MK1 Racer (ALL BROKEN PHOTOBUCKET PICS FIXED) - Painted and out of the bodyshop....

Discussion in 'Members Gallery' started by 16valver, Feb 27, 2007.

  1. 16valver Forum Member

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    Thanks guys. I am the same and always enjoy reading about similar work on the forum. In fact, that is why I got into this around 12 years ago!!




    Cheers Gurds, really pleased with them and know the feeling - a few jobs I have put off for later if I have some more time.
     
  2. 16valver Forum Member

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    Following the driveline upgrades I then turned attention to a few smaller jobs that needed done. First was the header tank which had been attached only with cable ties on to the strut bar. This was obviously just a short term solution as the car was rushed to completion in 2013, but as it had been moving around, disturbing the jubilee clip / hose arrangement and causing a small coolant leak on top of the gearbox, it was time to get a proper bracket made.


    I had made the bracket and was reasonably happy with it, before Craig then said... "That looks a bit heavy"

    It was a sarcastic and humoured response, but of course I had no alternative but to get the drill out after that...



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    Then I drilled and tapped two holes into the strut bar and mounted with M6 alloy bolts....




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    The hoses had been weaping a little at a section where they met at a straight hose joiner and also near the plastic hose outlet on block, so I used some superglue just to seal the ends where they butted against each other, before then tightening with the jubilee clips again.




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    Not a big job by any means but satisfying to fix after seeing coolant drip on the gearbox and prevents any future burst hoses.
     
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  3. 16valver Forum Member

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    Just after sorting the small leak and bracket on the cooling system I looked the steering. I had previously felt that there was something up with the steering as the geo was sometimes different after a race than it was when I set it up, and as the steering also had some play in it, I turned attention to that.

    It was nothing major but I decided to remove the rack, strip and rebuild. It has a Quaife 2.9 (turn lock to lock) quick rack & pinion fitted and upon disassembly I found that I had not had the pre-load set correctly. I am not sure if this was an error or my part when first putting together or whether it had happened from the lock nut backing off. After this I cleaned it all up, re-greased and then re-assembled with lockwire to stop the nut backing off.




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    At the same time, and after having just done the new steering arms, after I had re-fitted the rack I re-centred the steering boss and added some lock wire to the large nut as a precaution.



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    Last edited: Oct 20, 2017
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  4. Notso Swift Forum Member

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    Wo w you have been busy, I had to go back to the beginning to go all the way through the journey :thumbup:
     
  5. 16valver Forum Member

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    Yeah, it was a big push over winter and a lot of work. That must have taken you a while!! I might go back and fix all the early links at some stage.



    Next stage...


    I am fortunate to also have an E46 M3 that has some good upgrades and very capable on track, so while the golf was on the back burner, I been using the M3 to enter the the Superlap Scotland sprint series at Knockhill. The M3 won its class over 2016 (and very nearly the overall championship, missing 1st place by 1 point!), but for 2017 I did not want to do the same again, and so the choice was to either upgrade the M3 to run in the next class up (power to weight bandings) or make a big push over winter and finish the Golf.

    At this stage it was now early November 2016, so I had to decide what I was doing for 2017 as I would need to order the parts for whatever car was being used. I decided that it was now or never with the golf, so it was best to just push on and focus on one car. This was the riskier option as I knew the Golf would definitely take much longer and require so much more effort, but it had been away for so long that I felt it was the only option.


    I made yet another list of the jobs to be done and realised that I would have to also go to nights as well as weekends, and then the odd hour before work so that I could keep up the momentum. The next job was not on the original list, but the more I thought about it, the more it had to be done!


    Engine Mounts


    While mulling over the previous job on the driveshafts, engine/gearbox positioning and driveshaft angle was another factor that could have contributed to the CV failures. My car was originally converted into a racecar very early in its life at approx. 3 years after first manufacture (circa 1984) and it has seen some action and inevitable damage & repair. The OS chassis leg has been replaced at some stage and has also had various engines fitted, so its not really surprising that the engine never sat completely straight. The cambelt tensioner was also making contact with the chassis leg, so I decided that I should get it sitting properly once and for all, as this would help CV angle, reduce any torque steer and also increase overall traction.


