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

For those that have followed this thread, I`m afraid I`m going to be mentioning the one topic that keeps cropping up. My Exhaust

After securing the system, I`d drive locally or on UK trackdays and it would be fine, but once on the ring, the Karussel would destroy the exhaust rubbers in a few laps. I tried the rubbers with chains inside them, which helped, but that exhaust would still bang about on the underside of the car which simply wasn`t good enough. It caused me cracked downpipes, split exhaust welds and generally peed me off.

Found a bargain Magnex system on Ebay, like new and for a great price. The seller wouldn`t post, so I think that kept the number of bidders down. Fortunately for me, GVK lived about 6 minutes away and a plan was hatched for him to collect it and then courier it to me

System arrived and I decided that THIS TIME the damn thing would be right.

Job one was to aquire some heavy duty rubbers and after talking nicely to my local garage, I went to the exhaust trade only depot nearby and had a look on their shelves. Found this which looked perfect for me. A heavy rubber with built in bracket.


Here are the part numbers if anyone in interested.


The system came with a large rear mount and bracket. I secured this to the side of the spare wheel well,but it still allowed movement. I welded some 10mm threaded bar to a length of bent 10mm stainless.


This `U` was threaded through the rubber, then through 2 holes I drilled in the floor of the boot. These were secured with locknuts (I had one on the UNDERSIDE so I could position it vertically). Obviously, all newly drilled holes were painted.



That should be the backbox secured, lets move forward. Using another heavy duty rubber, I decided to make this letter `L` from some plate and weld on a bolt


This was then fed through the rubber and afterwards a small locking `leg` welded on to stop it dropping off.


Fortunately, there was already a hole in the chassis, next to the original mount which I could bolt this though using a nyloc nut.



This positioned the bend over the rear beam perfectly.


Using my new bracket/rubber, I removed the standard `hook` mounting point and drilled a couple of holes and secured the new mount. Secured the Rubber to the exhaust using a jubilee clip. I didn`t want to start chopping / rewelding the new exhaust and this is very secure.


The system sits nicely in the centre of the tunnel, it IS able to move freely on the rubbers, but I hope, it is held in place securely enough to stay in place. The extra mount I added to the gearbox will hopefully limit the engine movement a little too.


New backbox with smaller twin tailpipes


Will this be good enough? well, I`ll find out at the ring over Easter

 

The other day, Matty helped me ADD some weight to the Golf After having to unbuckle passengers so they could reach the transponder to do another lap, or struggling to open the passenger window in summer, I decided that i`d forgo a few KG for the convenience of being able to open / close bothe windows from my seat whilst still harnessed in. I fitted Electric windows... I KNOW they are heavier, but I have plastic rear and quarter windows, but glass fronts, the convenience of opening them on a summer trackday outweighs any weight saving to me. Its the same as leaving in the heater matrix, I`d rather sacrifice a few kg and 1/10`s sec for being comfortable when lapping. I`m sure those with full-on, stripped track cars won`t `get it...

Mat removed the aluminium door panel and removed the old winder mechanism


We pulled out the instrument cluster and split the wires I`d so painstakingly wrapped..


Mat fed the wires from the dash to the doors


The problem is, the standard electric window buttons are smaller than the normal opening on the dash for switches. No idea why, seems stupid to me. What it meant was that the buttons wouldn`t clip into the holes, they just fell out.

I took a standard blanking plate


Cut off the front and filed it down to make an opening that the switch would fit in


Sliding the outer onto the switch


The blanking plate, after modification and fitted to the switch



Here you can see the left hand switch with the modded blanking plate fitted and clipped into place, with the standard switch on the right, not clipping into place



I had to move the radiator cooling fan override switch, then we picked up a live, added a fuse and put it all back together. It took a while to line up the window so it operated fully, but now I have 2 electric front windows :thumb:

 

Nice work a really good idea, have often wondered why the switches are smaller than the dash ones. Just out of interest, how much weight do you think it has added?

 

Cheers Chris. I had read that on here, my plan was to give them a check throughout the day when I take it on track just to be certain

Got a good few more updates to come, just need to type it all up !

 

Aquired a couple fo KR exhaust cams, one had been modified by an additional keyway to be an inlet cam. I fitted these to replace the original ABF cams.


