Project S3 - Venom

[DangerS3]

After a long wait (March) I finally own an S3! I've known this car since it was brand new, and I was the reason the guy actually bought it. Fast forward 7 and a bit years and I convinced him to buy another brand new S3. I know that he doesn't like faffing around with private sales and always trades in, so I made him an offer which was more than what the dealers were going to pay but less than AutoTrader prices. Win win.

Saturday morning me and a mate went on a little trip to pick it up.

Obligatory petrol station picture on journey home.

The car is filthy, like proper filthy. I don't think in all the years I've seen the car, it's never once been clean. But I knew what I was getting myself in for. My mates Pulsar is running 360bhp if you're interested.

Got the car home ready for it's first bath.

The wheels didn't want to play ball, nothing would shift the stuck on crap. So a strong mix of Bilberry wheel cleaner, Iron X and Dragons Breath was enlisted, with a ton of elbow grease.

Not perfect, but they need a refurb so I didn't get too hung up on them. Look a lot better though.

With them done I turned to the bodywork. All washed and then I had to clay because the paint was rough. This is just from the roof and half a door! The clay was getting dirty so quick I ended up using ObliTARate. It needs another hit as there's loads left, but I was seriously hungover so I gave up lol.

I mixed up a bucket of hot water and all purpose cleaner and attacked the interior. Again, it's an improvement but being hungover I did my best.

All done, for now anyway.

As the bloke relied on this car to take him round to his customers, mechanically it's been well treated. But he just used this as a mode of transport and didn't really take any pride in it. So there are a few bumps and grazes that need addressing.

I don't see why people hate on these cars, I ****** love it. It's a worthy replacement for my Type R. I have a pretty loud exhaust on the Civic because I'm a child at heart and was eyeing up exhausts for the S3. But now that I've driven it and heard it on the move, I'm not too sure that I want more noise.

 

[S3Alex]

That actually IS dirtier than mine,and considerably less well loved by the look of it.

Well done on returning it to it's former glory.

 

[DangerS3]

That actually IS dirtier than mine,and considerably less well loved by the look of it.

Well done on returning it to it's former glory.

Thanks fella. And the pictures don't do the level of filth the justice it deserves lol it was gopping.

I dread to think how his 8V is going to turn out, poor car.

 

[leshkin]

Wow, I feel sorry for your car and his new 8V - He should buy a tractor next time

Glad to see the S3 is finally in the right hands and will be looked after though! Any mods planned?

As far as exhaust go, check out BCS Powervalve, excellent bit of kit and gives you some nice options as far as the noise goes.

 

[GGG_666]

nice job on this. it looks 100% better

 

[DangerS3]

Wow, I feel sorry for your car and his new 8V - He should buy a tractor next time

Glad to see the S3 is finally in the right hands and will be looked after though! Any mods planned?

As far as exhaust go, check out BCS Powervalve, excellent bit of kit and gives you some nice options as far as the noise goes.

First thing I noticed was how nice the 8V wheels are, painted and polished....they're going to get battered! But yeah I agree, either that or an old farmers Defender.

Cheers dude. And provisional plans are: wheel refurb, tints, remap, paint the calipers and possibly an exhaust. Not really too sure what else I can do. I'll also be tidying up parts during the interim.

I've seen a lot of people raving about the BCS. Touch too expensive for me unfortunately, I'm sure it's justified but my budget isn't that big lol.

nice job on this. it looks 100% better

Thanks, it was hard work lol.

 

[eLeCtRaSh]

That poor car. I am happy that you bought it and it will get proper attention

 

[nil538]

Looks loads better now mate

 

[DangerS3]

That poor car. I am happy that you bought it and it will get proper attention

Looks loads better now mate

Thanks guys.

Looks like I'll be having the front bumper sprayed in the near future, looks like he's followed a gritter for a good 20miles. Quick question though, how do I find out what black it is? I've had a look under the boot floor and the sticker doesn't state any paint codes.

Also how are the side skirts and rear splitter held on, just with bolts or is there any adhesive?

 

[voorhees]

This has exploded drawings http://www.partsbase.org/audi/audi-a3-s3-sportback-qu-a3-eu/

 

[DangerS3]

Car is Pantom Black too, thanks for that.

