project shoestring

[Copiertech]

Me and the mrs have been making as many mortgage overpayments as possible to try and get ahead of the game and get mortgage free in our 30s so we decided to downgrade in car to have a couple of hundred extra a month to put away. we decided to see how cheaply we could continue to run comfortable, reliable but quick and good looking transport so we bought a 1995 Audi A4 1.8 Turbo Sport with 106K miles, and a complete service history, including a cambelt and shocks/balljoints the year before we bought it, we nabbed it for the grand total of £500 MOT`d and taxed.
Here it is at the beginning:




Over the last 8 months the only things that really needed done were the brake pads, and a battery in the cold snap, plus the cd player was on its way out it would skip a lot.
Time for some running totals:
£500 for the car
£130 for insurance
£180ish for 12 months road tax i cant remember off the top of my head
£17 QH brake pads
£50 Yuasa battery for diesel A4 (bigger capacity, because I sometimes leave the radio on for a long time)
£6 2 chrome tailpipe trims
£7 pair of new numberplates as the old ones looked shabby
£4 QH Thermostat kit
£20 used jvc mp3 cd head unit off ebay
£2.30 can of black spray paint
£15 Slim LED daytime running lights
£7 caliper seals and pins
£20 ebay alarm with remote start/remote central locking
Other stuff I fitted I had lying around in the hut was oil, filters and spark plugs that I bought years ago for my last A4, a NA 1.8 plus I blagged the headlights, taillights and gearknob off a 2000 model A4 a mate was sending to the scrappy, and an 4300K HID kit from my old zafira.

Tha bodywork was shabby with loads of scratches and oxidisation, I`ve fixed a lot of it by blowing in some scratches, wedsanding and rotary polishing with farecla g3 but i`ve still got the bumpers to do, but i`m going to leave them until the summer as it`s had a previous repair without the proper prep so it`s flaking away under where the foglights would go.
It`s not finished yet but it`s almost presentable, no one at the mrs`s work believes how much it cost.



Other than that I`ve had to strip and unseize the bonnet catch and everything else looks in order. The MOT is due end of march so we'll see then if theres anything amiss but it all looks ok at the minute.
next on the list is repaint the bumpers, tint the windows, and try to source some cheap oem 17 or 18 inch wheels off a newer audi because 2 of the standard 16" alloys are quite corroded
Anyone else got any interesting cheap projects their working on?

[Copiertech]

I forgot to add £3 for some gun gum, a cut up tin can and a jubilee clip to fix a small hole in the exhaust.

[olds_kool]

awesome! what a difference
looks like brake fluid needs changing though and who are you insured with? i thought my insurance was cheap at around £290 for each of 3 cars

im fixing up a 97 1.8t that i paid £300 for which had the longest mot failure list ive ever seen but i also break cars so i had most of the parts i needed lying about

[antpalmer]

Cool, i've just brought a 1.8 avant '99. Was thinking about what i can do upgrade wise. The exterior is in stunning condition - not even a stone chip - inside looks a bit tired tbh, even though she's only done 82k miles.

Any suggestions as to what i can do????

Yesterday i brought an Alpine head unit to replace the concert radio. I can now connect my ipod up :-) However, it sounds s**t!! What can i do here???

Copiertech - do you have a pic of the car with its led lights on????

[Copiertech]

oldskool nothing gets by you eh I changed the fluid after that pic was taken when I done the front pads, and rear caliper seals at the same time, had fun, snapped a nipple and had an awffy time getting the pedal back after bleeding but it`s all charachter building eh?
We're insured with admiral, 10 years no claims, occasional business use included and 8000 mile a year limit
The mrs is away in the car till wednesday night so I cant take a pic of the ring DRLs fitted currently which are crisp and bright with a tidy chrome bezel round the lens but I do have a picture of the halfarsed attempt I made earlier using flexible led strips I had lying around but they looked rough up close.

[antpalmer]

Even the previous botch led's don't look too bad from that distance!

So, any suggestions for my recent purchase?
Any comments on my stereo?

[Copiertech]

dunno, I havent done anything to my interior other than be very thorough with the vacuum and a paintprush to get into the nooks and crannies then gave it some armorall dressing on the plastics, it`s just the standard sport bucket seats and s line steering wheel that come with the sport model maybe you could get those from a scrappy if you dont have them already? I dont know whats up with your stereo because even with my cheap and nasty jvc cd player it sounds good until you crank it up too loud then the rear speakers start farting but up til that point its nice and tight and clear. Maybe faulty speakers or wiring problems? is the concert one of the ones that has a seperate amp maybe you need to bypass that?

[antpalmer]

All the speakers are working fine since i changed the head unit. It just sounds totally gutless - especially when you crank it up a little. I've fiddled with the eq, and still sounds pretty poor. Maybe i'm used to my company car (mondeo) which has clarion underseat woofers.
Maybe i'll have them removed from the mundaneo and put in the saudi.
I guess there are other options too, like 4 new speakers. Anything must be an improvement on the 10 y.o. standards.

Interior wise - especially getting some S bits; my car is pelican blue - which tbh looks stunning! However, the seats, carpets and all plastics inside are blue as well!! So i think i may be a little limited there!! Thankfully, the lcd on the alpine hu is red ;-)

Any suggestions would be very welcomed, especially as i too am a shoestringer!!

Cheers!

[Copiertech]

one of the speakers might have reversed polarity, that can cause gutless sound try moving the balance and fader to see if eliminating speakers helps

[olds_kool]

oldskool nothing gets by you eh I changed the fluid after that pic was taken when I done the front pads, and rear caliper seals at the same time, had fun, snapped a nipple and had an awffy time getting the pedal back after bleeding but it`s all charachter building eh?

only noticed as my project car had the same black fluid
changed mine using eezibleed and blew reservoir apart, wouldnt mind but it recommends 20psi i was using 15, fluid everywhere!


antpalmer is your car a facelift 99?
if not you can fit the facelift upgrades
leather handbrake, illuminated air vents, centre console etc
then some nice seats and 3 spoke wheel if yours isnt a sport

first a4 i looked at had blue dash, dirty cream leather, cream carpet and wood, put me off buying it