Happy new owner 05 TDi Ebony Black

Danilo Croci

Danilo Croci

Member
Hi all.

Im Danilo from Wales. Bought an 05 1.4 TDI S line sport 4 weeks ago and loving it. 92000 miles on the clock but still looked brand new with Leather upholstery throughout. Already I've had the engine remapped. Its now up from 75 hp to 101hp and torque is increased from 195 NM to 245 NM. Makes big difference when overtaking, without affecting fuel economy in any adverse way. This car makes me feel young again!!! Its great on motorways and dual carriageways which is where i do most of my driving. Better than around town as the tdi engine can get a little gruff and the ride is firm , but settles down to a distant hum at speed which is never intrusive. Love the simplicity of the interior. It has everything you need and no annoying electronics which can go wrong! I've recently upgraded the headlights from halogen to HID,which is a vast improvement, and fitted tailor made red carpets, which brighten up the interior. So far so good. DSC_0557[1].jpg
 
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Danilo Croci said:
Bought an 05 1.4 TDI S line sport
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Hi Danilo,

Just for information, there were no S-line A2s made in right-hand-drive. UK spec' A2s came in three trim levels: Base, SE and Sport. It would appear from the photo that your car is indeed a Sport, but the S-line badges have been added by a previous owner and aren't strictly true.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Danilo Croci said:
Hi all.

Im Danilo from Wales. Bought an 05 1.4 TDI S line sport 4 weeks ago and loving it. 92000 miles on the clock but still looked brand new with Leather upholstery throughout. Already I've had the engine remapped. Its now up from 75 hp to 101hp and torque is increased from 195 NM to 245 NM. Makes big difference when overtaking, without affecting fuel economy in any adverse way. This car makes me feel young again!!! Its great on motorways and dual carriageways which is where i do most of my driving. Better than around town as the tdi engine can get a little gruff and the ride is firm , but settles down to a distant hum at speed which is never intrusive. Love the simplicity of the interior. It has everything you need and no annoying electronics which can go wrong! I've recently upgraded the headlights from halogen to HID,which is a vast improvement, and fitted tailor made red carpets, which brighten up the interior. So far so good. View attachment 15108
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Welcome to ownership! That car was on sale for a looooong time, primarily ( in my view) because of an overly ambitious price tag of nearly £7k. It does look a lovely car. A sport if memory serves with retro-fitted SE leather seats.

I wish you well with (hopefully) your new obsession!

Edit: Is that A7 in the background yours too? :cool:
 
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murdo said:
Welcome to ownership! That car was on sale for a looooong time, primarily ( in my view) because of an overly ambitious price tag of nearly £7k. It does look a lovely car. A sport if memory serves with retro-fitted SE leather seats.

I wish you well with (hopefully) your new obsession!

Edit: Is that A7 in the background yours too? :cool:
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Thanks murdo!
I paid 6k for it so price was obviously dropped. Thought it was worth it as it was in mint condition and in my opinion was the best kept A2 for sale at the time. I wanted one registered in 05 as it was the last year of production. Love the black tinted windows. I've had it 4 weeks and already racked up nearly 3000 miles so far with no problems. Its going to work hard for its keep!! Had to change a rear brake light bulb and it was satisfying to see an traditional DIY light cluster!
Its an A5 sportback in the background and yes it is mine :D. Drove to Italy in it last year and it didn't miss a beat.
 
timmus said:
Hi Danilo,

Just for information, there were no S-line A2s made in right-hand-drive. UK spec' A2s came in three trim levels: Base, SE and Sport. It would appear from the photo that your car is indeed a Sport, but the S-line badges have been added by a previous owner and aren't strictly true.

Cheers,

Tom
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Hi Tom thanks for the info. I would never have guessed as they look professionally fitted!

Cheers

Danilo
 
Danilo Croci said:
Its great on motorways and dual carriageways which is where i do most of my driving. View attachment 15108
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Hi, and welcome to this great club! What you now need is a means to reduce your revs at motorway speeds whilst not affecting engine flexibility too much. A lot of A2OC members have opted for a 0.659 ratio 5th gear. This results in a big gap between 4th and 5th gear. You don't use 5th as much because of this .... (you need to get your speed-up before engaging 5th) ... I have a 0.681 ratio 5th gear, spare! When fitted, I found this ratio gear to be an excellent compromise .... acceleration in 5th was very strong and the gap between 4th and 5th gear was not too wide! I know that you would be very pleased with this gear, in your A2! Well, I certainly was! Just let me know if you might be interested ....

