# Black on Black 225 Build Thread



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hi Everyone. I don't post on here much but I spend a lot of (probably too much) time reading stuff on hear. My favorite thing is the build threads. I'll read them start to finish, like a good book. So I thought I'd start my own little build thread. I won't be doing anything ground breaking so I'll be surprised if any of you find it interesting but I thought, if nothing else, it would be a nice record of the journey my car and I are on. And a great way to interact with you lovely people.

Am I right in thinking that I start a thread like this and then if I put up enough posts with lots of nice photos eventually a forum honcho will declare it worthy of the title "Build Thread" and move it to the appropriate section? I'm sure someone will let me know if I'm doing the wrong thing.

I guess I start with my car history, a bit like when they interview a celeb on Top Gear. Don't worry, I won't list every car I've ever owned, just the interesting ones.

I bought my first car when I was 12 (with a little help from my folks). It was a Land Rover Series 2A that was found in a barn. It had sat there for 15 odd years, was covered in 2" of chicken s**t and had to be towed home. It was army issue 24 volt and was a communications wagon owned by NATO apparently. My Dad taught me basic mechanics on the old thing and we fixed it up a bit. We lived at the end of a dirt road and I used to burn around in it with my mates in the back all dressed up as Rambo.

Now let me see if I can insert a photo.









I'm not sure if that worked. Am I supposed to see the image I've attached? Anyhoo.

The Land Rover was fun but when a kid at school, who I thought was cool, pointed out of the classroom window and said "That's a Sweet Car" I had to take notice. He was pointing at a MK1 Golf GTI. And I had to agree, it was a seriously sweet car. So I sold the Landy (for a profit, the one and only time I've sold a car for more than I paid for it) and bought a MK1 1.6 CL. That was the car I passed my test in and I've been in love with VAG ever since. That was over twenty years ago. At 19 I bought a GTI which I loved more than life its self. I used to lie in bed (stoned) and think about it. Here it is. I hope.









That was followed by a MK1 Caddy with all the GTI trimmings. Sorry no photo. Then I moved to London and didn't have a car for a good few years but I did help my brother build a beach buggy from scratch. It had a 200bhp turbo charged engine that he built himself. Check out the Audi Comp alloys.









Many fairly boring cars followed but they were all VW or Audi but none of them were worth talking about until this became our family car (at this point I'm married with two sons btw).









We bought it as a wreck and had it resprayed, new wheels, etc, etc, etc. I re did the interior myself as I'm a carpenter. It's our daily driver and my wife drives it more than I do (I've got a Vauxhall Vivario work van but lets not talk about that. Apart from I think a previous owner must have had it remapped because it goes like nobody's business).









Last Christmas my brother gave me a book about a guy called Magnus Walker. He collects and modifies vintage 911s for a job. I thought to myself "I wander how much a vintage 911 is to buy?". So I went on ebay and they are quite expensive surprisingly. But then I thought "TT's are a bit like 911's...sort of. I wander how much a MK1 TT is to buy?". And OMG they are soooo cheap!!! I'm into mountain biking and I can buy a TT for less then a new bike. Amazing!!! I was turning 40 in 2018 so I was like "F**K it, I'm buying one. So in January 2018 I bought a lovely 2001 225 Quattro with black leather interior and 80K on the clock for less then I was planning to spend on my next mountain bike. And here she is.

























I've had it for almost exactly a year now and have done a few bits so I'll add a post every few days or weeks, depending on how much time I have, covering what I've been up to over the last year until we are all up to date.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

Cheers. Kang.


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## Ifime (Jul 28, 2018)

Fantastic intro - really looking forward to hearing more as time goes on


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## auspicious_character (Sep 4, 2016)

I instantly like you.


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## conlechi (May 6, 2006)

Looking forward to the build updates


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## YELLOW_TT (Feb 25, 2004)

This could get interesting


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## TT Grant (Apr 24, 2018)

welcome friend


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## Jam13 (Jan 14, 2018)

Welcome Kang, Like you I bought my mk1 TT last January. Great cars.

Cheers


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Wow. Thanks guys. Thanks for the welcoming and friendly comments.



YELLOW_TT said:


> This could get interesting


And even a comment from the mighty Yellow. I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy! I'd love to see some photos of your car Yellow, I've done a few searches but I can't seem to find any. Do you have a build thread or anything like that?


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

I'm going to enjoy this. I too turn 40 soon and I bought my tt last year.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

HOGG said:


> I'm going to enjoy this. I too turn 40 soon and I bought my tt last year.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


Great minds think alike Hogg. Did anyone mention the phrase "mid life crisis" to you? I've heard it a couple of times.

How was you first journey home with your new TT? Mine was quite eventful. I live in Kent and I found a guy in Enfield with a couple of TTs for sale so I took the train to Stratford and my brother, who lives in Walthamstow, picked me up to take me to the blokes house. I was sooo excited. Before we knocked on the door my brother stopped me and said "Are you prepared to walk away from this car if it's not right." I said "Yeah, of course, no problem." The second I say the car I knew I had to have it! He couldn't prove when the timing belt was done, despite advertising it as having a recent belt change, the remote locking didn't work and it didn't get up to temperature on the short test drive but it was sexy as hell and that was all that mattered to me. There was no way I was walking away from this car. He also had a post face lift in silver with grey interior which was probably the better car but I wanted black with black interior so I gave him the dough and headed home.

It's a funny feeling isn't it, I mean, you want this more than anything, you've been dreaming about this moment, for possibly years, and here you are in your new car and it's awesome. But on the other hand your thinking, can you afford this, have I bought a lemon, will it make it home with out it breaking down?

It was p***ing it down and the car still wasn't getting to temperature and if I put the heating on the temp dropped even further. And if I turned the heating off the windscreen misted up and I couldn't see anything. Doh! If it's the dash pod that's at fault (there were some missing pixels on the digital display thingy) then does the fuel gauge work? Have I got enough petrol to get home?

So I'm on the A2 and the oil light comes on. Poo. You know the feeling when a warning light appears on the dash. Your arse falls out doesn't it? How much is this going to cost me? I limped into the services at Gravesend and popped the bonnet. The dipstick reads zero. Not even a hint of oil. I forgot to check it when I was with the seller. Amature. I looked under the car and there was no sign of a leak so I shut the bonnet and went inside to buy some oil. When I came back out I unlocked the car with the key (remember the remote doesn't work) and popped the hood again and the alarm starts going off! Arrrgh!! There were a couple of bikers watching, shaking their heads. I swear I heard one of them say "hairdresser". I could of taken them both but I had other things to worry about so I let them live. Turns out that after unlocking the car I have to put the key in the ignition withing like ten seconds or the alarm goes off. It took me a good few days before I worked that one out. Anyway I filled it up with oil and made it home.

When I say home I mean my Mum's. I live on a street with no off street parking, there's no on street parking most of the time either. Because of this I'll be keeping the car in my Mum's garage. Good old girl.









Here it is lurking in it's new home. When my Mum moved into a house without a garage my brother built this to keep his beach buggy in. He kept telling me that having kids wouldn't change his life at all (I already had kids at this point) but almost immediately after his first kid was born his wife made him sell the buggy. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Having kids isn't going to change your life. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Anyway this meant there was a space in the garage. Another reason why now was the correct time for me to buy a TT. My poor Mum. My brother and I left home over twenty years ago and her drive and garage are still full of our projects.

I sent the car to my local trusted mechanic and he did a cambelt change, new water pump (with the metal propeller), full service and new thermostat. He said the car looked fine and was now getting to temperature! Result. I had the same thing when I first bought my T4 and a new thermostat sorted it. I like to try and do most off the jobs on my car myself but I wanted a professional to give it a look over and a cambelt change is a bit beyond me. Anyway he gave it the all clear.

I took it out for a few burns and kept an eye on the oil level but it was fine. It must have just been low on oil. I've had it a year now and the oil level has always been fine since and I've never spotted any leaks.

I'm used to driving old vans and the TT is the most powerful car I've ever owned. Wow! Amazing! Brilliant! Love it!


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I'n my eyes stance is the most important thing in a modified cat. It doesn't matted what condition your car is or what you have under the bonnet, it doesn't even matter what car it is, as soon as it's lowered it's cool. As the great Aaroun Kaufman says "To increase the attitude you decrease the altitude". Very true and because of this I wanted to get the ride height sorted first of all. I don't know what they were thinking at Audi because the pre face lift MK1 TT desperately needs to be lowered.

I spent a long time reading threads on here and decided because I couldn't quite afford a set of adjustable coilovers just yet I'd get some Apex springs. I managed to find a secondhand set that the TT shop were selling on eBay. I guess they get sets left over when people upgrade to coileys. I asked them if they had any second had adjustable tie bars hanging around too, they didn't but did me a deal on a set of these.









I'd not heard of Comp Brake but theirs website looked good, lots of cool products, made in Britain, stainless steel and the at an excellent price so I bought a pair.

I had my Hayne's manual ready but I found an excellent thread on here about how to fit new springs and I ended up using that rather than the Haynes manual. It was a huge help and another example of the TT Forum being an invaluble source of information and inspiration.

Luckily the TT isn't my daily driver as it took me four hours to just do one of the front corners. To be fair two of those hours was spent trying to find a 7mm allen key. I've got thousands of allen keys, surely one of them must be 7mm. Nope. It also took me a while to work out that the top strut bush just pulls off. I spent ages trying to work that one out. After four hours I was expected to interact with my children so I had to leave it at that till the next week.

The following week was Valentine's day and our anniversary but my lovely wife let me have some time to play with the car and I managed to get the other three corners done in only another four hours. I could probably do it in half the time if I had to do it again, and as you will find out I did have to not long after.









Here a shot of the end of the tie bars. I'm showing this because I had a little wobble when I noticed the two little notches were facing the front of the car and not the rear as the notches were on the originals. I started a little thread on here called "What way round should my tie bars be?" or something similar and several members assured me there wasn't a right and wrong way. I also called Comp Brake and they confirmed this. The tie bars look great but there was nowhere to reattached the light level sensor thingy so I just cable tied it on there for the time being. Don't worry I did something more permanent later. I'll post a pic when I have time. At that point this is how it looked.









I also fitted the obligatory 15mm front and 20mm spacers that I found on ebay from a seller call M Tec. They look the business and come with longer bolts. Here you go. Good price too.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-TT-Mk1- ... :rk:8f:0

I have to say the springs and spacers have transformed the look of the car. The ride quality hasn't suffered and now I own a lowered TT. Sweeeeet.

















And a little before and after.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Once I got everything packed up I headed over to a local tyre place with a four wheel alignment machine that was recommended to me by my friendly mechanic. The guy at the tyre place said the alignment all went fine and even commented on how easy the tie bars were to adjust. Awesome.

I find it incredibly satisfying to do a job myself. I guess it's a bit like marathon running (I've never ran a marathon) not much fun at the time but when you finish you have an amazing sense of achievement. I was obviously feeling pretty good about my self so I called my brother round so that I could show off my new ride. As we got to the end of my Mum's drive I turned the wheel to pull away and there was a succession of noises that I can only describe as PONG PING. It happened every time I turned the wheel so we had to abandon the drive. My brother said "The joys of modifying vehicles". Indeed.

I started another thread on here asking if anyone had any idea what the noise could be and straight away someone suggested it was probably a broken spring. They were totally right. The TT forum to the rescue once again.









I contacted the TT shop and they were kind enough to offer me a discount on a new set of springs which was very kind of them. In the end though, after buying a second hand set, even with the discount I ended up spending more than I would have done if I'd just bought a new set in the first place. Lesson learned. Once the new set arrived I could get them on in double quick time as I was now an expert in swapping springs and I also now owned a crucial 7mm allen key. Note to self, must not loose 7mm allen key.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I had a couple of weeks of problem free thrashing but then the car developed a very annoying and noticeable rattle from the rear. I first thought that it might be something to do with the spare wheel and tools that are in there so I took everything out and went out for another raz. No better. I wound down the window and it was way noiser from the outside. So I started another thread on here which generated a few good guesses but nothing that cured the dreaded rattle.

Luckily I'm quite friendly with a few garages round here and one of them put it up on a ramp for me. We had a look round and the heat shield over the cats was missing a couple of bolts so we whipped that off feeling confident that we had solved the problem. I took it for a drive around the yard. Rattle Rattle Rattle. Damn!

Next we went round with a rubber mallet and started banging away at various suspension components. We managed to narrow it down to the rear near side wheel but neither of us could spot anything out of place. The mechanic was busy so suggested I take off the wheel for a better look. Fun.

I spent another twenty minutes looking around and was about to give up when I spotted it. There was a bit of bolt thread showing where it shouldn't be showing. The tie bars that I had bought have a sort of flanged section (ha ha Flange) that you bolt through and it connects to the hub assembly. This section is welded on but is also bolted from the inside and this bold had come out and was rattling around in there. Luckily the weld held.

Here is a photo to illustrate where the bolt was.









I torqued it up and away we went. Problem solved. So lowering the car didn't turn out to be as simple as I was hoping it would be but like my Dad used to say "Nothing is easy." and as Dave Kindig likes to say "If it was easy everyone would do it and then it wouldn't be cool anymore." Quite right. These trials and tribulations are all part of the experience and make looking at my beautiful, lowered TT even more satisfying.


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## black9146 (Jul 3, 2014)

I like Dave Kindig. He does good work, him and Kev Dog !


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

black9146 said:


> I like Dave Kindig. He does good work, him and Kev Dog !


