Itll either be rs29 or something a little more unusual depending on a phone call with mr Brown later on

You rate the RS29 over the DS2500?? No found anyone that have tried both and used them both hard on road and track you are probably one of the best nutters to ask

 

[s3gazz]

Hi guys ye I bled my 4 pot brembos the other day the two man way haha and master cylinder now my pedal goes to the floor and bites last min not sorted it yet bled em twice now still same

 

[Prawn]

You rate the RS29 over the DS2500?? No found anyone that have tried both and used them both hard on road and track you are probably one of the best nutters to ask

I don't rate ds2500 at all Rich! Good for road use, total waste of time on track though. Pagid rs29 are one of the best pads ive ever used though.

Hi guys ye I bled my 4 pot brembos the other day the two man way haha and master cylinder now my pedal goes to the floor and bites last min not sorted it yet bled em twice now still same

to be honest Gaz, it sounds like you've killed the master cylinder. Bleeding the old way can cause the seals to flip in the mc and ruin it. Only fix I know of is a new master.

 

[s3gazz]

Thanks prawn s3dave said I might of done that eBay it is.

What car can I get one of these off prawn pal that are the same apart from s3.

also nick for road would u recommend rigid rs29 over ds2500 then as I need some pads ASAP and was going to get the ds2500

 

[future]

for reference the rs29 and ds2500 are very different pads, rs29 are a race and track pad (we run them on the blancpain 458gt) the ds2500 are more of a fast road pad compared. looking forward to some updates on these prawn!

 

[s3gazz]

Nice future pal well all I do is road use and fast road so must be what I need

 

[Prawn]

for reference the rs29 and ds2500 are very different pads, rs29 are a race and track pad (we run them on the blancpain 458gt) the ds2500 are more of a fast road pad compared.

Exactly as above Gaz! Future has it bang on.

I know many do, but I personally don't rate ds2500's, I've had them, and on the road they are good, but on track they're just no good, but then I'm fairly hard on brakes as we know, others may well get on fine with them.

Given the choice and availability, id go with ds3000's though, they're fantastic and not much more money.

Some stuff happened this weekend too, on Friday night BigAl and I drove the car over to my friend Jamies house, where we left the keys with him, which felt most strange!

The car looked very intimidating in my rear view mirror!



Jamie set off in the car from his at 6am, and arrived half an hour later in Newbury, where a transformation would occur!



Half an hour later I received this picture!



Followed by:







Getting excited!







I have been waiting for this for a very long time!



it's the right shape AND colour again!

We still have the front bumper to do, as Jamie was very pushed for time on Saturday, but the job he's done is absolutely fantastic and the side of the car looks amazing, for an off the gun finish it's incredible and doesn't need any polishing at all.

Will try and get more pics in the week once I've bolted the wing on as well

 

[16Klappe]

Cool.

Now that it is a proper track car and doesn't need to prove itself with stupid stickers can you get rid of all the orange crap and make it look like a proper car again?

This car in road going looks was easily the best looking A3 ever to grace this forum, I for one would love to see it smashing the track without all the "LOOK AT ME" bullpoop.

As the person who took it upon themselves to maintain the looks of this vehicle over almost a three year period I think I'm allowed to make a request for just a couple of weeks of no stickers, road car sleeper.

 

[666markyboy]

This car in road going looks was easily the best looking A3 ever to grace this forum, I for one would love to see it smashing the track without all the "LOOK AT ME" bullpoop.

.

Like Mike Tyson in his black shorts and boots....



you need to adjust that window frame so that the door sits better, it looks to be sticking out at the bttm, the door i mean .... in my experience it's the window frame that does this... it's adjustable with little alloy wedges

 

[Sam_]

Looking good mate. Bet it's nice to have it back looking proper.

you need to adjust that window frame so that the door sits better, it looks to be sticking out at the bttm, the door i mean .... in my experience it's the window frame that does this... it's adjustable with little alloy wedges

Is there any info on this? mine does the same annoyingly.

 

[badger5]

Exactly as above Gaz! Future has it bang on.

I know many do, but I personally don't rate ds2500's, I've had them, and on the road they are good, but on track they're just no good, but then I'm fairly hard on brakes as we know, others may well get on fine with them.

Given the choice and availability, id go with ds3000's though, they're fantastic and not much more money.

Not a case of not good, a case of choosing the correct HEAT GRADE of pad for the duty you put it to.

Track use is not road use.............. for those reading this who are'nt prawny or experienced in the difference.

