Copart Salvage Audi S3
Discussion
Kev_Mk3 said:
Will read it fully once home but sandycroft isn't a nice place at all
Yeah I certainly won't be rushing to return back there any time soon!2wheelsjimmy said:
Respect on the effort and commitment.
Thankyou 
dontfollowme said:
Really good read OP. Enjoyed that over a coffee.
Threads you can enjoy over a coffee are the best ones! Much appreciated.Unbusy said:
Cracking read and photos. Really enjoyed it, thanks.
My pleasure! ThanksTheDukeGTi said:
Great job with this! Looks great after all the work.
Thankyou, I think so aswell. Still lots of bits to do but that's the joy of projects Seanseansean said:
Looks like a tidy S3 now, nice write up.
Thankyou kindly selym said:
That's a good write up and hopefully motivational for those who think they can't do 'stuff'.
Thanks very much! From someone who hadn't turned a spanner before, I absolutely love getting stuck in now. That doesn't mean I don't have moments of fire spitting rage when a bolt rounds itself off or something though 
jonnyconnor said:
Really enjoyed reading this threat, please keep us updated with your progress!
Thankyou! I surely will be providing little updates here and there but the main work is done now until the bank balanced has recouped a little and I start splashing out on the mods.miniman said:
Nice thread, and nice work on the Audi. Personally I would have left the wheels silver, but each to their own
Thanks! Yeah I was honestly in two minds whether to go for the anthracite but the colour of the wheels is really lovely in person and has really nice fleck in it. I actually still have the PFL alloys in storage so at some point I might just get those refurbished the normal silver colour and put some winter tyres on them.A couple of tiny little updates. The LION battery that came with the car finally gave up the ghost, so I have purchased a new high quality Exide battery and a brand new OEM battery clamp as the previous one had seen better days and the bolt didn't fit properly.
I also fitted the Passat washer jets that I got a while back. These are a straight swap for the old ones and have a fan sprayer rather than a couple of jets. The coverage is much better. I'm a big fan of OEM+ sort of mods and little things like this make a big difference for me.
Old ones:
New ones fitted:
I've also booked in the rear windows and hatch to be tinted by GlobalTint in a few weeks time. I've gone for Onyx which is the darkest, limo style tint. I obviously won't be touching the fronts. I think that should make a big difference to the overall appearance of the car.
I'm looking for a few opinions. As you may have noticed, the back of the car is debadged and I'm in two minds whether to source and fit an S3 badge. I sort of like the clean lines and relative 'stealth' look but wondered what others thought?
Cheers, Ant
paradigital said:
Do you have the part number(s) for the Passat washer jets?
I don't have the part number I'm afraid but this is where I sourced them from:http://brotek.co.uk/store/p54/Genuine_VAG_heated_f...
Hope that helps.
Many thanks,
Ant
A great write up, and kudos to you for doing all this work yourself.
A friend of mine likes to do this sort of thing ( mainly with Alfas by the way !) and up until now I did not really " get it" as they say, but after reading your thread I now kind of understand the whole thing .
A couple of observations if I may
Re tints, I have a silver C30 Volvo and had Global Tints do mine. The guy was very good and the car looks great. I went for the 'mid tint' ( cannot recall the correct name !) which is apparently the most common choice according to the technician who did mine.
I was a bit concerned that the 'limo' tint would compromise night time rearward visibility too much ( the mid tint is just about ideal, IMHO for me anyway), but that is just a personal view.
What ever one you choose, leave the film undisturbed until it dries properly, as per instructions...I had mine done in January so it took a while before I attempted to wipe it clean !
The de-badge issue.... I have always favoured removing any form of badges on my last 5 cars.....!
A couple of reasons really:
I like the clean look, its also easier to wash/clean the car anyway !
It disguises the car ( which in your case would be paramount I would have thought !) and may deter those who may fancy stealing it.
It also makes it a bit of a Q-Car as well.... I had an Alfa 156 JTDM 150 that was remapped to about 190BHP, but it was de-badged and had a set of 16 Teledials on , so it looked like a Tourismo version. Even my Alfa pal was deceived ! That car surprised quite a few people !
Keep the updates and photos coming, and well done again !
A friend of mine likes to do this sort of thing ( mainly with Alfas by the way !) and up until now I did not really " get it" as they say, but after reading your thread I now kind of understand the whole thing .
A couple of observations if I may
Re tints, I have a silver C30 Volvo and had Global Tints do mine. The guy was very good and the car looks great. I went for the 'mid tint' ( cannot recall the correct name !) which is apparently the most common choice according to the technician who did mine.
