Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

I've not driven it yet, as the harnesses arn't in, but I decided in about 10 seconds that it was simply far too much play for me to be happy with at all.

Shame :( it was a nice idea!
 
seat sliders have been a pain in my neck since i first started on race cars. As you probably know the only thing that makes seat sliders fia/msa complient is that they lock both sides not just one like most road cars do.

Its a bit late now but i never go for any seat or seat bracket made by sparco, the only reason is because in the 80's rally guys died due to sparco seats snapping, i know alot has changed since then but it sticks in my mind.

The only advice i would have is buy recaro - that gear generally works! but having said that with any slider its never going to be perfect and will always have some play in it, so if your after the planted feel - bolt the ****** in! Plus like you said no slider will lower the seat and allow more all important helmet room.
 
couple of big pillows and your dads sorted... problem solved lol :)
 
Cheers for your advice Eddie, recaro are indeed the daddies when it comes to seating solutions!

I think Dane has it though, back to plan A that we've been using for the past year. Dad will use cushions!

Dane, are you still coming over on Sunday?
 
thats the plan mate, any particular time best for you?
 
time isn't too important dude :) I'm planning on finishing the car off totally tonight / tomorrow so it's all ready for you to come for a ride on Sunday :) I've even planned a route to take you for a little spin :)

Just let me know when it's likely to be, as I'll probably spend the rest of the day with Tori
 
Ill get up, get the turbo and come on down so 12 or 1 ish I'd imagine, Ill text you on SUnday for more precise timings.

Awesome cant wait, for a ride!
 
Sweet man :) I can't wait, just to have it so I can take pictures and look at it!

May even use it as a paper weight until it goes on :p
 
Finished putting the car back together today, and I'm really happy with the results. Painting the interior as well as the cage has definitely made all the difference. No point in a shiney orange cage against a tatty black / primer interior

Took it out for a little drive to test things, and it's going very well indeed.

Stopped off at a nice location for a few pics.

Exterior pics:

613f507a.jpg


860c219f.jpg


bd406acd.jpg


8391c981.jpg


And the finished interior:

c52b2d48.jpg


ae2ec93b.jpg


28240a23.jpg


Padding turned out to be a perfect colour match

ca4a2533.jpg


I even ditched the standard handbrake cover, in favour of this ultra light weight High grip Rubber alternative:

3dbc8998.jpg


I love this junction of tubes:

633abb12.jpg


So many tubes coming together in one place, I think it looks great.

So, this is it, the car is almost complete. What on earth do I do with it now?

ddf3a68b.jpg
 
Finished putting the car back together today, and I'm really happy with the results. Painting the interior as well as the cage has definitely made all the difference. No point in a shiney orange cage against a tatty black / primer interior

Took it out for a little drive to test things, and it's going very well indeed.

Stopped off at a nice location for a few pics.

Exterior pics:

613f507a.jpg


860c219f.jpg


bd406acd.jpg


8391c981.jpg


And the finished interior:

c52b2d48.jpg


ae2ec93b.jpg


28240a23.jpg


Padding turned out to be a perfect colour match

ca4a2533.jpg


I even ditched the standard handbrake cover, in favour of this ultra light weight High grip Rubber alternative:

3dbc8998.jpg


I love this junction of tubes:

633abb12.jpg


So many tubes coming together in one place, I think it looks great.

So, this is it, the car is almost complete. What on earth do I do with it now?

ddf3a68b.jpg


I know what you can do next.

come do the same on my car :)

honestly though your car is an inspiration! I hoping to get mine sorted for the N-ring by xmas. I actually cant wait. not planning to go as hard as you have as this is my daily but im going to fit a fmic, front and rear roll bars, new lighter wheels and get rid of the HUGE sub, spare wheel and rear seats.

still no match for your motor though :)
 
Thanks man :) If you need any help along the way feel free to drop me a line any time!

Looking at these pics tonight, I'm REALLY proud of it too, considering 12 months ago it was a tatty mess sat on my drive, broken in several fairly serious ways, and looking like it wasn't destinted to much more than the scrap yard.

To think how much it's transformed is awesome :)

68f2abce.jpg
 
Thats a big transformation mate, you should be really proud of yourself.