David
 
Danilo Croci said:
Its an A5 sportback in the background and yes it is mine :D. Drove to Italy in it last year and it didn't miss a beat.
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Sorry. I should have noticed that from the wheel style. Nice car. I considered this model before opting for a Q5 a couple of years ago. It looks great in the right colour with the right wheels. Very low car though isn't it? I've had them for courtesy cars a couple of times and invariably bang my head on the A pillar when getting in.
 
DJ 190 said:
Hi, and welcome to this great club! What you now need is a means to reduce your revs at motorway speeds whilst not affecting engine flexibility too much. A lot of A2OC members have opted for a 0.659 ratio 5th gear. This results in a big gap between 4th and 5th gear. You don't use 5th as much because of this .... (you need to get your speed-up before engaging 5th) ... I have a 0.681 ratio 5th gear, spare! When fitted, I found this ratio gear to be an excellent compromise .... acceleration in 5th was very strong and the gap between 4th and 5th gear was not too wide! I know that you would be very pleased with this gear, in your A2! Well, I certainly was! Just let me know if you might be interested ....

David
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Hi David.

I would be very interested. Thanks. I always felt that it could do with 6 gears but the 1.4 is too small to accomodate 6speeds? How is it fitted? Garage job I would imagine. By how much would it lower the revs at say, 70 - 75mph? Currently its around 2700 or so. Let me know

Thanks

Danilo
 
murdo said:
Sorry. I should have noticed that from the wheel style. Nice car. I considered this model before opting for a Q5 a couple of years ago. It looks great in the right colour with the right wheels. Very low car though isn't it? I've had them for courtesy cars a couple of times and invariably bang my head on the A pillar when getting in.
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Yes, it is a low car and I also bang my head on the A pillar occasionally.I've had it just over a year and fitted 20" alloys which improve its road presence immensely.
 
Danilo Croci said:
Hi David.

I would be very interested. Thanks. How is it fitted? Garage job I would imagine. By how much would it lower the revs at say, 70 - 75mph? Currently its around 2700 or so. Let me know

Thanks

Danilo
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Right .... it's not too great a task to swap the 5th gear, because it can be done without gearbox removal. When it was installed on my A2, it formed part of a lot of other work .... even then, the total labour was 4 hrs. I feel that it should be as low as 2 hrs. (We are talking about a Firm that really knows about these cars .... "Stealth Racing" based at Southam, Warwickshire.) That gear cost me £112.58 + VAT. It is barely used. You can have it for £100. I am positive that you will not regret fitting it! I just can't remember exactly what the drop in revs was, at, say, 70 mph. (Since then, I@ve had a "Blue-motion", JDD box fitted and now I have a 6-speed conversion.) Suffice it to say that the reduction in revs was quite significant. I am sure that an extremely clever A2OC member, namely "Tom", (Timmus) is able to tell us both exactly what the drop in revs would be at 70 mph, when running with the 0.681 ratio 5th gear ..... (And, of course, I would be grateful for your help here, Tom) .... Again, the main benefit of this (0.681) 5th gear is in useability ..... You will engage 5th at lower and sensible speeds and get improved performance at motorway conditions! ( fuel economy and quietness) .... I was very happy with it!

David

David
 
DJ 190 said:
Right .... it's not too great a task to swap the 5th gear, because it can be done without gearbox removal. When it was installed on my A2, it formed part of a lot of other work .... even then, the total labour was 4 hrs. I feel that it should be as low as 2 hrs. (We are talking about a Firm that really knows about these cars .... "Stealth Racing" based at Southam, Warwickshire.) That gear cost me £112.58 + VAT. It is barely used. You can have it for £100. I am positive that you will not regret fitting it! I just can't remember exactly what the drop in revs was, at, say, 70 mph. (Since then, I@ve had a "Blue-motion", JDD box fitted and now I have a 6-speed conversion.) Suffice it to say that the reduction in revs was quite significant. I am sure that an extremely clever A2OC member, namely "Tom", (Timmus) is able to tell us both exactly what the drop in revs would be at 70 mph, when running with the 0.681 ratio 5th gear ..... (And, of course, I would be grateful for your help here, Tom) .... Again, the main benefit of this (0.681) 5th gear is in useability ..... You will engage 5th at lower and sensible speeds and get improved performance at motorway conditions! ( fuel economy and quietness) .... I was very happy with it!

