Jay A3 's 1.8T On-Going Build Thread

[crazy88]

Yeah, it is fun. I just want some snow now!

You seen the pics of it? I put a thread in the b5 section.

 

[Jay A3]

Yeh the silver one. Slightly dropped? Can't remember what wheels you had

 

[crazy88]

It's actually standard height. And it has standard bolero(?) wheels. Ha! I did consider putting my s4's on, but I'm gonna leave it as standard.

 

[Jay A3]

As long as the car is healthy and running well

 

[crazy88]

Seems to be so far mate. It doesn't seem to reward me well for driving it carefully either. I get like 2 mpg more, so might as well have fun.

 

[Paradox1]

Jay...

No pics

Sort it out!

 

[Jay A3]

Jay...

No pics

Sort it out!

Of the rear calipers? Previous page

 

[ScottD3]

Could have cleaned the wheels mate!!

 

[Jay A3]

Not everyone has as much spare time as you

 

[Jay A3]

I will wash this weekend. Need to pick up more meguiars alloy cleaner

 

[Paradox1]

nooo not the ****** calipers

the car! lol

take some nice snaps, Shouldnt have to tell you this lol

 

[Jay A3]

Will do mate. Car isn't photo worthy at the moment. Still planning a respray

 

[Jay A3]

For you paradox!
Even gave it a wash today

 

[Jay A3]

Small update...


Spent the last 2months looking into fitting a oem remote to my car. Had enough of the aftermarket set constantly locking me out of the car!

Remote central locking



I also got a bit bored and creative...

great what some stickers, paint and lacquer can do

 

[Jay A3]

Justly picked this up for no less than £30!
Job for tomorrow

Anything I should look out for? Or easy enough to swap over?

 

[Jay A3]

Not sure of anyone still follows this thread, but it's more of a "what I have done" thread

Didn't get round to fitting the bushes. Too much work on, maybe this weekend...

On another note Ben has sourced some seats for me along with door cards. (Massive thanks again)

Little worse for wear as they had a lot of surface bobbling.

I used a de-bobbler (costs £4 off eBay)
Top half done and bottom half not...

Done all the seats and also picked up some meguiars gold leather giving a nice clean. I found this really easy to use and no residue.

I've read a few posts on cleaning the alcantera and it seems race glaze is quite popular, so I have a bottle of this on the way to try out.

 

[superkarl]

If you find anything decent and relatively cheap to recondition black leather let me know. I know paintwork stuff, but ive never touched my seats other than a wipe.

Very pimpin btw!

 

[MIGGZ]

nice transformation dude going to look good!!!

 

[Jay A3]

If you find anything decent and relatively cheap to recondition black leather let me know. I know paintwork stuff, but ive never touched my seats other than a wipe.

You tried auto glym? They do both a leather cleaner and then a leather balm which you treat every few months.

nice transformation dude going to look good!!!

Thanks miggz can wait to get them in

 

[Jay A3]

So my cleaner for the alcantera turned up today

Easy enough to use:
Before

After

 

[Prawn]

this is suddenly looking all very pimp

Best colour combo for S3 seats, they're going to look great in your white car!

 

[Jay A3]

this is suddenly looking all very pimp

Best colour combo for S3 seats, they're going to look great in your white car!

Comfort
Thanks Nick.
On another good note I have been driving around this week with no back seats or sub etc...

Noisier bit feeling the weight difference!!!

 

[Jay A3]

With the help from Ben and Reesy - got the front seats in.

Just need to sort out the airbag light issue. The original plugs were 2 wires and the loom used from the s3 and under the seats have 3 wires.

I have read a few threads about taking out the bulb or sticking a resistor on it then clearing it with vagcom. I don't really want to go down this route. Any one shed some light on what wire is what??

 

[Westy]

With the help from Ben and Reesy - got the front seats in.

With the help of Ben then

 

[Jay A3]

With the help of Ben then

He did help honest! Dont think they will again. It was freezing outside

 

[Reesy]

He did help honest! Dont think they will again. It was freezing outside

Eat a d*ck Fred!!

and yeah, that job was bullllllsheet. Was absolutely freezing but they look a lot better than the old ones did..

