James@BBT's Mk1, 2.0 16v, Throttle Bodies, 285mm Brakes, RS's etc etc...

Looking great mate. I'd like a black cab one day.

 

Cheers Guys,

StuMC, it appears we have similar vehicular preferences (well almost) a Mk1 Cab, a Mk2 (albeit ours is 2.0 8v) and a TDI (except ours is in a spanish shell, but same engine!)

Oh and I'm thinking of taking bets on how long a stock 020 16v box lasts with around 200bhp going through it before something breaks...

 

Sig needs updating...

The Mk1 Cab has recently been swapped for a Mk3 Cab.

 

only problem with black engine and black gearbox is that you won't be able to tell if / when / where they are leaking lol

 

Tonight was the night for pulling the engine, all going well, got all the relevant hoses, wires and pipes undone, and removed the bonnet



However, it wasn't going to happen, got all the mounts undone went to undo the offside mount, and the f***ing bolt has seized inside the bush in the mount, no bother we thought, we'll just apply a bit of leverage, so attached a 3' bar onto the socket, but couldn't get the movement...

So, off with it's head, easier to undo the headbolts than the manifolds, so off it came:



But the ******* bolt still won't undo, so looks like my only option is going to be cutting either end of the bolt out, can't unbolt the mount from the engine, as the mount is in the way of the bolts, don't want to burn it out as I'll wreck the pain, less than happy tonight

As it sits this evening:

 

Like the way this is coming together, cant wait to see it done. Iv been collecting parts all year for mine and its having a good refresh over the winter and is also getting a 2.0 valver lump but on bike carbs.

 

After struggling with the ******* engine mount for a couple of days I finally got it cut through, and was ready to remove the old engine.

Out ya come:



Got some Bugpack engine mount inserts to stiffen up the new repalcement ones:



done:



Got my flywheel back from being lightened and balanced by Nick @ AMS, nothing too daft, but should help it spin up a bit quicker.

Before:



After:



Also Nick's finished his Connect (as seen earlier in the thread) here's the money shots:





And his handmade manifold, a real work of art, I'll get some proper pictures, but features V-Band clamps and all sorts, still to have it's final map but should be well into 200+ bhp territory, JE pistons, Cat Cams and Cat rods, not what you'd expect from a van



Next job for the Mk1 is gonna be steam cleaning the bay and then test fitting the motor.

Nice to be making progress on it now.

 

Finished painting the engine mounts, got the new inserts pressed in, as luck would have it, the insert that bugpack supply for the earlier Mk1's happens to fit more or less perfectly in the gearbox mount, so that should help stiffen it up a bit.



Also picked up my exhaust manifold from work, obviously I'm going to appear a bit biased, but it really is a nicely put together bit of kit, the welding is neat, the finish is great, and it looks like it should flow well (no obstructions, or nasty bits of weld inside) ok so it's not as shiny as an ebay one, but chrome don't get you home, and I'd rather have something that fits and is made in England by craftsmen, as opposed to something shiny that's made by children h34r:

Anyway pics...







Should hopefully be getting the bay steam cleaned over the weekend.

 

Had a major tidy up in the garage today as it was getting stupid trying to climb over various bits of 8v and 16v engines, besides I'd lost a fuel injector, and wasn't happy!

After that decided to crack on with getting more done, so gunked the whole bay again, the steam cleaner wasn't available so had to resort to good old elbow grease, a bit more room to play with now there's no lump in there.

Removed the steering rack mounts and gave them a coat or two of paint, along with the rear gearbox mount:



"placed" my new 4-2-1 in as well, hopefully getting the rest of the system tomorrow



Once the mounts were all dry, I got on with fitting them, with the new Bugpack bushes, along with a test fit of my Wiechers lower brace.



Hopefully getting the block, head and box dropped in tomorrow to do some calculations on inlet manifold length.

Thanks for reading, and comments.

 

Big things are happening tonight...

Got the engine dropped in:





Gave the 4 branch a little go:



Then had a little play with the bodies:







Oh, and what's an update without any shiny $hit???



My new 2.5" Jetex Group A system, gonna have to hack this about a bit to fit, but eh, that's how it goes

On the lookout for a short height radiator, word on the street is that a corsa one does the job, anyone shed any light?

 

Having had a play about with the chopped down inlet manifold it's become clear that to get the ideal inlet tract measurement we're going to need to run a shorter rad, so after a bit of research it appears that a Corsa B 1.2 16v rad is the one (the inlet and outlet are on the same side as the OE Mk rad) and whilst it's a thinner core, it's also a bit wider, so with addition of 2x 9" Spal fans it should stay cool enough, after some geeky workings out the fans will cover 54% of the surface area of the rad, and shifting around 1000 m3/hour each they should be more than up to the job.

Whilst waiting for the rad and fans to arrive I decided to tackle the rear beam bushes, not a job I've been looking forward to but actually they went pretty easily, loads of people say the OE bushes need pressing out, *******s, a few squirts of GT85 and a lighter and they popped straight out



and simply pushed in the new ones:



More to come soon...

 

Not the most exciting update, but will be ordering my Corsa radiator next week to go with my 2 x 9" Spal fans:



also got some new boots, a set of brand new 195/45 T1R's delivered to my door for a lot less than it would have cost me anywhere else, hopefully this will mean I can get the RS's built up and on, which should allow me to set ride heights etc, and get the mojo flowing again in these cold evenings. Originally I was going to run 185/45's but with Nankang being the only option it seemed stupid to spend a load of effort on getting the thing to go, stop and handle (at least for a cabrio) to then stick a set of DitchFinder II's on it... I've used T1R's on various cars before, and next to SP9000's they're my favorite tyre so hopefully it'll all be good



Got my Pipercross filter backplate too, won't get the foam until we know what size trumpets we're going to run...



Just waiting for our delivery of wishbones and balljoints to be unpacked at work then I can get the new urethane bushed wishbones back on, and get it back down on all 4 wheels

Went and picked up a few bits from TPS today on my way home from work, got some new injector seats off a Digi 8v, and some new injector retaining clips for my 20vT fuel rail.

Beauty of this is that the injector spacing is the same on the 20vT as it is on the 16v, so by removing the original K-Jet injectors and seats, then screwing in the new Digi ones (same thread) it allows me to fit the 20vT injectors straight in.

Like so:









More soon, thanks for reading, as ever comments or criticism welcome

 

Got a couple of bits from my mate Rich, who's also handily a powder coater by profession, so I chucked him my RS barrels and my rocker cover, barrels are satin black, rocker cover is crackle/textured powder...nice!





usual top quality iPhone pics :huh:

 

Why is this the first time I've seen this thread?

Nice work James, looks great, hope all gets done in time for your wedding

 

more BBS related tomfoolery...









Centres Ceramic Polished by Mike and Darren, Rims, Centre nuts and barrel nuts done by me, Gold Bolts by Just Matz and Barrels satin black powdered by my mate Richard at GLF, proper job B)

Crap photos iPhone

 

looking good james

 

So what do you get if you cross one of these:



with one of these:



Well you get this:









I'm probably not the first to do it (I've seen something similar, but not the same before) but I'm well chuffed with it, I think it'll look the tits on top of the ITB'd lump, it took a fair bit of work, and I wouldn't want to know what it owes me, but credit due to Nick @ AMS for the welding/maching and Rich at GLF for the Powdercoating.

 

i like that alot attention to detail and all that shizzle

 

I try!

 

That looks ace, good job and idea.