Hi all,
Been a happy A3 8L owner since November last year - Bought the car at 82K from the only lady owner with FSH, and seemed to be running great. First 'Proper' car after a couple of crap 1.0litres, so the 150bhp felt epic!
Unfortunately I've lost all the original photos of when I bought it, so you will have to excuse the Instagram specials for now.
I've ended up doing a lot of work on it through problems that have arised and just general maintenance that was necessary. I serviced it as soon as I got it, and soon after fitted a new Thermostat and Temperature sensor as the engine temperature was hardly rising and fuel economy sucked! Also fitted new disks and pads all round as they were rusted to hell.
With that sorted, I then ran into a horrible misfire a few weeks later in cylinder 1 - that turned out to be a dodgy Ignition Control Module. £100 quid and new one is now fitted, problem gone!
Then after a local car meet I was met with the Check Brakes warning on the dash. By the next morning the brake fluid tank had emptied itself over my drive - found that the handbrake leaver seal on the rear left calliper had failed. Reconditioned calliper was fitted, and whilst bleeding the system the other rear calliper bleed nipple decided to jump ship! So that side was replaced too.
Next up was some JOM coilovers that I got for £100 off of my mate, and again encountered loads of problems. This time with the lower strut bolt heads sheering off completely... Replacement bolts bought and old ones drilled out, then eventually looked like this:
After a very quick decision a few months ago, I snapped up a set of 18" Rota Grid Drift's second hand finished in a custom Black/Dark Grey colour shift paint job. (Photos don't do the colour justice.) Specs are 9.5J Et 23 on rear, and 8.5J Et 44 on the front.
225/40/18 Pirelli's fitted all round and 15mm spacers on front to clear coilovers - but will change the front tyres soon as I need some more stretch to fit them under the arches without ruining them.
And this is how it currently sits!
I've just fitted a shallow sump on the weekend too, and I realise that this holds less oil and people reckon it will starve the engine of oil.. but my mate has one on his Mk4 Golf 1.8T running 266bhp and it seems fine! So thought I'd risk it. Snapped a ball ended allen socket and also a bolt, but finally on:
I've also ripped out all of the old Bose sound system that was originally fitted, as the front speakers weren't working and the headunit had the volume problem. So bye bye all speakers, head unit, 6 CD changer, subwoofer, and amp.
In went some 13cm JBL GTO529 components in the front, and JBL GTO637 coaxials in the rear - Upgraded wiring all the way to a JBL GTO1004 in the boot. Then got a couple of 12" JL W3 500w RMS subs in a custom box from a mate, with a JL JX1000 Mono amp to power them. Now it sounds great
Oh, and I binned the rear wiper as it never worked - replaced with a glass grommet off ebay, looks miles better!
So I think that is me up to date.. Have a few more things planned exterior wise, but will be just some bodywork and neatening up. I have the usual engine mods lined up (Forge 007p, S2000 air filter, Turbo Intake Pipe, FMIC, and eventually a Remap.) but this will be a slow progress. Looking to have this car for a good few years yet!
Any comments welcome, and thanks for any advice in advance.
Been a happy A3 8L owner since November last year - Bought the car at 82K from the only lady owner with FSH, and seemed to be running great. First 'Proper' car after a couple of crap 1.0litres, so the 150bhp felt epic!
Unfortunately I've lost all the original photos of when I bought it, so you will have to excuse the Instagram specials for now.
I've ended up doing a lot of work on it through problems that have arised and just general maintenance that was necessary. I serviced it as soon as I got it, and soon after fitted a new Thermostat and Temperature sensor as the engine temperature was hardly rising and fuel economy sucked! Also fitted new disks and pads all round as they were rusted to hell.
With that sorted, I then ran into a horrible misfire a few weeks later in cylinder 1 - that turned out to be a dodgy Ignition Control Module. £100 quid and new one is now fitted, problem gone!
Then after a local car meet I was met with the Check Brakes warning on the dash. By the next morning the brake fluid tank had emptied itself over my drive - found that the handbrake leaver seal on the rear left calliper had failed. Reconditioned calliper was fitted, and whilst bleeding the system the other rear calliper bleed nipple decided to jump ship! So that side was replaced too.
Next up was some JOM coilovers that I got for £100 off of my mate, and again encountered loads of problems. This time with the lower strut bolt heads sheering off completely... Replacement bolts bought and old ones drilled out, then eventually looked like this:
After a very quick decision a few months ago, I snapped up a set of 18" Rota Grid Drift's second hand finished in a custom Black/Dark Grey colour shift paint job. (Photos don't do the colour justice.) Specs are 9.5J Et 23 on rear, and 8.5J Et 44 on the front.
225/40/18 Pirelli's fitted all round and 15mm spacers on front to clear coilovers - but will change the front tyres soon as I need some more stretch to fit them under the arches without ruining them.
And this is how it currently sits!
I've just fitted a shallow sump on the weekend too, and I realise that this holds less oil and people reckon it will starve the engine of oil.. but my mate has one on his Mk4 Golf 1.8T running 266bhp and it seems fine! So thought I'd risk it. Snapped a ball ended allen socket and also a bolt, but finally on:
I've also ripped out all of the old Bose sound system that was originally fitted, as the front speakers weren't working and the headunit had the volume problem. So bye bye all speakers, head unit, 6 CD changer, subwoofer, and amp.
In went some 13cm JBL GTO529 components in the front, and JBL GTO637 coaxials in the rear - Upgraded wiring all the way to a JBL GTO1004 in the boot. Then got a couple of 12" JL W3 500w RMS subs in a custom box from a mate, with a JL JX1000 Mono amp to power them. Now it sounds great
Oh, and I binned the rear wiper as it never worked - replaced with a glass grommet off ebay, looks miles better!
So I think that is me up to date.. Have a few more things planned exterior wise, but will be just some bodywork and neatening up. I have the usual engine mods lined up (Forge 007p, S2000 air filter, Turbo Intake Pipe, FMIC, and eventually a Remap.) but this will be a slow progress. Looking to have this car for a good few years yet!
Any comments welcome, and thanks for any advice in advance.
Loving those wheels. Where you based?