How-to in this thread. I didn`t want to write up the full how-to in this build, the link above, in the 16V Engines section will probably be of benefit to more people, most of whom won`t spot it in this thread

The engine does seem a bit more eager to rev at the top end than before.

 

Inspirational thread!

Such a wealth of knowledge and some fantastic tips and how to's throughout, well worth the couple of hours of my evening reading it!

Your creation is everything I want my golf to be (Although I'm still a long way off!)

A definite bookmark, I'm sure I will be referring back to it many times to come

Thanks so much for the write up, and I hope she continues to do you proud on track in the coming year

 

About time I updated this !!

Been on a trackday at Donington today. Engine was fine, running really well and NO AUDIBLE Pinking. Performance was good, revved without issue at all.

Oil temp was 104 which was slightly higher than usual but on a high revving circuit like that, I usually get around that figure.

Fuel is VPower / Optimax (whatever it is called now...)

Anyway, whilst in 3rd on full throttle, the power suddenly dropped off and a plume of white / pale grey smoke came out of the back of the exhaust. Any throttle application over the first 10% or so caused more smoke. Power was massively reduced.

Back in the pits and a compression test revealed 8-6 Bar on ALL cylinders

We knew the head needed to come off, but couldn`t believe it was the headgasket with all 4 being down on power.

Removed the head and saw physical damage to the tops of No2,3 & 4 pistons. Especially bad on No 3 and 4 where you could see the top compression ring.

CLICK PHOTOS FOR HIGH RESOLUTION VERSION


Day over.

Arrived home, removed pistons from the Bores. All big-end bearings are spot on, the tiniest of wear, very happy with them.

The bores all appear to have been unmarked, apart from No4 which has a small vertical line near the inlet side of the engine, I`m guessing a piece of Piston was dragged down the side. It is not feelable by finger nail and just by finger tip.

The pistons are knackered and obviously need replacing.

My questions are.

1. Would you get some pistons and new rings, hone the bores and rebuild everything with new head gasket and head bolts

2. It the scoring on No 4 cylinder enough to junk the block?

3. What the heck caused the damage / failures? I`d guess timing too advanced and pinking, but I am 100% there was no audible pinking before hand. The timing was around 8degrees. I set it at 6, drove it, added a bit more and it pinked so backed it off until there was no pinking when hot and under full load. I`m not saying there wasn`t pinking, but I couldn`t hear it and normally, its pretty obvious when an engine is pinking.

CLICK PHOTOS FOR HIGH RESOLUTION VERSION
No 1 Piston


No 2 Piston


No 3 Piston




No 4 Piston








No 1 Bore


No 2 Bore


No 3 Bore


No 4 Bore




The `line` has been highlighed by a torch from underneath, it was the only way I could get it to show up on the camera.


I need the engine back in and working by Tuesday evening, so worst case, I`ll browse the classifieds / ebay and pick another engine up Monday evening and fit that.

Still on standard injection. I did over 5,000 HARD Track miles last year without any issues. I did have the WUR fail and replaced it after Anglesey, fuel pressures tested OK after adjustment , so I`m reluctant to blame the K-Jet`s inherent performance when it has served me so well without problem.

Unfortunatley, the plugs are covered in oil so it`s impossible to check them for clues.

Next day was Sunday and I was working so I spoke to several people though the day trying to source a replacement engine. After much discussion and offers of assistance from several, on the phone and by PM, a plan was hatched. I had the offer of 5 engines to choose from, with carying stages of age / build. The choice was made to source Steph`s spare Engine. Problem was he lives almost 4 hours away from me, which would have meant an 8hour round trip after work on sunday. Not good.

Darren who was visiting family went via stephs and collected the engine for me

He then drove home where I was to meet hi and put the engine in the Mazda. Chris Slator rang me at work and asked if he could join me for the drive. I was planning to drive down, pick up the engine then have a kip at a service station, so having a passenger made it SO much better. Arrived home from work, had quick bite to eat and we set off to Coventry 2 hours away. Several txt exchanges and we stopped off at a services so we wouldn`t get there before Darren did...

Arrived at 21:15, chris and I lifted the engine from the 206 into the Mazda, bloody heavy it was too...


Steph has even supplied Darren with a pack of moist hand wipes to clean our hand if necessary

Strapped the engine down and set off hom, arriving back at 23:45. Had a few beers and went to bed at 1am.

