Alfie the a4's build thread.

Next was the cabin filter, the car has been well services but for the life of me I can't understand why the cabin filter hasn't been done in years, it's such a cheap part and makes a massive difference to the cabin air quality.
So I was doing a order the Mrs Leon and while I was at it I bought a carbon cabin filter.

I think the pictures speak for themselves.
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So the last bit of the day was the bit I was dreading the most, doing the rear brakes, new discs and pads.

Me and brakes don't get along but I'll leave that there, I decided to have another go and see what happened. Mostly a success haha.

So as the pictures below show, the rear brakes were hanging, the discs were shot and the pads weren't much better, also they looked like they'd seen better days. So plan was to change rear disc and pads, paint front and rear dust shields and front and rear calipers.

Tbh it went really well, it took longer to paint the damn things than it did to fit it all.
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So the issues.

The rear passenger side disc screw was missing and I didn't order a replacement, what a ball ache that was.

The rear drivers side calipers is pretty shot, the pads had uneven wear and the dust boot was about 30% ripped, it also didn't like been wound in, I'm not going to bother with replacing it, once funds allow s4 300mm rears will be going on with either 345mm front or Porsche 6 pots with 350mm discs, we'll see.

The rear passenger side looks to have acquired a small stone or bit of rust, as you can see the discs has some visible marking, it is only slightly scratched, I'm hoping what ever has got in has gone but think I may have to remove the calipers :/, suggestions?

Lastly the brake fluid reservoir is very full, to the point it's visible to see the fluid with the grit guard in, surely this isn't normal? Shouldn't it have slightly less in?
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Right the to do list

Drill out the old number plate bolts due to them snapping and tap for new bolts.
Smash out the passenger side number plate light holder as some twats round the screw.
Fix the split boot wire that's causing the boot light and rear light errors when open.
Fit the new pcv gasket.
Fit the n80 evap pipe work.
Fit the n80 valve.
Do the thermostat.
Change the cam follower.
Fit the rest of the LED's (when they turn up).
Found out why the passenger side suspension has started creaking.
Full detail.
 
To buy:

034 Motorsport intake pipe.
Jetex panel filter.
Engine bay covers.
Scuttle panel covers.
Rs4 or 034 Motorsport rear arb.
New alloys (18", thinking the 5 spoke fat fives)
Sat nav.
 
still a few bits to do then chap, coming along nicely though.
 
Definitely mate. It's getting their though.

Thanks also, nice to see someone is watching my build thread haha.
 
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I'm enjoying reading this too, interesting stuff. Will be checking my pollen filter in the morning!
 
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What also helps is setting of something like a norm fest viro one shot, you need the system on recirculation and pollen filter out. Made car smell so good and clears out the aircon pathways apparently.
 
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Good call evil. I'll get one ordered.

Thanks jeesby.
 
Well another day at it.

Today's list was to:
Replace pcv gasket
Clean TB and replace gasket
Replace evap pipe work
Replace n80 valve
Look into why the rear disk was marked.

So rear disk, cracked on with this straight away, 5 minutes and it was all apart and off, not bad to say I hate brakes, turns out the brake pad shim at the bottom had somehow ended up in contact with the disk, removed the outer pad and pulled the shim away from the disk, reassembled and all looks good.

Next was all of the above. Mostly it was a success, the only thing I didn't do was the evap pipe work and that's due to Audi been dicks, all the pcv and evap screws are t20 bits but the 1 screw that holds the main boy of the evap in place is a pz2 star bit, could I hell as get this out, the room in which you have to get a screw drive or ratchet is a joke, I ended up using a 1" screw driver but couldn't get the force applied to remove it, had to give up in the end and leave, it'll get replaced when the inlet comes off.

So the rest of it, I believe the pcv valve was leaking due to the old rubber seal, once he new one was on a took a lot more force to screw it in place, you could feel it squashing the new rubber seal, rather than just going straight in like last time.

TB was abit of a bitch, the rear right torx screw isn't the easiest to get out let's say but I managed it, as you can see the TB wasn't too bad but was quite mucky.

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Sorry for the lack of photos but I'd spent over a hour in that screw and had lost all patience by then.
Point to note as well the TB was very dirty around the seal area, looks like the old seal had been leaking, good job I'd learnt my lesson and ordered a new one haha.

