Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

Just one piece of advice which you are probably already aware of and Bill might confirm .... early in the 1.8T days people were snapping valves due to valve springs not seated correctly.

Sorry if you are already aware but I thought I'd mention it as it's your first time fitting valves to this type of head. Here's a PDF about it.

https://docs.google.com/gview?embed...-5.com/bin/5v-installation-note-supertech.pdf
 
At Good advice kev, as usual!

I'd had a pretty thorough briefing from tuffty about getting the springs seated correctly, so thankfully I was well prepared for that bit!

Really? I hadn't ever noticed this about you...

Oi :laugh:

Less of the sarcasm and perfect English! Crazy Dutchman :whip:



So, earlier in the week I removed the cam cover on the new engine, and was pleased to find it was all very clean inside.

I marked up the current cam to cam timing, more as a check, and something to take pics of to refer back to as a double check later on.



Cams and followers out, and all was exactly as promised.
2x supertech inlets abd 1x standard valve in each chamber:



We offered up my Sykes pickavant valve spring compressor, recently purchased on eBay, only to find out the smallest adapter was still too large for the 20vt follower opening.



Most annoying!

On inspection it's been ground down in the past too, just not enough it seems!



So tried Sams £10 eBay spring compressor, and it worked perfectly. Happy days!

We whipped out the 4 stock valves, and all the seats looked to be in very good condition.

Hard to get a pic, but there was no pitting or corrosion, and the guides seemed good with very minimal play on the stem




Out came the twiddly stick!



And after a while with the course and fine compounds, the seats were looking very uniform and well lapped :)

 
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Fast forward to last night, and Sam and I stick some music on in the shed and decided to have a go at fitting the collets.

We'd offered up the spring compressor, and on first look it seemed like it was going to be impossible to get access to install the collets.

I'll be honest, I've had so many setbacks lately, that I was really pretty negative about our chances of success.

It turns out this wasn't necessary, as within an hour we had all 4 valves installed :)



A touch of grease on the collets and a fine set of tweasers, and it wasn't quite the impossible task I'd built it up to be. It helps having a positive attitude and a friendly face to encourage things along, so I'm truly grateful to Sam for that.

Feeling slightly smug, I went home and had a Chinese :racer:
 
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Hiya Prawn, I've got a quattro 1.9tdi. I'm heading towards the 160,000 mile mark myself. considering whether to carry on with it or sell it myself. Anyway, Someone directed me towards your thread. two things, I wanted to put s3 lower control arms on my car, what will I need? at present I'm able to get my hands on the complete struts and hub assembly off a tt. What do you advise? can i get away with just the control arms? And also, I'm curious, since i only return about 30mpg round town off my own car do you reckon you can achieve that off an s3 with the right tune?
 
Prawn and I did this conversion on my car recently. Took the complete front suspension from a Leon Cupra R (same as TT) and put it on my A3. I don't think there's a real benefit to fitting only the arms, the hubs have different geometry which helps cornering.

If you can get the full TT setup, I believe it's worth fitting.
 
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Yep.

Strut assemblies are an inch or so shorter and allow you to run an LCR/S3/TT fARB that'll help avoid any driveshaft rubbing issues, hubs help to correct the geometry and the control arms stiffen things up and add camber adjustment. You can also throw in the "upgraded"/quick steering rack whilst you're in there, though this occasionally throws up an ESP issue.
 
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Are there any threads here detailing this mod? ideally i wanted to just do the control arms and hubs as my car has eibach springs already. I just don't want to be spending twice.
 
Is the anti-roll bar included with the TT stuff? cause I think the A3 one won't fit.

In fact, the A3 ARB connects to the pressed arms. The cast TT arms don't have that connection point, cause the TT ARB connects to the strut instead...
 
Is the anti-roll bar included with the TT stuff? cause I think the A3 one won't fit.

In fact, the A3 ARB connects to the pressed arms. The cast TT arms don't have that connection point, cause the TT ARB connects to the strut instead...

Now that you mention it, the last guy fitted an r32 front ARB with poly bushes. I think I'm gonna look for a complete front end and build it off the car. Unless anyone can advise differently?
 
Also does anyone know if you can get round the ESP light with the steering rack mod ?
 
Also does anyone know if you can get round the ESP light with the steering rack mod ?

I would suggest you start your own thread dude as this is now essentially hijacking Prawns build thread

<tuffty/>
 
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I would suggest you start your own thread dude as this is now essentially hijacking Prawns build thread

<tuffty/>

Sorry, I do beg your pardon. I guess I'll do that as soon as I track a tt being broken locally. Thanks.
 
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It seems everyone's else's has answered your question whilst ive been away for the weekend Kay!

Ive made myself a little to do list. Fairly broad descriptions, nothing too specific, but it's broken down down into rough durations of a day at time allowing for issues and things going going wrong.



We arrived home today much earlier than expected, so I went and stole a few hours in the garage.

I'm not counting this as day 1, just a head start before the real work begins!

First up was the impossiclip:



It's worth noting that the metal bearing on the back isn't part of it, and is bought seperately.




