Nige`s Golf MK2 2.0 16V Turbo track car with Aero. www.pinderwagen.com

From April 2007 until the present day and it`s changed a little... Read on for the 10 year journey !





Current Spec. May 2017.

Chassis

• 1990 Golf MK2 Non Sunroof CL 3-Door Shell
• Comprehensive Custom multipoint welded roll cage tied to front and rear turrets
• Engine bay Chassis strengthening
• Cobra Sebring Pro Front Side Mounted Bucket Seats
• Schroth Profi II 6 Point 3" Harnesses (2" Hans version for driver)
• Flocked MK2 dash with Custom gauge and switch panels
• Standard Rear Beam, no additional ARB
• 25mm Stub Axle Spacers
• Eibach rear Camber / Toe Shims
• Polo 9n Stub Axle with improved wheel bearing
• Polo 9n Rear Discs
• EBC YellowStuff Rear Pads on Stock MK2 Calipers
• Standard MK2 Subframe
• MK3 Power Steering Rack
• Peugeot Electro Hydraulic Power steering pump
• Custom Wider track Wishbones with increased Caster
• Hi-Spec RX15 6 Pot Calipers
• Hi-Spec Custom Caliper Carriers and Bells
• Hi-Spec Floating 285mm x 28mm Discs
• Project Mu SAS964 Front Pads
• Spherical steering Tie Rod Ends
• Standard MK2 Front Hubs
• NIC Engineering Roll Centre Correction Balljoint Extenders
• ACS Pro Series 90mm Bullet Nose Wheel Studs
• 15" Speedline 5 Spoke Alloy Wheels
• 15" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 Alloy Wheels
• 195/50 R15 Michelin Full Wet tyres
• 195/50 R15 Toyo R1R Damp condition tyres
• 205/50 R15 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Dry Tyres
• 190/50 R15 Michelin Slicks Medium Compound
• 195/50 R15 Pirelli Slicks Medium Compound
• KW Clubsport Coilovers Front and Rear
• Eibach Pro Race Front and Rear springs.
• Spherical Top Mounts
• Polybushed throughout
• Stock MK2 Front ARB

Engine

• 2.0 16V ABF Block
• Stock Cylinder head and camshafts
• Stock Crankshaft
• Stock ABF Pistons
• Compression Ratio reduced with 2 x MLS Head Gaskets. Stock Headbolts.
• Integrated Engineering Rifle Drilled conrods with Genuine ARP Bolts.
• Custom Baffled sump with windage tray
• Custom KR & 1.8T Inlet manifold with ABF Throttle body.
• 19 Row Oil cooler with Thermostatic Sandwich Plate
• Toyota Celica Aluminium Radiator 698x325x56mm
• Mitsubishi EVO 4 Intercooler.
• Comprehensive cooling ducting
• Megasquirt 1 ECU Controlling Fuel, Spark and Boost
• Siemens Dekka 630cc Injectors
• Custom Fuse and Relay board with independent ECU Loom.
• TD04 Turbo from Volvo V70
• Megasquirt controlled boost to provide N/A Characteristics rising to 0.9 Bar Peak with Wheel mounted instant 1.1Bar button
• Custom Tubular Manifold
• Custom 3" Stainless Exhaust with 2 large Silencers

Transmission

• 02J 3.6FD 5 Speed Manual Gearbox
• EPYTEC 4Kg Flywheel
• OE LUK Clutch
• Custom Raised MK4 Shift Tower
• Spherical Rod ends on Shifter cables
• 0.769 5th Gear for higher VMax
• KAAZ Plate Diff
• MK3 VR6 Driveshafts
• MK3 Outer CV Joints with Redline CV2 Grease
• MK2 Inner CV Joints with Redline CV2 Grease
• SKF Front Wheel Bearings repacked with Redline CV2 Grease

Body

• Trackslag Fibreglass bonnet with Custom reverse vent for improved cooling.
• Custom Front Splitter with integrated Brake Duct Air Scoop
• Custom Aluminium Flat Floor
• Custom Aluminium Side Skirts
• Custom Fibreglass Roof Scoop
• Custom Fibreglass Diffuser
• Custom Fibreglass Widened and vented front wings
• Custom Aluminium front Canards
• Aluminium Rear Wing

The entire build was carried out by me, in many cases learning as I went and making mistakes along the journey. All the Custom parts were designed and fabricated by myself often using examples taken from elsewhere as a starting point..

