my 1.8t sport modification and repair thread

[CR41G]

desided that its best that I make a one stop shop thread instead of keep posting random questions every 5 mins .

so starting from the beginning when I first got the a3 to present time and I will add to it as I go along aswell as ask the odd random question for good mesure ...

anyway

little back ground info ..02 audi a3 1.8 20v turbo sport ,aum engine code and ko3s turbo

i had owned it for no longer than 24 hours before engine management light came on , which turned out to be split and bodged up pcv pipes in which i replaced the damaged ones ..see pics below










after that lot was sorted i moved on from that and bought a forge 007p diver valve






next up was the s2000 air filter md so i purchased a 90mm to 70mm silicone reducer and riped out the air box and done the s2000 air filter mod.



desided the next mod would be a boost gauge but couldn't find a pillar pod for the a3 so after reading around on here i found some one had used a leon pod .. so i did the same , ordered 8 meters of silicone vac line from ram air , autogauge boost gauge and leon pillar pod .. the pod requires a bit of trimming to fit but i was rather happy with the way it looked after mocking it up



and finally finished the installation and got the gauge plumbed in and wired up



all was well for a month and then hit running problems again so set about removing throttle body and giving it a damn good clean which helped but didn't cure the problem ,,turned out the MAF was shagged so replaced that but still wasn't 100% .. so replaced the air intake temp sensor which sorted the issue.

next up was the split coolant plastic y pipe right next to expansion cap had desided it want to spring a leak .. i couldn't find the part in the uk on google search or ebay so called euro car parts and gsf who both told me it was a main dealer part only , so posted the issue up on here and got put into the direction of mike the parts man on here who sorted me out the part in lightning fast time and next day delivery .. top bloke!!

the part in question



also fitted and wired up my sub and amp and did the n249 valve bypass removing all the old crap and fitting nice new black silicone hose ... didn't get any pics just one of all the crap that i removed doing the bypass



next up was that i found my forge dv was sticking , so replaced it with the standard one and ordered a rebuild kit, which turned up a few days later.

so basically today i serviced the forge dv , in the kit you get a new piston which now has an o ring on the bottom to stop boost from leaking heres a pic of the new compared to old



inside the body of the dv the o rings where starting to perish and it was full of gunk and grime so removed all old o rings and gave the body a good clean with some brake cleanerto get it looking shiny new again , fitted new seals and greased the piston and rebuilt.

service kit



dv stripped



not goin to refit until ive done my next load of mods ...pcv delete and catch can install , silicone turbo inlet pipe and 5 piece silicone boost pipe kit.

that's me upto date for now but will continue to add to this as i continue and remember to take more pictures ha ha

 

[popeyeferret]

Pod looks good mate where did you get that from if you don't mind?

 

[CR41G]

EBay mate ... search seat Leon pillar pod

Think it cost 30 quid buy it now with free delivery.

It does need a bit of trimming . I removed the a pillar trim , marked the inside of the over hanging pod edges and trimmed using a sanding disk on a grinder but a dreamel or similar would do it as well.

Took a grand total of 20 mins to trim and shape match the a pillar trim

 

[CR41G]

bit of an update

firstly got my audi-sport decal through the post so got that slapped on



next was a new dv spring .. a friend of mine bought a spring kit so I nicked the new green one been as hes now running a yellow one and to be fair after rebuilding the dv last week the only replaceable part left to change was the spring as the old one looked a little tired.



popped up to creations motorsport and got myself a 5 piece silicone boost pipe kit in black , seems to be very rigid and well made



while at creations I had a look at there turbo intake pipes but they only had the standard size silicone replacements in stock and there was a 3 week wait for there oversized pipe so thought **** it and orders an sfs oversize which arrived a few days later and to be honest im glad I did ..its supper rigid and really is a high quality item !! and the shear size of it compared to creations standard tip is crazy.







19mm silicone hose and t piece , crank breather and ebay special catch can all turned up ready for pcv system delete so looks like im goin to be busy this weekend lol



hopefully get this lot all fitted on the weekend aswell as refit my freshly serviced and rebuilt forge dv ill try and take some more pics as I go along

 

[ElzLewis]

Good choice of mods mate aha

 

[popeyeferret]

EBay mate ... search seat Leon pillar pod

Think it cost 30 quid buy it now with free delivery.

It does need a bit of trimming . I removed the a pillar trim , marked the inside of the over hanging pod edges and trimmed using a sanding disk on a grinder but a dreamel or similar would do it as well.

Took a grand total of 20 mins to trim and shape match the a pillar trim

Do you know what mm the vac line is? And did you t-piece it into the section going to the diverter valve?
Thanks in advance

 

[JamieT_a3]

IIRC it's 3mm internal hose you need for the boost gauge and can either be tee'd in on the DV or Fpr.

 

[CSS3]

Great read, picked up on some good bits I look forward to reading more.

 

[CR41G]

Been really busy just lately but I did manage to get the sfs over size tip and did the pcv simplify with oil catch can .. managed to snap the dipstick tube so had to replace that as well ha ha the joys.

I do have pictures when I get chance I'll get them uploaded.

Been having some random issues just lately with the car .. all electrical so basically it started by going out to the car Monday morning for work and the battery was flat so used a booster pack to get it up and running , at work I tested the battery when not running and was getting a good 12.8v and with engine running I was getting 14.8v which to me is fine and it was fine ... 3 weeks later it does the same again .. i tested it again and I was getting the same readings as before.

Things started going down hill after this ..my idling was sitting at 1200 rpm and even at stand still the speedo was reading 5mph .. turn off and started engine again and back to normal , the same happens with the temp and fuel gauges .. temp always sits at 90 never goes over normally .. heading home from work temp gauge was at max and so was fuel gauge ... it had half a tank of fuel when I drove to work that morning !!.. turned it off in a panic threw bonnet open and nuthing no boiling over .. restarted car and it all went back to normal.

Next my fuel economy has dropped to stupid levels ... I used to average 28 mpg now I'm down to 19 mpg and I'm driving more and more sensible hardly in boost .. I'm running it on 99 Ron fuel and it's making no difference. .. I did put a new maf in a few months ago due to old one dieing but it's a none genuine item could this be the problem?

All this I've had no fault codes and it's showing up nothing when I've had it plugged into vcds at a vague specialist so I'm a bit disheartened with it at the moment..

May just give up and have something newer

 

[CR41G]

long time no see ... I know!!

little up date..

electrical gremlins as mentioned in my last post have been solved by removing and cleaning up all the earthing points and fitting a new battery..much better now!!

the fuel consumption issue has also been solved ... turns out something in the road had flicked up and smashed my fuel filter casing it to drop and the pipe going to the fuel pump had worn through where it had been catching the road , must have started as a slow leak and then on a journey to work one morning it started hesitating and cut out and when I got out the car the smell of fuel gave the game away .. new pipe and fuel filter fitted and all is well again.

one of he wheel bearings is shagged .. I keep putting it off but I know I need to get it done soon.

lower arms are knocking ... damn pot holes and speed bumps have put pay to the bushes so they also need replacing

track rod ends are worn so im goin to change them with the lower arms and might aswell do the drop links at the same time been as it could all do with freshening up anyway .

engine service has got to be done , oil , oil filter and spark plug change the s2000 filter has only covered 1000 miles so that's still in good shape.

coil packs are in need of replacement so going to do them with the service when I get round to doin it , think im going for the ecs tuning red top packs off awesome gti think there 100 quid a set of 4.

and going to replace the maf with a genuine bosch unit as im sure this none genuine one is a bag of ***** , and I think im going to change the lambda sensors again just to freshen it up a bit.

hopefully by the spring I can get back on track with the modding... the joys of cars

I will post pics of my hoses fitted one day soon .....

 

[CR41G]

Any one know if the door skin on an 8l is replaceable ?? Some tosser in a super market car park has hit my passenger door scraped down the side and caved it in ... then obviously fcuked off without leaving a note or waiting for me to return.. looks a right mess

 

[IPG]

Any one know if the door skin on an 8l is replaceable ?? Some tosser in a super market car park has hit my passenger door scraped down the side and caved it in ... then obviously fcuked off without leaving a note or waiting for me to return.. looks a right mess

Well that sucks. No witnesses that can back you up for an insurance claim?

 

[CR41G]

No witnesses and spoke to security and all the cameras are privately owned and are turned off only cameras that work are in store and don't reach the car park !! I'm so fcuking angry and ****** off right now I can't even bare to look at it .. ****** scum bag ******* I hope they die a slow and painful death of some nasty disease!!

No point in getting insurance involved they would write the car off for the damage and I'm not losing my no claims for probably an 800 quid payout

 

[IPG]

bad times - i'm sure you'll be able to sort out a replacement door with the amount of cars you have wrecking over there compared to Oz!!!

chin up matey! there's always a fix (share a pic of the damage?)