Yeah me too. I wish Kev Dog was my friend. If I ever meet him I'll give him a big hug. I watch all those car shows, Fast ,n, Loud, Speed is the New Black, etc but I think Kindig It make the best cars. If I ever won the lottery (I don't do the lottery) I would go straight to those guys. I'm not interested in Ferraris or Lambos, I'd have a garage full of hot rods like this 2000 bhp Chevy Nova. Now that's a Bitchin' Ride.

















Imagine what they could do with a Mk1 TT.


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## black9146 (Jul 3, 2014)

Yes Kindig It Design, Kindig It Customs or Bitchin Rides ? Why all the name changes ?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

black9146 said:


> Yes Kindig It Design, Kindig It Customs or Bitchin Rides ? Why all the name changes ?


I guess Bitchin' isn't pc enough for prime time tv. If I was Dave I'd call it Kindig Customs.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So now that my TT is officially modded I thought I should spend a bit of time fixing some things that need to be fixed. The fabric on the inside boot lid trim had come loose and baggy and the orange foam/adhesive stuff was falling out all over the boot. I popped off the trim and removed the fabric. I was originally planning on re attaching the fabric but it was too far gone with holes in it and as the rest of the plastic trim on the inside of the boot lid is just plastic I thought I would just respray it. I spent a happy couple of hours scraping off the glue and sanding it all back. I bought a can of this high build primer from amazon.









I have to say, it's excellent stuff and a few coats covered all the sanding marks and gave a very smooth and even finish. So good in fact that I decided it didn't need a top coat and I left it as it was.









I was reading an article about what makes a car a classic. It had lots of criteria about age and car clubs etc but at the end of the article it said that if you're driving your car around and you see someone else in the same model and you both wave at each other then you probably drive a classic. When I drive my T4 around I almost always get a wave from other T4s. Not so with the TT. I've tried a few times but I've never got a wave back. I guess a modified T4 is easy to spot and you rarely see a standard one any more, and I guess MK1 TTs are only just getting to that age when owners are getting rid of them as repairs are becoming more frequent and expensive, making them less desirable to the average driver. There's also still a lot of them on the road. It won't be long till most MK1s will be owned by enthusiasts and I guess at that point I'll get more waves.

I just need to be patient, I'm in this for the long haul. You know those old blokes you see driving around on a Sunday in their classic MGs or Triumphs? That will be me in a few years driving my classic TT.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Here's a quick shot of the little bracket I rigged up to take the light sensor thingy. I used part of the original bracket and made it adjustable. I just guessed where it should go and it's passed an MOT since so it's all good.









I also got a slightly boring but much needed job done and refurbed my headlight lenses. They were very misty when I bought the car so I bought one of these from Amazon.









I thought the kit was fairly good and everything you need is included. There is a big noticeable improvement from how the lenses were before but it's not as good as I would like. I got through all the sanding pads that came with the kit so I think that if I was going to do it again (which I will have to) I'll take the headlights out, use some wet and dry and give it a buff on a polishing wheel. Sorry, no before and after photos, you'll have to use you're imagination.


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## auspicious_character (Sep 4, 2016)

When I drove a Lupo tdi daily, many waves.
MK2 golf, always a wave but seeing another is a rarity.
Driving a TT, no waves.

Miserable bunch.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

auspicious_character said:


> When I drove a Lupo tdi daily, many waves.
> MK2 golf, always a wave but seeing another is a rarity.
> Driving a TT, no waves.
> 
> Miserable bunch.


I know! What's up with that? I hope as TTs get older and rarer it will change.

I recon working on cars is good exercise. I worked on my van and car for three hours on Sunday and now I'm aching all over, like I've over done it in the gym (I don't go to the gym). I'm just weak I guess.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Kang said:


> auspicious_character said:
> 
> 
> > When I drove a Lupo tdi daily, many waves.
> ...


I know! What's up with that? I hope as TTs get older and rarer it will change.

I'm always waving at locals, usually with two fingers :lol:, jesting aside i don't bother anymore


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> Kang said:
> 
> 
> > auspicious_character said:
> ...


Maybe we should start a "Wave at a TT" campaign.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I thought I'd focus on the outside of the car for a bit. The first thing I wanted to do is de-badge the car so I attacked the badges on the back with a bit of WD40 to help dissolve the glue. I didn't have any fishing wire so I used dental floss which worked eventually but kept breaking. I took off the TT and quattro badge but kept the rings. I also took the quattro badge off the grill. I read a few posts on here and a great tip is to put a bit of newspaper through one of the lower grills to catch the clips as they come off.

As a person who makes things for a living, symmetry is very important to me and that reverse light was really getting me down. I started a thread on here asking about symmetry patches. Here's a link to the thread.
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1806898
Someone had the excellent suggestion to buy some brake light repair tape so I bought some of this.









I stuck a bit on and trimmed it with a scalpel and it looks great. There was loads of it so not a problem if I cocked up the first attempt. It's got a slightly matt finish which matches the textured fog light on the other side so, result. I was a bit concerned about it passing the MOT but apparently you only need a white reverse light on cars registered after 2009 so MK1 TTs are fine. I've had an MOT since and this was not a problem.

I also bought some new number plates as the old ones were cracked. I went for ones without the the blue GB on the left as I think they look cleaner.

The paint on my roof was very strange, sort of dull. I tried polishing it out but that didn't help. There was also a little dent on the near side wheel arch so I wanted to send the car to a sprayer. When I took the badges off the rear they took the lacquer off with them so I got the sprayer to respray that section, the roof and the wheel arch. He did a great job, I've used him before, he's the guy who did the two tone paint job on my T4.

Here's a before and after shot of the rear end.









I think it looks sooooo much better. I love the rear end of a TT. Probably my favorite view. I'm not into big spoilers or air splitters so that's the exterior as I want it for now.


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## NtG (Jan 2, 2018)

Kang said:


> I'm not into big spoilers or air splitters so that's the exterior as I want it for now.


car is very nice as is, but a v6 spoiler and rear twin honeycomb valance (painted in Phantom Black) wouldn't be bad either .. 

keep going!


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## BrianB (Apr 15, 2016)

Lovin the read so far, keep up the good work. I think that removing the TT and Quattro badges transforms the rear.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

napostolidis said:


> Kang said:
> 
> 
> > I'm not into big spoilers or air splitters so that's the exterior as I want it for now.
> ...


There's nothing wrong with a V6 spoiler and valance but I think the car looks smoother and slicker as is. I'm a less is more kind of guy when it comes to styling. Never say never though.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

BrianB said:


> Lovin the read so far, keep up the good work. I think that removing the TT and Quattro badges transforms the rear.


Thanks Brian. I'm really enjoying myself fixing up the car. And I'm really enjoying writing the build thread too.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

When I first showed to car to my wife she said "You've bought a totally unpractical car! You can't even fit the kids in the back." I was like "Oh no! I hadn't thought of that." :wink: But in reality that was one of the things that drew me to the TT. It's basically a two seater and definitely not for the kids. But then this happened.









Turns out you can fit kids in the back. Drat! The TT is only insured for 2000 miles a year and the idea was that it only gets bought out for sunny days and special occasions. Ah well at least I'll have more excuses to drive it. My boys are only 7 and 4 and they only just fit in the back so it won't be too long before they are too big. At that point I'll do a rear seat delete.

The car had no mats when I bought it so I got a cheap set off ebay. The fitment was very good, I don't know how long they'll last but as I said I don't plan to do a lot of miles each year. They match with the black on black on black theme.









When I got the car back from the sprayer he was complaining that the air con smelt like old dogs. I hadn't noticed till he pointed it out so I got a new pollen filter. Very easy job to change it. Just lift the flat, pull out the dirty and very manky old one and pop the new one in. Simples.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Just spotted that my favourite Kingdig custom just sold at the Barret Jackson auctions for $260,000. I missed it this time but maybe I'll be able to afford it next time it's up for sale. "This time next year Rodney...."


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

I have read that you don't need to use booster seats in the back of a mk1 TT something to do with type approval, you'll find a label attached to the seat base { down the side ] with a E and some numbers on it, do some research yourself just to be sure


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> I have read that you don't need to use booster seats in the back of a mk1 TT something to do with type approval, you'll find a label attached to the seat base { down the side ] with a E and some numbers on it, do some research yourself just to be sure


Interesting. I'll look in to that. I've bought the damn booster seats now though.

Man I love my car. I love love love my car. If I could have told my teenage self that I'd eventually have a 200bhp plus car with four wheel drive, six gears and heated seats I probably would have soiled my underpants. It feels so solid and powerful that it's like driving around in a bodybuilder's bicep. The size and shape of the cabin, windows and dash make me feel like I'm in the cockpit of a vintage fighter jet. Every journey is an occasion.

I don't have to tell you lot. Y'all know what I'm talking about.


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## Cannings (Nov 6, 2018)

Kang said:


> When I first showed to car to my wife she said "You've bought a totally unpractical car! You can't even fit the kids in the back." I was like "Oh no! I hadn't thought of that." :wink: But in reality that was one of the things that drew me to the TT. It's basically a two seater and definitely not for the kids. But then this happened.
> 
> Turns out you can fit kids in the back. Drat! The TT is only insured for 2000 miles a year and the idea was that it only gets bought out for sunny days and special occasions. Ah well at least I'll have more excuses to drive it. My boys are only 7 and 4 and they only just fit in the back so it won't be too long before they are too big. At that point I'll do a rear seat delete.


When I bought my TT last year the guy on ebay was late coming back from his kids football practice so I was waiting, then he pulls up and i'm like yep this is for me aslong as it all checks out, he gets out the car and proceeds to get 1 kid out the passenger side, and 2 kids out the back one in a full car seat. Considering i'd just been for a view on a roadster I was surprised to find there even was back seats let alone child size space.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Cannings said:


> Kang said:
> 
> 
> > When I first showed to car to my wife she said "You've bought a totally unpractical car! You can't even fit the kids in the back." I was like "Oh no! I hadn't thought of that." :wink: But in reality that was one of the things that drew me to the TT. It's basically a two seater and definitely not for the kids. But then this happened.
> ...


You're absolutely right. It's not a two seater sports car, it's a practical family car. :wink:

When I went to buy my car with my bro he wanted to come on the test drive with me and the owner. It was very funny watching him try to fit in the back. There is no way an adult is fitting in there.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

You all know the classic tale. Boy buys TT, boy looks under the bonnet, boy notices that some of the engine bay trim fittings are missing, boy buys engine bay bling kit. This is the kit I went for.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fits-Audi-TT ... :rk:1f:0

Price was good and the quality is good too. It came with a set of free strut brace nuts, which I think look the nuts. Here's a photo of the completely standard 225 engine bay that I started with, in case you've never seen one before.









And here is the strut brace nuts in place. The strut brace was a bit rusty in that area so I whipped it off, gave it a sand and a bit of a spray job. I didn't spend too much time doing it as it's just temporary, I'd ultimately like to polish the strut brace.









The kit also came with some little bolts to replace the corroded ones around the gear stick surround. Here is a before and after. A very small thing but every little helps.

















Now that I had the car sitting right and looking a bit cleaner I thought it was time for a bit of a performance upgrade and I reckoned good place to start is with the air filter. I decided to go with the RamAir cone filter with heat shield. I was very excited when it arrived and it's a great looking bit of kit. Very easy to fit too. To be honest I couldn't feel any difference in power but there is certainly a big difference in sound. ssssssshhhhHHHHHHH!!!! pussshh!! I wasn't sure that I liked it to start with but it's grown on me and I love it now. It's the sound of my inner boy racer escaping.


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## DC240S (Sep 24, 2014)

I like the Hex bolts around the gear bezel instead of the T25's (or whatever size they are?).

I like the look of the Ramair too - though for looks if nothing else you need a silicone TIP upgrade.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

DC240S said:


> I like the Hex bolts around the gear bezel instead of the T25's (or whatever size they are?).
> 
> I like the look of the Ramair too - though for looks if nothing else you need a silicone TIP upgrade.


Hi DC240S. Funny you should say that. Look what turned up in the post. Ta da!









I went for the 3" Badger 5 TIP as that seemed to be the one everyone thinks is the best. And it made an excellent trumpet/fart noise when I blew into it, which made the kids laugh and my wife roll her eyes. Here it is next to the OEM one. Obviously a lot bigger and redder. I also bought the jubilee clip fitting kit. Shiny.









I've got a very sweet little Bahco socket set that's really handy. I'm not sure how I would have got the job done without it.









Here's the space where the old TIP lived. I also took out the air filter and heat guard which gave me some more space to operate.









I had to trim loads off the Badger 5 TIP to get it to fit. I took off a little at a time and also had to angle the cut. I took off almost all of the big end and stopped just shy of the first bend. It still didn't fit so I had to take a bit off the turbo end too.









Getting the breather hose to attach was tricky as well and the pipe off the TIP is a bit bent but not quite kinked. What a fiddle. Got there in the end though.









I think it looks wicked. So much so that the above image is now the screen saver and lock screen on my iPhone. No cheesy photos of the kids for me. I've driven it a few times since and everything seems to be holding together. The car felt fast to me to start with and it still feels fast! And now if you look under the bonnet it definitely looks modified.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Ha ha. Tried to replace the photo of me playing the TIP trumpet on my back, and now you have two photos of me playing the TIP trumpet, neither of them the right way up. Enjoy.


