Introducing myself and my S3

[pompeysteve]

I thought it polite to introduce myself and my car.
Been a VAG fan for sometime now, Mk4 R32, 1999 S3, A4 TDI (sensible period) now 2001 S3.
My last S3 was a bit of a dog to be frank, always something failing or falling off, but i knew they couldn't all be that way.
Had the new one for 2 months now and i'm loving it!
I like to think of it as a long term project, its currently running a few mods (gt28RS, Revo etc) but crying out for some handling improvements.
So here's the question: I was thinking KW clubsports and HR ARBs but I'm having second thoughts. In the experience of yourselves are the clubsports a bit harsh for everyday use on our lovely bumpy roads, would i be better going with the variant 3 or even Bilstien B16s?
Any help would appreciated

 

[Prawn]

Car looks awesome man! Really like that, and sounds like it goes well too!

Sadly, I'd wager a good bet that not a single person on here has KW clubsports. There are very few people on the forum that do regular track days or the like, and as such, you'll be lucky to find anyone with something as high spec as club sports.

There's loads of people with KW V1-3's though, so I'm sure they can give an opinion.

The popular 'forum' choice is Bilstien B8 shocks with H&R springs I believe, or PSS9's for those wanting decent coilovers.

Hope you find what you need, a decent set of ARB's can totally transform the car.

What's it had done braking wise? With the power from a GT28RS it must be pretty hairy if it's on standard brakes!

 

[pompeysteve]

Cheers Prawn,
Thanks for your input, I did wonder if the clubsports might be a little too much for the road, I intend doing a few trackdays and some trips to the ring once the car's sorted, but also would like to keep it as a daily driver in the summer months at least. So maybe some kinda compromise might be needed.
Brakes are currently Brembo GT up front and EBC discs on the rear, although I do quite fancy the big red porsche upgrade in the future as apparently the Brembos suffer from fade problems on track days.

 

[s3dave]

Hi steve, car as said looks great...
Im running KWv1 coupled with a rear r32 ARB and in my opinion is spot on..

 

[pompeysteve]

Thanks Dave, although I really like the idea of the adjustabilty of the V3s

 

[S3 Rav]

Anymore pics of the car. Looks very nice.

 

[Prawn]

Porsche 4 pots arnt really a huge upgrade over brembo GT's mate. I run 330mm Porsche 996 4 pots on my daily, and 323mm brembo Gt's on my track car, and they're VERY similar.

It's all down to pad choice really, my brembo GT's with ds3000's and badger5 discs are FAR better than the Porsche brakes with ATE fast road pads and grooved discs

 

[cdj3.2]

great looking car!

 

[Inertiauk]

Nice Car,

Did it come with any power graphs ? receipts for the work? rods done? lol

What did you pay for it ? (just nosey at how much you can pick up a BT S3)

another vote for more pictures too.

 

[pompeysteve]

Anymore pics of the car. Looks very nice.

I'll get round to taking some pics and post them in the gallery.

 

[pompeysteve]

Nice Car,

Did it come with any power graphs ? receipts for the work? rods done? lol

What did you pay for it ? (just nosey at how much you can pick up a BT S3)
another vote for more pictures too.

It came with receipts totalling £8000, from Backdraft Motorsport.
Unfortunately the engine internals weren't upgraded and as a result the engine blew apart 5 hours after I bought it!
All done now though, and better than before.
I have dyno graphs from last year, 332hp and351ft.
Car cost me £7100 to buy, but it's pretty immaculate in my opinion and just 66000 miles.

It's an expensive 8L and I could probably have bought an 8P for what it's cost now, but I prefer the older ones personally

 

[pompeysteve]

Porsche 4 pots arnt really a huge upgrade over brembo GT's mate. I run 330mm Porsche 996 4 pots on my daily, and 323mm brembo Gt's on my track car, and they're VERY similar.

It's all down to pad choice really, my brembo GT's with ds3000's and badger5 discs are FAR better than the Porsche brakes with ATE fast road pads and grooved discs

Thanks again, really useful info, looks like you've saved me a stack of cash!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Inertiauk]

It came with receipts totalling £8000, from Backdraft Motorsport.
Unfortunately the engine internals weren't upgraded and as a result the engine blew apart 5 hours after I bought it!
All done now though, and better than before.
I have dyno graphs from last year, 332hp and351ft.
Car cost me £7100 to buy, but it's pretty immaculate in my opinion and just 66000 miles.

It's an expensive 8L and I could probably have bought an 8P for what it's cost now, but I prefer the older ones personally

332bhp seems a bit weak for a gt28RS, perhaps its mapped a bit slower because the rods arent done, I've read threads of people achieving close to 400bhp on a 1.8t with that turbo.

£8000 in bills from backdraft, and was still on standard rods, wow, those guys aren't cheap.

 

[Ryan_W]

This is the car I went to look at before buying my standard one.

What actually went wrong with the engine? When I took it for a test drive, the turbo was making some storage noises and thats one of the reasons I kept clear. The car itself is VERY clean though, bodywork is near mint.

I'll keep and eye on your thread mate, lovely car, hope it all works out for you mate.

Ryan

 

[andrecc]

Car cost me £7100 to buy, but it's pretty immaculate in my opinion and just 66000 miles.

I got mine for £3900 on 72k

 

[pompeysteve]

332bhp seems a bit weak for a gt28RS, perhaps its mapped a bit slower because the rods arent done, I've read threads of people achieving close to 400bhp on a 1.8t with that turbo.

£8000 in bills from backdraft, and was still on standard rods, wow, those guys aren't cheap.

As far as I'm aware the gt28rs is pretty much at it's limit at 350, but I don't claim to be any kind of authority, far from it.
The 8 grand was total receipts, including things like the Brembo GTs, Forge fmic etc, not just the backdraft work.
The original BT conversion is here: 1.8T 210/225 to 325 bhp Turbo Kit | Backdraft Motorsport

 

[pompeysteve]

This is the car I went to look at before buying my standard one.

What actually went wrong with the engine? When I took it for a test drive, the turbo was making some storage noises and thats one of the reasons I kept clear. The car itself is VERY clean though, bodywork is near mint.

I'll keep and eye on your thread mate, lovely car, hope it all works out for you mate.

Ryan

Yeah it was your thread that brought the car to my attention.
A rod gave out at 5000 revs! Blew it out through the sump, so it was a mess!
The only fault with the turbo was a leaky hose

 

[Ryan_W]

You got the car cheap mate (excluding engine failure)... He wouldn't go lower than £8250 when I was dealing with him. I said that the car was worth around £7250 regardless of mods, but he wouldn't listen to me...

If you're going to rebuild it, go for the Brute rods rather than IE, better design.

The turbo was making a ceramic whine when I drove it, like the bearings had gone?

 

[pompeysteve]

You got the car cheap mate (excluding engine failure)... He wouldn't go lower than £8250 when I was dealing with him. I said that the car was worth around £7250 regardless of mods, but he wouldn't listen to me...

If you're going to rebuild it, go for the Brute rods rather than IE, better design.
Y
The turbo was making a ceramic whine when I drove it, like the bearings had gone?

I had backdraft build the new engine, and the checked the turbo etc while it was being done, so I have to trust it's all ok.
They use the IE rods, they swear by them, I guess in the end it comes down to trusting a company you have faith in. I personally like them, they seem knowledgable and have bags of experience with 1.8t engines.