My B8 project thread

briantwigley

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Hi all

I have always fancied an A4, almost bought a B7 but I'm glad I held off. I've had 4 Golfs, 2 MK4s a MK5 and a MK7. I browsed the usual sites, and ended up finding one on autotrader at a good price and in good condition. Had 78,000 miles on the clock but for the price I was happy. Excellent history, timing belt and water pump changed at 60k and FASH.

This is just after arriving back at my brother in law's after a nice 300 mile round trip to Ripon to pick it up

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I had come from a 100hp 1.6 TDi to this 2.0 170, I spent most of the way back smiling. Not the fastest car in the world but it was amazing. The only thing to bug me initially was the lack of connectivity for my iPhone, I didn't realise that the bluetooth only handled calls and not A2DP, and the AMI cable was for an iPhone 4. A quick trip to Carlisle Audi and £20 spent got me a lightning cable.

Nice 300 mile drive to Aberdeen to catch the ferry home allowed me to really test the car out. It just eats up the miles and cruises really nicely compared to the Golf, although it's 4 years newer its a lot less hassle to drive the Audi, it's so comfortable and the lack of cruise control didn't bother me.

And here's the first photos I took when I got home.

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I'll just add to this thread as I do things to keep a record. I've had the car since the end of April and have done a few bits, and have a few planned.
 
The first mod I did was to add a Tune2Air box at £85 from Amazon. Seemed the best way to get the same sort of bluetooth streaming I was used to in my Golf. Worked straight out of the box and has been great ever since.

I ordered some LED bulbs for the number plates of course.

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I had some trouble for a while with a warning telling me they didn't work, but they would sometimes still be on, or perhaps come back on after the warning. It seems to have stopped now, thankfully.

The closer I look, as always, the more marks and imperfections I find. In the excitement of picking up a new car you always miss things, and I missed a pretty chipped bumper and practically bald tyres. I got a set of Nexen N8000s fitted, very good tyre, grippy and came in at a very reasonable £80 each fitted free.

I got to work with the Megs ultimate compound on a few marks I knew I could shift.

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The whole car needs a machine polish, I have a rotary but why I don't know, I don't want to use it, my brother got it cheap at work but I'd rather have got a DA. I will probably just put the car to be done by a detailer, he also tints windows, which is one of the next things I want to have done.

A usual detail finished with AG HD wax produces a good result every time

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Got my plate fitted

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Hit the big milestone as well:

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And that puts me to where I am now. The nearside front wheel bearing is on its way out, a new one is sitting in the boot but as it needs a press I will be putting it into the garage to be done, along with the MOT I expect.

I want to get a set of 18 inch Rotors put on at some point, perhaps change the shocks/springs with some Bilstein B12s. I find the ride a little hard and crashy and hopefully these can sort at least some of that out. The windows will be tinted at some point.

I have had the car remapped by Celtic Tuning, not sure of the exact figure but they claim 220/230. Not sure if thats right, but we have no rolling road nearby so I will have to wait until I get onto the mainland and find out.

I've used Carista to enable needle sweep, lap timer/oil temp and to turn off the Fog lights as coming home lights.

I love the car though, apart from a few little bits, I can never walk away without taking another look. Even sitting at my mates house, always end up looking out the window for a look...

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