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

Soo glad you mentioned dropping the coolant and fitting "pure water" for use at the ring.Its a simple thing to do but could save a life at best or many thousands of at best,for when/if the worst happens. Now you've said it "get it done" Simples.
Coolant leaks can kill people very easily kids!

 

I think the Metzgesfeld moment shows how you have to be aware all the time.

Replacing coolant with water is something I`ve always done

Forgot to add a video from the DN trackday in the previous post. It was the clearest lap of the ring I`ve had. I never set out for it to be my fastest, I believe doing that causes unnecessary risks, I was driving with a mate, we were chatting quite a bit and it was still an 8.21. Losing 90kg of `ballast` and really concentrating would have been quicker, but that was never the point.
[video=vimeo;22883441]http://vimeo.com/22883441[/video]
http://vimeo.com/22883441

 

excellent read mate

im gonna blame you when i get a track car now

 

May 2011

Whilst giving the car the daily once over, I noticed a huge crack in the brake disk


I had a spare set, so removed both disks and replaced. On removal, it was apparant how bad the crack was ! Very luck I spotted this. I fear a disk failure was likely with this one..




Whilst I was checking, I decided the rear pads could do with changing. They last me ages, about half a season, so its no big deal.


The transmission tunnel is getting VERY hot. It has even discoloured the fresh paint... I`ll be sorting that before the summer.



Did around 18 laps today. It was brilliant. Track was surprisingly clear, minimal queuing and much quieter than expected for Easter weekend

Well, thats rather inconvenient...

As I couldn`t select reverse, it was suggested I look at the shifter tower. Bought a replacement and found the main bearing in mine was very worn, allowing lots of free play in the tower, AH HA ! I thought, this is it.... Fitted that, no different


Spoke to Martin, He suggested removing the bottom `cup` from the gearbox, where the selector shaft sits. Perhaps some debris had fallen in there and was stopping the selector dropping all the way. Seemed a good idea. I drained the oil, removed the `cup` and found bits of a large washer


Spoke to Martin again and its either the thrustwasher between 2nd & 3rd or 5th.

As I`m doing Knockhill on Saturday, I need to get this fixed. Its simply not worth risking it as it is. Current plan is to remove the box tomorrow, strip it and if its just the 5th thrustwasher, I can get a new one, fit that and I`ll be ok for KH. if its 2nd / 3rd, I`ll split the box, remove the Quaife then split my `spare` box which has a much higher FD, fit the quaife to that, rebuild and refit so I can do KH with the higher FD box, with Diff. Its not ideal and the ratios really annoyed me when I ran that box at bedford (its geared to 157 in 5th), so I`ll probably leave it in 3rd for most of the lap, but at least I`ll be able to drive it.

Either way, after Knockhill, I`ll then send my gearbox to Martin for overhaul. Busy tonight so first thing tomorrow I`ll be removing the box from the car and taking it from there. Bugger.

 

May 2011


I haven`t had brake fade, but I`ve been aware my pads are getting HOT, so decided to make some proper duct-carriers.

Take a length of steel plate


One Vice and hammer and roll


Done.


Now, mark out one carrier on same steel, cut to shape, then chain drill


Remove centre and tidy with air tool


Realise circular part you made isn`t `deep enough` so make another. Weld into Hole, paint with high-temp paint and secure 63mm Ducting



Look closely and see that duct may rub on the brake hose on full lock. To protect, put some extra protection around the hose and check after each TD.


Secure to caliper Carrier using Carrier > Hub mounting bolts. After removing any paint first to ensure there is NO chance of them working loose. By extending the circular part, this directs the air onto the disk and towards the centre vanes to get air between the 2 halves of the disk. (I KNOW the anti-rattle spring isn`t in place on the pic...)


Going well. Gearbox out in 1.5 hours.


Time for a cuppa then box stripdown.

Box now stripped, diff out and we are just starting on the replacement box

input and output gear shafts


5th gear


Housing bolts all grouped together with selector forks and reverse Gear.


One Quaife LSD


Replacement box draining oil before we start splitting it.


I HAD a spare diff. A few years ago, when I bought the 4.2 box, Sambo gave me an old, std diff he had `just for spares...`

I tried to be clever and decided that the sensible option would be to leave the normal diff alone from my spare box and use the Crownwheel from the spare diff. It was the same ratio, so sounded ideal.

Stan removed the bolts from the Quaife.


meanwhile, I removed the crownwheel from the `spare` diff. Took a while to drill / drift the rivets out, With Stan helping it made the job easier... The huge amount of swarf would destroy the bearings if it got into them,. this diff is now junk, I only needed the outer crownwheel, so it doesn`t matter.


The ARP Diff bolts go through the diff, sit snugly in the crownwheel to lock it and are then bolted down. The hole for the bolts in the `spare` crownwheel were too small


The raised shoulder should fit into the hole, as you can see, it won`t.


Spoke to Hotgolf to confirm the crownwheel on the diff i`d removed from my spare box WOULD have the right sized holes. If not, i`d have no diff to put in either gearbox. Fortunately, it was, so I removed the crownwheel from the other diff and bolted it onto the quaife.


Once done, and torqued, the Diff was put into the cleaned casing (thanks Stan), along with the input / output shafts and reverse gear.


Whilst talking to martin, we found where the washer had come from. It was between 2nd and 3rd and allowed loads of movement in the gearset. How it hadn`t failed in use was anyones guess. Even though this afternoon meant going in circles, finding the failure in the output cluster has made me relieved I took the box off and apart today

Tomorrow I just need to refit the selector, casing, 5th gear and bolt it all up. Refit to the car and HOPEFULLY go out for a test drive.




Some of you reading may be thinking this is a lot of effort for one trackday....

Quite simply, after finding a chunk of metal in the oil, I couldn`t run the original box.

That meant 2 options, simply fit my spare or do as I`ve done.

THE biggest single improvement I`ve seen on my car was fitting the Quaife. Things like Aero, bigger brakes, ITB`s are all good, but that was the best SINGLE mod by far.

The spare box has a much higher ratio set. I can do the same in 4th with that box as I can in 5th with my current one. 5th is geared for something stupid like 157.

Fitting this box in place of the other will make the car slower, that, although not ideal is something I can live with for a TD or 2. Having that AND no diff would feel like a big step backwards and I know I`d be thinking, "if only I had the diff...." Knockhill is a long way to go, 2 nights stay / meals and a trackday. For the sake of an extra day`s work, I feel its definately a price worth paying.




GOOD news ! The Gearbox is fine. Went for a test drive, all OK, noticeably higher ratios, but at least it works.

Revved it to 6.5k in 2nd and then a LOAD of smoke came out of the back. Sounded as if someone had poured gravel through the exhaust.

Pulled over and parked the car. Realised I`d forgotten my mobile so had to walk home, about 1.2 hour

Lou took me back and we towed the car home.

Couldn`t remove No4 spark plug. Hmmm. Removed air filter. Debris in the Inlet. Thats not good..


Opened the butterfly, OH, more ...


Removed ITB`s.



Knockhill is in only 3 days (14th May 2011).


To be continued.....

 

Oh no! After all that work on the gearbox!

 

argh how aggravating! I hope it can be fixed in time!

but on the other hand....this thread...

its like reading a really good book!

more....I need to know more!!!



Ram

 

May 2011

Head needs to come off. Ah. I suspect a fault on Cylinder 4


Where did the valve go ?




Never mind the valve, where did the fekking PISTON GO




Blocks buggered too..


Holy **** I`ve never seen a piston just vanish before.

I`ll be removing the engine tonight, fitting my spare bottom end and head. The cams look OK, so I can reuse those.

IF I hadn`t swapped the gearbox, I wouldn`t have taken it for a drive this evening to test. The first time I`d have driven it since coming back from the ring would have been at Knockhill on Saturday morning. I`ve got a bit of work ahead of me tonight, but at least it should all be sorted for Friday and our trip to Scotland.

