My Tolly1.8T Sport Toy!!!!! - Sold

[S3 AKR]

Make it into a sleeper!

hi mate, you bought well.
i saw this on ebay for around £1800.
dont do any body mods. just leave it as a sleeper
and do all the mods underneath.
i had one and it blew lots of cars off.

I like the idea of it being a sleeper...... no-one gives it a 2nd glance as any sort of performance car yet it really shifts along quite nicely. Eventually it'll get a bit more TLC and some performance mods, but not for 2 to 3 months at least. Our Mini Cooper S had to have a set of tyres and wheel alignment today - thats another £500 gone!

If your wanting to go to town on the washing jack the car up and remove the wheels and the wheel arch liners.
I found heaps for 'stuff' under there that adds weight.
Also a good to inspect the arches to save on tin worm issues in later life.

M3 sounds good, E92 or E46?

Good call - I reckon that's worth a look if only to know its all good under there.

The M3 is of the 4.0 V8 (4-door) E90 variety. As thirsty as it is quick!!! Worth every drop of super-unleaded even when being given the beans and getting 12.8MPG !!!

 

[S3 AKR]

...and here it is

 

[Torred1771]

That M3 is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[Al]

I had a Toledo 20VT with 249bhp and loved it

Enjoy!

 

[The MoffMeister]

even better now it has go faster leon parts lol

 

[S3 AKR]

....and it needs more go faster bits!!! What's left ?

 

[The MoffMeister]

What you need, gis a list and I'll see what I can do

 

[S3 AKR]

Maybe a gearbox (if the whining on mine when hot doesn't go with an oil change), drivers window regulator, some mats, Seat toolkit, steering wheel. Do you have cruise on yours ? I could do with the stalk if so. Still tempted at ARB's too.

 

[The MoffMeister]

Ok rear arb has gone taking front off fri morning so will give you firsts on that, wheels still here, no cruise control, gearbox is off car and sitting on ebay, forget the toolkit, the mats. Have the steering wheel also.

 

[Willie]

Maybe a gearbox (if the whining on mine when hot doesn't go with an oil change), drivers window regulator, some mats, Seat toolkit, steering wheel. Do you have cruise on yours ? I could do with the stalk if so. Still tempted at ARB's too.

PM me if you still need a drivers side electric window regulator.

 

[jonjay]

What a machine!

 

[S3 AKR]

Tolly got an oil change yesterday. Service indicator was getting on my tits, basically accusing me of neglect with its constant "help me. love me. service me you ba5tard" reminder flashing each time I start the car. Its not even overdue!!!

So, fully (VW approved) synthetic, new filter and its running very much smoother.

Its a long time since I did an oil change of my own, and I forgot how much fun is having old, black warm oil running down your arm as you lie underneath the car removing a filter with a screw driver hammered through the side for leverage. Happy days!!!

I've also got a fuel filter to change out (I don't know that its ever been done in its 90k miles) but I'll get to that next week. Plugs were done recently anyway according to the history, and the brakes all have plenty of life left though I do have a suspicion that a coil pack is feeling its age. Can be a bit grouchy over the first couple of minutes of driving with a flatspot that feels as though all boost has dropped out at about 2.5k revs for a split second. Any thoughts welcomed - partly why I want to change the fuel filter too really.

Gearbox oil will be changed in the near future. Probably just going to get a local garage to do that as I just can't get the car up in the air and level to get to the drain and fill plugs easily.

 

[Willie]

Take w look at the PCV hoses under the intake manifold for splits. This can cause loss of power in differing situations without an obvious reason.

 

[S3 AKR]

I have finally got around to booking a trackday at Woodbridge on July 9th (in the Tolly, not the M3) !!!

I've done a search and a bit of reading up and as a result I've got the helmet, breakdown cover, replaced 2 tyres (this morning having found a bulge in one of my track wheel tyres and another illegal), put together a basic toolkit, got my VCDS software working and changed the oil. Brakes all checked, fluids all tip top and everything seems in order so what next ? What have I missed ?

I read that you need to tape up lights - is this true ?

(I also have a mate coming in his car as the support vehicle!! He will have a set of road wheels, trolley jack, axle stands, a bag of cable ties, oil, more tools, a bottle of Tango and some crisps.)



Any advice greatfully received!!

 

[Willie]

My typical kit will include,

Tyre pump and pressure gauge.
Wheel choke, to save you applying hand brake and cooking your brake fluid.
Torque wrench to allow you to check wheel nuts torque during day as they can slackened off, especially on cooling.
Locking wheel nut key.
Spare oil.
Spare coilpacks.
Trolley jack.
Tywraps, electrical tape, spare vacuum hoses, spare juiblee clamps.
Towing eye fitted.
Various hand tools.
Spare fuel and Octane Booster.

Also just as important is,

Fuel for you.
Water.
Helmet.
Comfy loose clothes.
Shades.
Driving licence.
All car documents.

And the most important thing,

Chill and enjoy.