Noticed that we have the same wheels. I am currently using the TT ronals wheels but have recently purchased so bbs wheels. I took my TT whels off to test fit the other wheel and couldnt believe the weight difference! the TT wheel weigh an abosulte ton in comparison.

No intending to crash on you thread so hope you dont mind. here's a pic of mine. this pic was taken a while again but its alot lower now
02012009086.jpg
 
Hang on a minute.....

..that's a ****** golf! haha.

What are you doing over here matey? I spend a lot of time on the golf / seat forums because audi-sport has so little information about non S3/ko4 stuff. The golf forums like UKMKIVS have so much more info in general about A3 type issues, although, they seem to have dried up a little lately.


What brings you over here? Not that you're not 100% welcome! My build would have been much easier with a golf, as there is so much more stuff out there that's golf specific. Most of my parts are for a golf, adapted for the A3 :)

you're right too, the TT wheels are SIUPIDLY heavy sadly :(

We were all set to buy a set of TD pro Race 1.2's, but then Danes hybrid came up for grabs, so we put the money into that instead.

100bhp is going to make more difference than saving 20kg on some wheels!
 
Hang on a minute.....

..that's a ****** golf! haha.

What are you doing over here matey? I spend a lot of time on the golf / seat forums because audi-sport has so little information about non S3/ko4 stuff. The golf forums like UKMKIVS have so much more info in general about A3 type issues, although, they seem to have dried up a little lately.


What brings you over here? Not that you're not 100% welcome! My build would have been much easier with a golf, as there is so much more stuff out there that's golf specific. Most of my parts are for a golf, adapted for the A3 :)

you're right too, the TT wheels are SIUPIDLY heavy sadly :(

We were all set to buy a set of TD pro Race 1.2's, but then Danes hybrid came up for grabs, so we put the money into that instead.

100bhp is going to make more difference than saving 20kg on some wheels!

haha yeah im guilty lol

I was going to get a a3 but when my bro was selling his gti i just had to have it. pretty much the same car but different body. im a member of ukmkivs but though I'd sign up hear as i've always had a soft sport for s3's etc.

Those TD alloys make such a differnce to the car weight. people dont realise it when modding cars.

So your on 230-240ish at the moment and yur going for a k04 hybrid turbo? I always though they were limited to just over 300bhp? what other mods are you planning on running? id suggests water meth. Have you uprated your conrods? id advise you get it done before fitting the turbo upgrade as im sure you'll be running more or less 300tqs and thats pretty limiting the rods or so ive been told.
 
as always matey, I'm going to be doing it slightly different to the norm!

it's not horsepower that kills rods, but torque!

My ko3S makes 265lbft, at it's 22psi spike, and peaks at just 208 bhp currently, at 6000rpm, where it's fallen to just 12psi.

If it only ever reached 12psi peak, it'd still make the same 208 bhp, but with much less torque in the middle.

The same applies to what I'm going to do.....

Based on Bills previous testing, it appears that the ko4 hybrid should make 300bhp at 18psi. My turbo on wellys car made 340bhp at 22psi, Bills Lupo is making 300-315bhp on 18-19psi, Danes S3 made 280bhp on a temporary map at 16psi, and Bills Lupo makes 230bhp at 10psi actuator pressure.

So, I'm going to run the turbo at a MAX of 18psi, which should net me 300bhp. But being low boost, the torque won't be so high. Probably even less than the 265lbft I'm getting currently, so no increased risk on the engine.

Being an AGU, I've also got 20mm rods already, as opposed to the 19mm rods of the AUM's.

I'm going to do this by running an EBC in parallel to the N75. The N75 map will control part throttle spool up, with the EBC ultimately caping the boost level.

Plan is to run another gizzmo MS IBC as I have done before, with it set at 14 / 16 / 18psi. 260bhp at 14psi should be MORE than enough for road use to be honest!
 
Fleck me sideways and call me Sally!

This thing corners like a dream!

Prawn went into round a bout way quicker than I would do in the s3 which worried me a little to begin with, but after second you get a great feel for how much grip it has, very impressive!
 
Very good to see you today matey, a most excellent postman indeed!

Glad you liked the little ride out in the car, I enjoyed it too :)

People; I have a new set of toys to play with:

dd77a88a.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: AndreP106
The car is looking really good prawn. Sounds like it handles as if it is on rails! Has the turbo manifold in that pic got an indent on it on runner 4?
 
