Project Thread: My 2002 Audi TT Quattro

[usmcfieldmp]

August 24, 2021


I threw a low dollar bid out on a Copart listing last week totally not expecting that I'd win it... but I did. Copart fees along with having to rent a Uhaul to bring it home basically doubled the price that I paid for it, but I'm pretty excited about it. I've been eyeballing MK1 TT's for almost a year now.

This TT is in really good shape, while simultaneously being in terrible shape. Carfax shows it was a New England car until around 2012 (I haven't found any rust yet (fingers crossed), when someone in Oklahoma bought it. I'm 98% sure that the majority of its time in OK was just spent sitting and baking in the sun. Tires are all date coded for the end of 2011. The clear coat is decimated. Headliner and driver's door card glue have given up on life - the headliner is annoying, but the door card is problematic as it catches on the window when it is being rolled up, and the glue is smearing off onto everything. All the vacuum/rubber hoses under the hood are crusty and cracked too.

The auction listing said that it started and idled when it arrived (I'm having some doubts on this), but I think it sat for so long with a dead battery that it forgot the key, so I can't start it because the immobilizer is active. I have a VCDS and the cluster shows that zero keys are currently programed. Everything that I've read tells me that obtaining the SKC will be tricky, but that I can get a $25 cable off of Amazon to pull the Hex code from the cluster - security code will be in there. I'm still researching this. In my multiple scans with VCDS, I did check the Service Interval. Only 240 miles since the last service.... but that was 1265-ish days ago (3.5 years). I can't hear the fuel pump prime when I key on... so that's problematic, as well. My impression of immobilizer problems was that the car would start, but turn off after one second. Luckily, I do have an AEM High Flow pump that I just pulled out of one of my other cars - so if need be, I have a pump available.

The car is about 95% stock though. It still has all of the underhood plastic covers (Coolant/PS cover, Engine Cover, and Battery Cover), although the little screws are all missing. Konig wheels with keyed lug nuts/bolts (and I can't find the key), a Farenheit head unit that sticks out a couple inches, and a brand new looking aftermarket power steering cooler mounted in front of the radiator/condenser. I'm excited to get started screwing around with it though. Most pictures and info to come.

[usmcfieldmp]

August 26, 2021

Gave the TT a quick bath after work, poked around the engine bay looking for issues, and did a little bit of light work here and there. She cleaned up better than I expected.











I pulled the driver's side door card off since it was falling apart and getting a yellowish grease or glue everywhere. A lot of the plastic along the top that connects it or holds it to the door with the seals was broken as well. I also pulled out the head unit, as the row of buttons above it had been pushed into the dash. Plus, the head unit was sticking out a couple inches and looked really stupid. I don't want to go through the hassle of replacing it and rewiring everything behind it (who ever did it before left a mess of wires), so I'll have to think about my approach. I think they had left it sitting out because it has a screen that folds out and pops up - I don't care about that, so I might just stick it in all the way this time.







The only pressing matter that I saw under the hood is that the vacuum line that runs into the FPR had crumbled at the FPR. I didn't mess with it too much; just made a mental note of it. When keying the car on, I still don't hear the fuel pump. I'll investigate that further this weekend. I have a high-flow AEM that I just took out of my Cobalt. Might try to put that in the car this weekend. No idea how long the gas has been in the tank, so I might try to suck out as much of that as I can with a syphon and then pour in some fresh stuff. I'm sure the fuel filter needs changed, as well. Beyond that... I need to pull one a timing belt cover off and give it an inspection. I have no idea how long it has been on the car or if it is in just as bad of shape as a lot of the other rubber components.

[usmcfieldmp]

Steve @ ZinkWerks reprogrammed the key to the cluster - no more flashing immobilizer light! It still won't start though; pretty sure the fuel pump is dead.

[usmcfieldmp]

It still won't start though; pretty sure the fuel pump is dead.

August 28, 2021

I knew my mission going into the day - pull the fuel pump housing and swap in the AEM High Flow Pump that I recently pulled from my big turbo Cobalt SS. This should be fairly straightforward and easy.

Narrator: "It was not."

Knowing it was going to be a scorcher of a day, I moved the car around my concrete pad and got it under the car port - blocking the sun would end up making things soooo much more tolerable.



I started off by pulling off the hot-side turbo pipe to give myself room to pull the timing belt inspection cover. The belt looks good - no visible cracking - it's probably still early in its life. I think I'm still a little too nervous about it to leave it in for too long though. BUT, I have other issues to tackle. Since it's a bit of a tight fit and I want to clean the interior anyway, I decided to start by pulling the seats out of the car.



Set the girlfriend up with a vacuum and put her to work cleaning the floors up. Meanwhile, I cleaned up the rear bench area a bit (pulling out the speaker wiring that was just lying around - obviously someone had subs in this car and apparently just cut them out when they sold the car), before diving into pulling the fuel pump housing. Sigh.

Once I started pulling the housing out of the tank, the damage was immediately evident.







I've never seen a tank unit this bad before. The clear-ish fuel lines crumbled like a stale cookie... even the lightest of pressures/forces would cause them to break even more. The insulation on the wiring was non-existent in most places and rapidly deteriorating in other places. The wires themselves easily fell apart in some spots (the wiring for the connector that ran from this pump housing to the housing on the other side of the tank had already fallen apart and was just lying on the bottom of the tank). Surprisingly though, the black fuel line that runs from one pump housing to the other was still 100% intact and seems perfectly fine.

My guess is that the tank just sat for a really long time without much fuel in it and that allowed the plastics and wiring to dry out and begin degrading. That's my best guess, because the tank in my MK2 sat for 5 years without use just before I bought it, but everything was fine when I pulled it - I put gas in it and it functioned perfectly fine until I eventually swapped it out for the better MK3 unit. Similarly, my Cobalt recently sat unused for almost 3 years with half a tank of gas or so in it... again, it was in perfect working condition after I drained it and refilled it.

Sooooo, I'm eyeballing picking up a used tank from someone or maybe just cleaning this tank out and then making a custom fuel pump housing assembly - maybe pieced together from the old pieces. I'm not sure which way I'm going to go with it though.

ANYWAY. I used a giant fluid extracting syringe tool to pull most of the gas out of the tank - will need to do this again to get the last gallon or so out of the passenger side half if I plan to reuse it. I then capped it off and got to work cleaning up the interior of the car. The five buttons on the dash would pop backwards into the dash when pressed, and I couldn't seen to get the flap that secures them properly closed through the radio opening... so I just pulled the dash and center console apart.



It's a surprisingly simple car to work on. It took a little while to get everything apart since I was taking my time to make sure none of the fragile plastic bits broke, but I got there. Messed around with the button housing a bit and was able to clearly see how it functioned, which allowed me to make the needed adjustment so that it would snap back together and hold the buttons steady. I then pulled the aftermarket stereo wiring adapter out of the car and cleaned it up a bit. You can see the small rats nest of colored wires in the above picture. I basically took all of the wires that weren't attached to anything, twisted them together into a single wiring harness strand, and then zip-tied them together. I then did the same thing for all the wires that had known connections.

