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

Not a lot happening at the moment, I`ve only got a couple of hours a day, so I`ve had to prioritise what I can reasonably expect to get completed. Today I tackled the most important on the list, the radiator and high temps..

Original radiator


I sourced a new radiator from a local radiator specialist for 72, brand new, I`m pretty pleased with that and its about the same size as I had on the green golf, which didnt suffer from any overheating / running hot issues...

New radiator next to old one


I only had time to temporarily fit the new radiator and make sure it fitted and the pipes lined up. I had to drill a new mounting hole in the lower front support, I`ll make a couple of aluminium brackets to hold the top to the slam panel and fit the fan tomorrow. I dont think I`ll get time to fit 2 fans, so I will manage with one for the summer. I know a lot of people have smaller radiators and one fan, so i`m confident I`ll have no cooling issues.

it fills the space nicely :thumb:


I noticed when I took the car out today that once i`d braked a few times and the brakes were warming up, the fronts were catching ever so slightly, I can hear them if I wind the window down, and drive very slowly. I am certain this is due to the adjustment of the brake pedal lever that presses the master cylinder piston. I just connected it up and havent fine tuned it yet. I think a full turn to back it off will do the trick, i`ll do that tomorrow after i`ve fitted the radiator properly and mounted the fan.

I ordered a couple of sets of front / rear brake pads too. I wanted a spare set to have in the car and ordered 2 different compounds whilst I was on the phone. I`ll test them if its dry at the weekend and report back what I think.

I was not sure what to use on the floor in the cabin. I am eventually going to fit something like the aluminium checker plate but I wanted something to stop my feet slipping. I found some ROCOL Safe Step spray, its an opaque spray that dries leaving a texture similar to the effect you`d get if you put varnish mixed with fine sand down. Nice and gritty and stopped my feet slipping :thumb: Dont know how long it will last, but I can respray the area that wears off if necessary. I have some grey non-slip paint, but i`m saving that to paint on the checker plate when I fit that (I think...)

 

Fabricated some mounts for the radiator and fan :thumb:


Tried to open the bonnet and it wouldnt open, had a look and saw the cable had popped out of the slot


Some gaffer tape and a securing cable tie did the trick


I`d noticed the oil temp on the MFA had stopped working. a 15 second diagnosis was all that was required


refitted the connection and all was well again :thumb:


The oil breather pipe from the engine goes into the airbox


A popular mod that people seem to do is fit an oil catch tank, so any oil that is blown down the pipe is collected, rather than going back to be reburned in the engine.
Simply find a suitable plastic bottle, remove the pipe from the airbox and fit to the top of the bottle. Make some holes in the bottle to allow it to breathe and secure the pipe into the bottle neck. Ensure you block the inlet to the airbox where the pipe used to go...


To ensure no oil sprayed out of the vent holes, I placed some oil absorbent matting over the top as a filter


Then place the bottle in a suitable place that is secure and I then cable tied it into place


I KNOW it is in the air intake, but the previous owner of the engine drilled so many holes in the sides and bottom of the airbox, its like a piece of swiss cheese and putting the bottle there wont make the slightest bit of difference to the total ait allowed in !

 

The front nearside brake was still catching, so I removed the carrier and filed down the contact points slightly in case the pad was not sliding freely


It made no difference, I was still getting the front left sticking and getting hot, that meant that when I braked hard, that pad was already at full temp and was braking better than the drivers front, causing me to not brake in a straight line That combined with the rears still locking under extreme braking meant for zero confidence in my brakes

Thought I had better take a look, removed the front caliper, blocked the fluid inlet with a bit of old brake pipe with the end bashed flat. Used a footpump via the bleed nipple to push the piston out of the cylinder, the hammer handle is to stop the piston shooting out.


piston removed from caliper


its in pretty good condition, but had a couple of `nicks`. I`ve had them much worse, so was a little suprised how clean this looked !


polished it with some fine wire wool


fitted the new bore seal


after fitting the dust seal carefully push the cylinder squarely into the bore


Used the opportunity to fit the new bluestuff pads


did the rears at the same time, used the caliper rewind tool to push the cylinder back


New rear pads fitted


Bled the brakes and went for a short run to bed them in. Didnt have time to let them cool and then brake hard to see if the `pulling` had gone, will have to wait until tomorrow !! Thats cutting it fine, but I cant do anything else, I`m off to work now and its been a rush as it is ... Did NOT want to be doing stuff like this today

 

Top work !!! liking the rebuild thread

 

A 6am update

Cracking job mate. I would love to have the time to be able to do somthing like this!

Fingers crossed for the brakes!

 

yeh, me too

Cant do anything else now, i`m just washing it, packing it and then when the kids get home from school, we are off !! the next update will probably be when I return from the ring....

Glad you enjoyed the rebuild

 

You may remember the bumper was not exactly `black`...Louise applied some superb cheap back to black substitute


The finished result



And the front for comparison. I have only washed it, not had time to give it a coat of polish. I think it looks pretty good now. I`ll be fitting the `missing` strip at the bottom of the grille when I see steph in Germany.



I bled the brakes, the pedal feels quite `low` when they are cold, but when warm it seems OK, so I`ll see how that goes.

I`m loading the car now and we are leaving in 2 hours. Hopefully the next photos in this thread are of the golf on the ring.

 

Gd thread enjoyed reading that, and lots of nice tech tips in there, good luck with the trip, im off in a few weeks cant wait!

 

Got the whole family involved. Brilliant thread!

 

Quick report, more later, but the Golf survived the trip without a single issue

 

glad to see you didnt stack this one!

