Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

[tcg]

lol, what have we started - sorry nick

Cod knows what he must think

Apologies also @Prawn it was @badger5 who hooked me,don't want to atart a

So I'll fin..ish with that and look forward to your next update

 

[Erikn89nl]

Apologies also @Prawn it was @badger5 who hooked me,don't want to atart a

So I'll fin..ish with that and look forward to your next update

Don't be koi, you cod do batter...

 

[Tj 0785]

Carry on and he might tuna you in

 

[bigal 1]

Carry on and he might tuna you in

Is this the plaice for this musseling in on this thread. ???

 

[Erikn89nl]

I forget what the porpoise of this thread was, but I'm hooked!

 

[Tj 0785]

He's spent a few squid on this car

 

[<tuffty/>]

He's spent a few squid on this car

...and its currently broken

<tuffty/>

 

[Tj 0785]

lets hopes he sea's the funny side

 

[nobbybonez]

and he's not left whaling...

 

[Prawn]

I leave this thread alone for a few hours, and look at the state of it

There's definitely something fishy going on here

 

[Erikn89nl]

...and its currently broken

<tuffty/>

This calls for your old avatar back...

 

[badger5]

 

[<tuffty/>]

This calls for your old avatar back...

<tuffty/>

 

[Prawn]

This thread is the gift that keeps on giving

 

[bigal 1]

Shell we reel this in now. ???

 

[Prawn]

Shell we reel this in now. ???

Yes! Let's!


So, we went to watch BTCC at Thruxton at the weekend









Baby Bear went representing in full Audi dress:




Dad was sad we wernt out on track!



We also met @Rich196 and Kelly there which was great. Rich hadn't met Oliver either, by this time in another automotive baby grow!





Then to top off an awesome day the BMW did what it does best on the way home and decided to spit out another Torque converter leaving us stranded at the side of the 303 for a while until it cooled down enough to limp home

Cars are great

 

[Rainbird]

Nice touch with the plates on the BTCC cars

 

[Prawn]

In other news, I tested some screwfix no nonsense degreaser on my old scrap head:



For a quick effort, sprayed on with a garden sprayer then jet washed up, I think it's come up grest. And importantly it's done zero damage to any of the Ali and specifically cam bearings.

Bill sent me this teaser earlier in the week:



No going back now!

And I am also now the owner of this:



It's a k430 with a slight clip recently removed from @george_seamons 8p s3. Pre loved and proven beyond 400bhp, I look forward to seeing what it can do on a fully built 20vt!

 

[scotty_24]

Ooooohh yeaaah!
K430 will rip in your car Nick!
Georges made decent numbers didnt it?

 

[george_seamons]

No clip on it (I don't think anyway, from memory!).

It made 410bhp 402ftlbs, but still had more to give. Absolutely ballistic spool up on my setup, so really looking forward to seeing what it'll do on yours. Pretty confident it'll do 400+, so should be good fun

 

[Prawn]

I'm hopeful it'll do well!

Even on George's setup at 410 there was evidence of some pretty poor misalignment at the exhaust flange, and that's on a factory fitment.



You can see the carbon buildup where the ports havnt matched on George's engine. Hopefully port matching both the Inlet and exhaust side will really help the efficiency.

Due to the way the turbo drops onto the adapter I'll be drilling the adapter and turbo flange and installing a dowel pin setup to make sure it stays 100% aligned when installed.

 

[Rainbird]

That ScrewFix degreaser has done a great job of the head.
(Also yay for new parts)

 

[antwan64og]

Winning at life

Any plans to get the suspension set up professionally this time? Wasn't the ride height set to where it looked pretty last time, lol.

Excited to see the outcome of all this!

Technically this car will run forever, it just happens to now be on the 3rd engine and 5th turbo

 

[Tj 0785]

Winning at life

Any plans to get the suspension set up professionally this time? Wasn't the ride height set to where it looked pretty last time, lol.

Excited to see the outcome of all this!

It's like

Technically this car will run forever, it just happens to now be on the 3rd engine and 5th turbo

It's like triggers brush init

 

[scotty_24]

It's like triggers brush init

I actually LOL'd

 

[Prawn]

Technically this car will run forever, it just happens to now be on the 3rd engine and 5th turbo

In my 11 year ownership, including what's about to be fitted:

4 engines
9 gearboxs
8 turbos
7 sets of wheels
6 sets of front seats
8 sets of front brake calipers
2 shock / spring kits
4 sets of coilovers
5 steering wheels
And about 40 driveshafts

Triggers broom has nothing on the a3

And I wouldn't change it for the world!

 

[Prawn]

Any plans to get the suspension set up professionally this time? Wasn't the ride height set to where it looked pretty last time, lol.

Cheeky *******

It was set up by me to a ride height I wanted, checked and levelled on a flag surface using a tape measure.

When I had the corner weights checked they were within 5kg of each other on each axle! And the cross was around 49.6 if I recall. Not exactly bad for a home attempt!

Geo wise, I'll always set it up myself I think as I change the setup topnotch to keep taking it somewhere to pay someone. And if I'm going to race it I need to be confident doing my own alignments.