While the interior was torn out and I was working to fix these things, my girlfriend was working on cleaning up all the parts and pieces. So the coke that someone spilled in the car 10 years ago is no longer coating the insides of the center console, lol. I buttoned everything back together and was really happy with the outcome. The only things that the interior still needs are a good steam cleaning for the carpet, door cards fixed/replaced (material is peeling away from the top; driver's side is terrible and the plastics underneath are broken - basically going to need to be replaced), and then the headliner needs fixed/replaced. I was trying to think about custom headliners that I could do - if this was a GTI, I'd obviously do a tartan pattern. The floorboards need the steam cleaning because it's fairly obvious that someone spilled something dark on the carpet behind the front seats... might be more of the coke that I found in, on, and under the center console.

[CoupeQtoo]

I'm looking forward to seeing how all of this goes. I just picked up an 02 TT Roadster that also needs some love. The before and after shots are great, funny how a little cleaning effort makes things seem a bit more worth while.

[rfelker]

inter looks really good. but your going to have issues if person that installed that aftermarket radio cut wires. Audis alarm system is tied in and can cause all kinds of issues. Another tip buy vag-com your going to need it. If you already have it post the codes. on the fuel pump just buy a new oem one. Can you post pics of the intake manifold area something doesnt look correct. thanks

[usmcfieldmp]

September 6, 2021

I'd almost say that I regret going to the swap option... the Quattro tanks are not simple to pull out. 😂 Not when compared to something like a MK2 GTI, at least. Pretty sure I could have my GTI's tank out of the car in 10 minutes or less. I'm already a couple hours deep into pulling the TT Quattro tank - BUT, I've been taking my time to make sure I don't break anything else, while also exploring the underside of the car.





Pulling off the exhaust was easy, as was the heat shielding (and it made it obvious that someone has been under here before, since they used self-taping screws to reattach the front of the heat shielding that goes between the exhaust and propshaft. Sigh. Knowing this, I looked around a little bit more. Didn't see too many things that screamed modifications... until I started looking at the catalytic converter pipes, lol.



I'm not totally sure what happened here. The bolts going through the flanges do not appear to have nuts on the end of them... they almost appear to have been welded on. Also, the piping in front of the cats being welded makes me think that they were cut... which makes me question if there's anything in the cats anymore. The hacks left a decent amount of welding wire still on the pipes too. Definitely not a professional job, lol.

Getting back to the tank and rear subframe... it took me quite a while to get the propshaft separated from the rear diff. Once I figured out what was still holding it together, it was simple... it just took me a while to get to that realization (I'm talking about the alignment pins that are part of the giant rubber mount - they were stuck in the rear diff). It took me a while to disconnect all the fuel lines by the fuel filter, as well - again, not wanting to break anything and compound my problems. I disconnected the rear shocks and then removed the rear subframe bolts and lowered it down, using the control arms and CV axles to hold it up. Not wanting to drop the rear subframe completely will likely complicate the rest of the process for me... but there are a couple things that didn't want to have to do - like disconnect the hard brake lines (because I'm 99% sure they wouldn't survive).



I removed all the bolts holding the tank in and it started to come down. Something on the passenger side seems to be holding it up, but once I got to that point, the Mosquito Militia was taking flight and they've been especially bad this year, so I packed up and called it a day. I'm hoping that when I return to work on it, that I can get the tank out relatively simply. I might try removing the control arms from the subframe, but want to make sure that will work for me. Part of my problem is that I cannot remove the wheels and tires from the car. The key to the wheel locks is MIA, so I need to figure something out for that.



They look like a pretty simple pattern... fingers crossed that maybe that'll help me to find a generic key to remove them? If you have any ideas, definitely let me know. They're really tight in the holes on the wheels, so hammering on a socket might not work - I know I've seen that as something others have done for stuck on locks.

[usmcfieldmp]

inter looks really good. but your going to have issues if person that installed that aftermarket radio cut wires. Audis alarm system is tied in and can cause all kinds of issues. Another tip buy vag-com your going to need it. If you already have it post the codes. on the fuel pump just buy a new oem one. Can you post pics of the intake manifold area something doesnt look correct. thanks

I don't think any stock wires were cut under the dash - it looked like they used an adapter harness. Alarm seems to arm/disarm just fine for now though. I have VCDS. I installed battery, did a full scan, cleared codes, and then did another full scan - I only had faults with the cluster: something with the key transponder (fixed), something about the fuel level sensor (seemingly caused by the mess that I found in the tank), and some others that I don't remember. I'm not going to worry about any of that until I have the car running though.

The problem with just buying a new fuel pump is that I would need the housing for both sides of the tank... and that ends up being about $500. I'm most likely going to be swapping for a different tank. Otherwise, I might just rig something up to work. Honestly, in-tank fuel systems aren't that complicated. A couple wires here and there, some fuel line, and then I'm golden. The hump for the propshaft is the only reason why I didn't already do that.

I'll try to take some engine bay pics next time I'm working on it. Nothing stood out to me as being incorrect / non-OE, but I'm basing that on my general VW/Audi knowledge and having owned a MK4 GTI (among others).

[usmcfieldmp]

Went to Auto Zone on Friday and checked their lug nut inventory. They had one key - sold by itself - from White Knight Wheels or something like that. It looked right and the lug nuts that they sold next to it looked similar too... so I took the risk.

The good news is that it fit! Pretty sure I was the first one to remove the wheels in like 10 years, because they were hardcore seized. I got them all off though.

[CoupeQtoo]

Looking at those lug bolts, I was wondering if you were going to have to hammer one of those conical lug removers on them to get them off. Good score on that key at autozone... every once in a while they have something useful I guess.

[usmcfieldmp]

I've been splitting time between working on the TT and working on the 1.8T swap for my MK2 GTI... I've got too many project cars, lol. The good news is that the work on the 1.8T has given me a lot of useful knowledge to apply to the TT, and the TT gives me a useful reference to look at when I can't figure out how something is supposed to be routed in the GTI. 😂 I bought the 1.8T in a torn apart Jetta with 3 bins full of misc engine bay parts, so I don't actually know how a lot of it goes together, but I'm figuring it out. It's not really all that hard.

Here's a link to that thread, if you happen to be interested: https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/cle...wagen.4948994/

Looking at those lug bolts, I was wondering if you were going to have to hammer one of those conical lug removers on them to get them off. Good score on that key at autozone... every once in a while they have something useful I guess.

I was worried that I was going to need to do that too. There wasn't a lot of clearance between the lug bolt and the holes in the wheels, so I was definitely worried about fitment. And as hard as some of these lugs broke loose, I'm not sure some of the "home remedies" would have worked.

