A3 restoration thread. A bit picture heavy

[B5NUT]

So, a few months back I found the old man’s A3 looking very sad & neglected on the back of his drive, asked him what wrong with the car, and it was mainly broken springs (x2) and 3 out of the 4 shocks were leaking. Also, the car needed a full service, which I found out later on included the timing belt which is another good story on the car!

The car was looking in a sorry state, rusty wing lots of scratches and the rear bumper was past the point of saving and needed paint. The interior was also in a bit of a mess old man smokes and has a dog which has made a right mess of the boot. Anyway, I told him I’ll do the work and give the car a bit after a spit & polish which turned out to be a bit of an understatement of what was needed….

So, this is the car how I got it. Don’t think the interior had been cleaned in years and the exterior only ever had a sponge & hose pipe over it a few times a year.

The pictures really don’t do justice to how bad the car was, and if I’d know what lied underneath the car, I would have told him to drive it to the scrap yard as it really was at the point of just binning it. However, he has had the car for almost 8 years and wanted to see it back on the road again, and I got to the point where I had put a good few hundred pounds in the car, so I kept going. Will be updating the thread over the next few days.

 

[lincolnzondi]

What's that between the front and rear doors? Looks like cobwebs. I have exactly the same colour car and interior only is a three door. It's 13 years old but looks in much better shape than this.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

 

[B5NUT]

It's cobwebs! It just comes from not looking after the car, but to be fair my old man, he is not in the best of heath these day's, so in future I'll be cleaning and looking after his two cars. The other car he has is an A5 which is not as bad at the A3 but still needs a lot of work.

I have completely finished the A3 and started on the A5 but figured I would stick up a build thread, as even cars that are in a complete state can be saved with a bit of time & money. Also to keep the cost to parts only I did all the work myself, with only wheel alignment was done by a local the garage. If you had to have a garage to do this work it would have cost many thousands and just not worth it.

 

[lincolnzondi]

It's cobwebs! It just comes from not looking after the car, but to be fair my old man, he is not in the best of heath these day's so, so in future I'll be cleaning and looking after his two cars, the other car he has is an A5 which is no were near as bad at the A3 but still needs a lot of work. I have completely finished the A3 and started on the A5 but figured I would stick up a build thread, as even cars that are in a complete state can be saved with a bit of time & money. Also to keep the cost to parts only I did all the work myself, only wheel alignment was done by a local the garage. If you had to have a garage to do this work it would have cost many thousands and just not worth it.

Cool, great looking forward to seeing the transformation!

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

 

[B5NUT]

So first starting point was the interior, it may have been hovered in 8 years but don't think it had seen much cleaning.

Only real damage was the cigarette lighter, looks like it has been pushed down too hard and the tabs broken, I used and epoxy glue to fix the broken brackets back on, and put some extra epoxy resin behind so I could use an additional screw to hold it in place

It also gave me the chance to clean behind the ash tray, as some how there was loads of cigarette ash behind the ash tray, and all sorts of other dirt.

At this point it was out with the seats.

Plenty of dirt & dog hairs..

After a few hours with the vax it all started to come up nicely, but took about 2-3 days to fully dry out.

Headliner came up very well used a steam cleaner with Autoglym shampoo and their odour eliminator which I also sprayed on the carpets & seats to try and get rid of some of the smoke smell.

The plastics were all scrubbed down with chemical guy's APC and it does a good job, as I wanted to use a good soap and water based product as I find the spray and wipe products just don't remove the ground in dirt like tobacco residue.

So a few pic of the finished interior

Next up the engine bay, for a service and belt change.

 

[Eren S3]

That's some impressive work there! Looks brand new. If only I had the talent and patience to do the same Looking forward to seeing the progress of this

 

[ronniejack]

nice job there he will be well chuffed at what you have done

 

[lincolnzondi]

So first starting point was the interior, it may have been hovered in 8 years but don't think it had seen much cleaning.

Only real damage was the cigarette lighter, looks like it has been pushed down too hard and the tabs broken, I used and epoxy glue to fix the broken brackets back on, and put some extra epoxy resin behind so I could use an additional screw to hold it in place

It also gave me the chance to clean behind the ash tray, as some how there was loads of cigarette ash behind the ash tray, and all sorts of other dirt.

At this point it was out with the seats.

Plenty of dirt & dog hairs..

After a few hours with the vax it all started to come up nicely, but took about 2-3 days to fully dry out.

Headliner came up very well used a steam cleaner with Autoglym shampoo and their odour eliminator which I also sprayed on the carpets & seats to try and get rid of some of the smoke smell.

The plastics were all scrubbed down with chemical guy's APC and it does a good job, as I wanted to use a good soap and water based product as I find the spray and wipe products just don't remove the ground in dirt like tobacco residue.

So a few pic of the finished interior

Next up the engine bay, for a service and belt change.

Ok, now mine dies not look this good. Great work, very impressed.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk

 

[ch1z64]

Your doing a good job there , keep it going as it looks like it could be a good thread

 

[NevMan]

Great methodical job so far

 

[B5NUT]

First job on the engine was the cambelt. Now the car has done just under 180,000 miles and is 11 years old and the belt has never been changed! Someone (not me) told my old man it was a chain engine and he believed them, so when I popped the bonnet and had a good look around the engine bay I was a little surprised to see timing belt cover and once removed I was able to see the offending timing belt. So off to TPS to buy a full timing belt kit + water pump & thermostat. Have to say it was a ****** awful job, just no room between the side of the engine and the chassis leg, there is a special place in hell for the designer on this engine bay, for such a small engine there were so many inaccessible bolts.…

Also had to buy a timing belt kit as mine was for older PD engines. £37 from Amazon so the belt pump, thermostat and tools were just over £150. Belt was easy enough to change once all the brackets were out the way, and with the belt changed I gave the engine 4 full turns and rechecked timing as I wanted to make sure it was 100%.

