TT hubs & wish bones on a MK2 Golf

After getting more understeer than expected on my track car I was looking into geo alterations, I had heard good results from fitting ball joint extenders and had this planned when I wondered if MK1 TT hubs & wish bones would fit as these do the same thing as the BJ mount is lower on the TT hubs.

Obviously this is a common upgrade on the MK4 Golf but I'm not sure if it's ever been done on a MK2 so I wan't sure if it would work even if it would fit.

Mock up - TT wish bones fit the MK3 subframe perfectly and are the same length / track width as the VR6 ones I had been using







I think the main reason this isn't a done mod is the fact that the TT hub mounts differently to the MK2, this is where these came in to help







We had issues with the track rod ends as they're bigger on the TT than the MK3 so wouldn't fit snug.

Solution - Drill taper out of hub & sleeve it





Rose joint track rod end & allen head bolt



Measure bump steer & spacer end from hub - Used alloy tube but wasn't ideal but all I could find at the time



Then I found this laying around



Drilled the threads out & shaved the top flat and it was the perfect size & tapered which was a bonus



After it was all fitted this was the result - plenty of castor





The only slight issue was the ARB mount, we made some basic brackets to see if it would work



They caught the inner rim on full lock so as a quick fix we trimmed the corner off but it didn't work so we top mounted them and they seem fine now



These seem to work ok but I do want to do them again as they look pretty poor

I have 15" wheels and the BJ mount bolts are close but don't catch





After driving the car at VAG Tuner Live at Donington this weekend it seems to have been a good improvement even with a pretty tame geo set up, late afternoon I altered the castor from the top to it's furthest point which gave even more grip. (Not sure what actual numbers this gives)

If time would have allowed I would have then altered the camber to see the effects of this but before I knew it the session was over. I'm going to start where I left off regarding the geo and add more camber for the next track day and see how that works.

The only other thing I really want to do before I use it again is fitting a TT quick rack as I find I have to turn more than I like to get it around corners, this mod might not be as straightforward as the above but I'm sure we can make it happen.

 

I really like where you're going with this. I was eying up a breaker A3 with a similar idea. What strut bodies are those?
Caster looks to have moved a lot, how about the roll centre, you look to have dropped the b/J a good amount?

 

Now that's just brilliant, I love the suspension solution! Especially as I also have BC Racing on mine.

Are you using standard Mk2 ball joints?

Tristan, the roll centre is much lower. This can be seen by the location of the BJ mounts in the picture.

 

Oh no doubt the roll centre is higher due to the bj being lower, just wondering how much lower than stock?
I was looking at ur-quattro lower bj's for a similar effect, but the RC wouldn't move as much and the wishbones would need adaption.

This is really good stuff.

 

What driveshafts, same as the usual widetrack mk2 fitment?

Actually.... If you were to take it a step further and used an 02J, what shafts would fit?

 

I didn't measure the roll centre either before or after but knew it would be better so that was enough to try it.

As Sparrow said I have BC Racing coilvers although any coilover with this type of design should allow the same change.

Iv'e used TT ball joints, I tried not to mix too many parts together when doing this.

I originally had MK3 VR6 wide track but swapped the gearbox recently, it now has a MK4 Ibiza Cupra TDI 6 speed with secret shafts

We're making it into a conversion kit so I can't say where the shafts are from unfortunately.

 

Understood.
To get a standard style mk2/3 upright to fit that hub, what's the required bits?

 

If your uprights / struts are mk2 / mk3 specific then new ones would be needed, I'm not sure what you would do about the top mounts then though. Maybe TT ones would fit the MK2 turret? Maybe MK2 ones would fit on the TT struts?

The type I have just screw off at the bottom so I just ordered new TT mounts for them.

 

That's the key to this conversion. At the moment, the only suspension I know that offers this style of fitment is BC Racing.

 

Sorry if I appear a bit thick, but do you order BC bits for a TT or mk4 so, and make that top mount work on your mk2, or is it just the lower section of a BC coilover, Audi TT fitment, and a mk2 strut dropped into that?

 

It's a complete Mk2 top mount, strut and spring section, and just the TT mount at the bottom that fits in the hub.

 

Lovely.
Wonder if it has to be S3, or will other mk4 platform stuff give the same results.

 

Cheers Mushy. I'm not at all familiar with the mk4 platform.

 

Yup, as Mushy says, you want the S3/TT/LCR/R32 hubs and wishbones.

 

Wonder can you make it work with a 4 stud.

What brakes then to fit under 15s?

 

As long as the bearings are the same size, you can just use 4 stud hubs instead of 5 stud.

 

Superb thread mayor west.
I am sure I have seen your car at GTI International. We were catching up in a MK2 R32. It was not easy though!

For those in the thread who may not be familiar, BC racing on a MK2/3 chassis,have the height adjustable section separate from the the spring loading.
I used this brand on two of my MK2 cars without the solid top adjustable mounts.

The height adjustable strut section, which attaches to the the MK2 hub, screws out of the main strut and from I see in the pictures, the section from a 8N TT/ 8LS3 can be simply retrofitted (BC racing also does a suspension kit for those cars).

My question is, can the 8N/8L height adjustable section be purchased separately from BC racing?

 

Yes I was at GTI International but the car didn't have this set - up fitted then unfortunately. It was the understeer at Inters that made me try this out but tbh the geo was tame really so maybe a few tweaks there could have helped out. But that would be too easy. lol

Do you have any pics of the MK2 R32 to jog my memory?

Yes you can purchase them separately from BC, I think they were around 30 - 35 each. If not then this would have never been tried out as I only fitted the BC's just before GTI International and try to keep this as low budget as possible.