# Little Shrek Build - My midlife crisis



## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Hi 

I have no idea how to get this post into the build thread, so I'm going to plop it here and hopefully it will be given a new home 

I've decided to post my journey on here with little Shrek so I can keep track of everything and document this crazy journey with you lovely people being a part of that.

The car popped up on Autotrader on 19th March 2019, I contacted the seller that night, the following night I withdrew money and bought it. I have a habit of impulse-buying, but this seems to be the best one so far!

The night the car became mine was ridiculously fun, nerve-wrecking as I questioned such a big purchase and interesting when I broke the news to my wife.

Since purchasing the car on 20th March I have purchased, carried out and fitted / had fitted the following mods and work:

Forge FMIC
Badger5 Ver3 induction kit
A few breather hoses from Forge Motorsport
Forge DV
Milltek 3" DP with sports cat
Bilstein B6 rear shocks (OE shocks were buggered)
Front anti-roll bar drop links
H&R front and rear anti roll bars
One rear anti-roll bar drop link (local Audi gave me the wrong length with one of them so this is being swapped)
Powerflex poly bushes front
Cam belt and water pump replaced
Headlight washers completely removed and hole in washer container thing plugged with Bostik Sticks Like Shit
Rear seats, spare wheel, first aid kit, basically everything from the rear interior removed to save weight
New coil packs and Iridium plugs
The car is running Shell V-Power
Bosch 550cc injectors - Wak installed these for me  
Wak remap (Woohoo!)

I have made contact with Bryn after Wak and Jay recommended him. I'll be dropping the car up to him Friday next week for the following work / mods to be carried out:

Carbon Corbeau Sprint driver's seat and Corbeau kevlar Sport Excel seat to be installed - I purchased these today and Steve at Corbeau was brilliant! Excellent company and amazing seats.
Sachs performance organic clutch, flywheel and slave cylinder
Rocker cover gasket
Inlet manifold gasket and spacer
Coolant flange kit and coolant replaced with G13
Oil replaced
Powerflex poly bushes on the rear
Seat LCR top mounts
Coolant temp sensor and thermostat
034 Motorsport breather kit hoses that require replacing - We only replaced a few with Forge Motorsport so far
Haldex filter and oil change
Sump drop and strainer renewal
EBC brake pads and discs
Forge Motorsport brake lines and new brake fluid
Suction jet pump
DW65 fuel pump
Clutch pedal strengthening if Bryn is happy to have a look at this for me
General service bits
OMP Recce Superleggero steering wheel, Go-Race quick release boss and other boss
Air con removed entirely to save weight
Rear counterweights removed
Forge Motorsport quick shift
Revisit to Wak for a tweek

I cringed when I worked it out earlier that so far in the last 5-6 weeks I've blown around £8,000 on the car already with a bit more to go with Bryn working his magic and a revisit to the legendary Wak.

My plan is to take the car to over 400bhp at some point in the near future, but for now I need to calm the spending down and.....Yea just calm the spending down before I get myself into trouble :roll:

Thanks for taking the time to read this and any advice or recommendations would be amazing 

Edit: I have no idea how to use the 'List' button on here, so that advice would be perfect please haha!

Edit 2: I forgot to mention that this car will be for road and track. The original plan was for track only, but I've fallen in love with it and drive it any given opportunity. The radio doesn't work at all in the car, so I just enjoy the noises she makes


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, Moved Topic for you.
Hoggy.


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Thanks Hoggy


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Bitten by the tuning bug by any chance :lol:


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Delta4 said:


> Bitten by the tuning bug by any chance :lol:


Bitten? I feel like it's chewed my leg off and coming for my kidney just to cover the bill :lol:

It's great fun, but absolutely petrifying how easy it is to lose control of finances once it starts. I'll be reigning it in for a while once Bryn and Wak have worked their magic in the next few weeks.

The fact that friends of ours also have a 225 TT that they use as a track car combined with my competitiveness is lethal. They don't stand a chance though on 29th June when we have the track day with them, I can't have them beat us :twisted:


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Pics

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

That's a bit forward! You've not even taken me out yet.

I'll post some up shortly  I'm going to pop out to the car now.


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

:roll:


HOGG said:


> Pics
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


As promised.

