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pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
7/28/21 5:40 p.m.

Probably not, but the price was right.

So against my better judgment I bought a dolled up golf.  I am generally not a fan of VAG products, but with the current out of control used vehicle market i pulled the trigger when the opertunity presented itself.

May I present the 2021 Challenge Audi TT.

As you can see it was damaged in a rear end collision.  I purchased it from the local copart auction on Monday for the princely sum of $650.00.  It was totalled through All-State because of this damage.

I hope to pull the trunk mount panel with a come-a-long and a tree.  I will need to purchase a hatch panel, two tail lights and a rear bumper.

thatsnowinnebago
thatsnowinnebago GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
7/28/21 5:45 p.m.

What could go wrong?

preach (fs)
preach (fs) GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
7/28/21 5:55 p.m.

In reply to thatsnowinnebago :

everything. I've owned 2 mk1s

I love them...

TED_fiestaHP
TED_fiestaHP HalfDork
7/28/21 5:56 p.m.

  I bet you could repair the hatch cover and the bumper cover.   Creative re[airs alow more money to go faster!

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
7/28/21 6:04 p.m.

After it was delivered on a rollback I took it for a short test drive.

The clutch and brakes feel good.  The shifter works as it should with no grinds.  The exhaust has a nice bubble to it and the motor seems to run well.

The car is peppy but I would  not classify it as fast.  It is the 180 hp FWD model and it feels about as quick as I expected it to feel.  It will be more than sufficient for this year's challenge.

Plans for now are to fix the body damage, change the fluids and buy a set of sporty tires.  I may buy a set of chinesium coilovers if I have time.  I was happy with them on last years forester.

The AC and the radio both work great.   This will make a great daily for someone come end of October when I put it up for sale...

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
7/28/21 6:10 p.m.

In reply to TED_fiestaHP :

I could but the local pick a part yard has a rear bumper for $50 and a hatch for $80.  The taillights are $25 apiece.  For $180 it will be fixed correct-ish.

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter)
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
7/28/21 7:49 p.m.

My god I would kill for a deal like this on a FWD TT. Very light car. Want my Mazda 2? LOL!

Good luck with the build. I'll be following along for sure.

 

Robbie (Forum Supporter)
Robbie (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/29/21 9:44 a.m.

Yeah, very nice score. I didn't love these when they came out but they have grown on me a lot. Is it the 1.8T model? I seem to remember than the turbos could pick up very significant power just with programming. 

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
7/29/21 10:23 a.m.

It is a 1.8t.  The 180 hp model.  Allegedly the 225hp model comes with a larger turbo.  It might be worth hunting for one in the jumk yard.

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
7/29/21 10:58 a.m.

All I'll say is "Lock carrier into service position."

May the odds be ever in your favor.

sleepyhead the buffalo
sleepyhead the buffalo GRM+ Memberand Mod Squad
7/29/21 12:28 p.m.

I'll be watching this thread, especially for when you get ready to sell;  assuming there's a "challenge price" available

914Driver
914Driver MegaDork
7/29/21 1:00 p.m.

Glory is never guaranteed, but fun is!   For $650 I wouldn't lose any sleep after I gutted the thing and painted it up like your favorite race team.  If it becomes a DD commuter after the fact, even better.

hybridmomentspass
hybridmomentspass Reader
7/29/21 1:11 p.m.

Saw a TT in the junkyard today and thought of you/this thread.

if youre near Winston NC, there's a decent one available

MrRobogoat (Forum Supporter)
MrRobogoat (Forum Supporter) New Reader
7/29/21 1:17 p.m.

The TT has the best control arms and spindles of any of the MK4 chassis -- the spindles are setup so that the control arm is pointed downwards, giving some actual camber gain during compression (unlike non R32 VW Mk4 vehicles, where the arm starts parallel to the ground at stock ride height, and everything just gets worse from there). The control arms are cast, not stamped steel, and weigh ~5 lbs more than the VW version (according to some spots on the internet, in other spots they're lighter because they're off an Audi); however, they are also stronger and the ball joint holes are slotted allowing 1.5 deg of camber adjustment. You also get the second largest sized brakes on any factory Mk4 IIRC -- lots of information abounds on what swaps with what in this department. Contributing to the limited geometry of the Mk4 platform are the strut mounts -- they're not adjustable, and there aren't any bolts or studs to attach a camber plate to. Instead, there's basically a rubber donut and a retaining cap, and when the load is on the strut, the ruber donut gets compressed. There are also a bearing in each one, with the bottom of the strut being clamped into the knuckle. Plan on replacing the strut mounts and bearings, because the stock mounts are too soft even when new, and the bearings are too cheap not to.

The 1.8T should be able to take ~300hp before rods begin to desire to up and leave their homes for greener pastures, that was the limit for those playing with longitudinal setups. K04 turbos are bolt on, and shouldn't be too expensive new, especially from aftermarket places. The ECU is a Bosch ME setup which has been fully cracked (so you can tune it with a laptop and an eBay cable), and the K04 is common enough there are off the shelf tunes available. Also, RusEFI has an ECU board project that is designed to fit into that case if you wanted to go standalone. IIRC, the 02 sensors are a wideband Bosch unit, so you may be able to DIY a controller to get readings saving $100 or so.

The earlier 1.8Ts did have some issues with oil sludging early on, and there are TSBs + a "sludge kit" that dealers would install -- running full synthetic (meeting the VW/Audi specs) with proper oil changes seemed to cure it on the ones I have had. Being a VW / Audi engine, there is of course a timing belt which runs the water pump, make sure this is up to date / in good shape because there are a lot of valves waiting to get bent.

