Mk3 Supercharged ABF Track Taxi.....2012... a new beginning :-)

Hi Guys not posted here for a while so thought id make a change and show people what im up to.

THE PURPOSE

To build my dear ole dad his very own Ring Taxi. This will be his very first track car. A track car he can use as a daily retaining some selected creature comforts, then take along to the many up coming track days and the mighty Nurburgring in 2009. The purpose of this car is to make use of the many bits and pieces that have become redundant over the years from my other projects as well as a test bed for any harebrained idea I or anyone else can think of. The car must go quick, stop quick and be extremely agile. More importantly though, it must be able to withstand major track abuse/thrashing without breaking. The first targeted track day is Snetterton 24th Jan for a pre ring shakedown.

THE HISTORY
Never one to miss any eBay opportunity, back in 2006 my dad (well refer to him as The Big C) spotted a tired No-MOT1994 three door Mk3 16V ABF. He called me up excited with news hed won the auction and that we had to go collect it.......400miles away. WOHOOOOO...thanks a lot!!!!

The journey home revealed a catalogue of issues. All bearings needed replacing. Brake wear indicators and abs light were on. The engine timing was extremely retarded contributing to the very VERY hot running and the rad was as porous as a colander. Fuel economy was horrendous....the list went on.This seemed like a disaster but at the price there was still the chance that I could break it and get most of his money back .

Ever the optimist, The Big C could see past these misgivings. The previous owner had fitted it with a set of curbed 8x17 TT rims and also supplied a set of early VR6 BBS with decent tyres. The interior was in decent shape and the electrics all worked. We began to discuss what could be done with the car and what it would take to turn it into something trackable. This went on for about a year and a half until the point where I decided that we either DO IT or SCRAP IT!!!!



THE ENGINE

Being the old boy that he is, The Big C struggles with Turbo Lag. He just doesnt get it. I let him drive my car part of the way down to Le-mans this year and when she came hard on boost we almost ended up in a French field. He also doesnt like to rev an engine, he expects massive torque whatever gear hes in from low revs. I guess he is accustomed to the old days when fuel was so cheap and everything had a torquey V6 or V8.!!!!!

I realised that to make this car as drivable as possible for him but also minimise engine conversion efforts the1.8T engine was ruled out, partly because of the turbo thing but also because its just sooooo boring! VR6 was considered but also ruled out since it would be cheaper to simply buy a car with one fitted already. In order to get that big engine feel the final option was to supercharge the existing ABF engine. In the parts bin I managed to find 3 superchargers Id acquired over the years: 2 Merc units (one clutched) and a mini Eaton. From experience with supercharged engines as well as supercharged 16vs in the past, i know it will give The BIG C the BIG engine feel he is looking for from low revs with the added advantage of also being revable and lag free.

First job was to rip out the ABF check everything, replace where necessary for new. The current plan is to leave the engine with its standard internals as projects in the past have proven that they are well capable of withstanding up to 20psi boost reliably. For this installation the boost output will be significantly lower than this so standard internals will be fine.





Unfortunately superchargers rob some torque from an engine when they are being driven. To minimise these parasitic losses I decided to go for the clutched Merc charger meaning it can be decoupled from the engine during part throttle/cruise conditions. To speed up the integration of the supercharger, i have commissioned a friend to make me a bracket to suit the supercharger location I wanted while I get on with other important project bits.

Intake manifold and injectors will be supplied from Audi S2 bits I have. I will make the fuel rail from extruded aluminum. Fuel pump will be existing ABF unit. Fuel pressure regulator Adjustable FSE.

For the time being the compression ratio of the engine will be kept stock with the use of some trick charge cooling to attempt to keep the intake temperatures very low and keep detonation at bay. Time will tell if this plan works. Alternatively, I have a low compression spacer that will drop the compression ratio a point or so but well see.
I wont speculate on HP figures at this point. If it drives well and pulls strongly that will be the most important thing.

THE DRIVETRAIN

8x17 tt wheels, Toyo R888 tyres 215 wide (if available from toyo), lightened and balanced ABF flywheel, VR6 clutch. I will see how the car behaves with the standard differential before uprating to an LSD.


I couldnt resist, wheels were in the room i was sanding!


SUSPENSION/BRAKES

After much deliberation, the decision was to upgrade the very tired 280mms to TT 312s. This seemed to be a cost effective way to increase the rotor size. I dont know how it will compare to a Brembo 4 pot setup but when i priced up purchasing of the disks and pads vs the Brembos it was a no brainer. Pagid Orange pads as used by Formula Palmer Audi track cars were determined to be the best choice for application. I found in the parents shed a tired set of AVO coilovers with adjustable damping that I used once (and broke) so sent them off for a refurb + upgrade. They assure me they wont break so easily this time. The Refurb worked out far cheaper than buying a cheap set of shocks and lowering springs. Rear disks and pads are just new with standard pads.