 

[16VG60]

Well done in pulling your S3 back from the minging abyss! What a mission. Looks soooo much better now and I get the feeling you haven't finished yet. You should have got your efforts sponsored by one of the valeting product manufacturers excellent work

 

[lisaclio]

Looking good, so much nicer when they are clean. What's your plans for it?

 

[DangerS3]

Well done in pulling your S3 back from the minging abyss! What a mission. Looks soooo much better now and I get the feeling you haven't finished yet. You should have got your efforts sponsored by one of the valeting product manufacturers excellent work

Thanks, and yeah was a mission and a half. Still not up to my standards, may be a few weekends worth of work haha I would love a sponsor, I think this car is going to run all my stuff out.

Looking good, so much nicer when they are clean. What's your plans for it?

Oh yeah totally agree. Problem is I work on an industrial estate, granted my cars tucked away behind buildings but it's like a dust bowl around here. Car looked awful by the time I was due to go home lol.

Plans were to have a wheel refurb, tints, remap, paint the calipers and possibly an exhaust. Tints may be put on hold as all the glass is scratched to buggery from what I'm assuming was an old crappy ice scraper, so I don't want to tints to highlight the scratches. Obviously I've got lots of bits to tidy up along the way

 

[DangerS3]

Small update, had a few goodies arrive this week. Granted they're not all going to be to everyone's taste but it's my car and my money lol.

First of all some plastidip, caliper paint and some yellow light film.

Some side decals, will try the silver ones first and then when the calipers go yellow so will the decals. These will be stuck on the rear quarter maybe on or more than likely just above the side skirt.

And then some new mats! So before

Whip them out

Unpack new ones, and fit

The fit and quality of these are brilliant, I've used the same company numerous times before, and for the sake of £20 can't really go wrong. Seeing these fitted, I should've really bought grey rather than black but oh well.

Also as I have a dog who sometimes jumps in the back, recycle the old mats and use them to protect the boot floor

Weather has been pants, so the car is filthy.

 

[DangerS3]

Update time!

As you may know, this car has been well used and pretty much without regard to bodywork. One massive thing that was bothering me is the rear diffuser and the sideskirt not sitting right, this happened due to him forgetting to put on his handbrake and it caught a small bollard and a high-ish curb. Fortunately the car was moving really slow when it happened.

So jacked the car up and took the wheel off so I can remove the inner arch lining (it will all be getting cleaned under there eventually)

So the first offending part

With a bit of moving about this is the best I can do. I'm hoping with a bit of heat I can gently make it go back to where it should be

This there's the side skirt

I may get this repaired as a new skirt is rediculous money

And this is how it was sitting by the drivers door

With it jacked up I was able to reset everything back to where it should be. Unfortunately there's a tiny bit of plastic that has snapped behind which could probably be repaired with some plastic welding.

And then because I washed it in the dark yesterday and missed loads of bits I decided to give it another wash and an Aqua Wax

 

[SootySport]

This is the kind of project that I have done over numerous years, buy an unloved car (not just Audis) that has had good history and tidy it up as you have done. One tip for the leather, use Gliptone to clean and soften the seats and make smell as leather should.

 

[DangerS3]

I actually have a couple bottles of the Gliptone cleaner and conditioner. I ideally want to take the seats out to give them a thorough clean, do I need to disconnect the battery or will they be ok to just remove as long as the ignition is off.

And yeah dude, it's a right labour of love but very rewarding when you know the state it was in.

 

[SootySport]

You can clean the seats all over without taking them out, if you do, you'll need the odd spline tool for the bolts. Just disconnecting the wiring plugs under the seats is good enough. The leather looks a bit baggy on the front seat bases, new seat squabs would fix that.

 

[DangerS3]

I've got all the spline tools so shouldn't be an issue, but that's good to know. I know some cars get the **** when you unplug the seats but that may be down to air bags. Plus there's also 8 years of crud under the seat that I can't access, and it's bothering me so that's the other reason they need to come out lol.
The seat is massively baggy, which is odd because the previous owner isn't exactly a big bloke but I've heard it's common in S3s and TTs. Is it an easy DIY fix? And do you have a link to the squabs?

 

[SootySport]

Haven't changed myself on an Audi but from experience on other cars you need strong fingers to remove and refit the covers.
Best place to buy them would be through the 'Parts Request' button at the top of this page. Mike does a bit of discount and will know which ones you need.

 

[DangerS3]

If it's the part I'm thinking of, I changed it on an old Recaro and it was very tough. I'll have my seats out and check underneath to see if it's the same sort of thing.