 

[Jay A3]

Still not got the rear door cards in yet. Just fitted some 2 way coaxial 165mm pioneer speakers along with speaker adapters and they will go in just after Xmas.

This week and next I will be rolling around in this while the car is in the shop. Not a fan of the mini although this one is only a 1.4l



Missing my motor already and it's only been 4 or so days...

 

[Jay A3]

So 2weeks and I still don't have my car back yet...

But I do have a small update on where it is at. I have been contemplating over what grey I wanted it painted. After going to the tour round Maidstone Audi dealership I saw an a1 in Daytona grey and I had to have it! [LZ7S color code] with a gloss brilliant black roof [LY9B]

Firstly all the wrap has to come off





Prepped


Brilliant black


Doors and bonnet off


Hated the door moulds. Removed welded metal plates behind the holes and filled.




I started putting the lights back on and plate


Rear bumper back on


Colour has come out really well with a pearl effect. Hopefully I can get all the trim and door cards back on tomorrow and hand this mini back over!

 

[Prawn]

Looks awesome Jay!

nice work mate, can't wait to see it finished

 

[Jay A3]

Looks awesome Jay!

nice work mate, can't wait to see it finished

Thanks mate. Really eager to get to the garage tomorrow and finish it all

 

[Jay A3]

What a day! I have been collecting parts over the last few months for a facelift double din. I've read a few threads and it's fairly straight forward.... Not for me it wasn't! Taking the console out was an easy task



While I was hoarding parts I mocked everything up to save time



Issues I came across:
- The cup holder. On my a3 the space behind where the cup holder sits is very tight! The centre vents funnel down behind the head unit and stops the console and cupholder fitting flush.



Sorry for the poor picture.
This is of the slot where the cup holder would go. If you look straight through to the back you can see two upright trims (looks like a 7). I had to trim these I half.

- The hvac all plugged and didn't work. No response so I will need to look into it or try another hvac.

- rear window de mister cabling didn't reach so I need to get hold of some 12v wire to extend.

- The cigarette lighter wires
My car had 2 plugs:
(White plug) Red & black = live
(White plug) Brown = ground



(Black plug) black x3 = ground?
(Black plug) red = live
(Black plug) blue = ??



- The obd port has to be relocated. Currently out the way but I plan to extend it to under the steering wheel as the facelift models.

All in all it's temporarily fitted and I'm happy with how it looks.

 

[ScottD3]

The two extra cables from your new lighter would be for illumination I'd assume.

Looking good though mate.

Any luck with the HVAC?

 

[Jay A3]

I plan to borrow a tester and find out what these wires are. Hoping to try reesys hvac as his is a working one which would eliminate whether my one is faulty or not

 

[g60leigh]

I've a bundle of 12v cable if you need some Jay.
The blue wire should be illumination.

 

[Gops]

Mate those seats are gorgeous! I've always wanted them! How you getting along with the facelift console?

 

[Jay A3]

I've a bundle of 12v cable if you need some Jay.
The blue wire should be illumination.

Thanks Leigh. Will let you know how I get on

Mate those seats are gorgeous! I've always wanted them! How you getting along with the facelift console?

Cheers Gops
Facelift console is halfway there. The head unit works well so far will play with it later. Just teething problems fit wiring for the hvac and cigarettes lighter. But once they are sorted it's all done!

 

[Jay A3]

Well seems like the old hvac works so wiring is all ok during conversion. Hoping to collect and try another FL hvac to find out if my one os faulty or not

 

[Jay A3]

 

[ScottD3]

That stereo looks really good mate.
It fits in there well.

Shame about the HVAC unit though but if your PFL one works it must be the FL one being faulty?

Can you watch TV, films or AV input on it?

 

[Jay A3]

No tv or films. But should be able to watch stuff from YouTube etc... The satnav and music from my iTunes were the main priorities