26/08/17 *post 262* Toyotec's 'JENVEE'. The 6 speed era

Does the stainless ball in the linkage sit perfectly in its gap ? My OEM one must have at least 4mm play.

Look forward to seeing this develop further.

 

Pretty much. I can measure the aged unit if it would help.

 

The ball I made from alloy, and has a pair of needle bearings in it for a smoother feel. I made it pretty close but not size on size. There is very little movement around it. Precise but not tight.

 

I made some corrections to the thread to add that detail. Thanks again for clarifying.

 

JENVEE 2014 updates. Part 2. Lighting and driving aids.

Lighting and driving aids.

Subjectively, with the gear shift quality surpassing that of a new original set up, it was decided to enhance the night vision of the Golf MK2s typical 'candle lights'. Many tend to uprate' the lighting loom by relaying a direct feed from the battery to the headlamps bulbs. While this technique allows for less voltage drop/more current across the bulb filaments, it does not compensate for the discolouration that takes place in the headlamps, over many heat cycles of operation. Also, the seal around the headlamp glass can breakdown over time, allowing moisture to accumulate in the headlamp glass and rust the reflective surface.
So the electrics of JENVEE was left standard and these new "Hella" headlamps...



and special Osram Nightbreakers...



made a welcome change from the almost 'yellow' lighting.

After fitting the new headlamps and bulbs...



This is what my 'lo' dip looks like...




So we could see to drive in the night and shift gears enthusiastically. How about some extra Fahrvergngen in the form of a revised steering wheel?

Now my requirements for the steering wheel were:
The steering control must provide the proper thumb cut outs to instil driver confidence and a reference for hand position.
Provide automatic indicator cut out without hands leaving the wheel (Non deep dished)

Knowledge of JDM vehicles came in handy and I knew just where the 'right' component was
The Garage Streamline guys had a Proton Satira, that was converted to run full EVO running gear. It was without engine and gearbox, but the old doner EVO 3 also gave up its Momo Course Steering to the Satira.



Some negotiation with the owner after, meant the steering wheel was now to be fitted on JENVEE. But how I hear you ask...



Well, one Golf 2 Momo boss later and it was fitted like so.








Job done!





On my everyday drive to work, JENVEE was now starting feeling more like a drivers car. My little son Jerome loved the thing and enjoyed being dropped to school in it.



I enjoyed driving it everyday to work but waitI had another set of goodies to fit...

We shall see what these are in part 3...

Stay tuned Stay optimised.

Ed.

 

Nice update Edd

I purchased a set of those new Hellas, and when put against an old unit, the difference is night and day.

Quality is superb too

I might change the inner spots soon for new Hella items.

Liking the new steering wheel too

 

The difference is literally night and day too! lol

 

It's still possible to buy those spots then?

 

I bought mine off ebay last year, mains and spots. I think vw heritage still do them. Im assuming Eddie has just bought his, so he might have another source for them.

Nice steering wheel Eddie. Looks kind of old school and pretty much similar to the one I have in my car at the mo. I think they suit the mk2's nicely.
Looks like your slowly moving towards a track orientated car??
I still have that manifold if your interested. Nice and clean too.

 

Moisture in the headlamps is a warning that could save you the embarrassment of having to sweep up the glass in the road outside your home when it parts company from the overcooked adhesive/sealant I think most of the voltdrop is in the feed to the fuseboard. Since putting in a parallel feed of a similar csa the lights are much brighter and it's really minimised the inverse quasi flashing when the electric windows hit the top of the frame.

 

The voltage drop occurs when the wire path build up resistance yes, expected in a 20+ year vehicle. However in my case, the headlamps were tired, such that it did not justify using a relay arrangement. So new headlamps were installed and we have a result, even with 20 year old wiring!

 

Suspension and Braking and Dyno update part 3

Suspension and Braking update

During the Apex festival in 2013, JENVEE ran a refurbished set of FK Koingsport suspension. This was an improvement over the std busted suspension.



I never liked the lack of rebound, the FK units seemed to generate over the bumps and dips. Many times at speed you could prompt an air moment. Whilst to a passenger this was dramatic or even terrifying, for the driver, it was a temporary loss of control. There was the option of custom re-valving the Koni inserts but as replacement components were hard to come by, the hunt was on for a complete replacement kit that suited the application of the vehicle, both road and track.
The top of the range suspensions from KW, GAZ and AST were in excess of 1K. My first choice would have been a set of custom built KW Ver3, then ASTs also custom built. However the price of these suspension components, could not justify what is a fun trackday car and daily driver. Now I use BC racing suspension on the WOLF R, although with 'soft' springs. The damping on the kit bought for the WOLF R was quite good.
Based on several experiences, it was thought, fitting a BC set up should have no problem coping with much higher spring rates.
Rayhoop ill fated MK3 VR6 had this brand of suspension fitted and drove pretty firm on our way to the ring (and also on) some years ago. Nige Pinder also runs this kit on his trackday toy and seemed to have no issues even with significantly uprated spring rates to match his aero. There are also several other members on this form who had been recommended this brand of suspension with various spring rates.They have no complaints. So with lots of confidence, this brand of suspension was suitable, I called up a supplier and struck a deal for a new set. While waiting on the kit to arrive, Mark at Saxon Motorsport offered a set of springs and helpers that were exactly what I was looking for, so I set off to his outfit to pick them up down in Kent. While there he also threw in a set of DS3000 brake pads that I needed.



Parts in the picture were:

• Camber bolts
• Uprated Springs
• Racing brake pads

Since Brands Hatch and Snetterton, my brake discs had developed multi grooves like a record.





So with the new brakes pads to fit, replacement discs were acquired and fitted.






Then a big box arrived!



The suspension had landed!





With the car covering over 3k miles of shakedown, since the hotgolf gearbox update and with the major Club GTI Bedford trackday becoming more imminent, friend and work colleague damo mk1, gave the keys to his "Man Cave" workshop to set up and fit the new BC suspension kit. Thanks Damo



First, the full travel was measured for the strut



The line on the shaft suggested this was about 100mm

Then it was built up and fitted to the car.





The picture above shows the assembly without pre load or height adjustment.

To set the preload, the height adjustment was raised and locked and the spring bases turned to just about start compressing the helpers.
A measurement was taken of the assembly, with the wheels in the air and with the car resting on the floor via the wheel.

Here a reference from a datum point on the rim and wing was taken with the wheel off the ground.
This was 117mm


The measurement was retaken, this time with the wheels on the ground. This measurement was 65mm.


Therefore travel to rest point was 117mm-65mm = 52mm. The total travel on the strut was 100mm, leaving 48mm for bump travel.

Iterations to the preload were done until the suspension would sit at ~40% of maximum travel when the car was sitting on the floor.
The same as done to the back strut assembly.

This would ensure maximum droop to end stops would not be achieved in the event a wheel was in the air.

The desired height was then set to achieve near parallel wishbone set point, when the car was on the ground.

These camber bolts were added to increase camber but as I will show in a later segment, did not achieve the desired amount of camber that was required.



More setpoint camber required the tab to be set up to face towards the strut. However this still did not result in the desired amount of camber.


The new brake pads were also fitted but alas they were the thicker 16mm jobs, which meant I could not use them with the RA wheels So they would have to be fitted on the track when using my Esotrils

Unfortunately I ran out of time at the man cave and the car sat like this.



I did follow up with further height tweaks which included setting the preload to 30% of travel to buy back some height adjustment.

Garage Streamline Dyno check

Since MOTing the car last year, the engine has not been back to the dyno for any work. It seemed to drive fine daily but as I can, decided to get it on the dyno to check its health. I had also wanted to see if there was any benefit to tweaking the area of the WOT torque curve where is it falls off.
So on it went and I began some development.





Intense development and some 50 pulls later the torque was increased by a couple lbft and the maximum torque range was increased to start at just 3800rpm to now 5500rpm.

More breathing is still needed at post 6500rpm on this engine. This will be the subject of some new developments.

The car was now ready for the Club GTI Bedford trackday.

.


Details of that day were shared on the Club GTI Bedford trackday thread.

In the next segment.

My clutch is damaged again .
The brakes pads and disks only lasts a trackday.
The camber is tweaked
And I get ready to tackle Snetterton.

 

Looking good

I've just done new lights, Night Breakers and a relay/12v feed on my daily Mk2 and it is such a huge improvement isn't it, looking at this I'd have to agree with you and say the majority is from the lights and bulbs as opposed to the relay

 

That poor engine ! lol

Good to see you spoent some time setting up the suspension ride height. Too many people just fit them without thought of the bump / rebound distances

 

50 pulls is 'entry level' particularly when I am investigating a specific concern. We some cars that can rack up 400pulls in a night! lol

I wish there was more time that night actually but had to stop at 1am to return the keys for the workshop!
You are right, many vehicles are lowered for 'stance' as opposed to function. Plus it takes quite some time to tweak all four corners for the car to sit right etc. In fact, it takes as much time to tune the suspension, as it is to deliver a full powertrain calibration.