[CoupeQtoo]

Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. These kinds of threads keep me motivated... I'm trying to split my time between fixing my own TT, getting ready to pull the engine on my 02 A6 2.7t q so I can swap in a pair of K04 turbos and upgrade the clutch, a Ford Diesel pickup that always needs something, and a project dirt bike. Not sure how I thought I had time for it all.

[rfelker]

Checked your thread on the build for GTI funny how the audi guys want a vr6 swap in the b6 and b7s and the vw guys want the 1.8ts etc. The TT we have is wifes and that gets major upgrades once a year. My b7 is also getting something now hitting around 360 370hp with w/m stage 3 and k04. Its FWD 6speed so thats plenty of power for the car. Then we have the VW Mk5 R32 really really thinking about turbo upgrade for that but its really fun with just the flash and the dsg.

[usmcfieldmp]

Checked your thread on the build for GTI funny how the audi guys want a vr6 swap in the b6 and b7s and the vw guys want the 1.8ts etc. The TT we have is wifes and that gets major upgrades once a year. My b7 is also getting something now hitting around 360 370hp with w/m stage 3 and k04. Its FWD 6speed so thats plenty of power for the car. Then we have the VW Mk5 R32 really really thinking about turbo upgrade for that but its really fun with just the flash and the dsg.

Haha, yeah. I debated the swap for a long time as I really loved the 12V VR6. If I had picked up the TT last year before I picked up the Jetta parts car, I wouldn't be 1.8T swapping the GTI - I'd be turbocharging the VR. 😂 That's just the way things go sometimes.

Funny enough though, messing the with Jetta parts car and its 1.8T has really broadened my knowledge of the engine and helped me a lot with the TT. I know the things to look for now.

- - - Updated - - -

September 19, 2021

Made myself spend another couple hours working on the getting the tank out of the car and I finally was successful (and I say that I "made" myself do it, because it was high 90's (mid to high 30's Celsius) and humid as hell yesterday). If I had to do it again, I could probably finish the entire job in just a couple hours, but oh well. I wasted a lot of time by trying to save myself from wasting time on unnecessary work. 😂 Funny how that works. I did a lot of "trying to get it out by unbolting the least amount of things" before asking myself why I'm not just ripping everything out of the car... I didn't have a good answer, so I switched to "remove everything mode" and it made things simpler.

Disconnect both ends of the propshaft. Disconnect the rear control arms from the swing arm/hub - at a minimum, you should remove the uppers. Unbolt the rear axles. Pull the whole rear subframe out of the car - be mindful of the grounding strap and the two vacuum hoses attached to the rear differential.

Once it was out, I sprayed the tank off with my pressure washer, then soaked the inside with some Purple Power, and then sprayed out the inside as best as I could. I ended up removing quite a bit of gunk stains from the inside. I'm debating on just spending the $5-600 needed to put new OEM assemblies in this tank, rather than spending the time pulling a used tank. Time vs money. After the tank was done, I sprayed off the rear subframe and differential. Need to make sure that I do a Haldex service while the unit is out of the car and easily accessible.



After that, I put the car back on a Battery Tender and poked around the engine bay for a handful of minutes. I definitely need at least one new vacuum hose for the FPR. The one that leads to the Combi valve is crumbling as well... but I'll most likely delete that, so why both replacing that hose?

[usmcfieldmp]

October 10, 2021

New fuel pumps came in, along with a timing belt kit, aluminum thermostat housing kit, and a few miscellaneous other things. Been super busy the last month and have a handful of very busy weeks ahead of me, as well... like closing on a house this Friday, which actually means that I need to have this car moving under its own power by the end of the month (or sooner, in all reality).

Finally some cooler weather here and it was aided by strong winds, so I put a full days work into the engine bay. I started by pulling out a bunch of the stuff that doesn't need to be in the engine bay anymore - SAI, EVAP, N249, etc. The power steering cooler pipe must have been leaking previously, as there's an aftermarket cooler on the car, so I went ahead and pulled that off the car, as well. I might have gone a little overboard with my deletes, completely forgetting that to pass a Texas "inspection", I can't have a CEL. 😂 I'll cross that bridge when I get there, I suppose. With that said, I did later remember that I had a Delete Kit with all the resistors that came with the Jetta that I used to 1.8T swap my MK2 GTI, so I raided that and used those on the TT. I ended up pulling the SAI block off plate off of the GTI, as well.



After pulling a lot of the junk out of the car, I started doing a timing belt swap. Everything was pretty standard and straight forward, didn't really run into any snags. I did prep myself for the mess that is unplugging the back side of the power steering reservoir... only for nothing to leak out, lol. Not great. I've got some CHF 11S lying around, so I'll top it off when I'm done. I'm not sure how long the timing belt had been in there, but it looked relatively new as the text on the backside was still legible. There was a metal impeller water pump in the car too. I put that aside, along with the belt and tensioner pulley, and might use them again later on down the road. Good backups to have handy for my track car GTI. I won't reuse the hydraulic tensioner though. It looked newer and in good shape, but that's the biggest risk in the group, imo.



Reinstalling everything was easy enough. Pulled the coilpacks and spark plugs to make the engine easier to turn over and check the timing marks after the belt install. Everything lined up well after a handful of turns so I buttoned the car back up on that side. Grabbed the new coolant bottle from my GTI and the Black MQB Tiguan coolant reservoir cap (2Q0121321A).

Threw new plugs in it (NGK BKR7E; I like that 3 of my cars run these now... makes life simple), hit the valve cover with the ShopVac (it was a mess of leaves, seeds, and broken wire loom), pulled the air box out of the car to give me easier access to the SAI/Combi valve, and pulled the thermostat housing and thermostat. I wouldn't mind sending the previous owners / mechanics of this video a strongly worded letter.



I almost stripped the top Combi valve bolt - my allen just didn't want to sit in it all the way and it was seized up fairly tight, so I had to pull the coolant flange off the side of the head in order to access it with sturdier tools. Once again, finding issues. That coolant flange had been pulled off before... the o-ring they stuffed in it was too big (it's ID was what should have the OD) and they slathered it up with RTV. So I cleaned that up a bit and added it to my parts list. Buttoned that car back together and called it a day around 6.30 pm before the mosquitos got too bad.



Still left to do:

• Install fuel pumps
• Install fuel tank
• Drain and fill Haldex and rear differential (Haldex fluid + MT-90)
• Install rear subframe
• Drain and fill 02M (MT-90)
• Drain and fill engine oil
• Fill coolant system
• Plug open vacuum ports (EVAP system)
• Run vacuum lines to FPR and DV

Ordered the following the vacuum hose, MT-90, Haldex Gear Oil, VW/Audi G13, and URO Aluminum Coolant hose flange w/ new sensor UroTuning this morning. Have a new set of vacuum caps on the way from Amazon, as well (from High Temp Masking Supply). The car should be ready to start up then. Fingers crossed. Pending no issues, it should happen this weekend at the latest. If that goes well enough, then I'll have a laundry list of other parts that the car needs (new suspension, bushings, axles, end links, tie rods, etc).