*This was the night we bought little Shrek. I've named it that as it's green and I plan on it being a monster underneath the green. Not very creative, but it's the best I can come up with :roll: *

























Here's the rest of the photos taken on the more positive side


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Shrek had many layers like an onion

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

HOGG said:


> Shrek had many layers like an onion
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


I could definitely compare it to an onion every time I part with my money.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Cor. You've achieved more in the last few weeks then most do in years. Fair play. I'm hoping to see WAK in the not so distant future. What did he get your power up to?


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Haha thanks!

I'm happy with what I've done in a way, but it also scares the crap out of me knowing how reckless and irresponsible I've been financially.

I own a construction company here in Kent specialising in Heritage Restoration. That's the only reason I have the money at this point to do it if I'm honest.

Growing up poor probably hasn't helped with later life financial management trying to make up for it.

I've rambled enough, sorry.

Wak remapped the car to 265bhp and the way the map is turned the car into an absolute animal. Wak is a genius with the mapping and was incredibly patient and explained everything incredibly when I asked what I would consider silly questions.

Wak also sorted out all of the air leaks, changed the injectors for me and reseated the clutch pedal switch amongst other things 

It now has 280ftlb of torque which is 15ftlb of torque off of Lotus Exige. I know power to weight needs to be taken into consideration, but I'm currently in the process of gutting the car so it weighs as little as possibly whilst retaining some functionality and remaining road legal.

I'll be popping back to Wak in two weeks as my clutch gave out during the remap. I thought it was slipping before I saw Wak, but convinced myself it was all in my head and I was being paranoid. The remap confirmed that the clutch was in fact buggered.

My fuel pump isn't great either, I have a leaking rocker cover gasket and Wak detected a leak in then inlet manifold gasket.

These will all be sorted before I see Wak in two weeks by Bryn.

I'm excited as hell, it's just a waiting game now


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## Allspeed (Oct 7, 2016)

I'm also a candidate for Wak. We have spoken but my fear of the clutch holds me back.
How many miles up on yours?


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Reckless :lol: , if you have a roof over your head and food for your family then all is well, enjoy life whilst you are able to.
265 must be a minimum with what you have done so far, upgrading to a dw65 fuel fuel pump before a tweak will increase the grin factor, i know that you want to ease up on the spending but you need to add a wmi kit to the list :lol: sorry i'm a bad influence


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Allspeed said:


> I'm also a candidate for Wak. We have spoken but my fear of the clutch holds me back.
> How many miles up on yours?


I had a look through the service history and there's nothing of a clutch being changed. I bought the car a few weeks back at just over 147,000 miles. I guess from that perspective the clutch hasn't done too bad in its life.

Since I bought the car though I've been a complete bellend and done sprints from traffic lights, country lanes at night when no-one is around and pretty much pushed the backside out of it, so there's a good chance I killed the clutch off before its time :lol:



Delta4 said:


> Reckless :lol: , if you have a roof over your head and food for your family then all is well, enjoy life whilst you are able to.
> 265 must be a minimum with what you have done so far, upgrading to a dw65 fuel fuel pump before a tweak will increase the grin factor, i know that you want to ease up on the spending but you need to add a wmi kit to the list :lol: sorry i'm a bad influence


That's definitely sound advice. Life goes by way too quick and we could disappear at any moment, so better to make the most of the life we have while we're around 

Hopefully the DW65 will help  That and the drastic weight loss in the car to come at the same time will hopefully help. There turbo has had a fair old life though with 147k. Fingers crossed.

The WMI kit sounds like a good idea to me  Do you reckon the car / engine / everything would hold out without being affected? Does the WMI cause damage or put strain on components?

Which brands / models would you recommend?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Good for you mate. I'm glad to hear your company is going so well and I'm sure you deserve everything you've got.

I would of thought that with your set up WAK could of got a lot closer to 300bhp. Did he say what was holding you back? Was it the fuel pump?


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Yea it's mostly the age / health of the turbo, fuel pump, inlet manifold leak, breather hoses need renewing, the thermostat giving false temp readings, coolant temp sensor and the clutch giving out when it did.

Fingers crossed once that's all sorted


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

This kit http://www.coolingmistuk.com/index.php? ... duct_id=50 is good for additional cooling, just needs the boost activated switch upgraded to one that allows you to dial in when it sprays, it's a bit belt and braces but intake charge temps will be one less thing to be concerned about when proceeding in a brisk manor


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Cheap too

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Delta4 said:


> when proceeding in a brisk manor


 :lol: That's the politest way I've ever heard 'driving like a w*****' being described haha!

