Ali's S3 Build Thread

[Ali_cat]

So. In October last year I bought my S3 following on from having to scrap my B5 A4 TQS due to an accident. The old send the new.



So far I'm enjoying my time as an S3 owner, currently working through my list of jobs (which seems to be getting longer and longer)!

The car has been well cared for in its life, there was a full a4 folder of receipts and MOTs when I bought it which gave me faith. The seller was a nice genuine guy and we made the deal.

When I got the car back my friend gave it a once over to check to see it was all clear and identified a few bits that needed addressing namely;

Haldex service
Front wishbone bushes
Front discs and pads
Boost leek
Top mounts

Wasn't a massive concern to me tbh as it's a 16 year old car and it's going to need a bit of tlc.

First was the haldex service and at the same time the rear diff oil was changed which stopped the noise from the rear diff on manouvers. The boost leek was identified through a pressure test, only to find it held 0psi, I was a bit worried at this point but one of the pcv pipes under the inlet was split and the obvious culprit. Parts were ordered from tps and swiftly replaced, the car now boosts nicely and following on from a logging session is performing as it should too.



The suspension overhall is to come in the next few weeks as I have painted some wishbones I had "in stock" from a previous car I had and will have lemforder bushes pressed in, I will also change the top mounts and disc's and pads at the same time due to that part of the car being worked on.



I of course will be improving the car , that goes without saying and there will be a handful of handling and performance upgrades along the way but I needed to get the basics dealt with first.

 

[Ali_cat]

My particular passion is the aesthetics with cars, I'm into detailling and visual modifications as much as performance.

The seller said that the paint work on the car was good and regularly polished, it wasn't bad, but definitely needed some care so I knew that I would be giving it a thorough going over.

I always start with a good 2 bucket wash and prep the surface by claying. Followed onto a single stage (due to time) machine polish using a DAS6 pro and chemical guys pads and Koch Chemie polish. For me it's a great combination. I finished the car with Poorboys blackhole glaze and their Black Nattys paste wax.



And before and after on the wing





And bonnet







After ...



The fruits of my labour



I also swapped the front seats over from the factory recaros to my much loved CSs, they're on the original frames as most recaro seats have the same bolt spacing making it an easy swap. Just need to add an airbag resistor before the mot so it'll be sorted.





And that pretty much brings me up to date. Sorry it's a long first post but I have a habit of storing up months of work to put down all in one go!

 

[s3mad_dude]

Welcome to the forum, and nice thread. I too am into detailing and the before/after photos look great! I also really like the seats. I like to keep my car OEM but those seats look really modern and match the interior very well.

 

[basil brush]

welcome , like you i'm all for the clean OEM+ look
i'm surprised to see you haven't jumped on the fusso band wagon !!!
nice before and after pics

 

[SamHendry]

Those seats are sexy! Nice work mate!

 

[weerabmc]

Lovely job on the body with that polish. Will have to look into this myself. I to am as new to forum though been knocking about reading and joined last month.. I just got my 1st Audi last month A3 1.8t Quattro. Been working around servicing engine and making sure all is sitting well for reliability before I move onto sparkling up the body. Love the before and after pics. Amazing difference. My job today is MAF sensor. Just removing and cleaning. Been having a little hesitation on hard acceleration and this has to be the culprit. Have replace and tested everything else. All for love of the cars. Good luck with the new toy.

Sent from my HTC Desire 510 using Tapatalk

 

[Ali_cat]

Thanks for the comments guys, I've spent a couple of years getting to grips with how to clean a car well and it's paying off now. I fancy trying the fusso hype, but not until I need to replace my wax.

I get a lot of comments on the seats,
they're a bit different to the norm I suppose!

I'll keep the thread updated with more progress, will be some next weekend.

 

[IPG]

those seats!

how much do they weigh and where from>???

 

[Ali_cat]

those seats!

how much do they weigh and where from>???

Tbh, not sure, but they're a load lighter than the standard seat. Much easier to lug around when fitting. I got them from capital seating about 4 years ago. But available from several places.

 

[Tj 0785]

There's some on eBay very nice seats but probably worth more than my car at the minute ha

 

[Ali_cat]

Bit of maintenance on the s3 yesterday in the delightful British weather!!

Since I got the car the brakes haven't been up to much so got round to changing the front discs and pads, only had them since November!!!

