The stalemate of a project car

Hello people, how are we all? Hope you're having an entertaining week. If not, then this post might make you feel a bit better, so keep reading.

As with all projects and plans, there are things that can happen that are out of our control or just make progress slower than we hoped. This is normal though, right? Well in today's world it may not seem it. We are bombarded with all these incredible projects being built with a seemingly unlimited budget and done on a rather quick turn around. On the surface this may not seem to be a problem or cause one. However I can confidently say that it makes people set an unrealistic target for themselves with what they have going on in their own life.

Now this may not be a problem you have, but it's the struggle of many people all around the world and not just people into cars. Whether you're building your latest PC all the way to building your own house, there will be aspirations that add to the whole process. Sometimes these can be unrealistic but don't seem it to us at the time.

For example, the S3 recently caught a flat tyre, having to get this sorted threw a spanner in the works to a few plans. It meant I had to spend the money on two new tyres when I could of spent that money on some new coilpacks. Things like this are all too common, and for someone who is paid monthly, I now need to wait for the next payday to see if I can spend some money on the S3 or not. On top of that, we have Christmas right around the corner too, so present buying is in full swing. 

There are so many things that as an individual building a car, we just seem to forget with the excitement of getting a new project to work on. I am fully subjected to this and it commonly brings me back to earth pretty hard, and that s**t hurts.

So if you are about to embark on a new project, or undergoing one right now. Don't let the "influencers" fool you with the quick turn around of a build. The slow and steady progress that you make yourself and the things you learn along the way is much better. Remember that when you hit one of these walls and have to spend the money on something other than your car, whether it be an unexpected issue, rent, bills or whatever you gotta pay for. I have faith that you will eventually finish what you started and be more proud than ever that you made it what it is even with all the bumps along the way. 

As with all Up To Fun posts, enjoy the ride, we're not on it forever.

E.

Some little changes...

 Right then, apologies for the delay on this one. These changes happened a few weeks ago however I kept forgetting to take a picture of one of them. Better late than never though, some small changes were made recently to help tidy up the S3 a little bit and just bring it a little bit into the future. 

So the first change, always a controversial one. A rear wiper delete. I know what some of you will be thinking, why do you need to get rid of the rear wiper? Personally, I think it just has a cleaner look to the rear end. What about when it gets dirty? Luckily I can always give the car a quick clean so it's never too much of a bother. Oh and not forgetting the rear wiper which was on the car when I bought it, wasn't even working anyway.

So after a bit of a fight with the stubborn boot trim pieces, the rear wiper was fitted and had the exact outcome that I wanted.

Next up, something to help bring the S3 up to date with the newer Audi vehicles we see, puddle light projectors. Now these are something I have always loved since I first saw them, so I knew I had to sort some for the S3. Initial research I was looking for a genuine set, however as you'd probably expect, they were expensive, like really expensive. So speaking to a friend who retrofitted a set to his Golf, he sent me a link to a store that sells them for much cheaper, but another issue, they were out of stock and had no plan to restock.

Eventually, I decided to bite the bullet and do something I would probably tell a friend is a bad idea. I ordered a set off AliExpress. I could hear your sigh as you read that. But as long as the 'S3' was in English and not Chinese we'd be good right? The wait for them to be delivered was worth it, they look amazing and just give the S3 a bit more of a premium feel, plus they looked just how I imagined, which s always a positive.

What's next then? Well MOT time is coming up and I want to make sure it will pass with flying colours. I'm gonna be doing a few pre-MOT checks and making sure there are no glaringly obvious problems that will cause a fail. I have also got the coil packs and spark plugs to sort soon to keep the momentum of the maintenance going forward.

Until then though, enjoy the ride.

E.

Baby steps

Time to start ticking off the boring maintenance jobs, starting with the quick and easy PCV valve. Now before you read any further, I am not a trained mechanic just yet, so don't take what I say as gospel. I am mainly going off the advice from friends and forums. 

So then, the PCV valve, these valves seem to be a common issue and many people early on adopted a PCV delete as the OEM part just didn't do the job. Many revisions of the part later it now is recommended to be the best option when it comes to a solution. 

Now before changing the PCV valve, I was getting a bit of oil going back through to the turbo as well as the odd cloud of white smoke when moving off from a standstill. Common signs that your PCV has seen better days. With the new PCV valve, I also got a new gasket as it was only a couple of quid extra. Removed the old one and fitted the new one in all of 20 minutes, super simple and peace of mind achieved, regarding the PCV at least. 

Whilst I was under the bonnet and this job was so quick, I had a look at the coil packs as the OEM units were in place and I want to update these to a set of the R8 coil packs every man and his dog runs in a modified VAG car. Safe to say they had seen better days but I will have to wait for a payday to treat the motor to a new set of them. (Unfortunately no picture here, clearly I was in a rush to go and do something else.) 

Now no power is going to be added because of this change, however not everything you do to your car has to be about power. Completing little jobs like these can help bring you joy in ways that you probably wouldn't expect, even if the forum nerds say it's easy and a 1-second job. So see what maintenance jobs you can undertake and have a crack at it, even if you need a few friends round to help out. Working on your own car gives you satisfaction like nothing else can, especially when things go right. 

Enjoy the ride,

E.

The start of the S3

Hello, welcome to the Up To Fun blog. A personal blog to document all things automotive going on in my life. I started this to document the build on my new-to-me Audi S3, but I feel the content won't be exclusive to just that.

So here it is, my new to me 2010 Audi S3 8P, a car that has been on my hit-list ever since my older brother owned an A3 8P many years ago. This Sprint Blue example has come with some tasty extras from the factory as well as some things I can't be quite sure about, but more on that later.

For anyone interested, the spec from the factory includes the Sound Pack (Bose sound system), electric folding mirrors, interior light pack, and of course, the optional Sprint Blue Pearl paint. Now I know it's not got the spec list as long as some other cars out there but I really don't mind. I appreciate this car for the driver-oriented car it was the day it rolled out of the factory and continues to be to this day.

The bits I can't be quite sure about is the modifications, the car may or may not be remapped, it certainly feels quicker than the 265bhp factory figure. The exhaust also sounds to be something other than stock, whether that be just a resonator delete or more, I guess we will find out together. On the topic of mods, most things will likely be swapped eventually and follow along what the plan turns out to be.

So tag along to stay up to date, plenty to come and hopefully it will make a change to how you usually stay up to date with a build.

Enjoy the ride,

E.