Hope you don't mind me just copying and pasting. Not long ago I did my first track day at Rockingham in my MkV 2.0 TDI. Was a great day and the car was fantastic. Especially as I use the car everyday and managed to drive 150 miles to the track, do just under 100 miles on the track, and then drive back on one tank. But whilst there I was inspired by the uk-mkivs track project: http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/330392.aspx So after not so much thought and an evaluation of my small amount of funds I thought I'd take a leap and buy a project car myself. My MkV has just under 200bhp and 350ft/lbs of torque which is the most I wanted to go up to on front wheels and every driver in order to keep it controlable and reliable. This lead me to think 4 wheel drive. Looked at a few options, starting with a Mitsubishi GTO; 3.0 V6 twin turbo, 4 wheel steer and fast. But extremely expensive to run, and if anything goes wrong I'd be screwed. This then lead me to think about an Impreza or Evo, but what I was looking at didn't really do anything for me. The MkIV R32 obviously popped into my head, but there was no chance I could afford one. So i thought of the next step down, the 2.8 v6 4motion. Bit of research was done and I realised I could pick one up for around 3000, which was the top end of what I wanted to pay. Carried on having a look around and found a year 2000 MkIV Golf v6 4motion on autotrader. Had a fair bit of exterior damage but low mileage. Drove the 4 hours down to Chelmsford yesterday and came back up in a red 4motion with 76000 on the clock, having parted with 2000. I then thought about funding for the next stages of going all out on the car, already knowing it's going to cost a little bit I thought of how to ease the cost, and I managed to get where I work onboard. The car will be used as an advertisement for the company in return for using certain contacts and getting certain parts through them. First impressions are definitely good. Rides very well, not too harsh but definitely not too soft and wobbly. The steering feels a bit light when turning gently but does seem to weight up under harsher movement and there is less body roll than I was expecting. Going from a diesel to a V6 petrol is amazing to hear. How I missed the petrol soundtrack. At low revs there is a nice deep exhaust note as the car purrs away. Then from mid to high range the engine has a great growl that you could listen to all day. The car is quick and smooth, however I would not say there is a great leap in speed between my MkV and the 4motion, there is a gap, a good gap, but not a leap. However, the 4motion shifts instantly from putting the foot down which is fantastic. And again, the sound it makes!!! Just the modifying to start at now when funds allow. I will be weighing the car and getting it on a Rolling Road before doing anything to give an interesting comparison of before and after. Any comments/criticisms welcome.
Took the car to a weigh bridge on saturday to see what a huge task I've set myself to make it a lightweight 4motion. It came in like a right fatty at 1520kg. I know it's down to the 4wheel drive and a heavy engine but I dont think the full leather interior with heated front seats helped. Probably going to start tearing out the interior tomorrow I hope. The bits will be going up for sale in the classifieds when done for those interested. Oh, and put on a cheap "carbon" induction kit I had lying around on yesterday. All I can say is "My oh my, that v6 sounds great."
Started in the boot which now has no carpet, the boot door is now stripped and the panels that would come off without a torx screw driver (thingy-m-jig). The motor from the windscreen wiper will be coming out when I find something to block the hole left by the wiper blade (any suggestions?). Before(ish): After: Grab handles were removed which were easy as they used a normal phillips screw drive (why can't they use just one type of screw?) And took the surrounds from the centre console out, the cupholder along with the ashtray cover before removing the the footrest in the drivers footwell.
Got a fair bit of progress done in a few hours today. The interior is nearly fully stripped. Started by finishing the boot including tearing out any now unnecessary sound proofing. Took out the base of the back seats out (getting simple parts out the way) along with the trim that runs alongs the bottom of the doors that the carpet tucks under and the trip that covers the front seat runners. Then removed a fair bit of trim from the front. All the trim from the underside of the dash, including the glove box has gone. Trim from the footwells, including foot rests have been taken out and the centre console. With the console had to take the top half of the arm rest out, then the rear cupholder that didn't work and had to force open and undue any bolts attatching the console to the floor before manoeuvring it round the handbrake. After that the bottom half of armrest was simply unbolted and removed. If anyone want any piece of interior trim then just ask!
Inside is now naked, finished stripping it out now. The interior has just the front seats, doorcards (will keep these in until i make some out of aluminium) and the dash left in. Feels shaper now compared to when I first got it but louder. In a good way. Can hear the sound of the engine more and the rasp the exhaust makes nicely now. Finished taking out the rear seats along with the carpets and sound proofing. Was suprised just how heavy the sound proofing was, knew it was going to be heavy but was heavier than I thought. Then finished off by taking out the headliner which was held up mainly by being tucked behind other pieces of trim, behind the rubber seals around the doors and a few clips/screws. Unclipped the wiring loom that supplied the headliner electronics, lights etc, from down the nearside of the dash and removed it. Pretty much ready for paint now and that will be done asap. I'm looking for fibreglass bonnet and tailgate as well, preferbly before paint but if I find them after I won't be bothered. Just want to get the exterior of the car tidied.
Small but very good update in my eyes. Progress is now occuring, any one notice the change? [D] May have a few more pics to put later.
A few pictures of how the car is coming along, and the paint scheme revealed. These pictures were taken last week. The paint is now finished, just waiting on decals and the windows now.
Played with so many different ideas: Nos aiming for 275+ keeping it n/a- bored out, ported heads, cams and the rest charging it, super or turbo. standard engine conversion. Charged engine conversion. My 1st thought was NOS but that definitely isn't happening, its a bit boring to do, not proper mechanics, have to keep topping it up, heard some horror stories from a few people I know involving engine seizing or blowing and its banned in Germany. So now just playing with the other options. Will do the basic induction and exhaust 1st and decide from there onwards.
The wheels have been refurbed, look great compared to what they were like. I'm not the biggest fan of A8s but they'll do for now until I get some light weight rims. Just need some centre caps (the sticker type) but I'm not sure on what size they are. Anyone? Oh, and cream leather seats have gone.
Went over to R-Tek to collect somethings today... Want to say thanks to JJ for helping me get them. Did a great job sorting them out for me. [y]
Right, I had order my seats two and a half weeks ago. After many emails back and forth chasing them up they arrive today. I was obviously as excited as a kid at christmas, opened them up, got them out. They looked great, nice and light then had a look for the FIA sticker but there was nothing on it. So got on to the place again and they checked with the manufacturer- they used to make the seats FIA approved but have apparently stopped now to cut costs, even though my seats were still advertised as being FIA approved. These will be sent back and have my eye on what I'm getting instead. So I was a little annoyed earlier as its just delaying things now and will cost me more for other seats.
And that's where I'm up to to now! I found some seats and am going down to just outside London to collect them tomorrow. They will be dropped off at the bodyshop on Monday and hopefulyy will have the car back by Thursday.
Wicked stuff! Always played with the idea to get a 4-motion on the cheap to strip as the interior (like yours) can often get a good price, plus interior bits for mk4's always sell nicely to re-coup some money! Liking the progress! How much you leaving in the car then? I.e. dash/door cards?
I got this for a good price so was happy. Body was messed up but rest was fine. Door cards are already out and have made some out of ally instead. I'm not sure what I'm doing with the dash yet. May cut and edit the one I have or just try and make my own. I'm always up for a challenge. I may do a few 1/4mile sprints but most of the stuff will be track. Probably aiming for 5 next year. Also planning on making the cars and my Nurbugring dbut next summer as well. In the future I may even look in to hill climbs or other race events, thats why I want to keep everything more or less MSA/FIA compliant.
That should be quite a lot of car for the outlay. I am generally not one for new cars as they are loaded with tonnes of gizmos that are designed to break and cost you money. Your project is great though as it throws all these bits away and takes it back to basics. Less weight is free power. Be careful about cutting the dash though, as I heard the "ring police" do not like this as it is a change to the vehicle and may effect crash protection etc. Not 100% sure but it was mentioned to me the other day. Worth checking however.
Cheers mate. Simple is sometimes best but theres nothing better than losing unnecessary weight. I never thought about the dash with the ring, good point, thanks for that! Will ask a guy who I know that is a bit of a ring guru. Hes from germany but moved over here which helps, and he doesn't half know his stuff.
