A few people have asked me a couple of times to share in what has been going on over the last 2+ years of this build from the initial $200 2nd hand turbo setup to how it was raced at Portland earlier this year.
I finally found enough time to transfer everything across from a previous build thread elsewhere.
This build started off below as my daily driver build up a few weeks before the 08 Nationals, where it took out 1st Mk1 & also "Peoples Choice" overall which felt pretty good for a watercooled car & more so as it was built in 7 weekends leading up to the Nationals & also built without spending a heap of cash & more so what was lying around the shed & what not.
Somethings & sentence/replies may not make a bunch of sense, as it has been copied over, but the spec & info is really what its about.
I've been gathering part's for the build over the last few month's for the turbo build up.
I thought I'd have a go at doing it "ol skool" style being a K-Jet turbo.
The spec is very basic & very, very mild. (only running 10psi, but maybe more if I can get the fueling right!) Nothing outrageous - Power expectation is unknown at this point. But hopefully it should be fun for awhile once sorted out.
Bone stock low compression "GX" "SLUG"
Autotech 270 Cam & Valve springs
Modified G60 intake
Ol Skool "BIG" Weber/Redline Throttle body I found. (This was a common mod to replace the stock twin throttle body in the 80's & can be a pain in the **** to find one)
Same stock Volvo K-Jet I've already fitted, except deleted Aux. air valve & Cold start valve
Audi 5000T boost referenced Warm up Regulator
Stock modified Distributor
ATP Cast 8V exhaust manifold
Saab T3 oil/watercooled turbo. V-Band 3" wastegate/dump pipe
Mitsubishi Galant VR4 Intercooler
Custom 2.5" exhaust & 2" intercooler piping
Tial 50mm BOV. (I'll be using this for my next project in the future.)
I'll also be fitting a Innovate Motorsport's wideband Air/Fuel meter/data logger to help me with the tuning side of thing's along with a modified Autometer fuel pressure gauge setup & also my favorite part. A genuine Callaway boost gauge, as fitted as part there Mk1 turbo kit's in the 80's!
I'll be tuning this myself, as there isn't a hell of alot of people out there who can successfully tune this sort of injection system, especially turbocharged too!
Once I'm happy with the tune, I'll put it on a dyno to get a idea of the power output.
I'm still waiting on some part's to arrive soon, but I'll post up what I've got & work done so far.
Saab Turbo & boost regulator (Just have to remove a broken bolt from the exhaust housing! DOH!) It's not a big turbo by all mean's (it's tiny to the other one I have here!), but it should be enough for now, until I get really power hungry. Only a matter of time! haha
New Engine Breather/catch can setup. I know. No more Powerade bottle! haha
Audi 5000T boost referenced Warm Up Regulator fitted
Autometer Fuel pressure tester I modified for testing purposes of the K-Jet, as this is how you basically tune a K-Jet system Note: the fuel tap to switch between "System" pressure & "Control" pressure
Weber "BIG" Throttle body
Test mounted up the intercooler to work out the bracket's & mounting after it was pressure tested. All good.
I placed it so it has full frontage coverage of the intercooler core & still has room to have the piping fitted. Once painted black, you won't even know it's there!
Had to relocate the Radiator back 1" & across to the driver's side 2" & then bend up a cover plate for the radiator core. Note: Underneath is is lined with some stick on foam to protect the rad. fins & keep it from moving.
motha ·
Intercooler with the mounting bracket's welded on
It's not a very big intercooler, but it will do the job easy as. A friend fitted one of these to to his TRX CA18T & on 20psi it made 199rwkw's & didn't have any trouble keeping the intake charge cool as!
Innovate Motorsport's wideband A/F meter & data logger equipment
Callway Boost Gauge. (I've had this for year's waiting for the perfect project!)
Another Project that has been waiting in the wind's for a few years now. One day!
I did get a chance to remove all the useless mounting boss' off the G60 intake I've got here & went & sandblasted it today at a friend's workshop. I also drilled & tapped one of the manifold fitting's with a plug, as I only need one port for the brake booster. It also came standard with a boost/vacuum fitting on the end, which will come in handy for the other component's
These intakes do look alot bigger, but these intakes aren't really suited to NA purposes. These are mainly for forced induction only, due to slow air speeds through the runner's on NA application's. You'd be better off with a properly match ported & bottom 1/2 half of the runner ported/blended.
Here you can clearly see how much larger the intake runners are compared to the standard 8V K-Jet intake of a GTI.
I'm also not running any cold start injector or a aux. bypass valve to simplify the setup & also less chances of boost leak's too!
motha ·
Weber Throttle body & Redline adapter!
Needs only alittle clean up. Very happy with it.
Well I thought I'd match port the redline intake to the G60 intake as I've been motivated lately just to do anything around the house & in the shed, so I went shopping for some more porting burrs of different sizes & shape's, as I've already got a bluepoint die grinder & snap-on 8 carbide burr kit here.
But here's the problem. As much as I love going tool shopping, I bloody hate it, as I always come home with stuff I don't really need, or had future plan's on buying when the need arose.
All I wanted was some nut's & bolt's & a couple of porting burrs!
So here's what I ended up with -
8" Abbott Ashby bench grinder with a wire wheel attachment
M16 x 2.00 Tap
Various stainless nuts & bolt's for the project & shed supplies
Carbide burrs with short & long shank's of different shapes & sizes
Porting flapper wheels
WD40 gun & 4 litre container
Pic. time
Snap-on burr set & Bluepoint Die Grinder
Mounted up the bench grinder on an old truck drum stand I made ages ago
To match the other grinder/linisher & drill press on truck drum stand's. These are sturdy as all buggery & I got them for nothing as they were scrap. All it cost me was the metal to make up the rest of the stands
I decided to get a Tial BOV with V-Band, as it matchs a Tial Wastegate I've got here for another engine build later on
Internal Wastegate assembly which transfers into a 3" V-Band
BIG difference to the standard Saab exhaust/wastegate assembly & the "whopping" great big 2" dump pipe! Very restrictive too!
The all important 8V cast exhaust manifold
Various gasket's, adapters & oil fittings
Some new brakes, as the old ones are, well old & warped!
ATE Power disc's front & rear. I got some 280mm for the big wheels & some standard 239mm Ive I ever decide to put smaller wheel's on to drag it
motha ·
Before Engine bay shots
Didn't take too long to strip it all down & start mocking everything up & then came across some trouble! All this kit is for a LHD car! DOH!
There will be a few mod's here & there to get everything to fit O.K.!
But after scrounging through some various nut's, bolt & studs & even having to make different bolt's with the help of Dom, I finally got there
Fitted up the ATP 3" wastegate V-Band adapter in the process
I painted all the cast exhaust manifold, turbo housing in VHT High temp Matt Black . Awesome stuff & the rest of the dump pipe will get the same treatment
It's a bloody tight fit! It's less than 5mm off resting on the steering shaft boot! Ah well. The old extractor's rested on it anyway!
Assembly mocked up on the bench with a few more part's fitted
Mocking up a new Wastegate actuator.
I can see why company's such as Callaway etc all ran external WG. There is bugger all room down there for them. But I've come this far not to turn around, so I'll stick at it & make it work
Then the die grinder had to be broken out again due to clearance issues with the G60 intake!
This took quiet some time & alot of fitting & refitting to get it right
With some of the stuff off getting finished welded & a few other part's I'm waiting on, I decided to tackle some other part's incl. modifying the dizzy.
Early "twin port" vac canister
Stock GTI vac advance canister
To enable more boost retard, I drilled out the vac pot stop
All mounted up after drilling some new mounting holes
I also fitted a set of MK4 GTI 20vt spark plugs too. This should finish off the ignition system with only a couple of minor timing adjustments during tuning
I also decided to have another play around with the Audi Warm Up reg after some long thinking sessions.
The more I played around with it, the more I learned about it & decided to apply the boost pressure to the other chamber of the warm up (not the barbed fitting side) & put it to the test. I wound down the compressore to 10psi & put it to the test. It worked spot on & I played around with different pressure setting's & compared them to some old porsche K-Jet turbo spec's & were right on the money.
I no longer need the one-way valve my friend made for me.
During my thinking stage, I also wanted to try & add more fuel enrichment for higher boost level's, but didn't want to go down the programmable extra injector(s), as this basically defeats the purpose of building a K-Jet turbo. If you've got one or two extra injectors that can be programmed the way you want to supply the fuel, you might as well go to a full standalone ECU like Microtech, Autronic etc.
So I've had a flat plat of alloy welded to the face of the intake plenum & have drilled & tapped holes for an extra 2 cold start valves run off a adjustable hobbs switch.
Because the G60 intake doesn't have a spot for it, I can put them where I want. The stock GTI spot isn't efficient enough to mix up the right mixture anyway, as you've got say 10psi blowing right as the face of the valve, which will just blow the fuel right up against the No1 plenum wall & force it all into cyl. 1.
So I've placed one of them between cyl 1 & 2, & the other between cyl 3 & 4. Hopefully this with mix it up nice & supply an even amount of fuel to all cyl's.
Even if this setup runs rich as buggery on boost. It's better than running lean! Running rich can also drown out the piston melting pinging! We'll see how it goes. If it does run on the rich side under boost, I'll screw some more boost into it & see what happens.
My friend is also good with setting up water/meth injection kits as well, so theres another option too.
I plan on starting off tuning on Wastegate spring pressure which is roughly 7psi & work my way up.
In the event of it melting a piston, I've got some 20vt spare piston's & rods, I'll throw in along with a G60 metal head gasket, which should be more than enough for the little 8v
I'll put up some pic's when I get the intake back
motha ·
Various silicone hoses of different sizes & shapes. (What ever doesn't get used will get put away for the next turbo build) I't shard to judge what you might need when building these sort's of things without having most of the stuff already fitted.
Various mild steel mandrel's & piping.
A couple of my friend's came down & built the dump pipe while I was at work & also installed the oxy. sensor bung. They done an awesome job too smoothing off the welds & making it flow nice & smooth. They'll also be helping with the intercooler piping.
I'll drive it to my friend's exhaust place like this & he'll rig up the rest of the exhaust. It will just be a 2.5" with a resonator & turbo rear muffler. Don't want it too loud as I travel 200km a day in it. So no drone for me!
In case your all wondering, this is my everyday car & travel 700+km a week in it, not a weekend warrior.
Hopefully it should work ok. If not, the weber throttle body has another mounting for a 3rd cold start valve.
Intercooler with all it's mounting brackets on
Mounted up the intercooler & then installed the radiator to start mocking up all the piping
There is still alittle bit of room between the intercooler & radiator. They aren't hard up against each other.
I also mounted it using scrivet's (pop rivet nut's) Work awesome!
motha ·
Various silicone hose joiner slugs
Had to get the turbo intake pipe stretched to fit snugly in the volvo intake boot.
Turbo intake pipe all done & mocked up. I'll get some more pics of this when it's back out of the car along with all the pipes
Then started mocking up the intercooler to throttle body piping
Finished pipe
Then mocked up the Tial BOV mounting position & then the Hobb's switch as well
Then started in the turbo outlet piping. Sorry but I forgot to get a pic of this out of the car
Working out intercooler piping position
I wanted both pipes to run parallel with each other & make it a clean fitment.
Everything appears to clear everything, but only a test drive & time will tell. Hopefully I'll be fine with engine movement
Made up the oil return line & oil supply line For interest sake the supply is dash -4 & return is dash -10
I also got time to modify the wastegate mounting bracket, due to how the turbo housing's are clocked, the original bracket jammed the wastegate pot against the intake manifold. I also had to mod the swing/push rod end too.
So out came some scrap metal, the hacksaw, linisher & welder.
My welds are slowly getting better.
motha ·
Decided to set up a makeshift booth in the shed as it was crap weather all day again & line it with old massive blanket's & got the patio heater going! Crap I know, but it all didn't turn out half bad.
Managed to etch & spray all component's & then fit everything up.
Just waiting on an oil supply fitting & then onto the wiring which shouldn't take all that long & then brake booster pipe, exhaust & aux. injector fuel line
On with the pics. Very pleased with the final product. Almost look's factory apart from the Tial BOV.
Before & after shot's.
Engine look's alittle cleaner now with less aux. air valve supply hoses & the Warm up reg hoses tucked away too.
Got a chance when I got home to wire up the A/F meter, calibrate it & fit the boost gauge. These will only be fitted temporarily for tuning. Once I'm happy with it all, it will all get removed & back to stock interior.
Anyway I can safely say it runs!
Cranked over on the 2nd revolution & fired into life. Although alittle noisey & once all the gasket goo & exhaust paint had settled, it idled perfectly as before at 1000rpm.
I'll get a chance tomorrow arvo to drive it & see how it all goes.
motha ·
Well with the car still without an exhaust, test driving has been kept to a minimum.
I did get a chance to drive it though & initially boost was kept as 5psi. The turbo isn't even working!
The A/F ratio is spot on at idle & cruise. approx 14.6-14.9:1, but under boost it richen's upto low 10's:1! That's without the Extra injectors even hooked up!
But after a few goes & alittle bit of playing around, I wound it up to 10-12psi & the surge starts to come in. Its still running rich as under boost, so there is sill some playing around to do yet with adjustment's etc.
I'll get more tuning in, once the exhaust is fitted which should be tomorrow.
But it's slowly getting there.
No leak's, no fires & everything is smooth.
Well fella's, the full exhaust is now on which is a 2.5" full mandrel system with a resonator & high flow rear muffler.
The car is now nice & quiet to drive, idles nice & after a few runs, I'm seeing better increases.
I've since increased the ignition timing & set boost at approx 10-12psi & now it's taking off!
This would eat my old NA setup for breakfast!
At the moment I'm getting closer & closer to the tune. It's just timing & boost. Fuel is spot on!
Some more pics for the sake of it
Innovate Motorsports Air/Fuel meter. Awesome bit of gear & should be on everyone's list for the home tuner!
Happily idling away at 14.5-.14.9:2
Fitted the LC-1 in the rain tray. The oxy. sensor lead isn't long enough to reach into the car
Callaway boost guage
The matching pair of tuners tool's!
I'm still slowly honing in on the tune, but I'm now running out of fuel up top in the higher gear's/load, so the car is booked in next Fri. to have the aux. injector hosing made.
I took a friend for a spin on the light setting & he reckons it's alittle bit faster than a lightly modded WRX. Not sure on that though. It's scrabbling for traction in the first 2 gears, but it's still slow to me!
motha ·
Got some more work done this arvo & also getting to the end of the part's list.
The faster I get this done, the sooner I can move onto other projects.
Fitted up my new ATE Powerdisc's & Pagid brake pads front & rear
I also decided to give the underneath a pressure wash, due to the weekend away bush bashing a few weeks ago.
Rears are just standard size Mk2 16V rear disc's & pads
Well I finally broke something today.
My old ABD short throw shifter. The top relay lever broke clean off the shaft!
Stopped,opened the bonnet & manually selected 2nd gear on the gearbox & drove back to a mates house for some repairs too.
Other than that, its been smooth sailing. the car is performing without fault. Mixture's are good, fuel economy is the same as before if not better.
I've removed the tuning gear out of it, till I get my next upgrade which will be a MSD 6BTM. Boost retard ignition
The aux. injector fuel hose will be going on the Fri & I'll have some wiring to do as well.
Well not much has been going on apart from driving the car everyday & no problem's have arose since getting it going.
I managed to get in some time to get the Aux. injector fuel hose made & then wire it all up today. I also tested the system to see if it would all work
System all up & running
The cold start valve outlet
With the Hobbs switch bridged out
I'm yet to hook up the A/F meter & see what's going on. I'll do that once the MSD 6BTM has been fitted & then see how it all goes.
motha ·
I also received another xmas present today. I ordered it Mon. night AUST time & it arrived THURS. morning form the States! Hell yeah!
Once this is all fitted, I'll refit the boost & A/F meter & hopefully start to turn the wick up on this 300+K old stock GX engine! hahahah
I got the MSD & coil mounted & ran the wiring & started on the ignition lead's
Not much!
MSD box mounted up in the rain tray against the fire wall. I also fitted a 6600rpm limiter pill. I think I will change this back to a 6200 or 6400 pill.
MSD Blaster 2 coil mounted under the Expansion tank.
Onto today. Very slow & one very "very" bad hangover!!!!!
I finished off all the wiring, made the ignition lead's & got everything tidied up.
Bit of a mess under here, but aren't all Mk1's like this?
When I built this Mk1 I mounted alot of stuff out of view to clean up the engine bay. The only place to put it all is in the cabin under the dash!
Here is the TCI switch mounted up
Mounted up the Boost retard controller.
With all the lead's made & fitted
With everything refitted, the MSD is hidden away not too bad.
Anyway, I did get to drive it & have a quick play around with it tonight. I've now wound the boost upto 15psi & I can safely say the car is now fun to drive!
There is still some tuning/sorting out to do, as it now is just starting to lean out in the top end. I'll have more of a play around tomorrow. I think I'll start increasing the system pressure, to supply the aux. injectors with some more fuel & also retard the cam timing alittle bit. I can start to feel the engine nose off near the topend. I also had this problem when it was NA with the 270 Autotech fitted. I found 2-4 degrees retarded made a big difference to topend.
But just going off initial setting's, I can roll along at 60kph in 2nd & plant it & it will start to break traction. Whether it is turning the tyres or just trying to yank the steering wheel out of my hands & skipping the tyres, it's now very fun. It also try's & yanks the wheel in 3rd roll on from 80 too.
motha ·
Well I had alittle bit of a sleep in but managed to pry myself outside to have a play around with some System Pressures on the K-Jet.
Here is what the system pressure was before
72psi.
Here is where the system pressure regulator is located on the side of the fuel distributor. Above it are is the warm up regulator supply, then the fuel return & then the cold start valve fuel supply.
This is what I'm going to adjust to increase fuel flow onto all the injectors incl. the aux. injectors too.
Here is what the regulator looks like removed. This one is out of a spare fuel dizzy I've got here & what I raided the o-ring & pressure spring shim's out of
Here is the one out of my car :Note the two shims on the left of the o-ring.
Shims removed
Then measure what size the shims are to increase or decrease if need be the fuel pressure.
My stock shims were a 0.30mm & 0.50mm giving a total of 0.80mm.
The fat shim was 1.3mm, so I installed this along with my other shims giving a total of 2.1mm
Everything refitted & onto testing the fuel pressures.
Now 82psi
As far as how much improvement is made.
It no longer lean's out in the top end & keeps a stable mixture right through the rev range, although on initial boost build up & can shoot as far as 9.5:1 A/F, but quickly lean's back off to normal.
Mind you today was 26+°C & I didn't have any problem's with pinging etc.
