Wow this has had a lot of work since I last saw it. Top work mate. How's the schedule running. When you back out with it.
Thanks for the comments - keeps me motivated! Mike - I'd like the dry build done by the end of summer, so I can get everything stripped down and in paint over winter I guess. I've got another track mule (Volvo T4) to keep me entertained in the meantime
Cheers gents! Fuel cell now installed- looks like 4 bits of angle iron (cause it is...) but there's a fair amount of work behind it! As you can see from the first photo, the panel under the rear seat isn't flat: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Which means I'd have to break out the year 9 maths book, and get jiggy with some trigonometry. First though, this arrived: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Double bevel model, so compound mitres are possible (used for this job) and I can swap the blade for a stainless one for my exhaust system So, I started with the two easy angles, the front and rear- decided to pop rivet the aluminium case to the steel as I couldn't access the rear for bolts. Onwards with the marking, centre punching and drilling! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Fairly typical workbench shot... With that done I moved onto the side which require a compound mitre cut: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr And that ends up looking something like this: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr A quick trim of the sharp edges and a zip round with the welder: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then dropped it in and got my weld on: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr And made a plate for the front gap: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr A lick of etch prime: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr And then a test fit: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Job jobbed: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I'll work out the fuel filler, internal pumps and fuel lines at a later date, plan is to move onto the handbrake, exhaust, and heatshield. Cheers Pete
Not had much time on this recently as I've been busy at weekends with weddings, holidays and Le Mans- finally got back on it this weekend, managed to get the exhaust mounts done, cut and tack the exhaust system, put a big hole in the side for it to stick out, and bend the handbrake cables and make the mounts for them. So, exhaust mounts from a T3 Transporter, brackets start as 5 pieces of flat sheet, welded together with captive nuts: [/url]Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr[/img] Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Handbrake cables from the Seat were annealed and then bent into shape, they're slightly too long for the Polo, so I couldn't sit them tight against the body, but they clear everything, and no one will ever see them! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Next up was the exhaust, I wanted 3" pipe and a side exit, to allow some rear axle mods, and a flat floor, 3" is fairly big for a modest Polo tunnel, but with some chopping of various brackets, and lack of gearlinkage, it goes! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Silencer is Simons- seems fairly good quality, a crimped housing rather than welded, but had steel wadding, instead of fibreglass (which always degrades after a few years), hoping it will still pass noise limits, being a turbo it's fairy muted at no load anyway- I just about have space to put and additional one in the middle of the tunnel, if required. Next up is bending the hangers, then onto the TIG to weld 'er up! ;D Cheers Pete
Hangers all complete and tacked into place: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr To remove the exhaust or change a hanger, remove the two M8 bolts, and take a split pin out, no wrestling with rubbers! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Left it all looking something like this: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for the tailpipe, I've got a straight exit and a slash cut, slash cut is winning currently, looks very similar to this... given the origins of the tube that's not too surprising: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Because racecar etc. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Next up is plating the inner panels together (all 3 of them) which requires a few paper templates and some zintec steel, proper pain in the **** to do, but vital! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr All for now, currently scratching my head regarding rear axle, and mulling over pedal boxes and steering columns. Cheers Pete
Only 1 small silencer, be interesting to see what noise reading you get. I can`t quite visualise the skirts you`ll have, unless you are going to cut down the jacking tube to suit, the exhaust pipe looks like it`ll be too short which I can`t see being the case with all the work you`ve put into it. ?
