Audi TT 225 - banger project

[B5NUT]

I'm using the epoxy on the callipers, with a Devilbiss spray gun. I've tried rattle cans in the past and can never get a good finish, so all my spraying is out of a gun. Downside is the the cost, good size compressor, spray gun, regulator, moisture filters, air lines and the cleaning of the gun every time you do a job so you need plenty of cheap gun wash thinners.

[B5NUT]

So further work has been done on the car. Was hoping to get it finished this weekend but life and the weather has gotten in the way. I'm hoping it's done this week as I want to get the new screen fitted towards the end of the week.

So one of the few remaining jobs on the list was the rear brake pipes. I knew someone had replaced them in the past as they were copper and Audi don't use copper pipes. I had to cut the end that went into the flexi as the fittings were so rusty they had clamped themselves to the copper line and would just twist the pipe when turned. So a few weeks back they were just cut off and I spent a bit of time thinking things over on how best to fix the issue.

In the end I decided to buy the OEM pipes as they are still available and were just over £30 each. Now the down side of doing the job was having to drop the fuel tank. Thankfully I did not have to fully remove it as that would have entailed removing the rear subframe, diff and suspension lines. I did remove the prop as it's been leaking grease past the CV joint, so I need to clean that up put some fresh grease in there and get a new seal. I'm also going to replace the prop bearing and bush while I'm there.

Now back to the brake pipes. Have to say I'm relived that I did replace them. As this is what the last garage or owner did to attach one of the rear brake lines. That right, Silicone sealant. I was just lost for words when I found this one. I've never seen pipes attached to a car using silicone sealant, It was well hidden behind the heat shields so no one could see the bodge as I'm sure if an MOT inspector had seen that they would have failed the car.
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The bodged pipes were removed and the new pipe work fitted. Looks so much more professional with the OEM lines. I've also gone for the OEM brake pipe fittings rather the bathroom sealant!

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I've blead the brake a little just to get fluid to the callipers, but did not have enough fluid to fully blead them over the weekend, will pop over to the VW garage tomorrow for some more fluid.

[Greg_S]

Its really coming along. Interestingly we had exactly the same issue with the earth strap on the rear diff. Silicone sealant on the brake line is a complete bodge, i've never seen that done before either.

[B5NUT]

Think that earth strap is a common failure, I've seen a few breaker TT's where the strap has just fallen apart when I tried to remove it. That's why I wanted to come up with a more permanent solution, that would not fall apart when it's removed.

[K Simmonds]

Well that's a new one me, I've never seen brake pipe's glued to the floor with anything let alone poxy silicone....

However if they weren't touching the body I'm not actually sure it would fail an MOT even though it's obviously a total bodge and should. It kinda depends how you interpret the rules, still that's really crappy work.

Oh yeah, those calipers look awesome. As you say doing it properly with a gun is a fair bit more hassle and probably costs more than a spray can but you can't argue with the results.

[B5NUT]

So have been pushing to get this car finished, and I'm not far off thankfully.

Removed a massive amount of double sided tape from the boot lid. Including the screw holes I counted that car has had at least 5 number plates in it's life.
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The prop shaft was removed as it was clear the seal had failed as there was grease all over the place
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It's also been hitting the heatshield
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With that the prop bearing looked a little knackered. The bearing was OK, just the rubber had gone very soft. So it was stripped down. This was a lot easier to work on than the S2 prop.

The Flange was pulled off along with the bearing
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A socket and a hammer was then used to gently press the new bearing on the saft.
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The bolt that holds the flange on was the torqued up.
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Finally the prop was stripped of rust and painted.
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The prop is now back on the car. So the next job is the handbrake cables and guides refit the rear covers. Then finally refit the exhaust and the car should be just about done.

[B5NUT]

So the last few reaming jobs have been done on the car. Just a couple left before the MOT on Wednesday.

Tidied up the rusty bits of the exhaust
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New rubbers for the front & middle section
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Rear hangers were just refurbished as the rubbers were in very good condition. Just the metal work that was rusty.
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The cats and the exhaust was was fitted. At that point the car was of the axle stands and on it's wheels.
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Rear seats were refitted
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Boot trims and floor was refitted. Still not that happy with the boot folding floor so on the look out for a better one
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Got a parcel shelf from a breaker for £20.
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Then realised two of the mounting points are missing. Finally found some today.

