My project/money drain.

[Reedler18]

Hi knowledgeable Audi folk. Decided to start a thread on my project and maybe gain some valuable help/pointers/direction etc.

Bought a month ago and was advertised as being 99% complete and just needed mapping to finish.
None of this was actually true as I found out when I started scratching beneath the surface......

99 A4 Sport Quattro 1.8T Black Edition (Whatever that means)

Engine out and a lower mileage AEB fitted after being stripped, cleaned and forged internals fitted.
Large port head with larger valves.
T3 Hybrid turbo.
Custom stainless manifold.
Full 3 inch turbo back decat exhaust with screamer pipe.
38mm external wastegate.
Front mount intercooler.
S4 coil packs.
S3 fuel rail.
440cc injectors.
Wahlbro 255lph fuel pump.
5 bar fuel pressure regulator.
3 inch maf.
Cold air feed.
VR6 clutch.
Coil overs on the front.
New KYB's on the rear.
312mm brake upgrade.
RS4 grill.
Black head lining which apparently isn't that common???

Now I kind of bought it blind and took a chance. You live and learn!

There is zero history/receipts so I am dubious about the forged internals, but the engine has definitely been swapped as the block has been painted and the codes don't match the logbook.
The manifold and exhaust look home made will be swapped eventually for bought articles that will be welded a little better.
The maf sensor housing is also home made so will be getting swapped for something a bit better fitting.
And I have since found out that a VR6 clutch won't fit so it's anyones guess as to what is actually fitted!
The turbo oil feed has a large blob of weld on it for some reason.
The turbo oil return looks to be made of several bits and is leaking.
There was no air filter fitted.
Both side repeaters are broken and currently held in place by some double sided tape.
Number plate bulbs have been poorly 'upgraded' to LED's.
Near side headlight is full of moisture.
Off side headlight has a broken bottom bracket and is wobbly and pointing down.
Airbag light has just come on.
Don't like the cold air feed.
Intercooler sitting a little low.
Needed 4 tyres.

I think that's about all it's problems so far lol.

Everywhere I look there are corners that have been cut and I very nearly gave up and punted it on. I've since decided that I really quite like them so will stick with it and persist.
Body work is in nice condition considering its age and it looks straight and tidy underneath. Interior is very tidy.

I've since put 4 new Falken tyres on and had the tracking done.
Tidied up the air feed until I can find a bumper in the right colour.
Fitted a ram air filter.
Bought a new flexi oil feed.
Bought a new oil return.
Fitted a manifold gasket.
Swapped the cd changer for a working one.
Bought a new set of projector head lights.

Ordered from a club member:
Header tank as mine has a broken fixing.
Side repeaters.
Number plate lights.
Cam cover as mine has been cut.
Interior door handle I have a floppy one (ooh er)

Still lots and lots to get through.
Eventually I will be replacing the Manifold and the down pipe which i'm guessing won't match up to the exhaust so that will need doing too. Also a 200 cel sports cat will be fitted as i'm pretty sure mot time will be an issue.
And after that list of jobs is worked through I will be at the fabled 99% complete and only needing a custom map, which is half booked in with Simon Bevan in Plymouth.

Annnnnd breathe. Here's where I am currently.

Any pointers much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

 

[Reedler18]

And for my first query.

I got these headlights for £100 delivered, still in the box which I thought was quite good. They are slightly different which i'm not too bothered by. But the wiring is slightly different too and I don't do electrickery.
Have I bought the right ones?

 

[cliff81]

Looks sweet! You have brought angel eye headlamps, your existing plug should connect to the plug dangling on the rear of the lamps or a harness supplied, the extra wires need to connect to the battery or relay harness for the side lights, some connect to the light switch control but hopefully you should have a wire diagram with the lamps? Makes sure the switch inside the lamps are on RHD.