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## QCOUPETT (Jan 23, 2013)

My bling and shiny TIP.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

All that's required now is a remap to compliment the TIP :lol:


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

QCOUPETT said:


> My bling and shiny TIP.


Very nice.

Did I just compliment a Texan on how shiny his tip looked? The internet's a funny old thing isn't it.


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## Tonimacaroni (Jan 25, 2019)

@ QCOUPETT
What kind of filler caps you got there for oil and cooling?They look real nice.

Sorry for polluting your topic,Kang!


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## QCOUPETT (Jan 23, 2013)

They are the Porsche caps for the oil and coolant reservoir- direct fit, no modifications needed.


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## QCOUPETT (Jan 23, 2013)

Kang said:


> QCOUPETT said:
> 
> 
> > My bling and shiny TIP.
> ...


Context is everything....


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Tonimacaroni said:


> @ QCOUPETT
> What kind of filler caps you got there for oil and cooling?They look real nice.
> 
> Sorry for polluting your topic,Kang!


No problem Toni. They do look nice.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> All that's required now is a remap to compliment the TIP :lol:


Hi Delta. You're absolutely right. I've been having a couple of emails with the legendary WAK about him re mapping my car. He seems to think, with the cone filter and 3" TIP, that 275 bhp could be possible. That sounds like a good number to me for a few reasons. I've looked into a couple of modified insurance companies and they seem to be OK with people adding an extra 50 bhp without too much of a rise in premium. I've also read that the standard clutch and engine internals on a 1.8 20v Turbo are good for 300 bhp. I don't want to put everything under too much strain so being 25 bhp shy of the 300 bhp limit seems like a safe place to be. The other thing is that I already find my 225 very fast. Certainly the fastest car I've ever owned. I'm quite a conservative/safe driver and don't need loads of power. But what is very important to me is that my car is modified and not standard.

WAK mentioned that my injectors may be maxed out at 275 bhp. So I was wandering if this was something I should up grade before I go to see him? Can anyone recommend a suitable injector to use and are they OK to use on an un mapped car or should I wait to fit them until I'm just about to go see him? I did ask WAK these questions but I didn't hear back. I'm sure he's massively busy and totally understand that he is probably constantly being asked these same questions. Can anyone out there help?

I probably won't get round to a re map this year anyway but I'll make it a new years resolution for 2020.

The next job I want to do is get a performance cat back exhaust. I don't want to spend £500+ on a Miltek so I've been having a look at Toyosports and Direnza but they are both out of stock. Has anyone had any experience with either of these companies? As I've mentioned I don't use the car much and my best mate is a very good welder so the quality of the exhaust isn't hugely important to me. What is more important is the fitting and sound. I definitely want it to sound like a performance exhaust, especially because the inlet is so noisy now, but I don't want it to be obnoxious or droany. Here are the links to the exhausts I've been thinking about.

https://www.toyosports.co.uk/stainless- ... 1619-p.asp

https://www.direnza.co.uk/audi-tt-mk1-8 ... ystem.html


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Do all the mods before the remap as in exhaust and fmic, you may find 265/75 enough to keep you grinning, it's worth mentioning a brake pad and rear arb mod will be money well spent.


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## black9146 (Jul 3, 2014)

Tonimacaroni said:


> @ QCOUPETT
> What kind of filler caps you got there for oil and cooling?They look real nice.
> 
> Sorry for polluting your topic,Kang!


Tonymacaroni are you from Livingston by any chance ?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> Do all the mods before the remap as in exhaust and fmic, you may find 265/75 enough to keep you grinning, it's worth mentioning a brake pad and rear arb mod will be money well spent.


All in good time mate.

In the summer (I'd owned the car for a few months by this point) I started thinking about the possibility of putting a different set of wheels on it. I did a search on ebay for 5x100 18" Alloys to see what would pop up, not really planning on buying anything but there was a set of BBS LM reps with good tyres for sale in east London, I put a bid in and got them for £204! Amazing. The wheels were in bad shape but I like a project and thought I'd have a go referbing them myself.









This was the worst of the four. My mate the welder said he could sort the big chip in the rim and I felt confident that I could get them looking acceptable. When I finally got them to my workshop and had a proper look I spotted that one of the wheels was completely different to the others. Different width, different offset, even different little bolt thingys round the rim. I wasn't best pleased and contacted the seller. He confirmed that he had bashed one of his wheels a few years back and bought a replacement but didn't spot that it didn't match the other three. He was a nice guy though, just clueless. He had no idea what offset was or stud pattern. He took the wheels back and gave me a full refund. That was the end of that little dream.

That was a while ago now and the Comps have really grown on me since then. I think they have a classic look. In my opinion they are an iconic wheel synonymous with the pre face lift mk1 TT.









Tell you what would be nice though. If you could get them in 18" with a bit more of a dish. Now that would be sweet. Mine need a referb which I'll be attempting in due course.


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## Tonimacaroni (Jan 25, 2019)

black9146 said:


> Tonimacaroni said:
> 
> 
> > @ QCOUPETT
> ...


Nope. I live in the Netherlands. 
Cheers


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## black9146 (Jul 3, 2014)

Tonimacaroni said:


> black9146 said:
> 
> 
> > Tonimacaroni said:
> ...


Ok, there is a restaurant chain in Scotland named Tonimacaroni that's why I was asking :lol:


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

In September the car had it's first MOT since I'd owned it and....it passed! Excellent. No mention about the red reverse light I had either. There were a couple of advisories though. One of the rear bushes on the front wishbone was perished and an inner CV boot was split. As the car isn't a daily driver I thought I'd have a go fixing them myself on my Mum's driveway.

I'm no mechanic, and to be honest jobs like this can worry me a bit but I like to give things a go anyway. It's all part of the fun. I had a Hayne's manual to hand and had done a few searches on the forum so I'd done a bit of research. When I think about all the steps that are needed to complete a job, or read ahead in the instructions, I can become overwhelmed and a bit freaked out. I start thinking to myself "What am I doing? I can't do this!". But if I take a step back and just think about one step at I time I find all sorts of things, that I didn't think I could do, become possible. One bolt at a time.

I needed a couple of tools I didn't already own so I bought myself a 30mm socket (now the biggest in my collection) for the hub nut and an M10 12 point star drive bit for the bolts holding the driveshaft to the gearbox. There is one thing I don't mind spending money on and that's tools.

















I also bought new hub nuts and wishbone bolts from an excellent seller on eBay called VAGBolts. Sorry no photo.

I decided to do both front wishbones and I found getting them off easy enough. Taking the driveshaft off wasn't too hard either. I was aware that I needed to take note of where the ball joint bolts sat in the slots in the end of the wishbone. You want to get them back in the same position or it can affect your tracking. So I marked them with a marker pen. Luckily mine were right at the furthest point of the slots on both sides of the car so it should be easy enough to get them back in the same position. Here is what the wishbones looked like when they first came off.









I got my friendly local mechanic to cut out the old bushes. I gave the wishbones a good wire brushing and a couple of coats of flat black Hamerite. I pressed in the new bushes using a bench vice. A bit of a fiddle but not too bad. No prizes for guessing which brand of bushes I bought.









I know, I know, I should have done the Defcon mod at the same time but I was a bit skint at the time and wanted to get the job done a economically as poss. I'm sure the MOT man will tell me that the front bushes will need to be replaced soon enough and I'll fit some Defcone/Cookbots then.

My friendly mechanic also fitted a new CV boot for me. A messy looking job and he had a special tool for stretching the boot. He only charged me for the price of the boot. Good lad. Getting the driveshaft back in was not easy. Getting that first bolt in was a massive p.i.t.a. Once that first one is in though the others are much easier. I then got the wishbones back in but getting the ball joint bolts back into the end of the wishbone was not at all easy. Got there in the end though. Does anyone know of a trick to get them in easier? A test drive showed that the steering wasn't effected and the ride felt great. Man I love the sense of achievement you get when you fix something yourself.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Super pro bush's money well spent imo, since your going down the performance enhancement road do you know that there is a boat anchor hiding behind the rear bumper i've forgotten how heavy it is but is does come in handy as a workshop door stop :lol:


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> Super pro bush's money well spent imo, since your going down the performance enhancement road do you know that there is a boat anchor hiding behind the rear bumper i've forgotten how heavy it is but is does come in handy as a workshop door stop :lol:


Hi Delta. Yup I know about the ballast at the back of the car. If I've ever got the rear bumper off, for whatever reason, I might take it off but I don't think I'll go after it specifically.

What does you TT look like mate? So I can keep an eye out for it if I'm ever cruising the Bay area.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

You'll most prob see santa first :lol:, my car only comes out for early morning B roading or up north road trips, beyond that i'm not into posting my lifestyle online


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Fair enough mate.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So everything is up to date now. Up to this point the posts have been coming thick and fast as I've been basically telling you everything I've been up to in the last 12 months of ownership. I've covered it all now so the posts will slow down a bit as I'll be posting in real time from now on, if that makes sense.

Thanks for reading and I'll hopefully have more thing to report in the not too distant future.


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## daz1669 (Sep 2, 2018)

Mine on start of it's journey









Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

It's like reading my tt journey but in more details and more photos.

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## daz1669 (Sep 2, 2018)

Bought last year with lots of problems but lots of potential, as forge FMIC, milltek exhaust and been remapped at an audi specialist in Scotland, can't remember name, nothing worked properly when I got it but mostly easy fixes, managed to get full leather black interior locally as white one wasnt anymore, now running smoothly all gremlins sorted, couple of vacumn pipes fitted incorrectly was a bit confusing and had split turbo pipe.
Power steering than decided to rub through as it wasn't fastened correctly to intercooler pipe and didn't see it  again easy fix fortunately, running 18 s with toyo proxes, brembo discs and pads, bilstein rear shox, once bodywork finished will be adding spacers, and a decent induction kit, any suggestions?? , not going to lower it as roads in area I live last repaired properly by Romans, some more pics attached, missano red, and custom colour for roof, wheels, and grilles etc, any suggestions on spacer size and induction greatly appreciated.























Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

daz1669 said:


> Bought last year with lots of problems but lots of potential, as forge FMIC, milltek exhaust and been remapped at an audi specialist in Scotland, can't remember name, nothing worked properly when I got it but mostly easy fixes, managed to get full leather black interior locally as white one wasnt anymore, now running smoothly all gremlins sorted, couple of vacumn pipes fitted incorrectly was a bit confusing and had split turbo pipe.
> Power steering than decided to rub through as it wasn't fastened correctly to intercooler pipe and didn't see it  again easy fix fortunately, running 18 s with toyo proxes, brembo discs and pads, bilstein rear shox, once bodywork finished will be adding spacers, and a decent induction kit, any suggestions?? , not going to lower it as roads in area I live last repaired properly by Romans, some more pics attached, missano red, and custom colour for roof, wheels, and grilles etc, any suggestions on spacer size and induction greatly appreciated.
> 
> 
> ...


Hi Daz. Looks like you've properly tucked in to your new project mate. And it sounds like your beast has come already kitted out with a lot of great mods.

The filter I chose was the RamAir cone with heat shield. I'd seen it on a lot of TTS and always like the way it looked. At around £80 the price isn't too bad either. There are cheaper options like the K&N for the Honda S2000 (which apparently fits) but I like the RamAir. Something to consider is that fitting a cone filter will totally change the way your car sounds with loads more induction noise. Some like it, others don't. I do!

The wheel spacers that most go for is 15mm at the front and 20mm at the back. I think it's probably a quite conservative choice and I'm sure some go wider but 15/20 seems to be the go to set up and there is no risk of rubbing. I think I put a link to the ones I bought, off eBay, earlier on in my thread.

Good luck with the rest of your build.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I've not had much time to do anything with the TT for a while. I can't even remember the last time I drove it! It's got to have been three weeks at least. The reason for this is that we've been moving house. What a ball ache but totally worth it as I now have my own garage and don't have to keep the car at my Mum's any more! Hopefully this will mean that I get to play around with it a bit more but there is loads to do to the house and apparently that takes priority.

Man it felt good backing it in to my own garage. I've never had my own garage and it's been a dream of mine forever. Here it is lurking in it's new home.









BTW after being sat for over three weeks it started first time. I love this car.


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## daz1669 (Sep 2, 2018)

Front end back together









Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So I've noticed a small patch of water under the car after the last couple of drives. It doesn't keep dripping for long as the patch has dried up by the next day. It's towards the rear of the under tray in the centre. If it was the summer and I had the air con on ten I would have said it was just that but I've had the heater set to 21 degrees on each journey. Any thoughts?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I thought it was about time I sorted out the central locking as it hadn't worked since I bought the car. I tried changing the battery but that was just wishful thinking. I had a go at resetting the remote using the technique on WAK's website but still no luck. I asked my friendly mechanic to have a look but he had no joy either. He opened up the key and said that the board looked a bit corroded and that the key was probably buggered. This is what it looked like.








He said I should get a new key programmed and recommended a local locksmith who can do such things. So I phoned the bloke and he came over to my house to have a go. He didn't think it would be a problem but for some reason the program he downloaded especially for the job wasn't working so he said he'd have to come back another time and have another go. Well he came back this morning and hey presto... he got it working!!! And for only £70 which is about £30 cheaper than the other quotes I got. Result. Here's a shot of the old key and the new key together. Ohhhh. New key.








I now have central locking. What a luxury.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

This isn't really a TT upgrade, more a garage equipment upgrade. I had a set of ramps that I use for working on the van but the TT is just too damn low to get up them. The bumper would fowl on them before the wheel got to the slope. 









