Road / Track Day car - 1.8T

[Beanington 10]

Hi, new here and a while back I got a 16v rolling shell from Monkey and Paulina locally. It’s ropey, but is getting a decent going over, mechanically at least.

Pinched this photo of it while Paulina was driving it at the Mk2OC Curborough day :)

 

 

They had it converted it to VR6 but moved on to a tidier Storm model and started fresh.

It had sat outside untouched due to other cars until a few weeks ago but trying to make up for lost time now! :)

 

So we got it inside and up on stands strip it down

 

 

EXCUSE IT BEING SERIOUSLY DIRTY! As it’s a dual purpose road and track car, I wanted a cage of some sort for mounting harnesses and keeping the roof up if it goes over.

The flip side was I didn’t want the usual risk of caving your head in while driving on the road without a helmet.

 

We got a main hoop and some extra 44.5mm CDS tube from Cyclone Racing and then lent it back slightly, trying not to go too far.

Then we cut the rear stays, diagonal and strut brace to suit. The hoop still follows the pillar enough to be able to add to it and meet MSA regulations.

That's if the car ever evolves / changes to a pure track car or race car later, for now it’s enough to tick the boxes it had to and looks alright so all good

 

 

Then put the seat tubes in and gave it all a ghetto coat of satin battleship grey from an agricultural / industrial supply place.

It's smooth enough, hard wearing and there won’t be any glare off it, so should be alright although it isn't anything fancy.

 

 

After that we started unbolting things. The rear beam was in a bit of a state and the bushes were pretty much hanging out

 

 

Binned the gammy old brake lines, pipes and bushes and then took an abrasive wheel in the angle grinder to any rusty bits.

Got the rusty patches back to clean good metal and thinned out the rest of the coating on the good bits across the rest of it, then wire wheeled the awkward to get at bits around studs and brackets and whatnot

 

Checked it over and it looked alright and cleaned up okay so gave it a coat of red oxide

 

 

Then a coat of black stone chip and sating black paint

 

Also did the same with the front wishbones as they were in a similar state and then started getting the new bushes in.

Should tidy things up a bit and I can get some more life out of them

 

 

Next job chassis wise is going to be changing the tie rods, gaiters and rod ends as well as the lower ball joints.

They’re pretty disgusting and I can totally see them causing grief if things need to come apart for maintenance or alignment changes later.

I also got new discs and pads front and rear, braided lines, front caliper seal kits, Mk4 rear calipers and new wheel bearings, so should be an improvement.

 

Before that we’ll be having a bash at the engine so hopefully that goes smoothly.

 

Anyway, up to date now so more updates soon, thanks :)

[Beanington 10]

Another big bit of the puzzle ready, the engine is now good to go, minus some hoses and fluids.

 

Basically started with a dopey old AGU engine and ME3.8 ECU, swapped to a K03S turbo, added a Forge actuator, Forge recirc valve, Forge baffled sump, Creations Motorsport turbo intake pipe,

Saab red injectors, new heat exchanger, cambelt kit and tensioner, alternator, colder plugs gapped for some proper boost, and probably a few more bits I’ve forgotten like gaskets and bolts and stuff.

Cleaned out the oil pickup as well, because 1.8T :D

 

 

Took a fair bit of time to clean it up, get the painting and powder coating done and all that stuff.

It looks a lot better than it did when we pulled it out of a dirty Mk4 though so hopefully it’ll look good in the bay

 

 

Also put on a lightened G60 flywheel and a new Sachs VR6 clutch, and on the subject of transmission stuff…

I also had a painfully long-awaited parcel turn up, which was nice :)

 

 

And as the drivers side driveshaft looked okay, but the passengers side one very much wasn’t, got a new one from J&R…

GKN bearings, decent steel, good rubber boots and a 2 year warranty, can’t lose!

 

 

The diff has been fitted now, with the usual ARP bolts / fresh diff bearings combo, so onto the engine and into the car tomorrow

 

Fingers crossed tomorrow is productive and I’ll have another update, thanks :thumbleft: