Leshkin's Sepang Blue S3 Money Pit Project

leshkin

Hold my beer...
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Looking at all the build threads around and after owning this car for over a year, I thought that I should start a thread of my own and track my progress as well as share experiences of living with a modified S3. This is my first ever build thread, so be gentle :)

This post will be rather long, but I want to give you some insight into the decision-making that went into this and maybe help others pick an upgrade path. I'm not all that technical and while can handle a spanner or a soldering iron, all regular servicing and some of the bigger jobs get outsourced to Fontain Audi, who are my local Audi independent garage.

When I bought this car, I was not a stranger to Audi with the first one being a 1.8T Sport A3 about 10 years ago. This was followed by a Silver S3 8L, which I modified and loved very much, but it had to go due to my newborn daughter’s child seat being too much of a pain in the behind to use in a 3-door car and the boot being just a tiny bit too small for all the newborn crud you have to lug around with you.
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I replaced this with a Red 1.8T S-Line A4 for a couple of years until I started missing something with a bit more go, which is when I found this 2009 S3 Sportback, near Manchester just over a year ago.

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Choice of car was driven by a few factors:
  • It had to be an Audi - yes, I am a huge fanboy :)
  • It had to have 4 or 5 doors
  • Reasonably recent and lower than average mileage
  • It had to be a performance focused model and one that can easily be tuned to perform on a reasonable budget
  • My initial budget was 20K
  • The car would be my daily and only drive for the foreseeable future (if you don’t count the mountain bike), so it had to be comfortable on short and long journeys in UK or Europe. My wife and I love doing road trips, so this was a big factor for me - extra loud exhausts or jarring ride were not something I was going to put up with
  • Decent fuel economy, while not hugely important, would be nice - my commute is quite short, so diesel was out of the question
  • I like the idea of S-Tronic
I initially considered a B7 S4 or 5-door S5, but I was limited by my budget. This restricted options for these models to the bottom of the price range with higher mileage cars, as well as performance upgrade options being a little on the pricey side. Having to occasionally park/drive in London made me even less keen on the larger car and the side profile of a 5-door S5 wasn’t to my liking.

The above criteria left me with one choice, the Audi S3. I was always a fan of the 3-door version, so the huge choice of available cars for sale and the lower price of very good examples was well within my budget. I almost bought one, but in the back of my mind I knew that lack of the additional doors would result in constant nagging…I mean pressure from the Mrs and I would be back looking for a more sensible car within a few months. This really narrowed things down to the sportback, which I thought looked a bit too long… It has definitely grew on me since then - I love the utilitarian profile and the rear lights of a sportback looks so much nicer, in my opinion.
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So here I was, looking at this single owner 2009 Sepang Blue S3 with S-Tronic box, 45k miles and full service history, which looked stock to the untrained eye, but did show signs of being modified in places. With the extra ‘quattro 300’ lettering on the back being the most obvious clue and hinted at a remap being there, at least in the past and the EBC Ultramax disks, with Red Stuff pads at the front. The biggest thing that jumped at me is how tidy the bodywork was and presence of a clear M3 Ventureshield being in place on all of the front-facing panels, as well as some of the other at-risk areas. The previous owner definitely looked after it properly. Anyway, a test drive later and a quick trip to get a fresh MOT, I bought it :)

The long drive home did show an issue, which was nothing that worried me, but did put a bit of a downer on the experience - the wheels seemed to be badly balanced and caused quite bad judder at motorway speeds. The car didn’t seem to grip in corners all that well and tended to understeer badly at even a hint of spirited entry into a corner. I later found that this was down to the combination of slightly off alignment, rubbish stock suspension and old Dunlop tyres. I know that these cars are known for understeer, but even my old 8L S3 wasn’t this bad. By the time I got home, I already had a list of things together that needed to change. Even with all these issues, I was over the moon with the purchase and was really looking forward to getting stuck into the job at hand and start making this car my own.

Within a week, the stock Head Unit was replaced with a Pioneer AVH-8600BT, which is a bit more capable and modern:


I later got my Android phone to work with it with full screen and touch control mirroring


My plan was to always take the car to Stage 2+, but I didn’t have a clear timeline in mind for this. That may have been a mistake as within a month of buying the car, I ordered a BCS PowerValve system with 200 cel cats and started talking to @Rick @ Unicorn Motor Dev. about his remapping service, which offered a remote Android-based method of mapping the car, which really appealed to my geeky nature. This allowed me to do is get one of Rick’s Stage 1 maps on the car over the internet using just my phone. All I had to do is send him some VCDS logs to ensure things were running as they should.

I had to wait for BCS guys to prepare the system and wanted to get them to fit it for me as I heard it to be a little on the awkward side due to where the turbo was located and the rather large replacement downpipe, which required the front subframe to come out. While in the area, I decided to pay a visit to Rick in Stockport and get some further tweaks done to the map on his rolling road. Funny thing happened on the day of fitting, which was the Black Friday sale at LVS Racing, so I bought a Revo CAI just before setting out on my drive to BCS :) Anyway, this day and my impressions are well documented in this thread - http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/good-day-today-but-not-for-my-bank-balance.232260/

Needless to say, I was blown away by the sheer awesomeness of the BCS system. Read my review for full details - yes, it is that good and worth every penny :)


Shortly after the events of the above day, I got the Revo CAI installed and was busy pestering Rick to update my map to what would be equivalent to a Stage 2, with just the HPFP and a ECU tweak being the missing components of my Stage 2+ ambitions. This was sorted around February 2015, when the Loba HPFP was finally delivered and quickly installed. Soon after this, Rick’s Stage 2+ map made its way onto the ECU and the car finally reached my original power output goal. This was confirmed at ASN AMD RR day, with two runs just shy of 355bhp and 370lbft - I ideally wanted 360bhp, but was still pleased as the car was delivering butloads of performance where it counted - the mid range. Not bad after four months of ownership :)
RR AMD DAY resized

At the same time as fitting the Revo CAI, I was also looking to sort out the car’s handling - the power tweaks were beginning to highlight the limits of the rather mediocre standard suspension. This was quickly getting to me, so I started to research suspension upgrades. I used to run a set of H&R Springs, Bilstein B4 shocks, H&R ARBs and a more aggressive geometry setup on my previous 8L S3. This transformed that car’s handling and I really wanted more of the same on the 8P, but without introducing too much discomfort into the mix. This is the thread of me complaining about S3 suspension - http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/is-s3-standard-suspension-really-that-bad.230061/ . I even thought that my shocks were gone, which they weren’t... Outcome of my winge was a ST X Coilover kit, supplied by DPM, once the initial financial shock of earlier upgrade expenses begun to subside. This was one of my favorite mods on the car - it became more supple over uneven roads, ride height is good and still practical over speed bumps and offers a much more confident driving experience. It definitely proved itself on a trip to Wales last summer, where a few of my friends and I went on a driving weekend around the best roads that Wales has to offer. This kit is made by KW with the same internals as their v1 kit, but cheaper casing materials. So far, they still look like new, but my first winter with them is still to come.
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Soon after the coilover kit was done, I turned my attention to the Dunlop tyres that were inherited from the previous owner. The tread depth was still pretty good, but I think that the car spent a bit of time not being driven before I bought it as the tyres were showing signs of cracking and that is never a good sign, so I splashed out on a full set of Michelin Pilot Sport 3’s. They were on the car since March 2015 until now and I do like them very much. They offer decent all round performance and even as the fronts begun to wear out, they still seem to offer good levels of grip in dry and wet conditions. I’m planning on getting a set of winter tyres for the colder periods, but will go back to these in the spring as things begin to warm up. As mentioned earlier, the fronts have been wearing rather quickly, but in all fairness to Michelin, they have had a rather rough life with me due to frequent early Sunday morning trips out to the local A/B roads.

At this point, my performance upgrade list is complete. I do have a few interesting bits on the way, but I’ll leave that for another day :)

As far as non-performance modifications go, I recently ended up replacing my original Pioneer with an unbranded Chinese Android unit, which for the money, is perfect for my needs. This was after seeing this thread - http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/android-rns-e.248150/ It takes some tweaking, but well worth it due the features it offers for relatively little money.



I also installed a K1s dashcam, which is a nice solution for people, who want a permanent and stealthy install. I only have the forward-facing camera setup for now and the rear one will be going in at some point soon. This is a good review of the unit: http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2015/3/1/k1s-the-first-front-rear-hidden-1080p-dash-camera.html

I've added a Xenonz RS3 replica grill and still haven't decided if I want to keep it - sometimes it looks a bit too aggressive for my taste, but on occasions it looks perfect.. It stays for now :)
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I also bought a cheap private plate for easier fitment on the side of the bumper, and found one that was perfect, for me, being a native Ukrainian :)

Re-trimmed steering wheel in alcantara - feels sublime :)
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So in summary, I’ve now owned my S3 for just over a year now and I am liking it more with every tweak and modification that is added to it. I love the combination of practicality, comfort and performance it offers, and have definitely grown to love the sportback shape to a point where I prefer it over the 3-door version. It has been an expensive year, but the enjoyment I’m getting out of the car still overshadows the bills that come with it, so no regrets here!
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Well, this was a very long post, but I did have to get a year’s worth of updates into it. I left a few things out and may add them in at a later date. I hope you found this a worthwhile read - there is definitely more coming soon, so watch this space :)
 
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I am really liking what you had done to this car. Looks fantastic and perfect replacing for the 8L.
Think I might steal your re-trimmed steering wheel idea.
 
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I am really liking what you had done to this car. Looks fantastic and perfect replacing for the 8L.
Think I might steal your re-trimmed steering wheel idea.
Haha, speak to Jack at Royal Steering Wheels ( http://royalsteeringwheels.com ), he knows his stuff and has a lot of experience when it comes to this.
 
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Great write up, hopefully in a years time I'll have a very similar spec'd car
 
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Good thread! Car looks great, alot of time and detail went into that first post, look forward to seeing what comes next
 
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Fantastic thread. Great read. Can't wait for next update. :) x
 
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Beautiful car!
Love the steering wheel. We have the Alcantara JCW one in our Cooper S and was just thinking how naf the fbmfsw feels in comparison
Not a fan of the number plate relocation though I'm afraid, looks like an Evo lol
 
Nice to see everything gathered into the one build thread. Probably read and followed most of it in the individual threads and all the explanations given have been clear and informative. Personally, I love the RS look at the front, (done that myself), but I agree with -Ju-, I'm not keen on the side fitting number plate, it's a lovely grille though and I would keep it.
Who wouldn't want a car like that...?
Nice one.
 
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Thanks everyone for the kind words - she's definitely a keeper as far as I'm concerned :) The side mounted plate may be the reason that I'm not 100% on the RS grill, so I may end up going to centre mounted one eventually.

Seeing as I've been a good boy this year Christmas is coming early for me... A set of H&R ARBs and Whiteline ALK is going on tomorrow - the plan for better handling is coming along nicely.

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The idea of dropping subframes and spending any amount of time under the car with the current weather is seriously off-putting, so the car is headed to an indie for the day :)

Have to say, I'm seriously looking forward to driving the car with these two mods - still kicking myself for not going for this sooner.
 
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Good and very informative writeup, car looks great! Interesting to see what other plans you've got for it...
 
Ive got the ps3 on my s3 as well. Best thing I did. Been happy with them on other cars too.

1st day driving my S3, disappointing understeer.
PS3'3 (235/40/18)fixed most of that, tyre pressures upped to 38,alignment tweaked, an R32 mkV rear arb I had lying around (subtle difference in rate)
A lot more driveable.
I still had a bit of wheel wobble like you mentioned. Mine turned out to be a slightly bent rim. Had all rims re-rolled.
 
Yeah, I think that the stock wheels may be made out of cheese and buckle at first sight of a pothole and given the state of many of London's roads, that's not good. I'm considering getting them checked out by someone who knows about this, but may end up buying a decent forged set in the new year and keep the stock for winter. I'm not impartial to ENKEI EKM3 wheels... Time will tell :)
 
Quick update for yall - H&R ARBs and WALK are on, with tracking done for good measure!