I love to modify anything so I used some 25mm ply I had knocking round the workshop to lengthen and lessen the angle of the slope on the ramps. I did a test run using my work van and it took the weight fine.


















I still haven't got to the bottom of the fluid leak so put the car up on my new ramps and whipped the under tray off. When I've got time I'll take it for a burn then pop it back up on the ramps and see what's what.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hmmmmm. I took the car out for a spin, popped it up on my new improved ramps when I got back and absolutely no sign of any water leaks. It was only a 15 min drive so maybe it wasn't long enough. Not sure what it could of been. Is that case closed? I guess I'll just keep the under tray off for a while and have a peek after each blast and see if I spot any more puddles.

My new boot liner arrived in the post so I stuck that in. Not the most exciting mod but definitely an improvement. Bought off eBay. Fifteen quid.

Before.









And after.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

The puddles was most probably condensation from the air con.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> The puddles was most probably condensation from the air con.


Hi Delta. How's things? I was thinking about that but the air con was set to 22 degrees. Would you still get condensation at that high a temperature?


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Plodding on as usual  , condensation is the only thing that makes sense if the header tank is not losing water.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

No, header doesn't appear to be loosing water. Where does the condensation gather in the engine bay?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I had the chance to have a bit of a fiddle with the TT over the weekend so I got a couple of little jobs done that I'd had the parts hanging around for for ages.

My header tank was looking a bit old and manky so I bought a new one off ebay. The tap for draining the coolant was easy to find at the bottom near side of the radiator. I attached a bit of hose to the tap to help direct the coolant into a bottle as I wanted to reuse it. It took me a little while to work out how to use the tap though. Basically you unscrew it to unlock it then pull to start the flow and push to stop and the screw it back up to lock it again. It was like The Crystal Maze as I tried to work out how to stop it before the coolant reached the top of my bottle.









Getting the old tank off was a little fiddley but it came out fine. Here's the new one next to the old one.









I decided to spray the cap black. The paint started to chip off almost immediately but that's OK as it's just temporary till I get some nice alloy caps.









Apparently the MK1 TT doesn't need to be bled after adding coolant but I let it run with the cap off on the drive till it got a bit of temperature in it. It was at there for nearly 30 mins and still didn't get up to 90 degrees but hopefully the thermostat opened. I took it for a 5 min drive afterwards and all seemed fine.

I also swapped the screen wash bottle cap for a black R8 one.








Before









And after. Little steps.

I've been waiting for ToyoSports to get some more cat back exhausts in since before Christmas. Will they ever get more in?????


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Why are all of my photos always the wrong way round? Annoying.


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## NtG (Jan 2, 2018)

Kang said:


> Why are all of my photos always the wrong way round? Annoying.


i think because too high resolution.
try to resize it down, like 1024x768. you can preview before submitting to test


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

napostolidis said:


> Kang said:
> 
> 
> > Why are all of my photos always the wrong way round? Annoying.
> ...


Thanks. I'll give that a go.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I've had my under tray off for a bit so that I can check for leaks but so far I've not spotted any. The old owner must have driven into a field at some point as there were big clumps of mud and grass stuck to the tray so I decided to give it a bit of a wash with the hose before I stuck it back on.









I noticed that it had a bit of a split so I fixed it with some black apoxy resin I had.









There are four fixings, two on each side, that attach the tray in the wheel wells. All four of mine are missing and up to this point I've been using cable ties. Does anyone know what should go there? A part number would be really helpful.


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## LesRSV (Jul 5, 2017)

Search E-bay for this type of fixing,not sure what there are called,twist lock fixing?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Les. I couldn't find anything on eBay so I went to my local Audi dealership. We looked at some diagrams and the "experts " there decided to order me some of these. 









The male bit's right but the clips are no good. Doh! Back to using cable ties for the time being.









Never mind. Something exciting happened! After waiting since before Christmas for Toyosports to get more stock of their cat back exhausts, I've managed to order one on eBay. Funny I found it there as their website says they are out of stock. Got it for £40 less on eBay then it's listed on their website. Should arrive on Friday so I've beeen under the car squirting penetrating fluid on the nuts and joints.


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## LesRSV (Jul 5, 2017)

Hi, I can't believe the "experts" thought these two parts went together,clearly wrong.If you are going back to Audi the part No for the square clip is 4AO 805 163, but you might want to check here-https://nemigaparts.com/cat_spares/etka/audi/att/278/825100/

I have just had a look and I have four spare,if you want to pm your address I will stick them in the post.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Yeah I'll have them. P.M. sent. Thanks a lot Les. Good man.


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## LesRSV (Jul 5, 2017)

You are welcome,they are winging their way to you now.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Awesome. Thanks.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

It maybe worth popping into the aladdins cave, Rudolphs car spares on sea st herne bay for bits and bobs


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hi Delta. Thanks for the tip. I haven't managed to find a decent motor factors in the ten years I've lived here. Good to know there is one in Herne Bay.

This was waiting for me when I got home.









Very excited. Can't wait to get it fitted. What do you reckon these two big fat washers are for?


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

No idea what the washers are for, you'll soon know if you need them


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

Cool.. please keep a diary of the effort to fit the Toyo craft back exhaust. I assume this is a 3inch pipe? When I looked before I think they had a few generic connectors for different cars.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Will do. It looks the business. Yup 3".

The clips arrived from LesRSV. What a nice bloke. Thanks Les.


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## LesRSV (Jul 5, 2017)

Kang said:


> The clips arrived from LesRSV.


 [smiley=thumbsup.gif]


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I made some good progress on the exhaust tonight. I was only out there for half an hour and I managed to get the old one off. The two bolts in the clamps where the section just after the cats joins the long main section we're totally gone and rounded off so I had to cut them off with a grinder. I wish I had an extra pair of hands to get some pics, there were sparks flying everywhere.

I got the first hanger (back from the cats) off by sliding an Allen key in it and twisting it off. Not too hard. The two hangers either side of the back box were a bit more substantial and quite high up behind the bumper so not as easy to get to so I decided to unbolt the brackets that hold the hangers instead. Each bracket is held on by two 13mm bolts and they can be easily got to with an extension bar. Once one side was off I rested the weight of the back box on a tool box while i undid the other side.

Once all the hangers were off I braced myself, thinking "How hard will it be to break the join?" And pulled and twisted and Hey Presto! The thing just fell off. No worries.

Here's a photo of the old next to the new.









From what I can work out I reckon this flange section goes into the old clamp and joins to the cat section.









This section attaches to that and is cut to length to get the correct overall length of the system. I may be wrong and I'll happily be corrected if someone has a better plan.









I'm going to have to get some new bolts for the clamps tomorrow, hopefully stainless steel and I might see if I can get some stainless bolts to replace the four that hold the hanger brackets. If I've got time I might Hamorite the brackets too as they are in a bit of a state.









I still can't work out what the two fat washers are for that came in the kit.


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Might be spacers to align the exhaust tips

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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

HOGG said:


> Might be spacers to align the exhaust tips
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


100 bonus points to Hogg! That's exactly what they are. They slide over the hanger rods (is that what you call them?) and have a grub screw to hold them in place to fine tune the position of the exhaust tips. Mine didn't come with grub screws unfortunately but I'm sure I can find some bolts that would work if needed. But at this point the tips are looking good without them.

I've got a work experience lad in the workshop this week so I got him to wire brush and Hamerite the brackets for me. He was probably thinking "This isn't carpentry ". Bless him, he didn't do the best job but they are better then they were and I found some stainless bolts to replace the rusty ones. Just in case I ever get invited to Jay Leno's Garage and he wants to put my cat up on his fancy lifts to have a look underneath.

















I hung the back box first and then the long centre section. The heat shield around the back box needed to be bent out of the way a bit but it's soft so I just did it by hand. I sprayed in a bit of anti seize copper spray and pushed the little reducer section into the old joiner. This needed a hammer for a bit of persuasion. Here it is with new stainless nuts and bolts.









That got pushed onto the end of the cat section. I then took a measurement to work out how much needed to be cut off the remaining section.









Sorry for the blurry photo. It's not easy holding a tape measure and a iPhone in such a small space. It read 165mm. It was 9pm so I thought it was a bit late to start grinding in a built up area so I'll cut it at the workshop tomorrow. Should have everything finished off by this time tomorrow night. Hopefully. What could possibly go wrong?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I had a funny moment at work today. So yesterday I was sat with the work experience boy and my full timer and the full timer was complaining about living the the town where he lives. He was saying that there are loads of chavs burning about the place. What he finds the hardest to understand is why they put those loud exhausts on their crappy old cars. He was saying that they probably spend more on doing up their cars than they cost in the first place and why don't they just buy better cars? I don't know whether it was a dig at me or if he even realises what it is I think about all day long. I said "It's all about improving something and making it your own. Even if I had a Lamborghini I would modify it."

Today I was grinding one of the exhaust sections down in the workshop. He came round the corner and asked what I was up to. I said "To carry on from the conversation we had yesterday, I'm fitting a loud exhaust to my TT." He replied with one word. Numpty. And walked off. Ha ha ha ha.

Finished fitting the exhaust this afternoon and all went well. Getting it all in was easy enough with no fittment issues. I took it for a quick burn and I'm well happy. The sound is louder and deeper but in no way over the top or obnoxious. It's just I nice low hum. The intake noise is balanced out now and I'm chuffed to bits. No annoying rattles and I took it for a bit of a motorway run and it's not at all droany.

I was thinking of upgrading the sound system next but the noise of The RamAir intake and that exhaust note is all the soundtrack I need.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Numpty :lol: , some just don't get it. The tail pipes are a nice improvement over the oem fitment


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Delta. Safe to say his chances of a pay rise anytime soon are fairly slim. Ha ha.


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Small video of the sound would be nice. Is that the toyosport exhaust?

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## Sierragls (Nov 26, 2017)

Does the exhaust handg low in the middle? It doesn't look like I'm in the photo. I've read that they usually do hang low


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

HOGG said:


> Small video of the sound would be nice. Is that the toyosport exhaust?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


Yup. It's the Toyosports one. I'll see if I can do a video. I never feel like they do the sound any justice. I'll see what I can do.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Sierragls said:


> Does the exhaust handg low in the middle? It doesn't look like I'm in the photo. I've read that they usually do hang low


There is a bit on the OEM exhaust where it is kind of squished so that it can get under, I think, a driveshaft or something. The Toyosports doesn't squish like the OEM so it hangs down a little lower there. My car is lowered 40mm and I don't feel like there are any clearance issues with the new exhaust but I haven't been over any speed humps yet.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I've been trying to post a vid of the new exhaust but it won't let me and keeps saying "The extension MOV is not allowed." Any thoughts? Thanks.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Most prob easier to upload to YT the post a link on here


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hey thanks again Delta. Never done that before. Here you go. Reving to about 4K rpm. I don't think the video does it justice though. I haven't used the radio since I fitted it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V54NIldH- ... e=youtu.be


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

The video is ok, could have been a tad longer it was done before the ears had time to adjust but i got the jist of it


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> The video is ok, could have been a tad longer it was done before the ears had time to adjust but i got the jist of it


I agree

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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

You're a fussy bunch. Alright I'll do another one when I have a mo'.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

A sound check after a early morning blast is best


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I was so impressed with my Toyosports cat back I decided to buy one of their polished charge pipes. Again I couldn't find it on their website, it didn't even show that they made one but I found it on eBay and for less than £50 delivered I couldn't resist. The polishing isn't great but it looks way better than my old one. It's de baffled and doesn't have that scoop out of the bottom like the OEM version so I'm hoping the air flow will be improved. The fitment was spot on. Here's the old next to the new.









Apparently the OEM turbo outlet pipe has the tendency to melt and crack so I checked mine and it seems fine. It's got an Audi part number on it but I looks like it's made of silicon. Was that standard? My old charge pipe had a couple of drops of oil in it, I'm hoping you'll all tell me that's perfectly normal.









Here it is fitted. I think it looks rather smart.









I sprayed the clamps black and fitted some new washers and nuts.









Engine bay is starting to look a bit more bling now. I desperately need to get my intake manifold and throttle polished.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I've also been having a go at refurbishing my wheels. They are really letting down to look of the car and even my seven year old told me I need to sort them out. I looked in to getting them done professionally but where's the fun in that? Also if I scuff them again in the future, sorry, when I scuff them again I'll have the kit and hopefully the skills to touch them up again myself. I bought this lot from Amazon.









The kit looks alright and the instructions are very detailed but if you want to do more than touch up a very small area of one wheel then you will need a lot more sand paper. The kit doesn't come with primer so I bought some of that separately. I thought I'd do one wheel at a time. Here are some before pics.

























Here's the first wheel in primer.









That's as far as I got as you have to leave the primer for 24hrs before you can go over it. I'll let you know how I get on with the silver and lacquer. Wish me luck.


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Wow! That engine bay is sexy! 

That kit for the wheels is great too!


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks dude. Although after reading your thread it makes everything I'm doing seem very tame. I guess they are different types of builds though. Mines all show and a bit of go and yours is all go Go GO!!!


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

That charge looks nice for the money, a little bit of oil in the pipe is fine but it can be reduced by fitting a catch can, a tidy set of wheels finish's a car off nicely so its well worth the effort of sorting them out as well as learning something new.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Delta.