Chris is spending the day helping me swap the engine over. I need to remove mine, swap over the injection system, inlet, water pump (which was new 2 months ago), cams, timing belts and give it an oil change. We`ll then refit that into the Golf and HOPEFULLY, all being well, have it running soon.

Started at 8am, by 10am the old engine was out


New engine lifted out of boot onto engine stand


Stripped of all ancillaries, degreased and hosed down, and ready for rebuilding after lunch


picked up some new spark plugs and oil filter

Cams swapped, water pump swapped, all engine sensors swapped (I know the `old` ones work), exhaust studs had die nut down to clean, cam belt changed, pulleys swapped, hoses swapped, sump and windage tray fitted, sandwich plate swapped, oil filter and plugs replaced for new, injection system changed.
Engine ready for refitting.


My willing helper for the day just cleaning the manifold faces whilst Matty watches and tells him what to do


ITS ALIVE

Timing was out (mark not even showing on the timing light...), hence the rough running and lumpy tickover, adjusted that after this clip and it runs schweeet

Still need to finish off the slam panel, front bumper and splitter, refit the bonnet and go for a test drive tomorrow morning. woohoo

Time for a beer (or three), we deserve it



Slight hiccup this morning. found coolant weeping down the front of the engine

Investigation was the water flange which we`d swapped was cracked.


No problem, ring VW, sorry discontinued 1998 ! The one from the donor engine was the wrong one and wouldnt fit

Ring Steph, "yeah mate you want a water flange, GSF sell em"

Quick internet search and we were on our way to the local GSF Part No 17953G for info, 2.88 later we had our new part (old on left, new middle and ABF incorrect one on right in this pic). Having a cuppa then fitting the new one.


As we`d got the engine fitted and working with time to spare, we decided it would be a good idea to put it on a rolling road to check all was OK before Silverstone.

 

Full discussion thread HERE

Took the Golf with new engine for a dyno setup today.


Power is 154HP and 129lb/ft.

The engine is pretty much standard, just has a set of KR exhaust cams in it. WUR Mod has been done and was checked through the entire dyno setup, the fuel pressure never moved, supplied full pressure at all rev ranges with no falloff at the top end, suggesting the pump / filters are all fine. Timing was set at 6degrees, mixture tweaked but made no real difference at either 1% co or 3% co

Compression readings on all cylinders are between 12.5 and 13 Bar.

Car has 4-branch manifold and decent exhaust.

The AFR (wavy line on the graph) was very poor, we couldn`t get it any lower, 14 > 15 90% of the time and rising from 6,000 > 7000 from 14.5 > 16.5 !




The Dyno let us set the rpm at 3,000, 4th gear full throttle and we could then adjust the engine to try and gain power / AFR, but nothing really made much difference to the curve or final output.


We did have a particularly bad run that peaked at a whopping 138HP


Basically, it seems down on power and torque and the AFR above 6k is a concern.

Brookster, whose engine bottom end failed last week very kindly loaned me his entire intection system. Metering head, WUR and new injectors.

Fitted it last night and it still seemed the same

That points to the lift pump or fuel pump as they are the only remaining things in the fuel chain. I checked and it had good voltage at the pump.

Went for a `spirited drive` but didn`t rev over 6k and the plugs were a light brown when I checked them immediately after with no ticking over. The settings are the best the RR guy could set it to with the safe AFR up to 6k, over that it increases dramatically to 7k (from 14 to 17 !), so its a case of changing gear at 6k and not doing particuarly long sessions just to be safe. The power when he set it to be `safe` was about 140hp, so that will be fun on hanger straight

I`m treating it as a social meet with a few laps thrown in its just not worth pushing it for the sake of laptimes. I can still have fun driving it slower, I can always take the tow car out for a few laps I`m going to put some Octane booster in to raise the det limit just to be safe.

Won`t be touching the car over the weekend, swapping fuel pump next week and will report back. Been some bloody long days, work until 6 and at it until 11 last night again, but thats it, no time for anything else this week.

I was working on the car until 11pm, went to bed, up at 5am, work then drove to silverstone, so I didn`t have the luxury of spending hours testing / setting up each part.

The car had been setup to give 140HP at 6000rpm, with an afr of round 14.5 (ish) on the last run on the RR. I then put in some octane booster to increase the det range.

