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Topic: Cope's GTI (Read 10451 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #30 –
Again its been a while since I last updated this!

Since my last update I managed another track day at Anglesey, which was fantastic. We had some great weather and a trouble free day, which is always welcomed :)











Anglesey is still one of my favourite tracks, very technical with a good mixture of fast and slow corners.



Enjoying some rays in between sessions.


I'd been setting up the suspension all day, tweaking it after every session, after not being too happy at Cadwell. I'd also changed my tyre pressures, I usually run 30psi hot all round, but upped that to 32 hot all round, which made a drastic difference!! Much less tyre squeal, better turn in and overall faster.

Got some decent footage from Anglesey, managed to tag onto to back of 2 other classic 80s hatches, which made for a really good session.

XR2: Stripped interior (800kg approx) Fiesta ST engine on ITBs (210bhp approx)
GT5 Turbo: Stripped interior (800kg approx) Engine around 150-160bhp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApLzW2Frctk&t=498s

and a nice chilled drive back to Yorkshire


In the summer inbetween lockdowns I had a few trips over o the Motorist Cafe, really great place to grab a coffee if you are nearby



The only thing I've really had to touch on the car is replace the front engine mount and fit a new alternator.


Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #31 –
I've just had my MOT today, and she has passed again with a clean bill of health!
Only did 2000 miles last year!

I've booked onto Outlon Park trackday on the 29th, it will be my first time there, so I'm looking forward to seeing how the car will perform. I have a couple of weeks to make some final tweaks to the car.

First off I've ordered a set of extended ball joints and rose jointed rod ends from Noath Engineering. I'm still waiting for them to arrive, but hoping to have them in before Oulton




Before fitting im going to attempt to measuring the bump steer to work out what size spacers I need for the rod ends.

I've also treated myself to a new lid, as my old one is too tight for my head. I found a great deal on Hawkes Motorsport page and couldnt resist going carbon! :D



I got the Golf out last weekend, as Foot to Pedal Youtube channel wanted to go a little feature video of the car. They got some cracking shots! just not keen on me talking!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRkq8fbfsVM&t=1s


 

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #32 –
Superb read... must've missed this when I was away.

Whole car's amazing, but that style of BBS wheel / tyre size combo is aesthetically perfect to my eye... only 195/50 15's too!

 


Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #33 –
Quote from: L90E on
Superb read... must've missed this when I was away.

Whole car's amazing, but that style of BBS wheel / tyre size combo is aesthetically perfect to my eye... only 195/50 15's too!


Thank you! :)

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #34 –
Oulton Park 2022





Oulton came around quick and I didn’t get time to check the car over as much as I’d like to.
Just did the basics, see if any of the paint pen on the bolts has moved, check brakes and fluids.


Unfortunately this was the state of the front pads





After a quick dash round it turned out my mate around the corner had a set of almost new Yellow Stuff that would get me by! What a hero! That pretty much saved my trackday.





With that sorted the rest of the car, looked great so got it loaded up with tools and spares ready for the morning.





Got finished at around 8pm, started the car up to put it away in the garage and the exhaust sounded awful, something was loose.





After getting the car up on stands it was obvious that the Milltek had once again failed. There were 3 separate rattles, the only thing to do was cut the exhaust open and weld up whatever was loose. Not what I wanted to be doing the night before a track day!








I don’t know if you can make out in the pictures but the welds on baffles at both ends had cracked and caused the perforated tube to rattle around. Last time I emailed Milltek and they sent me a new box straight away, which was very good of them, so no complaints there.


With those all welded up, the boxes welded back up the car was purring nicely again.








Tyre pressures checked and ready for the off.


Here’s a video of one of my sessions. I wish I’d watched some footage back over lunch, because my driving was awful! Over driving the car so much, not being smooth, but some take aways for next time!


The track itself was fantastic, it was really nice to put sim practise into reality!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZBGGsRkN3k&t=310s


All in all, a cracking day all round. I was without doubt the slowest thing on track! (just about!) Every car there seemed to be boosted, so I struggled to keep up with anything other than the odd clio and a turbo’d Fiat Chicachento

My tyres had seen better days after the trackday! these were rears.