That kit looks really good  Every one that I've seen so far comes in around the £1,000 mark, but that's because I select the best everything in the drop-down options to avoid having to upgrade bits later on  It sounds like it would benefit the car in a huge way though not only in performance, but with the cooling and steam cleaning the inside of the engine according to a video I found.

At this moment I'm trying to decide whether to get coilovers or WMI.

The coilovers would be KW Variant 3, so I'd have the possibility of upgrading a few bits in that kit to convert them into Clubsport coilovers at a later date.

The WMI sounds good though as it would greatly benefit the engine and give performance gains.

Whichever I go for would be the last thing for a few months at least to avoid going broke [smiley=behead.gif]


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Paying top dollar does'nt always = better, some times your paying for the name thats stamped on them


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Delta4 said:


> Paying top dollar does'nt always = better, some times your paying for the name thats stamped on them


Wak showed me exactly that the other day! :lol: I ordered an after-run coolant pump from Audi in Canterbury which they quoted just over £170. I mentioned it to Wak and he pointed out that I can get a Bosch pump exactly the same for £50 on Amazon  Wak just saved me £120.

I'm going to refer to Wak as 'The Oracle'  He's been amazing helping me out and answering all of my questions 

I'll have a look at cheaper brands for sure, as I've found it with guitars, usually the smaller companies are the ones manufacturing for the large brands (Cort Guitars -> Ibanez). I just never thought about it happening with car parts, but I guess it makes sense.


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

*The best mod so far!*
























OK, that's a bit of a lie. The best mod so far has been Wak's remap, but without the TTForum I wouldn't have met Wak.

As long as I can make it to Northampton tomorrow without the clutch giving out completely (I've probably just jinxed it), Bryn will have the TT from tomorrow until next week while he works his magic on multiple parts of the car 

I'll update further once she's back up and running.


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Just an update:

I drove up to Northampton to drop the car off with Bryn - The clutch survived the journey! 

We discussed weight saving in the car and the decision has been made to remove as much as possible whilst keeping it road legal. So that includes; side panels, speakers, stereo, air con, carpets, soundproofing, lighter battery and relocating it to the back of the car, remove the rear weight, visors, parcel shelf, and whatever else to make it a shell on wheels. The heat shield around the open cone filter will also be going to allow for better airflow throughout the engine bay.

It looks like I'll be investing in earplugs as the car will be LOUD without the soundproofing.

Bryn is also going to install polyurethane to the gear mechanism in the engine bay to remove that initial movement before a gear change. That combined with the quick shift should make gear changes insanely fast and smooth.

I also ordered KW Variant 3 coilovers today and just have to wait 4 - 6 weeks for them to arrive.

The next upgrade in the near future will be the HPA Touch Motion Haldex controller, so I can have a 50/50 split, but I'll hold off for now as I can't justify spending more money without sleepless nights.

*Future plans:

HPA Touch Motion Haldex controller

Big brake kit

Body kit with lightweight (carbon) parts

Enkei RPF1 17" wheels for weight reduction and performance - They're not very attractive, but performance is the focus

Lightweight roll cage

Harnesses

WMI - You lot have won me over on this one :lol:

Dedicated tablet to provide a live digital display of all the cars levels

G25 turbo and all associated mods from Badger5 to take it as close to 500bhp as possible, but most like mid 400's

Uprated front and rear differentials

Engine overhaul - I want it brand new with rifle drilled forge rods, uprated pistons, etc

Repaint entire car

Remove electric window mechanisms and move to aluminium wind-down handles for weight saving*

It's a long road ahead, but it will be worth it :roll:


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

What type of uprated differentials are you looking to fit, are these limited slip diffs?


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Idealky limited slip diffs when the time comes.

I read on a thread here recently someone saying that the diffs would need to be upgraded / changed if installing the Haldex controller, but others have said different.

That's my only concern with installing the Haldex controller in the immediate future, so any advice would be amazing please 

If I can get away with installing the Haldex controller without the need to upgrade the diffs and not bugger up the car doing so, that would be great. I like to play it safe (apart from two occasions that resulted in me having parental responsibilities  )

Ideally I'd like to run the car as a semi-permanent 4WD. So the moment that Haldex controller goes in that's the plan unless it could have a negative impact long-term.