Very happy with all this has turned out
motha ·
Only after 3 full days with the boost turned upto 15psi, the clutch is starting to let go.
Alittle ****ed, as it's only a new clutch that I fitted when the engine let go & its only done approx 20K & thats all highway use.. Its also a Heavy Duty job with the 16V pressure plate.
So at the moment, I've had to wind back boost pressure to wastegate spring tension. approx 6psi!
I also haven't been riding the clutch either. All the work its done so far has been roll on full throttle stuff. It must be making some good power! haha
I think I'll have to source a button clutch in the mean time till I get the auto done.
If I can't get the right clutch landed in time for DOVw, I'll just bang in a stocky 210mm clutch.
I'll also refit the diesel 4spd & probably lock the diff too, so I can drag it.
motha ·
I've been using the car everyday as my daily driver & it has done 5000K with the turbo setup & nothing out of the ordinary has happened (yet!). Getting better fuel economy than the NA setup too!
The engine is still breathing & filling up the catch can approx 3-4 weeks as it was doing when it was NA.
Its also not using any more oil than before either, which is a good sign.
There is some bottom end noise now, when cold though! I think the 15psi beating on the stock bottom end is taking its toll! haha
Other than that it has been fun so far & has already added a few fast cars to its "win" street drag resume.
At the moment I'm happy to leave the car as it is on 15psi & hopefully get it to a street meet after dovw, as calder park is reopening very soon.
Will bang on the semi slick's I've got here. Just hope the clutch holds out till then.
motha ·
Well I finally managed to get the car to the drags.
Fitted up the soft semi track/road tyres. Drove to the track 1.5hr's one way!
Lowered the front tyre pressures to 20psi.
Got in a burnout, staged, took off with about 4000rpm dialled in, boosted up, shook the tyres hard (a few friends in the crowd said it had bad axle tramp!) grabbed 2nd & broke the shift relay linkage only to have to roll down the strip in neutral! Not happy!
Had to trailer it home!
Waist of a night, but ah well. Hopefully next time
motha ·
The car has had a quick make over earlier this week & these pics were taken from the "Day of the VW" i
I basically made the car as visually stock as I could, except for the sunvisor, roof aerial (even though it doesn't have a radio!) lowered, & large exhaust tip!
Very sedate & the best sleeper! haha
Also fitted a bench seat too! Not many people noticed it, but when they did, they loved it!
motha ·
Cars been going really good, even in the boiling hot weather it will still cruise along at 100km/h without any problems. But it will ping when boosted in 3rd & up.
Solution = don't boost it when hot! Just cruise!
I've also covered 10K in it since fitting the turbo kit & its only broken 2 exhaust mounts which isn't too bad I reckon on a stock engine & has also wrecked the diff bearings & an outer C.V. joint too. They are still in the car though & are still going strong! haha I'll replace the gearbox & driveshafts soon enough
Engine still isn't using any water & only alittle bit of oil due to an oil leak ( & it's bloody noisey as when cold too!) & still pulls hard when you feel the need to motivate!
Oh, & the front tyres don't seem to be lasting very long either for some strange reason too!
motha ·
A quick update on this car.
I've done just over 10K with the turbo setup & all seem's to be going as normal.
The engine is still noisey on cold start up, but still isn't using water or oil. Only the oil it leaks.
The old engines must have been manufactuered with high quality material's I reckon to withstand this sort of abuse for this long. Especially as the engine was never designed to take positive pressure.
Still tuned on 15psi & still lights the tyres up when you feel the need! haha
It's definitely lasting a lot longer than I first expected & still surprises me everytime I stand on it (& the people around me too when the tyres start to turn at 60+km/h!)
Keep on keeping on!
motha ·
Well after months of trouble free motoring with the turbo setup, it finally played up & came crushing down. Big not in a big way!
It happened the day Preeny came down.
Must be murphy's law I reckon.
When you actually want to show someone how it goes, it fail's!
It just wouldn't boost & felt like a massive slug. It would spool up, but only felt like wastegate spring pressure, which is approx 6psi!
So after messing around with it & deciding I needed to really fix the oil leak's, I'd investigate the boosting problem too.
So off with the sump, front timing cover & dump pipe.
Replaced the front timing cover seal & gasket. Resealed the sump & windage tray & gave it a service too.
Then onto checking the turbo blades & wastegate. All good.
I checked all the boost control piping & found the boost regulator base had come loose & also pinched the wastegate control hose!
The base had loosened which cause the unit to twist around & drop boost pressure & also causing the following pic's
Split hose in two places! It actually looks like its been pinched with pliers, which is strange. As I'm the only one who has played around with it!
The culprits of my car turning back into a slug!
So after everything I'd fixed everything up, it was onto tuning again.
What a pain in the ****!
I re timed the ignition timing to how I'd set it ( which was wound up fairly high!), I had to reset the boost control, but it wouldn't play nice & I couldn't get it to consistently boost to 15psi no matter how I adjusted everything.
I did get it to spike to 20psi & christ did it go (turned the tyres hard in 3rd!), but it was very unsafe on the poor old stock donk.
So I'm still at the point of trying to find the old setup tune, which may take alittle bit longer than expected.
I also have left the shed in an absolute mess trying to get this thing back on the road.
Hopefully I'll have it sorted by the weekend. I also have to replace the gearbox selector shaft seal too & then give it a complete pressure clean to clean off the mess.
motha ·
Well after a good friend came down & drove this around alittle bit.
We sat down, had some drinks & threw some ideas around about the tune & how to improve & fine tune it. Cause after the boost regulator unscrewed & boost regulator hose split, it threw the tune way out & I just couldn't find the old tune again.
So I thought I'd give a few of the idea's a try & play around with them.
First off, I cleaned the K&N air filter which hadn't been cleaned since I built the car. So more or less 50+K!!!!! To say it was black & chocka block with dirt is an understatement. I've seen cleaner filters in vacuum cleaners!
Then replaced the fuel filter too.
Then onto refitting both the tuning equipment, being the Boost gauge & Air/Fuel Meter Gauge.
I started off repairing one of the cyl. head plastic fitting's that broke after a backfire yesterday which was basically the start of whole process of playing around with the tune.
I removed the Hobbs adjustable pressure switch for the Aux. injectors (cold start valves) & bench tested & then readjusted it from a 7psi cut in to 13psi cut in.
So when it hits the magical 13psi mark the extra injectors cut in & supply extra fuel on boost. Instead of dumping fuel in earlier at 7psi. Now it has a fair amount of extra air volume before dumping in extra fuel.
Then I readjusted the system pressure of the K-Jet system. I reshimmed up the system pressure regulator from 82psi to 94psi.
Then redjusted the ignition timing to approx 10BTDC.
Reset the Air/Fuel mixute at idle to approx. low 14's/high 13's:1 & seemed very happy.
The onto the R/test to reset the boost regulator. This took several start/stops to get it right. As when bench testing it, you don't get the same volume of air from the turbo as you would from 60 gallon air compressor tank.
After alot of R/testing & playing around, I ended up with it set at 20psi & adjusted the timing retard to approx 1.5 degrees per pound of boost.
With these few changes, the car has now come alive.
It certainly doesn't have the same amount of kick it did, but now it doesn't have any stutter or fuel dump at all. It will pull cleanly in all gears with a nice smooth surge & then when it hits 4K the surge gets greater!
So you can cruise along in 4th@100km/h, plant it & without any stuttering, it can (let your imagination take over).
Now it doesn't wheel spin like it did & makes bugger all boost in 1st due to not building up enough engine load, but in 2nd it will boost & turn the tyres, hook up & away you go, 3rd & 4th come about very fast!
If you in 3rd at 60, it will also squeal the tyres on hot mix & pull nice & smoothly past the legal speed limit.
So overall. Even though the car isn't as fast as it was or turn the tyres as violently as it did , its feels only a fraction slower & it's a much nicer & heaps easier car to drive. Which is also pretty bloody fast.
motha ·
The car has now done 20K on the turbo setup & all has been going well until last Fri. night when the gearbox decided to start making some unusual noises which were more prominent in 2nd gear. (this is the powerskid gear, so it copes all of the abuse I dish out to it!)
I thought. Bugger it & I'll keep driving it. Whats the worst that can happen? right?
So I've been bumming around in it for the last couple of days & with a last minute decision to head upto the VW Jamboree, I was off with gearbox noise in tow.
By the time I finally got to the park, the car was making a loud enough racket that I could hear it over the engine especially in 2nd gear! Even with light taking off & babying it ,it was noisy as hell. You could even just have it idling away in neutral & it was noisy.
So after the show, we heading back to Waterboys house for a catch up & once again we were off. Well by the time I got into Melb. people were actually taking notice at how loud the noise had become in traffic! haha
But I pushed on (more like babied on!) for the 2 hour drive & finally made it into my driveway where on arrival it went ""BANG""
It locked up in 1st gear & had no drive what so ever. The noise in neutral & idle is unbelievable! Just full of bearing & crunching noises! Lucky it didn't punch any holes in the casing either. But by the sounds of it, I reckon its junk!
So I'll bang in the ever trusty diesel 4spd which I always rely on in need which has never let me down.
that is until I push god knows how much power though it! Only time will tell.
I'd post up a vid of it idling away, but I have no idea how to upload vids off the camera & they are bloody massive files too!
motha ·
It broke a clutch cable last Wed. in peak hour Melb Westgate traffic & I had to nurse it over to St Kilda for a important meeting & then had to get over to Essendon through the city to replace it!
I could only manage just a tiny amount of clutch for takeoff only & had to go clutchless the rest of the trips. The pedal sank to the floor as usual!
When I removed & inspected it was fried to the max & only was holding together by 2 strands!
I reckon I've replaced more clutch cables & components in Mk1s than I have replaced brake pads, discs & also any light globe in a mk1! They are bloody terrible! But that's the joys of running a heavy duty clutch!
I'll definitely keep this in mind, but I reckon the TDI boxes may put alittle too much load on very tired old engine under long periods of boost.
I'm not really into crazy long ratios or top speed.
You can only do 100, but its more about how fast you can get there, or turn the tyres trying! haha.
I might just try the stock old 4 spd for the time being, as I'd really like to hopefully get some sort of movement on the custom auto build up
motha ·
Well I finally got enough motivation to get out into the shed & carry out what I thought would be a straight gearbox swap.
Not too be.
Once I removed the gearbox, I found bits & pieces of metal fragments inside the bellhousing & scratch marks all around the flywheel!
So off with the clutch & with a light I also found not only did I destroy the gearbox, I also destroyed the clutch drive plate!!!!!!
On with the pics
Think of your clutch plate drives your gearbox input shaft & from friction material drive section (outer section) is drives through a set of dampening springs & onto a metal star shaped item which then drives the input shaft.
Well I smashed up the metal star drive plate & nearly stripped out the dampening springs out of the housing too!
So after having a bit of a "what the f$#k do I do now?" moment, I moved onto stripping the gearbox to have a "captain cook"
What I found was no great surprise to me by the sounds the old gearbox was making but...
It stripped both 2nd gear driver & driven gear & also mashed up the layshaft out support bearing!
So all in all, pretty much screwed! No signs of the diff rivets letting go or any other bearing marks from little metal fragments getting through the oil.
So for now, I'll source another HD clutch hopefully this week & refit the trusty old diesel 4spd which I always resort too in times of need!
motha ·
I've never seen a clutch let go like that. Not even reading through all the drag & horror stories on vortex!
This was also a HD Sachs clutch with the 3 drive tabbed pressure plate!
Depends on what I can get, but may just bang another HD one in. Don't have time to get one in from the states, as much as I'd really like to!
I was hoping the clutch would have lasted until I finally had the auto up & running, as there was no point buying a solid centred 4 puck racing clutch & only having it in there for a few month's!
motha ·
Well I finally drew up enough motivation to fit a new clutch & fit another gearbox.
Its just a stock replacement 210mm clutch for now, but refitted my HD clutch pressure plate for alittle more bite.
Hopefully the stock old diesel 4psd box can cope.
I finally got some time to bed in the clutch & take the old banger for a spin.
The old diesel 4spd ratios weren't half bad with the NA's 276TT cammed setup, but with the turbo.....
diesel ratios are 1st & 2nd are close then a long jump to 3rd with a short jump into 4th
So now it will light the tyres up just about where ever & when ever it feels in 2nd, whereas before it would still light them up, but would power on through to nearly 100. It was the power gear!
Now with the shorter ratio, its all over & done with much early & you have to shift into a far away 3rd & bogs down for a split second & then away it goes again.
Coming home it spun up in 3rd through a corner, so its still not tall enough that it can't break traction in 3rd pushing 100!
Will have to deal with it until the next gearbox failure!
motha ·
Bordom has been kicking lately with this car so I thought I'd add something for stupidity & laughs.
Behold.
Garfield!
My nephew & niece love it. Even though they don't actually know who Garfield is!
Also removed the stock wheel chrome centre caps for a more conservative base model black cap. I like it, but its a bit more of a pain to clean.
Oh nearly done 25K on the turbo setup & "still" going strong too! hahaha.
Not bad for a stock engine that people said wouldn't last. (incl. myself! I only gave it less than 5K before it went bang)
motha ·
Well I finally got around to racing the HOS (mk1 golf) this arvo/tonight.
Yes I did trailer it this time too! Call it what you like eg. trailer queen, but with as crap history as I have with racing VW's, they always break on me, so its better to be safe than sorry.
My prediction as many people would know was approx a high 13 @ 100mph.
Tonight didn't disappoint!
Ran the car in full street trim, as I drive it to work everyday. All that was removed was the spare wheel & jack.
Full seat's, trim everything, even down to the crummy 13" Bob Jane Allrounders!
Running on PULP (premium unleaded fuel) & 1/3rd tank of fuel
I did cop alittle bit of flack while waiting in line, but after the first run & with that mph & high time, the true drag racers & people that know whats going on took notice, & then alot of people were interested & when I said its my daily driver that does 700+km a week, they were dumb founded & instantly said "that much be one fun street car!"
1st run
14.36 @ 101.8mph 2.6 60ft! Yes very lazy take off, but was also on the bald 165/65R13's!!
2nd
Fitted up the stickier road tyres with 10psi
13.99 @ 101.53mph 2.3 60ft. Still lazy & slow on the take off. Slight wheel spin & mild clutch slip
3rd
13.78 @ 101.6mph 2.2 60 ft. Still very slow take off as I didn't want to just rev it up & dump it & break it "AGAIN!", slight wheel spin & mild clutch slip.
I reckon with a proper race clutch, alittle bit more track time & a few suspension tweaks there is still a few tenth's in it.
Not bad for a a so called "crap" Fuel Injection that people told me it couldn't work & a car that cost less than a just a APR/GIAC remap, Exhaust & CAI on a mk5/6 GTI.
13.9 pass
13.7 pass
Enjoy!
motha ·
Some pics from the Meeting above
One of the most entertaining cars of the day!!!
motha ·
Thought I'd just up date this as not much has been going on with the car apart from being driven & driven hard.
Now the setup has clocked over 25+k & so far the only problem that has just started has been the $200 turbo has started to smoke just after cold start up during warm up. It doesn't smoke continuously, but the seals must leak oil during the cool down & pool up inside the exhaust housing. Which when warming up decides to smoke for a couple of minutes. Not to flash while sitting in traffic either!
So as the turbo has to be repaired, its much cheaper just to upgrade & I'll now be upgrading to a T3/4E 50 trim .48A/R & looking at retuning the K-Jet system with more fuel pressure & possibly another extra injector.
I'd like to push the K-Jet gear as far as I can within money reasoning. If it gets to the point of having to buy more K-Jet gear (which is very expensive in Aust.), I'll just upgrade to standalone.
But for the time being, I'll stick with it & try & push it as far as I can within reason.
I'd also like to be one of the fastest FWD VW's in OZ (which is only a high 12 in a stripped out car with race fuel!) & would be nice & more of a challenge to use a fuel system which too many people in OZ underrate & think its crap & can't be tuned properly. It would also be nice to do it in a 34 year old Mk1 instead of everyone using the easier to mod Mk5's!
If I can get it to do this all on still a bone stock 1.8L 300+K engine & make it live, I can't wait for EFI & a properly built engine!
motha ·
How long will can a stock VW engine last for???
32,000km on a bone stock 350-400K unopened engine (bar cam & springs) with 16-18psi of boost using CIS.
I drove the car 300km to a weekend performance car event & decided at the last minute to enter.
Anyway. The car copped a pasting all weekend by myself & a couple of mates with track duties, drag racing & powerskids.
On the morning of the last day, I thought I'd just check over the fluids, only to find the oil catch can had spewed a fair amount of oil out all over the RHS of the engine bay! It had also developed a fair amount of oil sweat around the base of #2 spark plug, which on removal I found it soaked in oil & had a build up of deposits on the electrode.
So I left the decision with a mate of mine if he still wanted to take it out & give it hell, to which he said "yes". So with a quick clean up, out he went again.
When he came back in after the session, the oil had spewed out again & lined not only the RHS of the engine bay, but also the RHF inner guard, all of its components & part way down the RH floor pan in oil too!
So I wound the boost back to spring pressure, cleaned it down & drove it the 300km home without a problem apart from being a tiny bit smokey on long hills.
Since being back at home, I found the engine to be still running strong (apart from alittle bit of smoke), so I wound the boost back upto 16-18psi, fitted my MSD 3 step module (which is absolutely awesome fun!!!) & have still been driving it for daily duties, hard driving/boosting & have added another 3000km on a stuffed engine!!!!!
It still hasn't used much oil apart from being alittle smokey & spewing alittle bit out of the catch can & its still getting an average of 35L/420km.
But not to worry, as I'm still driving the car 500km a week & will continue to until all my parts arrive. So all up the engine will have covered 35-36K before I strip it down.
I've ordered a new set of rings & bearings along with a full set of ARP main studs, head studs & rod bolts & also a G60 headgasket.
The plan is to strip it down, check whats wrong. Whether its a broken oil ring or a cracked piston. Replace the damaged parts (I've got a few spare stock GX pistons here), a quick hone & back together.
The gearbox will be stripped down at the same time & I'll fit the ARP diff bolt set, lock the diff up & fit the new clutch.
I'll send the turbo off too, to have it rebuilt & possibly have it high flowed at the same time.
Once its all back together, run in hard, I'll take it to the track & hopefully be able to shave a few tenths of my previous best of 13.7@101mph.
Photo's will come once the engine is pulled, stripped down & the rebuild commences.
Anyway. A couple of pics I had in my camera of a few parts & also some of the spewed out oil!
