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Topic: Rallye Racecar (Read 1237 times) previous topic - next topic

Rallye Racecar

Had a few old Golfs, most recently this one with a trusty 20v




It was a good little car, and I was also building another Mk2 with an N/A FSI, but I decided to shift both and start fresh




I didn't really know which way to go, so after an AE86 shaped distraction, I picked up a complete but unhappy Rallye.




It spat a fuel line off and mildly torched one corner, so I figured if I could sell the stuff I didn't want or need - namely the interior, the G60 and the Syncro stuff - it could keep some other Rallyes in good health and get me free license to build this one as I saw fit.

So, short version, I'm turning it into a racecar in place of the other two Golfs which are now gone.

It's going front wheel drive; It'll be faster that way, Syncro or Haldex isn't for me, and Audi recently converted their TTRS racecars to FWD.

It's having an 16v Turbo; I wanted a 1.8T, but people would moan about it being a boring choice, however you can't fault them for cheap reliable power. The 16v should suit the character of the car though, so should be cool.

I am undecided on which side of the car to sit on; I like the original LHD, adds to the 'special' feel of the car, and I don't mind driving LHD casually, but I'm a little concerned about it feeling unfamiliar while in maximum attack mode. Also, with most UK circuits being mainly clockwise / right handers, it puts the driver's weight on the outside of the car and also puts you closer to the barriers / tyres which at Combe get close enough to you in a RHD car let alone a leftie.

While I'm not taking "advantage" of the AWD, I will make good use of the increased wheel clearance (inboard and outboard) and stiffer shell offered by using the Rallye shell, so there is still some reasoning behind it. Plus box arches are cool.

More soon, cheers :thumbs:

Re: Rallye Racecar

Reply #1
Had some fun fixing little gammy bits / spots of rust. Figured it's best to replace it all together



Started binning firewall holes and seam welding the shell



Followed by, roughly, a billion more hours seam welding










One of those jobs where you get an equal split of passable looking welds, gross ones and chunky ones where you've had to fill in what's blown out, but you can clean the seams out, torch them, clean them again, and still you'll get sh*t running out when you weld it.

I'd have liked to have the shell dipped but honestly I'd have been too worried that nothing would come back...

Got some primer and seam sealer (stone chip sprayed over the seams, not proper sealant, that stuff's weighty)



Excuse the mess. Got it off the rotisserie and sat on a shell dolly, which I seemed to overestimate how high it would need to be



Had some beefcake +25mm wings turn up from Still Static (great service, thanks!) via some fibreglass wizards in Deutschland




They look pretty hefty and it will be nice to have some extra front width up front too. Rear quarter will be staying stock width and all-metal, but I did get rid of the fuel filler flap, going to stick something more Grp A looking in the C Pillar



Gonna need some buzzing down, but should be alright

Re: Rallye Racecar

Reply #2
So now that I was in need of some widetrack stuff, and a 16v engine, I picked up a tidy but crusty 5-Door Mk3 16v to knock down



Front subframe and the decent GTI/16/VR6 style wishbones



And a typically nasty rear beam - the local blasters are gonna earn their money cleaning this one up



Plus the good bit




And just to pique my own interest, I've been pretty keen to try an Mitsi TD05 turbo for a while, given the price, choices available and willingness to having seen them do 400bhp on a 2.0 without much lag, I grabbed a cast stainless collector to suit one, as it'll be more cost effective than spending the time making one properly



Re: Rallye Racecar

Reply #3
Love a Rallye, wings look great. What management are you going to use?

Re: Rallye Racecar

Reply #4
Hi Matt, glad you like them, German quality even extends to fibreglass it seems  :)

Management wise, I've always been a fan of DTA, one of their S80's was the first ECU I ever wired up (on a 3.2 with ITB's) and they have great support both in terms of advice and service and also in terms of functions / component and sensor compatability. They're very good for the price, the diagrams and software is easy to use and understand and they have base maps for most things to run your engine up prior to dyno time and proper mapping,

Alex who runs DTA used to have a 16v Turbo in a Mk2 himself too so that doesn't hurt either. I have one of their dashes for this already and am trying to scratch the cash together for one of their power distribution modules so I don't have to run any fuses or relays, but those are a little spendy - just expensive in general from anyone, it's not just a DTA specific thing.



In other news, just to add to the work load, shortage of space and general headache... a mad-ugly Mk2 showed up with a 9A in it.



This is the shorter block Corrado 2.0 16v, and is totally unknown, so as 'I'd be tearing down whichver engine I use, I'll be using that instead of the Mk3's ABF, and it also has the bonus of using the forged rods I already purchased for when I was going to go 1.8T.

The ABF went to a Caddy owner, who showed up in a 7.0 Litre F-250 pick-up which was both awesome and about the size of my workshop, so that was cool. Gotta love a good truck and a 16v in a Mk1 is never a bad thing, so that guy clearly had his sh*t together  8)

I'll be using throwing a 1.8T back into the dirty white 5-Door and using it as a daily, so at least it won't go to waste.

Anyway, back to the Rallye. The main hoop should be getting bent up in a week or two, so hopefully next time I get a little time I can get the back half of the cage in. The plus side to having the roof out, is I don't need to drop the hoop to weld the tops properly, so I can weld the back in permanently without compromising the job on the front half while I measure up the A Pillar tubes.

 

Re: Rallye Racecar

Reply #5
Love this idea of a Rallye race car. At least you can be confident yours will be the only one like it! All the others are too busy being wrapped up in cotton wool to top up folk's pensions.


'90 Mk2 Golf GL running R32 Power. 'Gumpert'
'88 Tornado Red Mk2 Golf 1.8 16valve GTI. 'Hollie' - Winner of Best Mk2 GTI at the 2014 & 2017 National Meet

Re: Rallye Racecar

Reply #6
That is something at least, eh?  You'll have to have a go and see what you make of it once it's finally done  :)   There are plenty of nice ones which will stay nice, and enough examples that have been modified to a fair extent, and then all those in the middle, so I've gotten over feeling like it's something I shouldn't be doing  :))

Being RHD, FWD and 16v Turbo'd most people will assume it's just a Golf with some arches and a funny grill anyway I expect  O:)

Re: Rallye Racecar

Reply #7
Never going to get time to finish this unfortunately, and pretty pushed for space, so going an easier route to getting back on track as a few new options have opened up.

Someone will make an awesome historic racecar out of this, so no use it sitting around here.

It is now for sale, so please give me a shout if you're keen. See the For Sale section for the ad.

Cheers :)