Project cheap like the budgie! Ph1 b road blaster

[Adrian_hassall]

Hello

Long story short I've just recently brought a tatty round the edges ph1 172 that's been sat in a garage for about 2 years! It needs some work but I've payed very little for the car so can't complain!

Original plan was to either fix it up to sell on for a profit or use it as a cheap run about!
How it looked after a good clean!!

Well the plan has changed now as I'm sick to deaf of having to take out a mortgage to run my current daily motor! Audi S4 2.7 bi turbo running about 350bhp!

So because of that project cheap like the budgie was born!

First things first I need to get it road worthy which means buying and fitting the following!
Upper engine and gearbox mounts
Replace pass side front spring as it's snapped
Disc and pads all round
New bushes and ball joints on the front end
Couple of CV boots and a good service!

Cambelt is required as well so once I've done all the above it'll be going into Jamsport for this with all the tensioners!

Long term plans are to get it as a good but cheap b road blaster which I can track and thrash without being worried about what's gonna go wrong next!!

Cars already got a a straight through stainless system with scorpion (although slightly rattly!) back box,
Longterm plans once it's back on the road and the Audi's sold are to fit coilovers, uprated ARB's, de cat pipe, new back box/system, uprated brakes and sticky Tyres!

Body and cosmetic wise I plan to fit a ph2 bootlid as the current boot and lock is damaged and I don't want multiple keys for the car plus it makes the back end look a bit more modern, colour coded side strips, light weight wheels, remove the front fogs for air ducts, and then run a couple of buckets with harness's, half stripped interior with flocked upper dash and maybe a cage!

For now though this will have to wait until I free up Some more finances!


Engine mounts, brakes, and ball joints have been brought already and I'm going to collect a full 2nd hand 172 cup suspension kit up tomorrow night! Not sure if the springs and dampers are any different but it's a cheap way of sorting the broken spring out for now!

 

[Rob]

I was going to buy this!!!

Good buy mate, plans sound good.

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Where did you see it for sale?

 

[a1dan0204]

How much it set you back?

I bought this as a non runner about a month ago... For £650

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Alot less than that!
I think Rob must have seen it for sale on either edition38 or audisrs cus I had it up for sale on those sites when I was struggling to store it somewhere after a mate decided to stop paying the rent on a lock up we both used and didnt bother telling me!

It was up for £550 then and I would have made money on it! Someone paid me a deposit on the car and was gonna buy but they pissed me about getting the rest of the money! The next person tuned and tried to offer me £350 at this point I then found somewhere else to store it plus I was £100 up on it as I kept the deposit the first person paid me! ;-)

So I thought I might as well keep it and use it!

 

[Rob]

Where did you see it for sale?

Someone posted on here it was for sale on ed38 mate.

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Someone posted on here it was for sale on ed38 mate.

Ah I see! Had so many people ring or txt me about it so must of had it up for sale to cheap! Lol

The problem was the 2 people who actually turned up to buy were messers by which point I had already told other (probably genuine!) buyers it had sold!

Probably a good thing though as it means I get to have a play with it now!

 

[Rob]

Ah right, yeah it was me texting about it, you text back saying it had sold.

I only wanted it to break anyway, I was going to throw a couple of panels on mine and take it apart.

Good to see it saved

 

[Rob]

Ah right, yeah it was me texting about it, you text back saying it had sold.

I only wanted it to break anyway, I was going to throw a couple of panels on mine and take it apart.

Good to see it saved

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Well started doing some work on the car today!

Went and picked up the 172 cup suspension that I won on eBay for £14! I knew a rear damper was leaking bit other than that they were all ok and a bargain way of sorting my cracked front spring!

Got home, got the car jacked up and started stripping the old bits off!

Once we stripped the car down we realised the drivers side spring had snapped aswell but unfortunatly under closer inspection the replacement dampers had seen better days but luckily my originals were mint! So built them up using the new springs!

Went to also fit the new lower balljoints as the old ones were well and truly past it!