I'm no motoring journalist, so can't describe things as eloquently and only had a quick play so far, but initial feeling is that the car definitely feels more responsive to steering inputs and can carry quite a bit more corner speed than before. The steering inputs are much more precise with a lot less body roll. Overall, car is feeling much more planted through the corners.

There were a couple of tight corners where there was a bit of under-steer coming in, but it was nothing like before and I'd want to go out on a longer drive to make final conclusions. I didn't expect under-steer to be completely eliminated with these changes, but initial impressions are very positive.

Only regret is not having the opportunity to try the ARBs and WALK separately just to experience the effects of each. They seem to compliment each-other very well though, so if anyone is considering doing either mod, I'd recommend doing both to get the maximum result.

Current settings are as follows:
Both ARBs are set to hardest position
WALK comes with two sets of bushes - I went for the black ones, which were recommended for road use
 
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I've got mine set on the softest settings, front and back, but I'm going to set the back to hard to see how that feels
I think the rear made the biggest difference though tbh as the oem one felt very light in comparison the front did feel a little beefier.
Not done the WALK yet but it's on the to do list
 
This video sold the idea of an anti-lift kit for me - check out how much movement you get with stock bush! It is is probably responsible for much of the improved steering feel.

 
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God its like the oem bush is made out of blancmange
Now where's my credit card lol
 
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Quick update for yall - H&R ARBs and WALK are on, with tracking done for good measure!

I'm no motoring journalist, so can't describe things as eloquently and only had a quick play so far, but initial feeling is that the car definitely feels more responsive to steering inputs and can carry quite a bit more corner speed than before. The steering inputs are much more precise with a lot less body roll. Overall, car is feeling much more planted through the corners.

There were a couple of tight corners where there was a bit of under-steer coming in, but it was nothing like before and I'd want to go out on a longer drive to make final conclusions. I didn't expect under-steer to be completely eliminated with these changes, but initial impressions are very positive.

Only regret is not having the opportunity to try the ARBs and WALK separately just to experience the effects of each. They seem to compliment each-other very well though, so if anyone is considering doing either mod, I'd recommend doing both to get the maximum result.

Current settings are as follows:
Both ARBs are set to hardest position
WALK comes with two sets of bushes - I went for the black ones, which were recommended for road use
arb's set both to hard are a bit too hardcore for street. it feels great, but it was too much for me. i've had it set on hardest front and back and went to soft front and hard back. feels much better for everyday driving. that's just my opinion.
 
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I tried to find a recommended setting, but it looks like its all down to personal preference in the end. I also suspect that what suspension the arbs are mated makes a difference too. Either way, I'll post if I end up changing my setup :)
 
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You can TTS bushes (No voids) Press into your housing if you still want hard rubber.
 
Little update after driving with WALK and ARBs fitted and realignment for just over a week:

The ride is definitely a little firmer due to the stiffer ARBs and the much firmer lower inner rear bushing that is part of the WALK. The road imperfections can be felt a bit more now and a bump on one side of the car tends to get transferred to the wheel on the other due to the much stiffer ARBs. This is the only slightly negative thing that I can say about it. Don't get me wrong - the car feels just a little bit firmer and so far there wasn't a single moment when I thought that it feels too firm/harsh even over some of the more rougher local roads. The ST X Coliovers seem to work extremely well together with this setup and significantly soften pretty much all of the uncomfortable shocks and knocks before they get your butt :) I wouldn't want to make this change to a S3 with stock shocks/spring though - that would probably get quite uncomfortable. I still have the option of going to softer ARB settings, but not really considering it - the added firmness actually feels quite nice.

As for handling, the car feels amazing in tight turns as well as through the faster ones. Rolls is seriously reduced and the front-outside corner just bites in and turns rather than diving with the stock setup. Hard braking and acceleration does not make the car pitch down/up as much and it seems to have helped the front wheels to keep traction under hard launches.

