Possibly Pirelli P6's? Very similar tread if not, brings back memories... the go to tyre, back when I'd my first GTI.
Mentioned elsewhere that I'd picked up a VDO tacho, appealed because it was from the same range as the others already in the MK2. Plan is, also like the MK2 to have it in the MK1's engine bay, to help when doing the emissions / using the Gunson. Got me looking again at the MK1's alternator, to check if it had a 'W' terminal for ease of wiring it up, but unfortunately not. Had previously cleaned the alternator up, didn't take much as it was an almost new factory exchange unit the previous owner had fitted... had probably next to no use judging from the few hundred miles the car had covered before I got it, then it's been laid up more or less ever since. It's also a 65A as opposed to the original which was likely 55A, so all in all definitely worth retaining. Got me looking to see if there was any way of adapting it to run the tacho and found this old 2009 thread on an Australian forum - all credit then to its authour 'hilo' if you ever stumble on this post. https://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f28/how-tachofy-your-mk-1-diesel-31515.html To do the mod meant taking it apart so it got a further tidy up / paint while I was at it. Interesting to see the various manufacturing dates, Bosch must disassemble incoming alternators and split them up into what's salvagable. The outer casing of this one is 1978, but the main innards span from 1995 /97 and 98. The entire reconditioned unit has been stamped 868 tying it down to August 1998. (Ignore the blue Bosch / VW sticker and its numbers, it's repro for show and refers to a later MK2 item) Anyhow, 'hilo' explains it all very well, no need for me to repeat things other than to add some piccies. Afraid my soldering is more like welding, but it's not going to come apart anytime soon!
Was moving some stuff about last week and came upon the original front number plate plinth. It'd been through the rust bath a while back, and although perfectly servicible (and even if none of them would be seen when a plate was fitted), it'd a few corrosion holes that would always annoy me knowing they were there. Genuine one is made of approx. 1.0mm steel, with the pressed in profile giving it some rigidity, but it can still be flexed relatively easily. Had to compensate for not being able to replicate the strengthening and instead used 1.5mm sheet, with the uprights being of 3.0mm. Small steps, but meant I got to use the spot welder and some of the larger cutters / folders fabricatiing the different bits. Wracking my brain to think of some other small'ish bits'n'pieces I could have a stab at making before the course ends.
Was reading up on a few articles Toyotec and RJ had written about the advantages of using certain MK3 Golf starters on MK1/2's and why. As I'm trying to keep whatever's done to the car within period where possible (ie. mods / tuning from in and around the early to mid 1980's), sensible as using a MK3 starter is, it didn't fit the bill for me. If you've read any of what's gone before you'll see the car's to have a 1900 8v fitted with associated items such as 276 cam / porting / likely Kjet tweaking etc. etc. so it should have quite an increase in power over the original 112 of the factory 1.8 DX. Something Toyotec touched on was 'Starter Kickback' and how the MK3's planetary gearing combats it on tuned engines, particularly those with much advanced timing, which mine may end up having. Don't know if my new engine'll suffer it, still not fitted, but thought I'd try to eliminate any liklihood before it can potentially happen. Picked up a MK1 1.6 diesel starter (made in 1982 according to the Bosch markings) that ups the standard starters 0.9 to 1.7 KW. Big bruiser of a thing when you see it next to the existing one, runs perfectly, but currently giving it the once over regardless / new bushes etc. on order. The guy selling it was listing other bits'n'bobs that may have been from whatever car the starter originated, one of which was a flywheel. Got me looking at these yet again. Had already got the original one very lightly breathed on (down from 5.1 to 4.35 kg), but going to hopefully get Hotgolf to do the job correctly, with facing / balancing etc. on another. And this is the other below - same part number as the original (027 105 273), but you'll maybe see there's no dot where you'd expect TDC highlighted, instead it's replaced by a solitary diamond (which is used to show 6 deg BTDC on the petrol engined original). It comes in at 5.1 kg (as did the original before lightening). It must be pretty well balanced already, there's just the one shallow drill spot to take away material whereas the original had about 6 or 7 deeper ones scattered about. Just curiosity, but confirms it's originally from a diesel?