First session I revved to 5k max, came in after 3 laps and checked the plugs, nice brown colour. Did another session at 6k, again checked the plugs and still Light brown with no detonation audible. I did the same all day, never revved over 6k, checked plugs after each session and they were brown each time. I only did 15 minute sessions and after each one I let the car cool and checked the plug colours (they were OK)

Following this info, I tested the pump this morning

Job No.1 when working with fuel, well ventilated area and a Fire Extinguisher to hand


Measure battery voltage at fuel pump with engine off.




The connection next to the metering head is solid, so I disconnected the return line near the fuel pump instead.


Secure line into a suitable measuring container


TURN OFF / DISCONNECT BATTERY !!

Remove Fuel pump relay


I made length of wire with 2 spade connectors and put into 2 large slots to simulate the relay


Prepare stopwatch, Reconnect battery and let fuel run for for 30 seconds.

Measure amount of fuel in container (1050 ml in my case)


Unfortunately, from looking at the above data, it suggests my fuel pump / filter is fine [:^(] . As a check, I disconnected the lift pump and repeated the above test, after 5-10 seconds, the note of the main pump changed, the fuel stopped flowing and I immediately stopped it, but that (I think ?) proves the lift pump is working too.

Dissapointed to be honest, I was certain that was the issue.

I have an AFR coming tomorrow, also spare fuel pump and lift pump, I`ll fit that and see what I can find, but I`m running out of ideas...

 

SUCCESS

First job was to fit the AFR. Remove exhaust, chain drill and remove hole for sensor boss


Clean hole with grinding wheel attachment


By puttung the attachment through the hole and using the shoulder, I was able to clean the underside of the hole and remove the bits of metal pushed through when I drilled


Welded on Boss


Fit sensor and refit exhaust


Wired up the AFR and fitted it into the dash.


Refitted my Metering head, WUR and injectors, Went for a drive and the AFR was pretty similar to the rolling road. There is a good road nearby, straight, so I can accelerate in 2nd, left foot brake to hold the revs at what I want under full load, to give the AFR time to stabilise (to be honest, it doesn`t need it, it reacts so quickly anyway). Saved reading from 3,000 > 7,000 in 500rpm increments.

Fitted the loan metering head and new injectors, went for a run and also tested the flow through the injectors into 4 containers with the metering flap fully open. Measured out the fuel into a container and marked the level for each injector.(no photo)

Returned home, swapped injectors for my old ones and repeated both the driving test and also measuring the fuel into a container. The spray pattern isn`t quite as good as the new ones, flow rate is the same.


Showing amount dispensed over 1 minute by each injector


I then removed all the unwanted plumbing, the over-run cut off valve, ISV, everything from the inlet manifold. All that is left is the Panel filter > Metering Head > Throttle. The vac connection on the back of the engine feeds the Servo, ECU and Speedo for the MPG reading. I also left the vac connection to the WUR connected.

Going for a test drive and I found the AFR had dropped across the range by over 0.6 at every point on the scale. The only problem is from 6,500 > 7,000 where it rises from 13.6 > 14.1 . I`m going to fit the old injectors tomorrow and do a run just for completeness.



Basically, my metering head is knackered. My injectors are not perfect, but are OK. Currently scanning the classifieds for a 2nd hand Metering Head, i`ve sent a few PM`s so hopefully one is still for sale.

They may only be about 15, but the damn things can cause some problems

Thanks for all the advice on what to check, it was obvious once I started swapping things with the AFR in the car

Checked the Lift pump filter by removing the pump from the tank


Filter was clean, at least that is now discounted


As my old Metering head was the problem and a replacement was on its way, I decided to strip the old one down to see if I could spot anything obvious.


The nozzles in the head were clean and unblocked or visibly worn


In the middle of the head is a small filter


I removed the filter


It wasnt blocked but was slightly blinded


gentle clean with an old toothbrush and some petrol cleaned it up in seconds


The central metering valve was a little worn, but not really enough to show on the photos


Re-assembled and refitted. Absolutely no difference, still lean.

Replacement MH arrived today courtes of Lizard :veryhappy: Fitted it easily enough


Went for a drive and the new MH works as well as the loan one Still leaning out over 6,500rpm but OK up to there.