Knockhill had better be worth it...

Well, engine and gearbox out. The bolts came out quite easily, can`t think why....


Tomorrow I`ll remove the ancilliaries, gearbox, flywheel, cams. Refit to the `spare` engine I removed last year and refit.


Time for a beer .

Best guess is that it was the valve head that came off and then destroyed the internals.

The valve head is in one piece and was in the sump, 2 valves are bent and one is untouched. All that points to the valve snapping where the stem starts to widen out.

I was off the throttle at the time, no debris on the inlet side of the butteryfly and the engine side covered in shrapnel backs that up.

The plugs were all the same colour, I checked at the ring. The exhaust ports are all identical colours and you can see from the other 3 cylinders that the mixture was spot on. I`m 100% it wasn`t det, but a fatigue failure of the valve.

Photos of the sump are interesting...

 

First off, a big thanks to Stan. He spent a lot of time this week helping me with the gearbox then came round today to help with the engine swap. Thanks mate

Removed the old sump. Hmmm, a bit messy in there.


Windage tray looks like an aluminium collection centre


This, believe it or not, is a Piston


This`ll be why the engine stopped dead.


The largest remaining piece of Piston.


Valve head. I`m certain it was an exhaust valve failure than caused the carnage.


The Crank pickup had taken a beating Luckily, after seeing Duncan`s day be halted by a failure of one, I had a spare.


Remember the elusive oil leak that I couldn`t find.Turned out to be a missing O ring ? I know why. lol On this engine, the O ring is inside a groove in the block, thats why I didn`t fit one to the other engine At least I know it wasn`t something silly I`d missed last time.


Not wanting to risk the spare engine with an oil cooler that MAY be full of swarf, I left it out. A well cleaned braided hose links the inlet / outlet on the sandwich plate. Then, when I do get another cooler, I can easily fit it. The engine was built up and ready to install by about 1pm


Stan helping.


Whilst I was looking for something in my spares area, I found another spare diff This had a bolt on crownwheel, the correct ratio and would have been fitted in minutes. That`ll be over half a day wasted for nothing then. Stan was pleased... :whistle:


Filled the engine with this cheap oil and a new filter. Let it fast idle to warm up, till oil was just under 100 degrees. Dropped the oil and changed the filer to ensure the engine was as clean as possible.


Refitted everything and took it for a test drive. Its fine. Strange ticking noise under any throttle application, definately NOT pinking. Hmmm. Also, the Cam oil seal that was leaking on the old engine, well, it was this one and I never changed it .. I`ll fit a new one first thing tomorrow. I wanted a break tonight.

All being well, I`ll get it loaded up tomorrow after fitting the track wheels, giving everything a quick once-over and changing the cam oil seal behind the cambelt pulley. :thumb:

I`m really pleased with the mapping, ITB`s and Megasquirt. Those pistons are unmarked, very light carbon build up, considering they have just done Spa and the Ring, with longer 6.5k+ rpm wide open throttle than ever, I`m really pleased there is NO sign of Det al all

 

May 2011

After a busy week, the car was ready, loaded onto the trailer and taken to Knockhill.

The first few sessions were taken easy, I wanted to get SOME laps under my belt. As the morning progressed, I raised the revs to around 7,000. This engine isn`t as willing at the top end.

Great circuit and the LSD was definately needed for the hairpin.




The soft springs I run and standard front ARB don`t help in corners like this and I get slight rubbing of the splitter. Its no big deal, stiffer springs would sort that but would also change the feel of the car. Its something i`m looking into...


I did over 180 laps in total, apart from needing to top up the oil a few times as this engine burns it, I had a pretty trouble free day.

The Carbotech brake pads weren`t as good as I`d hoped. Pedal feel wasn`t as good as the RC6`s. I`ll see how long they last before deciding my next choice of compound...

The gearbox is coming out next week, then I`m sending the internals from the 2 boxes which will be used to be fitted, along with all new bearings, to end up with a working box, with my LSD and 4.2 FD. The one I used at Knockhill was much too tall for track work.