 

[Reedler18]

Looks sweet! You have brought angel eye headlamps, your existing plug should connect to the plug dangling on the rear of the lamps or a harness supplied, the extra wires need to connect to the battery or relay harness for the side lights, some connect to the light switch control but hopefully you should have a wire diagram with the lamps? Makes sure the switch inside the lamps are on RHD.

Thank you. That seems easy enough. I love the look of new head lights. I may have to uprate the bulbs though if they're anything like the current ones. My last car had HID's so this is a noticeable step backwards.

 

[Andyb5tdi]

Lovely looking car, watching your build with interest

 

[mikeyorion]

Good car to start with bud , I bought mine last year blind aswell and thought of getting rid but really like the old thing , so I just keep plowing more money into it

Keep it up , will be watching this thread

 

[aragorn]

I've no idea what they've done with that fuel rail, but i wouldnt be taking any chances with it and i'd be refitting the stock A4 one. If that comes off you'll have a fireball.

5 bar regulator is stupid as well. Thats just stressing everything out for no reason.

I've got a rail in the shed you can have, with standard regulator, just cover the postage.

I would be very carefully checking over whats going on with the fuel system. Find out exactly what injectors it has, and whats been done to the ECU. If its running all that stuff on the stock ECU thats seriously bad and you'll want to drive it really easily until you figure out whats going on.

 

[Reedler18]

So there's no gain whatsoever in the S3 rail? I did wonder why it was changed.
It's running very rich I can smell that much. The problem is, I can't map it as so much other stuff needs rectifying first, it's been cobbled together and I keep thinking I'm getting close to mapping it and I discover something else wrong

 

[Samuel c5 Q]

Good start so far reedler, nice car. I've had the double sided sticky tape in the side indicators before and been sold the front wheel drive a6 as a good runner when in fact she had been sludged at one point and the cam chain tensioner was on it's way out but I didn't realise this at the time.

The fuel pressure and fuel flow rate are not the same thing. What effect does the pressure regulator have on the whole system? Don't laugh, it's been a long week and quite a bit of work done to my own Quattro for mot. Not thread stealing..

 

[aragorn]

So there's no gain whatsoever in the S3 rail? I did wonder why it was changed.
It's running very rich I can smell that much. The problem is, I can't map it as so much other stuff needs rectifying first, it's been cobbled together and I keep thinking I'm getting close to mapping it and I discover something else wrong

No, theres no point changing the rail. Even 400hp+ would be fine on the stock rail.

Yeh, the ECU has a limited range of adaption for fuel of about +/- 15%. Reading your spec you've got 440cc injectors which are about twice as big as stock, and a 5 bar regulator adding another 15% or so. The 3" MAF gives you a bit more headroom by scaling things back the other way, but its still going to be overfuelling massively and unable to fix it. Have you looked at fault codes? These cars have no management light, so you get no visual indication there are faults in the ECU.

All i can say is dont drive it until its ready for mapping. If you want/need to drive it, then with some tweaks you can probably make it safe enough to drive until you can get all the niggles sorted.

 

[Reedler18]

It's going in the garage on Wednesday to have the air bag light sorted so I'll see what other faults show up, I'm guessing there'll be many.
Cheers for the info. And if it's ok to have that standard rail I will be very grateful and will pm you some monies

 

[Broonie]

I'll have those parts off the car and ready to post Tuesday, works been hectic and I thought I would be rained off to get cracking with the car but the sun has stayed out

Any other parts you need just ask, pretty much have the whole car here still

 

[Reedler18]

Cheers Broonie, Much obliged.

 

[mikeya4]

Also if it's not mapped for the larger maf housing the timing will probably be too far advanced, would definitely take it easy if you need to drive it before mapping. Like the colour and looks pretty tidy, hope you can get it up to scratch

 

[aragorn]

i would suggest you get yourself a VCDS cable. You can get copy ones on ebay for about a tenner and use the free version of the software to get the basic fault codes and info from the ECU and various other bits.