Indeed - I have *some* space upfront for an additional silencer, previous setup with a single back box was fine (although this silencer is smaller!) Skirts will be bespoke, but the tailpipe is designed to be slot in for this reason I think the sill stand receivers will be cut shorter, but played it safe and left them long until I've designed the side skirt Cheers Pete
So next on the list of things to do was look at the rear axle- I plan on stepping up a slick size again, and had slight concerns about how floppy a standard Polo rear axle was. Que some inspiration from works VW Golfs: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr So, fire up the kettle and solidworks, a few days later some laser cut pieces arrived (I have spares if anyone wants) : Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I also ordered some ERW tube and a few inserts from McGill Motorsport - good service and well priced rose joints: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr So, onwards with welding things up, first up the base plate for everything to sit on: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Then tack up the 4 side plates (hole will become obvious later) Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Mock-up of the centre mount: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then tacked the insert and tube together: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Then a quick tack to the base plate, and mount the stub axle to make sure everything clears: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then etch primed the inside of the turret, and welded them both on: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Same for the centre mount: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Then it was time to strip it back, clean, etch prime and assemble: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Holes obviously for the handbrake cables to pass through: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr And finished with some rubbers over the rose joints and plastic finishers over the nuts: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr So, that's some VAG parts bin raiding; Seat 2007 Stub Axles, Discs & Calipers, Lupo GTi Stub Axle spacers, Polo GT/G40 Axle, and Mk3 Golf Kit Car style toe bars. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr All for now! Cheers Pete
Update time, almost finished the exhaust heat shield, just have to do around the backbox now. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Whilst I was waiting for more heatshield material to arrive, I cracked on with a few more bits... Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I debated a few other pedal boxes, but decided to go with Tilton, as they're proven and I don't want to skimp on brakes! I cut and tacked a dash bar in, as I don't intend on running a heater or dash anymore (heated windscreen planned) and then spent ages with blocks of wood getting the position right. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr I then spent an untold amount of time getting two bars perfectly level and parallel. This is key to the install so the pedal box frame is loaded evenly. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr After that, time to move onto EPAS. Ever since fitting a plate diff and slicks, I'd wanted to fit power steering - on tight tracks like Curby and bits of Blyton, it's hard to whirl the wheel quickly enough. So something which is can be retro fitted and configured to suit my needs appealed. As with all things, it's far more involved than the pictures show, but I wanted to use as much of the GM column as possible, including the collapsible section and the control stalks. Also means if something breaks, I can swap the column out for another 50 eBay one, rather than worry about making more bespoke parts. I fabricated and tacked together some CDS, and then tacked it to the dash bar... I got it right third time! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr The two pickup points nearest in the photo are nylon, so in an impact the column can compress - hopefully this doesn't happen, but it's now safer than the standard Polo one! Good blast round with the welder: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr A lick of etch prime to finish off: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr The final piece was connecting two lower parts of the columns together. Luckily the Polo one fits inside the Corsa one with a minor fettle, unfortunately I snapped a drill bit in them tonight as I was drilling a hole for a 6mm pin, fairly standard practice to seam weld and pin these, so if the weld fails, there's still a mechanical link in the system. New part from eBay on the way to me currently, so I'll do that next week. Looks like this, before I broke it: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr All for now, cheers!
Cheers With the 085 transmission, I've used both styles of diff (Gripper Plate and Quaife) - the Plate diff performed better on track undoubtedly, but would break CV joints. I fitted the Quaife to try and mitigate this, but it still broke CV joints (and gears..) I then made an adapter plate for the 02J - and ran that last year on the road and a few track events, but this was with an open diff, hence the smoke screen at Curby! My plan now is to use an 02M with a more equal length shaft, and bigger CV joints all round, and revert back to a plate diff. Although I really do need to learn to drive it again first! Cheers Pete
Makes sense. My thoughts on the plate diff mirror TonyB`s experience but agree they are more suited to track use. For your info and hopefully peace of mind, I run an 02J with Plate diff with MK3 VR6 driveshafts, MK2 / 3 inner and MK3 VR6 outer CV`s and on slicks on a sticky track I could up the boost to 1.1Bar and they didn`t break
You have much more interesting work going on the car, but I like the time and method employed to protect the underside from exhaust heat. Looks pretty OEM like Makes sense. Now I understand your recent request for part numbers on FB I think it was.
Some minor bits finished off with the pedal box now, bias adjuster bracket welded on, and the brake & clutch fluid reservoir mounted. Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Obviously the battery tray will no longer house the battery, but this will still act as the rain runoff to the inner wing, so three large holes would allow water in, I wasn't convinced standard grommets were up to the job, so got some IP68 rated cable glands: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr These are obviously waterproof, and seal nicely around the fluid feeds to the master cylinders. I'll add a smear of silicone once it's painted to make sure my feet stay dry! Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Next up was sorting the floor, and raising it up so my heels can rest on something. Couple of sheets of ally cut to size: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Then covered in skateboard grip tape & button head fasteners: Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Finished article with bias adjuster tucked in the corner of the cage, I can reach it from the drivers seat (just): Untitled by Peter Strange, on Flickr Some more heatshield has arrived to finish off the underside, and I can then crack on with the floor/splitter/skirts and diffuser... after that it's onto the engine bay. Cheers Pete