[usmcfieldmp]

October 17, 2021

Was on a bit of a mission yesterday, so I didn't really take pictures or document a lot of what I did. Started by running and cutting vacuum line for the FPR and the DV; each on their own dedicated line now. I then drained and filled the rear differential and transmission with MT-90, drained and filled the engine oil, and changed the oil filter. Cleaned up a little bit of the mess under the car - wiped the oil pan off and a few other things. The underside of the car is still quite dirty though. I'm partially wondering if someone rallied this car. 😂

Moved on to getting the new fuel pump housings secured in the tank. This was surprisingly a royal PITA. I had done this on my MK2/3 tank before and it didn't take but a minute. The TT tank was a solid 15 minute procedure with someone helping me. They pushed down as I used an interior trim tool to run around the outside of the gaskets to get them to tuck inside the opening. Once that was done, started to get the tank back into the car.



It took a lot of adjusting, but I finally got it in. I think one of the EVAP lines ended up getting pinched, but I wasn't too worried about it, so I just moved on. I might regret that eventually. 😂 Mounted the new fuel filter and connected the lines. The outlet hose didn't want to snap on so I hit it and its button with a little WD-40 just to see if that was the issue... seems like it might have been. I'll be sure to check/watch that connection after I prime the system.

Next was the rear differential. Quite the PITA to do alone, but I managed to get it in. Spoiler alert... I should have mounted the propshaft before bolting in the rear subframe. I scraped out as much of the old axle grease as I could and then added in some new stuff. Mounted the axles and then struggled to get the rear arms reattached for a while, but ended up successful. Do these cars come from the factory with spherical bearings in the rear hubs for the arms to attach to? Because mine has them... I wouldn't expect that to be a factory part, but it didn't look obviously aftermarket like a lot of parts usually do.



The propshaft was next and it was a royal PITA. Basically had to unbolt the rear subframe onto a jack and then pull with all my might while my GF slipped it on. Getting it back together from there wasn't too much trouble though. With everything was together, I threw the heat shields back on, and then the exhaust.



There's still a couple bolts here and there that I need to hit with a torque wrench (axle to rear diff connection, prop shaft, and the rear subframe), but there isn't much else left. I need to put some gas in the tank, swap out the OE plastic coolant housing (the one with the temp sensor) once the new one arrives (it was supposed to arrive the 14th... but for some reason, it's in Kansas City right now. Maybe the put it on the wrong truck?). Oh, and re-drain and refill the Haldex. I tried doing it while I had the rear subframe out, but without the vent on the top to let air out, it became explosively problematic to fill it like that, so I ended up having a lot of fluid blow out from the pressurization. SO I ordered another tube and will just swap the fluid again. I'm not sure how much fluid I lost before and I don't want to short the system.

Essentially, once that Coolant Flange arrives, I can get that thrown on, fill the cooling system, put some gas in it, and attempt to start. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly. Once that is done, there are a definite handful of things that I know will need corrected immediately. Both front axles have torn boots and it needs tires - I didn't want to invest in those items before knowing whether or not the car would even run and not have any other major issues. I'm going to try to see if I can get the wheels and tires off of my MK2 GTI to work on the TT, but I'm confident that the spokes won't clear the brake caliper. I did see a VW in the junk yard a couple weeks ago that had some thick spacers on it, but the spacers were mounted with the factory VW lug nut lock - searched the trunk of that car and couldn't find the key. I have two MK4 keys in my garage; no guarantee that either of them will work though... but I might go try.

Still left to do:

• Install fuel pumps
• Install fuel tank
• Drain and fill Haldex and rear differential (Haldex fluid + MT-90)
• Install rear subframe
• Drain and fill 02M (MT-90)
• Drain and fill engine oil
• Fill coolant system (waiting on coolant flange)
• Plug open vacuum ports (EVAP system)
• Run vacuum lines to FPR and DV

[usmcfieldmp]

October 24, 2021

I had the coolant flange to fix the car all last week, but kept putting it off to do other things. Spent Saturday helping a friend/coworker replace the cold-side charge pipe on his 2017 M2. Very common for the plastic piece that slips over the throttle body to blow apart under boost... and that's exactly what happened to his.

So, I was determined to finish the TT on Sunday. Got to work installing the URO coolant flange with a new green top sensor. Fairly quick and easy work - getting the rear coolant hose off is a bit of a PITA because it bumps right up against the TIP. The new one fit like a glove though. Put all the clamps on, reinstalled the airbox. Removed a couple more useless vacuum lines (thanks for pointing them out tt92103) and capped their connections. Filled the cooling system (I only managed to get about 3L in before it was "full". I didn't measure what I previously drained though). Changed the Haldex fluid. Pondered existence. And then ran to AutoZone to buy a fuel container, a Lucas fuel injector treatment, 5 gal/20L of 93 oct from Shell, returned home, and poured it into the tank. I tried fitting one of the 15" Rota Slipstreams off of my MK2 on the car, but it wouldn't clear the front caliper. Damn. So I stick the wheels and tires that it came with back on the car.

Checked over everything one last time. And attempted to start it. Nothing. Well, it cranked and cranked and cranked. But never started.

Keyed off... then back on and listened again to see if I could hear the fuel pump. Nope. Checked the fuse. Busted. Replaced the fuse and tried again. Can now hear the fuel pump!

Try to start. It cranked and cranked and cranked and THEN STUMBLED and cranked and cranked.

Try again. Crank and crank... and FIRED! The flex pipe on the downpipe is apparently decimated, because it almost sounds like it is running open downpipe. Do a bunch of visual checks while it's idling like making sure none of the fuel lines are leaking and making sure the coolant isn't disappearing. No obvious leaks. Hop in, clutch in, throw it in first, and slowly let the clutch out until it starts to edge forward. Move it forward a car length, get back out and do another visual check. Everything looks good.

So I get back in and take it for a spin around the neighborhood. Runs and drives well. Shifter is smooth as butter. Turn it off and check for leaks and levels. Everything is looking good. Take it for another spin a little bit further away. Car drives surprisingly well for how neglected it appears to have been. But once you get to about 40-45 mph, you can feel an unbalance in the drivetrain - I'm guessing/hoping that it's the wheels/tire. The wheels have a couple noticeable dings/bends in them, so I really don't want to put new tires on them, but that might end up being what I do.

Eyeballing downpipes too. The CTS is like 20-25% off right now... might just spring for that.

[usmcfieldmp]

New Yokohama Advan Apex tires, an eBay downpipe, and front axles (both had cracked inner boots) are on the way. I went with a $99 eBay downpipe because a well known local said he has put three of them on three different TT225's. I guess we'll see how that works out, lol. My experience with cheap parts is that they almost always fit like shit.

[CoupeQtoo]

It's ALIVE!!! I'm looking at down pipe/de-cat pipe options too. There does seem to be some chinese options that will probably work but I may just try to find a pair of flanges to match the ones where the down pipes meet the cat pipe on my 225 and make my own de-cat pipe. The 180 version would definitely benefit from an increase in diameter though, so sounds like you're on the right track.