Lightened flywheel's on it's way back... Mart kindly posted an image in advance, should really be hanging it on my wall and not hiding it away in the gearbox!
Fly wheel's here though it'll likely be a while before it's needed. Engraved on the new weight for the benefit of whoever might be back in there sometime in the distant future. Haven't painted it, that's a couple of coats of 'Kurust'... looks a little shiney in the images, but in reality it leaves a satin, almost passivated look, plus prevents corrosion. New brushes and solenoid got for the diesel starter. EBay image of the 'before' - Original solenoid still works fine, will act as a spare, but the brushes needed done and are replaced together in a single holder. Surprisingly you can get both new from a company in Poland called AS-PL, I used one of their brush replacement units when refurbing the MK2's starter and they seem very good quality. Wouldn't have hesitated getting theirs again this time round but found some genuine Bosch ones in Germany for much the same money. Makes the standard starter look minuscule, it's just bigger all over... length, girth and weight. Solenoids are the same physical size, but theres some differences to the mechanism... I'm wonderng is it more powerful too, maybe heavier duty windings?
Have been concentrating on the bits that'll hopefully make the car go a bit better, so thought it was about time to look at those that'll improve the stopping too. Overarching theme is still to try and keep things relatively period to the 1980's, but equally that's not written in stone either. A long time ago RJ mentioned a TSR brake conversion and it must've sown a seed. Plan is to go down the 285mm disc / standard caliper route with a 9" servo thrown in, but keeping a (later) 20.6 master cylinder. You'll likely not remember, but I'd picked up an (at that time unknown) Ate MC that turned out to be an alloy / 4x outlet version of the standard iron / 2x outlet MK2 20.6mm one, so was half way there already. Since got a matching 9" servo / reservoir (coincidentially date marked 1986 which for me is bang on date wise). And spotted the very similar looking alloy / 4x outlet Ate pictured below, that's to 22.2mm. For less than £20 quid took a punt on it and dimension / spec. wise it's the perfect match of the MK2 16v equivalent, save for the 4x outlets effectively being on the same side. Having said that and from what I can make out looking at inter-web images (the car's still an engineless shell) that's probably a potential bonus on a MK1 as it appears to be the area where the most space will be for the pipe work if staying 8v. The 22.2 MC's redundant in the planned set up, the calipers'll be remaining standard size, but it gives scope for other brake options if that arises in the future. So... all still very much open to change and subject to me sorting out caliper adapter brackets / custom discs, but there's a cunning plan!
Been reading up on brakes and found the schematic shown below, plus various other references elsewhere to the filter I've highlighted in red. The 9" servo in the previous post, destined for the MK1, is the third I've found (Isaac the MK2's and the original MK1's being the others) with that filter completely degraded. Probably not such a big deal if they'd just crumbled to dust, obviously would no longer prevent debris getting into the servo (likely not good in the long term), but at least air still would. Problem is they'd instead morphed into a sticky mess that'd become matted with fluff and dirt... all combined it must've been dramatically reducing air flow in and out and by implication the correct working of the servo itself. The latest servo has a black ring you can remove to access / replace the filter, Isaacs was an enclosed single unit and the MK1 original has a fixed / crimped on metal version. Easy to make up a replacement filter from open cell foam and regardless of servo type it'll compress / push in (after the clevis is undone) whether or not you have a removable ring.
A page back, in an earlier post, you'll see I got a 'Sayner Works' lower front brace. Unfortunately at the time he didn't do an upper one for standard cars (because of the factory positioning of the expansion tank). He's very kindly agreed to make one specially and it's looking likely it'll be here soon. This is a piccie of the latest batch from his Facebook page, before going off for powder coating... the lone, odd strut second from the right could just be it!
