Aminder - Thanks mate, unfortunately nothing has happened with the shell apart from it being tucked away under a cover. Been busy doing a few bits on the M3 and thinking of doing a track day in it shortly. As far I know the alloy sumps were only on the 4motion and R32 6cyl. although I am sure PhatVR6 posted info ages ago that those sumps fitted the VR6. It is a steel one I have though and need the strength on a track car as it has been 'shaved' a few times already. vee_dub_modder - Thanks for that, hope you enjoy it. The wings in the pictures are standard vw steel ones which were flared by my father. Needed the clearance for the wheels and some meaty slicks.
top job he's done then i've managed to pick upsome front wings and some throttle bodies... just need the car and everything else to go with now lol what size are your OZ's?? look like 16 but cant quite see the tyre size to work it out? lol keep up the good work (M series included)
Thanks for that, I'm certain mine must also be steel then as it has taken a fair beating, mainly on decked road use :-) Yes R32 sump will fit, it's the MK6 sump and oil pick up which is needed. I'll def have to copy your baffles and get my mate (Gurds) to weld it up for me in prep for the Ring and track days this year.
No exciting progress I am afraid. It is currently sitting as a completely bare shell awaiting the cage install. It has been put on hold until I get a flat or house purchased next year. It was a bit thrown together last time due to the timeframe (wiring untidy etc) so going to do a proper job this time and fit all the bits I wanted to spec last time. Long term project really. I can confirm the VR6 will not be going back in it. Nothing concrete on a new engine yet though as will see what is on offer nearer the time. Performance increase is on the cards and although I would like to keep it N/A motor I am looking at all the options. I am hoping that there will be another Section 8 car from our garage at GTi International 2011 though, so will maybe do a build thread for that when there has been some more progress.
Hi Martin, I run a MK3 VR6 track car too. It tends to get a bit hot under the bonnet and looking at ways to keep it cool. Did the vents make any difference? Would you recommend doing this? Ian
Hi Ian, Glad to hear you are running a VR6 as well on the track. To answer your question, yes they do make a difference. I originally did the vents to a spare bonnet to see if it would work and how bad/ok it would look. I did not fancy going down the route of a bonnet scoop of some description as couldn't find one I liked, but as you say, needed to let some of the hot air out of the engine bay. I was lucky in that the car stayed in the garage when the bonnet was fitted and I only used it at weekends / for track days etc. The only problem with the vents from a practical point of view was if the car had to sit outside and it rained. We cut the vents near to the back of the bay so they were above the heatshield for the exhaust manifold. The down side to this was if it rained, water could get into the engine bay and make its way down in to the spark plugs. We got around this by fitting a temporary shallow drip try which sat neatly on top of the inlet manifold and was removed before driving. My oil was ok temp. wise (although going to a 16 row next time) but found there was a lot of hot air under the bonnet, which I wanted to get out for heat soak reasons and the vents definitely did help. I am looking at another option for the 'temporary' track car we are putting together at the moment (slowly) and will let you know if this works. Hope this helps?
Thanks for the reply. Will give it a go then if it helped. Out of interest, was the reason for going for the rear of the bonnet over the exhaust manifold due to the heat from the manifold? Did you consider the front of the bonnet over the inlet manifold? What oil temps did you see on track at its hottest and at what ambient air temp? Thanks again. Ian
I like the motor a lot , looking forward to seeing it finished (if a track car is ever really finished ) About the bonnet vents though, the back of the bonnet is a high pressure area, the air is probably flowing into them rather than out at speed. If you cut them towards the front then that should be in low pressure and will draw hot air out from behind the radiator. If you've found the rear ones help though then thats fair enough, I can see how they'd help at low speed.
Ian - Yes the reason for doing them at the back was to try and let the air out although what mec82 makes sense, we maybe should have done them at the front. I understand that the vents to the front would let the cold air in and this would pass over the engine and draw the hot air away from the rad, but surely you would need to allow the air to escape at the back of the engine bay somehow? With the cooler I think that the most I saw was either 114 or 118deg (can't remember which) in 35deg scorching sunshine. mec82 - you are not the only one who wants it to be done, will be a fair while off yet though. Hopefully the other one we are doing will keep me amused for a bit and not require too much work. Thanks, Martin
What wheel/tyre size do you race/did you race the VR on?? i'm looking at 17"x8" for some track attack fun?
Had a go at the bonnet vents today.... Gone for the front to see how that works. Got caught up with a mates Corsa VXR doing his brakes so will finish tomorrow hopefully.
Looks good Ian, sorry I never saw the pics before, I hope the vents helped reduce engine bay temps? marmite monster nothing has happened I am afraid. This car has been put on hold until I purchase a house. Other projects are going on in the background, will post up pics when the are at a decent stage