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## Ganja47 (Oct 18, 2018)

looking good there Kang, very nice.
also thanks for the exhaust install write up, my Toyo is on it's way. did you have to get any extra clamps/sleeves or were the kit contents enough? also did you use any paste or sealer on the joins or was it all assembled dry?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hi Ganja. Love the name! The kit came with everything I needed except for the little position adjuster washers (I'm not sure what they are really called) didn't come with grub screws so I just used a couple of little bolts I had knocking around. I had to grind off the two nuts that were on the sleeve that held my old cat section to the exhaust section that the Toyosports will replace so I bought some stainless nuts and bolts to replace them.









I used copper anti seize spray on the two places where sections slot into each other just to help if i ever have to take it apart again. The kit came with gaskets so I didn't use any paste or sealer on them. I'm guessing that's the right thing to do. Should I have used sealer there? Anyone?

I was very impressed with the kit and fitment and getting it on was fairly straightforward but if you've got any more questions or need any advice please let me know.

Good luck.


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## Ganja47 (Oct 18, 2018)

thanks Mate, much appreciated. I was thinking about using some gun gum paste in a very thin layer at least at the sleeve but not sure if that's needed or not


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

To be honest I'm not sure if it's necessary either. Hopefully someone more qualified will be along soon to let us know if it's needed or not.


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## rakrynaz (Mar 30, 2019)

Kang said:


> Thanks dude. Although after reading your thread it makes everything I'm doing seem very tame. I guess they are different types of builds though. Mines all show and a bit of go and yours is all go Go GO!!!


Hey man, sorry about the radio silence, it's been a mad few days.

If anything your car has the sexiness and power, which is perfect  That's how it should be. Yours will also appeal to a lot of people.

Mine will only appeal to a very few select people and I guess could be considered a 'dirty / disgusting' build with how we're treating the car with most of the OE interior going, a lot of the OE parts in the engine bay, etc. Someone could quite easily argue that by the end of this it will be near enough impossible to class it as a TT.

I'm at the point of no return now with ripping it apart.....I just hope I won't regret destroying the interior at some point :lol:

On a separate note; if you want any of the OE parts that we remove intact just let me know and you can have them for free.

In the meantime if you don't mind I'm going to be stealing tips and tricks from your build with things like your insanely sexy paintwork making parts look brand new and mods


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Morning Raknyraz. Sounds like you've got an exciting day ahead of you.

That's what modding cars is all about. Making them individual to your tastes, hopes and dreams. An extension of your personality. As Groove Armada say "If everybody looked the same, we'd get bored of looking at each other ". Sorry, got a little deep there.

Don't throw anything away when you are stripping out. Not even the tiny little fixings or plastic bits. Someone will want them, but I get first dibs. I'll pm you in a bit.

Have fun with WAK. I look forward to hearing how you get on.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

one of my sons turned 8 today and we bought him a Lego Technic Ralley car. I spent a happy hour or so with him putting together the rear suspension and drivetrain. Explaining to him about driveshafts, differentials and universal joints.









Then we put the engine together. It's a V6.

















Trying to explain the theory behind a combustion engine was interesting. I think he got the gist. Poor kid's going to end up a Petrolhead for sure.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Quality time well spent, my dad got me into cars at a young age i was given a book on combustion engines and i was hooked after that  i may try eating my dinner with a 17mm spanner and a screw driver just to see the look the mrs will give me :lol:


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Ha ha! Do it Delta. I dare you.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

The wheel refurb kit recommends that you use an extra primer between the etching primer and the colour coat so I bought some of this.









Then I put on the silver and a few coats of the clear lacquer and one wheel is finished!

























I have to say I'm pretty please with the results. Is it perfect? No but it's a hundred times better than it was. I'm sure a professional would do a better job but this is a budget build and it's all about trying things myself and I think this was a success. I just have to sort out the other three wheels now.

I got a crack in my number plate and I know it's only a little thing but it's the first thing I see every time I open the garage doors and it was bugging the hell out of me. So... brace yourselves... I got a new number plate.









In other news, my son and I made the front suspension and steering rack for the rally car today.


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Moving along nicely

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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Wow! What an amazing day. I hope the weather was as good wherever you were today as it was where I am. Summer is officially here. A perfect day to get the car out and go for a cruise. I've had the car on axle stands for a couple of weeks because I've been refurbing wheels so I took the opportunity to put on the little fixings that were missing from my under tray. Thanks again to LesRSV for sending me some. They look much better than a cable tie.









I got the wheels back on and took it out for a spin, but not before catching one of the back wheels on the bottom lock of one of my garage doors and putting a big scratch on it. Doh! Idiot! Never mind. Went straight to the nearest car wash and gave it the once over.

































The white specks on the car are water drops. It was also the first outing since fitting the Toyosports charge pipe. I can't notice any difference in intake sound and it didn't fall off so it's all good. I've had the new exhaust on for a few journeys now and I still haven't felt the need to put the stereo on yet. I love the sound of the intake and exhaust. If it was any louder I'd feel like a bit of a knob but if it was any quieter I would've been disappointed.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks. I hope you get to go out in your pride and joy.


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## HOGG (Mar 30, 2018)

Sadly not, I'm off for a few weeks to Greece.....

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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

A few weeks in Greece sounds alright. If you wanna swap I'll go to Greece for you.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

This isn't TT related but I thought you lot might find it interesting. I've got a little company and workshop where we make, primarily, woodwork projects, bespoke kitchens, wardrobes, etc. But I like to do weird stuff and I'm known as a creative bloke as I studied Model Making and Visual Effects at collage and worked on movies, music videos and photo shoots for a good few years. So we do shop fitting, exhibition work and artwork fabrication. Because of this interesting jobs come my way every now and then.

An internationally famous graffiti artist called Insa contacted me. Check him out on Instagram, he does some amazing stuff. He's into Japanese custom van culture and has a couple of unusual vans. One of which he uses as a kind of promotional vehicle. It's very cool, if you're into that sort of thing, and he want's me to do some work in the boot.

So this arrived at the workshop today.

















It's obviously on air ride and he want's to take the van to shows and exhibitions. The idea is that he can rock up to a wall, open the boot and he's got everything he needs to spray. There are a few thing we need to incorporate into the build and they are listed below.

Completely panel out the boot area (including ceiling).
Mount TV screen (to be viewed from the rear seats).
Two spray can racks.
Mount the two air tanks on a new bulkhead.
Access panel to get to all the wiring.
Two speaker pods.
Led Lighting.
Two big doors that swing out and hold marker pens and paint pots.
An area for a dancing robot (I shit you not).
Space to store a folding ladder.

The visual reference is a model of a Manga robot so it's going to be a bit spaceship, a bit stealth bomber and a bit mobile workshop.









This is what the boot looks like at the mo'.

















Stay tuned to see how it all progresses.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

I'm sure that i've seen this parked up in a yard off the whitsta bubble high st.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Quite possibly.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I'm about three days into the Graffitimobil boot build so I've made some progress. The first thing I did was make sure the existing install was secured by bolting right through the floor. Then I made a new top, fitted the TV, made a new bulkhead and a few other bits.

This is where I am now.









This is a close up of the custom fire extinguisher holder/sword and paint pot organiser.









And this is the folding ladder holder.









Tomorrow morning I'm going to do the cover for the back of the telly and start the speaker pods. Then I've got my metalworker mate coming over and we're going to try and work out the spray can racks and the swing out doors (which the client has decided he wants electronically actuated). All good fun and games. I can't believe I'm getting paid to do this!


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I bought a bit of bling for the jewellery box/engine bay.








Got these lovely shiny things by Creation motorsports off eBay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALLOY-OIL-AN ... ctupt=true
They are very nicely finished, cut from a single block of aluminium and for those that don't know, they slot over your old oil and water caps and are held in place with some grub screws. The only complaint I have is that the logo doesn't sit straight when the caps are done up. Never mind.









I also got an alloy dipstick end from C.B. Automotive. You have to cut a bit off your old dipstick end and this slots over the top and again is held in place by a grub screw.
https://www.cbauto.co.uk/6082-t6-anodis ... -dip-stick









It's funny, I don't wear any jewellery and most of the time I look a bit scruffy but for some reason I need my engine bay to be all clean and sparkly. Most people won't ever even see it. But I like it.

I also got a load done on the graffitimobil.








Got the spray can racks and air tanks mounted. I've mocked up the speaker boxes and fitted a load more panels and covers.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I hope you are all enjoying the hot weather. I took today off work because it's too hot to be in a dusty workshop slinging wood about the place. Some how not too hot to work on the TT though. The front end of a standard TT (not including the V6) has always been lacking something in my opinion so I decided to give it a bit of Grrrrrr! with a little front splitter. I bought one of these off ebay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-TT-MK1- ... Sw8o1c7hxa

I think it's the same as the one off the Leon Cupra R. Maybe someone could tell me if it is or not? It came in three pieces and needed a bit of trimming to fit. The first problem is that the two sticky up bits in the middle section were too long so I marked them with some masking tape and gave them a trim.










It was a bit of a job getting everything lined up but I taped it where I thought it needed to go and screwed everything into place with some stainless self tappers, the splitter didn't come with any fixings. The splitter was too long as well so I cut the ends down so that they butted up to the little mud flap things in front of the front wheels. This all looked good but there was nowhere to fix the middle section so it hung down.










To rectify this and hold it securely in place I made up some little brackets.










Now everything is in place I'm quite happy with the way it looks.


























I tried to get it as far forward on the bumper without it sticking out too far. I think it works well. I reckon it looks like it could have been a factory option, not too over the top but gives it a bit of a meaner look. At high speeds the car now feels much more stable and it has more traction during cornering. Seriously? No but it looks cool.

In other news, I finished the graffiti van. Here's a shot with the doors closed.










And one with the doors open.










If you're interested in seeing more of it search for insa_gram on Instagram or #GifitiWagon There is a small video of it on there but I've been told there will be a longer one soon. The guy does some amazing stuff so it's worth a look anyway.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Nice mod, it also gives the appearance of vehicle being a bit lower than it is, you may need to take another day off tomorrow as it's forecast to be even warmer  the back of the van looks neat not to sure about the bat though :lol:


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Ha. Hi Delta. Yes I know. Scorchio. What do you mean? Don't you have a baseball bat in your van?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Here's another shot of the van with all the spray cans in there.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Kang said:


> Ha. Hi Delta. Yes I know. Scorchio. What do you mean? Don't you have a baseball bat in your van?


No i don't have a bat in van my hands and feet are in perfect working order :lol:, finished early today just so i sample the fine beverage the the mrs has kindly left in the fridge before i fire up the bbq


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

The 13th of August was a sad day. It was the day I registered my TT SORN. Basically I've been finding it hard to pay off the loan, pay for all the bits to pimp the car and pay to run it so something had to give. The plan is to take it off the road for 23 months (just less than two years so that I can keep my no claims bonus), pay off the loan in that time and keep it in my garage where I can still work on it. If you can't drive a cool car a very closed second best has to be having a cool car in the garage to fiddle with.

This hobby of ours is a tricky one. It doesn't just take time and effort, it takes money and working out ways to finance this passion is a big part of it. I'm sure a lot of you feel my pain. It's not like we've decided to take up jogging and all you have to buy is some trainers and some nipple cream. It was the same when I was heavily into mountain biking. It was all about getting fitter and improving my skills by hitting the trails but it was also all about funding the next bike and buying all the upgrades for said bike.

I contacted my insurance company and they said that as long as I'm back within two years I can keep my no claims. Registering SORN was easy and I got quite a big road tax refund from that. My MOT was due in September so that's well timed. Getting the car ready for it's long sleep was not so simple though. I knew it wasn't going to be just a case of turning off the ignition and locking the garage door so I asked the question on here of what was necessary to keep the car healthy. I got loads of helpful information from the lovely members of this excellent forum. Here's a link to the thread if you want to read up in more detail.
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1915729

Here's a little list of what I've decided to do.
Get a battery conditioner.
Put 5psi extra in the tyres.
Give the car a wash and dry.
Turn it over once a month and let it get up to temperature.
Get an additive to stop the fuel going bad
Leave the handbrake off.
Change the oil and filter.

I've already ordered the battery conditioner and it arrived yesterday. I went for this one.
https://www.tayna.co.uk/battery-charger ... fe8dd32abf
It comes with battery clips but it also comes with one of these smart little bits of kit.








You attach it to the terminals and the charger connects into that so you can keep the battery cover on and the connector just pokes out next to the air filter. Very discrete and quick and easy to connect/disconnect. I don't know why but I really liked it.

I checked the sticker on my fuel flap to see what pressure my tyres should be and I pumped them all up to 41psi to try and avoid flat spots on my tyres. The sticker was really manky so I gave it a wipe with a wonder wipe and now it looks like new.

Before.









After.









Simple pleasures for simple minds. My Dads dead now, unfortunatly, but he was a product designer and I remember how excited he was when the TT first came out and especially about the fuel cap. He was like "Now that is design son". Cleaning the sticker made me think of him.

I worked out roughly, how much fuel was in my tank. Mk1 tanks hold 62 lts, apparently. I had 5/8ths of a tank which is 38.75 lts. This stuff was recommended to me so I've ordered a couple of bottles.
https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-69300-mill ... itive.aspx

That's about as far as I've got. Once the kids go back to school they will hopefully start to go to bed at a more reasonable hour so I'll hopefully have some time to mess about with the car and do an oil change.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Twas my birthday recently and my family bought me this.









