Project Bora S3

[Deleted member 35798]

Project Bora S3 - Build Thread

I picked up this Bora from a forum member for a good price and it was worth the journey as it's a perfect base to start with.

X Reg, 2.8 V6 4motion Bora - Standard

For a car that has covered that sort of mileage you just wouldn't know it. The engine is surprisingly smooth and no knock was measured when using Vag-Com. The FSH seems to have paid off.

The first thing that surprised me was how a 2.8 V6 could be so quiet so I promptly took action.

Suffice to say the V6 note is more audible

Now the original plan was to make this in to a track car and use the Fabia as my daily, however due to a change of circumstances this will have to become my daily so I can't go as hard core as I'd like with the car.

Either way, the car will be getting fitted with a S3 AMK 1.8T lump in a couple of months so I would still like to do what I can to make my daily fast.

I know the Bora is a heavy beast, especially the 4motion, so I thought I would weigh the car to find out how heavy.

1500kg.

To help the little 1.8T move the car I thought I'd have a bash at removing some of that weight.

 

[Deleted member 35798]

At the same time I decided to do something about the walnut trim as I'm 23, not 75.

I know this vinyl wrapping is a marmite mod but it will do for now and I'm growing to like it more every day. I'll just have to do something about the gear knob as well.

Also decided to replace the all red rear lights with the US Spec smoked ones, and get a black badge on the back.

And some black side repeaters for good measure.

That's about all for now.

I should receive the S3 front end from Andy (Dent_Reform) next week sometime and then I'll work on getting that all sorted out before dropping it in.

Last Mileage as a V6

S3 Lump - 1.8T AMK - Circa 26,400 miles on the clock

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Engine Out

Next to strip apart this lot

Engines Side by Side

All Split Up

Integrating S3 Front Parts

Mmmm Cast Wishbones

All Ready for Cleaning

Breaker Bar

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Things That Make Me Sad

The bolt has snapped on the dog bone mount...

The bolt that holds the K04 to the block, in particular the one nearest the manifold, has rounded...

Finally, the fuel lines that I'm holding pass through this black thing.

HIGH FIVE!

eBay Intercooler vs OEM SMIC

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Unfortunately one of the brake lines snapped which is a pain in the arse.

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Wheel choice for next summer.

Quite a productive weekend for sorting out wee jobs.

Popped the car in to the garage to get tinted Friday while I was at work. Opted for Dark smoke from the B-Pillars back and nothing on the fronts. Also had my Heko wind deflectors fitted at the same time and got to test them out to full effect on the way home as the weather was wild!

Saturday I decided to re-run the battery -ve cable so that it wasn't earthed in the boot but on the front chassis leg as per the original design. I also sprayed my air filter heatshield black as it was just bare metal before hand, and routed some wires a bit neater in the engine bay.

Today the weather is pretty rubbish but I washed and hoovered the car out anyway and replaced my pesky engine coolant temp sensor for the new green version so hopefully that smooths things out a bit and stops those fault codes.

Apologies for the poor pictures but it's rather wet outside.

Really like driving the car at night with the tints now, the best way to describe it is "visually peaceful" lol!

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Today I tested the car for boost leaks and changed all the seals on my injectors (not as scary as I thought).

I took videos of the boost leak testing process and as far as I can gather there are no leaks.

The Setup

Plugged PCV System

Boost Leak Tester

Air Compressor

Video 1 - 0-10psi



Video 2 - 10-20psi



Video 3 - 20-25psi



Video 4 - Compressor Off @ 25psi



Video 5 - Compressor Off @ 25psi Tester Gauge



Video 6 - Compressor Off @ 25psi Inspection



Conclusions

Well the only place I can hear air escaping is from the oil filler cap itself which I believe is completely normal, everything else seems completely air tight and I couldn't hear/feel any air escaping elsewhere so I'm happy.

Unfortunately this still doesn't explain my low boost issue and why I've lost my 24psi spike and 21/22psi across the range so the next step is to try another N75 valve

 

[MarkWales]

nice bora you have there - what are the plans with the interior?