So next job was to fix an oil leak on the side and around the back of the engine, after looking around I could only see one issue which was the tandem pump, and it’s gasket is a know common failure, so that was replaced and the engine had a full service, oil & filters. Time will tell if it's 100% stopped the leak need to get the car back in a few months make sure it's still all dry.

The offending pump.

Final issue before the clean-up was the EGR valve, as anyone with a TDI engine will know the EGR get full of oil and soot over time. I don't mind the soot, but when it's mixed with the oil from the air inlet it creates one hell of a mess. I would love to slap the engineer who thought it was a good idea to vent the crank case breather into the air inlet system. I would have liked to fit a catch can system, but it's not my car.

Another wonderful bolt location (excuse the cobweb) who the hell thinks of this..

Now the engine bay cleanup.. From this

To this.

Next up front suspension.

 

[ronniejack]

keep em coming enjoying this

 

[KrisKrk]

Great write up, as always
Keep it going.

Planning any mods in these cars?

Sent from H P20 PRO

 

[Spiedhermonkey]

Fantastic work mate. Your Dad will be chuffed to bits to have it restored to that condition, I’m sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[B5NUT]

Planning any mods in these cars?

Sent from H P20 PRO

He wants rear parking sensors on the A3, so will sort them over the next few months, but the A5 that I'm working on is staying standard, like the A5 it just needs a little TLC.

 

[B5NUT]

Fantastic work mate. Your Dad will be chuffed to bits to have it restored to that condition, I’m sure.

Thanks, like most parents they give a lot and don't ask for much in return, so this was something I could do for him that would hopefully make a difference.

 

[B5NUT]

So my OCD on cars is rust, hate the ****** stuff, don't care if it's on the body work or suspension parts. The front suspension on this A3 was rotten, bushes were well past best, one of the springs had snapped taking out the bearing and the shocks were no longer doing anything useful, and one had decided it would empty it's fluid over it's self. To be fair with the mileage & age of the car they have not done bad but thankfully it was all about to be ripped out.

Pictures of some of the general corrosion/state of the running gear.

So one of the reasons why I the car was off the road, spring had snapped and taken out the bearing.

Drive shafts were also rotten, the rust was getting so bad it was rubbing against the wheel bearing housing, and one of the shafts the inner grease seal was missing.

Also due to the rust grease was getting past the boot clamp.

Calipers were also in a bit of a state

 

[B5NUT]

Few picture of the body underside, it was not that bad, and have seen a lot worse.

First job was to strip the drive shaft down with the missing seal and leaking grease.

With the inner & outer joint removed the shaft was hit with a twist knot wire wheel attached to a grinder, once stripped down to clean metal I used Por 15 metal prep, then a couple of coats of por 15 rust preventive paint. (Drive shaft before painting)

Inner CV joint, the brown stuff is rust, water must have been getting in without the seal.

It was also a complete sod to rebuild, no idea why they used a cross-groove CV inner joint that a standard version, but I'm sure some far brighter than myself will enplane, even a tripod Joint would have been better.

So then it was time to strip the front joint down, but after cleaning I found out it was scrap.

At some point someone has been mucking around with the joint (may have replaced the boot) but either way they had used the wrong grease, it was far too thin and totalled the joint, so a replacement GKN joint was sourced.

On of the joints rebuild & painted

 

[HOGG]

When can I book my car in for a clean?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[ch1z64]

Me too for a clean

 

[B5NUT]

Next year! Had enough of stripping cars cars and still got the A5 to finish & Mrs 8V calipers to paint...

The suspension components were all stripped and, then prepped with Por 15 metal prep, then a a couple of coats of Por 15 rust preventive paint.

Once painted new bushes were pressed in, if you have the tools then you can save a fortune over buying new arms

The Press set was about £150, not cheap but has saved me 10x that amount, as the OEM lemforder bushes are about £10 each, and some of the arms can range from £50 to £500

Some of the bushes are bonded in and cannot be replaced, like on these so just got new ones

Also repaired was the brake pad sensor on the cars wiring harness side, someone had damaged it so a new plug was fitted

While the suspension was rebuilt, the wheel arches were repainted, first they were stripped with both twist knot wire wheel attached to a grinder and a Needle scaller, you will need a decent compressor to run the Needle scaller.

Once the rust was removed it was coated with metal prep

Then 2 coats of Por 15

Then 2 coats of stone chip, I use this as it can be over painted

Then 2 coats of 2k base

Then final coat of 2K clear coat

The brakes were painted with Por 15 rust preventive paint, then a couple of coats of Por15 caliper paint.

I would like to add the coats are all applied using a brush rather than spraying, but seeing as it's a wheel arch and most of it's covered up by the liner the results look OK, and there is no more rust.

Next is the back-end (wish I'd seen that before starting this job).

 

[StatedRain]

Love a picture heavy thread and what a job you've done cleaning that interior

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk