looking good chap
have you looked into changing the haldex control unit to a newer version to get a better traction split?
Short S3 Stage 1 Project
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Safety_James
- Posts: 1295
- Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:58 am
- Location: Snetterton Circuit - Track Safety
- Contact:
S3 Resurrection
A few of you may know that myself and my S3 had a little play round the new Snetterton 300 circuit a few weeks ago, this play ended in disaster as the car suffered massive oil starvation round the new long corners.
this oil starvation resulted in my bottom end being totally written off
most of the big end bearing were smashed to pieces, the conrods and crank were completely FUBAR'd
as you can imagine i wasnt a particular happy boy when this happened, the knocking noise was painful to hear
the car was running, very well before it died, after going out with one of snetty's race tutors i got to know the new track and its corners, what speeds to carry and what lines to take, also james reported that the car looked great going round and sounded even better(obviously untill it started knocking like a bitch lol)
so after getting the car recovered back to the work shop (luckily we have the means to do this ourselves) i spent the evening investigating what the problem was
i pull the head off first, which isnt the most pleasant of jobs on the audi! this revealed to problems at all, in fact i was shocked to discover that the bore and pistons were in imaculate condition(so at least i know that the car isnt running too lean as there was zero det marks on the pistons what so ever)
next job was to remove the bottom end and as soon as the sump was dropped we knew what had happened, the bearing were in tiny pices in the bottom of the sump, the bearings were in such a state that you could physically grab the big ends and shake them about...it was pretty shocking!! then once the pistons and rods were removed we could examine the condition of the crank and like i said earlier it was totally screwed
So now we knew the extent of the damage it was time to look into rebuild costs(this was not a nice experiance) the crank and rods needed replacing with new ones, that coupled with all the other parts i would need was not finacially viable propersition
so the next plan was to buy a second hand engine and refresh that, thanks to ebay i managed to purchase an absolute steal!!
After a very early start on a saturday and a short drive to manchester we had a BAM engine and gearbox from a late 2004 Seat Leon Cupra with only 80k on the clock, as it came with everything(turbo, ancillaries and box) we managed to sell all the spare parts for more money then we actually gave for the engine, so in theory we now had a free BAM engine, finally something to smile about
next came the refresh, we decided to use all my ancillaries, sensors and fuel injection system as we knew everything was working fine, however chose to use the turbo from the newer engine as it had less miles and had less play in the shafts etc..
in regards the engine, we have replaced the follwing parts
whilst the car is on the ramps we will also do a complete drivetrain lubricant change, including a haldex service
I have also taken this time to upgrade a few more parts on the car in preporation for track use(yes thats right im a gluten for punishment) some of these parts will be fitted at a later date
these mods include
more progress will follow as it happens :willy_nilly:hopefully the car and engine will be strong as she has had an awful lot of time effort and money spent on her
this oil starvation resulted in my bottom end being totally written off
most of the big end bearing were smashed to pieces, the conrods and crank were completely FUBAR'd
as you can imagine i wasnt a particular happy boy when this happened, the knocking noise was painful to hear
the car was running, very well before it died, after going out with one of snetty's race tutors i got to know the new track and its corners, what speeds to carry and what lines to take, also james reported that the car looked great going round and sounded even better(obviously untill it started knocking like a bitch lol)
so after getting the car recovered back to the work shop (luckily we have the means to do this ourselves) i spent the evening investigating what the problem was
i pull the head off first, which isnt the most pleasant of jobs on the audi! this revealed to problems at all, in fact i was shocked to discover that the bore and pistons were in imaculate condition(so at least i know that the car isnt running too lean as there was zero det marks on the pistons what so ever)
next job was to remove the bottom end and as soon as the sump was dropped we knew what had happened, the bearing were in tiny pices in the bottom of the sump, the bearings were in such a state that you could physically grab the big ends and shake them about...it was pretty shocking!! then once the pistons and rods were removed we could examine the condition of the crank and like i said earlier it was totally screwed
So now we knew the extent of the damage it was time to look into rebuild costs(this was not a nice experiance) the crank and rods needed replacing with new ones, that coupled with all the other parts i would need was not finacially viable propersition
so the next plan was to buy a second hand engine and refresh that, thanks to ebay i managed to purchase an absolute steal!!
After a very early start on a saturday and a short drive to manchester we had a BAM engine and gearbox from a late 2004 Seat Leon Cupra with only 80k on the clock, as it came with everything(turbo, ancillaries and box) we managed to sell all the spare parts for more money then we actually gave for the engine, so in theory we now had a free BAM engine, finally something to smile about
next came the refresh, we decided to use all my ancillaries, sensors and fuel injection system as we knew everything was working fine, however chose to use the turbo from the newer engine as it had less miles and had less play in the shafts etc..
in regards the engine, we have replaced the follwing parts
- new big end shells(after speaking to a VAG expert who had just taken a 1.8t apart advised us that these are the only bearing which show any signs of wear)
- new oil pump
- new oil pick up
- new water pump
- new cambelt kit
- new aux belt
- breather system cleaned out
- new spark plugs
- engine cleaned and painted in heat proof paint
- manifold painted with ceramicoat paint
- obviously all service parts
whilst the car is on the ramps we will also do a complete drivetrain lubricant change, including a haldex service
I have also taken this time to upgrade a few more parts on the car in preporation for track use(yes thats right im a gluten for punishment) some of these parts will be fitted at a later date
these mods include
- Poly flex ARB and Front wish bone bushes
- Heat Wrapped Downpipe and centre section of exhaust
- Baffled Sump
- Oil cooler with stat
- Acusump
- Oil pressure, oil temp and boost gauges
- Brake fluid upgrade
- Braided brake lines
- All new brake discs and pads(including Hawk front pads)
more progress will follow as it happens :willy_nilly:hopefully the car and engine will be strong as she has had an awful lot of time effort and money spent on her