MSD 3 Step module. Which is now fitted & is an absolute blast to use. 2nd gear, hold the button, bring the revs upto the 4800rpm pill & have it start to pop, bang & fart while building boost upto 16+psi. Let the button off & dumped the clutch & enjoy the 60+m powerskids!!!!!
I wired it through a 3 way switch using the module earth to allow me to switch between using the horn as normal & then switch over to earth out the 3 step. There is also a normal 12V kill switch, so there isn't 12V constantly applied to the module. So all you do is power up the module, switch over from the horn to the 3 step & you have a very stealthy setup which is not only very easy to use but its within a fingers reach to the horn button & no extra buttons/wires hanging off the steering wheel.
I may get a video of it before I pull the car apart.
This is only a tiny bit of oil compared to what actually came out after a weekend of track work.
Oil sweat bleeding past #2 plug.
The oil sweat pumped out into the entire RHF inner guard, all its components & part way down the RHS floorpan!!!
A couple of pics from Performance Car Mania
Setting up camp. My friends old 500+hp Holden HG Premier & another friends airbagged Passat wagon.
As we were basically the photo car, there was nothing taken of my own car out on the track unfortunately. But it doesn't matter. We still had a ball.
This is sitting in line waiting to get out onto the track
motha ·
I have all the parts required to pull the engine & start on the rebuilding of it, which I should make a start this weekend for sure.
So far the parts line up is...
VRS set
G60 Steel Headgasket
Short motor gasket set
ARP Main Stud Kit
ARP Head Stud Kit
ARP Rod bolt kit
Main bearings set(6-piece thrust washer)
Big end bearing set
New oil pump pick up baffle
New NGK BKR7E Spark Plugs
New Hengst paper style oil filter (retrofitted a hengst late model style alloy housing, as it was just lying around not being used)
T3 flanged exhaust gasket
Oil Drain gasket
3" Dump Pipe Gasket
Full set of new Pressure Plate & Flywheel bolts
A full set of seals & gaskets for a 020 4spd box
ARP Diff Ring Gear Bolt Kit
The best bit!!!
The new turbo arrived today along with the new style Tial Recirc BOV.
I decided to go with a recirc style valve not cause my current atmo one doesn't work. It works 100% OK, but rather sick of the noise. The car is stealthy enough, but when taking off, you get the whooooosh & I hate it!!
Plus this bolts straight onto my existing Tial mount, so I only have to mod the turbo inlet pipe with a 1.25" flange for a 90° hose to plumb it
Anyway, the turbo is a T3/4 50 trim, .48A/R with a stage 3 wheel.
The turbo is a fair bit bigger than the Stock Saab T3 currently fitted to the car & I think I may run into a couple of dramas in stuffing it in down under the intake along with the wastegate actuator. Which I had a couple of drama's fitting with the smaller T3!
The turbo also has a larger intake, so I will need to resize the intake piping.
Anyway. On with some pics
Here is the T3/4 on the right with a GT3076R on the left, I have here for another engine build when much more funds allow.
Once the old T3 is out, I'll put them all up against each other for a comparison. I can safely say the T3/4 has a much larger exhaust wheel & compressor housing.
I'll try post up pics along the way during the rebuild which will not only be the engine, but also all the porting of the head (which I nearly have down pat), match porting of the intake & exhaust manifolds & also the turbo exhaust inlet & the stripping & modifying the box of gears too.
The head will be skimmed & the flywheel will be surfaced too.
A bit of a play with some porting burrs. These are only test ports & haven't had any finishing work done with cartridge rolls etc. The proper ones will be mint!
The plan is to get it all together, run it in hard on 10psi with a conservative tune, bed the clutch in properly & then start to step the boost up again. I'd like to hope that I can make the same power as before, but with about 12-13psi. So if I can fuel this turbo upto 16-18psi, it should thump the current setup, or just blow the engine up! We'll see.
If everything goes to plan, I'll try & get it back to the drags to see how much of a improvement it has made.
motha ·
Well I finally managed to source an engine crane to make life abit easier & basically went hammer & thongs to get as much done today as possible, as I was already running a day behind what due to having to sit on my hands waiting for a crane.
But once it was on the floor, it wasn't long before it was on the stand & the strip down began.
On closer inspection of everything, the engine was in pretty good condition, considering the amount of km & the even more amount of abuse it has copped with.
But all the big end bearing, main bearings, thrust washers etc were all in reasonable condition, with only a couple of score marks. The crank journals were also in good condition.
What really surprised me was how worn the pistons were. You could actually see the rings down beside the piston. I was also able to rock the piston a far amount in the bore, way more than usual!!!!!
Bores weren't too bad either apart being out of round for starters & also a couple of marks, water marks etc, from when it was sitting around on the floor for several years.
Pistons, rings, rods etc were also in reasonable condition, apart from a couple of scuff marks.
Cyl. head wasn't in such a great shape. It appeared it had swallowed something in early in its life & the dents in the quench zone proved that. You don't get these sort of marks from pinging!
All the valve guides were also worn, especially the exhaust which is normal. Valve seats weren't too bad either.
This head is also a 38mm/33mm head. Damn!!!!
After a strip down evaluation & a sit down for some lunch, I though about how I'll tackle it, as I don't have enough spare coin for a full rebuild incl. good rods, pistons, machine work, cyl. head overhaul, new valves, guides etc.
So after a bit of umming & arghing, I thought. Bugger it! I'll do exactly as I planned to do & reuse the worn pistons, rods, valves, cyl. head etc & see how long this engine can cope as a bit of an experiment.
Cause after a inspection I reckon as the engine hadn't damaged a piston/rings as I first thought, there would be no reason why this engine couldn't do another 30+K on the turbo'd setup.
Anyway. On with some pics
motha ·
Heres the old Saab T3 turbo next to the new T3/4.
I got stuck into ported the head & I started off removing the sharp quench area's & also de-shrouding the valves.
I also decided to shape the intake ports & tried my best to try & redirect the intake around the long side of the port & direct the charge into the centre of the combustion chamber to promote a swirl/well mixed charge.
I also added a nice long bump on the short/inner side of the port to promote the charge to slow down to help with both slowing down the charge so it doesn't counter act against the fast moving long side charge & also help swing around the short turn
The exhaust I copied as before. I feel they came out better than my test port job.
They feel pretty smooth straight off the burr & have a nice smooth flowing surface to get in & out.
Still waiting on the cartridge rolls & will finish it all off sometime early next week
motha ·
I tried out some advice from a cyl. head guru over here which was to flatten out the port floor.
I still have a couple of tiny things to blend & reshape on the guide boss', the port floor alittle bit flatter & also smooth out the radius' of the port floor to the port walls, but you get the idea.
I'm yet to see another 8V port which is shaped like this, but happy to be shown some.
I had some large round flap sanders which I was able to finish the port runners & bowls, but they are too large to get in & around the corners & guide boss'
I might also reshape where the seat is pressed into the head & protrudes into the chamber.
You can see a bit more clearly the damage to the cyl. head after it swallowed something in a previous life to when I've had it.
Looking forward to seeing how they flow with a smaller 38mm valve compared to the big guns of VW head porting & even the eurospec heads.
This is all for the pics of the porting for a while sorry.
But I'll get some more once everything has been finally smoothed & blended.
Then I'll try & flog my credit card some more to get some flow numbers to prove if all my work has been worth it.
motha ·
Well alot has been happening the last few days & most of it has been running around & just basic cleaning of everything. But I did get to drop the head off for a skim & also had the flywheel machined too.
I finally got the gearbox stripped down & cleaned. All looks pretty good inside (bearings, races etc) considering how old it is & also how much of a beating it has copped.
Got the diff out, drilled off the rivet heads & then pressed the rest out at work with an ol skool massive press.
Now just have to weld in some thick plates for the spider gears to lock it all up & fit the ARP diff bolt kits.
I also finally got my Porting Cartridge roll set & set to work blending & finishing everything off.
Very happy with how it all came out in the end. Sorry, but I didn't get a chance to get it flow tested, but I'm fairly confident its a massive improvement on stock.
Also match ported the intake manifold, the exhaust manifold & also the turbo exhaust housing.
Then I decided to clean up the factory inlet casting on the turbo compressor housing, as it had just a rough inlet surface & then a step into the compressor wheel. So ported & blended it all out to a smooth finish. You can see the factory casting & step in the 2nd pic
I also ran the hone down the cyl. bores to give them a skim & to say the least, they aren't in the best condition & you can clearly see in the pics the lips at the tops of the bores. It really does need a rebore, but that can wait for next time along with a set of pistons, larger valves etc.
I did try & rehone another stock GX block here, but that one was even worse. But the pistons out of the other one were in better condition than my one, so I gave them a clean out & knocked the stock rod studs out.
So after all that was finished of, I set about cleaning everything up with a pressure cleaner & then onto reassembling the cyl. head incl. lapping in the valves, new valve stem seals etc
Once this was all sorted I got onto prepping the block & cleaning out all the galleries etc.
Then installed the ARP Main Stud kit.
Intalled the crank & checked all the clearances incl. end float
Well I only managed a half day of work in the shed, due to a sleep in & a hang over. (Normal kind of stuff!)
But still got a bit done.
Gapped up all the rings. I decided to go with the later style rings with a 1 piece Oil Ring
Setting up the ring height using an old piston to guarantee the same measurement in all the bores. I pushed the rings down with the piston till its gudgeon pin cut out was level with the block face.
All the gaps weren't too bad considering the condition of the bores
Cyl. 1
Top - 0.26" (0.686mm)
2nd - 0.26" (0.686mm)
Cyl. 2
Top - 0.24" (0.610mm)
2nd - 0.24" (0.610mm)
Cyl. 3
Top - 0.22" (0.559mm)
2nd - 0.24" (0.610mm)
Cyl. 4
Top - 0.19" (0.483mm)
2nd - 0.18" (0.457mm)
Then got onto installing the ARP Rod Bolts, all the pistons, & checking all the clearances.
Cyl.1 - 0.020" (0.50mm)
End Float - 0.008" (0.203mm)
Cyl.2 - 0.020" (0.50mm)
End Float - 0.008" (0.203mm)
Cyl.3 - 0.015" (0.38mm)
End Float - 0.007" (0.117mm)
Cyl.4 - 0.015" (0.38mm)
End Float - 0.007" (0.117mm)
Then set about tightening up the rod bolts using a "Stretch Guage" to the recommended stretch of 0.0085" - 0.0090"
Installed the G60 headgasket & also the ARP Head Stud kit.
Fitted, clamped down the head & then got to work refitting as much as possible
Then at the days end. Got most of the stuff fitted, but theres still some parts I want to repaint before I refit them. I also have to modify the wastegate actuator bracket as the compressor housing on this turbo is a fair bit bigger than the previous one.
Money shot!!! This is what its all about!!!
motha ·
I ended up stripping the guts out of an old points style distributor & also grinding off the drive gear teeth to act as a oil pump primer.
Using my Multimeter set on resistance/continuity, I was able to measure when I got oil pressure through the oil pressure switch. When there is no oil pressure, there is a circuit to earth meaning the oil light is on, on the dash
Then I ran the drill up for a few seconds with the turbo oil drain disconnected to bleed the system.
Full flow
Oil Pressure switch now open circuited, meaning there is sufficient oil pressure.
Installed the ARP Diff Bolt kit.
A bit of home butchery. But it will do. There are 2 thick **** steel plates in there somewhere.
motha ·
Well had a late night last night when I came home from work. 5am start & was up till 1am getting this heap abit further along.
Anyway, got the engine off the stand, fitted up the Spec stage 5 clutch kit mated to a freshly machined flywheel & used all new bolts etc.
All fitted up.
Then fitted up the gearbox & swung the whole lot into place using a crane dragging it up from the bottom. A ton easier than any other way I can think of.
The new turbo was a bit of a long shot if it was going to fit without having to modify some things, but it worked out 100%. the gearshift bracket I had to modify for the old turbo had just enough clearance on the new turbo.
Its still a bit of a tight fit, but you can't really see down there anyway.
All the bracketry etc all freshly painted & the dump pipe modded with some extra bracing, as it had cracked over a period of time.
By the end of today, I had everything fitted up & turned the engine over for it to fire into life straight away. All I wanted to do was hear it run before the weekend.
But I did wind the idle screw up & richened up the mixtures for the first fire up, due to the increase in air the engine will be sucking.
So for no I just got it going to bleed the cooling system & burn off all the gasket goo, paint & the oil etc in the engine before I fit the wideband & start retuning it tomorrow.
Straight off the bat once I set the ignition timing & idle speed, the throttle response is 100% better than how it was before. Its ultra responsive now. "In a sarcastic way" I reckon the cyl. port job has alot to do with that!
Haven't had a chance to drive it except for back into the shed & the clutch feels awesome for a brand new unbroken-in clutch. It does shudder a bit, but hopefully will bed-in. But it has a solid feel, good feedback.& an positive engagement. Feels just as heavy as my previous HD Sachs clutch kit.
motha ·
I did get a chance to drive it the last couple of days & all is well.
Started off with 10psi to get to the servo to fill it with some fresh 98, then started winding it up. Got a pretty close handle on the tune & its set at 20psi at the moment which I'm sure after 60km its not breathing very hard out the breather now! I reckon the rings are now bed in! haha.
Now just playing around with some ignition timing, as it feels like it could handle a couple of degrees more, I reckon cause its getting a better cyl. fill from larger ports etc.
But so far it all feels smooth. The turbo is laggy, but only a fraction more than before & comes in more smoother too. Not "a all or nothing" setup as with the old turbo. The turbo does wind up a bit harder & is a bit noisier too. But it can still light the tyres up at will & will squeal them in 3rd at 80 no worries. Its been raining here & feeding it on in top gear, it will build speed upto 110-120 & then blow the tyres off with ease.
Also with the recirc Tial BOV, its awesome. No more whoooossssh noise when taking off. Loving it now.
Steering is somewhat "interesting" with the locker too. Very hard when making tight corners, pulling into driveways etc. But its all good! haha
Now for the bad part....
I had a quick look under the car this arvo & found its leaking from the input shaft seal. So back out with the box & will hopefully get a new seal tomorrow.
Kind of ****ed, as the gearbox was 100% before & decided to replace all the seals as a matter of course just to be on the safe side & it has bit me in the ****.
motha ·
I decided to weld the diff, as the last time out I had some problems with one wheel breaking loose at the track.
I also didn't want to spend $1000 on a LSD or torque bias diff with the high possibility of breaking the gearbox, as I have had my fair share of broken 020's. Also spending $400+ on a spooled centre for the same reason.
So the cheapest & quickest option was to weld it up.
If the box breaks, I'm only up for a couple of gaskets & a set of ARP diff. bolts, which I can still reuse & not an expensive diff centre & gearbox rebuild.
If this breaks, I just move onto the next diesel 4spd & do the same again.
So far so good with the car. Been daily driving it with no major drama's going on & the clutch has bed in nicely. Although it is squealy & shudders, but I suppose thats all part of the deal with a drag style clutch.
I backed off the ignition timing a couple of degrees, as the weather over here has started to get hot coming into summer. But its a very safe tune, which not only lights the tyres up from 60-90, but also gets 400-420km to 35L.
Tested the 2 step today & the car was happy to do an easy 2nd gear, 60+m powerskid on the rev limiter.
Hopefully get back to the track by the end of the year depending on the bank balance.
motha ·
The turbo has made a big difference to the drivability of the car yes.
It is a tiny bit lazier, but also comes on alot smoother when it does, so it doesn't just hit 4K & blow the tyres off in 2nd. The car overall is a much nicer car to drive regarding the power etc. With the locked diff & drag clutch, it can **** you off in town & traffic jams though!
With the new setup it will hammer the old setup. Its running 4-5 clicks less on the boost controller (5-8psi?), a few more degrees ignition timing (static) & also roughly 1.2-1.3 degree's per psi timing pull on the boost retard & it pulls a fair bit harder. Especially when dropping it into 4th at 130!
At the moment, its pretty safe & anyone can drive it without having to worry about it pinging etc. For the track I could screw the mixtures up alittle bit more rich to idle around 11:1 A/F, add a couple of clicks of boost & pull a tiny bit of timing & it will thump the old setup.
To answer you question about the tune. I have maxed out the fueling setup I currently have & still running less boost as before.
The only down side I've really found with the K-jet turbo setup is in gear roll on eg. 60 in 3rd, it will ping when loaded up (floor it & build boost), 100-110 roll on in 4th it will also ping. Too much load & can't pull enough timing out. The MSD is limited to 15 degrees timing pull max. But if you take off, plant it in 2nd & race through the gears, it has no drama's. I've found its all a trade off between all out race tune, or a safe streeter/daily tune, which anyone can drive without me worrying about it pinging.
I've been both very surprised & pretty happy with how fuel efficient it has been. I done 395km over the last couple of days & thumped it hard the last day & put 32L in it.
motha ·
Well I finally got out & had some fun testing the new clutch, the 2-Step again & also my new in-car camera.
So I thank you for being patient while I gather some videos for those who are interested.
Anyone who has any tips or suggestions about video editing, please don't hesitate to offer advice. I'm new to this & have very limited computer skills. But had a bit of a play around to try & make it arty & alittle bit funny at the end too? haha
But here you go.
2nd gear 2-Step launch/powerskid pedaling it down the road 60+m
I did try it in 3rd, but it needs a much bigger rpm pill to help build boost.
2nd gear roll on
Power run. (I won't post the speed, but anyone who knows there way around a Mk1 speedo will know how fast it wraps around the speedo if you look closely enough. "km/h too!")
motha ·
Since bedding in the engine with 20psi in less than 10mins, I changed the oil & have done approx 1500km of daily duties.
Since I replaced oil, it hasn't used a drop of oil or breathed anything out the breather filter & only a tiny bit of vapours in the catch can tubing.
The clutch has settled in & is spot on. It shudders a tiny bit, but not all the time. Just depends how you take off from lights etc. It rarely squeals now too.
I'm hoping if the weather holds up, I'll get it to the track on the 18th this month. Hopefully picking up a new tow car soon, so I'll be able to get to more events over the summer. If the car holds up.
Been practicing my staging & launching techniques, so hopefully I can get into the 1.8 60fts & run onto a 104-106mph pass.
Low - flat 13's might be on the cards!!!!
After having a play with this setup for a while, I'd like to try a auto setup, test it & then make a start on the 20v setup I think.
motha ·
An update from the Portland VW drag
Car ran awesome all weekend & coped a hiding the entire time! Got my money's worth out of the 3-step module, drag clutch & locked diff.
I think I got the most runs in out of all the VW's entered with approx 17 pass', fastest watercooled ET, 2nd fastest watercooled MPH, won all the elimination rounds & then red lit in the final!!!! DOH!!!