But then realised my replacements were slightly different having 2 smaller holes, so a quick trip to GSF got me one replacement as they didn't have more in stock!
What with the pissing down rain and stuff being wrong it was turning into a ball ache of a day!

Still need to sort the drivers side ball joint and the engine mounts but it's slowly coming together!
One truely knackered engine mount!

Eventually I'll be fitting coilovers and poly bushes etc... But these are to get it road worthy so I can start using it and having some fun!

Got a query though what exhaust manifolds do 172's have as standard?
I think they've got a tubular similar to the 182's but my bro thinks cast!
This is what's fitted to mine!

 

[Gray]

That's a standard 172 manifold... 4-1 item.

 

[Adrian_hassall]

That's a standard 172 manifold... 4-1 item.

Lol 1 nil to me then as that what's I thought!
Although it would have been nice of my bruv was right!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Well had a delivery this morning from ECP of the last few bit and bobs I need before I get the cambelt done and MOTed!

30% off everything yesterday so saved me a few quid!!

Also brought this from a mate for £10! Momo champion leather and alcantara steering wheel! been sat in his paintshop for about 6years so was caked in dust and crap bit a good clean up and it looks alright!
Just need to get a boss!

 

[mat-nos]

lol that steering wheel was a bargain...
looking forward to the updates, made good progress so far!!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

lol that steering wheel was a bargain...
looking forward to the updates, made good progress so far!!

The steering wheel is to replace this rather battered item!

Well changed the drivers side balljoint and was jacking up on the hub to get all lined up when I heard a ping!

Well that explains the weird vibration! Lol

And I defo gonna need a new wing as I caught the cracked bit with a pry bar and it's all fallen apart!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Lol yep defiantly needed to change the engine mounts then!

The pic above the knackered wing is of the drivers side driveshaft at the gearbox cv. Looking at the shaft and cv joint it looks like it just slots together rather than having fixed CV's on the shaft Is that right?

 

[a1dan0204]

How much were the mounts adrian? Mine could do with being done..

 

[Adrian_hassall]

I ordered them yesterday from Euro car parts online as I had a code for 30% off.
But normally on Trade they are £58.20 for the big mount and £13.50 for the gearbox mount, GSF trade is about the same!

 

[PP200t]

Looks good. Was that suspension in Leicester by any chance? I was looking at those!!! :dapprove:

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Looks good. Was that suspension in Leicester by any chance? I was looking at those!!! :dapprove:

Yeah they were in Hinkley near Leicester! I ended up using my original dampers and just the springs in the end though as my dampers were in better condition!

Well the momo steering wheel has just made me some money! Lol had a Mk2 Golf boss on it which I've just sold for £25! Lol

Plan tomorrow is to have a look at the driveshaft and see what needs changing and I'll get the bearings pressed into the rear discs and get them fitted up!

Think I'm gonna remove all the interior a well to give it a good clean up!

 

[Gray]

Jesus!

Those parts are foooooooked, the car must of had a hard life!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Jesus!

Those parts are foooooooked, the car must of had a hard life!

Lol that doesn't surprise me!!
To be fair though I don't think the fact it was sat in bits for a year and then sat around after for another 14 months has helped!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Well not done a great deal the last few days as I've been back on working long shifts at work!

Went and got a 30mm impact socket so I can remove the drivers side driveshaft to see wether it's repairable or if I need to get a replacement.

Also decided to have a bit of a tidy up under the bonnet and tart things up!
Quick trip to halfords for some metallic black VHT paint and I removed the upper engine mount (again!) and ecu bracket gave them a quick rub down and couple of coats!

Also removed the fogs and looking at ordering some CAF pipe work for the airbox! Just need to measure the holes up to see which size ram pipes I need! Front and rear seats have also been removed so can Hoover and clean up the interior properly, only thing is the suede on the seats has gone all bobbly any way of sorting this?

