Audi A1 by mgpdoc ••

[mgpdoc]

So, after more than half a year, but less than a whole year, which i guess is a win, having dealt with this guy, i managed to get my steering wheel back.
And by managed, I mean, accomplished it via, claims, refunds, police and eu consumer protection involvement, as well as friends from the car community that stood up and went there in person to collect items and only then give cash in hand.

Even then, quality of work was very poor, as expected, no surprises. So things needed to be redone, as all photos the "seller" sent me, were from meters away from the item so as not to see the imperfections. What is more there were no pics of the rear side, or side photos. I mean, if you cannot see it, it's not there, is it?

Currently i am happy enough to use the steering wheel , but it will be modified again in the future, when i retrim the alcantara which will be redone due to wear either way sooner or later. Some pics for now.

Cheers to all and thanks for the help some of you offered to give.
I hope noone has to deal with guys like these, and car community gives them what they deserve. That is, zero money, and zero tolerance on fake excuses.

June 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

June 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

June 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Cheers

Mike

[mgpdoc]

So i have some more, major and sadly not cheap updates i have to show you.
Let me start with the more simple and straight forward ones.

First, the MMI surround. A fellow A1 member, Wilmer, pointed out that i can change the surround with the newer HD, piano black one. So, yeah u guessed it, I ordered it immediately, I had no idea this could be changed.

Removed my MMI surround

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

new one arrived from Germany

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Mine, VS the HD one

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Installed

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Looks great, very happy with it.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Then, another little touch, was the light switch. Wilmer, pointed out, that on the TT mk2 (8J) the light switch can also have piano black material. So onto finding one. Even better though, he sourced one for me. Awesome guy. So, onto pics.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Removed mine

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

One next to the other

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

However, if you recall, i have changed all my interior lighting to white. So this new switch, could not be let having red light.
So, yes, swapping the boards was next.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

I love these little jobs. Take your time, and a good cold beer.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Seems like we did something right

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

All done.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Cheers

More on the drivetrain changes, in the next post.

Let me throw some pics of how the car was at that point

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Cheers, hope you enjoyed this as well

Mike

[Kalin]

I am so happy when I see there is an update on one of your thread....Your cars and UNBELIEVABLE.

[mgpdoc]

I am so happy when I see there is an update on one of your thread....Your cars and UNBELIEVABLE.

Thank you mate
Always a pleasure to see more people enjoying this journey.

Cheers

Mike

[mgpdoc]

So time to throw some money into maintenance.

Despite the 60k kms, the brake feel wasnt what i wanted.

So car went up in the air for some changes.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

New stuff

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Nothing crazy, just regular quality stuff for new discs and pads

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Old ones seemed tired, however there was much life left in them. Either way they were thrown away, pads and discs.

Old ones

Fronts

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr


Rears

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

New Fronts

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

New rears

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And I also machined these on the lathe, because they would rub against the top mount chassis and i thought they stressed the system while cornering.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Installed in place

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

More on that later, on the next post.

Cheers

Mike

[mgpdoc]

So, i had some issues with noises and crack sounds while cornering, even standing still. The sounds werent nice and were becoming worse. uppon inspection we found out the top mount front suspension bearings were cracking. We changed them, issues was fixed for a while, and then again the same, and after removing bearings, they were again, you guessed it, cracked.

Here is how they looked each time.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

New ones each time

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

After having changed almost every single part with new, we also changed these. Which were forgotten stock.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

However, no, it was still a no.
Then the shop suggested that my suspension shocks had way too much play in them, and decided that this was the fault. Indeed there was play that shouldnt be there.
I could remove the suspension and ship to our authorised dealer here in Greece, Jamsport that not only rebuilts Bilstein suspension, but also, custom manufactures ones from scratch to your specifications, and has done in the past my suspension both in the Golf, and in my Audi A4. However this being my daily, i thought I would order two new front ones, and rebuilt my old ones.

However, Bilstein Germany, asks for your two front suspension components, more money than for the whole lot, on all four corners. Or that's what the shop told me anyway.
Long story short, i ordered my suspension again, new from factory. It was a revision compared to my old one, that had roughly 55k kms, about 35k miles. And then, i would decide if i want to sell my old suspension or rebuilt it , to possibly different specs.

Here comes the new suspension.

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Out with the "old:

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Suspension was very very soft, you could push it all in by hand very easily.

In with the new

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Ready for touch down

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Then, I cleaned the old suspension, and packed it nicely to send it very soon to the dealer to have it all refurbished and done to my specs.