They essentially are mate, the xs power mani is new, the turbos hot side is new and the other hasn't seen that many miles on my car and was refurbed for me.
 
Prawn - do you want to saw the k04 for a k03s mani aswell.

go on its s great deal!
 
The car is looking really good prawn. Sounds like it handles as if it is on rails! Has the turbo manifold in that pic got an indent on it on runner 4?

It does indeed have a dent Andy, although it's strategic!

Part of the 'Poor fit' rumours around the XS manifold, is that it fouls the head around that runner, putting stress on the flange and runner if you just bolt it up under tension. It leads to premature cracking and the manifold gasket blowing more easily.

Bill heated the runner, and gave it a small dent for me. It's actually much smaller than it looks in the pictures, and allows it to clear perfectly.

The flange holes also don't quite line up perfectly with the 20vt Head, so Bill has modified that for me too so it now bolts up OK :)



Prawn - do you want to saw the k04 for a k03s mani aswell.

go on its s great deal!

I'm guessing by 'saw' you mean swap, and if so, then I think my answer is going to have to be no :p Sorry dude.

Karl: As Dane said, the XS mani is brand new, hotside is brand new, and the comp housing has been cleaned up and shiny :) Turbo is basically brand new.
 
Just a quick question - apologies if i managed to miss it going through the previous pages (and pages) on this car. It appears that you have swapped gear selector? At the start you have the same as me (which is a royal pain in the ****) and later the 'ball in socket' type one - is it a straight swap? Or did you have to do some of what appears to be your usual trickery?

Thanks
Ed
 
usual trickery I'm afraid Eddie! Although it really is very worth while!

What you need, is the complete shift tower, from a later 02J box, Not the weighted shift lever, but the actual shift tower that sits on the top of the box, it bolts to the box using 2x 13mm bolts on the top, and you also need the corresponding bottom cap that it locates in, which is also secured under the box with a few bolts.

Pretty easy swap to do really, about 5 bolts in total for the shift tower, then you need the selector unit from any later car (I believe 5 and 6 speed are the same), and also the cable bracket on the box is slightly different.

Best thing to do, would be to find a facelift car in a scrap yard, and take the whole lot.off that.

Bear in mind though, you need really good access to get it off, because you need to drop part of the exhaust, to remove the front section of heat shield from the tunnel, as the selector unit usually slots in from underneath. I’ve relocated my selector unit inside the car to raise it up a bit, although it's just as easy fitting it back in the standard location whilst you've got it all apart.. The shift is SO much tighter it’s unreal, it 100% improves the driving experience.

Also, whilst you’re at it, having the newer style shift setup means you can use the TT short shifter, which is only £20 from audi :)
 
so this is why the ko3S is so cracked.....

photo1.jpg


30 second pull up a hill in 3rd / 4th, and it looks like this!
 
I tend to run 32psi cold for road use, and aim for 30psi hot for track use. This typically means about 24psi cold when at the Ring, as it instantly warms up to 30psi when warm.

As you know, I had the huge cockup last ring trip where I was 45psi cold, and over 50psi hot! Had no grip at all! absolute nightmare.

I've not tried running any softer yet, but might give it a shot some time.
 
I tend to run 32psi cold for road use, and aim for 30psi hot for track use. This typically means about 24psi cold when at the Ring, as it instantly warms up to 30psi when warm.

As you know, I had the huge cockup last ring trip where I was 45psi cold, and over 50psi hot! Had no grip at all! absolute nightmare.

I've not tried running any softer yet, but might give it a shot some time.

Thanks.

I'm waiting to hear about a set off R888s and a set of Advans this week so with any luck I'll be fannying about with tyre pressures in a few weeks time too.
 
sweet man :) sounds like good news!

Just bought 8 laps for Dad today :) so that's our laps together sorted, and then anyone else who wants a ride is welcome to buy a ticket and jump in :)
 
Sounds like a good idea mate! Be cool if you hoped in for a ride :) It was good fun taking Dane out at the weekend
 
sounds good :)

There's a fair bit of rivalry between Andy and I at the moment, to the point, where he has bought and build that red volvo specifically for this trip! On the road there's almost nothing between them!
 

Similar threads

Replies
26
Views
8K
Replies
6
Views
4K
Replies
10
Views
3K
Replies
166
Views
19K
Replies
40
Views
4K