I`ve got a month before my next outing, so plenty time to sort the gearbox.

Thanks to Sparrow (Cheers Alex), I`ve also sorted a replacement ABF. I`ll be fitting my cams to that engine, changing the cam belt and then installing that engine. I`d rather use that as the `main` engine, knowing my `spare` is ready to go.

 

Did I? That was nice of me. I have no recollection of this.

 

Yep, you did !

You sent me a PM to the ABF engine that was advertised on here. I contacted the guy and picked it up on the way to Snetterton.

 

Wow well i've just spent about 5 hours backreading up to here, truly inspirational and I love the detail and initiative you show in solving problems, it appeals to my purist engineers brain - see a problem, build something to fix the problem!

Look forward to reading the rest of the updates and seeing where you're at now with the project!

 

That rings a very vague bell now. Nothing unusual there, I generally can't remember what I did last week, never mind last year!

 

May 2011

Stripped down the old block today to see what was salvageable. Not a lot as it turned out....

Crank is battered.


The conrod with the missing piston it bent.


The skirt on the one next to it is badly marked and unuseable


The bores were showing surprisingly minimal wear. I find this on every engine I open, the bores never seem to wear, you can still see the hone marks.


Thrust washers were looking OK


So were the crank main bearings



However, one of the big end bearings had worn through the white metal . Much longer in use and that would have started making nasty noises.



The fatigue cracks on the valve stem are fairly clear to see.


Looking at the overall condition of the engine, the bores were spot on, as were the Main bearings, but although 7 of the big ends looked OK, one was badly worn and would most likely have started causing problems this summer.

New oil cooler fitted


Rebuilt gearbox arrived back today, thanks Mart Bronze bushes in the shifter tower to improve gearchange feel, all new bearings, synchros, 4.2 Drive swapped back over and everything cleaned properly. The gearbox was sent via paisley freight. they may be cheap but they had dropped the box !, so much that 2 planks on the pallet had snapped and the mounting bolts holding the box to the pallet had split the timber and pulled it straight through. They even dented the end casing !


I decided that as well as refitting the gearbox (done), I wanted to fit the power steering rack.

However, this wasn`t as straight forward as it first appeared. Steph had sent the small Steering U/J you can see in the photo


The reason being the splines on the rack are different on the manual rack and the PS rack.


Before the U/J was originally built, they press the splines into the U/J and then `crimp` the top over


One air grinder later...


The crimps ground off


Put the end in the vice, used a big hammer and chisel and the splines eventually slid out


Repeat on the `dog bone` linkage


I could then fit the PS splined end onto my steering column linkage, did that and spot welded it in place. This is probably not needed at all, it had to be hammered into the splines, but I wanted to be sure...


Ready to fit.


Manual rack and linkage alongside PS rack and hybrid linkage


Dropped the subframe, swapped the racks over and fitted the hard-pipes. Bloody awkward things they are too. Had to remove the steering column to get the linkage back onto the end of it, then fed through the bulkhead and onto the PS rack. It all turns smoothly.

What a pain fitting the power steering pump was. The Power steering pump bracket was catching on the underside of the alternator (I`ve lowered mine due to the ITB`s). A fair bit of modification was required, which meant a non-standard V belt for the pump. Luckily my local motor-factors were able to sort me out. I didn`t even take photos, that`s how annoyed I was....

Alignment done using the fishing-line method, took the car for a short drive and I can`t believe how light the steering feels. I`ve only driven on local roads, so couldn`t press on and it was all slow speed driving. I`m hoping it firms up at speed when the tyres are under load, as it was, I couldn`t tell what they were doing... lol

Gearbox felt fine, all gears engaged nicely, a couple were stiffer to select than others, but I`m putting that down to the new internals, we`ll see how it frees up at Snetterton. There is a `metallic` noisy at idle, pressing the clutch stops it. Its something inside the gearbox, but I don`t know what.

