Ex-VW Cup Mk1 Golf GTI

[Chris Eyre]

Time to start a proper thread on the ex-VW Cup Mk1 then, since the old thread was a bit of a cack handed affair which had got left, due to me being on a mission to get the car to the ‘Ring.

I finally got it running in the near ‘end’ spec last Saturday much to my relief. It went from first ever engine garage start up to the Edition 38 show, which I fancied getting along to, both to get the car out and get some reliability on it and also to go to a great show.

Here it is on Sunday with the CGTI Derby cars at Edition 38 (thanks to D.O.D. for the photo):



It didn’t quite make it to the ‘Ring, but the ‘mission’ ensured that the car was turned around from its VW Cup spec to the current spec in the space of 4 months, with some chunky hours in there - not bad progress for what’s been done to it.

It’s got quite a history which took some reaserch – Stock Hatch use, then bought by the creator of the VW Cup, Alan Sawyer along with Ken Lark and Brian Challenger, with Ken Lark also part of it too - raced during 2000 by Sam Roach, now boss of the VW Cup. This was how it looked around 2000:



Then it was sold and the Carvell brothers won back to back VW Cup championships (2002 & 2003).

On pole at race 1 in 2003, at Rockingham. Two wins that weekend and, later the championship:



For the 2004 season, the car was then sold as rolling shell to Claire Tippet, minus the engine and Gemini 020 gearbox which were moved across to the new-build Carvell Scirocco.

Claire put an older Slick 50 motor in it and later a fully built 2 litre on carbs for the VW Cup, but the pace of the car dropped significantly in 2004/5, partly due to the engine not being as high spec, the gearbox being a standard one with a Quaife, rather than the epic Carvell Gemini unit, but Claire still posted a seriously respectable 1m 22.5s lap on the benchmark Castle Combe, in June 2005.

This fantastic picture is Claire Tippet at Thruxton, in 2004:



The car was painted white/blue to fit ATMR colours at the end of 2004, but it is the same shell ie previously black.

Claire signed off it’s racing chapter to date with the Birkett Relay race at Silverstone in October 2005:





I bought it in Dec 2006, and initially just set about getting it road legal again - it has full documents and is on the original shell.

Safely ‘home’:





De-stickered and MOT'd by mid April 2007:











….after which it was piecemeal dismantled for an engine and gearbox transplant, plus conversion to hydraulic clutch, full size fuel tank, different brakes - the list is endless.

[Chris Eyre]

Going back a step or three, the story on the collection of parts for this car starts a very looong time ago at Castle Combe in October 2000, at the VW Driver Track Day. Maurice Reeves had very kindly and very trustingly offered me his now-legendary Mk1 Golf for the day, whilst he used his black 1.8T then-sequential Mk2.

A entire day's sessions driving a beauty of a 16V engine changed my perspective, and by total accident, became the ultimate test drive:



Two months later, itching to put a 16V in my old Jetta, I gave Maurice a call - and by chance the engine was for sale. A known quantity, it was a no-brainer, and the deal was done in the same conversation.

It came out of the Reeves Mk1 in Dec 2000, and was put in my old Jetta and an enormous amount of fun was had from 2001-2003. Here it is, sleeping on the street where it lived 24/7. Over 200 brake in a plain red wrapper, I must have been mad :



And here it is en-route to FTD at Blyton, Oct 2002, complete with blowing downpipe for those that remember the noise (pic: vrbanana).



Massive amounts of fun, frightening all sorts of exotica, with 9th out of 75 cars at Howfast 2002 event being the highlight… (as the Reeves Mk1 knocked Tiff Needell of his perch with its new-found 1.8T power).



... until it blew up...



But after far too long on the shelf, the engine has now been put back together:



It does have an oil cooler now btw!

Hanging on the end there is one of the eBay gems, previously posted on the porn thread - an AP works basket clutch and matching 2.5kg works flywheel, picked up for a ridiculously small sum off eBay

Here’s the engine in the Reeves Mk1 back in Dec 2000, just before removal:



Here’s the engine in the Jetta back in 2002 (pic: vrbanana)



… and here it is now in the Golf:



Spot the difference!

