Assembly (Part 3) It's been a while but I finally got some free time to sit down and update the thread. A lot has happened since the last post... The guys at the workshop have been beavering away since the end of March and have almost completed dropping in the engine, gearbox and associated plumbing. It's so close now to being fired up I can't contain myself. Anyway, enough of the small talk, I'll let the photos do the talking. Engine/Transmission The starting point... It's an ABY bottom end, bored to the largest piston size we can get, to give just shy of 2.1 litres. Forged pistons, steel rods, ARP bolts. Forged VW crank, balanced, shot peened, knife-edged and Nitrided. Original GTi head with aluminium bungs in injector ports. Ports opened up and big valves. Piper 285 cam will hopefully keep the power spread over a wide rev range, although with the double springs and titanium caps it'll certainly rev if necessary. Balanced, genuine VW G60 type flywheel fitted. VR6 clutch in place. Gearbox and associated mounts fitted. And ready to be dropped in... Ta dah! Next the rocker cover got some TLC... The original GTI cover with throttle cable bracket removed along with the internal breather filter and outlet. Blasted and prepped for paint. A threaded insert for the breather outlet was machined up and TIG welded in, then primed, ready for sanding back. Applied the crackle finish VHT paint and ready to go in the oven for baking... In place and protected against the elements again. Everything Else The ancillaries were also starting to go back in... Including: A breather catch tank from Concept Racing. The Jenvey throttle bodies, with linkage and fuel rail/injectors. Nice shot of the modified, crackle black rocker cover too. A Mocal oil cooler which was mounted behind the front panel next to the radiator. A new OEM alternator and original, re-plated bracket. And of course the 4>2>1 exhaust manifold. An existing custom manifold was donated by another Golf being restored by the workshop and modified to fit a custom exhaust. Action shot... Look at the seals on that, minimal and uniform. Wish I could do that... And finally heat wrapped to drop the under bonnet temperature. With the fuel rail on, the water plumbing almost done and the drive shafts fitted the engine bay was starting to look pretty much complete. I love this shot, everything is just how I imagined it to be when I started out on the journey. What's Next? With the progress on the engine bay means we're approaching the next big milestone in the build, firing up the engine. I've watched enough restoration programs in the past to know this can be a frustrating process but with the experience that has gone into this build I can only hope it will go smoothly. Watch this space...
Just read through the thread so far, some very nice work being done on this. I am looking forward to seeing it completed.