 

Top marks for effort Nige, great read

I've been trying to build up the enthusiasm to fight with photobucket for days now to up date my own thread so the time and effort to add all this detail is great! I like all the pics you take as it must take time to plan it all.

The power steering thing needs a bit of luck doesn't it. Mine worked in the end but I did have a bit of luck with the parts I picked, it could have been far worse if I'd planned it more I fear!

All this and we are only up to May last year

 

Tony, I agree, unless someone has done a thread like this, they don`t appreciate the work. Thats why I try and read all the build threads, they take a long time to do

June 2011
Post Snetterton update.

Had a few issues at Snetterton, all down to the power steering pump. The belt snapped just before lunch, so a drive to Thetford to pick up a couple from bearing Services was needed. Fitted the 2nd during lunch and went out again. The car is physically much easier to drive, but I`m really struggling for feel through the wheel, its simply too light. I could hear the tyres squealing and feel them slipping through the seat, but nothing through the wheel.

I am adressing this and will post details later.

The 2nd belt snapped mid afternoon, just as I had exited the final chicane. I was flat all the way down the start / finish, revving to just over 7k. Unfortunately, unknown to me, the belt had taken the water pump belt with it. By the time the temp light started flashing (meaning low water), it was too late.

Back to the pits, replaced both belts , topped up the water and started it. The header tank started bubbling and spitting water out, I knew it was probably the head gasket, but chose to drive it slowly, just to check. It was the HG and so I parked it for the day.

I`d picked up a `new` engine on the way to Snetterton. Bought from a guy who`d had it as a `spare` and never actually fitted it. Its complete and supposed to be a 70,000miler and was a bargain.

Back home and it was soon mounted on the engine stand.


It hasn`t been used for a couple of years..



The exhaust manifold bolts were corroded and needed chiseling off.


The plan is to remove the rust, paint the engine, replace the cambelt, fit my warm cams and put it into the Golf. The `spare` engine that I fitted before Knockhill will once again become my spare, although now it needs a new HG..




Its a 2 litre innit.


Suitably protected, Mat started removing the external corrosion with the air grinder and wire brush attachment.


I have removed the water > oil heat exchanger and will just run the external cooler. I don`t have any cooling issues, in fact I have to cover the oil cooler on cold days as its too efficient. Removing the exchanger meant new hoses (silicone) were required from the outlet of the cylinder head to the pump. (Jubilee clips still to be fitted, but first, the block needs stripping and painting.)


I also modified the solid pipe to use the top outlet, cutting and rewelding it to the new route.


Stan removed ALL the surface rust and paint, took it back to bare metal and primed it



Meanwhile, I decided changing the big-ends was a sensible idea. Turned out to be a wise move too..

Removed the first cap and the wear on the soft metal was clear to see.


Fortunately, the crank is relatively unmarked


New bearings fitted


All 4 cylinders had the same wear on one half of the bearings, the other half was fine.


The engine bay is currently empty, I removed the engine and gearbox yesterday, i`m working this weekend and most of next week, but plan to get the `new` engine prepped and fitted by next weekend, that will give me time to test it before Anglesey.

I`ve had to removed the serpentine belt, I simply can`t modify the alternator mount to clear the ITB`s whilst retaining it. To be honest, the Vee belt was OK, once properly fitted


When tightening one of the big end bolts, it didn`t `feel` right. I removed it and you can see, if you look very closely that it had stretched and started to elongate. The TOP one is the `stretched` one, from the centre of the thread towards the `head`.


The engine was cleaned, degreased and painted. I then refitted the Alternator, new hoses, oil filter and sensors.



I made a gasket to go between the inlet manifold and cylinder head from some 3mm PTFE sheet I had. No idea if it will make any difference at all, but worth trying.



My previous baffled sump helped, but when the oil level was low, I`d see a slight drop in the oil pressure on left hand corners. The pickup placement meant that on right handers, this wasn`t an issue. Rather than just adding normal Baffles, I added some hinged `doors`. The theory being they allow oil to flow towards the centre, but not towards the sides. Obviously, they aren`t sealed, so some seepage will occur, allowing each section to level out over time, but during cornering, it SHOULD help reduce starvation.