Start off slow, check your car plenty, check your tyre pressures keeping them about 2 PSI above your normal road pressure when their hot.
This will mean you'll drop the pressure during the day and have to top this up before leaving to go home.

The very first hint of brake fade back off straight away. Often people don't take the often very subtle hint you get when your brakes are going off, don't make this expensive mistake.

Hope this helps.

 

[Willie]

Not true about taping up lights on my local track, but might be true on yours.

 

[S3 AKR]

Cheers for that.

I may have found the source of the issues with the flat spot I reported earlier in this thread too. Found a split hose (actually - it was snapped) as part of the oil breather system. Its hard pastic that comes from the lower front of the engine, around the passenger side to the top and over the the rear. Bodged it for now until I can get a replacement.

I have everything on your list I reckon. The only other thing I want to get done before the weekend is a gearbox oil change. I'll nip out today to see if I can get a drain plug key to get it done today. I have noticed that after an hour or so of 90mph there is a bit of diff whine starting to appear. I've been advised to try a slightly different oil to sort that out.

I think that a brake fluid change may also be on the list for something a little more race orientated as its on the standard stuff at the moment (only 6 months old), and what looks like standard pads. The car is an ex-police fast response vehicle (confirmed by the police station where it was based) so mechanically its been well serviced if given something of a hard life.

 

[S3 AKR]

A bit delayed in writing this minor update but I did the track day and all went well!! The day was at Woodbridge airfield in Suffolk and was a very well run event with a lot of friendly and helpful people about.

The one thing I learned was that I will be looking at some budget suspension and new bushes. I've seen some very cheap coilovers that although so cheap that they couldn't be deemed especially race engineered, they may well do for a novice running a £1600 '53 plate, slightly shabby Toledo for the occassional track day blat. I have to be very careful on what I spend as I am tempted next year to get a BMW 328i Sport in its place.

I don't know if anyone has any experience with any of the cheap coilovers on E-Bay vs a set of Eibach Proline springs (on OEM dampers) ? I have about £500 for the suspension in total - bushes and springs/coilovers. I'll fit most of it myself. (Please comment on practical experience rather than theories though as I do realise that they won't be anywhere near as good as KW V3's etc etc, but its all about proportional budget vs the amount of track work it'll do vs the value of the car).



I have a set of 5 Cupra "Starfish" alloys with good, but part worn tyres that I used for the track day. I took all of the tools as previously mentioned and the original wheels for the journey home. The car was given a thorough check over before we went and a thorough workout on the day!

A few surprises surfaced -

1. Despite its miles (90k) and looking like its on original OEM suspension the car felt very well balanced in the corners. Fair enough, it does understeer a fair bit but a lot of the drift was 4-wheel slide, not just the fronts. The instructor on the day commented on it also.
2. The brakes held up incredibly well. The car has 256mm vented brakes onthe rear and OEM pads. The fronts look to be 312mm OEM. I was truly giving the car the full beans and without any sympathy to the brakes being shown they held up very well, and without major fade. The front and rear wheels were hot to the touch so I wasn't being soft on the brakes at all.
3. Tyre wear was heavy (as you'd expect) to the point of the 4mm on the fronts reducing to the legal limit, and the rears shedding about 2mm. The Bridestone and Michelins held on well through the day, but were very noisy in the corners, especially when hot. I need to learn something about not cornering quite so hard, and would probably get through quicker. Towards the end of the day I was a lot smoother and there was a lot less noise from the tyres!
4. Once hot (about 3 laps was enough) there were a lot of clonks and knocks from the front end suspension. They didn't get any worse through the day. I had the car up on the stands and checked all the bolts and fixings, joints and links and everything was as it should be - nothing loose. Someone else at the day reckoned it was the ARB knocking as the OEM bushes in the suspension warmed up and went that bit softer, allowing movement and some clunks. Once the car had cooled down, the knocks stopped and they haven't come back since the track day.
5. Nothing broke at all. At the end of the day, simply swapped the wheels over and drove home, and I have been using the car daily since without issue.

A fantastic day that has led to be looking to book Snetterton for the next one in Sept.

 

[aaronipswich]

Will be a great little project
Will keep an eye out for u locally

 

[S3 AKR]

Some mods on their way - minor things but prep for the future!!!

I've ordered the silicon TIP replacement pipe, the crankcase breathers and the vac hoses prior to its MOT (they need changing).

If it passes the MOT with less than £100 of fixes then it gets some coilovers - albeit cheap and cheerful items from JOM/Venom (balanced against the value of the car and the small amount of track work it gets). They aren't exactly top notch, but they are adjustable for ride height, and are 30% stiffer than OEM. I've read more good reviews than bad but I realise that you'll only get what you pay for to some degree but at £180 vs £500+ its got to be worth a punt!

Then I'll start to look for a remap - probably Revo as I've had good experiences on a PD150 and an S3 with their code. I might go for AMD but it depends entirely on cost though.