Golf VR6 Track Car Project

[IanH26 0]

Thought I would post my project on here as I have just signed up for premium membership.

Hopefully it may be of interest to others on here.

I started it back in Oct 2007.

I'm copying from the thread I have on another forum.

Well after trying a few other cars and spending a fortune on them a_whistle.gif

Steph and I had a discussion about doing a shared car for track use, mainly at the Ring.

Steph had a Mark 3 Golf VR6 3 door as a base car sitting in his garage doing nothing.

The discussions became a reality and a few weeks ago I went down to start the project.

It needed some work doing before it could go on track though.

Our aim was to have it ready for its first shake down testing at Cadwell for 10th November.

We had bought a roll cage off ebay for a reasonable price which was sat in the back waiting to be fitted.

The Steering lock would have to be replaced aswell as the ECU due to previous issues.

The brakes were slightly rusted due to lack of use ohmy.gif

We decided to do a full overhaul of the key areas a matter of course.

Brake Discs all round

EBC Yellow stuff Pads all round

New Braided Hoses

New Adjustable Shocks

New Wheel Bearings all round

New track rod ends

New lower ball joints

New ARB drop links

New Top Mounts

Replace ignition barrel

Fully Strip Interior

Fit Roll Cage

Refit new head gasket after having the head skimmed

Fit Oil cooler

There are other jobs to get done but we wanted to crack on and get as much done over the two weekends I had to go and visit Steph...

Brakes

Removed all the old discs, pads and rubber lines.

And replaced with new shiny parts thumb.gif

Suspension

Off with the old and strip the bits we needed.

We had got new shocks and springs front and rear.

I made up the new units and fitted the rears first.

Did the same for the fonts.

We initially got some G60 front top mounts but swapped for the VR6 ones as they didn't fit.

We also put the old springs back on as we think the new ones are for a GTi.

lots more to come...

Ian

[cabrioman 6]

howdo ian glad to see u made it over here .... another top vr track car on the way ....

[golfrabbit33 0]

good luck and welcome mate

[Ian_rogers 0]

Good luck with the build, looking forward to seein the progress :-)

[H13VYY 0]

look forward to the end result

[jims13 6]

welcome, and the pics of the headlights will be with you tommorrow

[ingham 5]

Hello and Welcome

[legvw 0]

Ah, bring on the track slags!

You hoping to be out an about this year in it?

[VR6Pete 1,455]

where abouts in staffordshire are you mate?

[IanH26 0]

OK, just a bit more...

Steering [/b ]

As precaution we changed the parts as listed in the first post.

This was another of my jobs while Steph rebuild the engine.

In the process of stripping it down we found a split inner drive shaft boot angry.gif

This meant removing the drive shaft from the gearbox, how difficult could that be blink.gif

Well actual its a PITA!!

The six bolts holding it on are very difficult to get to unless you have an access pit / ramps.

After playing around under the car for ages we worked as a team with a very long bar and removed them. Me underneath and Steph by the wheel arch with the long bar ratchet.

Once repaired, the shaft was refitted, alot easier than taking it off wink.gif

Steph had done all the wheel bearings using his very impressive home jig.

Next was to replace the ball joints, track rod ends and ARB links which were all fairly straight forward.

Everything was put back together ready for alignment setting soon.

Engine

We are leaving the engine standard at the moment.

Apparently getting cams, port&polish, inlet manifold and exhaust manifold cost alot ohmy.gif

To be on the safe side Steph replaced the headgasket after having the head skimmed.

After playing with cam chain for a bit the engine was put back together.

With everything connected and all fluids topped up the car was started for the first time smile011.gif

Interior

Next job was to strip the guts out to save weight and give us room to get the roll cage in.

We weren't going to go crazy and remove everything just the obvious just.

Starting with all the seats (fronts going back in till we get some buckets) I then moved onto the interior panels and carpets.

We then tried a test fit of the cage.

More stuff had to come out to get it fit so the roof lining came out and the lower front plastic panels.