    I meant to mention it in the last post, but before the work on the wishbones I bought a MIG welder and knew that I would have to learn pretty quick as there was a lot of fabrication coming up. I spied this Clarke 255 on ebay which was local, so I won the action and picked it up. It is way more than I will ever need as it is about the most powerful MIG that can be run on 240v, but good to have the spare capacity and it works really well (in case your wondering, that extension reel is NOT for running the welder lol)




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    The previous front mount that had been fabricated always had the bolt backing out, so I wanted to re-do this one anyway. The mount on the OS side of engine on the block was left alone and after supporting the engine via jacks and straps, the front mount and 2 x gearbox mounts disconnected before I could then shift the engine into the correct position whilst checking that the driveshafts were perfectly straight.

    As I did this I used wooden blocks in-between the front bar and the mount to get it sitting where I wanted it, before then measuring up for fabricating the new mounts.



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    You can see how much the position has moved for both the gearbox side mount and the front mount, and most importantly, the tensioner now had some clearance as it was in contact with the chassis leg previously [:D] When I did the first install years ago it never sat right, no matter how much I tried the tensioner would sit against the leg [:x]


    Now I could instantly see that the driveshafts and engine position looked much better....




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    The previous front mount had been solid mounted to the main bar, but the design was not ideal as the loading back and forth would loosen the bolt and it was also very awkward to lockwire, so I decided to go to rose joints and a different design. I already had enough rose joints leftover from previous work and then set out all the bits that were needed....



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    The gearbox side mount was the first one I worked on, as this was the easiest as I could modify the original 'Vagobond' mount by cutting off and re-using the bush holder, but just copy the main support and make it longer before re-welding....




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    Then it was on to the new front mount which required a bit more thought, but was not too bad once I got going....




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    The rear gearbox mount took the longest to work out the best option. I had originally looked to include the polyurethane block bush and somehow re-use this, but after seeing that the bolt had become separated from the material, I decided to solid mount the rear also. Further to this, I could see that the metal 'Vagobonds' mount had twisted slightly, so I reinforced the mount by including some bracing on the inside of it...






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    You probably wont see it from these pics as I don't have a 'before & after' comparison, but it was very satisfying to finally see the engine sitting parallel within the bay. I could then adjust the wishbones for castor as well as spacing out the front arm in the lower mount, so that the driveshafts were perfectly straight to the hubs :thumbup:




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    This was a very time consuming job and done over a few weeks, but once I was finished I could see how much better the engine & box was sitting in the car, so it was well worth doing at that stage before looking at anything else.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2017
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  6. beetie

    beetie Forum Member

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    Great job and some beautiful welds.
     
  7. 16valver Forum Member

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    After the engine mounts I then focused on adding a splitter and frame. The main goal behind most of the modifications was to improve traction, and I decided that the addition of a splitter would help.

    By this time it was early January and I had taken some time off work in the new year to get the jobs done. Like a lot of the jobs, I completely underestimated how much time the splitter would take, as it took me a lot of time to complete the back and forth measuring, just to check everything was in the right place.

    It did not help having not sourced and fitted tyres, so there was always the worry that it would be too low to the ground, with the MSA regulations stating a minimum of 40mm.


    I decided to use 12mm ply (at least for the first version) as this was strong, easy to work with, easy to source and was also cheap! I went and bought a sheet of ply and then cut it to the approx. shape for the underside of the car. I wanted to take the splitter as far back as I could, but at the same time leave a gap behind the engine / gearbox with the intention of it allowing some of the hot air to be drawn out underneath of the car.