Decided to check the flow rates through my injectors (I`d removed the new loan ones when I swapped the MH)
Removed all injectors and placed them into 4 measuring bottles


Wedge metering flap fully open (taking care to not force it, JUST enough to be full open)


bypassed fuel relay as before and ran fuel pump for 60 seconds


The amounts dispensed were not all equal


Removed small torx screw covering allen key on each injector on the metering head


adjusted the allen screw with a 3mm allen key. This does not increase the overall amount of fuel supplied, just the ratio to each injector.


Here you can see how I`ve over corrected and No2 now has too much fuel going to it.


Took about 10 attempts, adjusting one affects the flow to the other 3, so its a case of small adjustments, check amount in 60 seconds and then adjust a bit more. By the time I`d finished, each injector was giving out almost the same amount in a minute :thumb:

Refitted injectors, tidied up lines and went for a short drive to check all was OK. Still low AFR at all revs to 6.5k then it starts rising, so I`m happy with that


This engine still feels less urgent over 6k than the old one. I`m hoping it may be a little coked up from its previous life, so it may free up over the next few trackdays when I start giving it some revs. Timing is still conservative, I`m making a set of det cans so I can try advancing it a little, but keep an ear out for any pinking.

I`m happy it is now working, should be reliable and the loss of power is a secondary concern right now

 

love your thread, so much information here and great write-ups, i have sent this link to probably a dozen people to help with various things!

i have heard of racers here in the states modify the signal either to or from the DPR to increase the fuel across the board, maybe something like this could helps solve your problems? on our road race car we run almost as rich as 11.8:1 up top to keep the cylinders nice and cool down those looong back stretches, 13:6 would seem to me even a bit on the lean side for up over 6k. Good luck with your issue!!

 

Time for a quick update, meant to do this a long time ago...

Did 65 laps at the ring over Easter. The tyres needed rotating, the oil needed topping up and the front pads needed changing when they were worn out. Thats ALL that needed doing. The exhaust gave me NO issues at all.

Golf on track.








Anyway, as I`ve got Silverstone on Monday, I decided it really was a good idea to give it a good once over.

The bonnet clip had lost the spring, so it needed manually `locking` by poking a finger through the grille. I fixed that by drilling out the old mechanism and fitting a spare I had.


Finally got round to removing the extra metalwork in the front bumper. It weighs a few kilos, but I do appreciate that IF I had a front end impact, there would be less protection for the engine.

Removed the bumper and unclipped the metal.


To make life easier, I retained the indicator housing, so with an angle grinder, I cut that section out.


Aligned the bracket to the bumper and drilled a hole


Using a sprayed domed bolt, I put that through the bumper


Secured the bolt with a large washer


Then attached the bracket to that bolt


I then remounted the bumper using the original mounts

Start to finish was about half an hour, as always with the jobs you put off, they are often easier than expected !

During the check, I spotted a front disk had cracked, I always have a new set as spares, so I`ll fit those tomorrow. Apart from wearing the pad quicker, I noticed no other symptoms with the cracked disk !


At least my pre-event check was worthwhile !

 

My Offisde wing had sustained a small bump years ago and was looking tatty


The nearside wasn`t much better


The bonnet had seen better days


I ground the rust away back to clean metal


Then applied some rust-eater


using 800-grade wet/dry, the scratch was rubbed back down to the metal


Every small mark on the bonnet was rubbed down.


Stan then applied some filler


first coat, nice and thin so it can be sanded and easily built up


Rub that down and feather the filler


Offside was filled, sanded then `stoppered` to fill minor imperfections


Once we were totally satisfied with the filling, etch primer was applied




When that was dry, is was rubbed down with wet 2000 grade to smooth it over and blend it in


The bonnet was sprayed with etch primer wherever we`d sanded it down


Stan then sprayed the front of the wings with topcoat




Nearside wing just sprayed, the paint changes colour when it dries..


Bonnet was removed and hung in the garage to enable even spraying




Laquer was then applied, you can see the `gloss` on the left of the bonnet


Wing laquered


When the entire wing was laquered and dry, the finish was superb


The coloured strip at the bottom of the grille had seen better days


I gave it a quick rub woth 80 grade, then 400 and 800


Stan let me use his gun to spray that bit.


It looked good on the car !