The airbag light for instance is probably the connectors under the seats. They can be a bit loose sometimes and bring the light on when you move the seat, just needs the fault code resetting, which you can do yourself with a VCDS lead!

 

[Reedler18]

It's ok my mate owns the garage I use and won't charge me for using his machine.

 

[aragorn]

fair play. Still worth getting the proper VCDS kit, its usually more informative than the generic tools that garages typically have.

 

[Andyb5tdi]

Nice project

What wheels are they? Mine had very similar looking wheels but they were very tired along with the tyres and were only 16"

 

[Reedler18]

Nice project

What wheels are they? Mine had very similar looking wheels but they were very tired along with the tyres and were only 16"

RS4 wheels I believe. Possibly replicas?

 

[Reedler18]

fair play. Still worth getting the proper VCDS kit, its usually more informative than the generic tools that garages typically have.

I may well get one at that price, I imagine I'll get my money's worth out of it.

 

[jbh]

nice looking car. looks like a good project..

Im sure there all money drains though... Im only glad I got mine dirt cheap...

 

[Reedler18]

And for my next problem.

I was just on my way back from the garage and heard a 'pfffft' noise, followed by a 'ting' noise, followed by a scraping noise and loss of power. After inspection I found the nut that should've been holding the turbine shaft together had come loose and pinged off of the compressor wheel. Luckily it ended up rattling around in the MAF housing and didn't go anywhere else! The shaft has loads of play and a load of gauges out of the wheel now.

I'm starting to give up on this

As it's in nice condition I'm half tempted to return it to standard..........

What are your recommendations people? Do I buy another T3 and stick with it or go K04 or similar? Although that does mean a new manifold,exhaust,downpipe etc etc

Fed up.

 

[aragorn]

doh not good!

I guess returning to stock probably wouldnt cost tooo much, the bits are all pretty cheap, and your ECU isnt tuned either. At least that way your back to a known point and can decide where to go from there in a sane manner (or sell it as a tidy working car) Rather than trying to work around whatever lashups the previous guy has created.

Grab a standard K03 and get it up and running. You'll get a factory manifold for peanuts, infact i might even have one you can have for the cost of post.

That fuel rails in the post, and i included a set of standard injectors too. You'd need a stock MAF and you'd be sorted.

 

[Reedler18]

doh not good!

I guess returning to stock probably wouldnt cost tooo much, the bits are all pretty cheap, and your ECU isnt tuned either. At least that way your back to a known point and can decide where to go from there in a sane manner (or sell it as a tidy working car) Rather than trying to work around whatever lashups the previous guy has created.

Grab a standard K03 and get it up and running. You'll get a factory manifold for peanuts, infact i might even have one you can have for the cost of post.

That fuel rails in the post, and i included a set of standard injectors too. You'd need a stock MAF and you'd be sorted.

Well done that man. Thank you.

What's involved with the K04 then? I'm happy to change the manifold, turbo, and downpipe. I guess the injectors, fuel pump, and coil packs are good to stay? External wastegate I presume will have to come off? Also is the V6 maf and housing suitable? I need a shopping list

 

[aragorn]

Depends which K04. If you want to go bigger than stock, i'd suggest you buy a K250 or K280 from beachbuggy turbos or a similar hybrid. Unlike the transverse cars, theres no factory K04 turbo that you can use. BorgWarner sold a "k04" for the A4, but its ****, barely any better than the standard turbo.

Those hybrids will bolt onto the stock K03 manifold/downpipe etc. Cheapest option is probably finding a K03-073 from a B6 190ps car. Those are good for about 230hp.

Coilpacks are standard anyway by the looks. Fuelpump is fine as are the injectors.

I dont know exactly whih MAF you have, a VR6 one is the usual one thats used.

 

[aragorn]

I think before going any further, you need to decide what you actually want from the car.

You can revert it to stock for a few hundred quid with a good used K03 and some other bits and bobs.