That just pressed into place, making sure all 4 Tabs's clicked into the holes on the pedal.

After that, I installed the servo, and new OE master cylinder from Mike:



The short length of pipe isn't to block off the clutch supply, otherwise I can't pressure bleed the system.

With everything installed, I hooked up the EZ bleed and bled half a litre of dot 4 through the system.

I'm very happy to say i now have a solid and consisnt brake pedal!

Time to get on with the rest of the car....

:racer:
 
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After bleeding up the brakes I decided to make use of the remaining daylight, and pushed the car outside.

After so many driveshaft and CV failures over the years, the back of the engine bay, steering rack, and subframe were absolutely CAKED in grease and oil. This made it horrible to work on, because every time you touched anything you got covered in it.

I got out the degreaser, and a stiff brush, and set about scrubbing the back of the bay. I then used a borrowed pressure washer to blast it all clean, taking care to keep the water localised to the areas I was cleaning with the wiring loom well out of the way!

It's really hard to get a decent pic, but everything that was black is now back to it's original colour, or rust colour in some cases :laugh:



I then tucked it away for the night with a heater inside the engine bay to warm it up and dry it all out as quickly as possible:



Back inside and that's 3 jobs crossed off the list already before we reach day 1 :)

I decided to put the list up on the fridge, as I pass it every time I go to/from the garage.

Victoria hates having things stuck to the fridge, so I had a search around and found the cheesiest inspirational fridge magnet from slimming world :laugh:



I have Wednesday and Thursday off work to continue with it, then Saturday and Sunday. That should hopefully take me to the end of day 4 by the weekend :

:racer:
 
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So, today was officially classed as day 1.

Next up on the list was heatshielding.

My old heat shield has done me well, but was looking a little tired.
Not wanting to change too much, I ordered another sheet of stupidly expensive tin foil from merlin motorsport and traced the old shape onto the new piece with a few small alterations:



Cut out, and bent to shape it fitted nicely, and extends a little further down to tie in with the tunnel heatshields too:



I've long been ashamed of the huge hole in the bulkhead where my shift cables pass through. This was done many years ago, with the engine in place, and also most of the dash, so a hole was hacked from a distance and did its job, but didn't seal the cabin from the engine bay at all, and let fumes in when stationary also.

I decided to make a boot of sorts to cover the hole, so I started with an old silicon elbow:



Cut into a more regular shape:



And offered up to the bulkhead to mark up:



Can you see where this is going yet?

Next up some CAD:




Transferred to more heatshields:



The window was formed in the middle, and the edges carefully tapped back to void sharp edges (shown here midway):



Then the whole lot was installed together.

The shift cables pass through tight
holes in the silicon, which is then protected and sandwiched against the bulkhead by the heatshields section infront of it.
Silicon hoses is remarkably heat resistant itself too, so hopefully this will be a decent solution to totallly seal up the bulkhead from fumes


 
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Next up was to clean up the block and head.

I attacked the head first, and it wasn't too bad at all.

A gentle brass brush, gt85 to agitate, then brake cleaner to degrease and clean afterwards:



Turning my attention to the block, it wasn't so easy.

Despite the bores being in good condition, the waterways of the block were really giving away its age. Perhaps a sign that it's been run on pure water for a while in the past?

The waterways where they meet the head gasket were fairly badly fouled up with solid debris:



The waterways between cylinders were probably as much as 50% reduced in capacity:



About an hours careful work with a sharp knife, and taking LOTS of care to ensure none went back into the waterways, I had them looking clean again:







I've decided that the engine is going to be flushed out repeatedly BEFORE any rad is connected and with no thermostat installed. I want to push as much fluid around as possible before connecting the rad or heater matrix so any residual crap isn't washed into the rads to cause a potential blockage.


I then turned my attention to cleaning up the surface of the block:



Continuing the theme of block prep, I turned the engine over, resting it carefully on something soft, and whipped off the stock sump to reveal the IE Tuscan rifle drilled rods and ARP2000 bolts:



With the block cleaned and ready to accept my baffled sump, I cleaned it up ready to install:




The oil pick up and windage tray were thoroughly cleaned:



Then using a fresh tube of sump sealant, the sump was installed :)

No pics of this, but it's worth noting that I turned the engine on is side for this process.
With the steel gates in the baffled sump, it's possible for these to invert if fitting upside down, and worse case they can catch on the windage tray, and either get stuck open, or worse, break off when you torque down the sump!

With the engine back up right, I dug out the new head gasket:



Dropped it onto the block:



And then, finally!



It looks like an engine :racer:

Torquing it down was interesting.

I was fine with 30nm all round twice.

Equally fine with 60nm all round twice.

I even managed the first 90 degrees all round with the engine upright and held between my legs!

For the last round of 90's, I had to find another solution thoogh, and lay the engine down partially on its side supported by a wooden block.
Starting high with the breaker bar, it was actually fairly easy to do the last 90's by pushing the breaker downwards to the floor to get the final torque required.

So, all that was left to dinwas update the list!