 

me too

 

Great work. Your car looks pretty similar to mine (except yours is stripped out). What spec is your engine, and what sort of times are you getting round the ring?

Also, do you know what spring rates are in your coilies?

Finally, can I borrow your service crew

 

Engine is 2.0 16V ABF with KR Cams, otherwise its standard. Times, well, I dont really time anymore, but mid 9`s. The car is capable of more, but after my experience with my last MK2, i`m taking it steadier....

I THINK the rates are 280 / 230 ? I may be talking rubbish, I am not sure . I do know they are compliant enough for the ring, which is what I wanted.

service crew, lol, nah, sorry, they`ve had enough.

 

Nice one, so on Kjet, that'll be putting out 160-ish, depending on whose rolling road you believe

I guess the ring is too bumpy for full race springs (haven't been, yet) - I was recently recommenced to go for 350 fronts and 450-500 rears, but that would make it pretty skittish on a bumpy surface I'd think.

 

Good stuff, KUTGW.

 

The ring is too bumpy for proper race springs (well for me anyway), i needed something softer and I am pretty sure thats what my rates are.

If the car was left in the UK for UK trackdays, I`d have gone stiffer.

 

Great thread, top tips and pics!
Almost as good as being there and watching!

memories of fitting windscreens with twine there!

It's looking mint!

 

Small update from my recent ring trip....

The car was running well, I was giving a friend a passenger lap, was braking for a long right hand section when the rear went very loose and moved all over the place Was a scary moment, looked in the mirror and saw clouds of smoke ! I pulled over and looked and thought the rear brake had locked on or something, but it seemed OK. A quick look and I realised the rear O/S wheel bearing had collapsed ! It was fine on the previous corners, no rumbling at all, just a sudden failure. I`m still at a loss as to why.

Anyway, drove off carefully and parked up in a carpark.

Ordered a new Stub Axle and wheel bearing from a local motor factors. I removed the bearing cover and found the bearing had fallen apart and the only thing holding the wheel onto the car was a split pin !!!!! As I was unable to move it in this state, I had to repair it in Lidl carpark.


The old wheel bearing was is a pretty bad state..


Collected the new stub axle, but it did not come with the required nut and washer. Didnt think it would be a problem, and so I just popped onto the local VW dealer. Unfortunately they only had the washer in stock, no hub nut or axle mounting bolts!! The guy was very helpful and looked on the computer to find the nearest dealer with the items in stock. Fortunately for me, it was 35 miles away in Bad Neuenahr! So I made an hour and a half round trip to buy 2.52 worth of bolts and a nut.

I thought it worth the journey as they are required to fasten the wheel to the car?!

After speaking with Steph, it was decided the only way I would remove the 4 stub axle mounting bolts would be with a socket, hammer, long bar and lots of heat. The trip to the hardware store in Adeneau was required to buy a blow torch.

Removal went surprisingly well after hammering on the smaller socket, then heating each hub and bolt for around 5 minutes. I was then able to loosen every one.



I completed the repairs at around 2pm, after having lunch in the Sports bar.



Did a half lap, then jacked up the wheel to check everything was OK. Nothing was loose so I did another 2 back to back laps and checked it again. No problems for the rest of the weekend

I was finding the rear was settled but `skittish`. Spoke to several local owners of MK2 Golfs and a guy who raced them in the VLN and they ALL ran with no rear ARB, saying it helped the rear cope with the bumpy circuit. I decided it was worth a try, so removed the rear ARB. On my first lap, the rear felt sluggish and slow to respond, as if the shockers were worn, so I added 3 clicks of rear firmness and 2 at the front and the car felt much better. I still feel as if the rear isnt as `sharp` as before, but it feels much more secure and friends following say there is a noticeable difference between how the rear was, when the inside wheel lifted often and how it looks much more securely planted and rarely lifts the inner wheel. I shall be refitting the ARB for Cadwell in November, but whilst its as the ring, i`ll leave it off.

A couple of photos of the car on track.

 

I use Virtual Cup which is a data logging program for the PDA. I can leave it running and examine my sector times afterwards, which can help show which sectors I lose time some laps and which sectors I am consistent in.

All weekend, I had left Virtual Cup back at the campsite. I was having enough fun without the software running. Once the crowds had thinned, I put it in the Golf and left it running. My previous best on the Stag weekend was 9:33. On Monday, I set a 9:30, which I was really pleased with, the next lap was a 09:26. Both of these were set with roadworks round the entire karussel, so I was really pleased. I had passengers in both times and wasnt actually going for a lap, I was just trying to get the lines right.

Tuesday evening and I set a 9:26, again with roadworks. I decided to leave the PDA at the campsite on Wednesday, I was concious that after going faster 2 days in a row, I would be tempted to try and go quicker, which usually ends up in an off..

Thursday and I put the PDA in the glovebox, did a few laps and asked Matty to look at the time, it showed a 9:18 ! my quickest ever lap, I had Dale behind in his MX5 and we`d just had a good lap, but I didnt think it spectacular. The last lap was my last of the holiday, so I was very aware of tales of woe from people having `one more lap`. I took Matthew with me and told him i`d talk round the whole track, to vocalise my thoughts about the braking, gearchanges and turning. I did this and it kept me `calmer`, if thats the right word. I know it kept my concentration up and stopped me really `going for it`. To say I was suprised to see a 9:03 on the PDA at the end of the lap would be an understatement !

Unfortunately, Virtual Cup decided to freeze and wouldnt store the trace which was very annoying. I managed to take this photo of the screen, but would have liked to see the trace compared to my other laps to see where I was so much faster than before.


The Tyres had done 5 laps on the bounce in hot weather and were starting to feel the heat...