I used some old oil to test it. I appreciate hot oil is thinner, but it proves the theory. I poured the oil into the right hand compartment, it flowed easily into the middle but not to the left.


Same when pouring into the left and middle.


Fitted the flywheel, clutch and gearbox yesterday and lifted the engine into the Golf. Bolted it in place, but had other stuff to do so left it there. I`m working for a few days but plan to get it running before Sunday.

 

June 2012
After my woes with the standard belt driven power steering pump, I opted for an electrically driven one from a Saxo. Its taller than I expected and limited the places I could mount it. Eventually I decided the Expansion tank was in the place the pump needed to be, so I fabricated a bracket and secured it to the inner wing, moving the expansion tank alongside the washer bottle in the process.


The pump take ~50A, so a heavy duty relay was sourced.


The connections were 6mm cable and 10mm spades, so a trip to a local car hi-fi shop was required to buy some large enough spade crimps !


Cables all connected and heatshrink applied to the relay


I had to solder to lengths of 6mm cable together, the gas burner is perfect for that. A normal soldering iron simply isn`t up to the job, it can`t get the wire hot enough. The bonus of the gas burner is apart from soldering and lighting fires, its great for heatshrink and portable, I highly recommend one.


A small switch was mounted in the cabin to switch the relay to power the Saxo electric motor. This can be run with the engine off, allowing easier manouvering when pushing the car around the drive / garage


Once the pump was mounted, I needed to join the Saxo 10mm high pressure line from the pump to the standard VW 10mm high pressure line to the steering rack. That meant using part of the original Saxo setup. Part of it ran a little too close to the bracket, so I cut up some return hose and cabletied it around the pipe to pretect from abrasion.


Whilst cutting the return hose, I noticed a crimp on the outside of the pipe, for no discernible reason.


Cutting the pipe open revealed a return-line restrictor, similar to the `dog-bone` fitted to BMW`s to change the power steering `feel`.



The front camber was adjusted from -2.5 degrees to -3 degrees. Not a massive change, but I`m wearing the outer edge of the front tyres more than the inners, so I thought it worth a try to see how I get on. I also hope to try the slicks at Anglesey, so more camber was wanted for them anyway.. The app on Cats IPod agreed with my DIY camber gauge


Had a few `temporary` wiring mods to remove that I`d fitted at Easter, whilst stuck just after Flugplatz... A bit of wire and Gaffer tape can only be classed as a `temporary` fix for so long and I felt 3 months was pushing it a bit :whistle: All back to normal now, just need some more braiding to cover the replaced wires, but I can do that later.

Warmed the car on fast idle for 20 minutes to help the new big end bearings. Let the temps get up to 108 oil and 3/4 water on the gauge before starting the cooling fan. No oil or water leaks to be seen

Compression tested the engine, all 4 cylinders were 14.1 - 14.2 Bar, the highest I`ve had on an ABF. Took the car for a short test drive, it had more mid-range pull than any engine I`ve had so far ! I was very pleased ineed . It needed more fuel from 3 > 4.5k than the previous engine and thats on the stock cams. I plan to fit the Schricks tomorrow, but apart from that, the Golf is ready to go on the trailer ready for Anglesey.

I`ve been busy @ work and time has been limited this last week, but I`m happy its all finished and ready to go with time to spare.

The electric power steering motor felt good. Its about halfway between the manual rack and the standard VW setup in terms of assistance, much improved feel and fingers crossed, its just what I`m looking for !

A mate had pointed out my Electric PAS pump should be mounted Horizontally, so I wanted to modify that.

cut off the old PAS Brackets

Quickly fabbed a modified one to allow the PAS Pump to be rotated and welded it into place, giving it a quick coat of paint for now.

 

No 5h1t Sherlock? Cracking bit of deduction there, Holmes

Ouch, all the same.

 

I thought so too.