 

[Prawn]

as Bill says, I'm not saying DS2500's arn't a good pad, they're absolutely cracking for road use, just not for my uses, whatever you get, Ds2500, Ds3000, make sure you all buy them from Bill though please

Mark / Sam, I think the slight missalignment on the door is partly the door frame, and partly due to the almighty smack that it had pushing the sill in very sightly there, the guys doing the repair didn't want to pull and push it around TOO much and did the best that they could within the available time and budget.

It's a 220k car that's been in a few shunts and used VERY hard for more than half it's life, I just want it to look tidy, it doesn't have to be perfect

I can't wait to get my mate Dan round with his mop and give the whole car a going over. After a year of neglect the rest of the paintwork is looking terrible and as all volcano cars do it's gone a lighter shade of grey. A good going over with the mop and some decent polish / wax will have it black to it's lovely shiney blackness in no time though

 

[badger5]

its nice to see it looking less "shed like"

well done prawny

 

[Rich196]

Well when the money counter on the dash tells me I need a pad change I shall go for RS29's again for DS3000.

Glad the car is now shiny again mate, looks great!!!

 

[junkyardA3]

It's taken me nearly a week to get through this epic build, what a story. My hat is off to you sir This thread has given me so much inspiration for my own car it's hard to know where to start....so many questions!! You might be able to help me with this one.....Are all the TT front suspension setups the same or would I need the subframe, wishbones, rack, hubs etc off a 225bhp car. I can get the whole lot complete off a 180bhp TT thats being broken.

 

[666markyboy]

Mark / Sam, I think the slight missalignment on the door is partly the door frame, and partly due to the almighty smack that it had pushing the sill in very sightly there, the guys doing the repair didn't want to pull and push it around TOO much and did the best that they could within the available time and budget.

Totally understand but you would be surprised how much difference those little alloy wedges make that are part of the window frame... i had the old plastic bracket break disabling my electric windows and neglected to mark the position of those wedges when i fixed it ... my door ended up looking exactly like yours... when i had a bit of ME time i had a play around and fixed it .... i think giving it more wedge ( sounds a little pervy that ) makes the door frame more curved and so pulls the bttm of the door in ..... something to have a mess around with when your bored the car is looking top notch though

 

[Prawn]

Thanks Mark, good info mate ill have a play at some point. I need to pull the drivers door apart too as the dreaded window clip has broken recently

Junkyard: thanks for the kind words mate I believe 180Tt models retain the pressed arms and standard hubs like an a3. Cast lower arms and roll centre corrected hubs only came on the 225's I think, along with the S3, LCR, and R32.

 

[junkyardA3]

******! All those cars are like hen's teeth in Irish scrapyards. Cost of insurance over here is that extortionate that few people could afford to run them! Might have to broaden my search to your side of the Irish sea.

 

[s3gazz]

Looks great nick pal and I've decided it's ds3000 for me and some good discs with rbf660 fluid

 

[Prawn]

So, today started like every other day in the life of the track A3: looking a little rough, odd coloured panels, unloved and unwashed.



Then, in traditional fashion, I pulled some bits off, and it looked even worse:



However, summer is getting closer, and it can't stay looking crap forever.

For the last year I've only taken photos of the right hand side mainly, like so:





But not any more!



























I know there are too many photos, and I know many are similar, but I don't care I'm just so happy to have the car back, as I loved it and remembered it

 

[junkyardA3]

Top work. Nice to see her back in one piece. Tasty spray job too.

 

[Stuart35205]

Really impressed prawn great build and now a serious wolf in sheepskin clothing!

 

[Stuart35205]

Dam ipad sheeps clothing !! Unless you like sheepskin! Lol

 

[Prawn]

Cheers chaps, i'm SOOOOOO happy that I've got the car back how it always was in my head.

I'm quite keen on the idea of replacing the external stickers with Satin black vinyl. I'd still like something on there, but at the same time I kind of like it being subtle at first glance.

The cage and stuff inside will always be orange, I love it in there far too much.

Who knows, it's easily changed about anyway. At some point this year Jamie is going to paint both bumpers and the whole right hand side too, so aside from the roof that was done a few years back it'll be a complete spray job done in stages I owe Jamie such a massive thanks for doing such a top job in such a short time window, to think he did all this in just a morning is incredible.

 

[Scullies]

Geeez, from that first picture I thought you went off the track and smashed the front a little
then I carried on looking/reading and realised all is well.
nice work dude!

ps: still think your brakes look crap, send them over here so I can dispose of them for you

 

[ReDBull]

It looks good stickerless. I bought my DS2500 pads from Bill as I couldn't find them cheaper anywhere else. There getting fitted tomorrow with my new discs!