 

My previous Golf died at the Nurburgring over Easter 2007..



The chassis was not repairable, so I decided to do a transfer of all the bits into a new shell. (I`ve never done anything of this scale before, so its a massive undertaking for me !!).

I stripped EVERYTHING off the old shell, I wasnt sure what i`d need, so better safe than sorry !



To make access easier, I pushed it onto its side when it was nearly finished.


Took the old shell to the scrapyard for disposal.


The donor is a mint MK2 CL shell. Unfortunately, that meant the wiring loom was different and so everything needed changing over :?

I collected it from south of Gatwick, which meant a long drive there and back with trailer in the day, but it was worth it.



I have a tight schedule for this project, I need to have the car finished for the end of May to go back to the ring !

Old Engine removed :thumb: . It went very well, would be easier with a proper hoist, but some scaffold, angle iron and a block and it was out quite easily. As I`ve read in many golf threads, the easiest way to remove this engine is to jack up the car, support the engine and then remove the front crossmember, its only 6 bolts, then you can lower the engine onto the floor, there are a couple of benefits from this, you dont need to lift it as high, there is less likelihood of scratching the bodywork and its easier & safer.

Engine is now out.


I`m going to move onto the Dash, I`ll remove that and then I can remove the old wiring look, ready to fit the new one.

Removed the dash, if you know what to do its easy, if you dont, its a bugger. 7 bolts, sounds easy, but 4 are well hidden in the engine bay. Remove the 3 bolts in the cabin, one at each side and one just next to the steering column, they are pretty obvious.



If you now look where the arrows are pointing, you`ll see 2 more nuts that require removing.

Look towards the wiper motor


Now if you look under the scuttle tray, near the windscreen, there is a hidden bolt, remove the blighter.


Above the master cylinder, next to the ecu, look under the scuttle tray again


Another bolt...


Remove those and the dash lifts out easily.


After removing the Engine and Dash, I removed the Master Cylinder and servo, that gives easier access to the wiring loom. Started removing the loom and Chris, who had phoned earlier with an offer of help turned up.

We removed the front subframe and then removed the wishbones ready for polybushing and removed the old steering rack. I`m fitting the rack from my old golf, its a quicker rack and better suited to track use.

Once finished, the view under the wheelarch was quite bare...


Chris had to leave, so I finished removing the wiring loom and some sound insulating material so save those precious grams. The dash is fully stripped and ready to be re-wired tomorrow.

I am tidying the engine bay before refitting my engine. I want to treat any obvious rust so Louise and I set about cleaning the bay with some rag and white spirit.

Before

After (well, nearly after, will be a bit cleaner tomorrow..)



Its not 100% finished, so I`ll do that tomorrow. I have a wire brush attachment for the battery drill and I`m going to remove any rust with that to bare metal, prime it and then paint it the same colour as the rest of the engine bay.

A long day at it today, started late, but only finished at 10pm :blink:

Anyway, decided to finish off the engine bay then I can start putting the loom and brake pipes back in.

After a partial clean yesterday, we had done the drivers side and part of the bulkhead..
Some vigorous cleaning with white spirit removed the grease, oil and other muck, here is the nearside inner wing before cleaning


After cleaning


I then removed any rust I could find back to bare metal


Applied some primer then topcoat.


The completed engine bay. It wont win any concours awards, but I`ve treated all the rust and it should stop the corrosion for a good number of years. :thumb:
BEFORE

AFTER


Next job was onto the internal wiring loom whilst the paint dried. I removed the rear wiper, it will not be needed as I`ll be fitting the polycarbonate windows and the wiper would just scratch it. I then removed the loom, which runs from the fuseboard, along the drivers side and across the back of the car. I wired up the handbrake, petrol pump & level and rear lights

No Loom


With new loom fitted.
.