 

I need to give this thread some attention to bring the updates in line with my facebook page!

Coming soon....

More updates to suspension, the clutch says 'no' again, an unexpected engine failure pre Snetterton trackday, tear down and post mortem analysis to resolve and we take a family road trip around Wales, in one day!
It has all happened as JENVEE and driver continues to develop and promote the practical aspects of "How to ABF your MK2 Golf. "

Stay tuned, stay optimised

 

JENVEE updates, post Bedford, Snetterton woes...March to April 2014

You must have been wondering what has happened to my good ol JENVEE. The answer is lots in fact too much!



Well it's been running great as of today the 27th of Dec but, the updates on here have not been keeping up with the car and its developments.
So let us continue this thread, to bring it up to speed for those who do not really do facebook and follow my Toyotecwerke Chronicles. Do not worry about FB though, the best information will always be archived here

So we will continue to look at the practical aspects in the life of a typical "How to ABF your Mk2 Golf"!

Post Bedford March 2014

The Bedford trackday of March 17 2014 was one of the best driving events we have taken part at Club GTI for some time and we have another coming next year 2015. Look out for that!

Unfortunately after that day, all was not well with JENVEE. Nearing the end of the sessions the clutch started to slip badly and I had to gave up. Fortunately there was some bite left and I was able to limp the car back to home
Due to the demanding nature of the day job and my home, the car was limped over to Yaash Motors.



Yaash and Dipesh kindly removed the gearbox and found the offending cause of the problem. This...





Pressure plate spring failure!

I have had some issues with the clutch prior to taking gearbox to Mart for a full teardown. Believing the pushrod and input shaft seals were worn as as the root cause, after renewing, we just skimmed the friction plate on the lathe to clean up any contaminations. After that over 2000miles of road use were completed, prior to the March trackday. All was good, as was Mart's gearbox rebuild.
In hindsight and after studying my in car footage, the lack of mechanical sympathy from my 'attack' driving style at the time may have been responsible for destroying the clutch pressure plate. A similar new Luk part was fitted and all was well once again. The car returned to daily commuting duty and returned many trouble free miles.

April 10th Snetterton 300 pre checks

With an event booked for the 10th for April at the Snetterton 300 circuit, vehicle preparation took place on the car to correct a few observations from the Bedford trackday.

Roll Centre and Ride Height tweaks

At Bedford, I was not happy with the vehicle's ride height and turn in. Because the car was lower then desired, the roll center was incorrect due to the wishbones pointing up. To cure, the suspension droop preset adjustment was further compromised from the 40% to 25% allowing the front wishbones to be level. The rear was also tweaked over several iterations to ensure the entire vehicle sat 'level'.

More Camber

The camber adjustment cams were not allowing the required amount of camber either. With these components fitted to the top holes of the strut, I could only dial in 1.8 degs of camber.



To cure, the strut holes were slotted allowing up to 3 deg of camber which, though extreme for a road car and inside tire wear, was preferred at the track.



There was some attempt to reference the wheel in the arch to leave the toe in the same place after camber changes. This of course was to be rechecked on an alignment tool.



All good and we move to the next concern.

Over heating braking components.

It was observed, my brake discs were badly scored from Bedford and I managed to finish a set of DS3000s in one trackday.



Based on experiences with other vehicles, I was becoming concerned for this high rate of wear, as I seemed to be going though pads pretty quickly. Having driven this car at OPL days Snetterton in the semi wet and Brands Hatch in the rain, I went through 3 sets of pads (DS3000) and this was my second set of Pagid disks.
One suggestion was to add brake vents, another suggestion was my driving style. Bedford was in the dry and I do admit my driving style would have put more demand on the braking system and created more heat and wear. I was not convinced that my near novice level of driving required brake ducts. There was something else fundamentally flawed. I will explain why.
Based on the history of driving, my 1997 Mk3 VR6 aka 'Der Ankor', a car that was at least a 150kg heavier overall with more frontal weight and biasing, came fitted with larger ATE 288 disks and pads.





I used this car for 600mile/week commuting, learning to drive on many UK tracks ( with even less experience), driving the family on long road trips in Europe and also going to the Nurburgring twice. On trips to or through Germany, many times on the Autobahn, where speeds in excess of 145mph were seen, this brake system would be used to retard the ol' Ankor when other vehicles pulled out in the lane 3 of the super fast Autobahn, doing 70 say .
I experimented with DS3000 pads supplied from Badger 5, both what it was like to live with daily and on the track. In the days of the VR, I would say my driving was less mechanically sympathetic, however, the pads would last up to 18000 miles of combined use and I would wear the disks evenly until they were too thin meaning a change when the pads still had 1/4 life left. Here is a picture after of the brakes and how it stood up to abuse just after a full day at Cadwell.





Therefore, what was happening with JENVEE with it's supposedly better/bigger 280mm disk Girling/Lucas system?

Post mortem time !

When the pads were removed, it was discovered the disks only had vents from the one side, the side with the wheel.





as stated earlier, these disks were my second set of Pagid items from ECP. Unable to find any disks on the their catalogue with bi sided vents, I went to Lloyds in Wembley and picked up these.





Notice these disks have vent intake access from both wheel side and axle side. Also the vents were angled to air flow flow through the disk like a fan.
I was certain this would make an reduction in disk temperature. All left to do was to put it to the test.





ECU control. Transient response calibration

Another problem that I have been nursing was the TPS signal, which was pretty random.



The TPS in my application, is used to indicate idle entry, as well as compensate injection opening during a transient. It was observed, the engine suffered from excessive shuffle at times and my ISC did not always work. Further investigation revealed the TPS was indicating WOT when that was not the case as shown here with the key on, engine off and throttle closed.



The above false reading could also cause hard starting when 'flood clear' was activated. This would cut the injectors. So transients via TPS were switched to rate of change of MAP and other TPS dependant features/function were calibrated out and the TPS disconnected, until the TPS problem could be fixed until now.
I did not like to engine response on MAP dot, so proceeded to find out what was wrong with the TPS in this pre prep.

On ABF and ADL motors, the wires that supply the TPS, crankcase heater and idle switch, can become exposed to the exhaust heat, become brittle and start to short or severe.
To mitigate against this, heat proof tubing was used in my application, which was the 3 wires for the TPS.




Jiggling the wires demonstrated the TPS signal would become 3% or so and slowly grow to 100%, even if the throttle plate was closed. Hmm was this a ground issue? I ran a earth wire straight to battery and this still did not matter. In the end the TPS connection was found to be a bit loose and by applying some tie wraps to the connection, the TPS gave a clean signal. The can be demonstrated in this picture showing the engine running with the TPS correct displaying base idle position of 3%.



Job done and acceleration trigger was switched to TPS dot again. Subjectively, throttle response was excellent and I could switch on the idle control feature.

Snetterton 300 trackday April 10th

The April trackday was upon me and I set out to the track with the car packed with all my gear this was an evening session. So into work for half day and then up to the track.





Everything seemed to be working well. 15 miles from the track I noticed an upshift during an accel seemed to display signs of clutch slip . WHAT! Impossible I thought! Could this be my trackday over before I had even arrived...And with a new clutch and everything else too!
To confirm my fears, 5th gear was selected and the car doubled clutched at full load and that dread sound of high hanging revs and going no where came back...DAMN! Not good! I do not give up though.
I was with a group and they decided to stop at a pub just before the track. While their got something to eat, I ordered a full pint of coke and the coke was not for me... I sneeked outside, and poured the lot down the gearbox inspection hole. Back on the road I started to check the car for clutch slip
It appeared after some double clutching and bursts at max load, the clutch slip had reduced.
As we neared the track, I did one more double clutch and full load pull to near the rev limit in 4th and encountered another problem. My work colleague suggested, the engine was letting by lots of smoke on the over run. Thinking it was oil pull over on the over run, I dismissed it as 'minor' and carried on to the track.

With the briefing out of the way, I went to the pits and caught up with Jamie from JTEC, who set up my tracking.



Then after a quick swap to DS3000s and R888 rubber, I was off on the track.



Not for long though
My clutch started to act up. So I said to myself, I am forced to be smooth then, no problem. As I managed the clutch issue, up the pit straight the engine started to chuck out lots of smoke. This was on an acceleration. Seriously not good, the second time it happened I got pulled in to fix. Oil was getting into the intake system from the crank case. Determined to get my money worth, I made a catch tank from an old oil bottle.



With the smoke clearing, I made my way back on the track and the clutch would not play ball. Game over and I was back into the pits. Make shift catch tank was filling up with oil. Something was broken interannly and my colleague did see the makings of an internal engine problem before we got to the track. Car was parked before I had to tow it home and I finished the day paxing in other cars. Not a good outing for JENVEE.

However I do not give up.

We will continue in the next segment with this heap...



You are probably going, "what da...!"

I will expand further...

Stay tuned stay optimised.

 

Coke to clean the clutch then honey to stop the slip.

Old (very old) fix but it would get you home.

Cheers

Paul

 

Actually a the Coke degreasing trick was picked up from hotgolf. I did not know about the honey bit though!