Day 1 jobs complete on day 1! Plus a few day 2 jobs complete ahead of time.

I've written this whilst sat on the train to a London with Victoria, so I had to stop working at 4pm, and I didn't start until 10 due to a midwife appt first thing, so for a short day, I'm very happy with progress :)

Day 2 off work tomorrow, and I'm hoping to get all day 2's jobs crossed off the list, and possibly even make a start on day 3 plans if I'm to keep on track for firing it up this weekend :)

Its getting there. Slowly but surely, but it IS getting there:

:racer:
 
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No FridgeList update, no care.
Amateur.
 
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Well I did a huge update on weds and got a single reply from a Erik, so I thought i'd do a bit of fishing this time before spending an hour or more writing a full length post :laugh:

However, Just for you 'Bird:

 
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I do hate the way that forums in general seem to be dying off so much. ASN isn't too bad, from what I can make out from my fleeting visits, but so many others have properly given up the ghost. FB groups are a horrible way to do things, but it seems most folk just want their 5 minutes of attention and don't really care for well-documented builds like these that used to properly thrive :(

Anyway, consider this a +1 to your thread's post count you dirty ****.
 
Last edited:
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:laugh:

I'm just having my annual moan about the good old days. Don't mind me :laugh:

Will do some form of proper update this shortly.

tfb001.jpg
 
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Always read your posts mate and wait in anticipation for the next ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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:playful:I read them just waiting for this 18yr old PoS to be running on full boost again
 
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Another day off work on Thursday, which will now be known as 'day 2'

Day 2 has a fair few assembly tasks, and was in theory the busiest day on the schedule. So I was keen to be up early and get cracking.

First up was the cambelt.

I opened the cambelt kit from Mike, and soon realised that something wasn't quite right.

Through nobodies fault either way, it seems Mike and I interpreted the cambelt kit contents differently.

Long sorry short - I was missing a hydraulic tensioner damper.
A quick call to GSF and they had one on the shelf.

As I was having to make a trip, I decided to whip the water pump out for a check. I had intended not to change it, as I knew it was fairly recent, and it looked pretty new visually.

On removal, I soon changed my mind!



So, an hour later and a trip in the BM, and I'd found a fun way to spend £100:



Water pump fitted:





I'd previously marked up the crank for TDC, using both the bottom pulley markers, and physically checking piston 1 for tdc:



I made sure the head was also in the right place for TDC:



And on with the cambelt:



I held the tensioner pulley up with one hand and turned the engine over fully to check timing before pulling the tensioner pin.
I was
Happy to find after pulling the pin and turning it over a few more times it was spot on still

Pulley and covers on, and that was the 'intricate' side of the engine finished



Another item off the list!

 
A few more ancillaries next.

Alternator and bracket on, along with PAS pump and aux belt:



Oil filter housing and oil feed on, along with the crank speed sensor, coolant fittings, and main coolant hard pipe:




Around the this time Sam arrives to help for the evening. I'm happy enough working alone, but is always better having someone around to help out :)

Next up the flywheel went on. All torqued to 60nm + 90 degrees and marked with a pen:



And on with the freshly re-lined helix clutch plate:



And the pressure plate:

 
NOT good news for an engine that was suposed be be professionaly (ha ha) built and maintained. And from a recognised VW centre. It pays not to believe anything. All has to be checked. There were other issues with the engine build as well. Really basic stuff too.
 
That was another job crossed off the list:



Next up: turbo time

I unwrapped the new BBT anti sure core, and Sam stared at it longingly, whilst struggling to come to terms with the complete lack of boost in his naturally aspirated life.




Attention turned first to the adaptor plate.

First up, the gasket needs modifying slightly with mine.
I'm unsure if this is the case on newer plates, but mine is the very first uk made prototype, and the gasket sits slightly too high on the studs as supplied, and would obstruct flow too much.

A quick dremel and all was sorted:



Offered up and sitting perfectly central on all ports:



Adapter plate offered onto place and bolted up:



We then offered the turbo on to set the orientation of the cold side:



That done I bolted up the cold side, and fitted the new BBT 10psi actuator:

 
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NOT good news for an engine that was suposed be be professionaly (ha ha) built and maintained. And from a recognised VW centre. It pays not to believe anything. All has to be checked. There were other issues with the engine build as well. Really basic stuff too.

Context is key here big bad dad.

Yes there were clear issues with the original build, but then thats what you potentially accept when purchasing an engine for an appealing price with an unknown past.

Had we paid twice what we did then yes, I'd probably be fairly upset. I feel that the engine was very fairly sold as seen, and was purchased primarily for the parts it contains rather than its quality of assembly.

Had it been installed as is, then yes, I think we could well have run into issues further down the line.

As it is, I'd like to think I've corrected those issues now, and what we have should do us good service, at considerably reduced cost than if we had built s fresh engine.

No regrets here :)

:racer:
 
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Looking good and coming together quickly, be boosting in no time.

Billet wheel a new addition? Look forward to the rebirth of the track monster
 
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Cracking progress mate I can see boost by Sunday night ;)


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