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

Wish I'd thought to weld that plate on the back of the tunnel as I could then have moved the tower closer to the seat- another great idea Nige!!

 

We did mine how Nige has done his, as you say Nick, means you can move the lever back slightly.

 

Thanks mate !

I thought the same, thats why I made the L bracket, hopefully it will make it easier to reach and whilst I was as it, it seemed a good idea and it didnt take long.

 

MUCH cursing and swearing :argue: finally saw the gearbox go it. What a pig that turned out to be Anyway, as I didnt start until late, I`m just happy to have the box in, all mounts refitted and secure. . Sorry, no photos, I was in an angry mood with it and the camera would have ended up a casualty...




Tomorrows job is working out where the heck these cables connect and where the parts in my box of bits that came with the gearbox go



I have had a look and I genuinely have NO IDEA

 

What a day !

First job was to refit the driveshafts, its a crappy job so I did what I think is the best thing and get it dont straight away, no point leaving it, otherwise they just lurk there catching your eye everytime you do something else...

Fitted nearside but the offside would NOT go into place, I just couldnt understand it. After much head scratching I still could not see why it wouldnt go into place. Had a coffee and spotted it immediately !. The steering wheel had been turned to full lock and it had changed the angle of the driveshaft such that it made it very difficult to fit, I turned the wheel the other way and it was a doddle

When torqueing up the spline bolts, the gearbox was turning, I couldnt think how to stop it, then just did the simple thing of wedging on the brake with a bit of wood


OK, let me just line this up, move here and OUCH, bloody hell, that hurt ! hmmm, the engine didnt move...
The flash makes it look like I have little hair.

oh, hang on, there was no flash


Driveshafts torqued up and fitted. yaay

 

Next job was to refit the lower balljoint, this was easy apart from one of the bolts, it had seemed loose when I removed it, but I just thought I`d imagined it, closer inspection showed the thread had stripped !. New nut & bolt required. You can see the stripped one on the right, not suprised it seemed `easy` to remove...


Clutch cable was fitted, dead easy, simply remove the old and fit the replacement. Cable tied to help make it a `smooth` run (you can see the cable ties, I havent cut them off yet to make it easier to see).


That done, it was onto the gearbox cables, reading posts and some lateral thinking was required, it was actually pretty obvious once I started.
Well, I say that, I am assuming I put it together properly
This bracket is fitted using these bolts



Fit this clip to the end of the cable


This bracket next.


hmmm, looks like it goes here, in this groove.


Ah, so this plastic bit goes through the middle of that...


Need to make sure the slot is aligned and just push it into place. I nut is then fitted to position/secure it. I started off in the middle of the slot.


This bolt goes in here, I`ll start with it in the centre, again, its a good starting point.


Now put the OTHER cable over the `post`, fit a nut to secure it.


Thats how it looks when fitted

 

Modified a connector to connect up the reversing lights


Test started the engine and it wouldnt idle, turned out this wire had broken with my work in the area... Resoldered and all was fine.


Next, refit the exhaust, oh deep joy......
I was really struggling to `push` the sections together, the pipe was so misshapen it was very difficul to move it.
I`d had the same problem when removing it too, I`d needed a chisel to remove the sleeved part and it had mangled the metal.
I welded some nuts to the outside at N,E,S,W, these gave me points to aim the hammer/chisel to tap the pipe into place.
I also straightened the mangled part, the nuts worked a treat


The drivers seat had a small tear in it,


to stop it spreading I made a quick repair.


Mounted 2 eyebolts for passenger 6-point harness through floor, same as drivers side with spreader plates.

Alex (Lizard) had suggested a bar between the secondary hoop at floor level to add strength in the event of a side-impact, sounded like a good idea to me

Bar cut, profiled and welded into place


Here you can see the Lower bar, harness bars and rear strut brace. I`ll be respraying the new parts / welds when I`ve finished


Drove it outside, all gears engaged properly, but seem to `grind` a little when engaging, so I think some tweaking of the cables is required.
I`m very happy that I completed this today.

Jobs still to do:
Fab/fit bar over nearside seat linking front / rear hoops.
Fab/fit remaining parts of door X bars
Clean/spray modified cage
remove dash, fit new speedo cable
whilst dash removed, fit new handbrake light as mine has stopped working
refit bucket seats
fit 2x6-point harnesses
degrease engine
refit undertray.
IT WILL BE FINISHED !




well, until I find something else to do....

 

Got loads done today, even though I didnt start until late

First job was to drill the extra hole in the baseplate for the Cage. I unbolted the existing feet-bolts, used a long bar to move the leg to the side and maganed to get a drill in the drill the plate.


Put the foot back, bolted it up properly and fabricated / welded some closure plates


Cut and welded to final part of the X for the door bars. Had to be careful to ensure there was enough clearance so I could still operate the window winder.


Cut off the old plates used for bolting the bar and then cut and profiled the bar that goes over the passengers head, linking the front and rear `hoops`


Repeated the Extra Bolt fitting, closure plate and X bar for the passenger side


Made some closure plates for the rear hoop feet too


Tomorrow I`ll give it all a light rub down with emery paper, then I can paint it. It will look a lot better once thats done

Jobs still to do (tomorrow hopefully !):
DONE Fab/fit bar over nearside seat linking front / rear hoops.
DONE Fab/fit remaining parts of door X bars
Clean/spray modified cage
remove dash, fit new speedo cable
whilst dash removed, fit new handbrake light as mine has stopped working
refit bucket seats
fit 2x6-point harnesses
degrease engine
refit undertray.

 

Good work.