 

[s3dave]

Looks so much better stickerless,,,,,,,Jardo is right :icon_thumright: BECAUSE RACECAR.....

 

[MIGGZ]

Top work mr Nickelsworth! I'm loving how its looking! Carry on making it look pretty ill be there soon to collect the car!

 

[Prawn]

Surprisingly, it looks more aggressive without stickers doesn't it?

I'm trying to do a Paintshop mock of up what I want next, but MS paint doesn't really do satin black

 

[Prawn]

Car still feeling absolutely amazing, being an AGU, whilst boost control is smooth and stable, the level it runs at seems to vary every day, yesterday, and today, it's been running around 23psi and holding it too, seeing almost 20psi at 7k.

Yesterday I was running around 80% meth, due to not having any water to hand when I filled this up, watching the WB shows it runs ever so slightly richer with more meth.

I took this little clip yesterday on a trip to the local airfield / dyno facility.

Power isn't fed in fully until 5k in 2nd to prevent wheelspin, and yes, I change gear incredibly slowly, it's not a race



K04 hybrid. 2nd-4th test pull (on dyno) - YouTube

Refilled the WMI today with 50:50 mix, and AFR's have returned to mid-low 11's as usual Car feeling better than ever!



On the brakes front, I've bled them again last week, and pedal feel is now really good. They stop me brilliantly from just about any speed, but are still prone to overheating after repeated hard stops.

Driving with the windows down yesterday has really confirmed that it's a pad issue though, as when the bite goes, I can really smell the pads. I think it's a localised heat build up in the pad, as the caliper remains cool to touch, and the discs don't even appear to have seen much heat.

I whipped a wheel off earlier to take a look at the pads:



The signs of heat blistering the paint on the pad show that it's been getting pretty hot, I think this confirms that whilst the brakes seem great for road use, the EBC yellow stuff pads just arn't up to proper abuse.

Pagids on the way this week

 

[16Klappe]

Looking at your discs it looks as though the pads aren't hitting the disc across the whole height of the pad or aren't contacting square; the darker deposits are centralized and have created a band.

Potentially over heating the area with the highest pressure (across the pistons) and the exterior top and bottom edges of the pad being at a lower temperature are scrubbing the adherent pad material clean and causing your issues.

A far fetched theory; but there is certainly a localized ring of deposits.

Otherwise, the car looks ****ing badass as **** and I'm so happy it's back to a respectable level.

 

[Prawn]

Looking at your discs it looks as though the pads aren't hitting the disc across the whole height of the pad or aren't contacting square; the darker deposits are centralized and have created a band.

I'm so happy it's back to a respectable level.

I noticed that too dude! That was after really trying to kill them. After todays drive it's gone and they look normal again.

Ultimately, I think the brakes are great, and the EBC yellows would probably be fine for most people, Jamie thought the brakes were insane, and for it's road use, they really are, but when pushed to simulate track use, the pads soon give up.

Great brakes, and I understand the pad choice to keep the cost of the whole kit down, but ultimately, I need more manly pads.

Glad you're happy with how it looks, me too Just need the S3 spoiler to arrive, and to find a new front bumper.

Anyone have a tatty old S3 front bumper they fancy donating to a good cause?

 

[666markyboy]

Wasn't there a full after market front bumper available in that mad orange wrapped 4 door thread ??? the maxpower one... dunno if he sold it or not but he only wanted peanuts

 

[666markyboy]

This one ....... might not be to your taste's though


View attachment 15766

 

[16Klappe]

Prawn did want that, as well as myself.

I missed it on eBay, it was only a fiver.

 

[jojo]

I noticed that too dude! That was after really trying to kill them. After todays drive it's gone and they look normal again.

Ultimately, I think the brakes are great, and the EBC yellows would probably be fine for most people, Jamie thought the brakes were insane, and for it's road use, they really are, but when pushed to simulate track use, the pads soon give up.

Great brakes, and I understand the pad choice to keep the cost of the whole kit down, but ultimately, I need more manly pads.

Glad you're happy with how it looks, me too Just need the S3 spoiler to arrive, and to find a new front bumper.

Anyone have a tatty old S3 front bumper they fancy donating to a good cause?

I've got a complete facelift front bumper if you are interested Nick.

 

[Prawn]

PM me details jo my good man

 

[16Klappe]

Fight you for it...

In fact, I can pick it up for you when I pick my new car up off Jo.

 

[limbo118118]

car looks very nice! still carnt get over how big those filters are hah!

 

[Prawn]

Pagid RS29 pads finally ordered. Can't wait to get them installed!