The fuel lines and fuel pump were next. The ones fitted were too small and would not supply enough fuel to the engine. I had to lower the petrol tank to be able to feed the pipes from the top of the tank to the pump. That job took ages, it was very fiddly...

Feeding wires above petrol tank.


I then bolted the higher capacity fuel pump to the chassis, connected the fuel lines to the tank and ran the larger pipes into the engine bay, they are all connected, pump wired up and pipes clipped into place.

I am changing the brake pipes, by the time I`ve added the bias valve and converted the system into a front / rear split, I`ll have to replace most of the pipes anyway. I used my old pipes as templates, I`m getting new ones made tomorrow when I go to see Chris to get the wheel bearings pressed in.

Access isnt great, I`m sure a workshop with hydraulic lifter would make it easier, but where is the fun in that ?


While I was doing that, Matthew and Louise started removing the headlining and interior trim that had been left in place.

Removing the sunvisors


And the windscreen trim


Tomorrow I`ll be heading off to get the wheelbearings pressed and new brake pipes made up. The poly bushes are due Friday, so I can then refit the front subframe ready for the engine to be refitted, first I need to change the oil pump and other bits, so I may do that tomorrow..

 

Ouch! What happened to the first track car at the 'Ring, looks nasty? Hope no one was hurt. Did you get ADAC or similar to bring the car back to the UK for you?

Excellent work swapping all the bits to the new shell, looks like it's coming along nicely!

 

good progress, the new shell looks to be mint good luck with the rest of the build.

andy

 

Looking good there, wish I had room to do things like that


Stu

 

You don't waste any time, do you Nige?
Good to see the new car on the way.

 

That's an impressive amount of work gone into this already, good stuff

 

I'd have really liked your bulkhead heatshield off the old shell....though looks like you coudl have used it on new one.

My latest idea is to just use silver heat resistant tape in that area

 

these threads are the best! Nice work!

 

Tackled the wiring harness this evening. It was a job I`d been putting off, so decided to bite the bullet and go for it..

I started on the engine bay harness, This was the harness I started with...


After careful routing and the re-making of a few soldered joints, I ended up with everything in place :thumb: Its not obvious, but all the loom is where it should be.


As my battery is in the boot, I need a main feed from the engine bay to the cabin. I have a rubberised connector that allows the cable to pass through the bulkhead, but this car didnt have a suitable hole. one hole saw later and I had a hole



Connected the main Live feed ready to be connected when I run the cable to the battery in the cabin


I than laid out the cabin wiring harness.


Connecting it all into the fusebox tested my patience, but it seemed to go OK.


Before stripping my old golf, I`d taken LOTS of photos of all the wires and where they went. I also took a few of the fusebox after i`d numbered each connector. This proved invaluable when reconnecting them all :thumb:

Fusebox after numbering before removal from old golf


The harness is now all connected to the fusebox, I just need to refit the dash and steering column to connect all the pugs where they need to go. I hope to fit the engine next week (I`m working tomorrow and all weeekend, so no progress will happen). Once thats in, I can connect up everything in the engine bay too :thumb: I dont want to secure the dash until I`ve tested the engine, so I`ll temporarily fit it to be able to check the circuits. At the moment, it looks worse than it is.

Thats all for today, next update will be on Monday.

 

Good work.............I watched you hammering it round the ring at easter....and also saw it being took away after your crash on Monday wasn't it. Then one of our lot wrapped his car round the armco

 

I know how he feels

was this you?




if so, PM me and i`ll send you the full versions

 

Good stuff Nige, making great progress on the new car.

Yep that's Craggsy in the pics.

 

Good work keep it up


BTW Nigel I'm from the 'other' forum and recently acquired a Mk 2 16v after several years Golfless [:^(]


Chris

 

Yeh......thats me. That last one was on Saturday night I think...........I let everyone else build the camp fire and i went out to the ring.

 

Absolutely mint, even better than your last thread nige!!!!!

