LHD 'rado 1.8T build

[Dub20vt 0]

well i've owned VWs (mainly golfs) for a fair few years now... my last one was doomed to the scrap heap due to rust issues... and this came up at the right price.

 

well i picked up the rado on Sunday 21st.......

 

 

and then we got it into the garage....

 

 

and since then......

 

engine play clean up (not perfect but it'll do for now)

 

Bulkhead re-drilled to accept 16v servo (didn't want to try and get an ABS setup + the extra bits to go wrong.

 

radiator support and front crossmember fitted along with the vibratec mount

 

and then time for the 1.8T

 

Thought i'd offer up the slam panel and front bumper to get an idea of what it'll look like once it's all in....

 

Let me know what you think :D

[Dub20vt 0]

offered in the radiator and intercooler to see a) if they'd fit, b) what it'd look like and c) how much material i'll have to remove..

 

 

turns out it'll spueeze between the chassis legs ok but i'm going to have to trim a few bits off of the slam panel to ensure it'll sit happily under use.

 

Need to get some material to make up a couple of intercooler mounts so thought i'd crack on with a couple of other bits..

 

fitted front solid top mount...

 

then fitted my Gaz coilover, new bottom ball joint, front wheel studs. (awaiting a new track rod end to finish it off (hopefully here very shortly).

 

then just to finish things off i removed the rear wiper motor... (looks better and saves a bit of weight)... OMG what a fiddly job with all of the spoiler gubbins in there!

 

Since then i've finished fitting the topmount and coilover on the other side. Bolted up my wilwood 4pots and 310mm discs and bells. will be making up brake lines later this week for the front before sorting out the suspension and brakes at the rear.

 

All comments/advice appreciated.

[boost monkey 0]

Looking good matey, seems like you've got a lot of race parts on the with the solid mounts all over and the coils. Is it gonna be a track day car or something?

 

Also, do you have an allen bolt holding your coilover to your hub or is it a bad photo?

[Dub20vt 0]

it'll be prodominantly a track day car but road legal too.

 

it's an allen bolt that's supplied by gaz with a camber adjustment washer on it (about a 4mm thick steel washer with an offset hole welded to the head of the bolt). it's stamped for high tensile so not too worried about strength.

 

got a pile of bits waiting to be fitted... new rear discs, wheel bearings, rear pads, OMP RS seats. Ricco racing FIA approved 6point harnesses. hopefully not too long til it's all in. I'm hoping to have it all done in the next 6weeks ish then on the road (MOT'd and Tax'd) at the beginning of July (fingers crossed).

 

Got to get a replacement L/H/S front indicator as the one that came with the car is cracked :(

[Dub20vt 0]

well, progress is moving slowly, will hopefully have some more build pics to show after the weekend.

 

Here's a few of the bits that the car is getting....

 

Quaife 6speed and ATB diff

 

Bam TT engine

 

Freshly rebuilt K04

 

Custom Allard intercooler

 

Wilwood 310s and superlites

 

Motec M4 management with ignition expander

 

Made a carbon box up to keep any moisture out

 

Battery box for mounting inside the car (has since had some D zeus fastners fitted in the corners for easy fit and removal of the lid).

 

OMP corsica dished steering wheel, titanium coloured spokes, black suede rim.

 

Gaz gold coilovers with my own spring rates

 

7x15" compomotive MOs ready for some sticky trackday rubber

 

OMP RS seats and 6point FIA approved 3" ricco racing harnesses (one with extra leg support is for the driver).

 

 

And oh look 4pots and dished wheels :D

 

they need a refurb so to start with i got my son envolved.......

 

Let me know what you think.

[biggerbigben 0]

Some nice toys there chap! :)

 

Good luck with the conversion.

 

Ben

[cdem 0]

Looking good!!

Hmmm Compomotive MOs, they look goooood :afro:

[rolex 0]

looking good 8) Nice work :D

[Jim 2]

Gawd - this looks a bit serious! Looking forward to seeing it coming along...

[Dub20vt 0]

Cheers guys. need to take some more pics really.

 

coilovers are fitted,

 

made up brake lines for the front of the car (getting them flared at a local garage to save possibilities of sealing problems),

 

fitted new slave cylinder supplied by boost monket required a couple of holes to be added to the bulkhead due to the car originally having the huge brake/clutch combination as found in golf rallyes.. too expensive to replace IMO so it's all been replace by a golf 16v servo/master cylinder.

 

Just turned the car around in the garage so i'm ready to drop the rear beam and fit my poly race bushes (they're a bit harder than i expected but that can only be for the better from a handling point of view).

 

also started removing all the trim, carpets and sound deadening from the car... :shock: blimey there's loads of the stuff in a 'rado... have cleared the back and the passenger side so far... will take pics of it all once i finish the drivers... i reckon it amounts to a fair bit of weight!

[Foxster 0]

It's still fairly light outside, get some photo's up! :)

[Philuk 0]

really looking forward to seeing the end product with what i can see goin on here, are you getting anything done externally apart from obvious wheels lowered etc, or you going for the sleeper look?

[yeti 0]

as jim said this is looking a bit full on 8) ... should be awesome!... would love to see more pics as theres more progress!

[Dub20vt 0]

really looking forward to seeing the end product with what i can see goin on here, are you getting anything done externally apart from obvious wheels lowered etc, or you going for the sleeper look?

 

outside is remaining tame... i've half smoked the rear lights, added some smoked side repeaters... that's be about it for now.

 

although i'm having to fit some aerocatch bonnet pins as the standard linkage and springs is right in the way of my intercooler.

 

today i've been doing the boring jobs of removing trim and reconnecting bits to the fusebox.

 

will get some more pics when i get a chance... probably be at the weekend as i'm only grabbing odd minutes during the week to do stuff.

 

offered the seats in and it looks like i'm going to have to mount them virtually on the floor to keep enough head room for myself and helmet for trackdays. although at some point the sunroof mechanism will be coming out so i'll gain a bit of space then (made a carbon panel to cover that wil get some pics of that too).

[Dub20vt 0]

well unfortunatly due to a death in my family progress has been very slow. :(

 

i did manage to give the 'rado it's first wash sinse september last year though (didn't go too mad just a quick water wash).... here's the results.....

 

 

need to get hold of a new rear badge aswell... although not really high on the list of priorities at the moment.

 

Since this i have started stripping the rear end down to clean up the beam and fit new brake lines, wheel bearings, discs... plus also i'll be cleaning up the manky looking old mk2 calipers.

[Dub20vt 0]

also does anyone know if black pillar trims and shelf supports are sought after? got the ones out of mine that i won't be using again.

 

Cheers in advance

[KipVR 1]

not really, you should put out a wanted on the forum

[Dub20vt 0]

well finally got some pics off of my camera.

 

rear beam off the car..

 

sleeve removed

 

and with a quick lick of paint.

 

i'll get some pics tomorrow of the beam fitted up with the poly bushes and my Gaz coilies. :)

[Dub20vt 0]

as promised.

 

excuse the quality only had my phone with me and it was a bit dark under the car lol

 

Rally design Poly race rear beam bushes

 

Gaz gold rear coilover

 

My nice and subtle exhaust

 

if all goes to plan i'll have the new rear discs, wheel bearings, pads and wheel studs fitted but will see how it goes.

[rolex 0]

All very nice :salute:

[boost monkey 0]

I didn't realise those beam sleeves came out! Cheers for the photos, and keep the updates coming! :clap: :salute:

[Dub20vt 0]

Cheers Rolex. :D

 

Yea it's quite easy to get them out.

 

i chain drilled around the original metal pin, then cut the small bits inbetween, pulled the metal pin out. Then i cut a slot in the remaining rubber which allowed me to slide a small metal spatula all the way round the edge of the metal sleeve, then pulled the rubber out.

 

Metal sleeve was removed by cutting a groove in the sleeve with a hacksaw (i chose not to cut all the way through to avoid marking the axle where the new bush would sit), then using a small chisel i tapped the sleeve to split it along the groove which gradually turned up to allow it to be punched out once about three quarters of the sleeve had been split.

 

to replace the rear beam bushes these would have to be removed anyway.

 

today i've fitted new rear wheel bearings and discs. haven't fitted the pads or studs yet as i've got my calipers in pieces giving them a quick refurb. hopefully get a bit more done on sunday night i expect. back on it's wheels again though. :)

[Dub20vt 0]

Blimey not updated this for a while.

 

well turned out my rear calipers were cream crackered so i ended up getting a replacement pair. gave these a quick cleanup and a lick of paint before fitting with a set of pagid fast road pads, new goodridge hoses.

 

got to make up some new rear solid lines to suit as i'm also fitting an adjustable bias valve inside the car (have made a bracket to fit this).

 

I've started stripping out the old ABS wiring as it's of no use to me. (going to be using the grommets that go through the rear seat floor to run the brake lines down to the rear beam.

 

on the engine side of things.... i've fitted all the boost pipes and connected up, purchased a brand new PAS pump (old one was a bit worse for wear so thought it wouldn't hurt (was only £60 too which helped). all the water pipes have been connected although i managed to snap one of the vaccum connectors on the bottom of the inlet manifold so this is going to need replacing at some point .

 

I've been having a bit of a mare trying to find out if the stock G60 in tank pump would be man enough to keep up with the 20v so resorted to buying a Bosch 044 motorsport fuel pump (as advised by someone at work with a high powered cossie).. i've made a mounting bracket up so it can be positioned under the car next to the stock fuel filter. I've got to sort some wiring out for it though as it'll need a good strong 12v feed and connecting to the stock pump wiring... i'm considering splicing into the original fuel pump wiring and using the feed to switch a relay to supply 12v to the 044 pump.

anyone got any views on wether this would work?

 

I've also aquired a RHD brake fluid reservoir (so i have the take off for the hydraulic clutch). will get round to sorting out the pipework for this at somepoint.

 

My front Vibratec engine mount was looking a bit worse for wear... so this has now been replaced with a solid mount from a friend (he sells them through Ebay etc).

 

Lastly can anyone tell me what this is??