New Sport Suspension Kit

[thethinningbeast]

mate that's a nice engine bay

1) did your cam covers come black like that or did you paint them yourself?

2) how is the cone attached? do you have a maf adapter/bracket? Is it a noticeable increase?

3) battery cover?

nice to see a fellow clean v6

1) Cam covers are plastic and aren't painted - just used bumper cleaner on them

2) Cone came from Deamon Tweaks and is a non-car specific Green Filter (85mm x 120mm x 200mm Long). I used a top had adaptor, also from Deamon Tweaks, for a Nissan (Part code Green BR03). This bolts straight onto the MAF. I made the silver plate to hold everything in place from a sheet of mild steel and sandwiched it between the MAF and the top hat adaptor. I'm planning to make a carbonfibre plate when I get time at work just because it will look better!

3) The car didn't have a battery cover when I bought it and I haven't got round to buying one yet...... sorry - it kind of lets the rest of the engine bay down!

[Acidburn]

Sounds cool, looks like a little task for Cullam3n to sort something out like that, I do like green airfilters tho they look the part and are huge, I had the biggest ram air filter I could find on my 20v quattro sport and it sounded lovely.

[thethinningbeast]

Very clean under there, hopefully its still the same, just out of interest is there much gain for fitting the air filter and does it make a nice noise?

I've not had the car on the rollers for a before and after to establish what the power gain is for the cone, but it did make a big difference! With the standard air-box when you changed gear at say just under 6K RPM, from 2nd into 3rd gear, you'd have a slight delay before the engine hit it's sweet power spot again. With the cone, the sweet spot is much lower down the rev range so when you change out of 2nd and into 3rd you slip straight back into the power band.

I'd guess the increase in torque and BHP is fairly small, maybe 10-15 BHP? But it's much more drivable and you can get through the gears a lot quicker!

The induction noise is good. On tick over when the automatic choke is on you get 60 seconds of high idle and it sounds like it's going to take off. It's also given the engine a bit of an over-run so it pops and burbles through the mid-sport exhaust when you engine brake!

[Acidburn]

Your car looks good in the pictures, hope you can sort out what he's done.
Yeah sounds like he's knocked the tracking out slightly. When you go to change the suspension i'd recommend if you can afford it some alloy subframe mounts as they would help tighten up the feel of the car and help come mot time. (AFAIK when fitting them you need the tracking doing at the same time anyways) corey has them on special at the moment at something like £60 for the front and rear sets (don't quote me on that tho, there is a thread going on it with more detail, i'm getting ready to order mine)

[thethinningbeast]

Sounds like he was throwing it into every corner that he could find, or possible knocked the tracking out enough to do that, i've seen it done once or twice. How's it drive when you drive it, in a straight line or pulling a bit?

It pulls lightly to the left under acceleration now it has the new tyres. I'm only covering about 15 miles a week though so I'm going to wait until I fit new suspension and bushes before I get the 4 wheel tracking set up. (ETA 1 month as I need another pay day to afford the Koni's). When I got the car back last Friday it pulled violently to the left. On the Saturday I switched the front tryes around and that made things a lot better (less of a ditch witch anyway).

Attached is the bodywork by Sunday evening, after a day spent removing the swirls (with the tyres swapped round too). Note the oversprayed lower valance on the front bumper which should be paint free!

[Cullam3n]

mate that's a nice engine bay

1) did your cam covers come black like that or did you paint them yourself?

2) how is the cone attached? do you have a maf adapter/bracket? Is it a noticeable increase?

3) battery cover?

nice to see a fellow clean v6

[Acidburn]

Very clean under there, hopefully its still the same, just out of interest is there much gain for fitting the air filter and does it make a nice noise?

[thethinningbeast]

Engine Bay

My mate also took this photo of the engine bay 2 months ago. Nothing appears to be wrong with the engine but it looks pretty good and it's different to an S2 so I thought I'd post it too.

[Acidburn]

Sounds like he was throwing it into every corner that he could find, or possible knocked the tracking out enough to do that, i've seen it done once or twice. How's it drive when you drive it, in a straight line or pulling a bit?