Last job was the n80, this was pretty straight forward, old one off new one on although I don't think it was faulty so kept the old one as a spare.

Last off was to reset the TB, 2 minute job with vcds.

So the car is totally different to when I bought it, now drives smoothly and comes in power when it should, the ideal also seems to be bang in but I need to drive it more with stand still traffic, only done 2 straight runs with little stopping.

I still don't think the car is as fast as it should be but it is only 200bhp as standard and on top of that there's the weight and transmission losses, my old s3 would destroy the a4 no matter what the condition and I think the Mrs mk2 Leon tdi fr would as well.
 
I feel ashamed that it's taken you a couple of days to do all the bits (and a couple extra) that's taken me a year to do!
 
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Well then chap, if a mk2 leon tdi fr will leave your quattro behind you must lacking power somehwere then, i have no problem leaving other so called fast cars behind , when i push the pedal the car goes takes , it takes off like a rocket and doesnt back off either unless i take my foot of the gas, i have friend with a nicely tuned 2006 golf gti , and i can leave him behind aswell.
it goes without saying that highly tuned engine cars will be faster but on a level playing field your quattro should be pretty fast .
 
Not really mate, the a4 is what 1500kg ish, and 200bhp, take into account the Quattro it's not hard, the Leon is around 1350kg and 170bhp, plus with it been a diesel the torque if there low down.

Probably doesn't help I haven't been able to open the a4 up properly yet, what's the power start to come in at, 2500rpm give or take?

Also doesn't help my old s3 was haldex based so more fwd 150kg lighter and nearly 60bhp more and modified to hell suspension wise.
 
DrEvil said:
I feel ashamed that it's taken you a couple of days to do all the bits (and a couple extra) that's taken me a year to do!
Click to expand...

Problem is mate I hate leaving things, I did that on the s3 and nearly run it into the ground so I'd rather just sort the issues out before they develop into something worse.
 
I really cant be sure to be honest, i havent had it mapped mate , and when i bought it from audi in 2014 they said it was a factory standard special edition with only genuine audi options fitted and at 29k miles all seemed to tally up.
But had a fair few issues frankly moreso in the engine dept but put it down to being a friday afternoon special.
Anyway , the old bus has beeen behaving itself for a while now and i was trawling through the old receipts from the previous owner from new and found some that i missed before, one for 4 new 19" tyres , strange as it had the genuine ronal 18" rims, but then found out it had been fitted with 19" BBS rims so they went walkabout before i got it, and there is a receipt for engine management and mapping services but no other details, maybe it has been mapped , i'll only know if i get it checked out properly i supose, but audi maintained it was 100% factory issue BUL 220 tune.
I expect i'll get to the bottom of in due corse, but a fair few guys have commented on its rapid performance....
 
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Maybe it has been mapped then, mines the BGB engine so only 200bhp standard, I'd like to see how the 220bhp compares, wonder what the torque difference is as well.

Yeah I bet the 19's got swapped and cash as well.
 
What size discs are yours front and back? They look like the callipers I want 345 front and 310 rears? Been looking on eBay but I can't tell between some
 
I wonder what mine are then il have to have a measure I have those tiny callipers with the springy metal clip :( oh I thought they were 310 at the back on the r32/s3 upgrade, can't find many threads on them
 
What model you got?

Argh I follow you now, it's because the s4 has 300mm vented rears. So you thinking of going down the r32/s3 route?
 
Iv got a 170tdi Quattro b7 avant, yeah I love the look of those rear vented bad boys! My wheels can see a lot through them so chunky breaks would look great! I didn't know if s3 s4 r32 were all the same.

Think il check my cabin filter aswell after looking at your pics! I think the previous owner of mine had dogs :(
 
I think yours will be the same size brakes as mine then pal.

For some reason the s4 has 300mm rears.

Yeah I would mate, like said he service history is second to none on the car but the pollen filter always gets over looked.

Guessing it's full of dog hair?
 
Got drunk last night and orders this haha:

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Will be fitted along with something else I'm currently working my on which I think the tfsi boys will like .
 
So the cars had 3 slow punctures, 1 I knew was due to screw, spotted it while doing the brakes the other day but the other 2, I didn't have a clue.

Took it to the tyre garage yesterday and turns out the other 2 wheels had corrosion on the inner sides, garage said its really common and stops the tyre sealing properly, out comes the wire wheel and tyre seal and I'm £40 lighter, just got to keep a eye on them for now.