David

David
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Thanks for the info David. I've read Toms article regarding 6 speeds and wondering how much it all costs. I would like to know the exact drop in revs at 75 mph or so. I think the longer 5th that you're offering will suffice. Living in Wales there's lots of hills around so having taken all into consideration I think your option will be best suited to my driving needs. I'm also wondering that with the recent engine remap would the 0.659 ratio be better suited due to the increase in torque?
Cheers

Danilo
 
Danilo Croci said:
I've read Toms article regarding 6 speeds and wondering how much it all costs. I think the longer 5th that you're offering will suffice. Living in Wales there's lots of hills around so having taken all into consideration I think your option will be best suited to my driving needs. I'm also wondering that with the recent engine remap would the 0.659 ratio be better suited due to the increase in torque?
Cheers

Danilo
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With a perfect gearbox, it is possible to do this without gearbox removal! Usually, though, "Stealth" prefer to refurbish the box when fitting the conversion. The cost is then a minimum of £1425 and even up to £1750! Yes, the car really benefits from a re-map, whatever you do .... and especially with a longer 5th gear!

David
 
Hi Danilo,

At a true 70mph (which is more like 75mph on the speedo, assuming you're running tyres of a standard size), the engine is turning over at 2580rpm in 5th gear. This is reduced to 2303rpm when using the 0.681 ratio gear set that David mentions. If using the 0.659 gear set, revs are reduced just fractionally further, down to 2270rpm.

So, a reduction of 277rpm or 310rpm, depending on your choice.

As you can tell from the figures, the difference between the two longer 5th gear options is very small (a mere 33rpm at a true 70mph). At the time when most members opted for this modification, the 0.659 ratio gear set was considerably cheaper than the 0.681 gear set that David's got for sale. As such, with pay-back time in mind, almost everybody who chose to go down this route opted for the 0.659 ratio. However, David's 0.681 set is a good deal at £100, assuming the kit is complete: 2 cogs and two large, concave washers. Whilst the 0.681 ratio doesn't offer quite as big an increase in economy when motorway cruising as the 0.659 ratio, the difference is, of course, extremely small. Furthermore, given where you live, I'd suggest the 0.681 is better suited to you.

In short, if you think a longer 5th gear would be a good choice for you, I'd take David up on his offer. If you do a lot of motorway miles, the longer 5th makes the journey so much more relaxing due to reduced noise and vibration. You'll save money at a rate that will see you get a return on your investment, which is unlikely to happen with a 6-speed conversion unless you plan on doing starship mileage over the next decade! Reduced engine wear is of course a perk of reduced revs, no matter what your choice.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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timmus said:
However, David's 0.681 set is a good deal at £100, assuming the kit is complete: 2 cogs and two large, concave washers.
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I thought that it was just one gear? That's what it said on the original receipt for work done by "Stealth" ... Oh well, I have a cardboard box with all the "bits" that were left over after my original gearbox (with that 0.681 ratio 5th) which was then modified to a 6-speeder ....

David
 
DJ 190 said:
I thought that it was just one gear? That's what it said on the original receipt for work done by "Stealth" ... Oh well, I have a cardboard box with all the "bits" that were left over after my original gearbox (with that 0.681 ratio 5th) which was then modified to a 6-speeder ....

David
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Hi David,

The reference to one gear probably relates to the one "5th Gear" rather than the number of cogs.

Each cog pairs up to another cog and it is the diameter of the cogs that affects the ratio.
If you change ratio of a "gear" you actually change the diameter of that gear (cog) and you have to change the diameter of the other cog (because they both still have the same centre and mount on the original shafts)

So when you change ratio you have to change both gears, one becomes larger and the other becomes smaller by the same amount, so they still mesh exactly,

By the way did you get my recent PM about the 6 speed kit?

Cheers
Steve B
 
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Hi David,

Each gear is comprised of two interlocking cogs, and Vince should have given you both. My 6-speed conversion was also done to a gearbox that already had longer 5th and Vince gave me all the discarded parts in a cardboard box. If he's done the same for you, then you should find both cogs and two large, slightly bowed washers. These are the necessary parts for the longer 5th conversion.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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