[usmcfieldmp]

October 25 - November 3, 2021

Got more and more adventurous with driving the car around the neighborhood, so I ventured out onto the main streets. Needed to be careful though, as the car isn't registered - I just threw my old Audi S5 plate on the car for now. Anything over 50-55 mph and I can feel an unbalance, but the tires were a cheap brand and they were 10 years old, so I was really hoping they were the issue - either way, because of this, I kept to the city streets and < 55 mph. Swung by an Ace Hardware and picked up some Upholstery Twist Pins; now the headliner doesn't sag down onto my head.



Still trying to figure out how to do things in this car - it's not setup QUITE the same as my old MK4 GTI, but I have figured out a couple things. The windshield washer fluid warning is always on. I filled the jug to the brim and the warning went away, but it came right back on about 5 minutes later (pretty sure it all leaked out -_-). I figured out how to lower the seats, haha... I thought it was a pumping action like my VW's have been, so I couldn't get it to work, but a little bit of experimentation and I figured it out. I went with the cheaper driver's side fuel pump assembly (the venturi one... with the fuel level on it) even though it was for a different year range and I absolutely KNEW what the difference was going to be (fuel level sensor resistance)... so my tank essentially always reads full. Thinking back, I'm not sure it was worth saving the $100 or so... but at the same time, I didn't know what other issues the car had, so I was trying to budget the car back together. Maybe some day down the line I'll order the correct one and swap it out.

Soon after turning on the HVAC system, all the blend door foam started shooting out of the vents. I should have expected that. Shouldn't be too hard of a fix. I have a CEL for (IIRC) "vacuum pump: implausible signal". I'll have to read it again to be sure. I imagine that's either the SAI pump that's removed or it's the vacuum pump in the passenger fender well that I totally forgot to remove. I'll address that soon, when I swap out the front axles and the downpipe.

Drove the car to work on Monday and afterwards took it to Discount Tire for some new tires.







Four Yokohama Advan Apex tires in the stock size. I knew going in that one of the wheels had a bend in it... but I was expecting them to tell me that 3 out of 4 wheels were bent... pretty badly too. I totally should have expected that though, haha. So... I'm eyeballing wheels, unfortunately. I tried finding some stock VW/Audi wheels locally, but wasn't having a ton of luck. Might spring for some Konig Lockouts or go to my trusted favorites: RPF1's. But the car has taken over daily driver duties and I'm really enjoying it. I just moved houses, so hopefully I can get the house and garage setup soon/quickly so that I can start polishing this thing up even more. As much as I love the turbine sounds that come with a busted flexpipe, I really want to get that new downpipe on the car. I also have some BFI Stg1 Dogbone mounts to throw in, the stereo, and some replacement door lock micro switches. The car also really needs a new driver's side door card; the passenger side isn't bad, but it needs some work. When I have them off for the microswitches, I need to figure out a good temporary solution for the loose fabric.

Things to do soon:

• Install eBay Downpipe (it is catless, so I'll have to figure something out for the CEL)
• Install new front axles
• Check/Adjust alignment
• Bleed brakes and clutch
• Remove Vacuum Pump from passenger-front wheel well
• Remove/repair/bridge sensor for windshield washer fluid reservoir
• Install door lock microswitches
• New wheels
• GET REGISTERED and INSPECTED

[usmcfieldmp]

November 5-6, 2021

I felt inspired after work, so I got to work unbolting and cutting the old downpipe out of the car. I made the first cut right before the catalytic convertors and then had to cut it again through the broken flex pipe. The flex pipe had definitely previously been replaced, as the one on there wasn't stock. I tried a couple different methods for getting the new downpipe behind the engine, but ultimately it came down to me removing the dog bone, unbolting the prop shaft, and sliding up through there. I absolutely could not for the life of me get the downstream O2 sensor out of the downpipe. I soaked it in PB Blaster, almost broke an O2 sensor socket on it, and started to round off the edges while using a 22 mm combination wrench. No big deal, in all reality. The downpipe has a fake catalytic convertor section, so it's not like I wasn't going to get a code. The downpipe is thin walled and cheap mild steel, so it reverberates a bit like a tin can when the car is running, but I imagine a catback will drown that out. 😂





When I took my dog bone apart, the long shaft that all the rubber slides over was actually bent (not sure how that happens). Luckily, I kept the dog bone from the MK4 Jetta that I tore apart for the 1.8t swap in my MK2 GTI. Once I found the Jetta's dog bone, I tried to unbend the shaft on the TT mount, but ended up just snapping it (again, not sure how it got bent in the first place - cast aluminum is very much a brittle fracture material). SO, I took the core piece of the MK4 mount, tossed the BFI mounts on it with the bolt-on parts of the TT mount (the middle section was slightly different than the MK4 one), and then squeezed it all together while my GF twisted the bolt.

Took the car for a drive afterwards and it was 1000x's better. Quiet to drive with the windows up, less likely to die of carbon monoxide poisoning in the process, and I can definitely tell that the engine isn't torquing itself all about while driving.

Got back to my garage and decided to try my hand at cleaning up all the leftover chunks of adhesive from the OE Audi logo on the hatch. Soaked it in Goo Gone Gel for a good 5 minutes and then used a new razor blade to scrape it all off. Did my best to use gentle pressure and to maintain as low of an angle between razor and body as possible. I mean, the overall paint appearance on the car is terrible, so I wasn't overly concerned with screwing it up, but I wanted to try NOT to screw it up any more. Keeping the Goo Gone in steady supply and only using a down to up motion with the razor, it did a good job. I could feel even the smallest amounts of adhesive residue resisting the razor and once it was all gone, the razor would glide effortlessly over the paint. Once I had gotten it to a point that I was satisfied with, I cleaned it up and gave it a look. Didn't notice any scratching or damage to the paint from the razor, so seems like it did a good job. The paint is definitely stained/faded/damaged from where the emblem was, but I'm not worried about that. The car needs a good wash, but I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I would likely use this method on a more valuable car in the future, if necessary.





I still need to order up a headlight/taillight restoration kit so that I can remove the UV damage to the headlights and remove the tint from the tails. I've considered just getting "new" (gently used) ones, but part of the purpose of this car is to try "fixes" to see how well they work, etc... without worrying about "damaging" a part.

Things to do soon:

• Install eBay Downpipe
• Install BFI Stg1 Dog Bone mounts
• Install new front axles
• Check/Adjust alignment
• Bleed brakes and clutch
• Remove Vacuum Pump from passenger-front wheel well
• Remove/repair/bridge sensor for windshield washer fluid reservoir
• Install door lock microswitches
• New wheels
• GET REGISTERED and INSPECTED

[Mikerpalmer]

Thanks for all the updates. Really enjoying your posts. I just bought a new to me 2002 TT Quattro and plan to do some upgrades.

[usmcfieldmp]

November 14, 2021

Started the day by getting my MK2 GTI racecar up my driveway (too steep to push) with the TT. 😂

I still need to order up a headlight/taillight restoration kit so that I can remove the UV damage to the headlights and remove the tint from the tails. I've considered just getting new ones, but part of the purpose of this car is to try "fixes" to see how well they work, etc... without worrying about "damaging" a part.

I set out to clean up the headlights and taillights in one go, but the kit only included enough sandpaper for the headlights. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on the correct grits of sandpaper this week so that I can do the taillights. Loved the results though. I wish I had known a little bit better how the "sealer/clear coat" wipe worked, as I think I over-wiped the headlights a bit and the wipe started getting frothy. Also a good idea to remove and reapply the painters tape around the lights before doing the wipe. Noted for next time though. Happy with the results otherwise.










Taillights will be next. Also need to pull the center and lower grilles out and paint them black. I might just try to find a quality replacement for the main grille, but I might still try my hand at fixing it up.

The front bumper needs to come of at some point, as well, so that I can sand off the 3M protective vinyl that's along the lower section. It's super old and there's no hope of it coming off nicely anymore. I wonder if a heat gun and plastic scraper would be best or maybe to go after it with dry ice like you do with the insulation/sound deadening on floorboards and such.

Also noticed that my driver's side window no longer does auto-down/up. Not a big deal, but something I'll have to keep in mind. I'm 99% sure I'm going to have to get a new door card anyway, so hopefully the issue is with the switch and it'll go away once a new door card goes on.

Things to do soonish:

• Bleed brakes and clutch
• Clean, Sand, Polish taillights
• Paint front grilles black
• Install door lock microswitches
• Install new front axles
• Check/Adjust alignment
• Remove Vacuum Pump from passenger-front wheel well
• Remove/repair/bridge sensor for windshield washer fluid reservoir
• New wheels
• GET REGISTERED and INSPECTED
• Find/obtain new door cards (need Driver's side, at a minimum)

[usmcfieldmp]

November 15, 2021

Bought a OE radio from someone parting out a TT and it arrived yesterday. For some things, I just enjoy the simplicity of OE form, fitment, and function.





Also, I finally did what I should have done when they arrived... I inspected the axles that I had ordered. They are the axle nut type, and I'm pretty sure this car is axle bolt-type. So I'll need to return them and pick up the right kind. The website stipulated between the types by whether they had 17" wheels or 18" wheels. I probably should have investigated the car's option card beforehand, but just assumed based on what was on the car.

Also changed the cabin filter... it needed it.





Things to do soonish:

• Bleed brakes and clutch
• Clean, Sand, Polish taillights
• Paint front grilles black
• Install door lock microswitches
• Install new front axles
• Check/Adjust alignment
• Remove Vacuum Pump from passenger-front wheel well
• Remove/repair/bridge sensor for windshield washer fluid reservoir
• New wheels
• GET REGISTERED and INSPECTED
• Find/obtain new door cards (need Driver's side, at a minimum)

[CoupeQtoo]

Those headlights look great. I also ordered axles for my TT... better check to see whether mine are the bolt or nut type before the return window closes since I haven't gotten around to installing them yet. I agree the stock radio is the way to go. They might not have navi or factory bluetooth but they sound pretty good, especially if they are Bose. I installed a Grom Audio bluetooth/hands free module on both my TT and A6. Plugs right into factory wiring.

[usmcfieldmp]

Took the TT out for a spin on Wednesday (24 Nov) and was going through the process of re-teaching my girlfriend to drive stick. She was doing well, but she seemed to be nervously strong-arming the shifter a bit, so I had her pull over to show her how little effort was really required to shift this car. I demonstrated delicately rowing through the gears (and everything felt fine) and then she copied. Started the car back up... I saw her shake the knob in neutral before letting the clutch out... and then the car stalled. Well that's odd. She tried putting the car in first, but said she couldn't tell if it was in gear or not. I reached over and felt a limp shifter. The connections under the hood look good, so I'm pretty sure the front-to-back shift cable let go in the shifter box. I was able to manually move the selector on the transmission to third gear and then limp the car home. Took the knob and boot off, but haven't pulled the whole shifter box out yet to be sure, but I went ahead and ordered a DieselGeek shifter bushing kit for it. Fingers crossed that'll solve the issue. I might throw it up on jack stands today and start pulling everything apart to get the shifter box out of the car. I had a whole list of things that I wanted to accomplish over the last five days that I had off of work, but I didn't do a single car related thing in that time, lol. Just the way it goes sometimes.

[usmcfieldmp]

December 2, 2021

Started tearing apart the interior of the car to get to the shift box.



I was able to confirm that the front to back shifter cable bushing fell apart. The interior is all torn down now and I've been debating on whether or not to do the DieselGeek in-car method or not. Either drilling the hole in the shift box or dropping the prop shaft to pull the box out will be my next step tonight. Will need to pick up a hole saw drill bit on my way home today. I was eyeballing the prop shaft while looking at the shift box last night; the bushing under the shift box is looked decrepit, so I'm sure the JXB Driveshaft Center Support Bearing Carrier Upgrade is in my future.

While the car is up on jack stands, I went ahead and marked a couple other tasks off my to-do list. I pulled both front fender liners out of the car. On the driver's side, I was checking the windshield washer fluid reservoir. I filled it up soon after I got the car running and it apparently all leaked out on my way home, so I gave it a solid look with the liner out, but couldn't see a hole or any leaks. Filled it up 3/4 of the way full with plain water and haven't seen a leak out of it yet. We'll see how it holds up once the car is driving around again. Seems weird to have an intermittent leak from something like that, but I'm wondering if I just overfilled it the first time and that's what created the leak.

On the passenger side, I was going in to remove the vacuum pump. Someone has obviously been in here before though, as the lines heading into the engine bay were looped. I went ahead and removed the unit. If you look carefully, you can see my torn CAB... it's on the list of things to do, lol.



Replaced this rare (custom, lol) double worm clamp that was used to clamp the TIP to the MAF with a good T-bolt clamp. And then I flushed and bled the brakes. The old fluid was a dark green color Is that an OE VW/Audi fluid color? I've never seen green brake fluid on the shelf before, but the MK4 that I tore apart for the 1.8t swap in my GTI had a similar colored fluid. I was under the impression that "colored" brake fluid was illegal, and that was why ATE Super Blue got banned. ANYWAY, used my vacuum pump to pull all the old fluid out of the reservoir, refilled with Motul RBF600, and then used vacuum on each caliper to bleed the system. Finished with the clutch.



The plan is to finish the shifter tonight and get the car back on the road tonight; I've missed driving it this week, lol. I have the door cards pulled off right now to repair the microswitches, just need to make sure I take the time to actually do that.

[usmcfieldmp]

December 4, 2021

On Friday night, I picked up a Lenox hole saw (Made in the USA), but ended up spending a couple hours out cruising the city in my Viper. Ran into a 991.2 GT3RS... that was a fun exchange. 😂 So I got back to work on the TT Saturday afternoon. Started with a hole on the side of the shifter base.



That is needed to put a circlip on the new bushing once the shifter cable it back on the shift lever. Let me tell you... it's still a tight fit to get a circlip tool in there and actually get the thing ON the bushing and seated properly. But I managed. Then put the "First Gear Getter" bushing on, as well as the side-to-side cable bushing. I set the shifter up with the alignment tool and headed to the transmission... but I could not find the lock pin on my transmission. So I referenced the DieselGeek video on alignment of an 02M then looked back at my transmission - not setup quite the same. Where the angled alignment pin was in their video, I appear to have a hard metal pin (non-moveable). I'll do some more internet searching for it later, as I'm sure the early models were different. The shifter feels good though and I didn't mess with the cable ends, so the alignment shouldn't be off. Oh well... I moved on to reassembling the interior.







Went back under the hood and removed the components to install the "Super Slider". Gave the inside a thorough brushing to clean out any potential contaminants that might hinder smooth operation, gave the pin a dab or two of Liqui-Moly heavy duty grease, and reassembled.







The alignment pin is supposed to be where that stud is... the one that's around the 1 o'clock position relative to the black breather cap at the bottom of the picture.

Next, I went ahead and removed both door latch assemblies to replace the microswitches.



BUT, unfortunately, the rubber coating on the latch was decimated on my driver's side one... so even with a new microswitch installed, it wouldn't have triggered the switch. And the passenger side wasn't too far behind it, so I decided to just throw them back in the car and try to get my hands on some quality used ones... or just order new ones... or just deal with it. 😂

Finally, I removed the factory 65mm exhaust coupler between the downpipe and cat-back because it was leaking and I was tired of the stupid U-bolts. I had a 63.5mm coupler lying around from the Techtonic Tuning system that's on my MK2, so I slipped that on the car, threw the wheels back on, torqued them, and then took the car out for an evening drive. Feels great, I had missed it. Midway through the drive though, the Low Windshield Washer Fluid warning popped back up though, so I'm guessing I'll need to replace some rubber gaskets or something. It also looks like the cheap 3-bolt turbo gasket that the downpipe came with is blowing apart, as well, sigh... so I'll need to replace that. That makes me worried that the flange might be warped, allowing it to blow apart, so I'm not sure that throwing an OE metal gasket in with help anything. We'll see. The car is back to DD duty though and that's all that matters! I have the itch to get a tune on the car though... OE boost levels aren't any fun when both of my other cars are similar weights, but around the 450 whp mark. 😂

[usmcfieldmp]

Driving back home from filling the tank yesterday and I started to smell an electrical short/fire. I couldn't figure out what it was and I was in stop and go traffic on a two-lane interstate that's under construction with the shoulders blocked off my jersey barriers (so no where to pull over). I turned off the stereo (just in case) and started getting slightly worried. Then I noticed in the reflection of the car in front of me that I had 4 lights illuminated on the front end... looked at the headlight switch and sure enough, the fog light icon was illuminated green and the switch was NOT pulled out. I should note that previous to this, I could not get the fog lights to work, even after changing the bulbs. So I knew something had shorted out. Made it home fine, parked the car and pulled the switch out. It's fading... but the car reeks of that burnt smell now.

[CoupeQtoo]

Wow, I wonder if this happens to these switches often? I cant get the fogs to turn off on my TT... When the low beams are on, the fogs are always on even when the knob isn't pulled out. Wonder if I should pull that switch out and have a look at it?
What are you thinking of doing for a tune?

[usmcfieldmp]

Wow, I wonder if this happens to these switches often? I cant get the fogs to turn off on my TT... When the low beams are on, the fogs are always on even when the knob isn't pulled out. Wonder if I should pull that switch out and have a look at it?
What are you thinking of doing for a tune?

No idea on the tune. I've considered just getting a flash from someone. Also considered something like Ignitron.

[usmcfieldmp]

January 15, 2022

It's been a while! I've just been DDing the car lately, but I did pull it into the garage over the weekend to get a couple things changed.

I haven't been working on my GTI track car lately (I should be though), so I decided to pull the 034 DV off of it and put it on the TT. Only complaint was the difference in vacuum nipple size vs the OE unit. I might just have to upgrade that line completely, but it's on there pretty good now.



I put it up on jack stands next and installed a handful of parts.



The brakes in this car have been rather weak; I really have to stand on them to get the thing to slow down aggressively. I figured it was just crappy pads, plus I love Hawk pads. These were a quick swap in and the caliper pins definitely needed lubed up anyway. The new pads are definitely better, but the brake feel is still mushy, which leads me to believe that my OE brake lines are probably ballooning under load. So I'll throw some SS lines on it sooner or later.

Installed a rear O2 sensor to get rid of the CEL's related to not having one. AutoZone parts will suffice for that sensor. But the main reason for getting under the car was to replace the leaking turbo outlet gasket with an OE unit.





The next item on the agenda is to replace the front axles. They're bad. I'm surprised the passenger side is holding itself together as well as it is, but that may just be because I don't take this thing on the highway much and am always driving relatively short distances.



Once those are replaced, I need to start looking at refreshing a lot of the suspension bushings. I have my own shop press, so it shouldn't be a problem to replace most of them.

[RussAdams]

Thanks for posting this! I'm really enjoying reading through your threads as you bring this TT back to life!

[usmcfieldmp]

April 9, 2022

It's been a while! I've just been DD'ing the car lately, but I did put some work into it a week ago to get a couple things changed.

I took the car out to run some errands on April 2nd and during the drive back... the car just died while cruising down the road. Sudden and decisively, the engine just shut off. Tried starting it back up about 20 times - nothing. Not even a stumble. I got it towed home and then went out to it about 30 minutes later to run some diagnostics. Tried starting it, just to see... and it started right up... but died about 30 seconds later. Perplexing. I thought that may I had run out of fuel... but that didn't seem to be the case. Did some googling and came to the determination that it must have been the Crankshaft Position Sensor. Picked up a BOSCH sensor from the local Auto Zone and waited until the 9th to put it in.







The sensor itself was in a tight spot, but it wasn't too terrible to remove. The plug, on the other hand, was a PITA. One of the PCV lines prevented it from being removed from the bracket... and I didn't want to risk breaking some fragile plastic/rubber line, so I just removed the bracket. The main bolt for it was a huge PITA to remove though; just did not want to unthread very easily. Probably took a solid 20-30 minutes just to remove the bracket.

Once that was done though, I decided to go ahead and change those axles that I've been putting off for so long. Most of the bolts, including the hub bolt, were surprisingly easy to remove - the whole ordeal went rather smoothly. Getting the ball joints back into the A-arms was the hardest part.