Just to let you know Nige, HuddersfieldVAG meet on the 2nd of March at 1pm. Its at the Cornmill, Brighouse, on the way to Cooper bridge scrappies!
If you want any more detials about it, let me know!

 

Sorry mate, i`m away on the 2nd

 

Well, didnt quite go as plan today, ended up sidetracked on the exhaust AGAIN ! more on that later in the thread....

Job No1. Fit new speedo cable. Hmmm, dash removed but it is still fiddly to get my big hands in there. I needed someone with smaller hands, fortunately my ever willing helper Matthew was on hand to do it for me. He helped me ALL day


When I`d initially drilled the hole through the bulkhead for the gearchange cables, I`d consciously moved them to the nearside to try and miss the exhaust, I`d overdone it and the left hand cable was too tightly bent, which I think was causing the catching gearchange. I drilled another hole to the right and re-routed both cables. I then wrapped the cables with fibreglass matting to stop them chafing.


I then applied silicone sealant and kneaded it into the fibreglass to hold it all in place


The passenger footbrace was fouling the cables.


1 angle grinder later.



I then made an aluminium blanking plate and riveted it over the now redundant first hole. A quick spray and it looked pretty good.


Showing the gearlever and cable routing


Matthew rebolted it into place, being smaller definately helps


Next job was to fit the rear strut bar.

Drilled the holes in the tower


Bolted it up nice and tight, Matthew being outside and holding the nut in place made a hard job easy.


I`d trimmed the wheelarches in Germany last year, but I was still not 100% with them, there was still a `lip` as you can see


5 minutes and the tool of today (angle grinder) saw this.


A quick spray with some black paint to seal it and stop any rust.

 

A popular `mod` is to drill the airbox, however, this also increases noise and as I am trying to ensure I dont fall foul of the very strict limits at Bedford next week, I decided to cover some of them up.

Applied silicone around the holes.


I then cut a piece of plastic to fit and applied it over the holes.


Some gaffer tape held it all in place.


Found another part of the exhaust that was blowing


My first job done from the PIT, it made it SO much easier.


Split the exhaust


Clean with some sandpaper


Nice and clean


Some exhaust cement, new U clip (coated with copperslip grease)


Oh joy of joys. I thought I`d found the leaks, nope the weld was `dripping` moisture when the car was started.


Ground off the old weld


Then rewelded to ensure it was sealed


yaay, sealed.


start it up again, hmmm, whats that noise I can hear. Oh its the exhaust blowing AGAIN

This time, it was leaking from the downpipe, where it joined the manifold. I managed to get the welding torch up close enough to seal it which was NOT easily accessible. Pit the the rescue ! Fortunately is was only a small crack and I was able to seal it



1 SEALED exhaust later, yes thats right, NO LEAKS.
I applied the heatwrap to the downpipe. I doubt I`d be able to do it from axle stands, but the Pit helped.

 

Pit looks good NIge. When does the garage go on top?

Might pop over to Bedford next weekend. Not driving (car's not ready yet), but will take some pics if I do come over.

 

After being told that trimming the wheelarches was a bad idea, I took steps to remedy it this evening with some `plug welding`

Take one rear wheel arch


Remove the cover


Drill hole in OUTER skin only.


remove paint around hole


Start welding from the CENTRE of the hole


Ending up with a plug weld, securing the inner arch to the outer.


Repeat by drilling lots more holes


Plug weld those holes


Check good penetration by the welds ALMOST burning through the inner panel


Grind of the `proud` part of the welds


Smooth the arch


At this point, you would fill and smooth the arch, then spray as normal. As this is a track car, I didnt fill it, just primer and topcoat.

Liberally coat the inside and edge with underseal


Reapply the arch


One weakened arch restrengthened in an hour

I`ll be doing the other side tomorrow evening.

 

As it was late, I thought it best not to start grinding again

Decided a quick spray of the roll cage was a quiet enough job for 9pm

All sprayed, I can put some lacquer on tomorrow, then refit the seats / harnesses.







It definately looks better when painted doesnt it . Oh, and YES I do know there is a bit of overspray and a couple of spots I missed, I got them after I saw the photos

 

good work your doing there,

was researching engine changes on the web stumbled on your pics.

 

Nothing major tonight, just little finishing off bits.

Plug welded the nearside arch


Matthew cleaned the inside of the car, brushed it then cleaned with the vacuum cleaner, then wipe down with damp cloth. GOOD LAD


Lacquered the roll cage


Fabricated a stronger / stiffer camcorder mount and welded it in place. Drilled it so the camera can face forwards or rearwards. I`ll be placing some rubber between the plate / camcorder to reduce vibrations.






Fitted the roll cage padding, then the drivers seat and new 3" 6point harness


Tomorrow I hope to fit the passenger seat / harness, undertray, trim front offside wheel arch, fit A032 to front, go for a test drive with the new gearbox (I havent driven it since I fitted it yet ) and then I think/hope its ready for Bedford on Friday !

 

amazing build, just read through the whole thing.
i cant wait to start a project after readin it.

keep up the excellent work

 

Success, its FINISHED

Went for a test drive, all OK, 3rd is notchy to engage, but it goes very well. Wheelspin at any speed in 2nd, thats the A032`s at -2 Degrees !!! They dont work.....

What did I do today? well, not a lot really...

Fit the front drivers side wheels after grinding the arch

Refitted the undertray


Refitted passenger seat and 6-point harness




I even refit the accelerator aluminium pedal from the Green golf


Thats it. Bulletcam to fit tomorrow, but apart from packing my tools, spare wheels and loading it for Bedford, thats all.

I`m rather pleased.

 

What an awesome thread!

Dan