Carson The Parts Guy

04/26/2024

After fighting my PC crashing repeatedly for no reason, here’s my first video on the A3 07K swap in all of its deep dive PowerPoint glory. I’ll be getting to work on the second one once I can get my PC to stop misbehaving.

A deep dive into a full build of a 07K 5 cylinder engine for turbocharging to swap into a manual swapped 8P A3 quattro. Very information heavy. Includes hist...

08/31/2022

New video on YouTube showing a trailer hitch and wiring installation on my 8P A3 quattro. Feel free to check it out, likes and subscribes are always appreciated!

If you ever wanted to know what's required to install a trailer hitch onto an Audi 8P A3 Sportback, here's your guide. Whether you just want to carry a coupl...

01/12/2022

If anyone has wondered exactly what it would take to convert an Audi A3 2.0T quattro that was only sold in North America as a DSG Automatic into a 6 speed manual, here’s a step-by-step guide. The video is more focused on being educational/informational over entertainment, but it does fill in an information void that no longer exists. Enjoy!

A step-by-step guide of the DSG to Manual swap of an 8P A3 2.0T quattro, which was never sold in North America as a manual. The basics of this swap can also ...

09/01/2021

This is what I refer to as a “billable moment”…. what happens when one of your body shop advisors doesn’t physically check what side he needs before he orders the part from you. This is where restocking fees get assessed. 🙂

08/06/2021

Happy Parts Guy today. Gearbox arrived! 🎉🍻

07/31/2021

I said I was working on something - here it is. I am looking to crowdfund the world's first 8P A3 2.5TFSI/07K Turbo quattro MANUAL swap. And document it all so others can follow behind me and do the same without any guesswork. If watching a car get built to the original "quattro formula" of having an inline 5 turbo engine with a manual gearbox and all wheel drive is something you'd be interested in, consider making a small donation and I'll get busy building and documenting it. 🙂

Thanks for your support!

Hi, I’m Carson Heter, AKA “Carson the Parts Guy” – and you may know … Carson Heter needs your support for Help create the world's first A3 2.5T AWD Manual

07/14/2021

And just ordered this up. NFQ gearbox with angle drive (PTO for AWD), brand new. Probably going to install this behind the CCTA engine to start and begin acquiring 07K stuff for the later engine swap.

Cascade German in Oregon has another one, if anyone feels like picking it up. The 5th and 6th gear ratios are higher and should lend themselves well to a sub-3KRPM at 80MPH cruising speed. ;-)

07/13/2021

Here’s what’s next. A 2011 “Facelift” 8P A3 2.0T quattro Premium Plus. Factory equipped with a DQ250 DSG gearbox. While that’s good for a lot of people, it isn’t for me, and I’m buying this car with the intent to convert it to a 6 speed manual gearbox and either later or at the same time 07K Turbo 5 cylinder swap the engine.

The goal? To get close to what the factory would have done with a 5 cylinder turbo AWD manual RS3. No, it won’t be a RS3 and it never will - but with Audi never selling the 8P RS3 here in the United States (or as a manual option anywhere) I’m trying to get the car as close to the original quattro formula as I can. With as many factory parts as I can use so others might want to duplicate what I’ve done. The world needs more manual AWD turbo 5 cylinder cars, if you ask me anyway.

This won’t be a “no expense spared” creation of an RS3 clone. I’ll be using as many factory/factory replacement parts as I can to make fitment easier and keep reliability as high as possible. However, to start, I intend to use a bone-stock 07K engine, factory TT-RS/RS3 turbo, factory/aftermarket downpipe and likely the Integrated Engineering intake manifold. I already have an APR Front Mount Intercooler, which is more than up to the job of keeping it cool. Other factory parts I’d like to include would be a TT-RS crankshaft pulley/damper and possibly a factory 8P RS3 exhaust if it isn’t too cost prohibitive to import one. For engine management, I’m still deciding on whether to go with a full Standalone engine management system with CAN-BUS to retain all factory functionality or the hard way of using factory management and re-pinning harnesses.

I’ll be picking the car up on Friday in Chicago, and driving it 18 hours back to FL. With that said - I’d love to hear from you guys as to how you’d like to see this project pan out. Swap it to manual first, leaving the CCTA 2.0TSI engine in for now while I acquire the 07K swap parts for later? Or just wait, acquire all of the parts and 07K/6MT swap the car simultaneously? YouTube channel to document the swap is forthcoming, when that happens I’ll let you all know. And if you think you know anyone that might benefit from watching this happen, please share this page.

Thanks for reading, and I’m looking forward to bringing you more in-depth content in the near future! 🍻

07/06/2021

Going back into hardware mode and retooling this page. Will be focusing more on showing interested folks on how to use the VW/Audi parts bin to build cool stuff. Stay tuned....more on that later.