mk2 GTI Track Toy Project

[AusScare]

In preparation for going to the track on Saturday, I changed the oil, oil filter and coolant today (the coolant was crap stuff).

The oil was only 900km old, but WOW it came out black. Poured in some new 10w40 and it drives SOOO much better, definitely happy with how it feels in preparation for Saturday.

A bit of a scare though, I was parked sideways on an angle at my friends place, and the car would not go into reverse?! It was really strange, so he had to push me out. Then when I got home it went in fine, perhaps it was just the angle. Either way, the plastic gear linkages need to be replaced as the gear changes are sloppy, so I'll be buying one of those $50 kits and changing them over - any insights on this appreciated.

[benough]

Go OEM on the shift linkages. Our cars shifting went from a wet fish to similiar to a modern Golf.

Unless you're proper confident, I'd say get a VW mech to do it, it's finicky with all those rods etc

[Stiggy_21]

if you spend the time figuring it out, its actually a really simple system.
the bushes are easy enough to replace... and make a hell of a difference, definitely go OEM
but if you think it's still not good enough for racing, get solid bushes and ball joint everything if you want to spend a little more.
this is my kit in my car diy-overkill-short-throw-gear-shift-kit.

[AusScare]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll be looking at a kit like this:

Also I came home from work to find a puddle of oil under the car, thought I hadn't tightened the sump plug enough, but no, it was from the trans



It's coming from where the clutch cable (I think?) goes into the top of the trans.

Is it safe to track this on Saturday, or should I sit it out and get all this sorted?

[dubstar]

You mean where the speedo cable does into the trans? That can be rectified by taking the speedo out (be careful not to lose the gear on the end, clean all surfaces and torwue to the right specs.

Otherwise you may need a new speedo cable as if there is play/cracks in the cable end, oil can come out of there pretty quick

[dubstar]

PS, yes, safe to track, just make sure you ahve enough oil in there

[GoLfMan]

havent seen this in a while and its looking money.

Just make sure you steam clean away that oil as it most likely wont pass scrutineers.

Best of luck Saturday, make sure you get plenty of photos!!!

[AusScare]

It's still dumping oil out and I'm at work all day so won't have a chance to get it fixed, and I don't want to leak oil onto the track, so I'm going to give it a miss.

At the same time as getting this fixed I was going to sort the whole lot at once, by replacing all the wearing parts so nothing goes bang!

Get the gear linkages replaced with these: Complete shifter rebuild kit

Short shift kit too: Autech Short Shift Kit

Also, the throw out bearing in the clutch is really noisy (when clutch is engaged), and it shudders quite badly sometimes, new clutch: Stock with 16V pressure plate

And what are people's opinions on lightweight flywheels: Eurospec Flywheel

As always any input appreciated

[AusScare]

Got the trans leak fixed, gear linkages replaced, short shift kit installed and WOW what a difference.

It shifts so much better now, as strongly as my Mazda 3 and the shirt shift kit is great as the throw is now 50% less! I gave it a bit of a hit around the streets and very happy.

Aiming to get some good pics of the car in the coming days too. Also booked in for another track session late September.

[AusScare]

Finally got around to taking a few decent pics of the thing!

[ryana89]

Looking pretty neat

[Water Boy]

Exhuast looks good!

[AusScare]

Damage Report: Euro Drive Day

So took the mk2 out on the Euro drive day yesterday and overall it went well.

On the mountains it was great, took the corners properly without any scrubbing, brakes were fine (not amazing though - I think something is leaking pressure), and the engine kept up.

I didn't have any issues with check engine lights, oil lights, temps etc etc.

On one of the back roads to Somerset Dam the roads were bloody terrible, and I was hitting massive pot holes at ~110km/h - this took out some massive chunks from my front right tyre, I thought it had ripped apart at one stage.

Turns out there was a screw that had come loose and was hanging down, so on the massive pot holes it just smashed the tyre. I'm going to remove the screw and switch around the front and rear tyres.

Then, this morning I came home to find a small puddle of coolant under the car, topped it up with water and it was only ~200ml or so. The coolant was coming from 2 separate pipe joins, so not sure how that has happened. Maybe just the heat caused it all to expand/contract so much that it has leaked a bit.

For 3 hours of relatively consistently hard driving, I reckon it went really well. I'll sort out the scrubbing on the front right and monitor the coolant for any more leaks.

[team_v]

Glad to hear it's holding up pretty well to the abuse!

Are you getting out to QR this weekend?

[AusScare]

Glad to hear it's holding up pretty well to the abuse!

Are you getting out to QR this weekend?

Yeah should be all sweet for the weekend.

Pics from Saturday: