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

Just goes to show that knowledge of the track helps in quick times. Of course setting the car up correctly helps a great deal as does speed

 

certainly does, there is no way I`d be flat @ a GPS indicated 134MPH at the blind brow BEFORE Schwedencreuz (sp?) if I didnt know the braking zone was there I`d never had it over 130 before, but I got a great exit out of Flugplatz that lap, carried far more speed down the hill and as expected, had to brake harder before SX, I didnt even take foxhole flat, I have before, but prefer that little margin you get by lifting before, then taking the turn flat.

Got some Toyo 888`s arriving at the end of August, so that should be a sub 9 min lap. Far quicker than I expected.

I forgot to mention before, I fitted the 50mm inlet Manifold at the ring too. I was regularly getting 104mph in 5th up Kesselchen, I always changed into 5th just before the left `bend` as it levels off after the initial uphill pull from Bergwerk and in the dry, just about every single lap peaked and held at 104. Once I fitted the 50mm inlet manifold, I was getting 109-110 EVERY lap, thats a 5-6mph increase ! The car seemed noisier too, which I didnt think was actually possible, but it wass. I also found that my fuel consumption, which NEVER went under 18mpg/lap now hovers around 15.6mpg/lap There is certainly more fuel being used, more noise made and I`d say with some confidence, more power too. :thumb: I am pretty sure this helped contribute to my lap time, although by how much I honestly dont know. I have no idea what the power output will be, it will probably be a good idea to get it on a rolling road over the winter to make sure the fuelling is OK, but I checked a plug and the colour was OK, so I dont think it`s too lean.

 

OMG you got to race it before me greatwork looks excellant i see you managed to get the rest of the sound proofing off. dont suppose you still have that cobra seat i left in there lol joking

Anyways nice work great you kept in contact hope it all keep well

Dale

PS was a Driver shell hence arches

 

Excellent Progress today ! I had been loaned an AP Racing Bias valve to test on the golf, I had tried everything else and the rears were STILL locking when I braked hard, which was very unsettling. I had tried combinations of pads but nothing had fixed it. Deciding that the Bias valve was about the only thing I hadnt swapped, I drained the system, then swapped over the bias valve. Refilled, bled everything and went for a drive. IT WORKED !! :thumb: With the Bias full `reduced` the fronts locked first, 1 click from max, the front just locked first and 2 clicks from max, the rears locked, so I still dont have a massive amount to play with, but that doesnt matter.



I still braked where I usually do, but was able to apply more pedal pressure and stop quicker, it will take me some time to learn the later braking points, but at least i`m braking too early and not too late ! The benefit of this was shown when I was approaching Bergwerk on a drying track with Andy Carlisle as a passenger, I braked at my normal point and after a second, the fronts locked, I had to get off the brakes, then reapply several times to slow me down in time, for a horrible split second, my heart was pounding and I thought Oh NO, not again :blink: , but I slowed in plenty of time and made the corner far slower than usual, the rest of the lap was very greasy and it was the last one for the day ! If I had been braking at a later point, I wouldnt have had the same margin, so I need to find an in-between compromise.

The front left tyre showed bad wear after 3 back to back hot laps on Tuesday !. I increased pressure slightly and rotated front-rear, I was planning on doing this every 30 laps anyway, but I had to do it after 20 as the front were not coping very well. (whoops, forgot to take a pic, will do later)

Whilst out for my first lap of the evening, I thought the car seemed underpowered, initially I thought that perhaps the brakes were binding after my modifications, but a quick check and they were cool. A second lap and I was sure something was amiss, came into the carpark and very quickly spotted that the throttle cable had `moved`, full throttle was actually only about 60% ! That would explain it then. A few cableties later and I was good to go, the next lap having the expected acceleration and noise. Andy who was sat next to me could definitely tell a difference.


I`m swapping the front pads today, the Yellowstuff have done me good for about 75 laps and still have meat on them, but it seems sensible to change them rather than wait until the damage the disks

Had a small issue today, going round the Karussel and heard a banging, wasnt sure if something was amiss, but it stopped as soon as I exited the banking. Drove steadily back to carpark and it immediately became obvious what the problem was. The rear exhaust hanger mount had corroded and broken away. Unfortunately, this was last thing Saturday evening and we were going out, so it had to wait until Sunday morning, when all the shops were closed



I had minimal equipment to effect a suitable repair, so sent Matthew round the campsite to try and fine a suitable washer. Eventually he found a discarded BBQ, the legs are drilled and have a hole, I reduced the width by bending over the edges and ended up with a long piece of metal with a hole in the end.


I hammered this through the `U` of the old mount and then had a new mounting point for the bolt that secures the bracket.



Secured the hanger to the new piece of metal and the exhaust was secured :thumb:


Obviously, I`ll get a washer welded to the mounting point as soon as convenient, but it works for a temporary repair. ?

Changed the brake pads, as I was aware the yellows were passing their best, they had given me over 80 laps of the ring, so I was pretty pleased with that. They are significantly cheaper than the Ferodo 2500`s, so I shall be getting some more. I then fitted some EBC Blue`s to try.
Worn Yellows...


The Blues were AWFUL !. The Yellows had given me great pedal feel and braking performance. Once bedded in the blues just didnt give me any feel whatsoever, I had to REALLY stand on the pedal to slow down, the cold performance was average (which to be fair, I did expect), but even when warmed, they were not good at all. Braking for Kallenhard and Bergwerk, I was actually grimacing as I was having to press on the pedal so much ! Fortunately, I still had a set of part worn Ferodo 2500`s, which I`d taken off so I could try the yellows. I fitted them and the braking was transformed :thumb: . I shall be keeping the blues for emergencies only, ie, get me home, but certainly not for track use.

 

finally managed to get the car alignment sorted.


The camber was not exactly as I`d like, it was fine for left handers, with -2.3 deg camber, but only -0.3 for right handers..

Settled on -1.6 on both sides as that was the max adjustment I could get with the standard bolts.


Manfred welded a bolt into place for the rear exhaust mount, so thats new secured properly


Whilst there, we decided to finally get the downpipe sorted ! As you may remember, the flexi joint was too low and kept touching the ground


I removed the downpipe, then Manfred cut a section out , I heated it with a blowtorch and we were able to put a sharper bend in the bottom of the pipe. This gave me a straighter exit, but still too low.


To rectify this, we cut out a 2" section of the downpipe, the re-welded the 2 halves together. Here is Manfred welding WITHOUT A MASK , I still cant get my head round that :blink:


Once welded, I refitted the exhaust and you can see the weld halfway down the pipe here:


The finished result ! an exhaust that doesnt si so low anymore :thumb:

Before

After

 

After setting the camber and tracking, the car felt great on track, I think the initial turn in response is a little less precise than before, but i`m not sure. Apart from that, its great. Darren very kindly brought over a set of Toyo 888`s on a set of 15" alloys. I had been running the Yokohama Paradas all week, but the left hand front tyre was taking a beating after 3 back to back laps, so even though the car was reliable, I was having to stop to let the tyres cool after 2 laps in hot weather which was frustrating at times.


The wheels and new yellowstuff pads were collected at 4:30, a trip back to the campsite and 4 new wheels / tyres and brake pads were fitted in 23 minutes, in time for me to make the 5:15 opening ! I reckon with a hydraulic jack and powered wheel nut remover, i`d be able to get that under 20 mins

The first few laps on the new tyres were a revelation, I was gobsmacked how much difference there was and thought i`d never use all the grip they had to offer. The biggest difference I`ve found, even after a week of running them is that it enables me to pass slower cars off-line but still have grip. Where before, if I was following someone through Bergwerk and they were new and going slowly, I still had to follow them and try and pass down the hill, now, I can drive around the outside, I have had cars indicate right approaching eiskurve, but before, if I had gone to the left, I would have been so tight into the corner, i`d probably have understeered into them, now I can take a tight, slower line and still pass when they move over for me, it just makes passing so much easier. Obviously, a similar speed car is a different matter, but I dont mind following them anyway, its the first timers who refuse to use their mirrors, or lift thwne they see you that can now be dispatched easily.

My exhaust started blowing on Monday, a quick look with it on the ramps showed it was the flexible joint that had failed. I think the failure was caused by the touching onto the road and Karussel, so I wasnt suprised. I ordered a new one which arrived Tuesday morning.

cut out old flexi joint

ground old weld off the pipe

cleaned off the old exhaust assembly paste

New downpipe with new, longer flexi pipe welded on and new paste on joint face ready to fit as I forgot to get a new gasket... oops....


All fitted nicely !!


The old joint was definately broken......That could explain why it was SO loud under full throttle at high revs......


Whilst the car was on ramps, I use the opportunity to check around. I saw that on the left hand side, the inside of the new 888`s had been touching the coilovers.

I`m guessing it was mostly on corners like M-H-M or Galgenkopf when the loads are sustained and pretty high.
You can see on the photo where the tyre is marked on the inside and where the paint has been rubbed off the coilover, this is NOT a safe thing to be happening...




Obviously this is not a good situation to be in at all, I was very luck that Bruce who has a turquoise MK2 at the ring called in and actually had a set of 5mm spacers I could borrow until mine arrived ! I ordered some new 5mm wheel spacers and also longer wheel bolts.
New H&R 5mm Wheel spacers and longer bolts

Wheel spacer on the hub



I could also see that the wheels had been fouling the arches slightly, this wasnt a suprise so an angle grinder was found and it made short work of the offending areas,


I took out more than needed and I knew that once I had the spacers fitted, I`d need all the clearance I could get. The photos doesnt show it too well, but look at the width of the arch at the bottom of the photo and you can see it reduce towards my finger


Finally, a couple of photos of the Golf on track, on the 888`s, taken by Louise, who has definately improved her photography skills this holiday.




You can see the need to the wheelarch clearance on this pic ! (taken by Dale)


The new found grip certainly allowed me to set my fastest lap of 8:46 the other day, but more importantly to me, it allows safer overtaking whilst still getting a reasonable lap, last night the track opened for 1 lap at 19:13, as you can imagine, the track was very busy with everyone going out for `1 last lap`, I passed 15 vehicles on the lap and still did it in 9:02. (link to follow )

I did 3 laps Saturday that were smooth, using the data logging software, you can get a `theoretical` best lap, ie, adding up the best times from each sector to show the ultimate pace, it showed an 8:41 . I KNOW that I didnt do an 8:41, but thats what it is saying the car is capable of.

 

wow

 

Awesome Nige!

You got any more plans for the Golf then? Engine mods or anything like that?

 

Small updates, nothing major, oil cooler to be fitted to aid reliability, but thats ALL engine wise.
The engine is reliable and if I start pushing for more power, I`ll just end up breaking something which misses the whole point. I need a quick reliable car, not a fast unreliable one.

 

Fair enough.
Good luck with it all anyway

Are you living at the 'ring atm btw? []

 

Very nice lap there.

What camera are you using Nige?

 

great updates nige. that rear bearing is shocking...

how old was it? was it worth taking up with the manufacturer/place you purchased it from?

How much did you get the 888s for in the end? they seem to of creeped up in price now.

 

only just caught this thread. Great read and some helpful how-to's

 

Great thread, read it all start to finish and watched the videos too.

Outstanding

 

Sorry for the lack of response.

888`s are about 240/set delivered at the moment. Camera is a 520TVL Bulletcam, recording on JVC MiniDV camcorder.

The golf is now back home and ready for me to do a few little bits ready for Cadwell in November.

First job was to fit the oil cooler and change the oil. Removed the front bumper to gain access.


I then removed the paint where I was going to weld the mounting brackets


Welded 2 for the top and one for the bottom left, sprayed with black paint when welded and cooled. Secured with bolts and rubber mounts to help control the vibration. The cooler looks big, but remember, I`ve mounted it behind the front bumper, rather than lower where others do, so the airflow will be reduced.



I`d bought a thermostatic sandwich plate, this doesnt let the hot oil go through the cooler until it reaches a set temperature, if you dont fit one, the oil can take much longer to warm up, which is not a good thing. Rather than having to buy a longer centre section to mount the sandwich plate and oil filter, it came with a lengthening piece.


Put the sandwich plate where the oil cooler normally goes, then fasten on the extension which secures the sandwich plate.



The oil filter is now screwed in place, but when I do an oil change, the sandwich plate is left undisturbed


Cable tied the braided hoses to stop them rubbing against the chassis and wearing away


After bumper refitting.


Refilled the oil, whats that noise I can hear? Ah that will be the fresh oil running out of the drain plug I didnt refit :shame: Luckily it was only a small amount, I wasnt even rushing, i`d just forgotten... ( I thought twice about posting this, but I post good AND bad in this thread...)

Took the opportunity to empty the oil catch tank, as you can see, it did collect a bit, not loads, but if I hadnt had it, all that gunk would have gone back into the inlet manifold ..


Whilst the welder was out, I secured the radiator mounting bolts properly.


Refitted the bumper, started the engine and checked for leaks. There were none . Only 1 pipe warmed up initially, which meant the thermostat was working, its not easy to tell, but I think it opened at 82 - 84 degrees, thats when the other pipe suddenly got warm and the temp dropped for a minute, then carried on increasing. It was only ticking over, but didnt get as warm as usual and when I started the radiator fan with the override switch, the oil temp dropped :thumb: (I`d positioned the oil cooler so that when the fan runs, it pulls air through the oil cooler and radiator)

I wont have time to touch it until later in the week, but I`m pleased with what I achieved today. Got a few more bits to do before Cadwell, but nothing major.

 

Made some great progress today

I had an issue at Bedford earlier in the year where oil was being put on track, I was accused of it and even though it was proven I was not at fault, it was a nervous time as I thought I`d be black flagged and sent home (I had an oil weep from the crankshaft oil seal). At the ring this year, I found an oil leak from the distributor, I managed to contain the leak, but I am very nervous about dropping oil on the tarmac at the ring and on a trackday.

To stop this, I decided to do a bit of fabrication


I made a mild steel plate, drilled 3 holed and welded 3 nuts above the holes. Welded this to the subframe (I have decided I dont like welding upside down..)


Sprayed it all black to stop any rust.


I then lightly scored the 1.2mm aluminium sheet I was using, partially bent it with some grips


Then using a square block of metal as a former, tapped the sheet to bend it smoothly into position


Ending up with a nice Bend


I positioned / measured / marked and bent metal until I had created this.


I had to pop-rivet the 2 end pieces on as I had not thought about making it the full width, luckily I had an offcut I could use
I secured a row of 6mm studs into the front valance, then could secure the sheet in place easily.


I could secure the rear part by some long bolts through the aluminium and then into the nuts on the plate I welded to the subframe


The finished result, an engine undertray


I have left sufficient space between the sump to allow for engine movement.


The undertray had been bent to clear the engine / gearbox and folded to easily clear the wheels / wishbones at their maximum travel. As all the edges are folded up, I have a contained tray !, any oil drips will now be caught so I can simply wipe them up with a bit of cloth at my leisure without fear of losing any onto the track

The overall clearance has been reduced by about 15-20mm, I still have the front valance which will touch the ground well before the undertray

 

You really have made some awesome adjustments on this car!

That undertray is a darn good idea...

Looks like you could make them and sell them tbh!

 

I made the long kinks with 2 pieces of MDF on a flat surface, raised on some blocks, placed the aluminium between the 2 sheets, got someone to stand on top to trap it securely, then I carefully pushed the sheet to bend it along the edge, used another piece on the top side to bend it over and get a straight line. It took a while and needed 2 sometimes 3 people, a sheet metal bender would have been much easier.. Not sure if I explained it well....

my nly regret is not getting a wider sheet in the first place, but I didnt think I`d be going all the way to the edge, you live and learn..

The time it took, I couldnt sell em .

 

amazin topic, great car

 

Yet more good progress today

Made some Aluminum door cards, 1st one took a while, the 2nd was just a mirror image, so was much quicker.
From this:


To This:


I had 2 keys, one for the ignition from the old Golf and the doors which were in the new one. Decided to swap the lock barrels over so I only had one key. At the same time, I decided to remove the unsightly surrounds around the door handles, however, on removing the passenger side one, I saw why it had been fitted...


The old plate was quite rusty, so I cleaned it up, back to bare metal


A few coats of paint and laquer and it looked pretty good


When fitted, it doesnt look as bad as before. In realy life, it looks a similar colour, so i`ll live with that.


The handbrake was sticking on the offside, I tried to free the lever with mole grips and WD40, it is better, but I think i`ll have to buy a new caliper.


The front offside headlamp was set back for some reason, I couldnt see anything obvious, so fitted some bolts to move it forwards



When fitted, it has moved forwards and looks fine with the grille fitted
Before:


After