Wreck to Race.

[Peter Jones]

I'm off to the auto sparky tomorrow to get the alternator rebuilt. The bearings are going and lots of hard gear changes out on the track will soon finish them off If I don't sort it now.

This alternator will go into the other car when I get the serpentine belt set up in this one later on.

I'll ask about the LPG relays and pick one up if they're suitable. I'll let you know how it works out.

I'm also going to get a new wheel bearing pressed in tomorrow.

All before I start work!

I'm getting much faster at this , it only took me a lazy 2 hours to pull the strut and Alternator out this evening.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

A busy weekend, but not much to report on the car front.

I got the wheel bearing sorted out and back in. The Brake place (Better Brakes in Bayswater) were kind enough to not charge me for the fitting again.

I dropped the Alternator off, but I'm not going to get that back until tonight at the best.

I've also booked in for a Harness bar to be fabricated at Brown Davis http://www.browndavis.com.au/

Fire extinguisher is in now.

Rewired power feed from battery for the fuel pump circuit. When I fixed up the relay I wasn't happy with the way the power feeds for the K-Jet loom and pump were setup. They were both on a piece meal run from the battery and had a glass inline fuse in the run in a hard to get to spot in the engine bay. (Under the overflow tank!)

I've re-powered the Engine loom via a relay off the fuse box and re-run the pump wiring direct to the battery and installed a re-settable circuit breaker under the dash.


I've also put the factory breathers back in place to avoid having to run a catch can.

I fiddled about with the mounting of the fuel distributor to get it sitting better in the engine bay. While it was out I drilled and tapped it for the breather fitting and painted up the Bunnings CAI plumbing and cleaned the rice I mean air filter.

I've ordered a new fuel Filter and Radiator hoses just to be on the safe side. I currently have a Mitsubishi fuel filter fitted because it has the right fittings and was all I could get at the time. It's bigger than stock but never really fitted in the bracket properly.

Apart from all of that I also managed to catch Rosin Murphy at Billboard on Friday night, an awesome show, although the DJ beforehand sucked.
Saturday afternoon I had to play chainsaw Harry and cleaned up storm damage and on Sunday morning we headed out to Jeff's shed to check out the Toy Fair which is always a financially dangerous thing to do.

Next Saturday I'll see if I cant get a couple of the fuel hoses in the engine bay fixed up at a hose place. The high pressure lines between the body, filter and distributor have cracks in the outer sheaths, I'm sure that they're sound but a scrutineer might not feel the same way.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

A few updates,

I've had these for a week or two now, I've only put a few Ks on them to wear the mould release agent off them.



These are the track rims I purchased and cleaned up.



New alternator bearings done. All bolted back up with Hi-Tensile fasteners.



3 New hoses made up and installed. One of the original ones had been crushed, I could only see it when we cut the sheath off at ENZED. There's a new fuel filter arriving in the mail this week.



My solution to the "Supplimentary bonnet restraints"




Gratuitous engine bay shot.



Extinguisher in.



New pedal rubbers just for the hell of it really, they were only a few dollars each along with some other stuff I ordered.



Mandatory police attention grabbing battery sticker.



Tomorrow the seat goes in and I set up the harness mount in the tunnel.

Next weekend Radiator hoses and then off to get the harness bar made up on Monday.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

I'll answer the obvious question now.

Toyo Proxes R888 GG 185/60/14 $213ea from Meridian Motorsport.

I know it's an indulgence and breaks away from the conservative build model, but the way I figure it they're probably the most important part of the car.

In any case $213 for a semi slick is a bargain when those MK5 and Polo drivers are paying double that for street tyres.

And yes they do stick like sh:t to a blanket and I haven't even got them up to temp yet.

Pete

[Jarred]

Excellent Pete.

Were you planning on removing the horns for the track days, or just keep them in for kicks?? lol

What have you done with the bonnet restraints. Does the shackle just hook onto the "U" bolt there? Is that what you've done?

[Peter Jones]

Excellent Pete.

Were you planning on removing the horns for the track days, or just keep them in for kicks?? lol

What have you done with the bonnet restraints. Does the shackle just hook onto the "U" bolt there? Is that what you've done?

I'll take the horns out for track days. They run off a big air tank in the boot which I can't be bothered anchoring down properly (and it weighs a bit too) so I'll pull the lot out and pop a conventional horn in there.

The chains clip onto the U bolts. Theres one on each side of the engine bay. Once they're clipped on you can only open the bonnet about 4 inches which is just enough to be able to reach in and unclip them. Should do the trick.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

I forgot to say I replaced the starter motor today too. The SEAT I wrecked had a fairly new one in it and the one I had in there didn't always pull in properly.

Pete

[Water Boy]

Yeah good to see u have scribbed in the tyres... Have u bedded in brakes properley? I mean really used em and got em glowing?

BTW Toyo are my new race rubber for the Mk3

[Oneofthegreats]

Nice work Pete.

Wish I was having as much progress & luck with your project as you.

I reckon this will one fun machine on the track & reckon you'll do well.
Look foward to hearing some track day storie's & thread's.

Those tyres look very nice. Quick question, why didn't you go to something like a 205/55R14?
Much bigger foot print for $20 more a tyre.

Also on a side note. I'd be covering up your B+ battery terminal. those raised battery post style battery's come very close to the bonnet.

I prefer the flush style battery post's, with a battery cover.