Alright. I bought it and they wrapped it up for me. I tried to explain what it was to my wife and she just looked at me blankly. I want to spray it gloss black, to match the car, before I fit it. I have a couple of questions for you. Was there just one black that Audi did for the Mk1 TT or where there a few? If there was more than one how do I find out which one mine is? The grill is brand new, do you think I need to clean it with something, or sand it to key it before I spray it?

They also bought me a pair of socks with a picture of my T4 on them (OK, I know it's a split screen but it's the same paint job).


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## macadamy (Mar 3, 2017)

Hello
Mine is LZ9V raven black.
I think there are a few.
I think there is a sticker in the boot.

Matt


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Matt. I found the sticker in the boot. Mine is LY9B which is Brilliant Black so I've got me a can of that.

I'm having a problem with one bolt getting the bumper off. Isn't that often the way? It seems to be pushing up against the near side intercooler so I can't get a socket over it. I've ordered a 10mm flexi head ratchet spanner, hopefully that will help. I'll have another go when. That arrives.

I've also bought some panel wipes for wiping down the trim before spraying. I was thinking of spraying the splitter too but it's made of softer, more flexible plastic than the grill. I wonder if the paint will stick to it or not.


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## auspicious_character (Sep 4, 2016)

Arch liners off for bumper is essential.
I use a deep 10mm 1/4 socket with a long extension and a Flexi head.


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## BrianB (Apr 15, 2016)

Kang said:


> Twas my birthday recently and my family bought me this.
> View attachment 1
> 
> 
> ...


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

auspicious_character said:


> Arch liners off for bumper is essential.
> I use a deep 10mm 1/4 socket with a long extension and a Flexi head.


Yup, got the arch liners off and that's the tool selection I have now so fingers crossed I'll get that last little b'stard.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

BrianB said:


> Kang said:
> 
> 
> > Twas my birthday recently and my family bought me this.
> ...


Hi Brian. I got this one off eBay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONEYCOMB-ME ... Sw5wFcE-Cx

I've not fitted it yet but it looks good so far.


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## BrianB (Apr 15, 2016)

Hi Brian. I got this one off eBay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONEYCOMB-ME ... Sw5wFcE-Cx

I've not fitted it yet but it looks good so far.[/quote]

Thanks for the link I think this may have been one I'd seen.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I hope everyone's having a good weekend. Granny has got the kids today so I've had some time to play around with the car.

I managed to get the bumper off. Easy when you've got the right tools. I didn't need the flexi wrench in the end but a deep 10mm socket is essential.









I prized out all the old grills then sprayed the new honeycomb grill and the three lower grills Audi Brilliant Black. Sorry, no photos of that. You'll have to use your imagination. I then cleaned up the old Audi badge and attemped to pop it into the new badge holder (also sprayed Brilliant black). The four rings does actually have a right way up. Don't do what I did and just try and cram it in there as you will break several tabs.









While I had the bumper off I thought I'd give it a good clean, inside and out. Here's a pic of it on my ping pong table/workbench. Apologies for the quality of this photo, I don't know what happened there.









After close inspection it turns out my bumper was metallic blue once upon a time. I also gave some of the other plastics a clean while they were off.









Getting the grills back in place was a bit of a fiddle but they all went in. Then I popped the bumper back on whick was easy enough and getting everything aligned again was fine to. Here's a quick before and after.

















I'm sure it won't be to everyone's taste but I really like it. Personally I've always had a bit of a problem with the fact that the standard grill sticks right out. And mine was going grey so painting everything gloss black has really helped. The honeycomb looks a lot more open and, although I'm sure it won't make any difference, it looks like it will let a lot more air in and it matches the lower grills now too.

GGGGGGGGggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Looking good  it's a perfect day to be in the workshop fettling.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Delta. Defo mate.

Hey, is anyone else out there watching series 2 of Fastest Car on Netflix? Man I love that show. Right up my street.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I got a little job done today. When I was refitting some of the wheel well plastics, after fitting the bumper, I spotted that some of the screws weren't grabbing properly. There are metal tabs that the screw goes into and some of them have rusted away. I had some tabs left over from the bits I bought from Audi for the under tray. Unfortunately they were too big but I managed to grind them down and I think they should work. I'll fit the when I re fit the under tray. I've kept it off for the mo' as the next job I want to tackle is taking off the sump and giving it and the oil pick up a good clean.

Here is a shot of the big tab on the left, the rusty old one in the middle and my ground down one on the right. Exciting stuff.









I was cleaning out my Mum's garage for her last week and found my old overalls. I'm such a geek.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Someone (possibly Hoggy) said that if I'm storing my car off road for a while then I should do an oil change. It had a full service when I bought it in January 2017 and although I've only done two thousand miles since then, it's definitely due one now. Just for my records it's done 85,680 miles at this point. As it's SORN and I'm in no rush I thought I'd go a step further and get the sump off and replace the oil pick up pipe while I'm at it. I've been wanting to do this for a while, just for piece of mind and I guess it gives some indication of what sort of life it had before I bought it and whether it's been well maintained or not.

I started collecting parts. I get really excited by getting bits for the car even if they're just bolts and gaskets and not exotic performance parts. Maybe that's just me.









I took the drain plug out and left it draining overnight. All the bolts came off easily enough and this is what the sump looked like.









There was nothing untoward in there. No big chunks of metal or plastic, which is good. I thought there might be a load of sludge or something but no. Here's what the pick up pipe looked like.









This was looking good too. A couple of tiny lumps which I think were bits of sealant. So it was probably a bit unnecessary to go through all this but now I know everything is nice and clear now the car was loved by it's previous owners. I gave the sump a bit of a clean out using some petrol and it ended up looking like this.









There were some areas of "burnt" on oil but I thought I could probably just put it on as it was. But then I though, no! This will never be the car I want it to be if I'm not even spending the time to clean up the bits I'm taking off so I had another go. This time I used a scouring pad and some Wurth Industry Clean spray and it worked really well.

















I managed to round off one of the sump bolts when I was removing it and a couple of the other ones were looking a bit manky so I bought some new ones from Audi. They were only 70p each. I also realised that I needed a gasket for the oil return pipe so I got one of those too.









It was a bit tricky getting the sump back on without smearing the sealant all over the place but I think I did ok. Everything is back in place now and I've put 4 ltrs of oil in. I'm going to wait till tomorrow to top it up and run it up to temperature so we'll see what happens then.


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Bugger. The sodding thing's leaking! Why! WHY! The Haynes manual says that the small bolts should be very loose and the big bolts tightened first. I only read that after I'd tightened everything up so it could be that. Haynes listed a torque setting of 15nm for the sump to baffle bolts. I assumed that meant the three big bolts but that could be wrong I guess. Also I didn't get all the old sealant off the block. Could that be a problem? It's only leaking from one place so at this point I'll just tighten everything in that area a little more, give it a clean and cross my fingers.


----------



## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Maybe not enough sealant or applied to the wrong side of the bolt holes ? be careful with the sump bolts it's easy to create a major problem.


----------



## Bo! (Aug 19, 2019)

Just read this thread from start to finish!
Cracking read. Loved it. Can't wait to read more!
Makes me wanna do more to mine now!


----------



## Jakethepeg007 (May 14, 2013)

If I was planning on storing for a long period like you are I'd consider buying a couple of sets of axle stands, and taking the weight off the tyres altogether, can also save some time doing future jobs as the car is already lifted and secure, with an anti theft measure thrown free as you don't have it insured!

Cheers


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> Maybe not enough sealant or applied to the wrong side of the bolt holes ? be careful with the sump bolts it's easy to create a major problem.


Hi Delta. I definitely got the sealant on the right side of the bolt holes. Possibly not enough sealant.

My wife asked me why I was down and I said the thing I was doing in the garage didn't work. She said that isn't it supposed to be fun and a good thing as I get to do it all again. She's right. She gets it better than I do. I just need to look at it like that and have another go.


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Bo! said:


> Just read this thread from start to finish!
> Cracking read. Loved it. Can't wait to read more!
> Makes me wanna do more to mine now!


Thanks Bo! That means a lot. Merry Christmas mate.


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Jakethepeg007 said:


> If I was planning on storing for a long period like you are I'd consider buying a couple of sets of axle stands, and taking the weight off the tyres altogether, can also save some time doing future jobs as the car is already lifted and secure, with an anti theft measure thrown free as you don't have it insured!
> 
> Cheers


Hi Jake. The car is fairly secure. I like to drive the car out and on to the drive once a month and let it get up to temperature. Also one of the things that is helping me get through this period while it's off the road is just looking at it and it looks much better sat on the ground than up on stands.


----------



## Bo! (Aug 19, 2019)

Kang said:


> Bo! said:
> 
> 
> > Just read this thread from start to finish!
> ...


Merry Christmas! Have a good one!


----------



## T33dhy (May 20, 2019)

Clutch issue help please, 
I kno I jumping on your thread pal but my clutch master cylinder at the pedal has popped 4 times in 2 months can anyone help


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

T33dhy said:


> Clutch issue help please,
> I kno I jumping on your thread pal but my clutch master cylinder at the pedal has popped 4 times in 2 months can anyone help


Hello T33dhy. I've not had any problems with my clutch master cylinder, yet, so I can't help there. If you can't find anything on the forum that helps then I'd suggest starting a new thread. I'm sure you'll get loads of advice as there'll be more people looking at the new threads than at my silly old build thread. Good luck.


----------



## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

Kang said:


> T33dhy said:
> 
> 
> > Clutch issue help please,
> ...


I am looking for advice on use of the VAR rule in the English Premier League...   !


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Ha! I don't know anything about football either I'm afraid.


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So I've taken the sump off again and I'm going to have another attempt at fitting it. In the Haynes manual it says that the three bolts that attach the sump to the gearbox should be replaced with new ones. I'd quite like to do this anyway as the old ones are all rusty and nasty. I went to an Audi dealership between Christmas and New Year and the parts guy told me that you can't buy them from Audi any more. Can that be right? How long ago did they stop using the 1.8t engine? I've had a look on line and on eBay but no luck. Does anyone know where I could source these? Unfortunately I forgot to ask the parts guy what the part number was.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I forgot to say, the advice from the Audi parts guy was to just take the old bolts to a hardware store and try and match them to what they have in stock. He said that's what they do!?!?


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## Bo! (Aug 19, 2019)

Kang said:


> I forgot to say, the advice from the Audi parts guy was to just take the old bolts to a hardware store and try and match them to what they have in stock. He said that's what they do!?!?


To be fair, I've done that loads of times! Usually find that an easier and cheaper option...


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and that Santa brought you some nice stuff. My 8 year old asked for a toy TT, bless him.









I got a scale model of a Mk1 Golf. I think I've mentioned before that I'm a bit of a geek.









I was also given a little metal polishing kit.









I was thinking of getting some bits in the engine bay polished up but as this build is all about having a go myself, and it's on a budget, I thought I'd give it a try. I reckoned the charge pipe clamps would be a good place to start and I'm really happy with how they turned out.









I had another go at fitting the sump last night. This time I fitted it exactly the way the Haynes manual says it should be done so fingers crossed. I needed another sump plug and invested in a magnetic plug from Creation Motorsport.









It was a bit more expensive than a standard one but it comes with ten washers so it will end up cheaper in the long run. And it's magnetic. And it's sexy anodised red. Mmmm sexy sump plug.

I haven't filled up the oil again yet but I'll do that tonight. Please, please, be no leaks. If all is well with that then the next job is to have a go polishing the intake manifold.


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## Essex2Visuvesi (Oct 22, 2019)

I have this to build one day
https://www.pbmracing.co.uk/products/ta ... kit-47308/


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Yes mate! Sweet.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Yay. No more leaks. Well there was one, coming from the sump plug. Creation Motorsports state that the sump plug should be tightened to 8 to 10nm which is nothing really so I nipped it up a bit and it was fine. Phew. I'm glad it worked the second time round as I really didn't fancy going through it all again. Especially as it was all a bit pointless as the sump and pick up pipe were clean anyway.

I don't know about you guys but I spend quite a lot of time worrying about how much of a negative impact this hobby has on the environment, so I was glad to find out that if you take your used engine oil to the tip it gets cleaned, refined and used in various products. Good stuff.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

That's a result, dropping the sump is not pointless at all you now know for certain that the strainer is not blocked


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> That's a result, dropping the sump is not pointless at all you now know for certain that the strainer is not block


That's what I've been telling myself mate.


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

lol... I just tip the oil in the same place under the hedge I have for the last 28 years twice a year from my old stolen roasting tray..

but I have a 20 year old car and not a tesla battery which has destroyed the environment to get the cobalt and has cost the environment 8 years of 15K miles a year in petrol for the battery alone. not only that the black birds and robins are now immune to oil.


----------



## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

StuartDB said:


> lol... I just tip the oil in the same place under the hedge I have for the last 28 years twice a year from my old stolen roasting tray..
> 
> but I have a 20 year old car and not a tesla battery which has destroyed the environment to get the cobalt and has cost the environment 8 years of 15K miles a year in petrol for the battery alone. not only that the black birds and robins are now immune to oil.


Careful, greta thunberg will be upset :lol:


----------



## 5harp3y (Jun 20, 2016)

Great thread, just read from start to finish!


----------



## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

Delta4 said:


> StuartDB said:
> 
> 
> > lol... I just tip the oil in the same place under the hedge I have for the last 28 years twice a year from my old stolen roasting tray..
> ...


yeah, I have tried my hardest to avoid any mockery of that psycho - my highlight of 2019 was Greta saying the school strikes were pointless and achieved nothing. but 100s of 1000s of kids across the world took Fridays off for her. Baaaa Baaaa


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

5harp3y said:


> Great thread, just read from start to finish!