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Get some proper diffs and you're l looking at maybe a thousand pounds each

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

These are the ones I've been looking at:

https://www.awesomegti.com/shop-by-bran ... n-1-diffs/

https://www.awesomegti.com/shop-by-bran ... m-gearbox/

Is it advisable to change to LSD or the diffs in general before installing the Haldex controller?


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

I'd buy direct myself.

https://shop.quaife.co.uk/audi-a3-2-0-t ... fferential

There is another product out there, I've been searching since you posted about diffs but I cannot remember for the life of me the name.

Anyways, you only need change the actual internals of the diff not the whole unit and you can fit the controller before or after getting lsd


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

That's brilliant, thanks!  That link will be saved on my phone for sure!

I'll see about doing the whole lot together. It's all going to depend on whether or not we win one of these jobs in the next week or so.

This car is going to be an absolute monster and I'm so excited! I'm going to Frankenstein the shit out of it haha!

Going slightly off track, it would be nice to go to some TT meets to see what other people have done, get some ideas and meet some of the community. Do you guys hold many down in the Southeast? Most of what I've come across seem to be up north.....Well anything above Kent and London is 'north' to me


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

I'm in Dover quite a lot, getting on a ferry lol

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Cheap booze and cigarettes? Haha!

A meetup for us Southeast lot sounds like a plan then


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Does indeed n I don't smoke or drink....

I'm in France a lot studying ww1

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

That explains the German car! 

If you don't mind me asking, is it for work or pleasure?

Talking of car meets, I went to Leeds Castle yesterday to see 'Motors by the moat', but the only cars I was interested in were the old classics, Corvettes, R8's and McLarens.

There didn't seem to be a Audi area for some reason.


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Pure pleasure for me. I like driving abroad as a passion. So it's two birds, one stone. I'm away at least twice a month.

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

I have an update! 

Bryn is currently working on my car in Northamptonshire and has posted a video here: 




Exciting times


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Well done

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Thanks 

I feel like a kid at Christmas right now just waiting to fall asleep so Father Christmas can break into my house and work his magic on my mum and the Christmas tree :lol:


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: [smiley=bigcry.gif] [smiley=bigcry.gif]


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I've just watched the video. Looking forward to more updates. And up for a southeast meet.


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

I should have more updates tomorrow after I pick the TT up 

I've decided to refer to Bryn as the Plastic Surgeon and Wak as the Car Whisperer.

Bryn works his magic helping her lose weight and making her even sexier underneath that exterior.

Wak talks dirty to her through the laptop, getting her all excited and turning her into an absolute slut on the road.

Coming up: Fifty Shade of TT :lol: Nah I'm just playing :roll:

After I pick her up from Bryn tomorrow he'll be visiting me in Ashford a few weeks later once my KW Variant 3's arrive to fit them at which point I'll also be having an uprated radiator, oil cooler and maybe something else installed (I can't remember what it was :lol: )

I'll be visiting the Car Whisperer himself (Wak) this Sunday for a tweak now that everything will be running as it should  If it's a nice hot day then Wak will be in for some torture as the air con has been removed for weight loss and power gain :lol: It's more reason to drive faster with the windows down :roll:

Honestly, both Wak and Bryn have been amazing the whole way through.

Wak has the patience of a saint with the amount of silly questions I've been throwing at him at all hours of the day. He's been absolutely incredible explaining everything to me, recommending things when I've asked for recommendations including the pros and cons, and spending a large portion of the original visit repairing my screw-ups with things I installed incorrectly on the car :lol: Wak also recommended Bryn and passed me his details, so without Wak the project wouldn't be anywhere near where it is now.

Bryn has kept me updated the entire way through, explained things incredibly as I haven't a clue with half the stuff, given the pros and cons of things, been incredibly patient with my silly questions and calls, dropping me off at the train station when I arrived to drop the car off and taking on my project working crazy hours this week on my car.

I can't thank or praise them enough!


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Go hard or go home!

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

A bit of an update:

I'm off to see the Car Whisperer this morning 

The plan is to leave home in the next half hour to get some more miles under my belt on the organic clutch before booting it at Wak's.

