I've started making some quick little crappy videos on this build and heres the first one Any likes/comments/subscriptions/shares etc appreciated!
Started to build up the floor again in the middle portion of the car to regain some strength and also in order to suspend the gearbox under its own weight. Bolted up some porsche 924 discs up the front so i could get some 4x108 wheels on for now and was able to drop the car on the ground again for the first time in a while. Also chucked the front end on! Rolling with a full RWD drivetrain (minus the propshaft!) The rear sits pretty nice and has plenty of adjustment in the suspension arms but the front requires some fairly heavy camber adjustments, will poke a bit more with some proper brakes etc fitted but i'm gonna need to look into extending the wishbones and/or modifying the strut top with some adjustable top mounts i think. Here is youtube episode 2
What wishbones are on the front Daz? You probably have said, but thought was easier to ask. Looks great sat there on the floor
Just has standard polybushed mk1 golf/mk2 scirocco ones, they have been seam welded by a previous owner. I've seen standard wishbones like mine being extended, i think Gurds (@vw_singh ?) has done this on his mk1 golf. they way it sits just now its probably got 1-2 degrees positive camber with the strut set at full 'negative'. So wouldn't need a huge amount of extension to rectify.
Quick update! Measured up for a custom propshaft and had BAR propshafts in wales make it up for me, great turnaround, 2.5" heavy duty tubing, genuine spicer HD rally UJ's, balanced and ready to go Fits superb - now officially rolling with a full RWD drivetrain! Got my bucket seat rails mounted and fully welded in, total total c**t to do, seats needed to be exactly right as i only have a couple mm clearance to the cage and tunnel, not the easiest to access to weld either, so chuffed these are done. Picked up some 4 pin hitachi coilpacks so when I come to make up the loom I can delete the ignition amplifier which tends to be the weak point of the AGU ignition system. Before when the car was running FWD i was using a BAM inlet manifold and fuel rail with brand new EV14 bosch 550cc injectors, with the car being RWD now i need to use the AGU inlet manifold which isn't suitable for EV14 injectors, luckily creation motorsports make these little injector spacers and adapters so that I can run my Bosch 550s on the AGU big port mani. Looks like there shouldn't be any issues but will have to wait and see. So now running 4 bar FPR, 550cc injectors and tig welded rail for AN fittings, should be plenty for fuelling everything the KO4-064 demands! Turbo oil feed line from a longitudinal 1.8T is a good fit, and I've started to tack together a downpipe, going to make the exhaust myself, 3" from turbo all the way back. Its going to be tight as hell but its do-able for sure. Will run alongside the gearbox then dip under the propshaft all the way to the back of the car. Theres currently a b6 1.8t solid mass flywheel on the engine, to get the thing started up initially and check i have drive to the rear wheels i will use a b6 1.8t pressure plate and an old ford pinto friction disc as the rx8 input shaftis identical to that of the pinto/type 9 gearbox input shaft, the b6 1.8t stuff is only 228mm so what i have done is bought an audi 80 solid flywheel, these can be machined out to take a 240mm setup. I've been in touch with CG motorsports to have a custom clutch setup made up to handle all the power and torque i can throw at it, but this will come later on. Just want to hear it running and check i have drive for now. Been making up some little temporary wishbone extension plates to sort out the front camber situation, this is only to determine how much extension is required, i wont be running these plates all the time. I still need to cut the arches on the wings too. Cut up my sump in order to modify it for my engine being vertically mounted, got rid of the oil level sensor hole too. Made up this plate from 3mm alloy plate and will have an M14 bung welded in too for the drain plug. Will keep the original drain plug there too and just run two magnetic plugs. twice as more likely to pick up any shit in the oil that way! Also have a spare rocker cover from a B6 1.8t, these do not have the breather on the end so i have drilled and relocated the breather to suit my needs, will have this AN-12 fitting welded on for the catch can piping. Lastly the oil pickup pipe will also be welded to accomodate for the vertically mounted engine, similar to the sump, it is currently 15 degrees out. My TIG skills are not quite there yet so I'll have someone else do this! Finally, rolled it outside to blow some dust off it and to get a pic alongside the daily hack Two mk2 scirocco AGU 1.8Ts, two very different cars! haha Heres a link to the latest video Any subs/likes etc appreciated Thanks for reading
Looking good Daz, not have the carbon prop off the rx8? That's going to be nice and toasty warm with the exhaust there, engine looks quite far back in the bay so weight balance means it's not going to be like a capri, Keep up the great work.
Thanks fellas. I looked into it and it seemed like the way to go, as you can just cut the carbon fibre tubing to size and press the UJ back in, but then i stumbled upon this video that proves with a shorter propshaft its better to stick to steel. Also just the peace of mind of brand new HD universal joints, all balanced ready to go etc!
Quick update on state of play... This is probably the most its ever looked liked a car again! front end fitted up and seats etc all in, starting to take shape. Been focusing on the engine bay side of things, modified sump and pickup pipe are now done and on the car running two magnetic drain plugs for the sump, B6 A4 rocker cover has AN-12 take off for catch can system, massive pro-ram cone filter plumbed up with 90mm -> 60mm pipework with DV relocating into the FMIC pipework, running an ARF baffled catch can mounted to the inner wing, starting to come together nicely! 16 row AN10 Mocal oil cooler mounted up front Mocal oil cooler thermostat sandwich plate and mocal relocation plate with a 1/8 NPT take off for oil temp gauge (got my pressure gauge hooked up for now for first start up) for remote oil filter Allows me to run this beast of an oil filter, T4 2.5 diesel van, massive!! Also very very easy to access for future oil changes. Pipework for the oil system, all AN10 push on style fittings with oil rated hose This brings the total oil capacity to just over 6L give or take, despite having to remove a bit from the sump, very happy with that! Downpipe version 2 tacked together, this is going to need to change slightly again, more on that in the next update! It basically needs to run tighter to the gearbox especially at the bellhousing section to make for some more space around the pedalbox area. Now, sussing out the flywheel, starter, clutch, spigot bearing etc! After notching the bellhousing a bit to allow the starter to fit i have the following combo: Audi A4 B5 1.8t flywheel, starter and pressure plate 2.0 Ford Pinto clutch disc (just for testing!) Rx8 slave cylinder, clutch arm, release bearing etc I've plumbed and bled the clutch and it looks like this setup will work after a small bit of tweaking to allow for a little bit more play in the clutch fork. Obviously I will go for uprated components for the final build to handle the torque of the 20vT, this is just for proof of concept! Ford Type 9 spigot bearing fits a treat as the VW crank is 21mm bore and the rx8 input shaft 15mm, exact same as the ford dimensions! Gearbox mount version 4! This one is nice and compact and uses some old mk2 escort anti tramp bar bush ends welded to an offcut from the seat rails, i've pressed in new tramp bar polybushes. This is then welded to an 8mm plate i fabbed up to bolt to the back of the rx8 box. this all then bolts in to 2 'bolt on' brackets that bolt to the inside of the tunnel via plates with captive nuts that i've made up and welded to the inside. Nice and strong and makes removing the box much easier now! and i can fit a 3" exhaust under the mount too. Right, time to chuck some wiring in, hook up some fuel lines, set up a very rough base map on the emerald and see if she will start up! First of all, my butchered ce1 1.8T engine loom i made up previously had been cut up a bit for some bits on my other car so this needed rectified first. Mainly adding new plugs for starter, new TFSI n75 wiring, injector wiring, map sensor, and eventually the 4 pin coils (although im going to start it up on the 3 pin coils first) Reverse lights working with the RX8 box! Fuel lines are exactly as they were before (now far too long!) and fuel system also as it was, facet lift pump feeding swirl pot, inline filter then bosch 044 pump up to the rail. Of course, this is all temporary just for starting it up, proper brackets, fuel cell etc will be used! Quickly calibrated a rough map on the Emerald ECU and after robbing a couple relays from my daily car I was ready for the first fire up. CRanked it for about 15 seconds and nothing, pumps had primed but im presuming had only filled the swirl pot. Next crank she fired a bit... Next crank she fired right into life on all 4's and idled away lovely!! Get in. Oil pressure reading nice and high on the gauge, lambda readings a bit high but then again my downpipe is only tacked together, also no gasket or anything. put it up on the lift and tried a few gears while operating the clutch pedal by hand, 1st good, 2nd good, 3rd good!! rear wheels were going like mad so didn't go any more than that. Beyond chuffed with it, she is now officially Rear wheel drive! Here are the latest youtube videos that go a little more in depth on what I've done. Oil system and engine bay Clutch, flywheel, spigot bearing, starter, etc etc The first start up video will be coming out this weekend hopefully! Thanks for reading. Daz
Finally got my bulkhead and tunnel all tacked up with the engine and box still bolted up to ensure everything clears. Complete pain to do, especially round the drivers side as the pedalbox, steering column and 3" downpipe are all fighting for the same space. Can now drop the engine and box out and get everything fully welded up before doing a bit of surgery to the dashboard to get it to fit! Original scirocco steering column modified a bit to suit my driving position better Made a bit of a start to the exhaust too, 3" all the way back from the turbo, should be relatively straight forward from here onwards! And after a couple discussions with Richard at North East Brakes I have a plan in place for my front brakes, will be using Renault Megane 225 4 pot brembos with a focus ST170 front disc, so all those bits and bobs are with him now to have some caliper carriers machined up. Full steam ahead now, I want to be driving this thing this year!
Brake envy is rearing its head again. 170st are 300mm from memory, and 4x108 so fit in nicely for you Daz.
You are indeed correct sir. I was going to run focus RS mk1 discs which are 324mm but the offset is slightly different and I think that size would limit me to 17" wheels, whereas I want to possibly run 16s in the future so 300mm is quite a nice size, the ST170 discs are much cheaper too!
Engine and box out earlier this evening, spilt gearbox oil everywhere..woops Engine bay is massive now! Made a start to the welding on the engine bay side, so far so good some decent penetration below view