Well used stock 280's

hub off ready for cleaning

dampers back from AVO


THE ELECTRONICS

VAG COM indicated that enough of the standard ecu sensors on the engine had failed to make it too expensive to replace them to get the engine running properly. To keep the Big C on the road, the quick and easy option was to fit a Megasquirt and loom. This got the car up and running quickly just after purchase and also provided scope for future upgrades. The spec included distributerless ignition, running the MS of the std ABF crank pickup, Megaview dash displaying key MS information, full closed loop Wideband lambda control keeping the fueling optimised whatever the condition, closed loop idle control with stock ISV and a 7500 rev limit! The car continue to run this setup initially.





some aditional progress pics:




hubs rebuilt

parts shelved ready for assembly

 

good stuff

 

Really liking the the way this is written. More please.

 

Cool project, look forward to updates.

 

T, Didn't know you was going to start a thread on this, If you'd like I can post up some pics of the work I've done so far on your bracket?

 

Sound good, post away

 

At least we know that the bracket is being made by a pro

 

Cleanup Operations - Chassis front end:

Time for another update.

The task of this particular evenings activities was to update the wishbone bushes to the Polly items before the brakes can go on. Although there are clear visual differences between the Mk2 and Mk3 wishbones, I realised some time ago that dimensionally the Mk2 Polly bush upgrade would also work for MK3. Despite the negative comments I have read about BugPack Bushes, mainly regarding harshness due to their firmness, I have only positive things to say. Steering and turn in feel is far sharper than any standard bush I’ve come across. Spherical ball joints were ruled out for this application as I have found for road use water, salt, road grime, reduces their life significantly. So BugPack is the best tried and tested compromise.

Before any of this could be done although, the subframe had to come off for a cleanup and inspection. It also makes the tasks of changing the wishbones that much easier.




14 years of grime.......Can anyone tell me why VW decided to change the bolts to 18mm Heads on the Mk3. I thought I was going mad!!!!! Only 1 bolt snapped ........WOHOOOOOO!!



snapped in the hole.



drilled



TAP SIZE: M12 x 1.5

Ok time to cart the bits off for an evenings cleaning session:



I told the missus its never too late for a jetwash





Subframe clean ready for paint



steering rack clean ready for paint



The track rod ends had never been removed, after some heat, and abuse the threads need freshening
DIE SIZE: M14 x 1.5

I think Ill split this update in two.....more pics to follow!!

 

enjoyable read.

 

Design concerns

Le-mans 2008......The Friday pit walk. The Big C and I fought our way to the front of the many crowds just go grab a view of those Audi Oil burners. He was annoyingly quick to point out that “Every Car” without exception had brake ducting of some description. This only annoyed me because it was said in an “I told you so” tone of voice that only dads can do!!!!......My previous excursion to Snetterton was witness to Massive Brake Fade...Brake fade of a magnitude big enough to make me think I’d forgot to put pads in!!! (Soooo glad there was a run off at the end of Revett). Before the trackday, as The Big C helped me fit the fresh DS2500 Pads to my Gorgeous Wilwoods he said “what about the brake ducts” I said “Naaa, my Ds2500s will do the job” WROOOONNG!!!!

So, for his very own Taxi I decided to come up with something to keep him quiet. Id been thinking for a while that It would be good to be able to duct and secure some 3" hosing directly into the hub area. This is something I've always felt VW's have been lacking.



Brought the Hub home, took some measurements in bed next to the missus (.....really...not joking) then fired up the CAD.





Final design ready for Lazer cutting WOHOOOOOo





Desided to do a Mockup to check for fit:



I think he'll be happy with that.....

 

very nice i think this is one to watch

good you put the tap size info in too

 

Awesome. Loving the brake ducting things.

Great work.

 

this is an awesome build thread!

 

Time to put an order in for some 312mm brake duct setup.

 

Nice build!

Group buy on brake duct things tbh

 

Nice work on the brake ducting.

I looked at it for mine before the last 'ring trip, but scratched the head and put it on the to do list.

Group buy sounds a plan

 

LOl, If there is enough interest it will be pretty easy to produce a batch! I have about 2 sets of the initial prototypes left. PS have been looking at your thread, may have to borrow the chopped front pannel idea for increased airflow like it alot!!

Thanks for the support guys!!

 

I'm liking this thread alot!
Deffo group buy on the duct's :-)

 

Yep,loving the brake ducts! I cabled tied some hose to the wishbone on mine and it got tangled round the driveshaft - binned it!

Seperate thread needed methinks!

 

I'd definatly have a pair if you decide to make some