Useless info, but the standard pedal rubber's can become very slippery with only alittle bit of moisture.

I removed my clutch & brake pedal rubber's & fitted some racing pedal's, grinded them flat & Arildited some low grit (can't remember what grade but was very rough) sand paper on to the pedal's.

No more feet slipping off the pedal's. Ever!

[Peter Jones]

Yeah good to see u have scribbed in the tyres... Have u bedded in brakes properley? I mean really used em and got em glowing?

BTW Toyo are my new race rubber for the Mk3

The brakes are still too new for that, they don't even have 100km on them yet. I chased a datto 1600 down Mt Dandenong earlier today but neither of us were using brakes!

I still want to get some more Ks on the track tyres, I'll probably hit some of my favourite windy back roads to have a bit of a chew on the tyres and heat up those brakes.


Pete

[Peter Jones]

Nice work Pete.

Wish I was having as much progress & luck with your project as you.

I've made lots of mistakes along the way! Mostly it's perserverance.

I reckon this will one fun machine on the track & reckon you'll do well.
Look foward to hearing some track day storie's & thread's.

I hope so. It's underpowered IMO but that should make it a good basis to learn racecraft again.Once I figure out what I want to do class wise I'll build the right motor or buy the right car.

Those tyres look very nice. Quick question, why didn't you go to something like a 205/55R14?
Much bigger foot print for $20 more a tyre.

I think these will suffice. I wanted an all round tyre that could be driven to events if I had to. I have 195s on my other car and it's a PITA with tyre scrub. On the track I didn't want to have tyres anywhere near the bodywork. There's still scope with these to push the rears out by 10mm each side. I also had a look at what other people were running on Golfs, this was a pretty popular size. It's also the cheapest tyre in the R888 range for some reason.

They're a good place to start from for my first set of race tyres.

Also on a side note. I'd be covering up your B+ battery terminal. those raised battery post style battery's come very close to the bonnet.

That will be fixed. I just haven't decided how yet. I still have some work to do there. I am very experiened at DC power system cabling, I just haven't thought this one through yet. I have several battery isolation swithces on my desk right now, I'm just agonising about practicality vs CAMs compliance in a street driven car. I may yet pop a Gel Cell in the boot, I could do with the extra space up front for more air horns.

I prefer the flush style battery post's, with a battery cover.

Yeah but I was stuck miles from nowhere and that was all the Marshal guy could lay his hands on. I'll replace it with a euro DIN battery or a gell Cell one day but it's doing the job for now.

Useless info, but the standard pedal rubber's can become very slippery with only alittle bit of moisture.

I removed my clutch & brake pedal rubber's & fitted some racing pedal's, grinded them flat & Arildited some low grit (can't remember what grade but was very rough) sand paper on to the pedal's.

No more feet slipping off the pedal's. Ever!

Good solution! I'm trying to work out what to do with my pedals. I've got a nasty habit of leaving my left foot on the clutch pedal which can lead to me riding the clutch out of corners. Ideally I'd like a foot rest to brace against but my foot is a bit wide too fit between the clutch and the console. More thought required but I thought I'd start off with the standard setup and develop from there.

Nice engine bay by the way. Is that a factory K-Jet install?

Pete

[Peter Jones]

I made up the seat frame today - what a PITA!

I was working with one I'd started on and one I bought from an ex racer.

I bolted up the purchased one but it made the seat too high in the cabin so I used it as a reference to take measurements from and went back to modifying my first attempt.

It's really hard to get a race seat low enough over the standard mounts.

My goal was to use the original mounting system in the car to avoid engineering issues. I also wanted to be able to mount a stock seat belt buckle so I could have both a harness and a street legal seat belt in there.

I tacked the frame together , bolted it to the seat and tried it out... over and over again! I must have pulled it apart 3 or 4 times before I was happy with the driver position.

My biggest difficulty arises because I'm 6'2" tall and the helmet adds about another 3". The first seat mount had me pinned to the roof. You can get the back mounts lower than the front but that tilts the seat backwards. I eventually found a reasonable position after a lot of re-designs.

Here's the frame, it's blue to match the seat. massively over engineered no doubt, but I don't want to fall out mid corner.

I'll pop up a pic of the seat in the car when the paint is dry and I've purchased the correct bolts.




Pete

[Oneofthegreats]

Nice engine bay by the way. Is that a factory K-Jet install?

My biggest difficulty arises because I'm 6'2" tall and the helmet adds about another 3". The first seat mount had me pinned to the roof. You can get the back mounts lower than the front but that tilts the seat backwards. I eventually found a reasonable position after a lot of re-designs.

Nice work as usual Pete.

Yes that's the engine bay in my once pristine GTI. But my new car should look the same, except I'm hiding as much of the wiring as possible, the ign. coil, The brake pipe's etc.
There a crappy/messy looking engine bay IMHO & there's an old saying. "You cant polish a turd, but you can try!"

That comment about how tall you are.

I'm roughly 5'7" & didn't have any problem's with head room, till I fitted my helmet & sat in the GTi , then realised it also had a sunroof, which take's up another 2-3" more room.

I had to hunch down in the seat just to drive it! I know the pain your going through.

[Peter Jones]

You may not be able to polish a turd, but you can always paint it red with fiddly bits!



Pete

[Golf Loon]

Nice strong bit of overengineering there Pete
Its never gonna break.