They're not standard brakes, which I discovered when I went to buy the car, they are actually r32/TT v6 brakes so have twin pistons which is better, heavy, but better.

So the near side was first, the discs were more awful than anticipated to be honest, they were way past min thickness, standard is 32mm and these were down to 26!! Pads were in a terrible state too, it was a similat story on the offside as well. To top it off we realised that the discs were mounted on yhe wrong side so the vents weren't even working correctly.

Anyway a pic speaks a 1000 words so . . .

Nearside







Off side



The pedal feels loads better already which is good, need to change the rears too then a full flush and refill with decent fluid will be on the cards.

 

[Ali_cat]

Gave the car a thorough cleaning today, first time in weeks!! Don't anticipate it'll stay clean for long.

Started with a citrus pre wash and a jet wash, followed by a 2 bucket wash, dry and then Poorboys black hole and black nattys paste wax. Then dress the tyres after cleaning with citrus wash and a brush with autofinesse satin tyre gel.

Nice to give it a good clean, brought the love back.

There are a fair few mods on the cards, including wheels, coilovers and a rear BBK. Need to make some headway into the summer show prep.

 

[vtecas]

It shines again
Nice car you have mate. Very neat

 

[Ash-S3]

great cleaning method!
looking really good.. so much love for that OEM look

 

[Ali_cat]

A little update. Wheels have happened, love em . . .





Plan is polish and gold. That's is.

 

[IPG]

fresh as!!!

Car is going to look nice with them on... but that ride height

 

[IPG]

I also swapped the front seats over from the factory recaros to my much loved CSs, they're on the original frames as most recaro seats have the same bolt spacing making it an easy swap. Just need to add an airbag resistor before the mot so it'll be sorted.





And that pretty much brings me up to date. Sorry it's a long first post but I have a habit of storing up months of work to put down all in one go!

Can we revisit these seats??? Do they bolt right in? Where did you get them from? Obviously no electrics but how much lighter are they than stock?

 

[Ali_cat]

fresh as!!!

Car is going to look nice with them on... but that ride height

Haha. The altitude will be addressed shortly. Currently weighing up which brand to go with, toss up between Bilstein, H&r and something lower end like an ap or FK.

Can we revisit these seats??? Do they bolt right in? Where did you get them from? Obviously no electrics but how much lighter are they than stock?

We can. If you remove the std seats and flip them on their back there are 4
Allen keys which hold the seat to the Base, disconnect all of the tilt and slide cables and electrics and off they come. Reattach with the 4 oem Allen keys as all recaro holes line up.

I got them from Capital seating in Leicestershire. But I got them a fair few years ago.

Weight wise, they are lighter, no electrics and no airbags. Not got a specific on how much lighter though. Probably a few kgs.

They're unique and comfy so for me that's all they need to be.

 

[Tj 0785]

Are the wingbacks the heated version? If so did they connect easy enough?

 

[Ali_cat]

Are the wingbacks the heated version? If so did they connect easy enough?

They're aren't heated and there are no looms in my car for it, you can get mat kits for them and I imagine they'd be easy enough to connect up if you're handy.

 

[Ali_cat]

Today was new wheel day as I got my splits all built up. They're BBS LM 145 s they're designed for the mk4 golf platform cars.

I've had the centre's chemically stripped and painted in BBS gold from Subaru and the lips polished locally to me. I built them today with new nuts and the old black bolts.

I'm super happy with them and can't wait to get them on the car in the next couple of weeks.







Other than that the suspension will be overhauled as in coilovers and new bushes and wishbones. Exciting times.

 

[samurai]

you can put them together on a different way, they will looked wider on rear site if you put star (the central part) from the inside

 

[Ali_cat]

Bit of an update. Not a huge amount of action pics tho.

I overhauled the suspension over the last few weeks with new wishbones, coilovers and Cookbot rear tie arms. Sent the car for alignment at ABP Motorsport near Crewe where i have been for the last couple of weeks. They did a great job of getting it aligned, as you can imagine it drove like a bag of crap before.





I also got the car mapped which is great, nice to have boost and a bit more go when it's needed.



Finally I trial fitted my bbs's yesterday. I was dubious about what size tyres I would need due to the fairly aggressive offsets. Gonna get some 215/40s ordered to get it fitting nice.