But still the cage was catching so out came all the seat belt mechanism.

Nope, still not quite there as the sunroof was catching. (thoughts of Gary and an angle grinder came to mind biggrin.gif )

At first we thought of putting a skin in and welding it there... sad.gif

Once the cage was in place we looked and thought we should be able to get it back in with some modification... involving a hack saw a_whistle.gif

We removed the blind and the rear sliding runners. We are not going to open it so the motor/switches was removed.

It was hard work so we both took a turn biggrin.gif

After a bit of correction we managed to refit the sunroof blink.gif a huge sigh of relief was heard all over Hampshire biggrin.gif

So the cage is in ready to be welded / bolted.

We were close with the cage on the drivers side blink.gif

but it didn't touch thumb.gif biggrin.gif

The front seats have been put back in as said earlier till we get some buckets.

Its surprising how much stuff comes out!

A couple of little jobs needed to be done to tidy things up a little.

New exterior door handles were replace as one side had been damaged.

The ignition barrel was also replaced which turned out to be a real nightmare to remove.

This involved using an extractor tool an adjustable spanner and two pairs of hands angry.gif eventually it came free and replacement put in.

R888's are now ordered for delivery Friday (Thanks to Jude for waiting in for them while I go to work all day).

Set of 15inch Audi A3 alloys waiting in the garage that Steph gave me to bring home on Sunday ready for them to go on.

Will get them fitted next week hopefully to use at Cadwell blink.gif

Harnesses also arrived today at Stephs ready to be fitted.

[October 2007]

To help other members I will start to try and put some costings together for this project.

Some of the parts have come through Steph so may be different for others to get but it will at least give an idea to people starting out on a DRT thumb.gif

All prices quoted are approximates.

* Car - £800

* Cage - £300

* R888 tyres - £235

* Audi Gauges - £41

* EBC Pads - £60

* Discs - £60

Engine

VR6 Headset 60

Chain set 35

Head bolts 30

Skimmed Head 60

ECU 60

Hoses (Oil Cooler) 20

Sandwich Plate 45

Oil Cooler 40

Alt Belt 22

Seal 5

Oil 40

Exhaust 77

Suspension & Steering

Dampeners 200

Springs 90

Top Mounts 48

Tie Rods 26

ARB Tie Rods 28

Lower Ball 31

Front Bearings 32

Rear Bearings 18

Brakes

Braided Hoses 67

Front Disks 40

Rear Disks 40

Front Pads 40

Rear Pads 40

Chassis

Roll cage 300

Extinguisher 15

Roll cage Padding 22

Harnesses 70

Eye Bolts 10

Steering Wheel & Extras 65

Seats ?

Gauges 41

Wheels & Tyres

R888 235

Wheels 65

Other

Car 800 Market Value

Car Tax 100

MOT 50

Insurance 450

Door Handles 30

Halfords, Electrics, Tape,Seal,Bolts, 22

We've been very lucky to get a few bargins.

[IanH26 0]

where abouts in staffordshire are you mate?

Newcastle Under Lyme.

Have to meet up as you are in the Stoke area.

Ian

[VR6Pete 1,455]

I live in Kidsgrove matey Will be getting my hands dirty in a few weeks fitting coilovers etc.. on the corrado if you fancy it ? lol

[IanH26 0]

More to come still.....

Oct 2007 cont.

From Steph -->

Working from home today a_whistle.gif

in between work breaks I managed to get a wee bit done on the car.

First off was to finish off the roll cage mounting plates by pre drilling them, I have a lovely little bench drill that made the job very easy.

I have a nice lubrication mix that protects my bits tongue.gif steering fluid and water in a spray bottle, stops the drill bit from getting to hot and sticking

My plates all neatly done.

After 20 minutes of tidying the workshop I got the mig out and set it up for welding and then I rolled it to the garage.