Pre-loaded the clutch a tad too much, it got hot & bit & resulted in a red light!
But.....
Previous best 1/4 half track time was 8.95@80.53MPH 2.223 60ft with the old T3 setup only after 3 test runs.
It ran 8.153@86.04mph, 1.85 60ft in full street trim & weight!!! Best MPH for the weekend was 88MPH.
The only adjustments we made throughout the weekend were suspension tweaks & tire pressures.
We did remove all the seats etc. but it went slower!
Its running very consistent now & ran 5 8.4 pass' & several 1.9 60fts.
Very happy with a .8 & 6mph increase over the old setup over the 1/8th. Hopefully this results in a 12.8-12.9@ approx 105-107mph over the 1/4 in full street trim/weight.
motha ·
Some pics from the weekend.
There are plenty more, but can't really be stuffed uploading 200+ pics sorry
Heres one of the 2 in-car vid's that were taken. The camera battery went flat, cause I forgot to turn it off after a run! DOH!!!!!
LHR spring perch decided to pick something up in the threads & lock up severely!!! not good, so the last resort was to pull out the biggest multi-grips I had in my toolbox!
Sometimes you just have to get it done, no matter what happens. We'd already set the other side up, so I had to even up the ride height!
motha ·
I finally got a chance to run at a full track after the local track had been washed out for a couple of months & tonight didn't disappoint one bit.
Managed to get 4 runs in, which for the amount of people that turn up, its pretty bloody good.
Car is still full weight/trim with street tyres & the only mods from my daily driver setup is a VW Motorsport rear trans mount, a couple of bump & rebound adjustments to the shocks & tyre pressures. No ride height changes.
Anyway they went like this
13.44@104.8mph 2.12 60ft (8.73@83.3mph 1/8th which is miles off the cars best of 8.15@86mph)
13.26@104.02mph 2.12 60ft
and.......
13.002@105.74mph 1.96 60ft (8.35@84mph 1/8th)
Very happy with this run, as my prediction was a 12.8-12.9@105-107mph in a previous post.
4th run was go for broke and...
It launched hard off the 2-step, shook the tyres & smashed the RH outer CV joint.
Doesn't matter though. the car is running awesome & having a stock drivetrain handling 20+pass', plus the huge amount of street abuse, powerskids, clutch dumps off the 2-step in 2nd gear, I was expecting it to break sooner or later.
But for now, I'll replace the CV & head back out again for the 12....
13.00 pass. Sorry, it was off my phone taken by a mate. & it doesn't have zoom. I really should of taken a camera with me, as I knew it was going to be a good night.
13.2 Pass
Going for broke
motha ·
On to some repairs.
My first thought was it shattered a CV, but after actually looking at it, instead of just hearing it, It appears to be a different story.
It ended up snapping the driveshaft. Clean as a whistle too!!!!!
New shaft fitted & with the old cv's repacked with some cv moly grease.
Change the rear trans mount over to the stock diesel one & the front tyres
Quick wash & its back on the road for the daily 600km grind for work.
motha ·
A couple of pics from the last street meet.
Note the people laughing!!! you have no choice but to get used to it.
motha ·
Well I know its April fools day, but this is no lie.
Woke up this morning, looked outside & sure enough, it was "drag racing" weather!!!!
Headed upto the track early & there was bugger all people there & was lucky enough to get in 3 hot laps! No waiting!!! Couldn't believe my luck!!
Anyway, straight off the trailer
13.068@105.51mph - 2.04 60ft, 8.42@84.61mph. Waaay off the normal 60ft & half track pace.
Then!!!!!!
12.993@106.87mph - 2.06 60ft, 8.38@85.46mph. Still off the 60ft & half track pace, but finally ran a full street trimmed & weight 12!!!!
Last run I launched hard & mashed it & at half track started smoking like all buggery.
Didn't get a time slip due to below, but I looked up & still ran a smoking 13.1! haha
anyway, I broke it!
Stock pistons & rods with K-Jet can only take sooo much abuse.
Oiled down most of the track & made a mess everywhere! Oil was pumping out the breather like it was going out of fashion!
I dare say, its melted a piston & broke a few rings to pump out that much oil! It still runs 100% & drove it onto the trailer etc. But its now taken up smoking!!!
Where to next after this. I don't know. I've accomplished what I set out to do & now at the cross roads with not only this car, as its soooo bloody rusty its not funny & not worth the time & effort to fix, but also racing VW's in general! Can't be stuffed building another car to replace it.
I suppose we'll see what we'll see.
Some more carnage pics.
It still runs & runs smooth as, but just pumps out vapour from the catch can! haha
and its final resting place before it gets stripped down & parted out I reckon
motha ·
Well I thought I'd go out & move the car as its been sitting for awhile & blocking the shed.
It fired up straight away & ran smooth as.
After about 5 mins of idling, the catch can began to puff like a steam train as expected! haha, but while it was idling, I had a quick look over everything & I found that the warm-up reg boost signal hose has split in half!!!!!
mmmmmmmmmm, $1 piece of hose caused the meltdown it. I hate when that happens.
I know why, as the warm-up reg port barb was jammed hard up against the oil filter housing which also jams the hose against it.
Over a period of time & multiple hot/cold operations, I dare say it got hard & finally cracked under positive pressure ie BOOST!
motha ·
Theres still a few tenths left in the old K-Jet!
The 12.99 pass was with a 2.0 60ft.
Normally 0.1 faster at 60ft is roughly 0.2 faster at full track.
"IF" it had of 60ft its pb which is a 1.8, it would run onto a 12.5-12.6.
This isn't too bad for a extreme budget build slapper engine & stock K-jet with a few mods to richen the mixture.
It also gets pretty good fuel economy too, at roughly 33-36mpg using the stock ratio'd diesel 4spd.
I also had been using this car as a daily driver doing roughly 400-600km a week!
The next engine will be a fully built 20v with EFI, custom home built mk1 010 auto with roughly 4000-4500 high stall.
All the performance auto internals have been ordered along with all the engine bits too. So its just a matter of time.
The place I sourced the auto bits from build transaxles for dune buggys with LSX 500+hp engines in them & they still use the beetle, golf 010 auto housing.
This will all start happening in the next few months, but for now, I'm concentrating on throwing in another reringer banger 8v, get back out there & race it.
Then build the auto & test it with the 8v, hopefully run faster over 400m & then step up to the big hp 20v.
So theres going to be some fun times ahead.
motha ·
No work has gone on lately, as I've got another project I've got to finish first here to get some much required shed space back.
But I did get a package today which brought a smile to my dial!!!
Transaxle Engineerings finest!!!! Bring on the auto build sometime soon!!!
This is will be the same auto internals that Transaxle use in their 500+hp LSX powered dune buggys.
Basically it turns the stock 010 auto into a full manual reverse pattern shift with all the good gear inside to handle the power.
Will get a high stall built locally. Thinking around 4000-4500rpm high stall.
[/QUOTE]
motha ·
Well the car has sat untouched now since April 1st & has been a thorn in my side taking up space & normally getting in the way around home.
So I decided after I'd finished a few other major jobs I've had on the go & some upkeep around the house,I'd move it, clean off all the oil & mess it spewed out all underneath the car, then yank the engine & pull it apart for an autopsy.
Well not in my wildest dreams did I think what it would have been due to how it unloaded the oil out of the breather & 300m of the race track!
All the pistons ended up fine! The rings also look OK as well. The bores are that shot, that you clearly see the rings down the sides of the pistons!!! haha
Yes & its been like since I even fitted the first turbo!!! Very surprising how much stock pistons, rods etc. can take!
Anyway. I had alook all over & while looking at the rings, I noticed this below!
Blew the centre compression ring out of a 3 layer factory G60 headgasket!!!
It blew in 2 spots in Cyl.1 & one spot in Cyl.2. All the rest were all ok.
While I've got it all out & half apart, I'll strip it down completely & just have a look how the rings & bearing have faired after 10K of total street & race abuse!
After all, its 99% still stock, apart from the G60 headgasket & my home porting! Stock valves, guides (shot to buggery!) etc etc.
Hopefully have it all back together this weekend & driving a again, although this time I'll fit a tall ratio 5spd & a HD 210 clutch kit I have here for the daily commute for a while.
I have another car here that needs a trans rebuilt. So once that trans is all sorted, I'll bang the locked diff diesel 4spd back in it with the stage 5 clutch & head back out racing! Hopefully by that time, the weather will have started to clear up!
Wonder how much more abuse this thing can handle!!!
motha ·
Well I managed to get home early enough to get into the shed to continue part 2 of the engine autopsy!
First up was the big end bearings, which appear to have copped a hiding! Scratched up pretty bad considering, but nothing had picked up & scored them that bad.
Cyl. 1 crank journal though doesn't look to flash either. But I reckon a quick once over with some fine emery should bring it back to ok.
All the other big end journals are still in good condition, although I haven't measured everything up.
Next up were the pistons & I'm glad I decided to pull the complete engine down for a "just in case" feeling.
My first though about melting/cracking a piston had come true!!!
No.1 piston had cracked the top-2nd compression ring land in one spot & also cracked through the 2nd ring-oil scraper ring land too!
No.2 piston had cracked through the top-2nd ring land in two places & you can actually see where the cyl. pressure has got in behind it & pushed the ring land section against the cyl. wall, as the section is nice & clean.
It also jammed up the oil scraper ring too!
All other pistons & rings are all ok.
Main bearings also appear to have copped a hiding as well, but don't look too bad either.
I also got some better picks of the head gasket damage on both No1 & 2 cyl.'s
Cyl. 1 big section on the inlet side
Also cyl.1, but on the exhaust side
Cyl. 2 blown section on the inlet side too.
This was the best picture taken of the big ends unfortunately
Cyl. 1 big end journal
Cyl. 1 Piston. You can clearly see the 2 cracks on the ring lands
Cyl. 2 Piston. This is where the first crack is & you can see how the ring land is nice & clean to the left of the crack.
This is were the other crank is/ends abit over 90° around the piston. You can see that the ring land is clean to the right of the crack, indicating where the ring land has been pushed out & made contact with the cyl. wall.
Main bearings..
Nearly all the parts are ready for the bin! haha
I think the car will get used to this mounting position over the next half of the year with future abuse & upgrades!!!
motha ·
Well everything "was" going to plan the other week!!
Engine is all stripped down, cleaned
Had a friend over for the weekend & we both stripped the other engine, cleaned, inspected all the parts & picked out the best bits. Only the pistons survived, which is good for me.
I started off cleaning up different bits & pieces, prepping the new flywheel & stock HD clutch, repainting the gearbox & rebuilding another set of driveshafts to suit the new tall ratio diesel 5spd with 100mm flanges for the daily commute. ("only for now though!" It will get the full race box & race clutch later on, one I get a few other things sorted around home & the weather starts to clear up.)
My friend started to assemble the engine, measure up all the main & big end clearance & then prep the pistons.
Then I find out I only had a set of rings for ONE piston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SO, I recheck my order receipt & a receipt from a previous order when I last built the engine.
I had ordered the same part # rings & same quantity of ONE set of pistons rings as before, so everything at my end is spot on!
Only to have ONE set for ONE piston sent!
So its on hold for now. Sorry peoples. I really wanted it sorted this weekend, as I have a long list of things to get through & get done too, which all gets put back until this is running again.
motha ·
Well after a stuff up with the parts ordering, I finally got the missing parts & got to work ASAP.
I basically went out to the shed & started at 1.00pm & didn't come in till the engine was built, installed & running which the first fire up was at 4.40am!!!
Right now I've been up for 2 days straight.
Great to be driving it again.
Only a couple of tiny things to sort out, but it now has a diesel 5spd, so it has tall ratios. 2600@100km/h! Love it.
So now the Golf has a tall ratio 5spd, my old HD stock style clutch & open diff. Heaps better car to drive & cruise on long trips.
I also detuned it a fair bit, but it still turns the tyres hard in 2nd. The clutch won't let the tyres turn in 3rd. Just slips.
But with some boost taken out & some more timing, it still feels like it will run a mid-low 13 in full street trim.
The 5spd will be short lived though, as I'm going to make a start on the auto soon. But will refit the locked diff diesel box, drag clutch & race it again to try & improve on the 12.99. Then fit & test the auto setup & try & get on top of the high stall setup. Hoping for around a 4500 stall.
But for now. Just cruising daily duties.
motha ·
I finally got a pair of stock 13" rims widened to 6" & a pair of 205/60-13 M&H street/drag tyres.
They just fit with bugger all room between the tyre & coilover spring perch
I could of gone with a light weight alloy, like a weld rim or bogart etc, but I wanted to keep the stock-ish looking apearance.
Can't wait to test them out.
But will have to wait, as the weather here has been crap as & they are only running the strip once a month at the minute.
Also have to refit the drag clutch & locked diff box of gears too. But can't do that till the clutch hs been balanced with the other engine.
Ah well
Hard to believe that these are actual a legal street tyre with a DOT rating!!
Full slick with 2 grooves!!! haha
Oh also a cross ply. not sure how they'll go in the braking zone with the radials on the back.
If experience is anything to go by, a RWD car with cross ply's on the back & radials on the front isn't the best to drive at all!
Also got a chance to play with the suspension setup to sort out some clearance issues.
Found out I had to raise it more than I'd like, as it now looks horrible sitting up this high, but...
Function over form!!
Also with it raised up, the front tyres, clear the coilover spring perch's without the need of 6mm spacer rings too & it give it a more stockish look when the stock wheels are fitted all round.
On the initial R/test to sort out the alignment & "re-round" the tyres, I put them to the test & holys%#t!!! These things hook up! HARD!
As its got the stock HD clutch, it just launched in 1st, hooked up, into 2nd & the boost came on strong & the clutch started to slip!
Can't wait to fit the drag clutch & gearbox setup & really lean on it!
Just have to play the waiting game now for the street meets to start up again, once the weather gets better.
Anyway. Some pics of the new ride height, street drag setup after a clean up.
I won't be driving on these all the time, if anything & store them properly.
But I will use them to drive to & from the strip once the package is reliable enough. As I live 1.5hrs away from the nearest drag strip, so it has to be ultra reliable at that!!!
grogy ·
gud read, u get pulled over 4 sure wit those tyres
motha ·
grogy wrote:gud read, u get pulled over 4 sure wit those tyres
Cheers grogy.
You'd be surprised how little attention you get in these kinds of cars!
I lost my licence early last year for doing an 80km/h powerskid in a 50 zone, but he didn't believe the car could do that or make that much power & put the tyre squeal down to another car taking off! This was at 10.30 at night, no one else was around & also dry surface. (if it was wet, it has no problems turning them waaayy beyond the legal hwy speed limit)
He even took a step back, had a look over it & said "pfffft, yeah right!"
So I was lucky to not get done for hoon laws, impoundment & such over a long weekend!
But got off with 25km/h over.
But still wore my soles out for a month!
dejan ·
WWWWWAAAAOOOOOOO the best MK1 8v turbo👍
motha ·
dejan wrote:WWWWWAAAAOOOOOOO the best MK1 8v turbo👍
Cheers matey, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that.
The car is rusty as all buggery!
Definitely a 60ft looking car!
but hoping to change that next year sometime with a full resto & substantial power upgrade too!
motha ·
Its like xmas when stuff like this turns up!
Got all the modified brake pedal box & bias bar setup, to relocate all the engine bay brake linkages, cross bar set under the dash board.
This will become a non-assisted brake setup, so no booster/vacuum. If you use the right sized master cyl.'s, the pedal will have 100% feed back & also not too stiff/hard to operate.
I've gone with this setup, to remove all the engine bay brake setup to provide room for the engine upgrade to a 20v with a GT3076R, but also a future "larger" turbo upgrade when the need arises.
This setup was built by the original company in the UK who use to make the "Autocavan" style setups which were the "Bee's knees" back in the early days of modding & racing Mk1 Golfs. They also manufactured alot of other specialized parts for the Mk1 incl.
The "Motorsport" front & rear trans mounts to stop engine/gearbox flex. It will vibrate a bit more than stock of course, but not as bad as the Nolethane style mounts or mount inserts which I've had before, along with plenty of other branded type engine mounts.
I'll make a front rad support brace as well to stiffen everything up. If the wheels start to pull forward too much under high load/hook up, I can also utilize this bar to fit sliding traction bars which will slip in/out for normal street use, but insert a pin & lock the rod to avoid the lower control arm moving forward. To add to this, I'll probably make a rear lower control arm bush brace to tie in both the rear mounting from trying to pull away from each other & pull the chassis legs aparts.
But this is a fair way off still & will see how it all pans out.
On with the pics. The quality is awesome & can't wait to strip the car down & plumb it all in.
Also scored a Peterson twin inlet breather tank for a score off ebay! This will suit the block & head breathing with -12 fittings!
motha ·
Over the last couple of days, I've really been thumping the crap out of the car. Multiple 2nd gear 2-step 80+m powerskids with upto 3 people in it max boost ( I think 24psi!) & it still pulls like a 16 year old reading lingerie mags!!! haha
Tyres are screwed & the engine isn't far off!
It pumped out 2L of oil & sprayed it all down the RHS of the car again as with the previous melt down when it ran 12.99!!! haha.
But not to worry!
I drove it this morning gently up the road with less boost & it only had a couple of oil spray drops! So I topped up the oil & did a 200km round trip cruising with a few full power runs & it still spewed some oil out, & breathes pretty heavy, but its still going!
I can't believe how much abuse these stock engines can actually take!!! I thought I had destroyed it again for sure, the way it pumped out oil.
So the boost is backed off to 13psi & I've added some timing so compensate. Feels really good & very smooth. Still turns the tyres in 2nd, but not as violently. Feels like a high 13 setup.
Hopefully it will last a bit longer for daily duties until the next engine gets built, but I won't be racing it again with the K-jet setup. I don't want to do another 3/4 track oil down!!!
motha ·
Its been absolutely ages since I've had any updates with the Mk1
Been busy with other stuff incl. house renos, thumping & racing my other car at performance car events & the drag strip.
Pretty happy, as I finally got a chance to race my ute after I've had the high stall loosened up to 4200 & the auto rebuilt.
On its last outing it ran its PB of 11.82@116.98mph with a lazy 1.72 60ft in full street trim. Tarp, tailgate on etc. The works!!!!
All I do is fit the MT ET streets at home, drive the 100km trip, let the rear tyres down to 17psi, pump the fronts up to 50psi & remove the cold air intake air filter & spare wheel.
If I let the intake cool off about 30mins longer, theres maybe a 0.1 sec left in it & some reckon a couple more if I remove the tarp & tailgate completely.
At its last car event.