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Scuttle trim was removed, as the area needed cleaning and it had to be removed for the new windscreen. My screen had a crack and it was also delaminating. Every TT that I want to see had some delamination around the screen. I guess it's an age thing!
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New screen getting fitted. Really happy with the job these guy's did, and they did a far better job than Autoglass did on my S2.
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New scuttle trim was fitted after swapping over the washer jets
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All the brakes were blead. and the handbrake was adjusted. It was at this point I found one the rear callipers was knackered. Quick call to my local automotive store and 30 minutes later a replacement calliper was delivered. Wish I had opened a trade account years ago it makes getting car parts soo much quicker and easier.
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New calliper fitted, handbrake adjusted and now the brakes working as they should.

So my one and only bodge on the car! For the last couple of weeks I've been looking for an undertray locally and had no luck at all. The undertray that came with the car was is in a poor state. The had been snapped in 2. and loads of cracks all over it. However I prefer to run one on that car, so with that I bodged the one I had an I'm hoping to find a replacement in the next few weeks. The two parts were joined together using bits of old undertray and some plastic rivets. The two sections were then welded together using a hot iron to melt the plastic together. Red line shows where the tray had snapped in half.
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I know it's not the greatest repair but it's only temporary, until I source a new tray.
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Engine bay trims were refitted. looks so much better than when I got it. still needs a bit of trim renovator on the plastics.
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Some of the scrap that came off the car. Still need to chop up the old exhaust
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Car is finally on it's wheels. Ready for it's MOT. Still a few daft little jobs to do but nothing that will affect the MOT. I'm glad it's over as the gritters were out in force this evening and snow is forecast for next week, so want the TT ready ASAP as I don't want to use the S2 until the weather improves.
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Really looking forward to getting this on the road. It's a cracking little car and I'm glad I've saved it from the breakers. As I've no doubt if I had not purchased this TT it would have gone to some who would have sold it for parts, then had the rest crushed. Hopefully it will last another 10/20 years.

[K Simmonds]

Calling this a banger project is doing yourself a bit of disservice, sure you've taken a rough example and turned it into a really car tidy again so the tittle makes sense but that's no banger now. I doubt there's many early TT's that are as in the same excellent mechanical condition as this car, I work on a lot of VAG cars from this era and I don't think I've seen one as tidy as this underneath in some time.

The under trays on these, 8L A3's and MK4 Golfs are almost always either missing or damaged, in a lot of cases the cause is people fitting stupid suspension, quite often they're cable tied on with holes and cracks all over the place... I've replaced a lot of sumps on these cars due to them being made too low, they handle great as standard why folk decide they need to look like they're sat on the floor is beyond me.

I'm sure your right that you've saved the car from being broken at the price you got it for and now it's fit for probably another 20 years, the 1.8T engines last well as long as the oil pick issue is dealt with. I hope you get many years of enjoyment out of all your hard work.

[Tractor Dave]

Agree with Kit. You have done it proud.
Now, just thinking about the snow you mentioned above. I'm sure you have some winter driving experience, living where you do and will know that a TT on its low profile tyres and wide wheels is as much use as a chocolate tea pot in the snow without winter tyres! Reminds me of my wife wanting to take my Discovery to see he friend in heavy snow (despite my protests) because it's 4x4! It was on normal summer tyres and 20 minutes after leaving she put it in a hedge having lost it on a bend

[B5NUT]

Hi Kit, I know it's starting to move away from being a banger. The body work still has a few issues but they will get resolved over time. The banger side of things is what these cars are at the moment. I know you don't like Facebook (and I agree it rubbish) but it has been useful locating parts for the TT, it's not been that good for the S2 as everyone selling parts on there think they have struck gold and want silly money for them!

So back to the TT. There are a lot of TT's being purchased for people to strip them, almost every other day there is a another on FB being broken. Think they are still at that level were people buy them with a years MOT for the £1-£2K mark and just run them, until an expensive bill turns up and then they are on the lookout for the next motor. How long I keep this I have no idea. It will be around for the next few years that's for sure.