[Acidburn]

[QUOTE=thethinningbeast;247954]I just jacked the rear drivers side wheel up and whilst in gear with the handbrake off rotated it back and forth. Just as you suggested, the diff was jumpiing up and down on the mount, probably by an inch or two - Cheers AcidBurn. Going to order a polybush and fit it next weekend.
QUOTE]

Thats quite a travel, glad that it worked out cheaper/easier to do that first than spend out on the box transfer, even if the missus is being a bit understanding over all thats gone on. Tbh with most boxes the only time i've really heard any major problems with them is if that they have quite a lot of power running thru them.

Still make sure you keep your receipts of what damage you've had to pay to rectify hopefully it will help with your claim.

[thethinningbeast]

Baldness

I fitted my new wheels and tyres yesterday, and just gave the old ones a clean this morning. This is the extent of the tyre wear the mechanic managed to acheive during the 7 weeks on the front passenger side tyre.

[thethinningbeast]

Clunk

I just jacked the rear drivers side wheel up and whilst in gear with the handbrake off rotated it back and forth. Just as you suggested, the diff was jumpiing up and down on the mount, probably by an inch or two - Cheers AcidBurn. Going to order a polybush and fit it next weekend.

I think for the longterm I'll keep an eye out for a spare 6-speed (type CGR) gearbox. I've heard that fitting the TDi clutch allows you to handle more torque and power without the 'jerky' feel of a double or tripple plate clutch!

As for the photo's of the car before and after, I'm struggling to be honest. I've only just entered the 21st century with a mobile that has a camera on it. I've added a photo of the front quarter taken 2 months ago by my mate, showing the tyre with tread. I'll add a photo of the same tyre taken this morning showing the bald edge. I took some pictures of the 'hollogramming' or swirls left in the paint but he'd waxed it before I collected so it was impossible to get anything to show up on the photo.

[Acidburn]

Unfortunately the situation is a little delicate at the moment so I've not been able to complain - but I haven't had to pay anything either. Another two of my friends are having trouble with the same mechanic, but over much bigger issues. I've agreed to bite my tongue until we all have our cars back, then we are going to the police over the issue.

The guy looks like he could be big trouble for us, so the plan is to recover what we can from him and let the police do the rest.

The important thing is that I have my car back and I have a good legitimate reason to spend my weekends and wages on it for a while!

Just took it out for a spin ths evening and noticed that the clutch biting point is a little high and there is a clunk from the drivetrain when I go through the gears at any pace. I think this might be a good oportunity to fit a 6 speed gearbox and a 2.5TDi V6 clutch.

The clunk could be the mounts for either the gearbox or diff and would probably be cheaper to do than a gearbox change, I do like the sound of the 6 speed gearbox tho. Just really sorry to hear that's happened to your car especially thru someone you've put your trust in.

Do you have anymore pictures of your car before all this happened?

[thethinningbeast]

Unfortunately the situation is a little delicate at the moment so I've not been able to complain - but I haven't had to pay anything either. Another two of my friends are having trouble with the same mechanic, but over much bigger issues. I've agreed to bite my tongue until we all have our cars back, then we are going to the police over the issue.

The guy looks like he could be big trouble for us, so the plan is to recover what we can from him and let the police do the rest.

The important thing is that I have my car back and I have a good legitimate reason to spend my weekends and wages on it for a while!

Just took it out for a spin ths evening and noticed that the clutch biting point is a little high and there is a clunk from the drivetrain when I go through the gears at any pace. I think this might be a good oportunity to fit a 6 speed gearbox and a 2.5TDi V6 clutch.

[Acidburn]

I'm worried something slightly worse might be causing the problem - hence the reason I want to change all the bushes and the springs and dampers. I only just got the car back from a 7 week nightmare! Someone spilt a chemical on the rear quarter panel of my car and it dissolved the paint so I booked it into a paint shop through a mechanic my mate knows. The new paintwork is terrible and the car came back with an extra 535 miles on the clock, no fuel and a broken lock on the drivers door. The edges of my front tyres were bald suggesting it's had 7 weeks of being thrashed into the ground. Needless to say, the creaking suspension wasn't there when I handed the car over!

Sorry to hear that about your car. I know if it was mine i'd have gone absolutely mental about it. Did you complain to them about it, or refuse the payment for the paintwork? And i'd try to sue for damages to the car thru small claims court. They should be punished for what they have done to your car. Sorry to hear about it as its never good, especially not when its to an audi.