Its turning intoo a track car ....

Been busy!

Jardo (@16Klappe ) has refurbed by headlights for me. The levelers are broken, so manual adjustment for me and leaving the auto levellers unplugged.

They look amazing!

Got them fitted last night, has a fight with my front bumper. How people get these to sit right with a Welly cooler is beyond me!
The lights look awesome, I need the headlight aim set but couldnt wait to drive it last night so headed out for a play!

I love this car :D

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S35
 
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Guide : How to fit A3 headlight to S3 8L so headlights can be adjusted manually


So.
After Jardo refurbed the headlights for me, we found the manual adjusters weren't working.

To recap:
Headlight level sensors on the front wishbone and rear tie bar annihilated by curbs on track, headlights now point to the floor.
The solution? A3 Headlights converted to Xenon with manual adjusters:
Why A3 headlights? Theyre cheap knock offs brand new, and I happened to come across a set used for £25.

The A3 knock off headlights use a H1 halogen dipped bulb.
The S3 uses a D2S Xenon with ballasts. First problem encountered!

2


The H1 uses a one blade connection, the HID kit needs live and earth.

3



Easily sorted!

Red - Blue
Brown - Black !

4



Heat shrinked the connections, just didnt get photos.

I was now left with this :

5


The HID Ballast needed mounted and the headlight rear cover drilled so the HID wiring could pass through.

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There you go, easy. Little bit of silicone to make it water tight.

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Next up was to remove the old ballast and mount it in the OEM position.
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And mount the bracket back in its place

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Then fit the light, connect all connections!

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Thats one side done!

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And the moment we have all been waiting for.... Headlight manual adjustment sorted. See the drivers side pointing at the floor still?

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Repeat process both sides.


Job done


Fully working HID Xenons, in cheap A3 lights that look just like S3 ones with the all important manual adjustment for the MOT tester!

14
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Massive thanks to Jardo for the help, and @<tuffty/> for the help with the wiring !

Hope this helps someone who has knackered headlights and needs a cheap fix.

Cost me £25 lights (can be founf on ebay for £130) and £12 for a H1 HID kit.
And a night on the drive, with losts of swearing :D
 
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When JNL ported your chinafold did he port the head side of it and gasket match it? Just had mine off and one of the runners overlaps the port on the head by alot, if that makes sense.
 
Check it fits properly on the head too... most of the ones I have seen need the top of the flange to be ground so it sits on the head properly

<tuffty/>
 
not just porting, but "port matching"..... both on head side and turbo size.
for example, our gen2 which is part of the k04-380 kit, is cnc ported on exactly the gasket port centres, to gasket diameter (42mm vs 33mm of port) and blended into the runners. no step then. At turbo end its ported to 47mm diameter to a template, which is used by aet and us (machine shop) so again, no steps and full bore ported. I have'nt seen any ported chinafolds which are as worked as what we have found is needed to be done to get the max out of them. - *think backpressure*

enjoy
 
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When JNL ported your chinafold did he port the head side of it and gasket match it? Just had mine off and one of the runners overlaps the port on the head by alot, if that makes sense.

Yes
The runners were ported to match the exhaust ports on the head, the collector is ported and opened up to 47mm. As Bill has said, JNL porting is never going to be bang on as JNL didn't have my head to match up with, but at the time I had it ported he was the only one porting these and my Pro4 had cracked and I wanted the car back on the road, so JNL porting was the only option.

Ive had no issues, I do realize that a Badger5 ported one would have been better but Bill doesn't port them on demand as they are too much of a headache for the money they make.

Check it fits properly on the head too... most of the ones I have seen need the top of the flange to be ground so it sits on the head properly

<tuffty/>

As Tuffty says, meke sure the turbo mounting face and head mounting face are flat, mine was checked with a straight edge and was machined flat.

Mines not port matched, its just ported. It works, I get out on track and enjoy my car :D
 
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Yes
The runners were ported to match the exhaust ports on the head, the collector is ported and opened up to 47mm. As Bill has said, JNL porting is never going to be bang on as JNL didn't have my head to match up with, but at the time I had it ported he was the only one porting these and my Pro4 had cracked and I wanted the car back on the road, so JNL porting was the only option.

Ive had no issues, I do realize that a Badger5 ported one would have been better but Bill doesn't port them on demand as they are too much of a headache for the money they make.



As Tuffty says, meke sure the turbo mounting face and head mounting face are flat, mine was checked with a straight edge and was machined flat.

Mines not port matched, its just ported. It works, I get out on track and enjoy my car :D
Ah ok, having just took mine off again I can see where it's not matched with the black soot rings, opened it up the best I can to match the gasket with the tools I have but I can definitely see why Bill doesn't want to port and sell these anymore lol.

Just need to take the manifold and turbo to be machined now, fed up of messing around with gaskets.
 
S35
S34
S33
S32
S3



So Jardo came over last night and machine polished the car!
We also gave the interior a good going over as it was smelling musty after living in my garage for a year while saving for the house. Its only recently I am using the car more and more.

Looking good, photos don't do it justice. Facebook upload of photos in a hurry have killed quality too.

Coilovers, wheels and spacers needed!

Hopeful to book another trackday when I'm back from holiday this month. Looking like an October day somewhere possibly Knockhill or the old faithful local Croft.


On that note, my dual pod pillar gauge holder is doing my tits in and gets in my way on track as well as driving.
I'm gonna sack it off and run one of these below :
Pod


The thought is to run boost and oil temperature as I currently do, as well as oil pressure.

Ideally I'd like an AFR gauge, but at the moment got bigger fish to fry than spunking £250 on a wideband AFR gauge with Lambda sensor.

That's it for now, planning a run out in the car on Sunday :D
 
I have the exact same 3 pod in my car.

I’ll be taking it out at some point soon to return the car to standard.

It has a Stack oil pressure gauge, Stack AFR gauge and Stack boost gauge in it.

Drop me a PM if they could be any use to you. There is over £600 worth of gauges, I’d sell the lot as a package complete with the 3 pod holder for £200.
 
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I have the exact same 3 pod in my car.

I’ll be taking it out at some point soon to return the car to standard.

It has a Stack oil pressure gauge, Stack AFR gauge and Stack boost gauge in it.

Drop me a PM if they could be any use to you. There is over £600 worth of gauges, I’d sell the lot as a package complete with the 3 pod holder for £200.

Give me a shout when you are in a position to sell them, and I'll see whats what!
 
So.. With the guidance of @Prawn I have bought a few bargains.

I currently have Boost and Oil temperature on A pillar.

Bought this :
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And found a matching oil pressure gauge on ebay cheap :
Gauge


And bought this to T off the pressure gauge:
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The oil temp gauge is ran off the blank on the oil filter housing.

Cant wait to get all the gauges refitted in their new home.

Next up will be a liquid gauge in the drivers side air vent, or a AFR gauge when funds allow.

Ive tried to do this as cheap as possible as I just got engaged and baby on the way :D
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There goes my 3076 BT build ! ha ha ha

She will be staying hybrid for the meantime.

Does anyone know what readings I should see on my new oil pressure gauge?
Cold idle, warm idle and under throttle?
 
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I didnt pay much attention to mine, but I know on a cold fast idle it was 90+psi.

Warm idle around 30psi.