Fully agree with you Dave, 18" PS4's don't make good snow tyres. Also having a 4x4 may help you get off the line but it won't help you stop. The A3 is on 18" however I run Crossclimate tyres on that and it handles very well in the snow. The TT is more about taking the brunt of the wet & salt roads, when the snow comes I'll jump into the A3.

[B5NUT]

Few more updates on the car, as I've sorting out a few more jobs. I noticed the car had a slight fluctuation on the rev's and looking at some threads on the TT forum, it would appear that the culprit is most likely the throttle body. So of it came for a bit of a clean then an alignment using VCDS.

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It was not too bad, so cleaned it up and performed the throttle body alignment. Which for the moment appears to have sorted the issue.
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While I was there with VCDS I did a scan of the car and cleared all the fault codes that were on the car from when I got it. The only fault that came back was the alarm horn. These are know to fail because some bright spark at the Ministry of crap design figured it would be a good idea to put the batteries inside the unit and then fully seal it up, so the only way to get at them is to cut the thing open. Which is what I did next and the result was just what I'd been expecting, one completely destroyed circuit board. Not a cat in hell's chance of fixing that so it's in the bin.
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So I've ordered a second hand unit with the later revised part number. They also have the same issue, however if I plug it in and it works then I will cut that open and replace the batteries. Will see what turns up in the next couple of days.

Another job ticked off the list is the front grills. They looked like they were covered in white polish residue, however on closer inspection it was almost like they had been painted before and the old paint had started to fade away. So I used the same paint I used on the external S2 B pillars trims. Lechler Tecnogrip. This stuff is really very good and the trims I paint still look like new 6 months later so used it on the TT grills
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Only other thing to do is the drivers door lock. I had ordered this a while ago, just not gotten around to fitting it. I've also ordered replacement microswitches to repair the one fitted to the car. If it stops raining for 5 minutes then I may get around to fitting it today.
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[B5NUT]

Final job ticked off the list before the MOT. Drivers door lock replaced, so now the drivers side window drops a little when you open the door. Have to say it's dirty has hell in there and will need a good clean out but that's when the better/warmer weather comes.

One failed door lock.
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Well I say failed it's the microswitch behind this clip that's failed. Roll on Wednesday.
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[B5NUT]

All sorted. Need another project now
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[B5NUT]

Today was the first real drive of the car. I know I drove it from Newcastle to home but that was with kit gloves and in the dark as I knew it was not in the best of conditions and I was more concerned about just getting home without breaking down.

First of all the drives side mirror mechanism needs replacing as the mirror glass just shakes when driving. Also it whistles when you put you foot down so it must have a boost leak somewhere. Now with fitting the Eibach springs it's dropped the car a little more and the rear camber is now out by far to much for my liking, so have purchased these to sort it out. KW adjustable lower arms. It really is surprising there is 0 adjustment on the car even camber bolts! Audi must have known that the different ride hight of the even the standard V sports springs would have changed the camber.

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Also had to sort out the number plate lights. When it was going through the MOT we found an issue with the lights (I checked everything but them For some reason someone had fitted two left hand side bulb holders! There was a wring issue with the boot harness which was fixed. A new fuse in and two new holders & bulbs were fitted, and it was all sorted.

Once I get the camber arms I will get the car fully aligned, as I found a garage in the local area with a hunter system. However I would say even with the rear camber being out the car drove very well. However you do feel a bit small on the road! Another very minor thing I found with the car is that you do have to use the gears a bit more in the TT. You can be quite lazy in the S2, but you cannot do that on the TT. I guess it just the torque of the 5 cylinder engine. Also don't like the clutch pedal on the TT, my foot keeps slipping down on the pedal, will order a replacement rubber cap to see if that sorts the issue.

Other than the above the car drove very well, and I'm very happy with the little car.

[newsh]

Nice one!
You might find the engine a bit more responsive when you fix the boost leak.

Have you checked the DV diaphragm is good, they are often split, usually makes a strange noise though.. just make sure you can pull a vacuum on the actuator port (thin vac line from top off DV).