 

[Djw John]

Yeah you can just shave the alcantara with a normal razor. Good project btw, gotta love budget builds!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Budget builds FTW mate!
car at the mo still owes me less than £400 and I plan to get it all back on the road with belts etc... Done and it still owe me less than £1k, I'll then start uprating once I've used it for a while and done a couple of track days!

I'll give the razor trick ago tonight! Cheers!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Well been some slow progress this week as been stacked out work!

Engine bays going back together with a few bits and pieces painted in VHT paint!

Need to get a offside driveshaft as my inner bout has split and when I jacked the car up it popped out!
Then we should be good to go! Get it MOT'd and cambelt done and she'll be road worthy!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Well a quick update finally got round to ordering a driveshaft from Cliospares and I'm well impressed with there customer service!
PM'd Josh from Clio spares through here on Sunday expecting a response on Monday in normal working hours but got a response within an hour he answered all my questions etc... So I paid for the item Monday morning and it arrived yesterday! Unfortunatly the driveshaft they sent was slightly damaged so rang then today and there sending me another with no quibbles what so ever! Should be here Monday which is not to much drama as I'm working through till Saturday anyway!
Just gotta hope the new items ok then can get it fitted and get the car MOT'd!

 

[ABOO]

Budget FTW!! deffo some bargains out there, both PHS 1 and Cups.

Need me a project I think!

 

[Djw Dave]

More progress than mines anyway. Good going.

 

[cheesy]

Good stuff fella, im working on a similar project and loving it. Good work keepit up.

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Cheers for the comments! Progress feels very slow to me! Just wanna get it on the road and then start with some decent mods!

Unfortunatly moneys been tied up the last month or so as I've had to buy the missus a new car plus a few other unexpected finances, but at least I'm still on target for it to be a proper budget project!

Still under the £400 mark (just) with the new driveshaft! Hopefully get the shaft fitted monday then I'll get it booked in for the MOT and belts to be done!

 

[pedro.belintani]

it is gonna be good =)

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Well replacement driveshaft turned up this morning courtesy of Cliospares!

So spent this afternoon getting everything back together! Car is finally all complete and moveable for the first time in ages!

Connected battery back up started up first turn of the key but is idling really high for some reason! Won't sit below 2.5k rpm! Had a good look about chucking no vacuum pipes are loose etc but can't see any issues! Was getting late so have left it for today before I upset all the neighbours! Lol

Gotta try and get to the bottom of this now tomorrow!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Well after the bad idling that occured when we got the car back up and running, came to the conclusion that it was an air leak from somewhere and as I had had the inlet off thought it was best to start with that and whip it back off!

Checked it all over and gave it a good clean up and then noticed that the gasket had got 2 marks where the engine cover bolts had been done up against it! So slackened them off and could see that it had allowed the inlet to seal better!

Started her up and sure enough idled pretty much perfectly!
Gave it a quick run down the road and back and feels lovely to drive now with all the replacement parts compared to the constant knocking and banging and vibration through the car before! Quite shocked at how responsive and raw it feels when putting at foot down as well!!

Need to change the throttle cable as that's not in great condition and the handbrake is crap so needs adjusting but other than that we're ready for the MOT! Need to get some cash together so can get the belts done as well!!

 

[one in a million]

very impressed mate, i wish you all the best in getting this car back to the way it should be, you certainley have alot of patience. good luck mate

 

[one in a million]

mine idled high once, i cleaned the throttle pedal sensor, cleared the codes and its been fine ever since.

 

[Struggler]

i was half tempted to buy this!! it was for sale on here!!

but it was too far away

 

[Adrian_hassall]

very impressed mate, i wish you all the best in getting this car back to the way it should be, you certainley have alot of patience. good luck mate

Lol almost lost my rag with it a few times but getting there slowly! Can't wait to get it on the road and get a track day booked with my bro and his 205 Gti track toy!

i was half tempted to buy this!! it was for sale on here!!

but it was too far away

Yeah I put it up for sale a few months ago as I had now where to store it think someone posted a link up to my for sale thread!

 

[Adrian_hassall]

Couple of pics after it's first run round the block!