Quattro sport revival

[Stickystuff]

So I bought an A3 1.8T Quattro at the weekend, it needed a few bits doing to it. It had 4 new tyres fitted and came with 2 new from lower arms and ball joints, a new rear shock front drop link a CV boot and a rack boot. I paid £500 for it so hopefully it was worth it.

One of the arms had been attempted to be fitted by the previous owner who clearly didn’t know what they were doing. The paint works not the best by any chance but it’s not too bad condition overall.

I’ll up load a few photos as I go. I used to use Tiny pic as it was a free hosting site and I’ve used it for probably over 10 years but now it’s closed If anyone has any suggestions on a free image hosting site I would be greatful and can add plenty more photos as I go.

So far I’ve listed some jobs I need to do to it:

Oil level sensor repair/replace wiring

OSR shock advice NS aswell?

Clean engine and Transfer box re-seal?

Breather pipes rocker cover.

Resecure intercooler

Lower arms and subframe back on

OSF rack boot

NSF indicator bulb and rubber seal(possible change lights?)

Polish up paint work?

Tighten drivers door hinge

When I say put the subframe back on, I refer to my earlier comment about the previous owner not knowing what they were doing.
They had started to put the drivers lower arm on and clearly struggled, they put the arm on with the old ball joint as they only got so far with loosening before it started spinning( I then found out they cut halfway through the taper shaft) and I later found out that they had put the arm bush bolts in the wrong way round.

I thought that the front bush bolt nut had started spinning or they had cross threaded it but it turns out they just used the correct bolt on the rear bush which is longer!! I was going to cut the subframe open to re-weld the nut and the close it back up and weld back but thankfully I don’t need to do that now! Just need to put the subframe back on.

Hopefully I can get some advice along the way as my daily is an A6 C6 which I’ve had next to no problems running at 217k currently and had since 150k

 

[MPH]

So I bought an A3 1.8T Quattro at the weekend, it needed a few bits doing to it. It had 4 new tyres fitted and came with 2 new from lower arms and ball joints, a new rear shock front drop link a CV boot and a rack boot. I paid £500 for it so hopefully it was worth it.

One of the arms had been attempted to be fitted by the previous owner who clearly didn’t know what they were doing. The paint works not the best by any chance but it’s not too bad condition overall.

I’ll up load a few photos as I go. I used to use Tiny pic as it was a free hosting site and I’ve used it for probably over 10 years but now it’s closed If anyone has any suggestions on a free image hosting site I would be greatful and can add plenty more photos as I go.

So far I’ve listed some jobs I need to do to it:

Oil level sensor repair/replace wiring

OSR shock advice NS aswell?

Clean engine and Transfer box re-seal?

Breather pipes rocker cover.

Resecure intercooler

Lower arms and subframe back on

OSF rack boot

NSF indicator bulb and rubber seal(possible change lights?)

Polish up paint work?

Tighten drivers door hinge

When I say put the subframe back on, I refer to my earlier comment about the previous owner not knowing what they were doing.
They had started to put the drivers lower arm on and clearly struggled, they put the arm on with the old ball joint as they only got so far with loosening before it started spinning( I then found out they cut halfway through the taper shaft) and I later found out that they had put the arm bush bolts in the wrong way round.

I thought that the front bush bolt nut had started spinning or they had cross threaded it but it turns out they just used the correct bolt on the rear bush which is longer!! I was going to cut the subframe open to re-weld the nut and the close it back up and weld back but thankfully I don’t need to do that now! Just need to put the subframe back on.

Hopefully I can get some advice along the way as my daily is an A6 C6 which I’ve had next to no problems running at 217k currently and had since 150k

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobilephotoresizer

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[Stickystuff]

<imghttps://www.flickr.com/photos/184920033@N06/shares/tv2613>
Test to see if the hosting works. well it’s an image for now. I will keep searching for an image hosting that I can post into the thread rather than a link

This is the day I collected it, I found out that I could tow it with the front wheels up at a max of 30mph and a max of 30 miles as a one off and as it was about 18 miles from my house I just pootled along on the back roads to keep off any main roads and it appeared to work. It drove off the dolly and onto my drive without any problems so far

 

[Stickystuff]

So last night I got it up on Axle stands to sort out the front arms and the spinning bolt issue.

It turns out they had swapped the bolts round from the front bush to the rear bush. So I’ve currently got the subframe out in the garage, I thought I would give it a clean up whilst it’s out so I’ll give it a pressure wash down and give the underside of the engine a good clean up too. I think it’s got a little leak from the transfer box or between that and the gearbox so once it’s cleaned up I’ll see where it’s coming from.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/184920033@N06/shares/AA3n2G

https://www.flickr.com/photos/184920033@N06/shares/9ZYu2

I set up an account with Flickr so hopefully until I can figure out how to put the image direct into the post these links will do for now

 

[MPH]

So last night I got it up on Axle stands to sort out the front arms and the spinning bolt issue.