It didnt come out too bad after some tlc - before andd after pics of them

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Needless to say, all problems were fixed

Now time to work on my Golf which is making complaints

July 2019 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Cheers

[Jay_]

I rarely come on stanceworks now, but I've always loved the quality of your threads and love the updates! Keep it up!

[Kalin]

I wish I had your money to throw on my cars, but damn your cars are good. Very nice job!

[Sawyer Brazil]

Good to see your cars again! I used to keep up with your threads on the golfmkv forum, amazing attention to detail

[Povke]

I got to admit, your build thread's, attention to details and all other small bit's and pieces inspire, always nice to see your thread updated, so keep up posting and working on cars

[mgpdoc]

Hey guys. Good day to all.

Always a nice surprise to come back to my thread and find other people enjoying this as well.
Especially when build threads seem to have died, i will never stop hoping they will be coming back and youtube isnt the only way we can follow builds with overfenders.

I mean there is nothing bad with overfenders and salvaged cars, but you get the point of what i am saying

Cheers to all

Mike

[mgpdoc]

So it has been a while since i updated this thread. I have mostly been enjoying the car using it daily , plus on top of that there is very little time for mods with work, research at university etc etc. However let's see what has happened during these months.

After summer time the car got a maintenace service consisting of these

Kn Filter clean

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Along with these.

Some of them were not to be changed yet, however me being me, i changed them.

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

You see some new clips there as well, well they were for the new undertray since my old one was beaten up from the times i got stuck in snow and sand lol

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

All these were installed and back on the roads

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Bought another foam lance for my other home washing station

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Ordered some parts from Wurth which i dont know if i have shown , along with some led working lamps and more stuff, i love this company

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And then i tackled a job on my engine bay, after i re-installed my engine cover, to make it look more OEM looking

So these sensors had to be hidden / tucked

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

During

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And after

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Much cleaner

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

My old suspension was sent away and fully refurbished and was set to my spec. not sure if i will reuse it or sell it yet.

LateJan by mgpdoc, on Flickr

All was done in a bilstein official dealer

LateJan by mgpdoc, on Flickr

LateJan by mgpdoc, on Flickr

LateJan by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And these were given a good clean as well

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Also, everyone into detailing can understand my happiness after sourcing these, in Spain

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

An amazing product

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

More to come in the next post

Cheers Mike

[mgpdoc]

Decided to go back to oem setup on the rear passenger seat for a more subtle look I guess and more quiet interior while travelling at that time

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Fire extinguisher removed and relocated

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Under the passenger seat

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Easy to access and out of the way at the same time

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Re-installing the rear seatbelts was a pain in the a**

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Then this part

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

All done

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Look at the magnetic wurth lamp what a pleasant it is to work with

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Got a bit side-tracked by some other little projects like a pipe - stand

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And also a customized wine stand as well , if you are into that sort of things you might like the results

Indicator by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Indicator by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Indicator by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And also got my MSc degree on Lung Cancer, that set me back a bit on progress on the car i guess hehe.

Jan20 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Then, I got back on track with the winter time

Jan20 by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Sorry Greta obligatory shot on the diesel fumes. It was time to install my winter setup

Proper air tools make this so much easier

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

All done ready for winter beating

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Filled her up

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And naturally i took some photos while clean

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Cheers more to come in the next post

Mike

[mgpdoc]

So yet another thing i have been wanting to do for some time now, is to install dynamic indicators on the mirrors. However, given the fact that A1 used its own specific ones, that werent identical to A3/S3 8V or any other model for that model, i hadnt found any. And also, i didnt want to shop from wish alibaba and all that sites, i dot trust them that much.

Recently a link caught my eye on uk and sourced these instantly

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Started the tricky part of removing the mirror parts again. Been there twice already once when i installed the cf mirror covers, and then when i retrofitted the folding mirrors, so i knew what to expect and how to work. Either way this is not easy to do fast and even with caution you can easily break things. It helps if you heat it up a bit to work more easily.

First you remove these two

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Leaving you with this

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Then the cover is next

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Leaving you with this

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And then you can remove the oem indicator

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Side by side with the new one

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

And then you put everything back together the reverse order.

Here are some videos of how it works from my Youtube channel

https://youtu.be/mR07NV2sY90

https://youtu.be/A8bEvy3slaE

I hope they work

And also my other two cars are always here with me

Cheers

Golf battery by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Untitled by mgpdoc, on Flickr

Mike

[C2_mad]

love this thread. keep up the good work! those indicators were a nice touch.

ps: i also wish forum build threads would come back....