Scirocco Track Car Development...X-Flow Conversion preparation

Some pics of my dodgy welding - the rivers of molten wax running from the seams made it interesting trying to get a clean and tidy weld. Maybe they'll make someone else feel better about their welding

 

Just found this thread!

Mike,
In you first post you said

"So far I've done some fettling to get the car to a decent roadgoing standard:
- Fitted an oil cooler, and replumbed the cooling system, so you don't have to leave the heater full up to get coolant flowing round the engine!"

Is this specific to the plumbing on the Scirocco or certain combinations of engine code and chassis? Is there a thread that shows how best to route the plumbing? This has got me worried about localised overheating..

Cheers!

 

It was because the car was modified as a race car, with one outlet from the water pump blocked off (welded up), and the standard oil cooler wasn't there because the engine had previously been in a car with a Mocal Air/Oil cooler Vs the VW Water/Oil cooler.

The standard Scirocco system is fine, as long as it's maintained and has the right anti-freeze mixture in it.

 

On the bench of the tame welder fella... inlet manifold runners formed and ready to tack weld... except we've re-done the sums and they need to be about 1.5" shorter. Should be done by the weekend. The runner tubes are free standing on this, so they look a bit out of line.

 

This just in from my tame welder-fabricator

 

Looking really good your welder must be very tame

I take it the manifold had to be that long to fit the TB's

 

Nope - distance from back of valve to tip of trumpet needs to be about 13" to be the right 'tuned length'

 

Looks like some nice welding there! Check that the heat has not warped the flanges to the head, mine did so I had it skimmed to ensure an air tight seal.

 

Good tip - will check it out with a straight edge.

 

Obviously there will be short Velocity Stacks on the ITB`s, but I`m curious why you went longer runners and short velocity stacks instead of the usual installs we tend to see, like Smudges and mine, or ITB`s nearer the head and longer stacks ?

 

It does give a shallower angle in the inlet runners, and makes them closer to equal length. Otherwise it was time to go and find some narrower spaced throttle bodies - these ones were originally bought for a 16v project - BMW K1200 S - spacing is very close to VAG 16v lumps - KR/ABF/etc. Closer to the cylinder does supposedly help throttle response, but in reality I don't think it'll make all that much difference.

Do you know anywhere I can get 1" trumpets/stacks with about a 50mm ID in ally? Ideally they need to have a step in the end, because the OD is 58mm at the outer end. My man Deano could probably make them, but it's quicker and cheaper to buy them off the shelf. Maybe I need to talk nicely to someone else on here who made his own in carbon, as I recall

... and then I need to figure out an air box and base plate. I have a funny feeling that drain pipe may be involved, stepping down to a big cone filter where the battery used to be.

 

So are you using a 1.8 block with a crossflow head? Looks like a 1.8 cos theres a carb fuel pump blanking plate?

If it is a 1.8 did the head need much modification to fit?

 

Good spot It was originally a 1.8 GU block I think, but it's got 2.0 internals in it. It was Claire Tippet's race engine, in a former life.

The front-left oil drain on the head needs to be partly welded up to match the block. I don't think there's anything else, but if there is, I'll be finding out soon!

 

Re-posted from page 6 - answer to above question.

 

Ah i didnt think they would fit on a 1.8 block. This gives me ideas....

Nice one for the picture too

 

Ah, obvious now you mention it.

 

They may yet get used on a valver one day

Today's progress... more seam welding. Just got under the passenger wing to do tomorrow. Had to strip out the fusebox and engine loom to get enough access. I tried heating the seams with a blowtorch first to get some of the wax out, and burn off sealant trapped in there. I think it helped a bit.

I also got the picked up the head with ITB manifold, and got it test fitted on the block (just sitting loose). It seems to have plenty of clearance for the ABF dizzy cap. Need to try an 8v one to see if that fits too. Figured out the position the dipstick needs to be in and tweaked the dipstick tube to get it in the right place between runners 2 & 3. The manifold itself needs a little bit of tweaking, but looks like it should work fine. There are a couple of very slight steps to port out of the inlet tract, and I might need to chamfer a bit off of the inner end of the ITBs to match the thinner material of the manifold runner, and get a slightly smaller hose as the 48mm is a little loose. As luck would have it, my tame hose expert popped by and I ordered some 45mm hose as well.

Still to do on the ITBs... adjustments mentioned above, bellmouth trumpets for the outer end, backplate, airbox, and adaptor down to the cone filter.


Tomorrows jobs...

Finish seam welding, chop slam panel and maybe start on the front X-member. If the weather's warm enough I'll strip and start painting the block. It was painted before when originally built, but needs re-doing.

 

Hi mike what sort of power are you looking from this engine im very interested in doing somthing like this on my next project and have all the bits to do it in my unit to do it always fancied tb they look sexy.

 

Hoping for 165-170 bhp peak, compared to 150 bhp previously. More importantly, hoping to have a good spread of usable power from 2500-3000 ish rpm upwards. Max RPM will be 7200-7500.

 

I like your thinking on the power and torque curve. Ive got a KR in das Golf at the moment and im sick of revving the hell out of it to get anywhere. Seems like theres hardly anything there until 3.5-4k then it takes off. Might aswell drive a civic.