The rest of DNA on this car is a varied mix: Carvell rolling shell effectively, ex-Reeves 16V engine and ex-Larry Edwards/Reeves Gemini 6-speed gearbox. Various other parts were used to weave it all together, mainly being what was originally an Autocavan modified pedal box, now remanufactured / sourced via Martin (previously Mickey Marrows) on Edition 38, plus a load of parts from the old Jetta, and a couple of real eBay gems along the way.

I took pics all the way along, so I’ll keep adding to the thread, and put up some weight saving ideas I've yet to see elsewhere – though I reckon Pol will have had most, if not all of them!

If anyone does have more pics, history etc on the car, do get in touch. I have most of the VW Cup official pictures from 2004 onwards, with some from 2002 & 3, and also the pics off Claire’s old website.

[vrbanana]

Love it, can’t wait to see it on the track. Guessing it will be at Donny later in the year for a season end track day.

Not quite the wolf in sheep’s clothing the Jetta was

[NormanCoal]

Really glad you have 'finished' it Chris, its been a long time since the Jetta was last out (Donny I recall??)

Be good to see it out later on in the year

(you got a pax seat in it btw?)

[Jonny777]

I actually saw your car at Edition, Chris.
Thought it looked the business.
But i wasnt sure what was under the bonnet.

Now i know! That must be a bloody rocket!
What is the actual specs of the engine?

[pol]

about time! that paint scheme isn't to bad now it's been de-stickerd. it would look pretty good with a white tailgate on it.

Originally Posted by Chris Eyre

put up some weight saving ideas I've yet to see elsewhere – though I reckon Pol will have had most, if not all of them!

theres a few things i could have done. holesaw the inner rear 3/4 panels, cut out the front inner wings and replace with alloy sheet, alloy panel the front valance and headlight area (last 2 are stolen ideas from jelly!) the only other thing i could have done was to remove the cross braces in the floor, i decided to keep them to help save the floor/shell in event of a side impact.

plastic headlight lenses and plastic windscreen were the only other things that have been mentioned which could be done for sensible(ish) cash!!

[sparrow]

Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh Chris.

[gillm]

liking that alot

[altern8]

cracking pics, good to see the dirt hasnt moved from the rocker and cam belt cover

[dan-ish]

LOL i'm suprised you didn't get camra flash back of my head in that first pic.

Cool car with plenty of history

[Chris Eyre]

Thanks and good to chat Dan!

Pol - some real lateral thinking there. I've lightened it a bit, but it would still be legal in the VW Cup, bar engine & box, though no plans for it to return (merely just gives idea of level of lightening).

Spare wheel well is still there, as that can cause issues in hillclimb regs if removed, and rear 3/4s have been left alone, as have other bits. Come to that with some more pics later.

Originally Posted by Jonny777

I actually saw your car at Edition, Chris.
Thought it looked the business.
But i wasnt sure what was under the bonnet.

Now i know! That must be a bloody rocket!
What is the actual specs of the engine?

2 litre, JEs, Carrillos, Oettinger crank, cams, solid lifters, twin verniers, TBs, DTA - a fair old lot, but that's how good it was when I bought it in 2000. It's going to need a bit of adjusting back to!

Originally Posted by altern8

cracking pics, good to see the dirt hasnt moved from the rocker and cam belt cover

I've actually swapped it. It came back from the builders with an OTT one one it, so oops, that's my doing

Few more bits from the parts collecting over the past few years:

Pedal box:



Gemini gearbox:



(MR - former owner, red paint: off same car)

Autocavan/Volksport-derived engine mounts:

[mk1g60turbo]

Cracking effort Chris, the old thread defo was a hotch and botch effort compared to this one.

Going to send u a pm regarding ****fter instead of hi jacking your thread now its so clean! lol

[pRot3us]

Good stuff

[vegabass]

Blimey, you weren't joking when you said the car had some history! Though I won't be there in my golf, I might pop along to spectate n grab some pax laps at the next Donington day if you're going to be out in this. The spec list is as impressive as the history of the car!