 

[JordanMk3]

Looks really tidy for the amount of miles she's covered.. As if the 2.8 V6 wasnt fast enough Lmfao!! Good luck with it mate!

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Cheers guys.

Mark the leather interior has been sold and replaced with black/gray recaros now from a Mk4 GTI.

Jordan, the V6 wasn't that fast but it sounded ace and drank lots of fuel lol.

 

[8bit]

Nice motor, looks familiar Didn't your vac lines used to be orange dude?

Yeah so you were talking about seeing some CFs in your latest logs, post em up and I (and plenty of others) will take a look. You mentioned you changed your CTS, it's also worth logging block 001 once the engine has warmed up properly to check that it is actually reaching and maintaining around 90C. If not then your thermostat has been lunched, mine was like that but with no fault codes. Dash display was still showing 90, the only way I noticed it was on the Torque app for Android. If the thermo is off then the ECU thinks the engine isn't getting warm enough so it's altering the fuelling unnecessarily. That'll give you CFs

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Yeah the vac lines used to be orange SFS ones but they are just too soft compared to the Samco's so I replaced them all.

Last time I logged coolant temperature it was staying at 92/93C but I'll need to do some fresh logs again as those are out of date.

I think I might log in pairs as well so the logging resolution is increased.

I also did the N75 blow/suck test last night.

Firstly tried to suck air through the longest pipe (TIP side) but couldn't, no air passing through. Also tried to blow air through it and couldn't either.

Out of interest sake I sucked/blew the bottom of the N75 valve (from charge pipe) and had the same result, no air passing either direction.

Could this be the reason I can only make 17psi boost instead of my usual 24psi spike/22psi held across the range?

Badger5 said - "you should be able to blow thru the centre (boot in) port of the n75 and it should exit the long (tip) port. yours sounds blocked which is'nt good.. but this should create uncontrolled boost if when you blow into the ports nothing comes out..?"

 

[8bit]

Are the samco vac hoses reinforced at all? I bought a load of vac hoses and did mine earlier this year, but the hose seems pretty soft. I'll check yours out next time I see you.

I've never heard of that N75 test but you're welcome to try that on mine when we get to log them. If Badger 5 said that though then I'd be inclined to take his advice - he's been spot on every time I know of.

 

[Deleted member 35798]

They are just A LOT firmer that the SFS ones, I can show you both side by side on Saturday.

Yeah Bill probably forgets more about 1.8T's in a day than I'll ever know.

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Update

Replaced my N75F valve with the new N75E from SEAT and all is well and boost has been restored.

Just need to get some data logging done to confirm but between having a slow puncture, high winds, and random blizzards they will just have to wait

 

[Brummy]

nice project.. ive a bora sat outside at the moment which i fleetingly thought of keeping as a project (my lads one, got Cat C'd due to a smack on the wing) but with the Mk2 golf as my runaround i cant really justify it

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Thanks

Don't blame you, the cost of motoring these days then the less cars the better it seems.

 

[8bit]

Good news on the N75 valve. Seem to be seeing a few issues lately where N75 has been the cause, I guess a lot of enthusiast-owned cars are maybe getting to an age now where the N75 is starting to fail with wear and tear. Maybe N75 will be the new MAF

How's the weather looking out your way mate? May still manage to do some logging tomorrow if you want a hand and/or shot of a MAF.

 

[Peebee]

Good effort mate!

 

[Deleted member 35798]

Good news on the N75 valve. Seem to be seeing a few issues lately where N75 has been the cause, I guess a lot of enthusiast-owned cars are maybe getting to an age now where the N75 is starting to fail with wear and tear. Maybe N75 will be the new MAF

Hehe maybe, I'm just glad it's fixed and the car is back to normal.

How's the weather looking out your way mate? May still manage to do some logging tomorrow if you want a hand and/or shot of a MAF.

Pish! It's blizzarding and the roads are horrendous.

Probably best waiting till the New Year now mate.

Good effort mate!

Thank you