Audi TT 225 - banger project

[B5NUT]

After reading many threads about Audi coupe's lack of being water tight. I decided that I was not going to run it over the winter months. I also don't want to chuck a load of miles on the car doing mundane driving and want to avoid the salty winter roads. So over the past months I'm been looking around for options. It had to be Audi and cheap. I've had a load of B5 over the years, and did not want another estate car. Was thinking of an 80 but was getting board with NLA part finding. Also wanted something similar power wise to the S2, and avoid any money pit V6 or V8 engines.

So for a while now I was thinking about the TT, I kind of like the MK1 and they are cheap enough at the moment. There is a couple of MK1 TT where I live and I walk past one very day when I'm walking the dog, and it's been catching my eye. I've also noticed they are starting to thin out on the UK roads, with a lot of them being broken from what I see on FB market place. Let face it who is going to spend £300-500 on a cambelt change and service on a car worth £1K, unless you can do it yourself. Let's face it Labour rates are the death of cars.

So my brief on the car I need. It's had to be cheap around £1K, and to be the BAM engine and the body work had to be in good condition. Don't mind if need wings just as longs as the main body was ok. There were plenty of £2.5K-£3K cars around that look very good on the surface and interior but the running gear still needs a lot of work as they are all around 20 years old with 100K miles. So would rather get a £1K car and spend £2K to bring it up to scratch. Also with lots of cars being broken parts are cheap, and everything I've ordered from TPS at the moment has either been in stock or with me next day. Which is a nice change.

When I was searching for this cheap motor I went to see two cars, both were in poor condition. One looked like it had been painted with a rattle can, and the other car the owner had let slip it had been a track car after I asked why the engine had been replaced, and the airbag system had been disabled! On both cars I got out of there quickly and never bothered with a test drive. Few days ago one lunch time I was searching FB marketplace and one had been posted only an hour before and it was local. So messaged the seller and within 3 hours the car was mine after a bit of haggling.
1-TT.jpg
2-TT.jpg

Kind of like the red leather, it breaks up the sea of black. The interior is also in very good condition. But it needs a dam good clean.
3-TT.jpg

Issues with the car as follows.

Engine management light on, think a sensor has failed from the VCDS scan.
Needs a new windscreen
Needs a cambelt.
Engine needs servicing, plugs, oil, filters etc.
Sump removed to check the pickup, the 1.8 is know for sludging up.
Haldex needs servicing.
Brake, gearbox and PAS fluid needs changing.
Needs a replacement rear exhaust (Owner gave me a good one for free).
A/C needed fixing loads of gas but does not work.
Drivers side wing has a dent & scrape will either repair or replace.
All the running gear need blasting and powder coating.
New bushes & joints required.
Needs shocks & springs.
Car needs a good clean inside and out..

With the car back home the work has begun. Engine bay has never been cleaned.
1-eng.jpg
2-eng.jpg
3-eng.jpg Looks like the entire scuttle trim needs replacing, just because this VIN window has failed
4-trim.jpg

Started the strip down
6-eng.jpg
Air filter has been done recently
5 filter.jpg
Lovely
7-eng.jpg

Kit was right rocker cover was leaking, in a few places!
8-eng.jpg
Belt is not in good health
9-eng.jpg

Looks like someone got a job lot on self tapping screws. They were the only thing holding the undertray on
10-screws.jpg

Spark plugs are also well passed their best, gap on the plugs was massive compare to the new ones.
11-plugs.jpg

This was about as far as I got on the first day
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More to follow

[Tractor Dave]

Looks like a nice little project.

[B5NUT]

Cheers Dave, I do like my projects but this one will be the last for a while, unless I start parking cars in the back garden!!

Second day was mainly further stripping down and draining fluids.

Sometimes I wonder if arch liners are a good idea or not, especially if they are never removed and the areas behind them cleaned out from time to time.
1-arches.jpg

Off with the intercool pipe work, little dribble started to come out so stuck a jug under and got about 150ML out, which after 20 years is not that bad
2-oil.jpg

Next up coolant, which again was not too bad.
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Good only knows why Audi used this cap for the pas fluid. Will look around for a more sensible cap that you can remove with your hand.
4-pas.jpg

Cam cover removed
5-eng.jpg

This is what comes form infrequent / long life oil changes. I know the 1.8T is know for sludging up so will be giving the car regular changes to help clean out the crap I cannot get to.
6-grim.jpg Sump was not much better, I had to remove it as bits of the disintegrated dipstick tube had dropped in there and I wanted to clean the pickup.
7-sump.jpg
To remove the sump I had to get creative. It was well and truly stuck on after 20 years.
12-remove.jpg

So this lot along with the engine bay all got cleaned up.
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Sump was cleaned up
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Pickup tube was soaked in brake cleaner. there was some crud in the filter but it was not too bad after seeing the state of the cam cover.
13-pickuptube.jpg


Along with the cam cover. This was scrubbed with brake fluid and a wire wool. Once it was as clean as I could get it it went into the dishwasher and the final results were impressive. Soo much so I'm going to buy one for the workshop
10-cover.jpg

This is what was left of the dipstick tube, the plastic was so brittle when I tried to remove it it fell apart and bits ended up in the sump.
11-tube.jpg

Final job on the second day was to drain the PAS fluid, forgot to take a picture but after 20 years it was very grim.

[Fat Audi 80]

Subscribed! I fancy one of these too, so watching with interest.....

[B5NUT]

Well they are cheap enough at the moment, parts easily available & cheap. They also have enough power well for me anyway. The hard bit is finding one at the right price. If your getting into having the shell resprayed then the sums just don't add up at the moment. I'm hoping over the next few years price will start to rise for good examples.

[B5NUT]

So I'm hoping someone can give me a little help with this. My timing looks to be out. There was an error code on the ECU about timing.

So if the cam is aligned then as the picture below
1-cam.jpg
This is where the crank is

2-crank.jpg

So when the belt is removed do I just rotate the crank slightly to bring it back into alignment ? or should I align the crank and move the cam or does it make no difference?

Thanks for any advice.

[Greg_S]

If you are need of interior bits or other parts let me know as I am in the process of building a TT track car again and I have alot of bits sat around atm that will need to go soon.

I'll have to start a project thread as its been taking most of my spare time and the S2 has taken a back burner for a while.

[Tractor Dave]

Is the rocket cover still off? Are there marks on the camshaft sprockets like the S2? I would check you are tdc with a long screwdriver down cylinder 1, check camshaft marks and when you are happy the top end is right, shift the bottom pulley on the crank to get the marks meeting. Is there a window to the flywheel and a mark there? That will be more accurate than the pulley marks.

[B5NUT]

The cam cover is back on but can easy take it off. So if the crank is aligned then I can see the timing mark on the flywheel in the middle of the hole on the gearbox.

So with the crank aligned the top pully looks to be out by about 2 teeth.
pully.jpg

So if the crank is aligned then I just need to rotate the cam until it's aligned. My guess who ever did the belt last never put it on correctly.

[Tractor Dave]

Just confirm by checking it's tdc. Also check the keyway on top pulley is ok. Mine sheared on the S2 and slipped about 45 degrees. I was very lucky there was no damage

[B5NUT]

Well I think I have the timing sorted. The crank is at TDC with the bottom timing mark so have just rotated the upper pully slightly till the timing mark aligns. Think what happened at the last belt change was the when the tensioner was applied it's pulled the top pully anti-clockwise slightly. The belt has to go on tight around the top pully, water pump and the crank. the slack on the belt should all be on the tensioner side of the belt. Looks like they have also use a cheap belt as there is no manufacture markings on the belt at all. Think the water pump has been leaking at some point so they have used sealant around the pump, rather then buy a new pump or at least a O-ring. The old was was as flat as a pancake. Will finish the cambelt tomorrow, I'm not even going to try and finish that job in the dark.

So another job that has taken far to long was fixing the A/C wiring issue. I found this when I removed the Alternator
1-AC.jpg

When I moved the wire it snapped in two. Looks like it's been rubbing against the A/C pipes and finally cut through. Will need to check the fuses as well (when I find them)
2-ac.jpg

Was going to solder a new section of wire in however it was far to tarnished no matter what I did it solder would not take to the wire. So what should have been a 20minute job took a heck of a lot longer.

So started off with a new terminal and the correct gauge wire which was then covered in heat shrink, as it appears that that old wires were.
3-wire.jpg
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I got lucky on where the wire terminated. It went to another plug in the loom it was only about 60cm run. Pin 3 was the replacement wire. I've left the old wire in place as it was going to be far too much trouble trying to remove it.
5-wire.jpg
The sump was refitted as it needed to be done before I start the timing belt belt job and there was no way I was going to use the upper engine support as it would get right on my nips as you need a lot of access above while doing the belt change,

Splashed out on some VAG sealant.
6-sealent.jpg

once fitted the bolts were torqued up and then I left it overnight for the sealant to go off before I supported the engine from the jack on the underside.
7-sump.jpg

Next up will be the timing belt which so far has proven to be a right pain in the backside.

[Greg_S]

Did you change the oil pickup pipe while you had the sump off as they tend to get gunked up

[B5NUT]

I didn't replace it. I soaked it in brake cleaner over night, gave it a scrub with a small bristled paint brush and blasted it out with an airline. It was clean when I finish, then refitted with an a new O-ring.

[Monkeymagic]

You check the crank timing tdc on the flywheel.
don't rely on the damper mark, ,the cams never quite line up, they always appear half a tooth out either side of the mark dependent on where you position the belt.
But the pictures you have put on suggests it was way out. That belt has been on for ages, so it's been running way out for some time.
What fault code were you seeing?

[Monkeymagic]

Fuses for alternator are in top of battery.