I remembered the hole we found in the floor from the corroded floor plug. so i thought i'd best start on that, I stripped the hole back to good metal, the 8cm hole got at least twice as big.

The fuel lines had to be moved and tied to prevent any chance of a nasty occurrence , I also wrapped them in damp cloths for additional protection.

Next up I made a stencil out of card and cut a bit of sheet metal to the size and shape needed then I welded it up.

It then got a nice coat of thick underseal to protect it from the same fate.

Next up decided to start on the foot plates, thought i would do one to start with.

Got the front ones measured and drilled, then marked them out before removing the front of the cage. Out came the grinder for the tar and paint removal and then I bolted down the plates and welded them up.

and a coat of hammerite for good measure

With both the front ones done, I should of stopped here to get more work done in the house but i decided to carry on and do the 2 rear plates as well.

Pretty much the same technique as the front,

Measure,

Mark,

then measure again

then drill,

get the grinder out and clean the surface down to bare metal,

bolt down the plate

then weld it up.

Both the back ones are finished and coated with hammerite as well.

just the middle to do now, I think I'll give Ian a go, failing that the rest of the car needs undersealing tongue.gif

I found some more time today so no rest for the wicked wink.gif

The start of today, wheeled the mig and the car out the garage, I had to shoe horn it in yesterday when I had finished,the garage is rather full at the mo so space is tight.

I then had to fit the cage into place so I could mount and drill the centre plates. The cage was a bugger to get back into place as we bolted the adapted sunroof backin, brute force and ignorance were required.

Anyway got it back in and bolted up back and front, center place put in the the whole cage bolted up tight.

End of the day pic, the cage is in really solid, I gave the cage a good old shake and it is very solid no creaks and nil movement, proper job.

just a couple of cover plates to put on but other than the the cage is done biggrin.gif

Ian is defo on the underseal now and changing a dodgy drive shaft

Back to me --> 25th Oct 2007

Update on the Wheels.

The R888's are now on the wheels ready for use thumb.gif

These are the Audi A3 alloys we are using to start with...

Borrowed a friends car for the trip to local Kwik Fit, where I payed £40 for the swap over, valved and balancing of the wheels...

Off came the old tyres...

On with the new Toyos...

Ready for use wink.gif

Working hard!

ABS is hopefully sorted, pipes all running clear so hoping that'll be it.

Fitted the harness bar, Had to cut and shape the tube with a grinder which was rather testing and difficult to get the angle and curve right, subsequently this resulted in the welds having to be really thick to fill the gaps at the ends. wink.gif

The 888's are staying off the car until cadwell,

New Steering Fitted

The next thing was to have a look at the suspension as we were looking to change a few things as it didn't sit right. After checking we realised the bearing on the top of the strut was in the wrong place. I had put it in the wrong place (under the guidance of steph a_whistle.gif) Quick change and all was ok.

As Steph stated earlier the hub nut wouldn't tighten so off came the OSF drive shaft again to replace the end and back on again. I'm getting quite good at this now biggrin.gif Much easier with 2 people doing though. This time job done and the hub nut tightened up.

Had to get the brake system filled and bled accordingly following all the work on them.

This proved to be a bit of a pain and took longer than expected.

As we topped the system up we found no fluid coming through to the rear calipers angry.gif

This lead to a fault finding exercise which eventually we traced to a blockage in the ABS unit in the engine bay. After alot of effort we eventually got it cleared without having to take it apart thumb.gif

No Photos sorry as all the jobs were quite messy and didn't want to get the camera covered. No gloves left! ( PLEASE NO more Gay comments biggrin.gif )

While all this was going on Jim.C and Gary Kinghorn turned up to take the piss wave2.gif

Talked cars, drank tea, ate the bacon sarnie then GK had to get off to watch some team play something. Good to see them both, and thanks for the FREE stickers Gary a_whistle.gif

When they had gone we finished the brakes.

But when we put it all back together the ABS light was still on angry.gif

Thought we would get back to that latter blink.gif

Next up was to fit the oil cooler.