 

[SootySport]

If a man put it together then you can take it apart. Anything is fixable.

 

[tcardio]

I find it strange that your rear wheel well liner does not attach to the lower valence of the bumper

 

[DangerS3]

......the rear diffuser and the sideskirt not sitting right, this happened due to him forgetting to put on his handbrake and it caught a small bollard and a high-ish curb.

I find it strange that your rear wheel well liner does not attach to the lower valence of the bumper

That's why.

It's broken off a bit of plastic behind the liner, I've put in a parts request to see if I can source the part otherwise I'll have the diffuser off and will have something made up to look the same as the other side so it sits secure. It may also force the corner to sit better.

 

[tcardio]

That's why.

It's broken off a bit of plastic behind the liner, I've put in a parts request to see if I can source the part otherwise I'll have the diffuser off and will have something made up to look the same as the other side so it sits secure. It may also force the corner to sit better.

I've been looking for that part so let me know if you are successful in sourcing it. Thanks in advance

 

[DangerS3]

No problem. The parts guy said he's on holiday and will be getting back to me.

 

[RS3dan]

What a difference a good clean can make, great work! Always rewarding to bring something back to glory like this!

Fairly confused why your friend would buy something so nice, from new, and run it into the ground.. He Should've bought a beater 2.0 tfsi hah..!

Enjoy!

 

[DangerS3]

What a difference a good clean can make, great work! Always rewarding to bring something back to glory like this!

Fairly confused why your friend would buy something so nice, from new, and run it into the ground.. He Should've bought a beater 2.0 tfsi hah..!

Enjoy!

After seeing the state of the car I'd rather class him as an acquaintance now lol. As I said before, I actually dread seeing his 8V again. Such a lovely car.

But thank you, it still has a long way to go before I'm 100% happy with it.

 

[leshkin]

Great progress! Thanks for your updates.

I'd go as far as saying that this guy should stay away from owning cars - the dude's obviously useless at maintaining/caring for them!

 

[DangerS3]

So progress has been slow due to house stuff/work and the fact the weather has been absolute crap.

Got her cleaned yesterday and decided to try and get some snaps in a local industrial yard, weren't very happy with them because it was quite overcast so will take some better ones when the weather improves.

So then in my infinite wisdom decided to paint the calipers with the paint that I bought off of eBay. Doesn't help that it was cheap crap and the fact it turns out that it's gloss, I'm absolutely awful with gloss. No turning back after this though

I perservered, got a few coats on. They do look a bit crap up close, but this is because I wasn't very careful and getting those stupid S3 spring clips back on the caliper has mullered the paint, not the end of the world though as they'll be coming off when I buy new pads and discs so I'll flatten them down and start again *bangs head*. I also added some quattro decals to the side skirts, undecided on the yellow or silver, thoughts?

Before

and after

Here's the yellow side

I may just end up taking them off and painting the calipers black. Who knows lol. Not to everyone's taste I'll admit, but the calipers actually look pretty good in person.

 

[Jake 61]

You've done a remarkable job on it considering the first few pics.
Personally, I would have gone for the silver quattro decals, but it's entirely up to what suits you.

 

[DangerS3]

You've done a remarkable job on it considering the first few pics.
Personally, I would have gone for the silver quattro decals, but it's entirely up to what suits you.

Thanks dude. Been a right labour of love lol.

Well I've actually got both on the car still as I've pretty much had 50/50 reviews on each. I may end up with the silver because it's more subtle.

 

[Ice man]

Nice car!

 

[Hookmonster]

Ahhhhh. That pulsar.. loved mine before my s3.. brutal.... still miss it

 

[DangerS3]

So I bought the car knowing the cam belt was due to be done within the next couple of thousand miles. So the weekend just gone I got my colleague's husband to do this, along with new water pump, new auxiliary belt, oil, oil filter, air filter, carbon pollen filter and new plugs. Not bad for £480 IMO.

I asked him how it went and he said "The car is a right pig to work on. Have you seen under the car? I hope you don't need a clutch on that any time soon, sod that!"

he's built a Chevy truck from the ground up, works on Ferraris and recently completely restored a Mini so he's pretty seasoned when it comes to working on cars.

Bit of a ****** if I go past 300bhp as the standard clutch can't cope lol.

Considering the poor weather we've had, the car doesn't look too bad.