The wheels are tbh a disgrace, I've never seen so much baked on brake dust, rather than refurb them I'm just Guna run he tyres down then change to some 18's.

On another note the cars booked in tomorrow for the thermostat and I'm just contemplating getting them to do the cam follower or wether to it myself although I may just let them do in while their at it. We'll see.
 
Well decided to get the garage to do the cam follower if they have time tomorrow, on mine it has the banjo bolt rather than the rubber feed in the a3's, golfs etc.

On a shiter note the boot kid has welded itself ****, won't open with the fob, drivers door latch or the key manually, also the rear number plate lights and rear dog lights have stopped working, if it doesn't rain it seems to pour. So need to try and open the boot first and take it from there.
 
My B6 Avant had a boot release from inside that I used when I couldn't release from outside.

Climb into the boot then open the cover and yank the red plastic cable. Should pop open.
 
Well the boot has decided to open today along the lights also starting to working.

Cars in at the garage getting the thermostat and cam follower done but tomorrow weather permitting I'm going to strip the boot down and investigate further.
 
Finally had the thermostat and cam follower changed, my mechanic wasn't best pleased when I said I'd done the rear brakes myself and wanted him to do the cam follower in its place, funnily enough it was the first cam follower they'd done and never heard of them needed to be changed, found it a little weird.

Anyway I had to take a pic of this as its never say at 90 since I got it:
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So the cam follower has clearly seen better days, the head is full of random scratches which me and the mechanic both found weird, they normally just wear down and develop a groove:

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Cost me £100 fitted for both which I was more than happy with, and that included me giving them a tip in that. Took them 3 hours and would have probably took me all day so win win.

The car is feeling amazing to drive after the last lot of work, don't know why but after having the new stat and follower the car is just sssooooo smooth and power picks up slightly earlier. Very happy.
 
If you've not done them yet, genuine Audi LED number plate lights are great. Good light but not overly bright/harsh like some after market units. You will need a resistor loom though. I got a Kufatec from Germany. Speaking of which, the screws are a heck of a lot easier to undo if you remove the entire strip. On the Avant you can't get a screwdriver on straight which is why they tend to round out. With the strip out I had absolutely no problems with the original screws which I thought were toast.

Glad to hear it's running better. Mine ran z lot better after:

New right hand PCV.
New left hand PCV camcover-to-turbo pipe (revised item with one-way valve).
N80.
GFB DV+ (great bit of kit).
Throttle body clean.
Adjustment of wastegate (wasn't sealing so it was constantly by-passing exhaust gasses).
Ramair panel filter.
MAF sensor cleaning.
New plugs.

With all the above it made 221Ps on MRC's dyno, which is a bit weird for a BGB.

Since then I've fitted an 034 sports cat. In one word - wow, even without a map to take advantage. Spool is sooner and it just feels more responsive. Definitely add one to your wish list.
 
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The banjo bolt on the HPFP is a bit of a b***h. It was by far the most fiddly bit to do when I swapped my follower.
 
How uneasy is it to remove the whole strip mate?

Think I may have to do that as the left side number plate screw is totally rounded.
 
Also any more info on the sports car?

Thinking of changing mine along with a down pipe, is the cat before or after the downpipe?
 
I had my boot lid trim off to fit the resistor cable. The strip mounts with two brackets, each with two nuts. Once they're off the strip should pop out after pressing in two tabs. Very easy.

It also helped as I could get the lights seated perfectly with the screws properly torque down.
 
I'll look into that tomorrow mate, only thing is the saloon has the manual key operation so I'll have to look into that as well.
 
Cat is right after the turbo. Just look at the left side of your engine. If you follow it down you'll see it meet the downpipe with a three bolt flat flange. My bolts there were utterly wrecked, had to remove the cat and downpipe and cut them off. The downpipe joins the centre section with a sleeve joint.

I bought a Milltek downpipe too but sadly it doesn't line up with the original centre section (it's meant for a full Milltek system only). I'll fit it when I get a custom centre section made up.
 
Dani_B19 said:
I'll look into that tomorrow mate, only thing is the saloon has the manual key operation so I'll have to look into that as well.
Click to expand...

I wish the Avant did too.

Not sure how it's linked on the saloon strip. I imagine it's independent of anything else in the lid though so the whole strip should come out in one. I may be wrong though.
 
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