Neil

[jamesa]

Excellent work !

[16valver]

Excellent, was wondering when pics were going to appear. Shame it just missed the ring trip, was hoping to have a nosey.

Are those Dymag rims in the top pic? 14"?

[Chris Eyre]

Thanks - the project's been a long time in the planning.

Wheels are Dymag 7 x 15, being the other major eBay gem. 6 wheels, for the cost of less than two wheels at full RRP. Never thought I'd find a set, yet came in one night, and there they were on eBay.

Needless to say, they were had away before the auction ended.



When I got the clutch / flywheel assembly, the spline was wrong on the clutch plate, since it is likely to have been sitting on a Gemini sequential input shaft - easily sorted an AP replacement out for the Gemini / OE H-pattern spline via Tim @ Circuit Supplies - left in pic, rest of clutch components, right:

[mk1g60turbo]

very very nice Chris! Stunning rims and i bet weigh feck all!

Next time u see goodies on e-bay u don't need but are just as worth send us a link my boy!

[82erGTI]

Awesome mk1 !
Hope to see plenty of pics/videos after it's done a trackday...

[MK3 SE]

awesome looking car

[bigmac]

Great to hear you will be back on track in a mk1 shortly , there's some tidy trick bits on your mk1 chris, looking forward to seeing it at Donny!

[Chris Eyre]

Right ho, time for a bit more on the thread…

Back in Jan this year it was a case of “where to start?”

The car was non-road legal and mission #1 was to MOT it in 8-valve twin-45 spec, as bought, and then it would have a year’s ticket on it - and could then be pulled apart the following day in readiness for the 16V engine and cable change gearbox transplant.

Dash was no use – little point in putting that through an MOT.



It had been cut to fit the alloy face, so a replacement was in order. Likewise the wiring loom behind it had long since lost the wires for indicators, high and low beam etc, so the wiring loom wasn’t going to be of much use – and it was an early loom with the early fusebox anyway. Time to upgrade to the later spec.

Anyway, first things – a bit of a lighten, seeing as weight it is going back elsewhere.

When the car was originally prepared, most of it was stripped out, but there were a few brackets that I “didn’t like the look of”

Roof supports – they do nothing, especially with a cage in, so out!





Now this one – so easy, yet never seen: seat belt lower and upper retainer anchor plates.





Upper: spot weld drill, four holes....



... clunk, and this drops out.



Lower:



Clunk:



Then rear seat back anchor plates:



Clunk:



Such a pleasure to do that - comes so easily.


Slam panel: – replaced at some point – always come with early and late brackets for rad clip and bonnet stay. Looks messy:



Gone!





Next! Rear brake slave cylinder bracket – spot welded to underside of rear seat base, but it wasn’t being used (brakes piped front-rear)



so 3 hours later (and a fair amount of sighting of surface undulations to find the welds) and..



……gone!


(absolute swine of a job - but it had to be done )


Next! A little minor but a 5 min job – silly tags in wheel well – no need for those:

Drilled:



Milled:



Wheel well stays for now sice removal could stuff hillclimb regs if I go that route. Just haven't decided what mix of track days/other it's going to have yet.

Recommend the spot weld drills from Frosts btw, also sold by LB Restorations as seen at various shows (Beaulieu, NEC Classic). Machine Mart ones are no good.

More updates sooner or later!

[mk1g60turbo]

Very good chris, wanna come do my mk1 while your at it! lol

Just took my battery try out so i know how much of a mission the spot welds can be to get off.

Cheers for more inspiration me boy. time to get grafting on the car again.

[16valver]

Nice work, time for me to buy one of those spot weld drills and start on the mk1 again!

Did you end up getting rid of those brackets on the rear underside that I think Infinity reckoned were for jigging purposes?

[Vento Mike]

Brake slave cylinder bracket...crikey! don't know how you have the patience...I'm really struggling to get the front cross member between the chassis legs off mine at the moment..it's driving me nuts, especially with all the reinforcement under for the front engine mount.

Coming along well tho, keep up the good work