Heres a video I put together of a few good friends & myself having a mess around at one of the recent performance car events.
Since my last post about the old 76er deciding to take up oil spewing again, it didn't last much longer after that last post & was then put out to pasture for a while, so I've been driving my ute as a daily since then doing the 200km round trip for work, plus several interstate trips, events etc etc.
So its been clocking up the km's & is just getting run down across the front, from road rash, small animals, exhaust is coping a hammering from speed humps etc. So not really too good for it. It still goes good, but the novelty of driving a 11 sec daily driver is wearing thin & getting boring.
So....
Its time to resurrect the old white rust bucket again with another slapper 1.8L.
Here are the pistons from Cyl's 2 & 4. Needless to say, why it was pumping oil out of it like it was going out of fashion!!!
I recently got hold of another low km 1.8L & tore it apart, cleaned it all & measured it up.
It all appears to be in good condition. The pistons are all excellent, the crank & journals are all round & have no marks in them. The bores are all consistent & have reasonable piston-bore clearances of 0.0029" being the max. (not bad, as I've set my new 20vt up with 3" thou clearance for high boost & possible NOS.) The bores also cleaned up very well with a light honing stone too!
So I'll slap in some new rings & bearings, G60 headgasket, swap over all the ARP hardware & even throw in my old 20vt rods (which are mint & came out of my 30K old 20vt I brought back in 2000), throw it back in & run a safe tune with around 13-15psi for the daily commute.
With the current tall ratio 5psd (2600-2800rpm@100km/h from memory), it cruised along awesome, quiet, its great on fuel & was getting consistent 440km for 32L.! (32mpg?)
No plans to race this setup, as I'd like it to last to save some $$$$$ (this costs far less to run than the ute!)
Doug Sweetman ·
What a great read - top stuff 🙂
motha ·
Doug Sweetman wrote:What a great read - top stuff 🙂
Cheers Dougy!!!! Glad to hear it.
Well, from the last post about the new engine bore measurements.
Its now all assembled & running. All the bearing clearances measured up 100%. All between 2.1-2.3 thou! Crank end play spot on.
Once the fuel pump had primed, it fired straight up & idled cleanly no worries.
Washed off all the oil mess under the RHF gaurd & RHS floor pan, fitted up the A/F meter & boost activation light to fine tune it.
Filled up with fresh 98 & have since put about 100km of hard driving on it since it's been running. So safe to say its now bed in. No more vapour from the breather filter, even after 20km!!!!! 15psi will do that!!! haha
Settled on approx 15psi, safe fuel & timing. As its been 30+ degrees here for around a week now & more than likely the same for awhile yet.
Still moves along alright, can squeal the tyres in 2nd upto 70-80km/h no worries & thats with the tall ratio 5spd too!
If you quick change 1-2nd, you can pedal a 50m powerskid easily!
All in all, it feels like a high 13 sec pass safe tune & that will do for a streeter.
Forgot how nice it was to drive to be honest. Nice & quiet, smooth etc.
Love being in a Mk1 again.
Will get some pics tomorrow.
But for now, its all clean & eksy ready to go for tomorrows cruise
Oh, thought I should add this, as I have been asked about it.
The plates on it are "NOT" personalized plates! They are just replacement stock plates.
Even though my name is Tim, IMS 016 is the original rego from the time it left the VW dealership, which was...
ANSIS Motors in Frankston VIC.
Plates just happen to be the last letters in my name.
motha ·
Some more pics from todays Dub Stitute 2012 event. The aftermath!
I should say thats its still clean other than some brake dust.
whathaveidone ·
you should bring it to wsid for a run next month!!!!
motha ·
whathaveidone wrote:you should bring it to wsid for a run next month!!!!
I only just got it going again & at the moment, time is pretty short with heaps going on.
& travelling up there for a one day event is really a non-starter for me to be honest.
Plus I only have the ute to tow with & the fuel bill would be HUGE!!!!!!
I rebuilt this engine to replace my ute as the daily driver & save some $$$$ again. Especially in fuel!!!!!!
So racing its not really on the agenda with this engine setup. Will race the next setup though.
Also something for a laugh on the way home today & something I'd never guess would happen in a million years.
We came across a AC Cobra 427 replica. Sounded like a real big block too! Big bloke driving it & was chewing on a 1" cigar/stogy hanging out his mouth. Which was pretty funny just in itself!
We cruised past him at about 95-100km/h, dropped it back to 3rd & mashed it for laughs for the sake of it. No intention of having a run.
Well the bloke bites & he's into it too! My friend who was following in his 20vt Mk1 GTI, got into too!
Shifted into 4th & held it for tiny bit, looked down & 1..km/h easy as, but called it at that. Bloke was only just starting to reel me in, in the top end.
He pulls up along side, give a big stogy grin & thumbs up. Good sport!
& luckily enough, my friend following got it all on film!!!!
motha ·
Well, SFA has been going on with the Mk1 since its been rebuilt, apart from the daily grind.
The only thing thats been letting down enjoying the drive, is its had brake shudder for awhile now. I've had the discs machined twice & it lasts for about 3 weeks each time, before the shudder starts up again. I had a 280mm conversion before reverting back to the stock GTI discs & they also had the same problem, even after being machined.
I decided to just bite the bullet & replace the front hubs, bearings, new discs & pads.
The hubs have done roughly 600-650+k & are the original hubs from my first Mk1, so it must have been due for replacement.
I ended up fitted another set of ATE Powerdiscs, Mintex pads, Meyle front hubs & generic front wheel bearings.
I did want to fit a set of ARP studs to the hubs, but they didn't come in time.
Now the car is back to being a joy to drive again & really looking forward to doing some interstate trips in it over the next few months.
Over the last few weeks, its been averaging 33mpg, even with 15psi still wound into, so the tank range isn't too bad either.
motha ·
Well a quick update on what was an ongoing build project.
My eventual plan was to build a built 20vt with a big turbo to make good power.
This has now been put on hold indefinitely due to dealings with (in kinder words) a very piss poor international parts supplier.
Long story short...
After been treated like a mushroom (kept in the dark & fed s#$t), ongoing bulls#%t & being lied to for 7+months after forking out for a big $$$ engine build, I finally received all my parts, although even then, they couldn't supply the right parts I ordered either. (incl. blaming another major US parts supplier for the hold up. So I contacted the "major" supplier who had never even heard of the said company!!!)
Anyways, having all the parts sitting on the shelf just aggravated the hell out of me "everytime" I looked at them.
What is suppose to be a enjoyable & fun experience to start on a new project/engine build, was turned into anger every time I thought about it.
So to the remove the anger, remove the parts!!!
So I sold everything off I received, to here, there & all over & will start on another engine build when I feel the need.
Only this time, will use suppliers I've had great previous dealings with!
Funny how you get more fun out of building banger stuff on a budget & the big $$$$ builds just piss' you off!
So I think this will be the end of the updates & build thread, as there won't be much going on at all, unless I feel the need to race the current setup at a much later date.
Thanks for looking......
motha ·
I haven't raced the golf since I last raced it in April 2011 & ran a 12.99 & popped the engine doing so. Was great fun though!!!
But....its been a very long time now & I've been playing with other cars & projects.
Being traveling around alot & playing around with the ute more than anything. Its now fitted with a F1A Procharger running 10psi, TH400 trans 4500 stall, big fuel system & has now run a 10.8@128mph full street, weight & trim. Its not a weekend car either. Gets driven just about everywhere incl. some daily driving usage & has just about had all kinds of things thrown in it from beds to a several trips with a ton of crushed rock. Even hit a kangaroo coming back from Shepparton one evening which cause a bit of damage!!!
But have lost alittle bit of interest in it as of late, as it finally had a problem & developed a valve float problem, smashed some valve tips & I'm now waiting on parts to get it going again. (its gone over 2 years in its current setup without one single issue, which is better than some brand new cars, let alone a modified car with over 650hp, The only other problem is making the back tyres live longer)
Anways, its now getting a proper blower cam & matching valve springs, larger primary pipe'd extractors, BIG plazmaman intercooler (all stealth & no cuts to the bumper at all), trans now has a gear vendors under/overdrive unit & a couple of other little bits & pieces in preparation for a forged 408ci motor sometime later on & really wind up the boost. Would like to see around 800-900hp on pump fuel & a single digit pass eventually with a forged motor. But as it is now, its sitting on stands waiting on parts till the new year.
So moving on, to scratch a sort of acceleration rush.....
The golf has been laid up as a daily driver since Sept last year & hasn't really been used at all since the start of this year. As I brought a more suitable daily driver for the long commute to work each week. So the golf has just been sitting unloved.
But decided to dust off it off & have some fun with it again.
Charged the battery, threw some fresh fuel in it, & it fired up straight away. Although the waterpump decided to start leaking.
No big deal though. New waterpump, some new plugs, refitted the locked diff. diesel 4spd gearbox, the drag clutch, gave it a bit of a tune ie. a notch of boost, took 4 degrees of total timing out & a tweak of fuel & feels like a ultra low 13 pass again.
I even gave it a pressure clean wash, which wasn't a really good idea, as it punched a couple of new rust holes in the body! haha
I've been driving it all this week & it hasn't wiped the smile off my face. Its not in the same league as the ute (hard to beat 100k roll-on's turning the tyres) & but can be just as fun & always puts a smile on my face.
On & off throughout this year, I've been collecting a bunch of new parts from more trustworthy vendors & even lucky enough to source some parts which have already been modified to suit a mk1 by some people & then sold due to their upgrades eg. the intake manifold.
Custom built PWR intercooler which I made into a cartridge for the rad., fan shroud incl. the fans & auto trans cooler. Only place I could find for the trans cooler is inside the fan shroud directly in front of the fans. There is absolutely no room in front of the intercooler as its hard up against the front panel & I can't move it back as it will move the radiator back & hit on the intake manifold.
MoTeC M84 ECU, all new sensors, plugs, pins etc. Fab'd up some trigger wheels for front & rear wheel speed sensors etc. Trying to log as much data as I think I'll really need to dial in the the launches etc. Yes I know its only the entry level MoTeC ECU, but it does & monitors every thing I will ever need on this setup, even if I need to monitor individual cyl. EGT's later on. I don't plan in going E85 or flex fuel, so I don't need to run 8 injectors. 4 x 1000cc will be more than enough for now.
Ignition is LS3 ignition coils & MSD wires.
Fueling is a single Bosch 044 & all 200 series teflon speedflow fittings. So no fuel smell at all. (Have all the same fittings in the ute & you can't smell any fuel anywhere around or in the car.)
All the fuel system, fuel pipes & brake hardlines have been fab'd up & test fitted.
So far the only thing which has been outsourced has been the engine machine work, intercooler fab, the exhaust build from the dump pipe back & wastegate plumb-back & having the fan shroud bends done. I don't have a press brake.
Nearly all the parts are here to get it in & running & the only thing that still needs to be outsourced is to have the auto built, which I have all the internal upgraded parts here & get the ecu tuned once its running. But theres still alot of little bits & pieces, brackets etc which have to be fab'd up.
So once the ute is running again & out of the shed, I'm looking forward to the new year, getting the engine built, running & sorting out the little bugs of a new package hopefully.
Project hp & ET's. Who knows.
Will have to wait & see how 2014 pans out........
But for now, will have some fun with current K-jet turbo setup. It might run another 12.99 or a tenth or two faster, or might just blow up. Either way, I'll be having fun!!!
motha ·
Just popped another $150 banger engine.
Finally got it dialed in & really hauling arse. Best its ever gone too!!! Felt strong as in the top end.
Decided to have some fun, 2-step 2nd gear 100 odd meter powerskid, see & smell another kind of smoke!. Pull up & its puking its guts out!
Ah well. Shit happens... hahaha
I wouldn't call it a shit situation, as putting 20+psi on pump fuel through a stock engine, agricultural fuel & ignition system is like driving around with the pin out of a grenade! hahaha Its going to pop sooner or later, but it will pop! hahaha
Just means I need to make a start on other engine build sooner than I had planned.
This is only whats left dripping underneath the car. When I pulled up, it was like someone pouring out a full pint of Guinness! haha
If only this happened when the car was new, I'd have prevented all the rust coming through! haha
motha ·
On a lighter side of things, I finally managed to track down a set of mint condition 76 Golf vinyl seats.
I swapped over the seat covers onto my 79 seat frames, as the foam bases & Mo-hair rear cushions are in better condition & not crunchy. With the later bases, you also get the fixed front seatbelt buckles attached to the seat frames.
modnrod ·
I was wondering what happened to this old hotrod just the other day. I saw a really nice old Mk 1 go past me, pretty rare out here.
Good to see it up and screaming again!
Well, for a bit anyway.......😂
motha ·
modnrod wrote:I was wondering what happened to this old hotrod just the other day. I saw a really nice old Mk 1 go past me, pretty rare out here.
Good to see it up and screaming again!
Well, for a bit anyway.......😂
Cheers buddy.
It "was" screaming, until I leaned on it a bit "too" much.... But not anymore! haha
hopefully sometime in the next 5 months. We'll see.
hellbugged ·
Lovin the updates.
Cool cars
Thanx for posting it up!
motha ·
Haven't had much to do with the mk1 as of late since the engine ate a piston xmas day, but decided to see if the battery was ok & after 3 attempts it fired up & ran smooth! Although puffing like crazy out of the breather.
Not bad for sitting for nearly 4 months.
Now that the weather is starting to go sour & the days are getting shorter, I'll make a start on the golf in the coming months & see how far I get with its totally new setup. I'd say I've mocked up 80% of it using a empty engine, with all the piping, exhaust, cooling system etc. But still needs the fuel system finished off, wiring looms setup etc.
But thats for another time & things can change. But for the moment, I have nearly everything here to build the new running gear.
But...
I have still been racing, ironing out some bugs & getting my my semi daily driver ute dialed in over the last few months incl. trying different drag radials, figuring out the exhaust was choking it in the top end, a couple of dyno runs logging data & also my first Andra event. Although I had to race in Super Street, as its an 11.00 cutoff & the ute isn't Andra tech'd or has all the safety equipment. I got knocked out of the semi finals cutting a crap light & just couldn't catch the other car & also broke out with a backing off 10.98@111mph in stock trim, wheels, tarp, full tank of fuel etc.
Its finally getting down the track spot on in full street trim with both the stock 17's & also a set of 15" front runners & 245 M&H drag radials. 60ft's aren't the best, but its a 3900lbs barge still on 98 pump fuel, drive there & home which is a 3hr round trip.
Last Sat. at a Calder t'n't ran its pb - 10.32@134.5mph. Pump fuel, street trim, exhaust, weight etc. footbrake (no transbrake fitted). Pretty happy for a true street legal car.
Also got notice from Calder/Andra. Don't come back.
Its the best & worst feeling, as it now needs a cage & tech. inspection if I want to continue racing at Calder.
Heathcote is a 2.5hr one-way trip but have done it plenty of times in the past.
Car's Pre 2008 can run 11.0 without a cage/tech. inspection. Cars Post 2008 can run 10.00 without a cage/tech. inspection. The ute is 2006. Thats the breaks.
Looking at the ECU logs, theres still some fruit left in it, as its still running the same tune as it did when the procharger was originally fitted nearly 3 years. The ECU is locked out by the previous tuner, so I have no access to it. But the plan is to send the ECU off, flash it clear & start from scratch sorting out some of the little things, like the cruise control not working over 100km/h & a couple of other niggling things etc.
I reckon there a 1-2 tenths left in it once I sort out the issue with dropping boost on shifts. Its centrifugally superchargered, so boost is rpm dependent.
It peaks at 11.4psi at 6800rpm & drops back to 7.4psi at 5200rpm on the shifts.
Over winter (off season), I'll fit a wastegated setup pre-intercooler. So you ramp the blower up (still within its ratings), so instead of peaking boost at say 10psi at 6000rpm, you spin the blower harder & build 10psi by say 4500rpm, but you use a turbo wastegate to bleed off boost, so you still only have a 10psi peak. (just like how a turbo wastegate setup bleeds off exhaust gas to slow the turbo down & boost build up) Midrange increases can be huge too, depending on the tune & how aggressive you apply ignition timing.
Its been done before & with alot of success in small tyre racing overseas & some installers offer it as an option on there kits.
Anyways, pictures say a 1000 words.
John Taverna Classis event. My first Andra event & I was trying to slow the car down to run in the 11.00 Super Street Class. So trying to weigh it down with everything, tried short shifting, holding various rpm across the line. etc. Was a pain, but had a heap of fun.
This is in full street trim as I drive it regularly on the street & ran a backing off 10.98@111mph. I haven't had the chance to run it all out in this trim yet.
From last weekend. I only swap out the wheels, as the front runners are a bit lighter & also have less rolling resistance. (The rear steelies are roughly the same weight as the stock 17" rims.) Adjust tyre pressures & remove the tarp. I try & get the fuel level down low for weight, but this doesn't always work out how you'd expect. It was just under 3/4 of a tank!
Hopefully there will be a video sometime.
motha ·
Heres a video of a couple of runs from last Sat's t'n't done by fullboost.
Not very interesting & almost boring to watch. Ute does it so easy with no fuss. Just plants the tyres & goes.
Enough of the ute.
how about a picture of the dummy'd up engine?
This was all mocked up very early last year & has just sat stagnent ever since. But will try & find some motivation to get it back on track.
Only thing fab that has been outsourced so far has been the exhaust from the dump pipe back & the intercooler.
Custom PWR intercooler. Just fits in.
motha ·
A fullboost video done by Luke Oxley from my last Calder tnt.
motha ·
Drove up to to Heathcote for some fun as a few mates were racing there cars.
I wasn't chasing any fast times or PB's as the M&H radials were nearly shagged.
Drove in, emptied the tray & tarp, adjusted the tyre pressures & hit the staging lanes.
Ended up PB'ing with a 10.311@138.55mph in full street trim. Tyres didn't realy hook into 2nd, but still happy. I reckon there might be a 10.2 in it, if I let the engine cool right off & wait till the ambient temps drop later in the evening.
I'd disregard the mph, as it was in the happy left lane & a friend switched into the left lane & picked up 3mph with the same et. Then dropped it again switching back to the right lane.
Checking through the logs & finish lane rpm, I'd say its around 134-136mph.
Last run of the day was with a passenger & still ran 10.53@135.50mph
Might look into a forged rotator short block rebuild sometime early next year & chase the single digit in street trim, if the stock short block lasts till then.
Its racked up 27K so far with the blower & boost set at 11.4psi without a hiccup apart from the valve springs going soft.
Sorry peoples, no VW's up there testing either
motha ·
A updated Fullboost video of the 10.31 pass
motha ·
Not much has been going on lately. Last time I raced was 8th June & the weather was absolutely perfect for racing.