Already made a weighted shifter rod (along with other mods to allow for ball sockets throughout in place of the plastic bushes) for the MK2. All have turned out to be genuinely worthwhile improvements so now doing the same thing for the MK1...
Seems wrong getting excited about a strut brace, but I've soooo been looking forward to getting this and (not unexpectedly) it hasn't disappointed...
If you've been in the market for these you may have seen the Hungarian seller on eBay? Can't yet fit them, but based on appearances / feel, they're very good quality and certainly the equal of the originals. Not cheap for what they are, but at least they're available once again.
Finished off the weighted rod and connecting pieces. The replacements for the remaining two standard plastic socketed rods I'll make up in a day or two, hopefully along with a metal ball to replace the rubber original. Can't find the Neuspeed stickers I'd made for the throttle body adapter plate, would've finished things off, will just have to wait 'till they turn up!
Didn't get the metal ball for the arm done, just the remaining 2 x rods, so not quite there yet. Took a leaf out of Missinglinkz book and used completely threaded bar this time, instead of trying to cut sections into the ends of plain rod, sheathing any exposed portions in black shrink wrap.
Jury's out on this... while the MK1 set up might look very similar to the MK2s (for which the metal ball is a common improvement) the rubber ball pictured here acts quite differently within the linkage as a whole. I'm going to have to wait until everything is back in place to properly visualise the relationship between all the different parts, though I already suspect the metal on metal contact in these circumstances might be damaging to the upright bracket the ball / arm fits into. It's not so much slackness that's the issue to be overcome, it's more the effects of heat on the rubber ball, which deforms it over time from the closeness of the exhaust manifold.
Jumping the gun a bit (and probably tempting fate into the bargain!) ... but have just moved a step closer to re-creating the TSR big (285mm) brake conversion with these new caliper adapters. Got a set of genuine 270mm disc caliper adapters (also pictured) a while back, to use as templates. The discs themselves (should say that solitary one in the image, that's a lone prototype at the minute), has shown that aspect's also doable. https://web.archive.org/web/19980704000725/http://www.tsr-performance.com/
Test bracket and 285mm disc mocked up beside the standard 239mm arrangement. Everything works as it should on the bench, but unfortunately it'll be a while before it can be properly fitted to a running car... that'll be the real litmus test. Not pictured, but have also had it in various 15" rims, again no clearance issues... infact everything basically mirrors the smaller disc/caliper factory spacings, nothing is being taken to any extremes. TSR really did think this set up through.
All done... there'll be a few sets of spare discs in the end, will allow for wear and tear (unlikely with the mileages I'll be doing) or any unforeseen mishaps in the future. As touched on before, I'd a set of original 270mm disc adapters to use as a reference and while useful, not necessarily needed to replicate the 285mm version. The night class instructer was able calculate and run up a CAD programme, which took the trial and error out of doing it without a milling machine. The discs are, as documented elsewhere, Rover 800/Honda Legend items, but the bigger 285mm version that's from some of the top end models... there's also a standard 262mm disc on lesser cars. To complcate it a bit more there's a 282mm version of the 285mm disc, sounds odd, but depending on the manufacturer, you may get one or the other unless you check in advance. Apparently both are correctly specified and each will fit the car they're intend for, must be something to do with the position of the pads within the caliper perhaps, that allows for the variation without any overhang? However for my purposes the 285mm is essential, one to watch for. New bolts all round, you could use the original VW flanged ones, but in for a penny and all that. I had read some references that the pads would need taken down too, but so far in my mock up they fit perfectly. So in summary... the adapters are bespoke, but the discs (for the 285mm version) are existing Rover/Honda items that have had the center bore enlarged and a new PCD drilled. If you were going for the smaller 270mm set up, it'd actually be more work insofar as you're still using the same 285mm Rover/Honda disc and would have the added job of turning the diameter down to size too... but other than that, that's the TSR kit.