First a location was chosen to make the most of it.

Fitting was fairly straight forward.

Update:

New Steering Fitted

user posted image

The next thing was to have a look at the suspension as we were looking to change a few things as it didn't sit right. After checking we realised the bearing on the top of the strut was in the wrong place. I had put it in the wrong place (under the guidance of steph a_whistle.gif) Quick change and all was ok.

As Steph stated earlier the hub nut wouldn't tighten so off came the OSF drive shaft again to replace the end and back on again. I'm getting quite good at this now biggrin.gif Much easier with 2 people doing though. This time job done and the hub nut tightened up.

Had to get the brake system filled and bled accordingly following all the work on them.

This proved to be a bit of a pain and took longer than expected.

As we topped the system up we found no fluid coming through to the rear calipers angry.gif

This lead to a fault finding exercise which eventually we traced to a blockage in the ABS unit in the engine bay. After alot of effort we eventually got it cleared without having to take it apart thumb.gif

No Photos sorry as all the jobs were quite messy and didn't want to get the camera covered. No gloves left! ( PLEASE NO more Gay comments biggrin.gif )

While all this was going on Jim.C and Gary Kinghorn turned up to take the piss wave2.gif

Talked cars, drank tea, ate the bacon sarnie then GK had to get off to watch some team play something. Good to see them both, and thanks for the FREE stickers Gary a_whistle.gif

When they had gone we finished the brakes.

But when we put it all back together the ABS light was still on angry.gif

Thought we would get back to that latter blink.gif

Next up was to fit the oil cooler.

First a location was chosen to make the most of it.

Fitting was fairly straight forward.

Running the pipes and connecting it was a little harder but we got there in the end.

Checked for leaks but seems ok at the moment (fingers crossed).

As time was getting on we flushed the water system a couple of times before filling up with a little bit antifreeze for the winter. (replaced by water for the Ring)

Everything was put back on, tightened, checked and we transported it to a small

private road that we had access to, to test the car where steph lives.

Steph drove it first and came back reporting there was a slight misfire and it pulled to the left sad.gif

I finally got to drive the car, albeit for a short distance but it felt great thumb.gif

I think its misfiring on 2 cylinders on low revs but goes away higher up the band. As for the brakes, it locked the left front wheel with mild braking.

Even with these slight issues I was more than happy with the car and can't wait for Cadwell now biggrin.gif

So we called it a night and retired for some beers drink3.gif

Next morning I was awoken with a cup of tea and some toast (slept in the lounge), and the realisation it was 8am on the old time - thats 7am new time Steph, I'm not in the bloody Army you know nono.gif

First job was to look at the brakes again. This time, as it was raining, Steph sat in the car with the engine running, for the servo assist, and I went round each wheel in turn to bled the brakes. After doing this the ABS light went out ohmy.gif biggrin.gif

Hopefully cured the problem, but didn't get chance to check so will have to wait and see.

Next job was to get a harness bar put in and the harnesses for the MOT.

Steph had some cage pipe which e measured up and cut to length a_whistle.gif

A bit of fine tuning....

Test fitting....

Then welding into place....

Finished the bars off and fitted the harnesses.

Need to move 2 of the eye bolts a_whistle.gif put some new plugs in and test the brakes but apart from that the car is ready for the MOT thumb.gif

We may just make Cadwell after all ohmy.gif

[IanH26 0]

I live in Kidsgrove matey Will be getting my hands dirty in a few weeks fitting coilovers etc.. on the corrado if you fancy it ? lol

Let me know when and where and I'll see if I'm free to come over

Ian

[cabrioman 6]

looks good ian .... need to me a cage lol still a bit to much interior in it thou lol

[J5KE F 0]

proper Job!!

keep up the good work mate! cant wait for the vr6oc track day!

[golfrabbit33 0]

looking nice, will be a mean track car!

[IanH26 0]

looking nice' date=' will be a mean track car!