    The first problem was a major issue - the lower strut bar was too low!! I had fabricated this years back to clear the larger O2A gearbox casing (previously had 020 fitted when it was 16v), but now it would not let the splitter sit flat, so it was either leave the bar and make the splitter very short, or it was to modify the strut bar. As I wanted to try and flat floor the front end as much as possible, I decided to modify the strut bar.


    Unfortunately I don't really have any before pics to hand, but it basically involved cutting the old bar and removing some material, re-positioning the bar, lots of swearing, some heat and bending and then final welding. This was one of those sure fire "2 hour jobs" that inevitably took much longer.

    Once in position I welded two tabs with M8 captive nuts for the splitter to mount to. I was very pleased once done as it was a few mm from the gearbox and perfect for the splitter sitting flat. Straight away I was very glad that I had made the earlier decision to go for solid engine mounts, ideal in this situation with tight clearances....



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    Splitter to follow next.
     
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  8. 16valver Forum Member

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    With the lower brace having been modified to allow the splitter to sit flat, I then measured up to get the approx. dimensions for a template.

    The first issue was the sump. With my car (and I assume other mk1 20v's) the sump sits very low to the ground, and so this was going to cause an issue with getting a splitter / floor to sit flat. Seeing as I wasn't planning on investing into a 20v dry sump setup, or cutting up my nice baffled sump, the only way was to cut out a hole for the sump, and I figured that at least this would have the advantage of some additional cooling to the sump.

    The initial template was another piece of 12mm ply, but it was much smaller and was only cut to get the dimensions of the sump in relation to the rest of the mounting points. Unfortunately I don't have a photo to hand, but you can see the 2nd version here that was eventually trimmed down into the final piece.

    I spent a long time looking at other setups with various different methods of attachment, but some that I saw were very dubious. I wanted it to be strong enough to transfer any downforce down on to the front wheels through the chassis, while also withstanding any big knocks and also while being bashed around during trailer loading. I think in the end it is likely 'over built' and it could in fact be lighter, but seeing as it has had a few knocks already from trailer loading, I am glad that it is strong!


    The frame is made from a combination of different thickness CDS tube and transfers the load directly to the chassis legs and front crossmember, and the rear of the splitter is also bolted to the lower brace. Before anyone mentions it, yes it has had all of my 74 kilo's of body weight jumping on it, and it could probably take another 74' kgs's tbh!


    The heaviest part is the 12mm ply which is around 5 kg's iirc, so I could get some weight out of that by going to Alucore or similar, but as that is not cheap I think I will just stick with ply for now.




    First cut and test fit over sump with the main splitter...


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    Getting the frame in place and mounts sorted. Note, tubes just tacked together in these pics...


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    Holes made and some bolts attached (M8)...


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    There is a gap between the air dam and splitter but is still to be filled / closed by an additional strip of HPDE plastic. The gap is because I wanted to keep the floor completely flat, as if I had closed the gap then it would have been angled upwards and potentially creating unwanted lift, which is the opposite of what I wanted to achieve. The HPDE strip was added at a later stage just before the car entered for first race (2017) in August, and at which stage the splitter was also painted black (Will show this in later update).


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    Frame after final welding....


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    Front end view...


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    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Oct 23, 2017
  9. 16valver Forum Member

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    At this stage I then removed all of the parts from the car that had been fabricated and made ready for painting, then I sprayed them all gloss black.


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    The next work was completed between mid January and mid February 2017 and was really spurred on by the realisation that I needed to paint the inner wings before the newly painted engine mounts went back in, as that was it was easy to cover engine for paint and avoid overspray. Then that got me thinking that I also needed to first get the vents in on the front end, as that mock up had to be done before it was painted.

    The intake ports / vents were put in to feed the oil cooler (front OS) and the OS vents were put in for feeding the air intake and also as some additional cooling to the gearbox casing, as this now has the floor blocking off any air flow.


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    I then built a turbo brace to take the strain off the manifold...