If I ever reach a point where I'm not constantly changing things, or I start competing, then I'll definitely have the corner weights done properly.

 

[badger5]

I'm hopeful it'll do well!

Even on George's setup at 410 there was evidence of some pretty poor misalignment at the exhaust flange, and that's on a factory fitment.



You can see the carbon buildup where the ports havnt matched on George's engine. Hopefully port matching both the Inlet and exhaust side will really help the efficiency.

Due to the way the turbo drops onto the adapter I'll be drilling the adapter and turbo flange and installing a dowel pin setup to make sure it stays 100% aligned when installed.

exactly what we did on the one we did a few years ago... only way to ensure the alignment is correct and stays correct during installation. As you have found to the inexperienced/unaware/unwary the misalignment is an undesirable side effect of not doing this. All about the flow cocked up during sloppy install otherwise.

 

[george_seamons]

What's more worrying is on the right hand port, the misalignment is left/right, not up/down, so no amount of careful installation would cure that, because the misalignment on installation can only change the up/down. That's an original OEM hotside, so the casting must be off

 

[Prawn]

A **** load of time with a carbide burr will see it along good George!

 

[antwan64og]

See how bad it is

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122259807327

 

[plan_b]

Hey prawn,
love your build theard. It's one of my favorite in the WWW. You always try to improve the car

I saw that you already chose the pistons. To be honest I'm not a big fan of Wössners. Buddies had a lot of trouble with them in VR6 Turbos (the piston falls together). The stock cast Mahle VR6 pistons are much better then the Wössner.

The stock 1.8T BAM Mahle pistons (forged!!) are really really good for a production piece. Buddy drove them with a GTX3071@2,7bar and had no problem but sadly the head dropped a valve. In most of our other 1.8T builds (350 - 520hp) we used them and never had iusses.
Germany fastest 1/4 mile Golf with FWD use also the stock BAM pistons. So in my opinion they are good engough for a 350-400hp track tool.


Seb

 

[Dubster5]

The stock 1.8T BAM Mahle pistons (forged!!) are really really good for a production piece. Buddy drove them with a GTX3071@2,7bar and had no problem but sadly the head dropped a valve. In most of our other 1.8T builds (350 - 520hp) we used them and never had iusses.
Germany fastest 1/4 mile Golf with FWD use also the stock BAM pistons. So in my opinion they are good engough for a 350-400hp track tool.

I could be wrong but I believe the block required an overbore due to damage from the last blow up hence the need for oversized pistons rather than OEM

 

[bigal 1]

In my 11 year ownership, including what's about to be fitted:

4 engines
9 gearboxs
8 turbos
7 sets of wheels
6 sets of front seats
8 sets of front brake calipers
2 shock / spring kits
4 sets of coilovers
5 steering wheels
And about 40 driveshafts

Triggers broom has nothing on the a3

And I wouldn't change it for the world!

 

[bigal 1]

The old block is indeed being over bored. The Wossner pistons have been used in some epic builds so we have faith in them. Lets see.

This car will be virtually new (to us) when it goes back on the road. Just to recap.
New engine,
New turbo,
Rebuilt gearbox,
New plate diff,
New suspension, with stiffer spring rates,
Better brake discs, and more aggressive pads,
Brake bias valve, (recent)
ABS delete, (recent)
Airflow mods to aid engine cooling.

Looking forward to it. Should be some car. Just have to learn to drive it all over again. ???

 

[bigal 1]

Hi Seb, you sound like a builder, tuner. ???

 

[antwan64og]

Erm Nick, not that it really matters but those are 82.5mm pistons not 82mm like you said a few days back.

Just mentioned it incase you hadn't noticed, lol

 

[bigal 1]

Erm Nick, not that it really matters but those are 82.5mm pistons not 82mm like you said a few days back.

Just mentioned it incase you hadn't noticed, lol

What's .5mm between friends.

 

[Prawn]

Hey prawn,
love your build theard. It's one of my favorite in the WWW. You always try to improve the car

Seb

Hi Seb,

Thanks for your kind words about the car it's always nice to find new people are reading!

With regards the pistons, you're right that the stock pistons really are very good indeed. They have done me well for years, and I'm sure they will do others we'll for a long time to come.

For me though, it's one potential risk I wasn't willing to take, using a piston that's done 100 000+ miles, in a bore that's done similar. If all things were perfect then I'd happily build with stock pistons knowing they're good, but even with careful measuring of the Bores many people are still seeing questionable results when reusing an old bore with just a hone.

The Wossners are recommended and supplied by Bill. Taking his advice has stood me in very good stead for the last 6+ years, so I'm confident this is the right decision for us and the car

Erm Nick, not that it really matters but those are 82.5mm pistons not 82mm like you said a few days back.

Just mentioned it incase you hadn't noticed, lol

Well spotted Ant. We decided there were no downsides to going to 82.5mm, so took the extra 15cc as there's no cost difference. We had originally looked at 82mm though, you're right

 

[fanta]

You should do a YouTube channel prawn you could hack the job in and play with your car paid

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