Oulton Park 2022 Oulton came around quick and I didn’t get time to check the car over as much as I’d like to. Just did the basics, see if any of the paint pen on the bolts has moved, check brakes and fluids. Unfortunately this was the state of the front pads After a quick dash round it turned out my mate around the corner had a set of almost new Yellow Stuff that would get me by! What a hero! That pretty much saved my trackday. With that sorted the rest of the car, looked great so got it loaded up with tools and spares ready for the morning. Got finished at around 8pm, started the car up to put it away in the garage and the exhaust sounded awful, something was loose. After getting the car up on stands it was obvious that the Milltek had once again failed. There were 3 separate rattles, the only thing to do was cut the exhaust open and weld up whatever was loose. Not what I wanted to be doing the night before a track day! I don’t know if you can make out in the pictures but the welds on baffles at both ends had cracked and caused the perforated tube to rattle around. Last time I emailed Milltek and they sent me a new box straight away, which was very good of them, so no complaints there. With those all welded up, the boxes welded back up the car was purring nicely again. Tyre pressures checked and ready for the off. Here’s a video of one of my sessions. I wish I’d watched some footage back over lunch, because my driving was awful! Over driving the car so much, not being smooth, but some take aways for next time! The track itself was fantastic, it was really nice to put sim practise into reality! All in all, a cracking day all round. I was without doubt the slowest thing on track! (just about!) Every car there seemed to be boosted, so I struggled to keep up with anything other than the odd clio and a turbo’d Fiat Chicachento My tyres had seen better days after the trackday! these were rears. I need to get some camber shims for the rear stub axle, After speaking with Nige and the lads at Cornering Force, we came to the conclusion that the I could do with -0.5 degrees more on the rear and go from there.
There’s a fair bit to update since Oulton, looking back I’ve done loads to the Golf in the last few weeks! My main issue at Oulton was the car felt very inconsistent, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I think it was a combo of my tyres getting old and having a few too many heat cycles and that the car is still on OE bushes. My first job to tackle was the wishbones, I’d replaced the original wishbones with Lemforder items about 5 years ago and not touched them since. The original bushes were looking okay to be honest. I decided on PowerFlex black series as I wanted to minimise any movement. I can confirm they are rock hard! I cut/pressed the bushes out with some home made tools, and then set about welding up the wishbones. The wishbones are in 2 halves which are then spot welded, so this should help stiffen them up. Painted up with the bushes in Very happy with how they turned out. Next on the list… the Golf had his most important job in the 15 years I’ve owned him so far. The BIG DAY! And what a car to do it in! I’m not sure my wife was all that happy having to get a 6 point harness on in a wedding dress, but we’ll brush over that! After getting more and more into my ‘fabrication’ (If I can call It that!) I decided I wanted to start making some braces for the car, again to stiffen things up and negate any chance of inconsistencies on track. First up was a lower front brace to tie the two wishbones together. I’d seen these for sale online for around £80. After pricing up I could make one for 1/3 of that, so I ordered some metal and gave it a go. Started by making the tube ends, these would be the parts where the bolts would pass through into the subframe. I wanted to make sure I could still get a socket in, which I could but this meant the bar fouled the gearbox, so these were cut off and remade longer for the final version. A tight fit to the gearbox, but doesn’t make contact when under load. And after a coat of halfords finest satin black. Next up on the fabrication/brace list was the rear turrets. Realistically I don’t know how much movement there will be here, and we will have to see if I notice a difference on track. I ordered some tube the same 45mm as my cage tubing, offering it up I thought it just looked a bit out of place, and the tube actually weighted a fair bit. With the car being fully carpeted etc keeping weight to a minimum is a must! Or should I say adding to it is not something I’m keen on. So I started to think about a lighter solution which would still be strong enough and not flex under load. After loads of thinking and sketching, I took some inspiration from this Porsche, which uses a rose jointed rod to brace across the turrets. I liked how the brackets extended down the turret to maximise its function. I could have easily gone from turret to turret, but I wanted to also tie in the rear topmount. My view is the higher up the turret/topmount I can brace the better leverage there will be to actually make it effective. Another benefit was that I could use a thinner tube to try and keep weight down. After some sketching I came up with this. I ordered the rose joints in M12, along with some tube bungs, misalignment spacers and half nuts, one side was right hand thread, the other was left hand thread, so I could then use the tube to add tension before locking off each end. And by complete coincidence, when offering it all up the bracket would fit perfectly in between where the rear parcel shelf supports used to bolt on, giving me a perfect guide to getting it all square, result! Made some templates Once I was happy, I cut everything out in 3mm steel Got these welded in, you will have to excuse my welding here. I just couldn’t see to get going properly. I seemed to be in between settings on the welder, I have a dial for wire speed and 2 switches for volts and amps, I felt like I could have done with a dial for all settings. But I’ll stop blaming my tools and take ownership! It wont win any prizes but it will be strong… Once these were in, I made some end plates with some speed holes to reduce weight. Once I was happy there, everything was painted up The last job was a good vac out, and cut the carpet for the turrets. Some finals shots #engineering Very happy with the final results! Really in keeping with my clubsport theme and a nice little project to get stuck into. And lastly I finally got my new engine round from my mates house which we managed to wheel barrow round to mine! That’s taking pride of place in my shed. I’d love to say that will be in soon, but it wont unfortunately, we are saving for our own place which will be taking up any spare cash. I’ve got Croft book this Monday, which I’m very excited for! Last bits to sort are some new tyres, oil and filter change and a speedo cable change as that’s making some weird noises.
F me some fantastic engineering work going on with your motor. CONGRATULATIONS on the big day and great move getting the mk2 in on the day - she can never be sold now. What is the engine - ABF/KR/9A?
Thanks you mate!! It's a 2.1 ABF with a KR head, its already had some head work and lightened flywheel. My plan is to rebuild the top end, with some fruity cams, Jenvey ITBs and standalone ECU, hoping it should be good for 200bhp ish.
Nice that will be a lovely motor in a well sorted mk2. I've got an ABF head and block in my car but KR fuelling and I thought it was pretty quick so yours is going to be an animal.
Looks ace Cope. what ECU you going with for the itbs? I've got an ABF with webers I'll be putting in my build, and have megajolt. Yet to fit it all up though, need to look into how to attach the trigger wheel.
Thanks chaps! The plan is to go DTA Fast, as he also stocks the jenveys and majority of the loom connectors. Didnt have the best day at Croft, the morning started out great, car felt amazing. Just before lunch I noticed a fair bit of blue smoke under acceleration, turned out I've blown a hole in the side of the gearbox... those pesky diff rivets. I'll update properly over the next week
Nice work, cars looking great as usual. Looking forward to seeing the engine conversion/power figures etc