Back to the bonnet and it was shiny when dried.




I left it to dry overnight and refitted the bonnet and bumper today


Not bad at all..


Lightly rubbed down the bonnet with wet 200 grade, then using a rotary buffer and 3M cutting compound, he flattened down any minor imperfections.


Washed the front, then used a machine glaze compound and fine polishing head on the buffer to remove small swirl marks


Washed it again then applied a final hand glaze by hand.

 

I`d spotted a cracked front disk on my pre-Silverstone prep


I already had a new pair of front disks, so they were easy to swap. As the car is currently SORN, it meant I had to bed in the new disks / pads on the sighting laps on the trackday. That was interesting

After the trackday at Silverstone, there were a few bits to do. The car had been pretty faultless and apart from struggling on the straights against the VR6 boys, it ran great all day.







The exhaust mounts had been trouble free, 4 UK trackdays, 65 laps of the ring so far this year and the exhaust rubbers look like they did the day they were fitted !


I`d noticed the alternator light had started flickering at high revs in the last hour on track. Back home I tested it with a multimeter and the output voltage was 12V.. hmm

Removed the voltage regulator and one of the brushes dropped out, the wire had broken off the back.


Fortunatley I still have the 1.8 8V engine that was in the shell (I really need to get that shifted...) Anyway, that still had an alternator fitted, so I robbed the Regulator & brushes off that, fitted to my alternator and refitted it to the car.


Success, I now have 14.4V on the Alternator

 

I`d spotted the nsr track rod end had split, so I replaced both sides with new ones. That meant the tracking would need re-doing, so I used the opportunity to do some other little jobs I`d been putting off...

The max negative camber I could get with the standard bolts was -2degrees. The strut bolt was stopping the strut moving anymore. I didn`t have and camber bolts,


Using the old `wiggle the drill about to make the hole bigger` technique, I elongated the top strut hole slightly


New I could get more negative camber using the standard bolts (I set it to -2.5 for a start.)


The rear beam was `slightly` out and I couldn`t get enough adjustment on the mounting bolts to line it up so it was spot-on. I unbolted one side and rotated the mounting plate


The standard hole and the mounting bolts was pressed up against one side of the hole


Again, used the drill to enlarge the holes


Once done, bolted it back and repeated for the other side.

I was then able to get enough adjustment to ensure the wheels were all aligned just right

Some time ago I baffled the sump, but realised I hadn`t posted pics..

removed the sump, cut template from cardboard


Put camera in sump on timer, then replaced windage tray to take a phot from the inside and check clearance.


both baffle templates


With windage tray inplace, you can see i`ve positioned the baffles so most of the oil falling onto the tray falls into the centre of the baffled area. ie, most of the holes are above the centre section.




Transfer outline to sheet steel


cut out baffle


Put in place and quick clean of sump with grinder to clean sump inside.


Weld baffles into place


Finished.


When the car was on the rolling road, I noticed a lot of front > rear engine movement. I decided to swap the gearbox mount for the 1.3 one from GSF which is a harder version. Supported bottom of engine and removed 3 x 13mm bolts holding the gearbox aluminium mount in place


New, harder mount on the left. When comparing the 2, the mounting plate was much easier to wobble in the old mouont.


15 minutes later and the new mount was fitted and everything complete. When revving the engine with a dragging clutch, there is noticeable less engine movement with this new mount. Hopefully that should help keep things like the exhaust from cracking.

 

Great update yet again Nige, as we have come to expect!!

 

before i ask questions, im going to skim read this thread!!!! its like one long FAQ quide

 

Failed Metering Head was causing lean running. I didn`t hear the pinking (its OBVIOUS on the video ), neither did my passenger.

Simply running the engine at high revs / load with AFR around the 16 > 17 range just killed it.

Now, with hindsight, I can trace it way back to Anglesey last October, the power was down then, I changed the WUR thinking that was the problem, when actually it was the MH starting to fail.

If I`d had an AFR gauge (as I do now), I`d have spotted it straight away and saved myself a lot of heartache. Ah well, you live and learn

 

Nope. Thats why i stripped it down, hoping to find somethig broken, but everything looked fine

 

This thread is epic, just read the lot. Top car and amazing advice!

 

getting rid of the swirls in the paint.

turning it into a show car are we nige

great updates yet again