I need to get some camber shims for the rear stub axle, After speaking with Nige and the lads at Cornering Force, we came to the conclusion that the I could do with -0.5 degrees more on the rear and go from there. :)

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #35 –
There’s a fair bit to update since Oulton, looking back I’ve done loads to the Golf in the last few weeks! My main issue at Oulton was the car felt very inconsistent, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I think it was a combo of my tyres getting old and having a few too many heat cycles and that the car is still on OE bushes.

My first job to tackle was the wishbones, I’d replaced the original wishbones with Lemforder items about 5 years ago and not touched them since.

The original bushes were looking okay to be honest.



I decided on PowerFlex black series as I wanted to minimise any movement. I can confirm they are rock hard!



I cut/pressed the bushes out with some home made tools, and then set about welding up the wishbones. The wishbones are in 2 halves which are then spot welded, so this should help stiffen them up.



Painted up with the bushes in






Very happy with how they turned out.

Next on the list… the Golf had his most important job in the 15 years I’ve owned him so far.


The BIG DAY! And what a car to do it in! I’m not sure my wife was all that happy having to get a 6 point harness on in a wedding dress, but we’ll brush over that!


After getting more and more into my ‘fabrication’ (If I can call It that!) I decided I wanted to start making some braces for the car, again to stiffen things up and negate any chance of inconsistencies on track.

First up was a lower front brace to tie the two wishbones together. I’d seen these for sale online for around £80. After pricing up I could make one for 1/3 of that, so I ordered some metal and gave it a go.



Started by making the tube ends, these would be the parts where the bolts would pass through into the subframe.



I wanted to make sure I could still get a socket in, which I could but this meant the bar fouled the gearbox, so these were cut off and remade longer for the final version.






A tight fit to the gearbox, but doesn’t make contact when under load.


And after a coat of halfords finest satin black.




Next up on the fabrication/brace list was the rear turrets. Realistically I don’t know how much movement there will be here, and we will have to see if I notice a difference on track.
I ordered some tube the same 45mm as my cage tubing, offering it up I thought it just looked a bit out of place, and the tube actually weighted a fair bit. With the car being fully carpeted etc keeping weight to a minimum is a must! Or should I say adding to it is not something I’m keen on.



So I started to think about a lighter solution which would still be strong enough and not flex under load. After loads of thinking and sketching, I took some inspiration from this Porsche, which uses a rose jointed rod to brace across the turrets.



I liked how the brackets extended down the turret to maximise its function. I could have easily gone from turret to turret, but I wanted to also tie in the rear topmount. My view is the higher up the turret/topmount I can brace the better leverage there will be to actually make it effective.

Another benefit was that I could use a thinner tube to try and keep weight down.

After some sketching I came up with this.



I ordered the rose joints in M12, along with some tube bungs, misalignment spacers and half nuts, one side was right hand thread, the other was left hand thread, so I could then use the tube to add tension before locking off each end.



And by complete coincidence, when offering it all up the bracket would fit perfectly in between where the rear parcel shelf supports used to bolt on, giving me a perfect guide to getting it all square, result!



Made some templates



Once I was happy, I cut everything out in 3mm steel


Got these welded in, you will have to excuse my welding here. I just couldn’t see to get going properly. I seemed to be in between settings on the welder, I have a dial for wire speed and 2 switches for volts and amps, I felt like I could have done with a dial for all settings. But I’ll stop blaming my tools and take ownership! It wont win any prizes but it will be strong…



Once these were in, I made some end plates with some speed holes to reduce weight.







Once I was happy there, everything was painted up


The last job was a good vac out, and cut the carpet for the turrets.


Some finals shots









#engineering :D






Very happy with the final results! Really in keeping with my clubsport theme and a nice little project to get stuck into.

And lastly I finally got my new engine round from my mates house which we managed to wheel barrow round to mine!



That’s taking pride of place in my shed. I’d love to say that will be in soon, but it wont unfortunately, we are saving for our own place which will be taking up any spare cash.

I’ve got Croft book this Monday, which I’m very excited for!
Last bits to sort are some new tyres, oil and filter change and a speedo cable change as that’s making some weird noises.






Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #36 –
Congratulations!
Also, have you got any pics of her getting in and harnessed up?! :))

Loving your fabrication work as always.
Still, bit of a shame about loosing the 8v motor...not that I'm one to talk!
Mk2 Driver
Mk2 Silver 8v
Corrado G60 Turbo
Mk2 Red 8v
Mk2 Grey 16v
Mk2 BBM ABF
Bora 20vt
Mk2 Green VR6
Mk2 Green ABF
Mk2 BBM 20vt
3.2 TT Roadster
Mk2 Red 16v
225 TT Coup
3.2 TT Coup
Mk4 Anniversary
Mk7 Red GTI Performance
Mk2 Red GTI Restoration
Mk2 BBM R32
911 Carrera 4S

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #37 –
I've followed this build for years. Such a good build with loads of nice touches. I'm look forward to seeing some track videos when the 16v goes in. What spec is/will the engine be?

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #38 –
Thanks Ian!

Its thought to be a 2.1L ABF but I havent had it apart to confirm yet.
KR head, with a fair bit of work, KR exhaust cams.
My plan is to run it on Jenvey ITBs, larger cams and standalone ecu. Should be good for 200bhp ish...

Time will tell :)

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #39 –
Great work and congrats - perfect car for the occassion.

Just a thought on the abf... I have one in my mk2 but running the Kjet inlet so you might be ok if going for the ABF inlet but my bonnet won't shut without a 0.5cm adjustmemt upwards out of line with the wing.

Solution for me seems to be to put in a mk3 subframe as the rear engine mount can be cut down if needed and also the mk3 frame alloys the engine to sit marginally lower.

Long way off for me though as my car is booked in with DST Rustworx next year (waiting list).

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #40 –
Quote from: MJA on
but my bonnet won't shut without a 0.5cm adjustmemt upwards out of line with the wing.

Could you put a spacer/shim/washers under the bonnet hinges to raise it a "gnat's" at the back. It would still be out of alignment but it "may" look better? A new subframe seems a huge amount of work.
1991 Tornado Red BB 8v GTI Moredoor
2008 Skoda Octy Scout aka dirty diesel

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #41 –
That's sort of how it is right now - the corner of the bonnet sits proud in the corners. I don't mind changing the frame - engine is coming out to paint the engine bay and I've got a fresh powdercoated one to go in.

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #42 –
Croft 2022


I was really looking forward to Croft and to see how the car performed after making the braces and uprating some of the bushes. I wasn’t expecting to shave seconds off a lap time, but I was hoping to see some difference.


Even thought I was still on a lesser tyre than last time at Croft, I wasn’t disappointed! The car felt brilliant! It’s really hard to describe the difference/ or the sensation behind the wheel, I’m sure it’s faster, it’s certainly more precise, all I can say is it feel bloody spot on!


…until lunch, when I had a problem, can you guess?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UszkoCzXSH4&t=40s


Correct. Another 020 has transitioned to transmission heaven.





This time it was the diff rivets which had failed, one of which shot straight through the casing of the box.


You can just about make out the hole here





So that was end of play for me. I stayed until the end of the day with my mates and went out for passenger rides, all in all a great day.

Luckily for me one of the lads trailered his E46 M3, so the Golf took its place





That meant a drive back home in his E46. What an absolute animal it is, never been in anything like it!






I had a spare 020 in the shed, that came with the new engine, so I began to strip the old one out of the Golf, whilst I tinkered with the new one. I wanted to swap this out for an 02a, but I didn’t have the time or the budget to do it properly and source the parts, as I’ve got a trip to Germany in a week, so the decision was made to crack on with what I had.

Looking at the gearbox I wasn’t sure if it had an LSD of not, both cups span the same way, so I decided to stirp it down and investigate. It was also a good excuse to learn a little bit more about how these things work, which was nice.







“you can only piss with the dick you’ve got” one of my favourite quotes. Adapt and overcome!








While it was off I put some new seals in it too




To my untrained eye, everything looked good, with minimal wear, unfortunately no LSD, it was just the springs behind the cups fooling me!


Which brings me nicely to the cups. For me this is the biggest blocker/pain when changing a gearbox, the are a pain to remove and you have to constantly be on guard waiting for the cup to spring off in your face. So, I decided to buy myself a set of long nose circlip pliers (these are a god send) and I also made a tool, which puts pressure on the cups to remove the clips easily and then you can slowly take the tension off – Result!