I was a bit concerned that the 'limo' tint would compromise night time rearward visibility too much ( the mid tint is just about ideal, IMHO for me anyway), but that is just a personal view.
What ever one you choose, leave the film undisturbed until it dries properly, as per instructions...I had mine done in January so it took a while before I attempted to wipe it clean !
The de-badge issue.... I have always favoured removing any form of badges on my last 5 cars.....!
A couple of reasons really:
I like the clean look, its also easier to wash/clean the car anyway !
It disguises the car ( which in your case would be paramount I would have thought !) and may deter those who may fancy stealing it.
It also makes it a bit of a Q-Car as well.... I had an Alfa 156 JTDM 150 that was remapped to about 190BHP, but it was de-badged and had a set of 16 Teledials on , so it looked like a Tourismo version. Even my Alfa pal was deceived ! That car surprised quite a few people !
Keep the updates and photos coming, and well done again !
Paul S4 said:
A great write up, and kudos to you for doing all this work yourself.
A friend of mine likes to do this sort of thing ( mainly with Alfas by the way !) and up until now I did not really " get it" as they say, but after reading your thread I now kind of understand the whole thing .
A couple of observations if I may
Re tints, I have a silver C30 Volvo and had Global Tints do mine. The guy was very good and the car looks great. I went for the 'mid tint' ( cannot recall the correct name !) which is apparently the most common choice according to the technician who did mine.
I was a bit concerned that the 'limo' tint would compromise night time rearward visibility too much ( the mid tint is just about ideal, IMHO for me anyway), but that is just a personal view.
What ever one you choose, leave the film undisturbed until it dries properly, as per instructions...I had mine done in January so it took a while before I attempted to wipe it clean !
The de-badge issue.... I have always favoured removing any form of badges on my last 5 cars.....!
A couple of reasons really:
I like the clean look, its also easier to wash/clean the car anyway !
It disguises the car ( which in your case would be paramount I would have thought !) and may deter those who may fancy stealing it.
It also makes it a bit of a Q-Car as well.... I had an Alfa 156 JTDM 150 that was remapped to about 190BHP, but it was de-badged and had a set of 16 Teledials on , so it looked like a Tourismo version. Even my Alfa pal was deceived ! That car surprised quite a few people !
Keep the updates and photos coming, and well done again !
Thankyou very much A friend of mine likes to do this sort of thing ( mainly with Alfas by the way !) and up until now I did not really " get it" as they say, but after reading your thread I now kind of understand the whole thing .
A couple of observations if I may
Re tints, I have a silver C30 Volvo and had Global Tints do mine. The guy was very good and the car looks great. I went for the 'mid tint' ( cannot recall the correct name !) which is apparently the most common choice according to the technician who did mine.
I was a bit concerned that the 'limo' tint would compromise night time rearward visibility too much ( the mid tint is just about ideal, IMHO for me anyway), but that is just a personal view.
What ever one you choose, leave the film undisturbed until it dries properly, as per instructions...I had mine done in January so it took a while before I attempted to wipe it clean !
The de-badge issue.... I have always favoured removing any form of badges on my last 5 cars.....!
A couple of reasons really:
I like the clean look, its also easier to wash/clean the car anyway !
It disguises the car ( which in your case would be paramount I would have thought !) and may deter those who may fancy stealing it.
It also makes it a bit of a Q-Car as well.... I had an Alfa 156 JTDM 150 that was remapped to about 190BHP, but it was de-badged and had a set of 16 Teledials on , so it looked like a Tourismo version. Even my Alfa pal was deceived ! That car surprised quite a few people !
Keep the updates and photos coming, and well done again !
I've never had a car tinted before but I've got some quite dark factory tints on my Abarth and I don't think it hampers the visibility too much. Thanks for the heads up for leaving the tints undisturbed. The car is not my daily so I don't think it'll get dirty too quickly
Whatever they tell me to do though, I'll make sure to follow the guidelines - I'm a bit of a stickler for that!Yeah I am leaning towards just leaving the rear badge off. Maybe I'll put a PH sticker there instead
Good work on the 156, lovely cars! Italian cars are my real passion, and my dad has had a couple of 156's in the past. An Alfa 156 GTA is definitely on my bucket list of cars to own.Thanks, Ant
I’ve got limo tint, or as good as, on everything behind the B pillar on my Passat shed. With a little bit of rain, dirt or other cars headlights flashing about, visibility becomes atrocious. You can obviously still manoeuvre using the wing mirrors and parking sensors but it does kill most of your over the shoulder awareness. Ignorant pedestrians walking behind you whilst you’re reversing do become more of an issue for example.