Thanks mate. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I've been trying to get my inlet manifold off so that I can give it a polish, but I've come across a bit of a snag. Hopefully someone out there can help me. I've got the fuel rail loose so that the injectors are out of there little holes but there is a cable running through the IM between the runner on the far left and the one next to it.










I can see that it goes to a connector but it's so far down there is no way of me getting to it. It also seems as if the connector is bolted to the engine block so I can't pull it up to get to it. Did anyone else have this problem? How the f***ing hell am I supposed to get it all off if I can't detatch that f***ing cable?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I managed to get the connector off, thanks to the help and advice I got on a thread I started on here. All I had to do was take the plate that holds the dipstick off. Pretty obvious really. Here is what it looked like once the fuel rail was out of the way.










Rather mucky, I'm sure you would agree. I didn't want any of that muck going into the engine so I gave it a bit of a clean before I removed the IM and this is what it looked like.










Then I pulled the IM off. Man there were a lot of hoses and connectors and god knows what coming in and out of the thing. I hope I can remember what goes where when it all goes back together.










"I fell naked and exposed."

I got the b'stard off. The throttle body is in a bit of a state, I'm going to have to do something about that too.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Whilst you have them out it's a good idea to replace the O rings on the injectors and consider the injector cups if your going to remove them before polishing the manifold  a easy on the pocket job.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Defo mate. It's already on the to do list.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I've finally finished polishing my manifold. Man, it took a long time. Luckily I'm not very busy at work and I've literally been waiting for paint to dry at some points so I've been able to get bits done at the workshop between work. I'm sure it's not as good as a professional would get it but I'm happy with the outcome.


















The most annoying thing is that just as I felt I was getting somewhere I would slip and put a big scratch in it and have to start again. I ended up wrapping masking tape around the chuck as padding to try and stop this. I also gave all the nuts and bolts that came off a bit of a clean up.










The throttle body and the plate that holds the dipstick in place were grotty so I cleaned them up and sprayed them in satin black.










I remember seeing that you can get a nice chrome cover for the throttle body but I can't seem to find it anywhere. I think it came from a Leon Cupra R. If anyone has a link to one I would appreciate it. I'd also like to get a shiny manifold cover to replace the plastic one (one of it's fixings was missing and I had to destroy the other one when removing it because it was stuck). These generally have TT Quattro etched into them, I would prefer a plain one, if anyone can point me in the direction of one with no writing on that would be great.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Looking good, you may find the other bits that your after via one of FB tt pages if e bay fails.


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## BrianB (Apr 15, 2016)

Nice job on the inlet manifold........what did you use?


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

I think you can get your own message etched on a shiney cover for the dipstick bracket for about 40 quid.

https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 2&t=963417

I think someone on ASN makes them up still.


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fits-Mk1-Aud ... 2658567775


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

BrianB said:


> Nice job on the inlet manifold........what did you use?


Thanks. It was a Pro Max metal polishing kit from eBay and a lot of elbow grease. Unless you're on a really tight budget, like me, and really want to give it a go yourself, like me, then I would recommend getting it done professionally.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

StuartDB said:


> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fits-Mk1-Audi-TT-Polished-Or-Brushed-Manifold-Cover-225-8N98-06-/192658567775


Thanks for the link. I've messaged the eBay seller to see if they can do me one without graphics. Fingers crossed.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I got a reply from the eBay seller and they don't do covers without graphics  I'll keep looking.

I got the inlet manifold and throttle body back in place. So far so good.










As suggested by Delta, I plan to change the injector seals while everything is out. Apparently some injectors have a large o ring and a small o ring and some have two o rings that are the same size. I pulled out an injector to check and both o rings were the same so I ordered some of these.










The clips that hold the injectors in place were quite rusty so I thought I'd replace them while I was at it too. I've had a look on line but can't seem to find any. Does anyone know where I can get some from or should I just go to the stealership?










If you had of told me a couple of years ago that I would be doing something like replacing the injector seals on a 20v turbo engine I would have thought you were mad. It's thanks to the information on this forum and the help and encouragement from the guys on here that give me the support to feel like I can give anything a go. Thank you TT Forum and it's members.

Annoyingly my sexy sump plug was still leaking slightly. I had tightened it way past the suggested 10 nm and didn't dare push it any more so I ordered another standard one and another 5 ltrs of oil. When I was cleaning the sump sealant from the bottom of the engine block I kept seeing little flecks of it and I got a bit paranoid that these flecks of sealant would end up clogging my brand new pick up pipe. So I thought that replacing the oil, which has done zero miles but been through the engine once before already, wouldn't be a bad idea. Now the engine has had a good flush and hopefully the new plug won't leak.


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## BrianB (Apr 15, 2016)

These are what you need, got mine from the dealers in 2017 but if you google the PN you maybe able to get them online.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Brian. I'll give that a go. Cheers.


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

If you just want a flat brush finish ally plate (3mm) i could probably make one.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Dave. I might take you up on that. I'll see how I get on.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Evening all. I had a bit of time today and the injector seals arrived in the post so I had a go fitting them. I gave all the injectors a clean first. I should have bought shares in Wonder Wipes as I'm getting through loads of them. One of the injectors was particularly nasty.










I checked the old seals and they looked ok but they were obviously leaking so hopefully the new ones will stop that.

I reattached everything and I don't think I missed anything, I hope I didn't. The car started OK and I checked and there didn't seem to be petrol squirting all over the shop. Obviously I can't take it for a test drive as it's SORN but so far so good.


















Sorry, I know y'all have seen a million photos of engine bays but I just love the way it looks and I'm quite proud of myself so here's another one.










And another one. This time a moody arty one. This one is the new screen saver on my phone.










I bought some Autosol because I'd heard a few times that it was a good way to finish off a polish. I'm not sure if I'm using it right as I feel like it looks worse since I put it on. Has anyone out there used it? There are no instructions on the pack.


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## BrianB (Apr 15, 2016)

Looking good........we like a nice clean tidy engine bay [smiley=thumbsup.gif]


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Kang said:


> Thanks Dave. I might take you up on that. I'll see how I get on.


Sorry, pinched your idea and knocked one up


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## lorysupercarphoto (Jan 30, 2020)

Lovely car mate, I spent a nice hour reading the hole topic. 
I'm planning to get a 225 roadster in black too, if everything goes well I'll be collecting it in a few weeks


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

davebowk said:


> Kang said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks Dave. I might take you up on that. I'll see how I get on.
> ...


You should sell those on ebay, 30 quid or with a laser etched message 40


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

davebowk said:


> Kang said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks Dave. I might take you up on that. I'll see how I get on.
> ...


Wow! Well done Dave. How much for one of those? I guess I could polish it up myself.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

lorysupercarphoto said:


> Lovely car mate, I spent a nice hour reading the hole topic.
> I'm planning to get a 225 roadster in black too, if everything goes well I'll be collecting it in a few weeks


Thanks dude. I do love my TT and I'm sure you'll love yours too. Shame I don't get to drive mine much but I do enjoy looking at it. Ha.


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Kang said:


> davebowk said:
> 
> 
> > Kang said:
> ...


It's actually brush finish but pic doesn't show it, I made 2 (thought it might be what you was after) send me your address and cost is postage.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

It's actually brush finish but pic doesn't show it, I made 2 (thought it might be what you was after) send me your address and cost is postage.[/quote]

Amazing!!!!


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## Milky_Way (Jan 28, 2020)

Very nice thread !

We can feel the passion in your posts. She will be as brand new !
Happy to see an other black LZ9V as mine, not so common


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## Salmiac (Jun 16, 2018)

Nice car! I bought my black 225 TT years ago and still have it and use it every day.

I have the same wheels like in the original post for winter and I wonder where I can find new wheel caps for them? They tend to wear out with the salted roads here


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Milky_Way said:


> Very nice thread !
> 
> We can feel the passion in your posts. She will be as brand new !
> Happy to see an other black LZ9V as mine, not so common


Thanks mate. I didn't realise Lz9V was a rare colour. I obviously own a very exotic sports car.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Salmiac said:


> Nice car! I bought my black 225 TT years ago and still have it and use it every day.
> 
> I have the same wheels like in the original post for winter and I wonder where I can find new wheel caps for them? They tend to wear out with the salted roads here


Thanks dude. I don't know where to get the center caps from I'm afraid. Mine were fairly manky so I just sanded them up and gave them a respray.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So this was supposed to be a really positive post full of happiness and joy and it will start that way but will end with a very different tone.

Sometimes a person will do something and it will completely reaffirm your faith in humanity, like when davebowk offered to send me a homemade inlet manifold cover for only the price of packaging. How cool is that? It arrived a few days ago and it was great! Thanks Dave, very kind of you and much appreciated. It had a brushed finish so I gave it a lick with my polishing kit and it came out looking awesome and I fitted it a couple of days ago.










The engine bay is looking pretty sweet now in my eyes.










I was working at home today and I thought I'd let the car run up to temperature like I do every month. All was fine to start with and I pottered around the garden while it was idling. Then I noticed a bit of a tappety sound coming from the engine. I thought I'd take the engine cover off to see if it was something external that just needed tightening up. I have to take my oil filler cap off to do that as it's a silly big shiny thing and when I took it off I saw something that made me shit my pants. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of air coming out of the oil filler hole and then I saw this.










Poo.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Obviously I've just had my intake manifold off so I'm hoping it's got something to do with that rather than a blown head gasket or dare I say cracked block. I haven't had a chance to have a good look round yet so possibly something has just come loose. This is the only time it's run (and got up to temperature) since the manifold got put back on apart from driving it off the ramps.

I'm certainly not saying it's anything to do with the beautiful manifold cover that Dave sent me. I just want to make that clear.


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## Essex2Visuvesi (Oct 22, 2019)

If the car has been sitting unrun it may just be condensation
Check the dipstick as well


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Having a close up look at your engine i can't see your PCV pipes.
Make sure if these have been altered or removed it has been done correct. Or are not blocked.

It should allow the engine to vent from the top of the oil filter housing and from the cam cover back into the tip.

Thats why you have air coming from the filler cap. should be a slight vacuum when idling.

The ally plate looks nice by the way.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

davebowk said:


> Having a close up look at your engine i can't see your PCV pipes.
> Make sure if these have been altered or removed it has been done correct. Or are not blocked.
> 
> It should allow the engine to vent from the top of the oil filter housing and from the cam cover back into the tip.
> ...


Thanks Dave. Where should my PCV pipes be?


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I undid a lot of stuff to get the manifold off so I may well have forgotten something.


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Your's isn't a bam so different from mine.

Basically should have a pipe from top of oil filter housing up to the Tip. Teed into the cam cover.
Under the manifold just after it comes out of the oil filter housing there should be another T with the the PCV valve in it up to the underside of the inlet manifold.
Have a look here, should be similar to this diagram but might not have items 16 to 21 https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?6930178-cons-of-switching-from-PCV-to-catch-can


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks again Dave. I'm out and about now but I'll have a look when I'm back. Mine is a BAM by the way.


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Yeah it is a bam, looked at earlier pics, but looking at earlier pics you need to look at the PCV pipes as they look old and oily. it could be blocked or have split pipes.
Some good info and links here from when i replaced all mine https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1920257


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So I had a chance to have a look at the car today and there is no white gunk on the dip stick. I managed to pull all this out.










There was a bit of white gunk in the end where it goes into the oil filter housing.










And a bit more at the other end where it goes into the rocker cover.










It was particularly oily and dirty around this area.










I gave it all a good clean up and checked everything over and couldn't find anything that looked corroded or any splits. I tried blowing down all the tubes and air passed freely although on some pipes it wouldn't flow both ways but guess that's a non return valve doing its job.

Should I be worries about the white gunk? How much air comes out of your oil filler cap when the engine is running? I guess it could just be condensation as the car doesn't get used much. I didn't let it get right up to 90 degrees the other day because I turned it off when I felt the air and saw the white stuff. It did get up to 50 or 60 degrees though. I spoke to my brother about it and he said he had a similar thing with his beach buggy and it was just because he wasn't using it much. He said that everyone on the forums just told him to take it on a 100 mile thrash and it would go away, and it did. Am I worrying about nothing?


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Nothing to be concerned about, you are ( imo ) better not running the engine at all instead of a short warm up on idle.


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## Den77 (Feb 16, 2020)

auspicious_character said:


> I instantly like you.


Thats the perfect reply as felt the same lol
Just read the whole thread fantastic hope all is ok with the car.


----------



## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks Den. That's very nice of you to say so and welcome to the forum. I'm not sure what to think about the car as I thought something serious was going on but no one else seems to be concerned. For the time being I'll just carry on regardless and deal with it, if I have to, when I get the car back on the road.


----------



## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Mine came out all oily like that and on first inspection i found no splits. I was replacing it all anyway so after i cleaned up the old stuff and on closer inspection found 2 small splits.
All the new stuff has stayed clean and am now not using any oil.
Might be worth another closer look at all them pipes. 
Take some of the clips off especially the ones at the larger diameter T conected to the bend coming out of the oil filter housing and check the PCV valve thats in the rubber T section


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I wander if there's some way of doing a makeshift pressure test on it? Something involving a foot pump and a bowl of water possibly.


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Easy to test with a foot pump just be aware of the direction of the check valves. The main culprit for blocking is the pcv valve in that lower rubber T. Wouldn't normally be that oily with no leaks.
Remove this clip and pull out.


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## Den77 (Feb 16, 2020)

Kang said:


> Thanks Den. That's very nice of you to say so and welcome to the forum. I'm not sure what to think about the car as I thought something serious was going on but no one else seems to be concerned. For the time being I'll just carry on regardless and deal with it, if I have to, when I get the car back on the road.


Well if you ever need a hand I'll happily give up a weekend to help ya if needed as I need to see a finished build lol all the best of luck. Thanks for the welcome.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Wow. Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that. Although I'm not sure this is a build that will ever be finished :lol: The day I can't think of anything else to do to the car will be the day I get bored of it :lol:

Can anyone recommend a decent, cheap diagnostic app plug in thingy? I thought that might be helpful.


----------



## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Torque pro elm327 is ok if you have a android device, but you can see and do more with vcds /vcds lite and a lead.


----------



## Jakethepeg007 (May 14, 2013)

I gave it all a good clean up and checked everything over and couldn't find anything that looked corroded or any splits. I tried blowing down all the tubes and air passed freely although on some pipes it wouldn't flow both ways but guess that's a non return valve doing its job.

Should I be worries about the white gunk? How much air comes out of your oil filler cap when the engine is running? I guess it could just be condensation as the car doesn't get used much. I didn't let it get right up to 90 degrees the other day because I turned it off when I felt the air and saw the white stuff. It did get up to 50 or 60 degrees though. I spoke to my brother about it and he said he had a similar thing with his beach buggy and it was just because he wasn't using it much. He said that everyone on the forums just told him to take it on a 100 mile thrash and it would go away, and it did. Am I worrying about nothing?[/quote]

I wouldn't be worried about the condensation, even if you run up to temp for a short time at this time of year you will still get condensation forming when it cools down, many cars who just run short trips are like this. As for the pressure at the cap, unless it's blowing out the dipstick I wouldn't worry
While you have all your PCV pipework out it might be worthwhile replacing it, last thing you'll want to do when you get your wheels rolling again is take it apart again.

Small cv boot clips are the perfect size for replacing the breather pipes, instead of horrible jubilee clips and look more OEM!

Nice job anyway


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I had another look at the breather hoses and tested them to see if they held pressure. It wasn't a very advanced test, I just put my fingers over various holes and put my lips over the pipes and blew. Oh matron. Shows how much I love this car, there's not a lot of other things I'd do that to. Even when I blew as hard as I could it kept pressure and there was no hissing sounds or anything so I think it's all good. I don't really want to replace something if it's still working fine, unless it's going to make the car go faster or look cooler of course.

Using my skills of deduction there seems to be three one way valves in the system and they all seemed to be doing their job ie letting the air travel one way and not the other. I've drawn on this photo to show where I think they are and which way they are letting the air flow. Perhaps someone can tell me if I'm correct.










There was also the round hockey puck thing that let a bit of air out before closing. This happened with the air travelling in both directions.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I had a chance this morning to put the breather system all back in place. Getting the big hose back on to the oil filter housing was one of the hardest things I've ever experienced but I got there in the end.

There is definitely a tapetty sound coming from the engine that I haven't noticed before. You can't hear it if you're sat in the car but if you lift up the bonnet it is very noticeable. Any thoughts anyone?


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

I have read it can be caused by a blocked oil pump pick up reducing flow to the top end. If you haven't checked your pick up it is worth doing. Pick ups are cheap and it's an easy job.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Ha! I certainly hope that's not what it is. If you read back a few pages that's exactly what I did.


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## davebowk (Aug 16, 2019)

Could be a noisy hydraulic lifter/cam follower, don't know how to test these, but if oil pressure is ok and the cams are good it's probably a lifter.
They normally quieten down after a few seconds as oil gets in them.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

You are suffering with TTitus, it makes you think that every new noise is a problem, what you maybe hearing is the injectors or the engine not liking being left to idle


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

It probably just needs a good thrash. Unfortunately I'm about 18 months away from putting it back on the road.


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## Dave.tt.225 (Mar 29, 2020)

Great read so far kang, I also have a black on black tt newly required about a week ago first for me to.i am also 41 years old with kids and should no better hahaha. It's a daily driver for the mrs so nothing bonkers planned (yet) . Good luck and look forward to more posts.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hi Dave. Welcome to the gang and thanks for your kind words. Did you get your TT at a bargain price because of everything that is going on? I've always thought that if the worst came to the worst and I desperately needed some cash then I could always sell the car but I had a quick look on eBay the other night and all the 225s seem to be going for less than a grand! At least that's a good excuse not to sell it as there's no point selling it if it's not worth anything.

Ignore me. No is just a bad time to try and sell anything. How could I give someone a test drive and still maintain social distancing? I'm sure the value of the car will go back up when this is all over. I'm just feeling a bit down because of this covid19 stuff. I run my own business and I can't work at the mo' so I'm thinking about morbid stuff like having to sell my car to feed my kids. Or having to sell the kids to keep the car. I hope everyone out there is keeping safe and well and sane.

I did actually do something related to the car the other day. I needed some petrol for the lawn mower but I can't leave the house because my six year old had symptoms. He's fine now by the way and none of the rest of us have been ill. I don't know if it was coronavirus or not but he was really ill, fevers and chills but no coughing. Hold on, what is this? A parenthood forum or something? Back to the car. So I needed some petrol for the mower and as the car is off the road and petrol can go bad over time I thought I would syphon some out. I have a little cheap pump thingy and I tried pushing it into the tank. Try as I might I couldn't get down to the good stuff so I cut a length of garden hose and fed that in first. I pushed it right in and then fed the smaller hose through it. When you think it won't go any further push and it will. Sounds like I'm describing an enema. Anyway I managed to get some petrol out but it wouldn't syphon in to my canister. I worked out that the fuel tank on my TT (with 40mm lowered suspension) is really quite low so I had to pump into an old washing up bowl and then decant into the canister. That did the trick.










I know this is a very boring write up but it might help someone out there in the same situation. I thought it was going to be an easy job but it required a little head scratching.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Keep your chin up mate  car prices are pretty much the same but it is bad time to be buying or selling anything apart from bog roll and hand sanitizer :lol:


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Cheers Delta. Yeah I know mate. I'm just talking s**t. How are you mate?


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## Dave.tt.225 (Mar 29, 2020)

Morning kang sounds like that was a bit of nightmare haha at least we know if the world goes bonkers completely and fuel is running short people won't be nicking ours very easily!. I actually paid £2700 for mine but it Is a pretty clean example I have posted in the new tt section with a few more details, I actually had to drive to Devon to pick up the car and was at the fellas house while Boris was giving the lock down speech last Monday night.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Dave.tt.225 said:


> Morning kang sounds like that was a bit of nightmare haha at least we know if the world goes bonkers completely and fuel is running short people won't be nicking ours very easily!. I actually paid £2700 for mine but it Is a pretty clean example I have posted in the new tt section with a few more details, I actually had to drive to Devon to pick up the car and was at the fellas house while Boris was giving the lock down speech last Monday night.


Well done mate. Sounds like you got there just in time. I hope you enjoy the car.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Kang said:


> Cheers Delta. Yeah I know mate. I'm just talking s**t. How are you mate?


At home with my fingers crossed waiting for this situation to be over, i may have spotted your van a few ago, white over red


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

At home with my fingers crossed waiting for this situation to be over, i may have spotted your van a few ago, white over red [/quote]

That's the one mate. It's quite easy to spot. People who know it see it from miles off and give us a wave and we're always like "who was that?". Stay safe.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hi everyone. I hope you're all well. I haven't been on here for a while but I've spotted that my thread has had over twelve thousand views. That's amazing. Thanks for all you're interest.

I've been thinking about it a lot and have sadly decided to sell the TT. This is not a decision I've made lightly as I planned to keep the car into my old age and be like one of those old geezers you see driving around in their old Triumphs and TVRs on a Sunday. Having a customized sports car has always been the ultimate dream for me and I've loved driving and fixing it up but my situation has changed a bit.

I've actually quite enjoyed lock down, spending more time at home and having a more simple life. Because of this I've decided to downsize my business and with it hopefully downsize my stress levels. Also to try and want less and need less and unfortunately having a sports car that I only drive on sunny weekends doesn't fit in with my new zen'd out lifestyle ethos.

I've got it booked in for an MOT this Wednesday and as soon as I get it through that I'll be putting it up on eBay.

What do you guys think it's worth? 85,000 ish miles on the clock, fsh and, I think, tastefully modified. What should my starting price be?

Cheers.


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hi all. So the car had it's MOT yesterday. The only thing that it failed on was the fact that I didn't have a heat shield over the cats. Odd that they failed me on that as the place where I last got my MOT took it off because it was rattling. Nevermind, they re attached it and away we go.

I took it for a couple of runs yesterday, which is the first time I'd driven it in about 9 months and it behaved perfectly. What an awesome car. I'll be very sad to see it go. Anyway, I put it on eBay last night with a £2995 starting price so we'll see what happens. Here's a link to the auction if you're interested.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-TT-mk1- ... SwuAtfRoUF


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)




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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

So the TT has just been sold to a very nice man called Jason. I hope he has many happy miles in it. It sold for asking price on eBay and I'm very sad to see it go.

Thanks to everyone on the forum for all your help, advice and encouragement over the last couple of years. I couldn't have done it without you. The TT forum really is an amazing bank of information and camaraderie. Thanks for reading my thread.


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

Cool... you'll never look back now you've got rid... so what colour is your next TT going to be?


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## jjo5555 (Feb 22, 2021)

Waves.....
Sorry for the delay
Thanks Kang this really is a special car. I love it and love the work you've done to it.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Have you any plans for it


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## jjo5555 (Feb 22, 2021)

Delta4 said:


> Have you any plans for it


Other than drive it and keep it going - No

The passenger side shelf/dash is dented so I'm thinking of using heat to try and reshape it. I will wait until the weather is better.

The LED matrix in the dash is gone with a lot of the LED's not working (in horizontal or vertical lines) so the display is useless. I'd like to replace that but I suspect that is a massive job.

One day in a few years I will get it resprayed.


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## StuartDB (Feb 10, 2018)

The LED dash is a common issue, there's some well renowned repair agents, who provide a drive in / drive out or postal repair service.

Totaltronics seem to be a favoured one and for about the same price you can get a colour MFA mod.

https://totaltronics.com/instrument-clu ... placement/

I think there was a class action suit in the US which forced a recall for dashpod repairs.

My LCD fault seems to be impacted by weather. So it's often okay in the summer.


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## jjo5555 (Feb 22, 2021)

StuartDB said:


> The LED dash is a common issue, there's some well renowned repair agents....


Thanks Stuart
That is really useful


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## jjo5555 (Feb 22, 2021)

StuartDB said:


> Totaltronics seem to be a favoured one


Thanks so much
Patryk at Totaltronics is a real professional. I drove up from London (nice to get out) and he repaired my MK1 instrument cluster whilst I waited. It is like new.
He also took a video when he took it apart, which is here:


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## Kang (Feb 5, 2018)

Hi Jason. Glad to see you're enjoying the car and keeping the build thread going. I haven't been on here since I sold the car so I was chuffed to see that you have been posting. Well done for getting the display fixed that was definitely on my to do list.

Not sure why there is that dent in the dash above the glove box. I guessed it was something to do with the passenger airbag being or of place or something. I was thinking of changing the whole dash at some point as second hand ones aren't all that dear.

Man, I really really miss that car. Enjoy mate.


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## Mima (Apr 13, 2021)

My LED display also crashed & Audi dealer wanted AUD$5,000!! to replace. Freaking car is only worth 8! They offered to "solder" something and it was good for about 2 weeks (probably went over a bump and it was stuffed again). I went back and I thought they were being nice by installing new LED. Now I read how there was a successful class action in the USA. Damn, I thought they were just nice blokes.


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## Nij48tt (Jul 7, 2021)

HOGG said:


> I'm going to enjoy this. I too turn 40 soon and I bought my tt last year.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


I myself am turning 40 so bough another TT (first one was about 7 years ago). As for Kangs comment of midlife crisis, they said that about the motorbikes and motocross racing lol. This is a post life crisis I bet lol.


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## Delta4 (Jun 19, 2015)

Nij48tt said:


> HOGG said:
> 
> 
> > I'm going to enjoy this. I too turn 40 soon and I bought my tt last year.
> ...


Meh spring chicken, i have a son that's near that age, you don't stop being a petrolhead beyond a certain age :lol:


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## jjo5555 (Feb 22, 2021)

Kang said:


> Man, I really really miss that car. Enjoy mate.


Thanks - I love it.


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## jjo5555 (Feb 22, 2021)

First Major service and MOT. I took it to Ian at https://www.vwdoctor.co.uk/ - highly recommended he certainly knows his stuff.

One month prior to service the driver side headlamp started playing up and it wasn't the bulb. Both housings were very wet and the wiring was not in great condition. Audi want over £1000 for each headlamp. Anyway Ian found a few second hand and once he discarded the ones that were worse than mine we ended up with a reasonable pair at £135 each. Not too bad.

Apart from a general service and the headlamps, the following were done.
Rear brake hoses were replaced
Air Con was re-gassed
Power steering oil cooler exploded whilst he had it on the ramp due to corrosion so that needed replacement

I missed it whilst is was away.


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