Drove up to Heathcote, unloaded the tray, adjusted tyre pressures & set about having a fair old crack at it. Was hoping for a 10.2? as I felt there was still some fruit left in it.
Ute is in the same state of tune as before. Only difference was I fitted some new M&H's, as the others were shagged & started to slip. Also ran the fuel tank down to emtpy. I took a jerry can with me with some BP 98 so I could still get to a servo on the way home.
Sun was out, low ambient temp & even lower chill factor.
First few runs before lunch were dud's hitting the fuel cut. So let it sit over lunch.
Headed back out & straight away on the launch could feel it was on a mission & thought "yup. this is a 10.2 for sure!"
Got back & picked up the time slip & couldn't believe it! 10.16@138.79mph & its best 60ft to date at 1.52 off the foot brake. No transbrake.
Mind you, this car is just under 3900lbs in street/race trim too
Also been using it as a daily driver as of late due to my daily driver bombabdoor being smashed up & written off.
So this has been getting used as it was intended. As a ute!!
With several trips all over Vic & also towing cars as well. Its not ideal with a 4500 stall & no lock up clutch in the convertor, but if your careful & use the gears & gear vendors under/overdrive wisely, its no issue at all. Plus its not all that bad on fuel either. Used a full tank of fuel to tow a empty tandem 200km & 200km with a car on it.
Not bad considering its making the best part of 730+hp.
Was also fortunate to be asked to have it featured in the up coming Street Machine LS tuner mag next month too & do a photoshoot for it a few months ago. Was a great day. We were down in a private quarry & the dudes gave me permission to do some monster powerskids! Does it get much better than that!!!
Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.
motha ·
My brother has also got the racing bug after doing a full drive in/out APR stage 2+ kit & his first run was in full street trim, 3/4 tank of fuel & no adjustments to anything!!! full weight, seats etc.
12.2@114mph. Which apparently is one of the fastest & most powerful stage 2+ only cars.
Pretty bloody good!
He's since been hooked & lashed out on a full stage 3+ kit, DSG tune & flash DSG clutch pack.
Power is insane & would eat my ute on the street under 100! Especially when using launch control.
Its been data logged at 3.1 secs 0-100 in full street trim on stock half knackered tyres too! & thats without the race fuel tune either!
I'd been driving it when it was stage 3 only & have recorded low 8'sL/100km too.
I love big hp V8's & what not, but does it really get much better than that. & anyone can jump in & drive it to its potential. No tricked needed.
Hopefully in the next few weeks he'll take it out & have another crack with the new setup. Not sure what will happen, as it will still be on stock tyres & I'll play with the pressures for the time being.
But I'd say it will need some drag radials to make use of the available grunt.
He's chasing ultra low 11's & a stage 3 spec'd Golf R has run in the high 10's with drag radials, alittle bit of weight out of it & rear muffler removed.
So it will be interesting to see.
motha ·
On another note, due to my daily driver bombadoor being written off & I can't afford to continue to use a 700+hp ute as a daily driver for the 700+km work commute, plus racing etc.
I decided to rebuild the golf again after xmas melt down.
I scored a $50 1.8L engine, pulled it apart to inspect/measure & found it had been rebuild previously with a 81.5mm bore. up from 81mm. Up 1ci to a whopping 109ci!!! haha
It also had 40/33 big valve GTI spec head.
But the machine work was shocking, the main & big end clearances were all over this shop & the oil rings had no tension in them at all.
I also pulled apart the blown up engine for an inspection & found what I'd seen before a few times. Broken ring lands. Too much boost & timing = knock & POP!
Anyways, I swapped over all the ARP studs & swapped over the 20vt rods with ARP rod bolts I'd used before.
I replaced the bearings & mixed/matched them to come up with a main clearance of 3 thou & the big ends at 2.5thou, as was the end float.
I wasn't expecting it to have been a bored engine as the dude said it was original. I didn't have replacement 81.5mm piston rings, so I cleaned up the pistons & ran a hone down the bores.
I filed/resized the 81.5mm top & 2nd ring gaps much larger than stock to 25thou for a bit more leeway with boost & timing & fit some 81mm oil rings I had here. The oil ring end gap was huge, but at least its got some tension. This is only temporary until I port the big valve head & once its done, I'll swap on the new head & will fit new rings. Most likely at the first service.
So screwed it all back together with another G60 steel headgasket, the original head I'd previously ported & primed the oil system.
I also replaced the TDI 5spd reverse idler gear. This was noisey as hell!!! Apparently the later 020 box reverse idlers were made of poor quality material.
So scrounged a reverse idler out of an early 020 5psd I'd previously disintegrated!
Bolted it all back together, bled the cooling system & it fired straight up with alittle bit of blow by. As expected from a fresh engine.
It still had the timebomb tune it in from last xmas, so I wound the boost & timing back & left the mixtures where they were. mid 13's a/f. Remember this is K-jet, so its not going to be as adjustable is standalone stuff.
I like to bed stuff in hard, so within the first km, it had already had 15psi wound into it with 10 degrees of timing. With roughly 60km of beating the snot out of, a couple of 2nd gear powerskid/limiter bashing & also making some adjustments along the way, I was surprised to see this engine liked a fair bit of timing.
It settled on 16 degree initial (I didn't really want to go past this) & had next to no timing pull under boost. Like 0.2-0.3 degree per psi.
After this r/test the engine stopped breathing heavily out of the breather & all is good.
The tune felt good & with the idle just a tad under 1000 & the mixtures settling down to low 14's at idle & as rich as mid 11's once the extra injectors fired, leaning out to low 12's under full load & roughly 13-15psi. The extra injectors are fired via a hobb's switch set at 13psi.
It also cruised on high 14's to low 15's. Perfect.
It all feels good enough for now for a daily driver & feels like it would run a mid to high 13 in its current state. Theres probably some fruit still left in it, but as its my daily driver,I'd like it to last alittle longer. I may race it once I have the other head ready to go, but will keep boost & tune safe.
I forgot how much fun this little car is to drive & enjoy it more than the ute on most days of the week. Just a fun, happy car with a bit of go.
Next on the list is fixing the rust.
But for now, happy to be driving an old car again.
hellbugged ·
👍
Doug Sweetman ·
Stout. Top stuff.
motha ·
While I've been waiting on parts, I've been riding along with my brother while he's been testing his new turbo & dsg setup on his Golf R.
He'd been playing around & practicing some launching on the street & decided he'd just try everything out on the stock factory delivered street tyres & hone in on the setup first, before having a crack with drag radials, light weight wheels, race fuel & dumping some weight. The main reason being the drag radial's he requires aren't currently available.
So first time out with the new setup, it was a cold night, which at first thought was going to be a good thing & the first few runs showed this dipping into the 11's. With a couple of tyre pressure adjustments it ran a 11.67@117.95mph in full street trim & weight.
But it wasn't mph'ing as I'd hoped. I would've like to see at least 120mph.
I figured something must be a miss & with a couple of check's found the extra fuel pump controller wasn't switching on & also that the tune was reverted back to the 91 ULP tune after I had the battery disconnected for some previous work carried out.
So with a switch over to the 98 tune & also carrying out a terminal reset on the fuel pump controller, everything was back up & running on 100 power%!
But with the extra power it wasn't getting anything down on the cold track & just going into wheel spin & he reported of it still doing it shifting into 3rd! So he called it a night.
So it basically ran a 11.67 with a soft 91 tune, which he was wrapped with!
With a few more practice launches etc on the street & with some good weather we headed back up to have another crack during the day with a warmer track more suited to the stock tyres.
So letting the tyres down again & not removing a thing from the car it's first run was a 11.66 which was very promising!!
After a few runs & letting it cool down inbetween, he drove home with a current PB of 11.52@119.47mph with a average 60ft of 1.82. He's getting more & more use to how the dsg reacts to different things.
He let me have a crack at it & my first attempt it double upshifted which was an aborted run of 11.97 & on my 2nd attempt actually at racing it, got it to pb with a 60ft of 1.77, but it didn't upshift into 3rd, so the run was again aborted. Bleeding!
He was too, as he said shit! He'll beat my best time with that launch!
Note: that the dsg is a weird thing & can do some random things without warning with the race clutch pack & tune. Sometimes it wouldn't upshift & hit the limiter in 4th, other times it would double shift. Its just one of those finicky things & you just need seat time to know what its going to, when its going to do it. Also playing around with the launch control rpm too is a tricky thing trying to dial in the right rpm for the conditions. Once he fits the drag radials it will be much more consistent. But for now, I'll data log some runs & send the info back to see whats what & if there is some changes/updates to be made if any.
Next time out we'll head to Heathcote where I can actually stand on the line & watch how it launches/squats & see if I can do anything to curb it while still playing around with tyre pressures.
I reckon there is a 11.50 or even a 11.48@120-122mph in it still with the street tyres on a warm day with a warm track.
I had some 17" M&H's off my ute that only had a couple of pass' on them, so he brought a set of lightweight 17" rims to test fit & also a set of tiguan front brakes I have to fit to clear the rims. As the 17" only just clear with millimetres to spare. But with wheel weights, they'd scrap on the factory R calipers.
Once he can get it dialled in to run hopefully consistent 11.4?'s, I'll swap the wheels & brakes over & we'll start playing with the drag radials, suspension squat setup, then move onto using the race fuel & race fuel tune.
Once that is dialled in, then start removing weight like rear seats, rear muffler, passenger seat etc to see how fast it can go. But this is still a whiles off.
We're both looking forward to seeing how it all progress'.
Once my ute is up & going again, I'll get my golf out to have a run for some shits & giggles. But will leave it in "everyday street tune" instead of winding it up & popping it "again"!
hopefully with the 14" & stickier front tyres can rattle off a mid 13.
I don't want to blow it up just yet, as its currently my only car which I'm doing the 200km a day round trip for work!
Saying that, the car is running awesome. I've refitted the stock 13" rims, played around with the coilover suspension to help it ride a bit softer & alittle bit higher. (it looks stock & horrible, handles horrible & I don't really care! haha)
It's only used approx. 600ml of oil since I've rebuilt it & been driving it. Its already done nearly 4000km since being rebuilt. Not bad for a fresh stockish engine , opened up ring gaps (massive oil scraper gaps!) & with 15psi of boost
The best mileage I've got so far was 450km with a 32L fill. Approx. low 7L/100km?
beetleboyjeff ·
Awesome.
motha ·
Bit of a milestone today coming home from work.
Old rust bucket just ticked over 600,000km!
Turbo charged it at 526K & managed to do 32k on a 350-400K old bone stock engine too!
Wonder if it will make 700K??? I think the shell will fall apart by then, but you never know!
I do know that the current crop of VW's will have trouble lasting this long!
Its racking up the km's now being my daily driver covering 700+km a week too. Using very little oil & very little blow by too. If I keep it at 15psi & not get all excited about racing it, it should last for a little while too!
motha ·
I'll try & update this post over the next week or two regarding the drag challenge event & what it entailed. I can 100% say, it was the best event I've done so far!!!!
I hope the links work......
Random pic from my Street Machine LSX tuner mag photoshoot!
Its been an epic last month & a bit with events for myself & ute.
It started off early in Oct getting ready for the inaugural Street Machine Drag Challenge. 4 days, 4 tracks & driving your street/strip car to every track. No trailers allowed. Started in Sydney raceway, then Albury, Calder Park & Heathcote for the final day.
The week before I left, I was waiting on some repairs to my Procharger impeller wheel after an incident with a hydraulic press & decided to also do a service on the auto. Well it had alloy shavings in the pan. So out with the auto & off for repairs.
It killed the Convertor bush & high clutch. I also sent the conv away to have the high stall adjusted from 4500-5000. It didn't work out like that in the end & a communication breakdown occurred & felt like it was tightened up. So the ute was now where near its best, with poor 60fts. So I wasn't chasing big numbers. Rather going along for fun & the experience of new event like this in Australia.
But I got it all back together on Sun & hit the road early Mon morning to have the tune tickled. It had been over 3.5 years since the ute had even had the tune looked at. The speaks volumes in itself!!!
Last time it was on the dyno, it made 388rwkws. Since then, I've added a much better & huge plazmaman intercooler, bigger complete exhaust, heat wrapped 1 7/8" 4-1 extractors & twin 3" full system, except kept the same 100 cell cat convertors, bigger blower inlet & filter & new blower spec cam & springs.
Straight up the car made 425rwkws & after a couple of little adjustments, it made 434rwkws & broke an engine mount in the process.
This is still on a "cam only" stock long engine with over 170K on it & pump fuel.
I ran out of time to replace the engine mount & left it as is.
Anyways, I hit the road Tues morning & made it all through the week without a hiccup until the last day where the Alternator died & it blew the valley cover breather off creating an air leak. No big deal. best ET for the week was 10.37 & best mph was 140mph. all on a not so flash setup & incorrect tyre size as per my normal setup. I also found the tyres turning on the rims too on launch. Not a good thing to have either.
My friends on the other hand. Well that's an entirely different story & requires a novel to get through it all. If I told you half of it, you wouldn't believe me. But when your part of an event like this, you will do anything to finish. It started off with a 41hr day & then averaging around 3 hrs of sleep a night!
Its only taken till now to really catch up!!
I ended up doing a shade over 2500km for the week once I returned on the Sat night. Unpacked the tray Sun & got the alternator off. Mon back at work for the week, ordered the new alternator.
Thurs came around. Put the ute back together, sticker'd it up & ran out of time to swap over the taller diff gears or engine mounts.
Fri morning, headed off again, this time a trip 7hrs north to Temora for the 1000m sprints. Car performed faultlessly the entire trip! Even in 38 degree heat on the trip up. It ran pig rich, but still no issues.
Pic with my co-driver & a king brown! haha
Sat came about & it was race day again. Ended up 8th overall & 4th in class with a run of 20.8 secs @ 264.7km/h.
This is a standing 1000m sprint on a unprepped, dirty & bumpy surface. Its harder than you might think & the run off isn't flash either. I ran off into the dirt on the first pass. Just ran out of brakes.
Sun reloaded the ute & headed homebound, but decided to call past Heathcote on the way home to catch up with some friends testing their new cars.
It was then that I decided to have a crack in full trim as I'd raced it at Temora. Stock wheels etc. & rattle off several high 10sec pass' in the heat.
Reloaded & headed home.
Only to unload the tray & use the ute for the 700km daily grind up & down the hwy for work, as the golf had cooked a fuel pump the week before.
Now I have some time, replaced the golf fuel pump & have the high stall being redone, new engine mounts on order & will rim screw the new tyres when I finally get them & have another crack at the single digit in full street trim.
Also heading down to Casterton to have a crack at the "real" street drags. The only place in Australia where they race legally on the main street!!!
Sometime after Jan, I'll be fitted up a new updated version of my current blower & looking at getting an andra spec cage fitted & get it all tech'd up & be legal.
Oh. VW related. We're heading out to race my brothers golf R again soon. This time he's decided to go all out. Race fuel, tune, drag radials, no weight & exhaust! Can't wait to see how it goes & will let you know.
motha ·
Well just got back from racing tonight & it wasn't the best racing weather with temps in the low 30's, but my brother had a crack anyways & started off racing with the 98 pump fuel tune.
After a couple of runs had it dialled in with a very easy 11.066@124mph. I'm led to believe this makes it the fastest pump fuel golf R in the world. But this, as always will be debatable.
Now the decision was made, so I drained the fuel tank, refilled & flushed with roughly 5-10litres of 104 & switched to the 104 tune.
Temp had dropped, but it was still approx. 30 degrees.
First time ever on the 104 setup.
Then came the long wait due to oil downs etc & temps dropped to around high 20's.
Last run of the night
10.65@129.37mph!!! Video was nothing but a blur!
To say my brother was excited was an understatement. I'm even over the moon myself, just for his accomplishment.
He wanted to see a 10.8 & I reckon with a good night, it would go close in full stock weight & trim, just with tyres & 104 fuel & tune!
Again, I'm led to believe this now makes it the fastest ET & MPH Golf R with a GTX28/67 & stock motor in the world now. I won't argue, as I haven't heard or read of another R running faster than a 10.8. & that was with a bigger turbo & built engine.
The reaction from the spectators & racers really surprised me. It was like a Steven Bradbury moment. No one could actually believe what they just witnessed!
This is still on 100% stock suspension too!!
I reckon on a cold night, this would run a low 40 to possibly a high 30 & add 1-3mph & I don't doubt it one bit.
OH!!!!. This also done the 3hr round trip to & from the track!!!
dangerous ·
WOW! That is awesome!! What a rocket!
modnrod ·
Bloody hell! A REAL 10sec streeter, that's tough. 🤪
Congratulations. 🙂
motha ·
motha ·
Loaded up the my mk1 & my brothers Golf for a 2.5hr drive for a Fri night t'n't at Heathcote in the hope of getting some cooler temps & better ET's.
He was carrying stuff & only had one seat, so I also carried some stuff & done the drive too.
Hoping for good weather, but instead got 20km/h headwinds & 50-60% humidity. & the wind didn't die off all throughout the night either.
Everyone I spoke too seemed to be down upto 2 tenths & upto 4mph down on there best. Headwind was a pain in the arse!!
So swapped over the wheels, drained the tank, filled & flushed the Sunoco 104 & switched the tunes over to the 104 map.
My brother still got in 7 pass' for the night
So I just concentrated on dialling in the rear suspension squat & tyre pressures for the 60ft & half track, as the stock 2L just doesn't have the torque to push through a headwind.
One run was aborted, but ran its best 60ft at 1.61, but went into wheel spin & the dsg went "argggghhh" & hit the limiter & he got out of it.
Another dud run, he done a massive deep stage & the 60ft & ET reflected this.
The other 5 runs were all very consistent with 60ft ranging all in the 1.6's & ET's 10.68 - 10.7. MPH avg 124-125mph
He ended up PB'ing a 60ft, a half track ET, a half track mph & full track mph, but couldn't put it all together in one run.
Best ET & MPH for the night was 10.68@131.07 with a poor 60ft, but the wind did die down a far bit on this pass.
Swapped the wheels, fuel & tune over & made the 2.5hr return trip without any issues & rolled into to home just after 1.30am.
but did come across a massive wombat running along the side of the road!!! That's what happens when you drive through the country at night,
In other news, after the Temora 1000, I ripped the auto back out to have the high stall adjusted as I'd asked & also swapped in so new engine mounts.
I also noticed during drag challenge that my tyres were slipping on the rims abit over an inch each pass. Resulting in loss of drive torque. So an incorrect stall speed, broken engine mount & slipping tyres doesn't equal good 60fts or good ET's.