Surprisingly the gearbox still seemed to function correctly, a miracle.


My new ABF was running an 020 with a lightened flywheel, so I decided to get this on at the same time.








Decent weight saving - 1.4kg


Refilled the box using some different fluid this time.



I had to also replace the friction disc, as the old one got covered in gearbox oil.

With the box back in, something was a miss. The pedal would just go straight to the floor. I toom the cap off the end of the box and inspected the fork, push rod and spring. All look good. The fork has some wear so I swapped this for a spare from my old box. Unfortunately I still had the same issue, so back off with the gearbox.


I check on brokevw ( a great source for anything 020 related) and he mentioned the hub face of the flywheel should be 36mm to the plate the push rod sits on.





I was getting 42mm. Night after night I was checking everything I could, had the flywheel off, the old one back on and vice versa, and finding nothing. It’s a very simple system so a problem should be obvious. In the end I just refit the box and put it down to the friction disc being new. After messing around with the manual clutch cable for a while, I found the sweet spot. The clutch feels good and the pedal returns and I’m sure as it gets some more wear it should improve.


I might rename this build “Cope messes with gearboxes” It’s safe to say I’m sick of the things.

As a precaution for my trip to the Nürburgring, I bought another cheap 020, I’ve put new seals in that and I’m taking it with me in the back of the golf as a spare… Yep its drastic, but I have zero faith!

Next on the list was the brakes. I’d noticed when changing the pads in the last update that both dust seals had split as had the slider dust covers. I ordered a kit from big red, great quality and great price!


The old caliper







I use this little contraption for popping out the piston, made up of a brake pipe union, brake pipe and some silicone hose to attach to an airline, works a treat!





I’m glad I did this as the piston was starting to rust in places with the water ingress.


The caliper built back up with a new lick of paint








Next on the list was cooling, the old rad was looking tired and I noticed on track that coolant temps were at sat at ¾ on the gauge. I went for a true Yorkshire spec ali rad from ebay, for the total cost of £41! Yep bargain! It’s a 4 core rad, so should help the coolant temps.





I was sceptical but the quality looks bang on.




The rad was installed with the standard fan and cowling set up, new rad hoses, a new head flange and metal water pipe.


I also used Water Wetter instead of coolant, the benefit being if I happen to cause any spills at the Ring, its nowhere near as slippery as coolant and is very similar to just running pure water with some added lube for the waterpump.


I took the car for a test drive after spending hours trying to bleed the coolant, it was a real pain this time!! But got there in the end and touch wood no leaks.





I went to the mk2 golf owners national meet on Sunday, had a great day and the car performed really well, with no gearbox issues, thank Christ!





In prep for our trip to Germany, I decided to make some kind of phone holder for maps, I usually keep my phone on my lap, but that’s less than ideal.


After thinking of various different solutions, this is what I came up with. Using a spare dash blank and modifying one of the spring loaded phone holders.



So far seems like a great option, and means I can remove it for a standard dash blank when not using my phone for maps.

Cheers :)

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #43 –
Another great update.

As far as I'm concerned, gearboxes are made of magic!!
Nice to (briefly) catch up at the meet, shame I didn't have a little more time.

Love the fact you're taking a box to the ring with you!!
Have fun out there and watch out for the Porsches and BMW M2s, they're like Mondeos out there, bloody everywhere!!!
Mk2 Driver
Mk2 Silver 8v
Corrado G60 Turbo
Mk2 Red 8v
Mk2 Grey 16v
Mk2 BBM ABF
Bora 20vt
Mk2 Green VR6
Mk2 Green ABF
Mk2 BBM 20vt
3.2 TT Roadster
Mk2 Red 16v
225 TT Coup
3.2 TT Coup
Mk4 Anniversary
Mk7 Red GTI Performance
Mk2 Red GTI Restoration
Mk2 BBM R32
911 Carrera 4S

Re: Cope's GTI

Reply #44 –
Thanks for the passenger lap at the national meet. I was really impressed with how your car goes and handles especially for an 8 valve. Driving skills weren't too shabby either!
I've completely stolen you phone holder idea 🤣