It's so much more confidence-inspiring and rewarding to drive now. I went out for a bit of a run with @thewanted in his S1 and another friend very early on Sunday through the Chilterns and up to Bicester. Not the best conditions for it after the big storm the night before, but it was still good fun.
Local

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I could not stop grinning through most of the three hours that it took - it's just so much more of a driver's car now than it has ever been. The route in question offered a variety of roads and road surfaces, and I enjoyed every moment of it. It grips well when coming into corners, holds the line through them and allows you to really slingshot out at an impressive rate. Under-steer has been all but eliminated now - it's there if you keep pushing, but this limit has moved into area where getting to it on public roads could seriously affect your license and it's onset is so much less pronounced. Can't wait for some track time in the new year!

ARBs, WALK and decent coilovers completely transformed this car. Coupled with some brake upgrades it would make for a seriously fun and engaging driver's car with all the comforts it already offers. That brings me on to my next mod - it's 356mm in diameter, has the word "yellow" and 6 pots in the name :)
 
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I'm thinking that as you've already had one Xmas present early,you'd be needing another "proper" Xmas present for the car?
 
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Yes, that's exactly it. My birthday is in a few days, so have to treat myself right ;)
 
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Yes, that's exactly it. My birthday is in a few days, so have to treat myself right ;)

It's only fair....you know you're worth it.
 
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I'm not so sure on the front number plate but other than that your car is beautiful mate, I want one...

Love the colour! Considered a 2011 Golf R but to be honest we have a fantastic community here so passed on it...might be time to look for a S3 ...
 
I'm not so sure on the front number plate but other than that your car is beautiful mate, I want one...

Love the colour! Considered a 2011 Golf R but to be honest we have a fantastic community here so passed on it...might be time to look for a S3 ...

Indeed, I was never 100% into the side mounted plate and the RS grill, after it was on... I already have a 1mm sheet of aluminium to act as a mounting point for the plate, so it will go back to the centre very soon. It's like one of those things that until you try it on your car, you won't know.

Definitely check out S3 - so much go for your money with lots of tuning/tweaking potential.
 
Seeing as it was decent weather today I decided to wash the car today, but got distracted :)

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Managed to give her a quick wash still - the whole thing took a bit longer than I planned, but the end result is pretty good, I think :)

The plate in the middle definitely looks better.
 
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Big improvement dude! Symmetry for the win.
 
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Great read mate love it great car in a stunning colour!
 
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Good write up, how much did it cost for the steering wheel retrim.

The wheel re-trim cost £130 in total from Royal Steering Wheels... They can do a mail service, where they take a deposit for an extra wheel, retrim an identical wheel to your spec and mail it to you. Once you replace your original wheel and send it back, your deposit is refunded.
 
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Fitted a full set of Vredestein Quatrac 3 all season tyres today. I've never bothered with winter tyres in the past, but have always felt that the car behaved a little skittish on the road as a result. They seemed like a good middle-ground between the more expensive options and still should offer very good grip in less than optimal driving conditions. As the temperatures drop these should hopefully see me through a few seasons. The plan is to keep my current set of wheels for winter and get a summer set of wheels in the spring to deal with my summer antics.

I'm torn between Team Dynamics pro race 1.2 and Enkei EKM3 - a few months to decide on that though :)
 
The pro race are a nice light wheel which you can feel through the steering, not sure on Enkei weight

Rick

I have a set of the 1.2s on my car.

Well made,seem able to absorb some pretty heavy use,and don't mark up too easily.
 
Yeah, I'm leaning towards Team Dynamics rims, as weight info on Enkei is a bit tough to find, which should indicate that they are a bit on the porky side.
 
I swapped ultrallegeras with summer tyres for oem ones with winters and they are featherlight compared to oem ones.
 
Great job fella, you've made taking the front bumper off look like child's play.

Any side shots and any plans for new wheels?
 
I swapped ultrallegeras with summer tyres for oem ones with winters and they are featherlight compared to oem ones.

I am a big fan of Superturismo GT and LM - love the simple multi-spoked designs. They are priced a bit higher than the Team Dynamics, but the biggest thing is that they are a couple of kilos heavier.

Great job fella, you've made taking the front bumper off look like child's play.

Any side shots and any plans for new wheels?

Thanks! Side shots of car? There is one in the first post ;)
 
Ah sorry yeah I noticed that, my bad. I thought you were putting H&Rs on hence the pic request post lowering.

Lovely colour
 
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