Nick

 

Wishbones needed new Polybushes fitting:

Old bushes



As I didnt have a suitable press to remove the larger bush, I cut the middle out with a hacksaw


Note that I did NOT saw all the way through


Now chisel the inner part of the bush, it comes out quite easily. You can see how it is `tearing` the remaining bit of the metal that I hadnt sawn through. This saves the chance of scoring the inner face of the wishbone


The inner now drops out


Apply copious amounts of grease to the now bush, this will aid fitment and also reduce the chance of the new bush `squeaking` when you are driving


Using a vice, ensure the new bush is square and carefully close the vice jaws pressing the bush into the wishbone


Grease the new inner sleeve and tap that into place


To remove the other bush, simply tap it out with a suitable drift



It comes out easily


The new bush comes in 2 parts, so as before, apply lots of grease to all the surfaces


The new bush simply presses into the wishbone,


if necessary, a light tap with a hammer may be required to insert the inner sleeve


Repeat for the other wishbone and you now have 2 polybushes wishbones ready for fitting to the car :thumb:


hmmm, I knew the oil filter had take a hit from the engine mount, removed the oil filter, oil cooler plate and saw the central shaft is slightly bent.


Thats not a problem, I can sort that, but the oil cooler is `squashed` at one side, I`ve highlighted where in the photo below.


I need a new sandwich plate, so i`ll get one tomorrow.

 

Anyway, I`ve fitted the steering column. I welded a couple of bolts to the mount, then put 2 nuts of the resulting threaded shaft. This will allow easy adjustment of height so I can fine-tune it once everything is in the car :thumb:



The subframe on the new car was in better condition then my old one, but required a good clean


Whilst I was cleaning that and the wishbones, Matthew was removing the steering rack and antiroll bar from the old subframe


Meanwhile, Louise was sanding the rollcage ready for spraying, it was a long boring job and she stuck at it all day :blink:


I fitted the heavy duty vibratech engine mount to the front crossmember


The cleaned subframe, ready to assemble with new polybushed wishbones, anti roll bar and uprated engine mounts


The old antoroll bar end mount rubbers were badly worn


After fitting new polybush mounts, it was held nice and square again


Decided it was sensible to change the tie rod ends and lower balljoints. The tie rods are `handed`, so you have to get the left on the left side and right on the right... I made sure they were fitted the same distance along the tie-rods to keep the tracking somewhere near straight ahead...


Matthew fitted the steering rack and assisted me fitting the antiroll abr


The completed front subframe ready for fitting :thumb:

 

nicework nige, as always a top read, sorry to see the green gti thrashed, was a nice looking track car, good luck with the new one

 

Cheers Paul, yeah I was sad too, but this one will be better than that, so there is some benefit.

Moved onto the engine this afternoon.

After inspecting the oil filter housing, I replaced the bent front engine bracket which had been damaged in the impact, the replacement was donated by

Removed the sump to change the oil pump, I removed the old pump and took it apart to inspect, unfortunately, I didnt see any visible signs of damage or play in the gears, so I can only hope the internal relief valve is damaged :unsure:


I fitted the Windage tray I`d bought to stop the oil splashing onto the bottom of the crankshft and the oil pump donated by the same friend. :thumb:


Refitted the Clutch and flywheel, I aligned it by eye.



I am pleased to say the gearbox slid into place easily, first time. I`ve had experience in the past with on old MK2 Escort I had and it took several attempts to get the gearbox on, so when it slid on with the first attempt, I was pleased.

The water pipe from the system to the expansion tank had split too, I cut the end off, but that was a larger diameter than the remaining pipe, to get it to fit, I sprayed a little WD40 on the inside of the pipe and it went on quite easily


The idle was very lumpy before the crash, the ISV is well know for causing problems, I removed it and it was pretty caked up inside


Cleaned the valve and the supplying pipes with petrol


After soaking for an hour and shaking it, the end result was much cleaner. Hard to see on the photo, but it is much better


Before fitting the engine, I`d been given some self adhesice fibreglass needle mat to stick to the bulkhead and above the exhaust on the underside of the car to try and stop some of the heat getting into the cabin. A friend (who supplied mewith the exhaust wrap) gave it to me to try :thumb:


Cut some to fit and attached it to the bulkhead, i`ll be doing the `transmission tunnel` tomorrow before fitting the engine. It should stop the metal from getting as hot, which it certainly did over easter. It also weighs next to nothing, so thats good :thumb: