Excellent work, couldn't contemplate a race car build now without a quick rack. Trying to catch snap oversteer on proper rubber without one is hopeless... Keep the updates coming Jon
Be sure to get lots of shielding between the -064 and your rack, I've known a coupld of folks running them on a 1.8t to have heat management issues. I've slapped a good load of Nimbus alu stuff on the bulkhead plus a ton of the shield-tape that you can get around the rack, as well as the stock shield (which has also been taped up for good measure). Probably a touch overkill, but I'd rather have more than is necessary than not enough of course.
Thanks! I'll have to fabricate the steering arm mounting points on the upright, which means I have some flexibility on steering angle/wheel angle, stock Polo is a massive 3.2 lock to lock, Corsa is far quicker (2.5 I think) Glad you like the updates Pete
For sure - I'll fabricate an aluminium shield around turbo and extend my heatshield over the rack. Thermal management often gets overlooked, not something I want to do on this build Cheers Pete
Progress is slow, but it's progress all the same! I've been making good the bulkhead after cutting large holes for the steering rack. The stock bulkhead was looking crusty, and I decided rather than repair, to replace the lower section entirely. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Obviously involved cardboard, cutting, grinding, welding, all the usual ingredients! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Couple if fiddly bits around the rack passing through the bulkhead, I was hoping to use the Corsa gasket here, but it's too big unfortunately, so a crush foam ring will have to do. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Big hole Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr No hole Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Rack fitted Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Welding on the engine side is nice and easy, welding the interior side is a back breaker, especially with a full cage in the way! Amost knocked myself out on the dash bar more than once... Some Bilt Hamber no rust applied inside and out: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr With that complete, I needed to make a heatshield, same process as I'd used for the exhaust tunnel. I made it in two parts due to the size and shape of my material. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Camera doesn't pick it up very well, but there's a large amount of manipulation involved to make it a good fit, can't say I'm 100% happy with it, but it's functional. I then used 3M reflective tape over the surface, the reason for this is the standard heatshield material allows fluid to be collected and pool. It also is difficult to wipe clean without removing it. By taping the surface hopefully fluid won't pool and it's far easier to wipe down, both reducing the risk of a thermal event (I hope!). Unsure if this has had any detrimental effect to the thermal performance of it. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr So, one rack with heat-shielding complete: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Cheers, Pete
Thanks Ali - I'm not sure regarding a completion date - these things always take longer than planned! dare I say I'd like to have it running by the end of this year...
End of the year sounds like a realistic target. If you do that then you have some time to test and prepare for the start of the track season this time next year
Fantastic work, I've just sat and read the whole thread. I love seeing crazy builds like this with quality outside the box thinking and fabrication. Massive respect.
Progressed on with the Polo over the last few weeks. Front subframe is now welded up - just need to finalise location of wishbone pickups. As usual things started with some measuring and ensuring my datums are correct. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Checking levels before welding it up: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr With it all tacked in place I then welded it up on the car to minimise warping, and finished it clamped on my bench: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Gussets added to the front/side bar to strengthen where the front wishbone pickup will mount to, I've also got to tie this back into the chassis mounts: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr The (almost) finished article: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I've used ROPT510 tube for the frame, spec is here: https://proformancemetals.co.uk/products/ropt510/ It welds nicely, and helpfully the supplier, Proformance Metals are just down the road in Daventry. Looks like this mounted in the car: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I also had a revision to do on my top mounts, as I'd reached the limits of the bearing before dialing in the amount of castor I want to run, luckily I got spare plates cut last time so.. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr My friend Jake then welded a new pair of bearing housings in at a 7' angle, I can run +/-10' from here before reaching the articulation limit of the bearing, so should be plenty. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I also paid a visit to my local machine shop and got some parts turned/milled for the rear suspension. Some longer bushes to allow fitment of the Vento rears: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr And then some larger stub axle spacers, 40mm each side maximises a 205/50R15 in the rear arch, and gives clearance to the coilover. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then got worried about the weight, but net result was +220g either side over previous parts: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Wheels sit a little proud of the stock body lines: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Also been working on a different turbo setup, as I couldn't package the K04-064 without deleting my OSF chassis leg completely, more on that next time! Cheers Pete
A long overdue update, first up I got a new company banger delivered, this one needs plugging in: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr More suspension measuring has been going on in the garage, unfortunately it's resulting in me chopping my subframe about to mount the front suspension pickups further inboard to stop massive camber gain in bump, this didn't stand much of a chance unfortunately: IMG_8423 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Measuring sticks back out and some calculations will result in something nearer this: IMG_8425 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Parts arrived including some 3/4" high misalignment bearings for the ball joint, I'm waiting for some other bits to come back from machining, so this will pause here for a while IMG_8429 by Peter Strange, on Flickr IMG_8460 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Fitted studs into the wheel hubs, nice gear: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr And bolted a wheel up, this level of castor will require some arch and bumper modifications: IMG_8045 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Next part of things that don't fit... the stock AGU inlet manifold: IMG_8055 by Peter Strange, on Flickr IMG_8057 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Not a chance, so I've purchased a VR6 throttle body and will have an inlet fabricated to sit much lower down behind the rad, which unfortunately is where the stock alternator sits, never easy eh. I had been planning on fitting a lightweight Brise alternator, I'm hopeful that ePAS loads are offset by high rpm on track, but need to tot up big draws like fan, fuel pump and ePAS - this is a 60A unit with a 2.4:1 ratio on the crank, so at idle will generate circa 15A and full 60A from 3k onwards, battery sizing will be fairly key to I don't run out of electric magic. Stock alternator (90A) and tensioner: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Brise 5SI: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Nice saving, I ordered up a 6PK pulley and belt as I had a v-band on it previously, then chopped up the standard AGU mount and stuck it in: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I'll get some spacers turned up once I've properly aligned it, tensioner will be a simple turnbuckle with rose joints at either end, can see how tight it is to the rad: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr The main progress had been made on the turbo system. I started the 20v conversion hoping I could use a Golf R/S3 K04-064, unfortunately I couldn't package this without seriously re-engineering the OSF chassis leg, so a change of plan was in order. I was just about to order a Borg Warner EFR unit, and a very well priced Garrett GTX popped up, ex-BTCC bespoke builds by Owen Developments, coupled with a tial turbine housing, nearest off the shelf unit is a GTX2876. IMG_8041 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Obviously that necessitated a new manifold, which I ordered from TSR: IMG_8454 by Peter Strange, on Flickr And a 44mm Tial MV-R Wastegate, in red to match my dump valve: IMG_8511 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Bolted up to see if it would fit, soon meant the bulkhead would meet mr grinder for the 4th or 5th time in its life: IMG_8456 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Clearance to the rack is good: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Unfortunately there's a slight design flaw which means the wastegate fouls the gearshift cables, so I'll get the manifold modified to re position it: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr
Decided to locate the air filter in the space the cabin heater left behind, a nice high pressure area in the scuttle: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Made a mount for the air filter and welded that in: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Turned my attention to the exhaust downpipe, fairly easy stuff just a 3" pipe with a v-band on it and a few lambda bungs, will all be TIG welded together soon, just tacked up for now: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Last bit of the update is the intercooler - nicked from an Evo 8, they're plentiful and cheap, and flow well for the power level I'm gunning for: IMG_8422 by Peter Strange, on Flickr Sort of fits the Polo... Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Bumper will get a fair bit of re-design once the splitter and air dam are done, for now it's just got a big hole cut in it: Which is about where it stands currently! Cheers Pete
I've finished the gearshift mount and dropped the ATL tank back in, along with lining the alternator up :thumb: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Boost pipes have arrived - and hopefully some bits will be finished in the machine shop soon, pushing to get the wishbones done in the next few weeks. Cheers Pete
Update time - I got a package from Adam at Noath Engineering who kindly made me some light bulbs to my spec... :thumb: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr These are bearing housings for some NMB high misalignment bearings, I debated with Gurds going 5/8th or 3/4" - ultimately decided on 3/4" even if it was over engineered, a Lola T70 uses the same part... which has slicks as wide as my car IMG_8460 by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then glued the following together: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr And did a little test fit with the drop pins, I'd made these longer than I knew I needed, and had a few pairs done just so I can play with ride heights: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then whipped the subframe off, and fabricated two 10mm bridging sections so I could cut the longitudinal tubes on the subframe to give clearance for the tension strut: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr With the wishbones in place and tubes lopped off it looks like this: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then bolted it back on the car, and pushed it outside (until it pissed it down): Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I need to do some tweaking on the machined items, one of the bearing houses is more interference fit than i'd like and is binding: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Also under full droop on lock the castle nut binds on the housing slightly, I need to reduce the effective length of the drop pin by 20mm, so I can fit some additional misalignment spacers and kill two birds with one stone: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr It's also running 12.5' castor at the moment, so I need to dial that back slightly! I'm certain you can have too much of a good thing :chin: Still, it's on 4 wheels which is a milestone, I don't have steering arms yet, but this means I can get it out the garage as we've moving house in a few weeks Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Cheers Pete
Got the reduced drop pins back from the machine shop, so stuck them on and dug out the windscreen and other panels, then pushed it outside. Currently running some interesting geometry... Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Apart from bolting a few bits back in, this is about as far as I will get for a while. It's going off to have the inlet system fabricated and a few other bits of TIG welding completed that I can't do at home. Cheers Pete
Stance, innit. Lol. Meant to comment before, I really like those wheel studs the way they're "bullnosed ".
So I collected this at the weekend, garage was cleared of crap so it had some place warm and dry to live in. It's been away having a few parts TIG welded, namely the inlet manifold, boost pipes, exhaust/downpipe and manifold modified. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Boost pipes have been built to eliminate as many silicone joiners as possible, and house 1/8NPT bosses for a variety of transducers & thermocouples: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Tial BOV welded on fairly close to the compressor housing: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Inlet manifold was then fabricated, I wanted this to use a larger VR6 throttle body, but still retain the standard AGU runners and injector bosses (and critically angle) so I can use a stock fuel rail and FPR. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Final piece was to modify the Nortech manifold - slightly annoying as they position the wastegate so it clashes with the gearshift cables, I'd ask for a small flexible section to be welded onto the dump tube, this hasn't been done so I'm half expecting it to crack, but time will tell: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I'm also going back to the drawing board regarding steering rack/arms brickwall All for now! Pete