It turns out they had swapped the bolts round from the front bush to the rear bush.

Keep looking there may be more errors like this

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[Stickystuff]

Yeah I’m on IOS and I can’t find anything that will host easily. Flickr will do for now. Thank you

 

[S3AMJ]

Use Tapatalk app dude, you can play pictures up from your phone really easily.


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[Stickystuff]

So I’ve downloaded Tapatalk so let’s see if this works with images.

Tonight I managed to remove the burst water pipe and checked how bad it is.

I had to remove the inlet manifold to gain access. Which I’m glad I did as I found a small vacuum pipe off. I noticed it picked up well early in the revs then peaked off a little so I’m thinking it was just loosing boost it might help it when it’s back on properly.

It looks like someone’s levered on it at some point and it’s also rotted from the inside out I found quite a few holes in it!!
So as I’m not wanting to spend too much money on it until I know it’s running well and got an MOT etc rather than spend £120 on a new one I’ve decided to do a temporary repair.
I used a wire brush on my drill to clean back the paint and found more holes and then welded around them. Some of the holes that started out more like 1-2mm turned into 15mm so plenty of welding. So far it’s held and I’ve given it a spray over with some black paint to make it look a little nicer. Currently hanging above the radiator in the lounge to dry it as best I can!
Whilst that’s drying I turned my attention to the wiring on the boost sensor on top of the intercooler.

As you can see someone has bodged some tape on the wires so I thought I’d investigate as to why.

After removing the tape I found 2 cuts in each wire..... not sure why.... I can only thing someone maybe fitted some sort of resister or something to trick the ECU or something which is a little worrying. Mind you it drove ok when I tested it before the coolant leak, although as said not overly great performance.

So I chopped out the little sections and repaired each wire soldering the joints and then heat shrinking to protect from the elements and then I wrapped the wires with tape. That might not look the prettiest but it’s much better than before. And although I’ve ended up removing some of the loom luckily there is just enough slack to allow it to be plugged and and allow some room for engine movement.

So my attention on the wiring next turns to the fact that on the dash comes up with an oil level warning even though there is oil in the engine. After dismantling to sort out the coolant leak I’ve found that there’s no plug which is why it’s removed from the sensor.

As you can clearly see there is no loom or plug... so if anyone has a spare look they’re not using and would like to kindly donate the oil level sensor plug and the section of the loom to me I will be happy to pay a little towards postage and a ‘drink’

I picked up a new inlet gasket and the rocker cover breather elbow as the original one had been taped up. But that’s pretty much where I’m at up till now.


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[Stickystuff]

Ah one thing That’s baffled me a little is the engine code is AJQ which according to bar tek tuning website this is a 180PS non variable valve timing engine... however it has fitted a variable valve chain tensioner....

Weirdly when I was moving the loom around after unplugging things I noticed the wires just pulled out with no resistance, they had literally just been pushed in. Could this being fitted cause any loss in power? I guess in early revs the cams are at a certain position and on a proper VVT engine they change accordingly, except on mine they won’t which is why it could feel a little flat up top?


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[MPH]

Ah one thing That’s baffled me a little is the engine code is AJQ which according to bar tek tuning website this is a 180PS non variable valve timing engine... however it has fitted a variable valve chain tensioner....

Weirdly when I was moving the loom around after unplugging things I noticed the wires just pulled out with no resistance, they had literally just been pushed in. Could this being fitted cause any loss in power? I guess in early revs the cams are at a certain position and on a proper VVT engine they change accordingly, except on mine they won’t which is why it could feel a little flat up top?


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Don't know too much about the VVT but looks like you did a great job so far

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[<tuffty/>]

Ah one thing That’s baffled me a little is the engine code is AJQ which according to bar tek tuning website this is a 180PS non variable valve timing engine... however it has fitted a variable valve chain tensioner....

Weirdly when I was moving the loom around after unplugging things I noticed the wires just pulled out with no resistance, they had literally just been pushed in. Could this being fitted cause any loss in power? I guess in early revs the cams are at a certain position and on a proper VVT engine they change accordingly, except on mine they won’t which is why it could feel a little flat up top?


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Does it say AJQ on the head? it may have had a replacement head at some point or at least a replacement tensioner from something lying about...

<tuffty/>

 

[Stickystuff]

Tuffty, where will I find it on the head? No I’m going off the chassis number and sticker on the cambelt cover. The parts I picked up the other day the chassis number also says it’s an AJQ engine.

That’s what I thought, and I’m guessing who ever put it on thought it would look out of place without wiring on.

Will it being fitted effect the performance of it?
I had a Quattro sport about 8 years ago that had vvt and a KO3S turbo and was a 180PS model but it felt stronger top end, I don’t know if that’s just the different characteristics of having vvt?



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[<tuffty/>]

Tuffty, where will I find it on the head? No I’m going off the chassis number and sticker on the cambelt cover. The parts I picked up the other day the chassis number also says it’s an AJQ engine.

On the head here...

Will it being fitted effect the performance of it?
I had a Quattro sport about 8 years ago that had vvt and a KO3S turbo and was a 180PS model but it felt stronger top end, I don’t know if that’s just the different characteristics of having vvt?

VVT is designed around emissions and is not used on a K03 turbo'd 1.8t for power... on K04 turbo'd engines (S3, TT, LCR) its used to help spool and is particularly useful on big turbo setups where you can get 500-1000rpm sooner spool up using it...

If its just fitted and not wired it will be running the same as the non VVT tensioner so no affect on performance at all

<tuffty/>

 

[Stickystuff]

Ok that’s good to know. I’ll have a kooky tonight! Thanks


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[Stickystuff]

So I’ve checked it out and you’re right someone must have stuck a new head on as it’s got an AUQ head on it

Here’s my repaired water pipe

If you squint and turn your head sideways it doesn’t look too bad. But for now it should hopefully get it back on the road to get an MOT atleast
Not gonna get any progress done tonight as my Mrs is off out so looking after the youngest this evening will update when I’ve got some more progress

Thanks for all your help so far


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[Stickystuff]

Tonight I finally managed to get some time on. And get it running again.

During the quick rebuild as it were, I noticed that the main look around the gearbox was not located properly so i re-took off the coolant pipes from the oil cooler and then put it back in its holder.

I got set on putting everything back together, so I cleaned the mating faces of the manifold and the head, I couldn’t find my proper scraper so I used a Stanley blade and a pair of mole grips as a make shift one to scrape off some of the old gasket and using a fine scotch brite cleaned it up. The head was in pretty good shape so a quick clean with scotch brite was all it took.

New gasket in place ready to bolt up

I also made sure that any pipes that I’d disconnected were put back on the manifold plus the little pipe that I noticed before the strip down.

It runs well and drives ok, the only annoying thing now is it has a hesitation around 1800 if I put my foot down.... gentle acceleration doesn’t affect so it must have a slight leak somewhere as it’s just between boost coming on and vacuum, I ran out of time tonight to check it but at least it’s moveable for now.

I also changed over the squished up rocker cover breather elbow

That’s all for tonight


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[Stickystuff]

I got the car booked in for it’s MOT this morning which I’m glad to say it passed well.

So last night I changed over the thermostat as I noticed that when I took it for a little road test after the pipe repair that the coolant temp went down as I got up to 50mph and then got hotter again when I came back down to 30mph. Pleased to say today no issues with temperature once it got warm up to 90 it remained there with no fluctuations

Comparing the new one to the old I couldn’t really see any issues but it looked a little crappy and I suspect where it’s probably had mostly water in the cooling system rather than coolant or antifreeze I think it’s just corroded slightly so once hot and open I guess it doesn’t close when I goes below it’s set temperature which according to the thermostat is 87°c

So the MOT advised the nearside rear shock slight misting of oil and the offside front anti roll bar link one of the dust covers is split but not enough to fail.
They also advised the front screen has a obstruction but not enough to fail... I didn’t realise properly but there is a ‘tint’ strip at the top of the front screen.

The only thing the guy told me was they had to adjust the nearside front headlight as it was pointing to the floor.

I did actually get a new shock and link with the rear of the parts the car came with but I’d just never bothered fitting them as I didn’t think they were that bad. So I might fit them in time but for now it’s not too bad.

Well I think the headlights broken cause driving home tonight after work guess what.... it’s pointing to the floor again so I’m thinking that I might just do the headlight conversion to the facelift model as I prefer these anyway and it’s easier to fit xenons too without the lights glaring at on coming traffic. That might have to wait for now.

I’ll up date with some more as I get to it.


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[hydro s3]

If your looking new headlights give @t8ups at EM Tuning a call he will sort you out with a good set.

 

[s3mad_dude]

If your looking new headlights give @t8ups at EM Tuning a call he will sort you out with a good set.

Yes, definitely do this if you can. My standard xenons had a light that kept dropping/pointing to the floor randomly after self levelling at start-up. Drove me nuts. Since I’ve had Trups aftermarket xenons I’ve had no issues and can see for miles. Best upgrade I think I’ve ever done to the car. As for the rest of what you’ve done, well done. It seems the previous owners didn’t care too much for your old girl. Sounds like it’s in better hands now though.