So it was time to address these issues, starting with the engine mounts.
Auto out & high stall adjusted
Tyres slipping on the rims. This was a soft pass.
Double Tek screwed beadlocks! haha
so now just waiting for the weather to clear up & go & test it.
also planning on heading down to Casterton this coming weekend for the "real street drags".
the only place in Aust. where they actually have an Andra sanctioned event where they race on a real closed down section of road!!
Always wanted to go & now's my chance!!!
modnrod ·
motha wrote:........they race on a real closed down section of road!!
Always wanted to go & now's my chance!!!
WOO!HOO! The world is OK again! 😂
I wish it could happen more often personally.
There are some roads out here that would be perfect, heaps of run off room too.......
motha ·
I've always wanted to go down & watch the real street drags every year its been on, as I'm not sure how long an event like this will last. So it was best to go down & have a go!
Roads down & back weren't the best in sections, especially if you have a low car, but who gives a shit when you’re going racing. Its only dirt & some scrapes.
Hit a “big” bloody snake stretched nearly across one full lane, just outside of Inverleigh.
Didn’t even mean to get him & moved over to avoid him, but out of all things with a 165 front runner, nailed him right on the head! & made sure he was in my rear view mirror!
A lot of places to stop for pictures, but the interesting one was going through a town called Tarrington & they had this crazy haybail art along the main street & said to ourselves, we better stop on the way back for some pics cause some of them were very clever.
Casterton locals were all friendly & straight up gave us the best advice to stay (even though we'd already picked the right pub to stay at!) feeds & breaky. Breaky was awesome & right next door. Ryan said it would be worth the drive just for the breaky! Pancakes were MINT!
Was raining in the morning, but the locals assured us, it will clear up. They can smell it! Was bloody windy, but luckily enough it was a tailwind at the track.
Rolled down the road to the turnoff & straight away the track was an eye opener! They block off the turnoff road to Portland & bypass it! No prep surface either!
They use Portlands xmas tree & timing equipment I believe.
After a bit of a delay & some discussion in scrutineering over my Andra Unlimited licence & how fast the car had gone & how fast I would go, they said in a stern voice “they’ll keep an eye on me” Looking at the surface, there was no way my ute was going to crack a 6 on the 1/8th mile. 100mph. Pretty confident.
So it had dried out it was into racing, lined up & as soon as I pulled up, the Andra official walked over & it felt like he was eyeball fucking me!
Lucky for me the surface wasn’t radial friendly one bit & I basically struggled all day with pedal fests, black tracks, crappy times, even crappier 60fts & even resorted to taking off in 2nd gear, short shifting, overdrive on early etc & even dropping the tyre pressures to 13psi! Which still didn’t help. ( I normally have them at 18-20psi)
This was a big slick tyre’d event!
I was averaging 7.6@100mph & low 2’s 60ft. I think was the fastest real street car there that wasn’t on a trailer & took a lot of people by surprise as it was just completely junk off the line. Only a couple were in the 6’s, but they were all averaging around my mph. But pure race cars, no pipes, jungle juice etc.
There was also a big variation in cars, setups, engineering etc incl. even just some cars in the carpark. A 100% home built Willy’s Jeep replica was a standout. All home built on a Daihatsu chassis! Very cool.
Also came across a few dribblers. But theres always a few.
The different setups of cars & bikes made it interesting to watch. Even though I didn’t really get to see much of the racing. I could only see the burnouts & launch, then they’d disappear behind the grass mound. I also didn’t get many pictures due to racing. Hard to do everything.
But the racing was pretty close as the street surface was the equalizer!
After around 4 runs of testing I said to Ryan. "Fuck this. I can’t get anything down, so I’ll just try for powerskids (on the new M&H’s too!) & put on a show", as the blown alky burnout prem they had down there done a demo at lunch & it was fucking shithouse! I hope they didn’t pay him for it. I do bigger ones just going to & from work! Even more so with a tandem & car on the back!
So I pumped the back tyres back up to 40psi & headed for the start line to one of the officials at lunch & said I’ll show you how to do a powerskid & put on a show. The dude I spoke to was all over it! But the head dude said no, as I’ll mess up the timing lights! Poor excuse!!!!
Then they announced the bike, super street & top 16 elimination rounds & I’d actually made the top 16 with my poor efforts! Ryan looked at me & said “Fuck hey!”
I think I was the only one in there that was in a 100% street setup car. Others were slicked tyre setups, race cars etc.
So that meant I had to drop the tyre pressures back down to 15psi & lined up for the first round & I’d been told first round was against a former dead eye dick champ. Big slicked race setup Cortina. Bloody lovely! “get ready Ryan, we’re going home early!”
Dialed in a 7.65 to his 6.60. Cut a shit light, eased it off the line, short shifted into 2nd, more easing, flatten it & it started black tracking & moving around through the last half. He came around me just as I clicked on the overdrive in 2nd & he backed off. A thought went through my mind from fast & furious. “Too early”, cause I knew my heap came on like a steam train in the top end & sure enough, drove around him! With an 8.1@100.3mph. He even had a last ditch stab on the throttle as I went past, but it was over & he was packing up early.
Next round, against another slick tyre'd car & I’d dialled in a 7.75 & it was a free ride. Dude red lit. I stayed into it to test the test the track & it actually felt like was starting to bite late in the arvo, but backed off & it ran a backing off 7.8@82mph
Down to the semi against a 7.00 & another slicked car. Dialled in 7.75
Good light, good launch (1.9! best all day), felt it hook & stayed in front & back off. Ran a backing off 7.61@88mph! DOH!
Broke out!!! Spewing.
Just as the track was starting to hook too!
The final was between to slicked cars, which I felt I could have taken. “shoulda, coulda woulda!” haha
Packed up, had some cans, watched the rest of the racing & once the V6 burnout comp started (nah it wasn’t just them, but mainly them. Was a nice manual XY Falcon GT Replica? having a fair crack at it too & sweet other sounding V8’s), made a run for home late in the arvo incl. stopping along the way for some photo’s.
All in all. An awesome experience, very nice place to go even just for a drive, very friendly locals, genuine 1995 prices & if its still on next year, would love to do it again next year. Although, I reckon I just might invest in some slicks!
They put on all the amenities, food, drink, bar!,& kids stuff (was too windy for the jumping castle!) & is a great day out.
Some people still don’t know what sunscreen it & there were plenty that were red before lunch. & that’s their problem!
A MASSIVE shout out & thanks has to go to all the people involved in running this event. The Sponsors, volunteers, community etc.
Cause without them, there wouldn’t be an event like this.
The last “true street racing” event in Australia.
If so, I encourage anyone interested in racing to come down & have a go.
Its as close to “street outlaws” as you can get. No prep, no track. Just a xmas tree, short length of concrete & onto the road. Dirt return track! haha
Its harder than you think!!!!!
Pictures in no apparent order & my friend who loves to pose for the camera! haha
the beetle got knocked out in the final of super street. I was hoping he'd take it too!
davidoconnor ·
How did Champness go in the Beetle?
dangerous ·
Cool story!
Love racing at regional tracks!
motha ·
davidoconnor wrote:How did Champness go in the Beetle?
He lost in the super street final unfortunately. Was hoping he'd take it.
Few wheel stands too.
He was consistently dialling in low 8.1's from memory.
Best thing was to see he actually drove it there too!!
Cool bug. I could handle driving something like that everyday
motha ·
dangerous wrote:Cool story!
Love racing at regional tracks!
Cheers Dave.
Yeah, will make the trip down there next year if its on.
& now a heap of mates with tough cars want to have a go too!
motha ·
Congratulations to my brother Jared on resetting his own record. AGAIN. .
Ran a 10.566@128.47mph. Alittle bit down on its best mph though.
Also ran its best 60ft @ 1.556! Insane!!!
& on a MT street/drag radial.
I didn't fair so well on the day. I would of had more chance at getting a free wristy of a homeless dude than getting power down.
Its like they didn't bother to prep the track for the last event, as they're tearing it up & resurfacing the track. 400m of new concrete!!!
& it wasn't just me that had issues. Nearly everyone had issues at one stage or another.
Only got 3 runs & on every run, as soon as I hit of the throttle, straight into tyre smoke. Even Jared had issues at the start of the event turning all 4 tyres!
My last past, it hit the tyres hard, shook & felt like its broken the RHS diff output shaft flange in the diff. Ah well. Shit happens when you party hard! haha
Still managed to help tow a friends car back to the pits & still get myself home one wheeling all the way home! haha
motha ·
Great pic from the Street Machine Drag Challenge event a couple of months ago.
This one was from the Calder Park track
motha ·
Fullboost video from Fri night.
motha ·
Had a blast at the boxing day challenge. Awesome day for a drive through the country side & the temps were looking promising. Although we were having intermittent 25+ km/h head winds most of the day.
I've been struggling with the modifications I've done over the past couple of months now & today it was still an issue right from the get go.
I had the high stall adjusted from 4500 to 5000 to help it out of the hole.
Small burnouts, stage, bring the rpm upto 3000 & mash it (as I'd do before), & as soon as I'd hit the throttle, it would go straight into tyre smoke!
The new stall just hits the small tyres too hard. It even bent the rim screws & turned the tyres on the rims a tiny bit!
The track wasn't the best at the start & a few of us were struggling out of the hole, incl. my friend & soft launches were the order of the day.
I tried waiting till the track came around in the afternoon. But it didn't & came to the realization, it wasn't just the track.
I tried all sorts of different tyre pressures, going down & back up the scale, different rpm launches etc.
Normally I can set them to 20psi hot & it will hook. I even resorted to letting them down to 15psi & still no better.
So it was stage, 3000, launch at half throttle & roll into it as hard as I could without shaking the tyres.
I had 9 pass' with around 6 of them being junk trying different launching styles & tyre pressures etc.
The best for the day being 10.43@136mph. on a soft 1.65 60ft. (best 60ft ever being a 1.52) I'd say the higher stall speed, conv. slip & headwinds robbed some mph.
My friend was running consistent 9.80@140mph with pedalling soft low 1.4's 60ft (fucking awesome for a full street car, NA sbc, pump fuel, through the mufflers on 255 radials), Another friend ran a 8.80 & was skaty.
So its back to the drawing board to either try a taller 27" tall tyre (255/60R15 ET street) to hopefully soften the blow on the launch & also fix the turning the tyres shifting into 2nd or...
have the stall speed tightened back to 4700. I'd probably say tyres first & hopefully it has enough grunt to push through it without killing mph.
It was on to the Chicago shootout & I really wasn't consistent through out the day to throw out a accurate dial in time.
So I threw down a 10.45 dial in, & first round I red lit the first round with a.3986 light! giving the win, I should of been abit slower as in previous shootouts the ute has the mph to mow nearly everything down & basically did.
2nd round broke out on its best pass for the day. 10.45 dial in, 10.43 pass.
3rd round I cooked the tyres (Luke from Fullboost got up close with the video camera!!) & the pass was a pedal fest. I didn't even see if the other dude broke out & then thought "I've had enough & its time to go".
Its always a great day to drive to the track, run mid 10's (low 10's would be better!!) & drive home without breaking anything.
motha ·
Well its been a long time between drinks for my Mk1.
Last time I raced it, was April 2011!!
After seeing the mk1 numbers at Warwick, I figured it was time to maybe have another crack with it.
So back in went the Spec drag clutch & the locked diff. diesel 4spd box.
I also fitted a new spherical shifter base for a more positive shift, as the original one was still fitted from 1976. The stock one wasn't sloppy, just time for an upgrade.
I also fitted some new front control arm bushes. When I first built this 76'er, I upgraded to 1979 arms with the larger balljoints & they still had the original bushes fitted from new.
They weren't stuffed, but when you'd launch the car, the front wheel's would pull forward causing the alignment to pull into toe-out & the car would wander through the first 60ft.
The new bushes are stiffer & noisy, but reduced the wheels movement on the launch.
Another thing was to get some new tyres, as the original Toyo RA1'a I use to use are shot & hard.
There are not many motorsport/drag tyres out there that are a street radial, 205 wide max & only 22" tall
So I was left with very few options. So on went some new Toyo R888. on some stock mk1 13" widened rims to 6".
After all the bits were fitted it, a service (as it was just over 10K since its last one), new gapped plugs etc., it was onto getting the tune dialed back in.
After a few power runs I felt the mixtures, boost & timing were good & safe & the car felt strong pulling hard 2-4th..
So packed my stuff & waited for the next day.
First thing, got everything ready, threw in some Nulon octane booster as a safety barrier if I decided to put a few more degrees of timing in it & headed off to race it.
Half way into the trip I noticed the car felt very sluggish & didn't rev freely to its 7000 limit.
The mixtures were alittle bit over the place & rechecked the ignition timing at the track. It hadn't moved & was all good.
As its my daily driver (not weekend car! Its my only car at the moment), I had to be careful how I launched it, as I also had to drive it home.
I'm also entered in the 5 day/4 track Street Machine Drag Challenge in a couple of weeks.
So not only do I want test it out after all this time, also try & run some good numbers with it, but also have to be careful not to break it.
First run, no issues heating the tyres in 2nd gear. Staged, 2-step, build boost & launched gingerly & it struggled to rev & barely made anywhere near its boost limit! WTF! 14.3@100.55mph 2.3 60ft. I was confused!
Came back & looked over everything. Everything was good. Timing was good, mixtures were all over the place though.
Screwed the boost controller up alittle bit & had another crack.
Boost still didn't want to come up, struggled to rev & 13.9@101mph. I thought this is crap! It was heaps better yesterday.
So I decided to start pulling fuel out of the tune to lean it off a bit.
Next run 13.69@104.89mph. 2.0 60ft. Still crap & its best for the night!
This was basically how the night went on. Pulling more & more fuel out of it till it was lean & didn't make any difference! I was confused.
It was down 3mph from its best.
I thought, I know the K-jet is a very finicky & temperament system to different brands of fuels & thought maybe the octane booster has played funny buggers with it.
The tank was nearly empty after the runs, & filled up with fresh BP Ultimate. Its 1.5hr trip each way to the track. Half way home with the fresh fuel, it started picking up grunt again & had no issues building boost or revving to its limit! By the time I got home, it was turning the sticky tyres from a 60km roll-on without issue!
So I put the night down to a learning experience in regards to octane boost & K-jet, as I'd never tried it before & it failed.
But it was still good to get out racing after all these years & have a crack at it again
Also to test it before drag challenge & also be able to do a 3hr round trip, race it & not break anything.
& if anyone has experience racing early fwd VW's, its like trying to hammer a nail in with a glass hammer! You can't be violent with these drivetrains.
Was also surprised at the attention the rust bucket received too.
All positive & were very surprised. Especially when you say its a stock early 1.8L, journal bearing turbo & mechanical injection (which 99% of people didn't even know there was such a thing!) & it has gone faster.
I would of like to at least run low 13's at least after a long hiatus , but it wasn't meant to be tonight.
So will put another tank of fuel through, put all the tune settings back to how they were originally (I checked, marked & wrote down everything before playing around with the tune) & start again & have another shot in a couple of weeks.
I can't guarantee any times, but I'd like to make it through the week with a low 13's average, but the ultimate would be to see a 12 again after a 4+ year rest from racing.
VWMA Editor ·
Great read. Thanks Tim. My eldest raced the VWMA hillclimb MK1 at Warwick. Nowhere as developed as yours (1.6 with a stock head and DCOE45), but he really enjoyed the weekend, especially since the car needed no repair work. Maybe one day the trek to Warwick might be possible?
motha ·
Cheers. Nothing better than going racing, having fun & not breaking anything! Running PB's or close to is always nice though.
I've been wanting to come to Warwick one year for some fun, but theres always something on or very close to the same weekend.
& after seeing the mk1 turnout this year has given me a bit of motivation.
I had a great time at the Portland VW event & I'd love to have another go soon.
I can't promise what year it will be, but I'm sure myself & my brother with his Golf R who's also keen, will head up one year for this event.
I'd say if theres another one at WSID, there'd be more of a chance, as even though its a 2000km round tip, its closer too.
motha ·
motha ·
My friends finally got there brand new Mainline 4wd dyno with all the fruit up & running, so it was finally time to run my brothers golf up on the dyno for the first time to record some baseline power/torque tests, if/when he chooses to upgrade various engine or bolt-on parts in the future.
Run up with the BP Ultimate pump fuel & tune
Also run up with the Sunoco & race gas tune.
Can say it made more than I was expecting!
But it has to be making some sort of substantial grunt to push it into mid 10's!
Tune is untouchable. Perfect A/F mixtures, ignition timing was a surprise on the race gas, boost was right up there for a stock unopened engine, coolant temp remained steady at 84 degrees throughout the runs, intake temps actually cooled down on during the ramp ups too!
Figures are an average figure at all 4 wheels.
They're a bit of a pain, as the haldex shifts power to the back when required. (but it only can transmit upto 50% of the power to the back)
Some people will scoff at the numbers, but we only ran it up to see what it is making if/when he decides to try/upgrade some parts & run back to back testing. Not for bragging rights or to cause an argument. This is for interest sake.
Very consistent though, as we ran it up with very little cool down time & it ramped up nearly identical on every ramp. 303.5, 303.5 & 303.4akws.
The real figure is weight v mph & its showing around 530hp at the crank to be running the numbers.
Pretty good, considering on the pump fuel tune it still makes around 430-450hp, has ran a 10.85@124mph & can get 700km out of 55L on a trip!
BP Ultimate fuel
Sunoco race fuel.
motha ·
Another change of plans & my brother insisted on me entering & driving his Golf R & it has since brought alot of interest in the running of the Street Machine Drag Challenge 2015.
VW being represented as an equal by the best Aussie muscle car mag.
I wonder if some of the Aussie heavy hitters from US Drag Week will cruise around too?
Have fun man. 👍
motha ·
modnrod wrote:I wonder if some of the Aussie heavy hitters from US Drag Week will cruise around too?
Have fun man. 👍
There were a couple who entered both Drag Week & Drag Challenge this year, but they had other cars at Drag Challenge.
Steve Reimann in a Cuda. (Was in Drag Week with a Capri co-piloted by Mark Arblaster)
Harry Haul in is 8 sec POP 666 HQ (Was in Drag Week with the Chevelle SS which was pulled from a field the week before)
motha ·
STREET MACHINE Drag Challenge 2015!
Finally got my mind together after having Drag Challenge withdrawal’s since I crawled into bed at 1.30am Wed morning. I don’t have any pics sorry, as I didn’t really take that many pics this year & the ones I did take, I can’t get my dirty old shitty phone to hook up to my laptop. So I had to borrow other pics.
I don’t even know where to start with how the 5 days went, even if most of the entrants thought we had it easy. Well……. Apart from day one, we did in the sense! Haha But truth be told, we didn’t have the A/C on all the time! haha
Got to thank my brother Jared. Without him insisting on handing the keys over to his Golf R, both myself & Shane wouldn’t have had such an easy drive over the 5 days. There aren’t really enough words or phrases I can use to show how much I appreciate what you have done, to hand over the keys to your pride & joy, sit back & watch someone else beat the snot out of your car for 5 days!
Now I just have to spend the next couple of days cleaning it & then a few more days prepping it for the Geelong Speed trials later next month.
I’m sure he’ll be entering Drag Challenge 2016!
Then there is Shane, my sole crew member. It makes the event so much easier when you have a crew member(s) which just gets in & has a go, even with a can in your hand.
We may not have had much to do when switching over from street to strip, but it just makes it all that much easier when everyone knows their roles & gets on with it.
It was also bloody awesome to have a passenger to dribble shit with over the long drives. Sooo much dribble! haha
The plan was to try & run high 10.60’s-10-70’s & 6.8’s-7.00’ at all the tracks & although I didn’t get into the 10.60’s, the car performed perfectly knocking out consistent numbers when traction wasn’t an issue. Even in the heat at Mildura!
Our only major drama for the 5 days was the exhaust falling off on the 2nd pass on the first day, killing an oxy sensor. Which is was on a mid 10.60 pass before the exhaust got jammed up under the car! Our biggest hurdle was sourcing an oxy sensor. I won’t get into all the brick walls, bullshit & phone calls it took, but my brother & contacts came through in the end.
A quick stop at a supercheap for a shady jack & jack stands, fit the new sensor, basic set it & all was good again.
What was disappointing for me, was that the car has never had any issues in over 80 pass’ & I suggested we replace that clamp 2 days before leaving. Hindsight is bloody lovely.
Other than that issue, I had trouble with Bluetooth, pairing my phone & phonebook to the car. That didn’t come about till I think around Portland? A problem is still a problem yes??? haha
For the entire trip, door to door, we’d travelled 2002km, spent over 32 hours in the car, used just under 140L of BP 98 from start to finish & 20L of Sunoco race fuel. It didn't even use a drop of oil!
There were plenty of stories along the way, insane cars too drool over, awesome roads to drive on, amazing scenery to look at & what was good, is most of the places we’d driven to or through, I’d never actually been to before.
We’d caught up & had drinks with old friends from last year, made new friends & had drinks, met some bloody nice people along the way & had drinks, & even though we were limited with what we had on board, we tried help out any way we could with what little we had. Mostly involving drinks though.
This ISN'T easy!
Its a torture test of not only the machine, but of your stamina & character!
We managed to finish 6th in Blown Outlaw class. A class with big tyred, 7 & 8 sec twin/twin turbo V8's etc.
But we managed to take out fastest 4 cyl. overall. Yes we were the only ones entered, but if you think its easy. Have a go.
19th outright.
We also managed to finish mid field out of all the entrants too.
So not too bad for a late model VW Golf in a field of highly modified V8's!
Spot the odd one out????????????
pete wood ·
THat's epic. Good on ya! 👍
Love to see an event like that really take off over here like Dragweek in the US. 🙂
motha ·
A bit of an update with proceedings.
As I'm getting a bit older, I've been getting over the KW V3 suspension in the Mk1.
Yes they are a bloody awesome bit of gear, but the harshness for daily driving on the roads out my way are a joke.
I've done over 130K with this coilover package, so its not like I'm chickening out from them.
Everything has their place & that type of suspension with all the adjustability is more for the track.
So removing it, basically means, I don't have any plans on racing the Mk1 anytime soon.
So I went on the hunt for some stock OEM style suspension. Nothing sporty!
I eventually found a mob who do a complete kit with Bilstein B4 OEM replacement shocks, full Bilstein bump stop & dust boot kit & a set of Eibach "Pro-Kit" spring set.
I removed a set of original front & rear shocks from a bomb I have here.
The front struts were so original, they still had the factory paint markings on them!
So I cleaned them up & sent the front strut housings, top spring plates & rear top spring plates off to the powder coaters.
I received the suspension kit not long after & set about building up the shocks & fitting to the car.
Long story short after some extensive research. I found the Aust. spec. cars had different front springs to the Euro. spec. cars. The Aust. version had springs straight up/down which sat inside a large top spring plate, where as the Euro. version have the top spring taper into a pigtail & sat outside a much smaller top spring plate.
After a bit of research I found I could still order the Euro. spec. top spring plates from Vw Classic Part Dept.
So once all the parts had arrived it was onto finishing up building the front struts & installing the suspension.
Front strut comparison
Rear strut comparison
Yes it looks bloody shithouse, but you know what....
I'm really past giving a shit these days. I don't race it enough to warrant having full race suspension fitted & killing my already crook back.
So.... Function over form.
& with the new suspension, the ride is bloody mint!!!!!! It soaks up all the shit that our crap roads have to offer. Has quietened down inside with very few squeaks/rattles etc. & just an overall nice car to cruise in. It can still light the tyres up from 60 without issue & has no axle tramp, which is surprising.
But I'll have to refit the rear swaybar at some stage, as the dreaded Mk1 body roll has returned! haha
So its gone from being this low with the P-Slots
to.......
motha ·
In other news, I've been working on my brothers Golf R, trying a couple of our combined idea's/theory's etc & he decided to put them to the test last Fri night.
The weather was actually playing in his favour for once too. It was the first time he's raced at Calder Park without a headwind!!! Was more of a slight tail/crosswind.
I done some slow-mo vid's to try & help with dialing in the suspension as its the 2nd time out with a set of KW V3 coilovers & we're still playing with all the adjustments.
We got it close, but its still turning all the tyres on launch. This is the #1 priority at the moment & we're throwing some idea's around to solve this issue.
Bloody hard when you can't do burnouts with it & have to rely on only the track temp & glue.
Its been 16months, since it ran is PB of 10.56.
So it was bloody nice to finally get it to run in the 10.5's again not just once, but 4 times in a row & finally crack 130mph!
But the best fucking buzz to for him to run a new PB!!!!
10.502@130.52mph & 1.565 60ft.
Its still not its best 60ft of 1.55, but its getting close & consistent.
hopefully with a few more idea's & tweaking it can break somewhere into the 40's.
The engine is still unopened, 100% factory stock with only the APR bolts on's & software, HP DSG software & matching SSP clutch pack.
Weight loss is limited to seats, boot matt/spare wheel gear & rear muffler removal
Its now ran over 100 10 sec pass' now, combined pump fuel & Sunoco fuel runs.
motha ·
Bugger all racing going on due to crappy weather, house, shed & car stuff.
Hopefully out racing again later in the year if all the planets align.
But for now, as my Mk1 is my only car & the rubbish pile has been building up, I needed a way of not only getting rid of it all, but also having to pick up larger type supplies etc., without having to borrow friends cars.
I managed to score a genuine "steel bumper" mk1 tow bar from a friend & got straight into it.
Rubbing it down & giving it a good thick coat of case paint.
Fitting it up & found for some strange reason the gooseneck facing down!! I couldn't figure out why. Its bloody way too thick to bend from anything a Mk1 could every tow!
So broke out the oxy, heated it up & straightened it up. Took bloody ages too.
Another coat of paint, rigged up some trailer wiring & good to go!!
Just need a half munched old tennis ball!
heaving loaded trailer filled full!
Not sure on the weight, but the mk1 still towed it ok without swaying around or getting nervous @100km/h & still managed to lite the tyres up Good fun.
Now just waiting on some NOS rear mudflaps & try & source a set of genuine plain front mudflaps & we have full stock looking Mk1, but detuned to around 210hp.
Good enough for me.
Also managed to source some tall ratio diff gears for my ultra long ongoing auto project. This will help it cruise alot better at hwy speeds & also work alot better with a turbo'd setup.
Another piece of the puzzle. One day it will get done.
modnrod ·
Without doubt the coolest car on the forum! 😎
motha ·
Slowly managing to find some factory fitted options for the "super stock" looks.
Managed to find some genuine NOS rear mudflaps with the blacked out emblems.
I had my suspicions about how the factory ones were back in the day when Mk1's were brand new & having options fitted by the dealerships.
I had suspected the rears were either a "blacked out" or "white highlighted" VW emblem's with the fronts being a plain style semi-stripped
mudflap.
I asked a friend about this & he confirmed my suspicions to be true, as he was an apprentice when the Mk1's were BRAND NEW!
Hopefully along my travels, I'll be able to source some factory plain versions for the front too.
Kroozzn61 ·
Great stuff , great photos too. thanks for sharing..👍
grinderman ·
Nice one with the period style mk1 makeover. I remember when my dad bought his first new car a 1976 passat wagon that had factory mudflaps with the wolfsburg crest picked out in white, did the golfs come out with the same mudflaps? Not sure, it was a while ago !
Congratulations on your brothers golf r which is really a supercar killer. I've been getting a few hyper golfs come through my facebook feed from around the world and one of the most expensive ($200,000+) and impressive golf r conversions featured a 700hp twin turbo passat 3.6 with an audi dsg hookup and after some 1/2 mile drag racing against a lamborghini (which it blew away) they put up the actual figures and the golf ran a 10.5 at the 1/4 mile point which makes your brothers car even more impressive to run this time in a mildly modified 2 litre. Good work
motha ·
grinderman wrote:Nice one with the period style mk1 makeover. I remember when my dad bought his first new car a 1976 passat wagon that had factory mudflaps with the wolfsburg crest picked out in white, did the golfs come out with the same mudflaps? Not sure, it was a while ago !
Congratulations on your brothers golf r which is really a supercar killer. I've been getting a few hyper golfs come through my facebook feed from around the world and one of the most expensive ($200,000+) and impressive golf r conversions featured a 700hp twin turbo passat 3.6 with an audi dsg hookup and after some 1/2 mile drag racing against a lamborghini (which it blew away) they put up the actual figures and the golf ran a 10.5 at the 1/4 mile point which makes your brothers car even more impressive to run this time in a mildly modified 2 litre. Good work
The Mk1 Golfs came out with a couple of options for mudflaps. One is a plain black or white highlighted "VW" logo or plain balck or white highlighted "Wolfsburg" crest.
The fronts were plain mudflaps with strips from what I've been told & have an eye out for some.
Yeah, seen that HGP tuning Golf R conversion. Serious fucking $$$$$ in that setup for sure.
My brothers Golf R engine is still a completely stock unopened factory engine!
Only a bolt-on engine upgrade kit, DSG clutch pack & Harding Performance DSG software.
But......
If anyone out there knows of someone chasing a pretty quick & reliable daily driver for the missus, or yourself, here's your chance & please share around!!!
My brother has made the decision to move this on to someone else to have some fun with or progress it further & he can move on with something else.
Car has a proven track record, both on the strip & street for ultimate reliability & consistency.
The asking price alone, is still cheaper than the cost of all the modifications!
Which ever way you look at it, you're either getting a complete proven modification package & a car for free or.....
My brother decided he wanted to go racing again, so I was left setting the car up as usual.
It was a mixed bag of results though.
Only got 2 runs in, in 5 hours of wait time!!! Yeah thats right.
Was a reasonable turnout & an absolute disgrace of event organization & ever worse clean up crew from oil downs & other muppets trying to fix their car in pitlane without any consideration to anyone else & everyone having to try & get around them. Arrogant fucksticks!!!
Anyways..
It was cold, slight breeze & we were hoping the sun would come out to put some heat in the track, but we weren't that lucky.
The R ran its 2nd quickest time to date with a 10.546@129.02mph
It ran a new PB for 60ft, 330ft and 660ft.
It nosed over in the back half, due to a slight headwind that picked up. The drop in mph back's that up.
Nonetheless to get to hook in 10C/50F temps was good, although it was still struggling for grip in the first 2 gears surprisingly!!
The staging lanes had pools of water in them from overnight rain which presented a challenge to try & clean the tyres & get them dry enough in time before staging.
He didn't get enough runs to try a few things that we wanted to test out so it is what it is.
2nd pass was a 10.6, as it again lit all 4 tyres on the launch & he shifted early.
Doesn't matter though. Still a good day & got some data to review & see if we can sort out the traction issue.
As its unable to heat the tyres up, he may be left with no other option than to hold off on racing till the weather warms up.
motha ·
Well a little update.
Not much has been going on lately.
My brother sold his Golf R to a dude in Syd.
A shame to see it go, as I felt with more time ironing out the bugs & with a few more tricks getting the setup dialed in, there was still some time (not in the tenths. Maybe a few hundreths) left on the board.
But he's moving onto bigger, more powerful & much much faster things. So the next project will be a year or two in the making.
I finally got around to rebuilding my ute & put in a hard 2 month dash stripping & rebuilding 2 cars down to bare shells & rebuilding them into one, incl. rebuilding engine, trans & many other items to have the car ready for Street Machines Drag Challenge this year.
I don't know what the final positions were. But I had high stall problems from the very first pass. This can happen when you switch so many things up with the combination & no time to test it. The car was dyno'd on the Fri & Sun was check in day & Mon was the first day of racing.
So from then on it was just about making the distance & doing the best I could.
This was all done with BP 98 Ultimate. Not E85 like the majority of the cars entered.
I'm hoping with a couple of changes after putting some km's on the new car, the new high stall sorted out, the goal of a single digit pump fuel daily driver is within reach.
This ute is also 3860lbs in race weight too! Its a bloody tank!!!
Sorry there aren't more pics. Didn't have time throughout the week to take many pictures & even the same for the SM people as we'd be at the track early, make our pass' & hit the road.
Calder – 10.486@134.71mph
Heathcote – 10.375@ no mph!
Mildura – 6.612@109.68mph 1/8th mile.
Swanhill – 10.216@134.04mph
Calder – 10.249@136.57mph - ignition breaking down as Alternator shit itself on the last day.
The 76er?
Well its still my daily driver & going strong.
Incl. a 4000km in 10 day road trip for Valla & then road tripping around, Dorrigo, Ebor & on the way home around the Blue Mountains, Jenolan etc etc.
Absolutely awesome trip & the little 76er didn't miss a beat averaging mid 7's L/100, sitting on 110-115 on the fwy's, used no oil & only a tiny bit of water. Only issue was a flat tyre on the first day & then a flat battery at Raliegh raceway where I left the lights on.
Well I think I may have sold the entire K-jet turbo engine & diesel box setup out of this to a friend to enjoy.
This will come about mid Feb at this stage.
This should give me a kick in the arse to finally get stuck into getting this 20vt/auto setup going, so I'm not out of a mk1 for very long.
If I can get the 20vt/auto, stall & all the other little bits & pieces dialed in, to make it a reliable & quick package, then my plan is to race this at Street Machine Drag Challenge next year & my brother can race my ute.
I do owe him, as he did lend me his Golf R for the same thing the previous year.
So he'll upgrade to a faster car & get some seat time in a fast rwd in preparation for his new project & I'll downgrade for some shits & giggles & most likely be the first FWD to enter in this event.
Next year should be interesting.
mk1sleeper ·
This is one of the coolest threads I've read in years, as a mk1 tragic I know that smile you get driving a mk1 even though you have a staunch V8.
I've jst bought one to relive those memories.
As said before. ....Thanks for sharing!
Cheers, Scott.
motha ·
Been very slow to update.
Even slower to follow whats been going on with various forums. .
Been working flatout since the start of the year, with 70-80hr weeks & some 12 day shifts.
I haven't done anything with the golf for a while & its been parked up.
But plans are in place to make a start on it some time soon, as all the K-Jet turbo stuff & running gear has been sold out of it.
Basically everything in the engine bay is going.
Plans are in place & I'd love to say it will be running again by the end of the year, but things can change at a days notice at the moment.
I've still been racing the ute when I get a chance though.
Raced it at Heathcote for the Boxing Day Challenge in the heat & rattled off a 10.18@138.97mph. With a dismal 1.60 60ft. But I'll take it
Then drove from Heathcote to a friends place in Howlong & then onto a roadtrip up the East Coast to Jervis Bay. All on drag radials too!
Also hit up a No-prep heads up event at Wilby Park.
One of the most fun events you can do.
Straight up no bullshit type racing. Super fun!!!
But this is just like the Casterton Street Drags & is really a slick-tyred only event.
I was thrown in with all the big banger slick tyred cars. 99% of them were trailered race cars. Pretty hard to go heads up against these sorts of cars in your daily driver on drag radials on normal bitumen.
But still great fun non-the less.
Raced at a random Heathcote t-n-t & this resulted in a 10.07@140.85mph. Again terrible 60ft @ 1.57.
My old stock engine setup ran a 1.52 60ft with a taller diff gear & smaller stall speed & less boost.
Then raced at the Holden Nationals at Heathcote.
This was an awesome event. But again, it wasn't meant to be for this car & can read about it below.
Since Drag Challenge last year I've been slowly ticking off the boxes & got around to sorting out a few issues with the ute.
Like the high stall. That took a few goes to get the stall speed & lock up rate right. But now its showing 6.38% slip through the top end.
Another issue was breaking an "unbreakable" trans input shaft one night driving home.
That has also been rectified.
Another issue was running out of rpm in top gear & hitting the fuel cut before traps.
That was sorted by going from a 26" to a 27.2" tall Mickey Thompson ET radial.
The one issue that has been a pain in my arse for many years with this car & this also dates back to my original white ute, was axle tramp. It all of a sudden started to axle tramp & no matter what I tried with different bushes, tyre brands, sizes, pressures, launch rpm & all sorted of things. I couldn't get rid of it.
But everything came together a few weeks later, as I fitted a set of universal viking double adjustable shocks with similar lengths as the koni reds.
Had a friend make up some spacers to mount the shock to the stock lower control arm.
Loaded everything up & drove straight to Heathcote with taller tyres & new shocks in place.
Unloaded the ute, swapped wheels, removed the headlight & set the shocks with a guess setting. As there was no one to talk to about irs or what settings.
So anything was going to better than what was in it.
Burnout
Stage.
Mash it!
1st pass.
9.69@141.96mph & a 1.47 60ft. PB'd all over except mph.
Couldn't believe it.
Then started to rip some bigger burnouts out past the 60ft due to excitement.
2nd & 3rd pass were both 9.74 & 9.75 both at 144+mph.
Going over the logs, I found all the temp I was getting out of the engine & blower during the cool down, was thrown straight back in with big long burnouts.
So the intake temps would rise up throughout the run & pull ignition timing out = power. Hence the slower ET.
So the last pass was a short burnout...
stage
foot brake & mash it
&
BANG!!! Snapped LH driveshaft at the hit of the throttle.