If you start down the hybrid route, its likely your going to sink £1500 or more into it by the time its mapped.

There are other options, like using a TFSI turbo with an adaptor plate.

It all depends on exactly what you want from the car and what sort of money your prepared to spend on it.

 

[Samuel c5 Q]

The k04-023 will not work with our manifold unless you get an adaptor plate made for it but this takes the turbine further from the exhaust manifold and can increase lag albeit not by a lot but every little bit less lag the better. Machining the turbine housing and the manifold to accept a v band connection may work and is one I will be looking into.

 

[aragorn]

forget the -023, its not worth the hassle.

If your going to start adapting things to fit, go with the TFSI turbos. They're more modern, and more readily available in good condition etc etc.

 

[Reedler18]

I'll be replacing the manifold so I can just buy one to suit the turbo. Alternatively I could just buy another T3. Undecided.

 

[Samuel c5 Q]

Can you fit a k04-023 turbine wheel in the T3 housing? I know I'm obsessed with k04-023 turbos.

 

[Reedler18]

Right. It would appear that it's going to cost me roughly £1500 to put right. If I sold it I would be brutally honest and lose probably about £1500. I just checked my bank balance on the way to work and bizarrely I seem to have about £1500 more in there than I thought I had.
I'm guessing nobody will want to buy the car as it is for £1500 so it seems the project continues. My mate at the garage admires my persistence and thinks I should torch it but is otherwise thankful that I'm slowly paying off his mortgage for him.

I'd best start shopping! The way I see It, if I buy a manifold, a turbo, and a downpipe to suit then it shouldnt be far off fitting the existing exhaust. After that it'll be time for mapping.

It seems I'll be cycling to work a fair bit.......

 

[Oranoco]

If you need a stock MAF housing I may have one in the shed

 

[Samuel c5 Q]

Keep her lit fella, if you shop about right you could do a wee k03/k04 hybrid for about £250. Get the turbine housing machined to take the k04 wheel for about £50 and refresh the bearings yourself for £30. Pelocian parts does a great step by step how to do it. Couldn't be easier. It's quick to spool and wild torquey but losses in the top end but will see you about 260 bhp.

 

[Reedler18]

If you need a stock MAF housing I may have one in the shed

Cheers, I think I'll grab a vr6 one from somewhere as recommended. At least that's the plan.

 

[aragorn]

Keep her lit fella, if you shop about right you could do a wee k03/k04 hybrid for about £250. Get the turbine housing machined to take the k04 wheel for about £50 and refresh the bearings yourself for £30. Pelocian parts does a great step by step how to do it. Couldn't be easier. It's quick to spool and wild torquey but losses in the top end but will see you about 260 bhp.

Do it right, or we'll just end up here again in 2000miles.

 

[Reedler18]

I might just bite the bullet and spend out on a new turbo, at least I know it's good then. I better have a solid car after all this or I'll be rather peeved to say the least!

 

[aragorn]

I would look at the A4 TFSI K03 turbo.

It comes with an integrated manifold, but needs an adaptor to fit the cylinder head. Its good for around 280hp on the TFSI. I imagine 260-280ish on the 1.8T.

You can pick up a decent condition used one for £150-200quid, but you'll also need an adaptor plate which is about 250 i believe.

Downpipe will need custom made to fit, but that will need changed anyway as your T3 one doesnt fit. A B7 A4 decat pipe will probably fit and give a good starting point. It might even mate up with a standard A4 downpipe.

 

[Reedler18]

Let the shopping begin!
Is this the right maf? And is this 3 inch or will i need to order new pipework too?
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A3-8P-...-Meter-MAF-07D906461-/131969434173?nav=SEARCH

 

[Oranoco]

Top man

I don't want Aragorn and I to be the last people dicking about with the B5

 

[Reedler18]

Top man

I don't want Aragorn and I to be the last people dicking about with the B5

Every time I feel like giving up I just look at it from any angle and fall in love a bit more.