I picked the car up from the Plastic Surgeon on Friday and she runs perfectly, tonnes of work done and I'm incredibly happy 

There's a few things still left to do as there were a few complications during the work - my local mechanic that fitted the exhaust originally didn't mention the downpipe rubbing on the propshaft, didn't mention the dogbone bush being knackered which caused the downpipe to rub and I asked for a few extra bits like new front shocks and springs all around, so this added time on, especially with the exhaust system needing to be taken off and back on again.

Last night we went on a wild one ripping out a nice amount of the interior. I'll post some new photos soon :roll:

Oh and we managed to blow the fuse for the lighter socket late last night. Well actually, my mate managed to blow it haha! With the interior being pulled apart a fair bit and the lighter socket now on the loose I told him to be careful not to touch the metal around it so he doesn't get electrocuted. He was like "Nah man, this is earthed, it won't do anything *whacks the metal casing on the metal brackets that used to support the radio rack* ". We get 30mins down the road and realise the phone is about to run out of battery as it isn't charging. The fuse has been changed now.

Other than that, we had two challenges last night on dual carriageways and beat both  So we've definitely been bedding the clutch in haha!


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So? How did it go yesterday?


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

It went really well 

Wak got a little more power out of the car for me which was great and he did a test which showed the MAF sensor being a little knackered, so I'm picking a new one of those up this afternoon.

It's running around 265bhp and around 280ftlb torque.

The turbo in my car has had a good life with 148k miles under it and that's what is holding the car back, so the next move from here is the big boy turbo :twisted:

Wak took me out in his rocket ship (car) yesterday and while I was moving my car off his drive I could hear and feel his exhaust system with my windows up :lol: We went for a spin and his car has some SERIOUS power. His exhaust sounds like a Lambhorgini but I would argue that his car sounds MUCH nicer than a Lambhorgini in every way possible 

My next step from here for the near future is stripping weight out of the car to improve the power to weight ratio, installing the new lightweight seats and steering wheel, coilover installation, and gathering my head while I plan the next big move.

I'm incredibly happy with the current setup, especially after taking her out last night and putting my foot down


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Sweet. I'm glad you're happy and it went well.


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## ady117 (Aug 28, 2013)

great post.... im getting better from my stroke and enjoy reading up on builds... I didn't sell myTT its in hibernation for better days ahead


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

Great to see your continued energy with the TT build.

When are you getting new forged internals?

Did you change the Forge FMIC to something with bigger inlet and outlets? I think those are only 52mm aren't they? Stock is 64mm and most big power setups go 76mm. Especially, as you have junked the headlight washers, space shouldn't be an issue.


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## V77ARR (Jul 31, 2019)

Love the colour


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Hi guys.

Apologies for the radio silence.

It's been manic with work and family.

To prevent myself spending more money I'm going to sell the TT. The aim is to invest in a TTRS much further down the line. At the moment I hardly see my wife or kids with work being as busy as it is, so you can imagine how little I drive the TT.

As much as it's going to hurt me to sell it, I would much rather it went to someone that will love it as much as I have and it actually get some time on the road.

I'll also be selling the KW Variant 3's that I purchased last year and haven't had time to install.

How do I go about listing the car on the forum?

Thanks


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

But how much? 10k??

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

I'm not sure tbh.

I don't know what I could get for it :/

In total I've spent around £14,000 on it. I know I'll never see that again. It would be nice just to see it go to a good home.

How much would something like that go for / what's realistic to be asking for it?

Thanks


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## SteveHKent (Aug 16, 2020)

rakrynaz said:


> I'm not sure tbh.
> 
> I don't know what I could get for it :/
> 
> ...


im in ashford , would like to see this before it disappears , give me some inspriation!


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

3k at best

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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

She's gone 

I sold her for £3,000 to a friend a few days ago. He already has two Mk1 TT's but nowhere near as kitted out at the one I sold him, so he now has a decent track car. I threw in all the spare parts and upgrades that I hadn't had a chance to install, including the VW V3 coilover kit.

My only vehicle will now be a Nissan Navara which I'm getting next week. A bit of a change, but I need a sensible work vehicle. A lot slower, but a lot more practical and less likely to spunk money on it any time soon.

Thanks all for helping me with the TT build and for being part of the journey.

Hopefully in the next few years I'll manage to get a TTRS and be back on here with the new toy.

Take care.


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