The variable valve timing tech works off of an oil driven adjustable tensioner in the back of the head: there's a solenoid which controls oil pressure into a piston which moves which side of the sprockets the slack in the chain is on, thus changing the relative timing between the cams (and improving spool / low end torque). Being that there are tiny passages and plastic chain guides on a German engine, I think you know where this is going: They have a tendency to fail at higher mileages, especially if the oil changes have not been religious.

Mods wise, stiffer strut mounts are probably one of the best bang for buck mods (<$100). A lot of aftermarket suspension options are focused on going low, but because fo the geometry it's very easy to go too low and move away from the good part of the camber curve while dropping the roll center through the ground. Ideally, avoiding lowering while stiffening spring rates is the way to go. Also look into the recalls / production changes that were made in late '99-'00: There were a couple publicized fatal crashes that resulted in Audi retuning the suspension to be much more safe and understeer heavy.

If you want power you may be able to squeeze some more out with a tune, but you'll need a bigger turbo for any serious gains since they are designed for low end torque. The side mount intercooler is also pretty small, chunkier side mounts are available on eBay for alarmingly low prices last I looked. The VR6 clutch setup will hold 300lb-ft and is available with a new single mass flywheel for $300 -- this looks to be basically the same clutch I run on my tuned ALH TDI.

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
7/30/21 6:47 a.m.

In reply to MrRobogoat (Forum Supporter) :

That is a ton of good info to digest. 

I plan to keep this build pretty simple and small in scope. 

Gammaboy
Gammaboy
8/3/21 1:44 a.m.

What year is it? Post 2003 they got a K03S turbo, which is basically a K03 hot side with a K04 compressor. 

Depending on what ECU and injector combo you have, and if you can do surface mount soldering, there's a guy here in Germany that is selling an EPROM for about 45€ that's a copy of a MTM 230, which is the absolute maximum you can screw out of a K03S car with big exhaust and aftermarket big intake... I'm running it on an otherwise stock K03 setup and it runs fine (possibly better when @ 95% throttle while it's not in open loop). Non S K03 is maxed out at about 200-210hp.

K03S are a direct bolt on with a minor change in the rubber outlet coupler, the cast intake tube is K03S specific, but is a minor die grinder tickle from a cast K03 intake.

K04 is a substantial mess around, the exhaust dump is different, you need a different intake tube, which in factory form collapses on itself, and you need to adapt that to the smaller AFM of the K03 cars. And then you need a K04 tune dialled in to the smaller AFM and whatever injectors you have. And they're laggy compared to the K03S. 

I'd concentrate on getting weight out of it, it's relatively heavy at 1300kg or so, some of the track day guys in the UK have got them down to around 1000kg flat but that takes some cutting of structure on the inside of the back half of the shell.

There's a big weight that was tucked behind the back bumper crash bar as part of the recall (along with larger squishier front arm bushes, and tweaked spring and damper rates). For most of the world the spoiler was an optional part of the recall kit, for Germany it was a mandatory fitment under the recall, understandably, mine gets a bit light at 220kmh on the Autobahns even with the spoiler.

Fitting the big aftermarket side mount intercoolers may require some cutting, I'm not sure I've seen it done on a TT, most TT guys go front mount.

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
9/12/21 6:27 p.m.

So I got the car to my house in order to start the body work.

I started by opening the hatch.  It was actually way easier than I expected.  I was able to simply unbolt the latch from the inside.  

In order to bend the the rear panel back we resorted to prying and a scissor jack.

Eventually we got to the point where we were pulling against a tree with an eye bolt i stole from my boat trailer.

I am sure my neighbors were thrilled...

Overall it was a productive day and I would say we are 80% done with the body work.

Stampie
Stampie GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/12/21 6:36 p.m.

I think your inner redneck is showing.  Good job.

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter)
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
9/12/21 8:44 p.m.
Stampie said:

I think your inner redneck is showing.  Good job.

My neighbor once had a "redneck" themed new year's party.  Literally all of he decorations came from my yard / shed / garage. surprise.   I even let her borrow the challenge s10 which we put on cinder blocks with no wheels in the grass.

759NRNG
759NRNG UberDork
9/13/21 3:46 p.m.

you're my hero......I've done the tree come along combo ,but not the scissor jack in da trunk junk...rock on Bro!!!  

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
9/13/21 3:50 p.m.

You know, I would have loaned you my porta-power....

dculberson (Forum Supporter)
dculberson (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
9/13/21 4:30 p.m.

Reminds me of a Trabant factory. Of course, those were new cars on the assembly line...

In case you haven't seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIAYxWCXF8A

I love the part where he pushes on the front grille with his foot to adjust it, goes to far, and so has to pull it back out by hand.

Andy Neuman
Andy Neuman SuperDork
9/13/21 5:09 p.m.

Was that $650 before or after fees? 

TED_fiestaHP
TED_fiestaHP HalfDork
9/13/21 6:31 p.m.

  I do admire the creative repair work, but a harbor freight hydraulic ram tool is cheaper than you would think.

maj75 (Forum Supporter)
maj75 (Forum Supporter) Dork
9/13/21 9:17 p.m.

It's not redneck when you use the ratchet portion.  It's redneck when you put the car in gear and use the car's power to do the work.  When doing it this way, I advise a log chain, not a strap.  Don't ask...

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