The other thing to consider with the tint is how it breaks up the glass portion of the car. You end up with the front, front sides and rear all being a different shade and it can over complicate the car.
Well done on the car, anyway!
I looked at these a lot before settling for a 130i; I couldn’t find one at a reasonable price that seemed to have been cared for in the slightest and I don’t have a garage to work on my car in. It’s a shame because I really like the sportback versions.
Love the garage too!
The other thing to consider with the tint is how it breaks up the glass portion of the car. You end up with the front, front sides and rear all being a different shade and it can over complicate the car.
Well done on the car, anyway!
I looked at these a lot before settling for a 130i; I couldn’t find one at a reasonable price that seemed to have been cared for in the slightest and I don’t have a garage to work on my car in. It’s a shame because I really like the sportback versions.
Love the garage too!
Thanks for the write up it's really great to see a lovely car get a new lease if life. Don't understand people who treat a car so badly, the dirt of it was crazy.
Loved your Saxo choice, pity it wasn't a great experience. I had about 20 years ago a Pug 106gti in black, basically the same underpinnings as that Saxo I think. Was great fun.
However I'd prefer that Nissan over all of them, that's a beautiful bargain especially in that red colour.
I don't need anymore cars or expenses though.
Happy motoring.
Loved your Saxo choice, pity it wasn't a great experience. I had about 20 years ago a Pug 106gti in black, basically the same underpinnings as that Saxo I think. Was great fun.
However I'd prefer that Nissan over all of them, that's a beautiful bargain especially in that red colour.
I don't need anymore cars or expenses though.
Happy motoring.
This was definitely one of the more rage enducing things we've done (I've gotten really good at drilling out seized bolts) but the result is pretty awesome. The car has some serious grip in the wet. Looking forward to building this thing up to 350+ bhp.
The Nissan and TT were about the best experience we could expect to have, so I just take this as karma X-D
I still miss that Nissan. It sounded amazing with whatever exhaust the previous owner had put on.
I now have a V10 RS6 in the same (or very similar) colour to this, so expect some photos of the two together in the near future.
On another note, that Lion battery was a true champ. We left the car sitting for what? 2 or 3 months with it still connected? We figured it would be dead but it fired right up!
The Nissan and TT were about the best experience we could expect to have, so I just take this as karma X-D
I still miss that Nissan. It sounded amazing with whatever exhaust the previous owner had put on.
I now have a V10 RS6 in the same (or very similar) colour to this, so expect some photos of the two together in the near future.
On another note, that Lion battery was a true champ. We left the car sitting for what? 2 or 3 months with it still connected? We figured it would be dead but it fired right up!
Edited by cammmy on Thursday 2nd January 14:26
Spantney said:
Hi all. I'm a big fan of 'wordy' threads so forgive me for my ramblings but I want to try and set the scene.
I would like to introduce to you, my project Audi S3.
Ant
I had to come on and say thanks for the write up, long time lurker on the forum and I’ve always loved this era A3/S3. I dream of a hobby car one day when I have the space/ time to do so so it’s great to be able to live vicariously through post like this one! Brilliant effort and I hope you get to enjoy it for a while!I would like to introduce to you, my project Audi S3.
Ant
Spantney said:
... a really nice Cat D Nissan 370Z, with light front end damage for around £9k. It was amazing this car had been written off really as the only damage was a smashed headlight, dented wing and dented bonnet and at the time one in good condition was probably worth about £16/17K. It was only when consulting Nissan for parts prices that we realised that at almost £2000 for a headlight, and god knows how much for a new bonnet and wing, thats what likely caused it to be added to the HPI register.
This was my car - and I was the one to crash it ! Pulled out of the work car park and couldn't see because of the long bonnet ... ended up barely touching a fast moving battered old mondeo.The insurers wanted to change the headlight, bonnet, pedestrian safety system and a few other things - a total of more than 11k !
They wrote it off and gave me 15.5k - I only paid 12.9k two years prior so I was quids in
Spantney said:
It turned out this car had a few extra aftermarket bonuses like a really nice Nismo gearknob and a very throaty backbox. On top of the low mileage (35k), it turned out to be a very positive salvage purchase.
This was a Cobra exhaust I had put on, it sounded really good !Next on the list for me was to refurb the wheels (damage from the previous owner) - but I've crashed it before I could have it done...
cammmy said:
I still miss that Nissan. It sounded amazing with whatever exhaust the previous owner had put on.
I still miss it aswell !
Glad you've fixed it and enjoyed it ! Have you got anymore pictures of it ?
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff