A little more progress...

[DubSteve]

Bluerex everytime I see this car it amazes me, love your posts but love your detail to the car, looks so good then get sad to think that beauty will be dirty at the rally roads

[JP-009]

Bluerex,

The pics are fascinating and inspirational…

…and VERY scary – as I start to think that maybe, just maybe, I could do it too…

Then I wake up to myself

[Bluerex]

Bluerex,

The pics are fascinating and inspirational…

…and VERY scary – as I start to think that maybe, just maybe, I could do it too…

Then I wake up to myself

Don't be so hard on yourself. As long as you are not on too much of a time schedule - you would be amazed what you can do yourself. Yes, I have had to buy some tools (compressor and MIG were the main ones) and I have had to teach myself to use them, but apart from a few hard lessons (never use an angle-grinder when wearing track pants), with support from the likes of CVW, TTS, Gasweld, Auto Paints and Revolution Racegear (plus mucho understanding from wonder-wife Kelly) it has been a lot of fun.

Mk1 shells are getting rarer and rarer, I was lucky with my two. If you can find a rust-free* 2 door, grab it!!! Even if you do nothing with it for a couple of years.

C

[blackgti1.8]

Gee Charles, I know that a little time and patience goes a long way, but even so, it's an amazing job you've done there

It's an inspiration to the rest of us

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm certainly learning a lot from this...
All these little tricks are often learnt the hard way, so it's great to get them for free

[vwrally]

Hi Charles
Good to see your car taking shape. I heard a lot about it last year during The Silver Fern Rally in NZ from John Rawson. We where all travelling together as a group with Riseboroughs and Callinans.

Unfortunately our Golf had a DNF after we ripped the front corner off the car on a fence post. The car is now back together but had another DNF next time out when the adjustable Cam Pulley seperated and bent the valves. Good excuse to get a good head built for the car which should be soon.

John gave us a few extra pointers on where and how to strentghen the shell so we had this done after the incident with the fence post so should be all good for the future.

The car is now handling and braking really well, just need more horsepower and a looser nut behind the steering wheel.

One thing that we have done is got a Plate LSD from Bildon in the states. These are well worth it, up to 5 seconds a kilometre on twisty forest roads, just the extra acceleration out of the corner - highly recomended and getting cheaper all the time with the USD, they are a pain to fit though. Bildon also set them up for gravel use which is well worth it.

When do you hope to have the car mobile?

NB take the photos now because chances are it wont look that good again

[Bluerex]

If I can ever find the camera again, I will update the photo series.
In the meantime, the brake lines are in, Hydro handbrake (fitted over the std cable one), stainless flex lines (x6) and.. the dashboard has been recovered - it no longer resembles the Grand Canyon.
Now where the **** did I put that camera.

C

[GoLfMan]

pictures say a thousand words Charles go find the dam camera!

[alex g]

great to meet you the other day charles

and yer get that camera up and running

[Bluerex]

Found It!!

By poplar demand, some update photos.
Been a bit slack - Canberra winter and some family stuff but starting to be a bit more enthused now.
So....
I bought 18m or so of 3/16 steel brake line, borrowed a wicked flaring tool from the Guys at Total Traction Services and went to work. Hint: do not attempt to use the cheap ($100) flaring tools, if you cant get access to one of these, take the lines to someone who has one and pay them to do the ends for you.


Lines run from the MC to a T for the front brakes, and through the firewall to the handbrake for the rears.


Yes I have two handbrakes. The Standard cable one to keep rego happy (also good for stopping the car rolling down hils when parked) and my nice shiny hydraulic for understeer-compensation and fast direction changes.


All lines in the cabin need to be protected, so I have started sleeving with split-convoluted tube (cheap but works just fine).


After the handbrake, another T splits the feeds to the rear brakes. I decided to follow the factory lines and use the existing bracket to connect to the flexy hoses that join on to the swing-arms.

[Bluerex]

continued...



Peter sourced a MKIII rear disk setup for me, the TTS guys arranged the studs, and the stainless flexy bits came from Bildon in the US, 16v Sirrocco habdbrake cable came from e-bay (US).


Focus? what focus?

And one other job was the dashboard. $16 of stretchy suede material from Lincraft, some spay glue and copious strong language later....

Not perfect, but a heck of a better look than the grand-canyon effect I started out with.

So VWRALLY, when can I see pics of your Golf? I have ordered a KAAZ LSD (same as the Bildon one) from a Sydney guy, a little more expensive than going direct, but I like to support the locals when I can, and this way I can pick his brains for setup hints etc. At this stage, it will start out without the LSD. GolfLoon just provided me with an AUG 5-speed that will be stripped and have the Kaaz installed - then a complete swap at some later date.
My previous photos attempt to show the extent of John's plating and strengthening, but even so when people finally get to see it in the flesh, they are still amazed at his work. I am aiming at getting it log-booked by November, then rego, then take it out to play.

C

[alex g]

looking great

[Bluerex]

Now with added engine

Goaded on by big brother Keith, I decided that I should try to re-combine engine+gearbox (and add extractors to engine) today.
It occurred to me halfway through the process, that this engine and gearbox had never met, and here I was trying to get them to mate on the first date.
Anyway - some grunting (from me) and gratuitous use of the chainblock we have...





Yay Me!!!

C

Oh and how cool is the new battery in its box??


Pizza box shown to indicate scale

[isnowi]

Hi there, nice build up looks very tidy.

Are your rear brakes solely operated by the hyd handbrake?? or is there some kind of bypass that allows the pedal to operate them as well?

cheers, Dan

[Bluerex]

Hi there, nice build up looks very tidy.

Are your rear brakes solely operated by the hyd handbrake?? or is there some kind of bypass that allows the pedal to operate them as well?

cheers, Dan

Now THAT would be exciting
The pedalbox feeds fluid through the MC at the back of the handbrake (when the lever is relaxed), so for normal operation it is effectively invisible.

c

[golfnutracing]

while you have easy access to everything you really should make up some new rear engine/gearbox mounts (easier with extractors out), i tried everything, bildon mounts from the US were worse than 2nd hand standard ones, $2 trailer bush and a piece of exhaust tube sorted it out!! I would break at least 1 mount per event

Also if you are having problem with braking you may need to modify the push rod system up front.

Where are you going to run the fuel lines? i recommend inside the cab. You really should consider putting in the lsd for 1st event, be a shame to put it into a tree because you couldn't pull out of a corner.

Looking good! keep up the good work!