I also painted the lower aluminum grilles that one of the PO's had installed. They're black now and the car looks much better. Oh, I also bought a new driver's side "knee panel" with headlight switch from a car that was parting out, so I have a relatively complete interior again. I'm still keeping my eyes peeled for a set of black door cards in good condition. There was a pair for sale recently, but I didn't want to spend $500 for them.





All my cars are slated for a car wash later this week (Texas springs suck; we get lots of dirty west Texas rain storms... plus all the pollen your body can(not) handle). 😂

The next big three things that I'd like to do for the car are different wheels (3 of the current 4 are bent), something other than stock exhaust, and then sand down the flaking clear and wrap the car. This might be a lot more difficult to accomplish, since the car has decade(s) old vinyl on the lower front bumper and on the hood and roof. I have a feeling that those are going to be a PITA to remove.

The next small thing though will be to replace all the suspension bushings, ball joints, and steering arms. I'll likely start taking this thing to autocross events real soon.

Until then, I'll just keep on driving it to work. I do keep having reoccurring dreams of abandoning my MK2 GTI 1.8t racecar and putting the TT in its place. But I do have a special place in my heart for my GTI.

[usmcfieldmp]

May 4, 2022

My shipment of grommets for the windshield washer reservoir came in; it was a quick install. Didn't take long to figure out that the grommets weren't my only problem though.





Sigh. I'm probably just going to delete the headlight washers... I don't think I have any real need for them, lol.

I tried sizing up my calipers to see if a small amount of grinding would lend itself to me being able to put on the set of 15" wheels that I have on my GTI. No such luck. I think a 16" might be the smallest that I can get on there. Getting a set of non-bent wheels is a low-key priority right now, but the aim is for them to be lightweight. Driving 65 mph and up involves a fair amount of shaking.

New Tie Rod Assemblies and rear CAB's just came in from Urotuning, but I'm still waiting on ECSTuning to ship my new front Ball Joints and Rear Control Arm Ball Joint Bushings (the trailing arm bushings with which the rear control arms connect). I'll see how the car feels at speed after those and then go from there.

I'd like to get the car out to an autocross event soon.

[o2bad455]

May 4, 2022I tried sizing up my calipers to see if a small amount of grinding would lend itself to me being able to put on the set of 15" wheels that I have on my GTI. No such luck. I think a 16" might be the smallest that I can get on there. Getting a set of non-bent wheels is a low-key priority right now, but the aim is for them to be lightweight. Driving 65 mph and up involves a fair amount of shaking.

Good thread! We picked up an 02 TT 225 6MT 4WD earlier this year and I just drove it around the block for the first time! :) I know I'm a few months late, but I also want to throw some 15" wheels on ours for the winter and think I've figured out the only reasonable way. Ours came with 18" and so far I've only been able to squeeze on some 16" steelies as 15" wouldn't even mount. Supposedly (per VWV Mk4 brake FAQ, but thinking in reverse) at least some Audi TT 12.3" front brakes used the exact same front calipers as VW 1.8T 11.3" front brakes, but simply the mounting brackets were different (and of course the rotors). I know for a fact that 15" clear the VW 11.3"!

[mizzenmast]

I have done my head lights 3x now 2 with polish and 1 with polish then 2k clear and with the year its going bad...
What process did you do on your headlights and what products did you use and how long did they last?
2004 225 same color. 104k mi.

[O'Doyle]

Great thread! like o2Bad455 above, I picked up a 225 TT a month or so ago and about to go through the car to see what I got myself into. I did free up the PSS9's on it that were from 2007. The threaded collars were all frozen up. I freed them up and realize they still don't really go low.

X...

[usmcfieldmp]

Good thread! We picked up an 02 TT 225 6MT 4WD earlier this year and I just drove it around the block for the first time! :) I know I'm a few months late, but I also want to throw some 15" wheels on ours for the winter and think I've figured out the only reasonable way. Ours came with 18" and so far I've only been able to squeeze on some 16" steelies as 15" wouldn't even mount. Supposedly (per VWV Mk4 brake FAQ, but thinking in reverse) at least some Audi TT 12.3" front brakes used the exact same front calipers as VW 1.8T 11.3" front brakes, but simply the mounting brackets were different (and of course the rotors). I know for a fact that 15" clear the VW 11.3"!

Interesting. I'll have to see how my brakes hold up during a track day to see if I can drop to an 11.3" or not. I just bought new wheels though, so I'll probably just stick with what I already have.

I have done my head lights 3x now 2 with polish and 1 with polish then 2k clear and with the year its going bad...
What process did you do on your headlights and what products did you use and how long did they last?
2004 225 same color. 104k mi.

I just used the Rain-X kit. No special process. I haven't washed the car in like 9 months, so I'm not sure how good they still look, but they definitely don't look as bad anymore.

Great thread! like o2Bad455 above, I picked up a 225 TT a month or so ago and about to go through the car to see what I got myself into. I did free up the PSS9's on it that were from 2007. The threaded collars were all frozen up. I freed them up and realize they still don't really go low.

X...

PSS9's are great coilovers - I had them on my 24v MK4 GTI, but they are definitely not designed for getting low - they're a performance-oriented setup. Are you going to stick with them? If they've been on the car that long, then I'm 100% sure that the dampers need a rebuild, lol.

[usmcfieldmp]

September 20, 2022 | 130,017 miles

New shoes for the TT! I picked up a nail through the sidewall, so since I was going to have a tire pulled off and replaced, I decided to go ahead and replace all the bent wheels, as well. The car rides SOOO much smoother now.

Konig Hypergram, 17x8, 16.55 lbs each. I wanted lightweight and these were the best combination of quick, cheap, and lightweight. RPF-1 is usually my go to, but they were only 0.5 lbs lighter and were significantly more expensive. At the time, I wasn't sure how much money I was actually interested in sinking into the TT. I actually ordered the Hypergram in bright red because they were 25% off, but Discount Tire called me to say they were discontinued by the MFR and that they would give me the Bronze ones at the same price.





November 22, 2022 | 130,791 miles

I had a coilpack failure on the way to work while WOT... I actually thought I might have blown a cylinder at first with the way it reacted, but swapping coilpacks around was a quick and easy diagnosis.

Ordered the Delphi coils through AutoZone since they came with a 3-year warranty.





December 4, 2022 | 130,818 miles

Well, Black Friday came around... and I decided to splurge a little bit.



034 Track Density Engine/Transmission Mounts, Breather Hose Kit, Phenolic Spacer
UroTuning / Velt Tuning Shifter Bracket Mounts, Shifter End Links, Wheel Spacers
ECSTuning Intake Tube

I was able to get the 034 Track Density Engine & Transmission Mounts, UroTuning Solid Shifter Bracket Mounts, UroTuning Solid Shifter End Links, and Velt Tuning Wheel Spacers F-15mm/R-20mm installed. I think I need to revisit the mounts - loosen all three, center, and then torque. I think the mounts are bound up a bit and its causing excessive NVH. I'm not too worried about the NVH, so that why I haven't taken the time to dive back in and fix the issue.