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    Then I started faffing about with the air filter. I had read a few comments previously about the BMC enclosed filter being a restrictive filter and considering the turbo can shift a reasonable amount of air, it made sense to look at a different filter. I spoke to Bill Brockbank about it and basically, bigger is generally better. So I measured up and basically looked for the biggest 'Green' air filter that I could find lol

    Here is a template I made up checking it for size before I ordered - the filter on the RHS is the inside of the BMC.


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    I got a wheel and made it up to the hub & disc before sending it off the BG Developments to get the new brake caliper brackets and bells made up...


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    Next was prep work on the bay before covering the engine with a dust sheet and then getting the rattle cans out!!


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    Then bolted the engine mounts back in, cleaned the bay and painted the turbo brace before fitting...


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    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Oct 23, 2017
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  10. Savagesam

    Savagesam Moderator Staff Member Moderator

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    Seriously jealous of this. The welding and fabrication that's gone into every part of this build is just something else.

    Keep up with the updates [:D]
     
  11. 16valver Forum Member

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    I keep getting random images attached as thumbbails at the end of posts - any ideas why?

    Cheers
     
  12. Savagesam

    Savagesam Moderator Staff Member Moderator

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    How do you attach them?

    I'm sure Matt can have a look into it for you. Might be something funny going on in the background.
     
  13. Tristan

    Tristan Paid Member Paid Member

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    Total porn. Insanely jealous. Do you plan on putting some strips around the sump to seal it to the ply, for aero?

    And why not solid mount the other engine mounts, when the front and rear are solid? that's a question, not a suggestion btw.
     
  14. 16valver Forum Member

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    Thanks! No problem as there is lots of updates still to come, then after that there will be some further changes that I will try and do over winter :thumbup:


    I am using the 'Insert Image' icon which takes you to what I think is the 'basic uploader' window and I just select 'my computer' to go and upload images from my desktop.



    I hadn't thought of that although it might reduce any cooling on the sump from the airflow? I would guess that any advantage from sealing it would be pretty minor although not sure.

    For the engine mounts, good question. I did think about it but couldn't see much point, as it is the front mount and rear gearbox mount that control all of the movement of the engine/box under load, so doing the side mounts with spherical bearings wouldn't really add much except maybe additional vibration. The side mounts also take the majority of the weight, so even though those mounts are pretty hard with polyurethane bushes, it might help a little over bumps rather than having the whole thing solid. As it happens there is not much noticeable increase in vibration from doing these, so very pleased with how they have worked out.

    When I did first drive the car out of the garage there was a lot of knocking and I was instantly regretting solid mounting the rear box mount, then I realised I had left the strut tops loose - after bolting them up it has been perfect lol
     
  15. sparrow Paid Member Paid Member

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    Awesome, thanks for taking the time to share the details. I know how long this takes.
     
  16. Yoof Forum Member

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    Looks good Ali - how harsh are those rose joints as torque reaction mounts though? I'd be paranoid and inspecting the body every lap... !

    Pete
     
  17. 16valver Forum Member

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    It's taken me a while to get the hang of iCloud for managing all the pics, but I'm getting the hang of it now. It does take a lot of time to write up as you say, and really the main reason I didn't update it at the time as I went along. Good to keep a record though, especially if people enjoy seeing the progress.

    All good so far Pete and it honestly doesn't feel harsh at all, not even noticeable when driving, changing gear etc. Will keep an eye out for any cracking.
     
  18. vw_singh Events Team Paid Member

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    It's always nice to see the detail and journey with these modifications. Very nice job.

    I decided to keep my sump covered with my splitter and noticed no heat issues as a result.

    Your front splitter frame is very substantial. I've not found my simpler method to be a weakspot but those cap head screws sticking out the bottom will cause an issue if you clip one.

    Gurds
     
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  19. TonyB Paid Member Paid Member

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    Another interesting thread back up and running :-)

    Great work, and a good effort with putting it all up, its so time consuming.