[/quote']

Thanks, its not too bad

The car has been used a number of times on track over the last few years.

I will endeavour to get this thread up to date ASAP.

Ian

[golfrabbit33 0]

look forward to more pics

[IanH26 0]

Decided to remove the passenger airbag as it weighs a good couple of kilos and we have a cage and helmets a_whistle.gif laugh.gif

Steph joked about setting it off for a laugh.... wrong comment to make to a pyromaniac wave2.gif

So a couple of bits of wire later and a small battery and well this icon gives you a good idea.... mad0233.gif

One very loud bang later and ....

I really would not want one of these to go off in front of me, the explosion was very fierce but as long as you are sat correctly (one of my bug bears with people sitting too close behind the steering wheel) it is a preferable to smashing into a dash board ohmy.gif

Went looking for the steering wheel airbag but couldn't find it and we had some more work to do...

Great fun laugh.gif

It was great fun setting it off and alot cheaper than some fireworks this time a year laugh.gif

New plugs in 23 quid frim the local factor.

Took the car for a spin to check it out and the miss fire is now cured ,

The car has now stopped pulling to the left, but they do lseam to lock on heavy braking so I'll have to look at that.

The brakes do work so that wont stop it from getting moted

Nov 2007

Update 1

Steph spent a few hours getting the car ready for the MOT yesterday.

He sorted out the Harnesses (buckle type) so they were fully attached and secured you around the middle rather than on you hip biggrin.gif thumb.gif

He then went to work on the brakes as they locked on the fronts with no ABS cutting in angry.gif

After going over the whole system checking everything he eventually found out what was wrong...... a_whistle.gif

When we, and by we... I mean me wave2.gif put the new rear discs on, I didn't put the ABS ring on the new discs from the old ones. ( What can I say, rookie error, plus I didn't realise I had to loser.gif laugh.gif )

After visiting a couple of motor factors and a VW garage to no avail he stripped the ones off his Toledo, fitted them to the Golf and guess what.... the brakes worked fine and the ABS cuts in thumb.gif

All ready for the MOT wink.gif

Nov 2nd 2007

Breaking NEWS!!!!!!

The Golf has pasted the MOT smile011.gif

Hopefully ready for Cadwell now for the proper testing thumb.gif

From Steph -->

I gave it a wash and a hover prior to going for the MOT, I then swapped the tyres over as one of the road wheels had a bulge on the tyre wall.

The Test: a couple of points but nothing really so Yes it's passed and now taxed, ive just been up and down the A343 from Andover to Newbury then onto the bypass to give it a good road test thumb.gif thumb.gif thumb.gif

The result, the 20 quid of tescos 99 has gone and I have a large smile on my face.

Nov 4th 2007

Some more small jobs done today

First off was to dispose of the large box filter and cleanout the space it left, it was manky.

I then got some cardboard and made some stencils for the heat shield.

Thankfully I had made a visit to the metal shop before leaving my last job so I had some great sheet ally to use in the workshop.

After cutting the sheet to size and shaping it I slotted it into place. I got the hole cutters out next and cut out the space for the pipe to do through, so now the compartment is pretty much sealed when the bonnet is closed.

Now attached into place.

the air feed was pretty simple to install, I had to reshape a bracket for access for the pipe but other than that job done.

to finish off I sealed it all in with some gaffa tape a_whistle.gif , does the job well.

after finishing that, I got a spare set of wheels sorted out and fitted the roll cage padding.

Job done

[Phat VR6 3]

lol i wanted to set my airbag off but pussyed out lol, car looks good

[goonersteve 0]

Great thread Look forward to the next update

[IanH26 0]

Nov 14th 2007

Update: Cadwell Park

First shake down testing of the VR6.

Overall very, very pleased with the car smile011.gif

We had a couple of issues, which both turned out to be minor.

The first one was a blown coolant hose, which at first we both thought was a blown head gasket ohmy.gif

Within 30mins or so Steph found the split, cut the offending piece off and rejoined the pipe.

We topped the water level up, ran it for a bit and all was cured wink.gif

Decided that we will be getting some new hoses all round to prevent it happening again.

The second issue was an ARB drop link that sheered. We did a temporary fix but it was at the end of the day so decided not to go back out on track as Steph had to drive the car home. I believe JimC had some nice ones on the Mazda which would be good...

On the positive side the car ran well all day.

We had no braking issues either in the damp with the ABS a_whistle.gif or later on a drying line.

The engine pulled well and sounded great biggrin.gif

The car handled well especially when we out the R888's on after lunch - OH My God they are fantastic compared to Normal Road tyres blink.gif Never using normal tyres again biggrin.gif

I rigged the Bullet Camera up in the afternoon and got some videos of both of us driving. (Not done much with it as purely wanted to get some hosted.)

Ian Driving: http://www.streetfire.net/video/Ian-driving-the-VR6-at-1_141032.htm

Steph Driving:http://www.streetfire.net/video/Steph-at-Cadwell-in-VR6_140953.htm

Can't wait to see what it will do at the Ring now thumb.gif

GVK quote after: "BTW, the mk3 pops out flames on the gearchanges biggrin.gif"

QUOTE (IanHowell @ Nov 14 2007, 09:49 PM)

OH My God the R888's are fantastic compared to Normal Road tyres

QUOTE (Nige @ Nov 15 2007, 01:47 PM)

I told you once you`d tried the 888`s you`d never go back. I`d been at the ring for 2 weeks, then swapped over,

my god, that seemed even such a change !

Looking at the videos;

In the morning Steph was lapping around 2mins 15secs in the wet on road tyres.

First lap out on the R888's and he did a 2min 13secs.

Second lap out on the R888's and it was down to 2min 3secs - 12secs off ohmy.gif

A few laps later he was cracking 2mins with a drying line thumb.gif

But as you told me Nige, its the confidence that was the biggest difference wink.gif

[IanH26 0]

Feb 11th 2008

Update:

Went down to work on the car this weekend with Steph.

Got up early Sat morning and drove down to Andover, great run down with stunning weather. Fingers crossed it would stay that way.

Arrived, and the car was already out and Steph was ready to get on with it.

Well it was 9:50am and the sun had been up for hours tongue.gif

Sills

The first job was to sort out the sills which had developed a hole on one side when the jack had slipped at cadwell and pushed through a small rusty area around a grommet angry.gif

As we were doing this we decided to put some strengthening plates on to help with jacking in the future.

So, we cleaned the area up...

made some plates...

welded plates on...

Waxoiled the plates...

Roll Cage support

Needed to put some brackets on the rear feet of the cage for extra strength.

Templates cut, plate cut...

MC Hammer time

Feel the force Luke...

Finished brackets

Welded into plate

Job done!

Baffled Sump

Rumour has it that VR's suffer on the Ring with oil issues so we wanted to make sure we minimised this by putting a baffled sump on. As a new one cost silly money we made one instead.

Sump off...

New sump with card board templates...

Test fit....

Bugger catches somewhere...

Bit of cutting later and plates are test fitted...

And welded into place...

Here is a close up of the single baffle that we ended up going with. Hopefully you can see that there is a good clearance under the baffle but should prevent the oil from draining away under heavy cornering.

Further test fitting showed more fouling so the smaller plate had to come off but still the other plate will add some benefit...

Gasket and sealant added....

Job Done!

[IanH26 0]

Rose Jointed Drop Links

At Cadwell we had a ARB droplink fail (newly fitted but just couldn't cope) so decided to get some Rose jointed ones.

Steph sourced parts from Simon (Big Thanks thumb.gif) rather than buying new joints, due to the great price difference biggrin.gif

Off came the original ones...

Old and new...

Attached to ARB...

Fully connected...

Job done!

We also fitted an exhaust support and adjusted it from slightly catching but no photos taken.

All in all a good weekends work.