    I'm interested in the front end set up (and the rest of it of course). I've gone a slight different route on the Tatty Golf, using a Seat Leon Cupra R hubs and Seat sport Super Copa dampers. I'm also using the sub frame dimensions and rack mount positions from the same, plus the hydro quick rack from the Cupra R. I'm running a Gemini Sequential box with Gemini shafts - and I can get an outer CV that works for both.

    Interested in how you find it with the big wheels, lower offset geometry, you don't seem to be running a lot of castor. Any issues/thoughts or do the big tyres juts give so much grip its irrelevant?

    I run on the hills, where there is more wheel movement and lower spring rate I guess (I'm around 400/450lbs/in), so maybe geometry is more critical?
     
  20. 16valver Forum Member

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    Thanks Gurds.

    For the sump I would ideally like it covered to prevent damage and so floor is fully flat, but I think its only possible on mine if I get a shallow sump or go to a dry sump setup. Good to know yours has not made any real difference to temps. The oil cooler setup is know much more efficient with the ducting and shroud, so probably would be fine on mine if it did ever get covered.

    The frame could be lighter, although its not actually very heavy at all, and maybe I will re-visit at a later stage if it ever gets damaged. Yes, the cap screws can catch on trailers (already done it once) but I went with them in case of damage. I thought that if I used button head (rounded) or hex bolts, if they were damaged from hitting tarmac, then they could be a problem to remove later as you wouldn't be able to get an allen key in there, or a spanner on if hex. Countersunk would be ideal but means I cant use a washer, so avoided that also. The cap screws might catch, but if damaged I should still be able to get an allen key in or even some stilsons on to back them out.


    Thanks Tony. Yeah, after spending all day/night on it, thought of typing is not very appealing lol

    In all honesty (and I'm not just saying this because its my car), it feels absolutely awesome on the bigger wheels and the new geometry. The car is much more stable under braking and also in a straight line, where there is much less steering input required. Although I have not measured castor, I think that it is running quite a lot for a mk1, as the front wishbone lower arm is spaced out so that it sits as far forward as possible in the lower body mount, with the rear wishbone arm adjusted to support this while keeping the arm parallel. Further to this, the top mounts are also as far back as possible, so I think it should help with the steering angle and general stability. I have some pics of this that I can post when updating on the bump steer measurements & setup.

    I would say that even with the additional grip from the 245mm section tyres, even if it had the old tyres, it would still be an improvement on the handling of the car. My only complaint was after the first event in August this year where I did have some turn in understeer on the entry to slow to medium speed corners, however, this was with geo that was just to get it going and only around 1.5 deg negative camber with the objective of achieving maximum straight line traction. Also worth noting, with this setup 1.5 degrees negative is pretty much the 'minimum' negative camber that is possible, with the maximum being completely useless at well over 5 degrees.

    For the second event I increased it to 2.5 degrees negative on the NS (clockwise Knockhill and left OS @ 2 deg), full soft on front dampers (bump & rebound on Intrax as one single adjuster) and increased rears to 2/3 of full hard, and then also increased rear toe to be 4mm toe out each side. The rear toe was a bit too aggressive as it felt pretty lairy into the fast entry at Dufus, but it did the job, as the car did the same 55 sec lap time at the second event despite being what felt like being down on power :thumbd:


    Looking at the speed trap data for the 2nd event I can see it was much slower in a straight line (in middle of sorting this now), but as it managed to post the same lap time despite the lack of power, the geo changes have worked. It also bodes well as I think I can do a 54 sec lap of Knockhill in the car now. I will back off the rear toe a little so its not so aggressive, and then I think that will be a pretty good base dry setup there.

    My springs are now 100 KG/CM (front) and 120 KG/CM (rear), which should be 560 lbs/in (Front) & 670 lbs/in (rear). Much happier with the car than on the softer setup and its also taking the big kerbs very well and the dampers obviously working great.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2017
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